Region that broke away from Somalia in 1991 is still
waiting for international recognition.
People in Somaliland are marking 22 years of self-
declared independence from Somalia, but they are
still waiting for the world to recognise their region as a country.

Celebrations were held in the capital, Hargeisa, on
Saturday, with people holding rallies, waving flags
from their vehicles and staging shows in various
stadiums.

Somaliland, which is more tribally homogeneous
than the rest of Somalia, has been striving for
international recognition since it broke away in 991.

Ahmed Mahamoud Silany, the region’s president,
told Al Jazeera on Friday that, despite Somalia's calls to be united with the region, Somaliland is
determined to retain its independence.

"We would like to remain friends with Somalia, we
would like to cooperate with them.
"But as far as our independence is concerned. It is
not I who has decided, it's not my government who
has decided.

"It the people of Somaliland, and the history of
Somaliland, which has decided that Somaliland is
going to be, and has always been a different
country."

The UN and the African Union have both rejected
calls to recognise Somaliland

'Oasis of peace

Having escaped decades of conflict in Somalia,
Somaliland, which sits on the Gulf of Aden, employs
its own security and police forces, justice system and currency.

Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from
Hargeisa, said that while war has raged in Somalia
for decades, Somaliland has managed to unite its
people.

m.aljazeera.com/se/2013518171147675511

REPUBLIC OF BIAFRA SHALL BE FREE INSHA GOD!