In 1991, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia disintegrated into fragments. Within a year, the vast majority of the world recognized the new nations of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia even though some of these had never been separate nations before and some were involved in brutal wars over borders.
Around the same time, the nation of Somalia also disintegrated. Like Yugoslavia, it had been held together by a dictator and with his passing, it fell apart quite quickly. Somalia had existed as a country since 1960 - it was the union of Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland (French Somaliland voted not to join and later became the nation of Djibouti). On May 18th, 1991, the portion of the failed state that had been British Somaliland, declared itself independent under the name of Somaliland. And was recognized by nobody.
So, the question remains, why is that? And why does it remain unrecognized nearly 20 years later? It can't be that there was no history of Somaliland having a separate history from the rest of Somalia. British Somaliland existed from 1888 to 1960. Slovenia went straight from being part of Austria-Hungary to Yugoslavia. It can't be because Somaliland has a border dispute with it's neighbor to the east - the autonomous Somali region called Puntland - we saw MUCH worse in Yugoslavia. Honestly, the only difference I can find is that one country was European and the other was African. And I am just about the LAST person who looks for race as an issue.
Look at what Somaliland has done since 1991. They have had two elections that have been recognized as free and fair; the last one just yesterday. In that, they have a better record than many other countries on the same region. They are stable and their economy is growing. They have friendly relationships with their neighbors Ethiopia and Djibouti. The landlocked Ethiopians in particular find it convenient to have a stable, friendly area on the coast to trade with.
So why can't we recognize the good job that Somaliland has done? Why are they still yoked to a failed state whose government we DO recognize only controls a few square blocks of it's capital city? If they had recognition, they could get badly needed aid and support from international organizations. They could build their own navy to help defend their coast (the pirates are not based in Somaliland, though the do operate in the waters off it's coast). A Somaliland navy could also help with the massive poaching of the rich fishing grounds.
The people of Somaliland have waited nearly twenty years for their due. They should not have to wait another day longer. I would love to see someone ask Hillary Clinton or President Obama why the United States will not recognize this worthy nation.