Somaliland: A Brief History

The Republic of Somaliland is located in Horn of Africa and occupies the same land colonized by the British prior to 1960. On June 26, 1960 Somaliland became the first Somali country to be recognized by the United Nations. Somalilanders at this time had hopes of bringing all Somali-speaking communities together within a greater Somalia, and that is why Somaliland merged with Italian Somaliland on July 1,1960 to form the Somali Republic. The euphoric feeling that had taken hold in Somaliland regarding unification quickly changed to disenchantment as Somalilanders became increasingly marginalized in government and other sectors of society.
On October 15, 1969 the democratically elected President of Somalia, Abdirashid Ali Shermark was assassinated in Lasanood. A power vacuum arose allowing Siad Barre to stage a coup on October 21 1969, and take power. He would end up carrying out a brutal genocide against the people of Somaliland. Hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, and children would loss their lives.
In 1981, a group of Somalilanders living in the United Kingdom formed the Somali National Movement, a resistance movement that aimed to topple Siad Barre’s government. The SNM ultimately defeated Siad Barre, and on May 18, 1991 the people of Somaliland declared independence from Somalia. Since independence the people of Somaliland have been hard working to rebuild their country with nearly no international assistance and have successfully formed a democratic, prosperous nation. Often regarded as Africa's Best kept Secret, Somaliland is the only country on the continent to have no foreign debt.
On May 31st, 2001, a referendum on independence was held in Somaliland. Of a total population of about 3.5 million, the total number of people who voted stands at 1,188,154. Of these, more than a million people, or 97% of the voters, voted in favor of independence with only 34,460, or 3% of the voters, voting against it. All regions of the six Somaliland regions voted in favor of independence by landslide majority.

Jama Ali, President SYONA
jama_ali@live.ca