Citizens and leaders in Somaliland say they are historically and politically a separate country.
By: Nazanine Moshiri/Al Jazeera
The Horn of Africa has been ravaged by war and famine for decades, and now one of Somalia’s regions, hopes to become an independent state.
Somaliland sits on the Gulf of Aden and is officially regarded as an autonomous region of Somalia. The two were, however, separate until 1960. During the civil war in the 1980s, 40,000 people from Somaliland were killed, and nearly half a million fled.
The region then declared independence in 1991. Since then, it has held four peaceful elections. Poverty, however, remains high and because Somaliland is not recognised as an independent state, it is not eligible for international development loans.
Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri reports from Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
Watch Al Jazeera’s Somaliland Hopes for Independence video
