Earlier this week, I went to share an update on social media regarding the historic visit of the Republic of Somaliland’s President, H.E. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdilahi Cirro, to the United States.

As with any diplomatic event of this caliber, I intended to include the Somaliland flag emoji to visually honor the occasion. Instead, I was met with a frustrating reality: no Somaliland flag emoji exists.

This posed a major problem. Using Somalia’s flag felt inaccurate, inappropriate, and disrespectful to Somaliland’s decades of peace, stability, and democratic self-governance.

This seemingly small omission points to a much larger, systemic issue: the digital erasure of Somaliland across global communications infrastructure.

Because Somaliland lacks a dedicated country code, digital platforms, trade systems, and international registries either render it invisible or subsume it under Somalia - failing to reflect its practical reality and its diplomatic recognition by a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States.

To address this gap, we respectfully call upon the United States Government to officially adopt “XS” as a user-defined ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code for Somaliland across U.S. federal systems, trade registries, consular platforms, and administrative databases.

Adopting a practical, user-defined code like “XS” does not seek to resolve final international legal determinations; rather, it provides a functional standard that reflects Somaliland’s separate operational identity and prevents administrative confusion with Somalia.

An added benefit is that official U.S. adoption creates the necessary technical foundation for others to urge Unicode and major technology platforms to implement a dedicated Somaliland flag emoji in the future.

Three Reasons Why This Matters:

• Support for Democratic Stability: Acknowledging Somaliland's distinct operational identity honors over three decades of democratic self-rule, counter-terrorism partnership, and strategic stability in the Horn of Africa.
• Administrative Accuracy and Data Clarity: Establishing a distinct code improves data interoperability, trade reporting, and customs tracking, providing clear distinction in U.S. institutional and commercial data systems.

Meaningful partnership begins with accurate representation. By adopting “XS” as a user-defined country code for Somaliland, the United States Government can demonstrate thought leadership in modernizing digital diplomacy, bridging the technical divide, and fostering transparent engagement with a peaceful, democratic partner.