You would be forgiven for not being aware of Liverpool’s impact on the Horn of Africa, some 6,500 miles away from here. Yet for some, particularly those fleeing horrific scenes during the genocide in the 1980s, it has become home.
Since the Second World War, a settled Somaliland community has been recognised in Granby. In the 1980s, as civil war broke out, Liverpool Law Centre was inundated with requests for help as many fled to safety. Now, as a campaign progresses to re-recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, Liverpool Council has added its voice to the efforts, much to the joy of its own Somaliland community.
In May 2001, years after Somaliland had secured independence from Britain, a referendum was held on the affirming of its status as a sovereign state but was never ratified formally. Ever since, a campaign has worked tirelessly to secure it.
A motion was laid down before the local authority last week calling for the city’s backing in light of the thousands of people from Somaliland who have made Liverpool their home in the last 80 years.
Since the outbreak of the Second World War, Somalilanders have come to the city first as seamen using Liverpool as a base, before a horrific genocide in the late 1980s forcing thousands to seek safe haven or to flee to refugee camps in Ethiopia.
Among them was Shruki Mohammed, a campaigner and survivor who came to the city to be reunited with her father who served in the armed forces. She told city councillors how Liverpool had literally changed people’s lives.
She said: “A number of Somalilanders fought in both World War One and World War Two, those who fought were my forefathers who are not here with us today, including my father who joined the merchant navy. Ever since he was here and died for this country.
“Thank you for acknowledging the history of the moment of recognising Somaliland as an independent state. Liverpool has always been a home to the Somalilanders for many, many years, therefore I thank Liverpool Council who took the lead reuniting families after the genocide. I thank you guys today and every day as I wouldn’t be here otherwise or reunited with my father.
“I must have been about 11 or 12 when my mother came home crying and said ‘do you know where this is? We’re going to go and see your dad.’ Mum didn’t want to come to England when he married her, she wanted to stay home but because of the genocide that was committed we had to flee and leave home but now Liverpool has given us a home.
“This is my home, this is our home, for all the Somalilanders.” During the 1980s, L8 Law Centre approached the Home Office to secure visas for 33 families, despite the daunting task of locating the majority of relatives scattered across the camps. Undeterred, officials from the Law Centre, funded by Liverpool Council and the John Moores Foundation, Alan Gayle and Peter Simm, joined members of the city’s Somali community, Adan Elmi and Zainab Aboker, to find them.
After painstaking work, with 350,000 displaced people to work through in Ethiopia, the delegation managed to reunite more than 140 relatives, who would go on to call Liverpool their home. This effort was not lost on Abdi Abdullah Hirsi, representative of the Somaliland mission in the UK, who would become the official ambassador if Somaliland’s sovereignty is recognised. He said: “I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to members of Liverpool Council, the people of Liverpool for their unwavering support. Your solidarity and commitment have touched our hearts deeply and have renewed our hope for a brighter future. Liverpool was and always is in our hearts.”
Shruki, flanked by dozens of Somali campaigners in the Town Hall, reflected on the significance of Liverpool Council offering its support to the community and its wider fight. She said: “This is a remarkable and historical moment for Liverpool Council and the republic of Somaliland and recognising it. It is not a new country, long before the colonisation, the same ethnic group have been inhabited in Somaliland today. It’s not a region, it’s not a breakaway. Our independence is safeguarded by the international community.”
As a result of adopting the motion, Liverpool Council will ask its leader, Cllr Liam Robinson, to write to David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, calling on the government to recognise Somaliland as an independent state and to encourage other governments around the world to do the same.
