Er ging dabei so weit ihm dies ohne formelle Wiederanerkennung dieses demokratischen Hoffnungsschimmers am Horn von Afrika möglich war. In Hargeisa wird man Meles schmerzlich vermissen, da er eine von China finanzierte Gaspipeline aus dem Ogaden über das Territorium von Somaliland bis an die Küste plante.
And yet he controversially but rightly held out a hand of friendship to the breakaway region of Somaliland, before it became fashionable, and went as far as he could short of formal re-recognition of that ray of democratic hope in the Horn of Africa. Meles will be sorely missed in Hargeisa, as he planned to run a Chinese-financed gas pipeline through Somaliland territory from the Ogaden to the coast.