Baroness Lynda Chalker The communities of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn as well as Makhir have always detested the idea of one-clan state being erected in their backyard and declared their intention from the get go that they would not entertain such a notion.

Twenty long years have elapsed since the one-clan secessionist state called "Somaliland" was declared unilaterally in Burao in 1991 under the blazing guns of the then victorious SNM fighters, following the collapse of the Somali state led by the late Mohamed Siyad Barre.

If tenacity and hard work alone can bring international recognition, which was abundant in the secessionist camp, the one-clan state of "Somaliland" would have been celebrated in Hargeisa and Burao many years ago.