In this column, I write about what I think is the most successful country in Africa, Somaliland. On Wednesday, I got to meet some more Somalilanders at “UN Week,” and what a day it was!
Understand, this is not “Somalia,” a failed state of “Black Hawk Down” fame, “Al Shabab” terrorists, famine, khat, and misery. Somalia is a superlative in failed statedom. They give Afghanistan a run for its money. Our president has a name for these countries.
But Somaliland is an entirely different matter: a democracy with peace, free capitalism, and freedom of speech. The difference is like the difference between North and South Korea, which I’ve written about in these pages previously.
This is UN Week in New York, a big deal here, and even President Trump turned up to entertain us. Always a treat.
I used to live in Midtown, and UN Week is very disruptive to locals. But after a $50 (I know, right?) cab fare from my home in Chelsea, I joined the Somalilander demonstration as planned at a plaza opposite the iconic UN building.
Their mission is to get international recognition—particularly American recognition—for their country. They’re close allies with Taiwan and, as of this year, Israel. All the best people, and I say that in a non-ironic manner: friendships matter, get the best friends you can, and the Somalilanders are doing just that.
Being de jure, not just de facto, “recognized” matters a great deal for a country. It means embassies, passport acceptability, and travel rights. It means membership in vital international organizations, like the UN. It means being able to buy insurance, sign treaties, issue debt, print a currency that isn’t laughed at, and even control one’s own borders. With recognition, they could better plan their own future, as their elected—don’t skip that word, elected—leaders can negotiate as equal partners with other countries.
What Somaliland needs most is official American recognition because then others will follow. South Sudan had a similar path—an American-sponsored new country—though South Sudan got independence before a functioning state, which was a disaster. Somaliland has had a functioning state for 35 years. Even without recognition, they’ve done an impressive job of building a peaceful democracy.
They don’t have a lot of dough, but they’ve got all the right ideas.
Whether you like Trump or not, he is a master of the big surprise. Witness former President Maduro of Venezuela, who is enjoying the best NYPD accommodations we can offer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Brooklyn.
And the mullahs, those still alive, in Tehran are on the run. If anybody can make the bold move of recognition, it is Trump, though I told my friends Jared Kushner is the best route to “the top” in these matters.
The demo was in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, opposite the UN building, which frequently plays host to our First Amendment rights for all sorts of international aspirants, like London’s “Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner,” but with skyscrapers.
One of the many protesters in the plaza was the Falun Gong sect. They are ferociously anti-communist, so they got my attention, mainly by their group exercises and rigid meditation. Most were older East Asians, nice folks for sure, but I’m not joining.
In the middle of the plaza were “my” Somalilanders. On the other side were first Syrians (my Arabic isn’t good enough to know which side they were on!), and then a huge number of Ghanaians and Guineans arrived, annoyed about something. A middle-aged, bald white guy like me sticks out in a large crowd of young Africans, so I made quite a splash socially. Unlike the other African and Arab camps, the Somalilanders had a pretty equal sex ratio.
There was also a HUGE Iranian dissident demo with great, dramatic drum skills.
The contrast between the old Chinese meditators and the all-young, all-male African parties next door was quite profound.
Midtown is crazy during UN Week: “frozen zones” aplenty, and I had to “Pull to the side of the sidewalk and STAY STILL, sir!” as a badged and armed Secret Service agent ordered while he (legally) “halted” me. I think the Peruvian president and his entourage walked by.
Some years ago, there were scandals as various official motorcades drove into each other, with lots of accidents. Imagine: you’re a chauffeur for your President, King, or Emir, visiting NEW YORK DAMN CITY!—the big leagues—you’re not yielding for any other motorcade, so they used to collide in a diplomatic game of motorcade chicken. It was hilarious.
I noticed a pretty young hijabi with many fancy shopping bags alighting from an SUV motorcade on East 46th with diplomatic plates: Some Gulfie’s girlfriend or wife, no doubt. Tiffany’s is fun with an unlimited credit card, I’m sure.
The traffic was terrible. I’ll have to talk to my editors here about that $50 taxi fare, but that’s UN Week. And it is inspiring that our planet’s big shots can visit, spend their money, and argue peacefully in a common forum, irrespective of the UN’s many faults.
Further, my Somalilander friends could demonstrate with the kind of freedom of expression enjoyed both in the US and Somaliland to argue their valid case.
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