Somaliland – a ‘country’ no one calls a nation

SOMALILAND is a self-declared nation on the horn of Africa which celebrated independence from Somalia in 1991 following a brutal civil war.

Even though Somaliland has governed itself for 28 years, every other nation – including the UK and the United States – views it as an autonomous region of Somalia rather than as an independent state.

Somaliland has for the most part not suffered from the violent Islamic insurgency that has plagued Somalia for years.

Despite this, it was targeted by Donald Trump’s travel ban, which restricts the ability of citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries to enter America. Its citizens are banned from entering the US as long-term immigrants and may face further security checks if travelling as tourists.

Somaliland officials have been campaigning to be exempted from the travel ban. In 2017, former foreign minister Saad Ali Shire said: ‘Somaliland is a separate country. We don’t have the troubles and problems with terrorism and extremism that they have in Somalia.’

However the Foreign Office warns that Britons should avoid all travel to both Somalia and Somaliland, with exceptions for the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa and the coastal city of Berbera.

In 1993, Somalian forces shot down two Black Hawk helicopters, pictured, in the capital of Mogadishu, resulting in the deaths of 18 Special Forces soldiers. Director Ridley Scott dramatised the conflict in the 1999 movie, Black Hawk Down.