Uganda President Yoweri Museveni offered to become facilitator in the reunification of Somalia with the breakaway Republic of Somaliland after more than three decades of separation.

A reunion would enhance economic growth and boost the welfare of citizens, Museveni said in an email statement from his office after a meeting with Somaliland Special Envoy Jama Musse Jama in Entebbe, Uganda.

Museveni, whose troops have been backing Somalia’s government against insurgents since 2007, is key to the reunification because of his influence in the Horn of African country, Jama said in the statement.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 after the country was plunged into a civil war, although the republic hasn’t gained international recognition as a sovereign state.