Nairobi, Kenya, November 5, 2011 – Somaliland is a self-declared sovereign state internationally recognized as an autonomous region of north-eastern Somalia.

According to Wikipedia, an online resource base, “The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland Protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of Somaliland before uniting with the Trust Territory of Somalia to form the Somali Republic.”

Massacre of the people of Somaliland in 1988 by the Siyad Barre were among the events that led to the Somali civil war and the eventual crumble of the unified country.

Somaliland declared independence in 1991 after the collapse of the central government and have remained relatively stable since then, while the rest of the country was embroiled in a war that have claimed millions of lives.

Although the territory’s administration has been striving for recognition as the Republic of Somaliland, only Ethiopia maintains a consulate in Hargeysa.

Other countries that maintains contacts with the Somaliland territory includes Djibouti, Kenya, Ghana, France, Belgium, South Africa, Sweden and United Kingdom.

The Somaliland government is headed by a directly elected president, a vice-president and a cabinet appointed by the president and nominated by the president and approved by parliament.

The country has a two-tire parliament that consists the House of Elders (Senate) and the House of Representatives with each having 82 members.

President Ahmed Mahamoud Sillanyo is the current head of state.

Source: Daily Nation

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