Sir Keir Starmer will recognise Palestine as a country despite objections from both the US and Israel. Yet when it came to independence for Scotland, the three main parties at Westminster were against the idea at the 2014 referendum, and none have called for a similar vote in Wales. How, then, to decide which ‘two-state solutions’ deserve our support?
In 1974, the government of Cyprus was overthrown in a coup, and plans to merge the island with Greece followed. That might have worked, given Greek Cypriots made up 80 per cent of the population, but the Turkish minority, already marginalised, feared expulsion. Just five days after the coup, Turkey invaded from the north and by 1983 had created the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus.
More than 40 years on, Britain and the EU get around the problem by pretending it doesn’t exist and condemning those who say otherwise. When the Labour MP for Manchester, Afzal Khan, paid a recent visit to Northern Cyprus, there was outrage from both his own party and the opposition. Under pressure, Khan resigned as UK trade envoy to Turkey.
If there’s been a continuum in British foreign policy since the 1970s, it’s the denial of reality in Cyprus and more-so across Africa.
Islamic rebels want an independent caliphate in northern Mozambique (as with Gaza, journalists are not allowed into the region), Zanzibar wants a divorce from Tanzania, and since the 1960s the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda has been trying to leave Angola. The Igbo people of Nigeria still dream about Biafra, the region that broke away in 1967. The result? Nigerian troops carried out a genocide against the Igbo – causing well over a million deaths – with the help of the government of Edward Heath, who flew in weapons. The would-be nation was forced back into what remains an uneasy union.
In 1960, both British and Italian Somaliland on the Horn of Africa won independence and merged to create Somalia, but devastated by a civil war even American intervention couldn’t fix – remember the movie Black Hawk Down – in 1991 the English-speaking north retook its borders.
Today, the Republic of Somaliland has de facto embassies in London and Washington and no intention of re-joining the south. And like North Cyprus, their diplomats are lobbying in London and Washington for an exchange of ambassadors. What’s not to like? It would cement relations with Turkey and allow Nato to open a base on the coast of Somaliland, dominating the entrance to Suez.
There is reason not to support the break-up of countries
If by a simple act of recognition, Sir Keir thinks he can solve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, why not others? Let’s recognise Punjab, Catalonia, lands of the Basque region! Texas, California, even Western Australia deserve a look-in too. Stranger things have happened. It was the defeat of Napoleon that gave us a new country called Belgium as a buffer to hem in France. And when the Soviet Union collapsed, 14 nations were born, all now members of the UN.
Back to Africa. Year-on-year, British tourists rate Cape Town among the best holiday spots in the world. The Referendum Party, formed in 2023, wants a vote on independence from South Africa.
In Pretoria, politicians from all sides laugh it off. For President Cyril Ramaphosa and his African National Congress (ANC) which lost last year’s election and has been forced into a wobbly coalition, there’s logic in letting Western Cape go: home to a third of South Africa’s white minority and where the ANC has scant support.
But, if Western Cape is granted a referendum, Zululand will want one as well. In a country with 11 official languages. the most widely spoken is Zulu and they have a king, not only acknowledged but funded by central government. These too are the people who brought the world’s greatest empire to its knees at Rorkes Drift and Isandlwana, a history they speak of with pride. Be careful what you wish for!
There is reason not to support the break-up of countries. Splitting Yugoslavia and the birth of South Sudan led to civil war; North and South Vietnam ended badly and the two Chinas – the People’s Republic and Taiwan – pose a threat to world peace.
Why, then, a rush to recognise Palestine? Will a separate state really end a conflict that’s been with us since the creation of Israel in 1948? Probably not, but it will certainly uncork the yearning of others to go their own way.
Comments