Wait, is Somaliland REALLY a country?

Yes! Well, sort of. Though any Somalilander you meet would say absolutely, it's technically an autonomous region of Somalia, unrecognized by any state or organization. Somaliland was a British colony until its independence in 1960. Here's Edna's first husband Mohammed Egal (first row left), the Prime Minister of British Somaliland, signing the independence document. I saw this photo in a copy shop I was in this morning.


For 5 glorious days, Somaliland was an independent nation. It then merged with Italian Somaliland to make modern Somalia. You can't tell me that people aren't kicking themselves for that one right now. Pretty quickly, things disintegrated. Egal had been prime minister of Somalia from 1967 to 1969, but Siad Barre toppled him in a coup, and disenchantment with his regime was growing. People in the former British Somaliland felt marginalized in the government and economy. Following an ugly war with Ethiopia in 1977 where Somalia tried (unsuccessfully) to capture the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, the Somali National Movement (SNM) was formed to try to oust Barre, primarily by the Issaq clan in what had been British Somaliland. When we were at Edna's farm last week, she pointed out to me the military base adjacent to the farm where she taught First Aid to Somali soldiers during the war with Ethiopia.

As Siad Barre's regime grew more unstable and the SNM's power grew, the government in Mogadishu punished the north with raids and indiscriminate bombings. 1988 was a brutal year for Somaliland and Hargeisa in particular (as the capital) was virtually flattened, with as many as 50,000 people killed. You still see evidence of this around the city, including land mines scattered in the countryside around Hargeisa to this day (no off-roading here). Here's what's left of the nursing school:

And here's the remains of the what used to be the Maternal and Child Health center. I mean, really, the maternal and child health clinic? That's low.


But try as he might, Siad Barre couldn't crush Somaliland's soul and while the rest of Somalia disintegrated into brutal civil war in 1991, Somaliland looked into a potentially dark future and turned right around and reasserted its independence. I like to think this goat is contemplating such bold decisions:

This statue, in the center of Hargeisa, is the shell of one of the planes that was used to repeatedly bomb Hargeisa in 1988. It's meant as a reminder of Somaliland's troubled past and to unify Somalilanders.


Things haven't been totally smooth sailing since 1991. There are lots of challenges associated with not being recognized as a country--can you say "no postal service"? The economy remains a bit uncertain, with one of the most significant sources of income foreign remittances. Livestock is the backbone of the economy, and years of drought or disease can dramatically impact the economy (60-65% of the population depend on livestock for their livelihood).


And the country has absorbed many refugees from Somalia, as the civil war continues there. Because Somaliland isn't technically a separate country from Somalia, these refugees are actually considered internally displaced persons (IDPs)--about 40,000 of them. One of the major camps is just down the street from the hospital:


But, all told, Somaliland is doing pretty well. Perhaps most notably, several weeks ago Somaliland held elections that were deemed reasonably free and fair and the handover to a new president went smoothly--something you really can't take for granted in many places.

Here's what the future of Somaliland looks like:





Not bad, not bad at all.