Somaliland is a de facto state north of Somalia, and the most bizarre place I've ever been. It is preoccupied with a resolute quest for international recognition, and governs the most democratic Islamic state in the world from the safest capital in Africa as part of a campaign to prove to other nations that it deserves statehood. Most of the West, meanwhile, is reluctant to establish diplomatic ties with Somaliland because doing so would recognize the failure of their aid and effort in South Central Somalia, enrage Egypt by ostensibly supporting Ethiopia, and possibly encourage other secessions.
Hargeisa's most famous monument displays scenes of destruction from the 1991 Somali Civil War, and is topped by a Russian MIG fighter used by Siad Barre's Somali forces to destroy the city. Other reminders of the war dot the length of the country's only paved road: in the States, we have signs that tell us which Lions or Kiwanis club picks up the trash on particular stretches of highway; in Somaliland, signs tell you which NGO cleared that particular minefield.Today the antagonism between Somaliland and Somalia persists, albeit usually in a less violent fashion. However, Al Shabaab and even Somali TFG have allegedly threatened to disrupt Somaliland's June 26 elections, especially in disputed areas on the Puntland border. A fourth safe and democratic election in Somaliland's 20 year history would bring the breakaway state one step closer to the recognition it desires, which might help it draw aid flow, people and land from the Somalia.
The streets of the capital were very safe, even into the night, though one local did warn me that his friend's cousin had $5 stolen in the market in 2007. I steered clear of that dangerous area!At right, Somaliland's only free pirate sells copies of Islamic tapes and videos. Unlike its southern neighbor, Somaliland has aggressively combated real piracy, sentencing over 70 pirates to imprisonment within its borders.
Moneychangers lined the street outside of my hotel, sitting behind stacks of notes that they wheelbarrow through the open street. A stack of notes equal to $20 is about three inches high, and prices are roughly equivalent to those in cheaper Western cities, so you need a backpack full of bills to pay for a night's hotel stay. The 5 shilling ($0.0007) coin shows the likeness of Richard Burton, an 19th century English explorer and academic in the region, marking probably the first and only time a man who wrote frequently about sex and disguised himself as a Muslim to sneak into both Mecca and Harar was given such an honor by an Islamic state.
My Special Protection Unit (SPU) guard poses for a photo. The SPU was created in 2003 to provide a real income for government employees supported by meager state salaries--er--to protect foreign visitors from threats within the country. Somaliland's government expenditure is about $9 per person, and that is expected to cover spending for military, health care, education, and all those other things governments do. SPU guards receive about $20/day in supplemental income directly from the foreigners they protect, and they have actually saved several of their charges from kidnapping and other threats.
At left, a government official shows me one of the 8000 year-old petroglyphs at Las Geel. The site, reached by a nondescript turnoff between two buildings, consists of hundreds of the best-preserved cave paintings I've ever seen. It's littered with arrowheads, stone shavers and other ancient artifacts that belong in museums, but which are instead offered to tourists (and hopefully rejected) as "souvenirs." While I was visiting, the Minister of Tourism and Culture himself called to express his apologies that he couldn't accompany me on my visit, and to ask how I was enjoying the site. This was typical of Somaliland, as of other states I've seen that are seeking either political or economic recognition: visitors have incredible access to ministers and business leaders just for the asking. My friend Graeme wrote in The Atlantic of Abkhazia, another state in what he dubbed "limbo world" seeking political recognition:"I had my leg propped up on a dark wooden desk and was wincing at the sting of a vigorous alcohol-swabbing by the health minister himself...Fake countries have to try harder, I thought, and wondered whether it would be pressing my luck to ask for the finance minister to personally refund my vat and for the transportation minister to confirm my bus ticket back to Georgia, which is to say, back to reality." (more here)
