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A monument to commemorate those who fought for has become the Republic of Somaliland in Hargeysa, Somaliland

Suleiman Jirdeh, a lawyer, left, and Omar Roble, a civil servant, right, discuss the politics and economics of the Republic of Somaliland over milky sweet tea in Hargeysa, Somaliland

Mahmood Salah Nuur, a top Somaliland opposition leader, tells The Associated Press that Somaliland could develop more if it was internationally recognized as an independent state in an interview in Hargeysa, Somaliland. Nuur is first vice president of the Rally for Unity and Democracy Party, or Kulmiye. Kulmiye is the largest opposition party in Somaliland's parliament. Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 and has been relatively peaceful and stable compared with the rest of Somalia, which descended into chaos when warlords ousted longtime dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre. A British colony before gaining independence in 1960, Somaliland united with the former Italian Somali colony to the south, on July 1, 1960 to become the new nation of Somalia. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim).

Hussein Ali Duale, finance minister of the Republic of Somaliland, tells The Associated Press that the region has potentially several exploitable natural resources including coal and oil in an interview in Hargeysa.

Livestock vendors sell goats in Saylada Market in Hargeysa, Somaliland.

Bags of cement are piled after being offloaded from vessels at the port of Berbera, Somaliland. According to port authorities Berbera is the Red Sea's deepest natural sea port.

A hospital built using Russian funds in the 1970s remains abandoned and marked with bullet holes from fighting in the 1980s in Berbera, Somaliland.

HARGEYSA, Somaliland, December 20, 2006 – Stacks of currency piled foot-high on the streets, no guards or police in sight, would be unusual to see anywhere.

But it's particularly striking in Somaliland. The people of Somaliland, this calm northern third of a country known for lawlessness and violence, say they should get more credit for creating the order symbolized by their "Wall Street," where money changers ply their trade.

From the president and opposition leaders to men drinking milky sweet evening tea and women selling goats and sheep in open air markets, Somalilanders all ask as if with one voice: Why has their region not been recognized by the world as an independent state?

They wonder why the chaotic part of Somalia to the south gets all the international attention. They, with little international help or pressure, have held multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in recent years.

They got the militias who have created instability here and elsewhere in Somalia to disarm, and began rebuilding their region after heavy fighting destroyed homes, buildings and other infrastructure.

Along the road to the region's main port, Berbera, part of an abandoned tank or armored vehicle can still be seen. The shell of a Russian-built hospital stands on the outskirts of the port town, pocked with bullet holes.

Somalia has been chaotic since clan-based since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991. A transitional federal government was formed in 2004 with U.N. help, but it has struggled to assert its authority in the face of an increasingly powerful Islamic movement.

It's not that Somaliland doesn't suffer from the clan divisions that continue to shape politics to the south. Once, only members of Somaliland's dominant clan, the Isaaq, strongly supported the idea of independence, while others were either unsure or supported unity with southern Somalia.

But the International Crisis Group, a Belgium-based conflict prevention think tank, said in a May report that that is beginning to change because young people, who make up the majority of the region, have little memory of a united Somalia or associate that unity with violence.

Mahmood Salah Nuur, a top opposition leader, says that Somaliland could develop more if it was internationally recognized as an independent state.

The lack of such recognition, "is the main obstacle that bars or stops the flow of foreign investment," said Nuur, first vice president of the Rally for Unity and Democracy Party, or Kulmiye. Kulmiye is the largest opposition party in parliament. "Really we are at a loss why we should be denied our birthright as an independent sovereign nation."

In pursuit of recognition, President Dahir Rayale Kahin told The Associated Press that his government planned to reach out to African countries.

Selling independence to fellow Africans, though, may be difficult. Countries like Sudan and Nigeria who have their own restive groups clamoring for independence do not want to see any precedents set.

African Union Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare told The Associated Press that the organization does not recognize Somaliland, "but one must admit that Somaliland is a good example of peace and democracy."

He said that the African Union would like Somaliland leaders to talk with those of Somalia's transitional federal government about their future relationship.

The transitional government, though, has struggled to assert authority. Its rivals in the Islamic group have vowed to bring Quranic law to all of Somalia _ presumably including Somaliland.

Several leaders of the Islamic movement have advocated a Greater Somalia. The idea, at odds with an independent Somaliland, is for the unity of all Somali-speaking peoples, living in Somalia as well Kenya's Northeastern Province, Ethiopia's eastern region of Ogaden and Djibouti.

A British colony before gaining independence in 1960, Somaliland united with the former Italian Somali colony to the south, on July 1, 1960 to become the new nation of Somalia.

While no one recognizes its independence, in recent years, some countries have begun to develop a working relationship with Somaliland. Ethiopia has had a trade representative office in Hargeysa for some years. Kenya opened one in August.

Somaliland has reserves of coal, oil and other natural resources, Finance Minister Hussein Ali Duale told The Associated Press. But it needs outside expertise _ and capital _ to exploit them.

"Investors will not come for the simple reason we have no diplomatic recognition," Duale said. "We are a nation. We are a state but to the logic of the international community we do not exist ... We cannot borrow from international financial institutions. We cannot get bilateral aid. Private banks will not come because we have no recognition."

Like most of Africa's Horn of Africa, Somaliland's main economic activity is rearing and exporting cattle, camels, goats and sheep, earning up to 60 percent of Somaliland's foreign exchange.

Somaliland 's other major source of hard currency is remittances from Somalis abroad. Duale estimates that each year natives of Somaliland send about US$450 million to relatives living in the region.

Abdi Bader Abdi, who has been a money changer for 10 years on Hargeysa’s Wall Street, estimates he and other dealers change about US$600,000 in various foreign currencies every day. Off the top of his head, Abdi happily reels off the rates for the Australian dollar, Indian rupee, Kenyan shilling as well as more popular currencies such as the U.S. dollar and the euro.

"We watch television, we learn about all the rates of the world from BBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera, Euronews and we also surf the Internet," Abdi said.

The world, though, has not returned the attention, he lamented.

"You journalists come here and take photos of" the street-side money changers," Abdi said. "But still we have not gotten international recognition. How come?"

Source: The Associated Press.