Why Ethiopia is Creating a New Country Next Door

Audio Editing by Donovan Bullen
Editing by José Gámez
Motion Graphics by Vincent de Langen
Writing, Thumbnail Design, and Direction by Evan

This includes a paid sponsorship which had no part in the writing, editing, or production of the rest of the video.

With video from Getty Images
With video from Reuters
With maps provided by MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors and GEOlayers 3
With video from The Associated Press

[hammerth]

Somaliland is a great demonstration of the issues with Westphalian sovereignity. The seperatists are more country-like than the country they're trying to split from, yet the international community can't recognize them over the dying sovereign nation.

[kisaragi-hiu]

Taiwan does actually recognize Somaliland now: apart from the de-facto embassy, our ministry of foreign affairs also lists it as a country in a country list.

[theconqueringram]

So, Ethiopia isn't creating a new country, they're just recognizing an effectively autonomous area.

[samuela-aegisdottir]

I was born in Czechoslovakia, but it quickly changed, because the Slovaks said they want their own country, the Czechs did not see any reason to prevent them from leaving, and as a result, Czechia and Slovakia were formed. We live very happily as neigbors and good friends ever since.

[lordabz]

One thing polymatter didn’t elaborate on is the fact that Somalia tried to commit a genecide on somaliland(known as the forgotten genecide) which killed upto 200k people which is one of the reason Somaliland is seeking recognition

[OmerE.C]

As an Ethiopian, I want to say this
*THE 1.5$ BILLION A YEAR WE PAY IS NEARLY TWICE OUR ENTIRE DEFENSE BUDGET, ALL THIS FOR A LOW QUALITY AND HIGHLY REGULATED PORT WE PAY FOR*
Should we pay for our stability first or to Djibouti! Thank you for your attention 🇪🇹

[door-hinge]

To put it in context, Ethiopia spends annually the equivalent of 4X the government budget of Somaliland in 2023 ($420 mil), on port fees alone!

[GodfreyNjau]

It's not that Ethiopia is creating a new country. In fact it's not the first to play with the idea of recognising Somaliland. During Farmajoo and Uhuru's presidencies, Kenya toyed with this idea to get back at Somalia for going back on their word regarding our maritime borders. As long as Somalia continues with its irredentism, the idea of Greater Somalia, Somaliland is always going to be an asset to its neighbours.

[yoyo-tfeh]

Somaliland is not anew country .

Somaliland was a UK protectorate that became the 17th African country to be granted full independence on June 26, 1960, but within days it was annexed by Somalia.
However, after years of occupation marked by persecution and genocide, Somaliland reclaimed its sovereignty on May 18, 1991 based on its original boundaries at the time of independence.

[militarygeopolitics]

I heard Ethiopia recently had an internal crisis, but didn't hear about casualties within 2 years! One of world's forgotten wars! 😥

[MOBXOJ]

As a Sudanese although it’s a tiny mistake the capital is wrong in the thumbnail, Sudan’s capital is Khartoum not Omdurman but it’s understandable since they’re twin cities

[BadTakeRisan]

Let's gooo, never thought i'd see a vid on Somaliland on this channel lmao. I've gone back a few times and yall would be surprised, it's fairly safe all things considered with a bustling real estate industry. When i visited in 2020, I was surprised to see white people there 🤣 (germans and norwegians) who all worked for construction, housing or other companies. Somaliland is definitely one to watch in Africa.

[VinnieMF]

This is one of the consequences of the post WW freezing of borders. Peoples with different cultures and ideas get locked in the same country and can't go off to do their own thing unless that country allows them to secede. Even if the separatist region is better off that way, the international community won't recognize it for fear of legitimizing separatists in it's own country.

[possumkeys]

As a Kenyan, it's embarassing to come to learn about my neighbour from an American. Anyway, here we go.

[Selfpaid]

Somaliland is an independent country and they deserve to decide what their future is and no one should force them to be part of the lawless and pirate nation

[nickyoung]

2 months ago, Reallifelore made the video on the fragile potential instability between Eritrea and Ethiopia, citing the same singular issue. Now PolyMatter does one in the same region centered on Ethiopia again. How different and quickly things change on a single phrase "on Jan 1, Ethiopia signed..." at 13:38, which was within those 2 months.

[richdobbs]

The opposition to recognizing Somaliland by other members of the AU and UN in general doesn't arise from concern about the unrest this would create in Somalia. It arises from concern that allowing new countries to be formed and recognized would lead to an outbreak of separatist movement all across the world. And an outbreak of separatists movements invites meddling by foreign powers. The world is a messy anarchy with what constitutes a country is just a bunch of historical accidents.

[andrew]

I was reading about Somaliland and Puntland on Wikipedia a few months ago and was confused why Somaliland especially wasn’t its own country. Thank you for diving into the why!

[connorohlander]

my grandmother and her whole family are from what is now Eritrea. They were plantation owners I think, they were kicked out sometime in the 80s or so I think. They moved to Milan.

[Nomad]

Great video. The only thing you forgot to mention it is that somaliland and Somalia was two separate independent countries before the unification in the 1960’s.