ABSTRACT
A former British colony located in the Horn of Africa, Somaliland comprises a total area of approximately 68,000 square miles. Somaliland first became a legal and political jurisdiction in the late nineteenth century when the European colonial powers divided the Somali peninsula into five separate zones. In spite of its lack of international recognition, the Republic of Somaliland continues to survive, having celebrated the seventh anniversary of its declaration of independence. The decision of clan elders to replace Somaliland’s first president, Abdirahman Ahmed Ali Tur, with Mohamed Ibrahim Egal in May 1993 plunged Somaliland’s fledgling administration into deep trouble. The Somaliland leadership are strong supporters of free market economics. In the fall of 1995, the US sent a fact-finding mission to Somaliland that included State Department officials, the American ambassador to Djibouti, and the head of the United States Agency for International Development.
