Hargeisa, Somaliland — As Kenya mourns the passing of opposition leader Raila Odinga, tributes from an unexpected quarter have unveiled a little-known chapter of his political career: a secret diplomatic visit to the Republic of Somaliland in 2001, a trip that forged a deep and lasting friendship between the Kenyan statesman and the aspiring nation.
The revelation, emerging from personal testimonies and analyst commentaries, adds a new layer to Odinga’s legacy as a Pan-Africanist with a nuanced understanding of the Horn of Africa’s complex geopolitics.
The previously undisclosed journey occurred in May 2001, when Odinga, then a first-term Member of Parliament, and businessman-politician Mark Too traveled to Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, to deliver a message from the late Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi to Somaliland’s then-president, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal.
While an Agence France-Presse report at the time confirmed the official nature of the visit, the clandestine circumstances surrounding Odinga’s personal involvement were only recently shared publicly.
According to an account published by Ibrahim Abdi, a pilot, human rights advocate, and proponent of good governance who was part of a Somaliland delegation that met with Odinga in 2019, the Kenyan leader recounted the story with characteristic humor.
The delegation was led by Mohamed Kahin, former Interior Minister and current Kulmiye Party leader, and the leader of the UCID Party, Eng. Faysal Ali Warabe.
“At the time, I was serving my first term as a Member of Parliament. I received an official invitation from my friend, Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal,” Odinga told the delegation, as recalled by Ibrahim Abdi.
“The challenge, however, was that Kenyan leaders were not permitted to travel to that territory for security reasons. So, I informed the Speaker that I would be travelling to Addis Ababa on official business—but instead, I flew to Hargeisa to visit my brother.”
Ibrahim Abdi wrote that Odinga described spending a week in Hargeisa, where he was “deeply moved by the courage, determination, and resilience of the Somaliland people as they worked tirelessly to rebuild their nation from the ashes” following a period of conflict and genocide.
That initial trip left an indelible mark, cementing a relationship that would endure for decades. Analysts note that Odinga became one of Somaliland’s most consistent and vocal supporters on the continental stage.
“There is another state in the Horn whose people are as grief-stricken as Kenyans—Somaliland. They lost a principled and genuine friend,” Rashid Abdi, a prominent Horn of Africa analyst, wrote on X following Odinga’s death. “Rt Hon Raila Odinga had an abiding love for Somaliland and deeply admired its democracy, its resilience, and its self-reliance ethos.”
The bond, first forged with founding father Egal, extended to the current Somaliland leadership.
Earlier this year, Odinga received Somaliland President Abdirahman Irro at his home in Karen, Nairobi—a gesture, Ibrahim Abdi noted, “only extended to special friends.”
The 2019 meeting between Odinga and the cross-party Somaliland delegation, which included major opposition leaders, was described as light and cordial.
Abdi recounted how one delegate, Faysal Ali Warabe, jokingly listed the similarities between himself and Odinga: both were engineers, party founders, and multiple-time presidential contenders who never won the top office.
“Raila, with his characteristic laughter, found the comparison both amusing and true,” Ibrahim Abdi wrote.
In his tribute, Ibrahim Abdi expressed a hope that the current Somaliland administration would “retrieve the archival footage of that historic visit and preserve it for posterity.”
The story of the secret trip, now brought to light, stands as a testament to a relationship that transcended formal diplomacy, built on what admirers describe as mutual respect, solidarity, and a shared belief in the resilience of people determined to shape their own destiny.
