Somaliland deserves international recognition
It is far more functional than Somalia, the state to which it notionally belongs
SOMALILAND’S FIRST stab at independence lasted less than a week. Pipers of the Royal Highland Fusiliers were ordered to play the new state’s national anthem at a ceremony in Hargeisa, the capital, marking the end of British colonial rule in June 1960. On discovering that it did not have one, the bandmaster cobbled together a medley of local folk tunes, and conducted it with brio. A day later, however, Somaliland’s parliament passed an act of union with Somalia, a former Italian colony to its south, and Somaliland officially was no more.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “A state of one’s own”
From the May 8th 2021 edition
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