Somaliland Deputy Speaker Says Citizenship Bill Will Be Suspended That Would Shift to Maternal Lineage

HARGEISA — The Deputy Speaker of Somaliland’s House of Representatives, Ali Hamud Jibril, has said that the proposed nationality law will be suspended or rejected, describing it as contrary to religious believes.

This is a significant reversal of a legislative process that has generated intense public controversy since it began, last month.

What the Proposed Law Would Have Changed

The proposed amendment would have fundamentally altered Somaliland’s citizenship framework, most notably by allowing citizenship to pass through the maternal line for the first time. As detailed in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the nationality law debate, the current law, Law No. 22/2002, is explicitly patrilineal.

It defines a Somaliland citizen by birth as anyone whose father is a descendant of persons who resided in the territory on 26 June 1960. A narrow exception exists for a person whose mother is a citizen and who has been proved to have no father, but only if they apply and meet other conditions. The law also strips citizenship from women who marry foreign men and acquire their husband’s nationality.

The proposed amendment, as described by MP Mohamed Hassan, would have expanded the law from 14 articles to 46. The key change was a provision that would grant citizenship to children of a Somaliland mother married to a foreign man. The amendment would also have allowed a person born in Somaliland to run for political office, up to the presidency. The draft law reportedly lowered the residency threshold for citizenship from 1960 to 1990 and included a provision stripping citizenship from anyone who commits serious crimes or acts against the state’s security.

Media reports indicated that journalists were barred from entering the parliamentary chamber during the proceedings.

Public Backlash and Concerns Over Identity

The proposed changes sparked significant public discussion and concern. Critics argued that broadening the citizenship law could create a dangerous distinction between foreign nationals entering the country and natural-born citizens, with implications for land ownership and national identity.

A social media post by Axmed Bile argued that Somaliland needs a clear, permanent residency law rather than an expanded citizenship law. He stated that if the citizenship law is broadened, it could create a distinction between foreign nationals entering the country and natural-born citizens, which he described as a major danger.

Another post by Yassin Mohamed claimed that the changes to the nationality law are a danger to the people of Somaliland and their rights to own land. The Secretary of the House of Representatives reportedly stated that the law was legal, but critics argued it could have unintended consequences for land ownership and national identity.

Maternal Lineage Shift and the Israel Alliance

The amendment’s introduction of maternal lineage was a deliberate inversion of the prevailing norm in Somalia and the wider Horn of Africa, where citizenship and clan identity are traced through the father. In Somali tradition, a person belongs to their father’s clan, and that lineage determines everything from political representation to land rights and marriage guidelines.

The timing of the shift was notable. Somaliland’s recognition campaign has been led by an alliance with Israel, whose own nationality framework is rooted in maternal descent. By adopting a maternal lineage provision, the amended nationality law would have brought Hargeisa’s legal framework closer to that of its new diplomatic partner, a state whose Law of Return grants citizenship to anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent.

Somaliland has opened an embassy in Jerusalem, and its first ambassador to Israel presented credentials to Israeli President Isaac Herzog in May 2026, as reported in FTL Somalia’s coverage of the diplomatic engagement. President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro) has also met with Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, as detailed in FTL Somalia’s analysis of the meeting.

However, the recognition campaign faces significant obstacles. The African Union, Arab League, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation have all rejected Israel’s recognition and reaffirmed Somalia’s territorial integrity, as detailed in FTL Somalia’s coverage of regional reactions.

Critical Note

The Deputy Speaker’s statement that the nationality law will be suspended is a significant development, but it should be treated with caution until formally confirmed. The claim came via social media, not through an official parliamentary statement. The House of Representatives has not issued a formal announcement, and the legislative process that began in September has not been publicly closed.

If the suspension is confirmed, it would represent a victory for critics who argued that the amendment threatened Somaliland’s social fabric and political stability. The law’s opponents raised legitimate concerns about land ownership, national identity, and the potential for demographic manipulation. In a territory that has built its political identity around a specific conception of clan-based belonging, a radical expansion of citizenship rights was always likely to be contentious.

However, the episode also exposes deeper questions about Somaliland’s governance and legislative process. The fact that journalists were barred from the parliamentary chamber during the initial debates, the lack of transparent consultation with communities, and the reliance on social media for major political announcements all point to a system that struggles with openness and accountability. Whether the suspension represents a genuine retreat or a tactical pause ahead of a revised proposal remains to be seen. The underlying debate about who belongs to Somaliland, and on what terms, is far from settled.