The International Crisis Group posted on 19 June 2025 a 30-minute podcast titled "Somaliland's Moment?" with Guleid Ahmed Jama, lawyer and political commentator based in Hargeisa, and host Alan Boswell.
The Somaliland-Ethiopia memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2024 was never clear to most Somalilanders. There was subsequently a change of government in Somaliland, making the situation even less clear although Hargeisa continues to seek diplomatic recognition. In any event, the MOU is now on a back burner and negotiations with Ethiopia concerning the MOU have not yet resumed under the new government in Hargeisa.
The more recent question is whether the Trump administration is willing to give Somaliland diplomatic recognition in exchange for military use of air and port facilities at Berbera on Somaliland's coast. The US military has expressed interest but there has been no movement so far by the Trump administration.
