After breaking with Somalia in 1991, it built its own institutions and maintained stability in a region marked by chaos
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With an area similar to Nicaragua's and a population close to 3.5 million inhabitants, Somaliland is one of the most unique cases in contemporary international politics. Located in the Horn of Africa, this territory has governed itself since 1991, when it proclaimed its independence after the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's Somali regime. Since then, for more than three decades, it has functioned as a de facto State: with its own authorities, stable institutions, competitive elections, and effective control of the territory.
Somalilandia en la actualidad.
Somaliland's history dates back to the colonial period. Until 1960, it was a British protectorate that obtained its independence on June 26 of that year. However, just five days later, it decided to unite with Italian Somalia, which had also just become independent, to form the Republic of Somalia. That merger, initially celebrated as a pan-African project, soon showed deep cracks. The north, corresponding to present-day Somaliland, was politically sidelined and expressed its rejection of the new Constitution approved in 1961 at an early stage.
Tensions worsened over time and reached their most critical point during Mohamed Siad Barre's Marxist dictatorship. In the 1980s, the regime carried out systematic repression against the Isaaq clan, which is predominant in Somaliland. Large-scale bombings of Hargeisa caused thousands of civilian deaths and the partial destruction of the city. Years later, reports commissioned by the United Nations concluded that those events constituted genocidal crimes perpetrated by the Somali State.
El genocida marxista Mohamed Siad Barre.
The fall of Siad Barre in 1991 and the outbreak of civil war marked the definitive break. While Somalia sank into decades of fragmentation, violence, and instability, Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence and began a process of institutional reconstruction. Since then, it has developed its own political system with competitive elections, a functioning Parliament, local security forces, currency, passports, and an administration that exercises real control over its territory.
This relative stability has turned Somaliland into an exception within one of the most turbulent regions in the world. Although it faces high levels of poverty and unemployment, Hargeisa is considered one of the safest cities in the Horn of Africa. International observers emphasize that electoral results are usually respected, even when the ruling party loses, which is a rare feature in the region. For that reason, Somaliland's case is often compared to Taiwan's: territories that function fully as States but lack broad international recognition for political reasons.
Despite this trajectory, the international community has maintained for more than 30 years a stance of rejecting its independence. Organizations such as the UN, the African Union, and the Arab League continue to consider Somaliland an integral part of Somalia, a country that still faces serious security and governance problems, with the persistent threat of Islamist groups such as Al Shabaab.
Benjamin Netanyahu firmó el reconocimiento.
It is in this historical context that the recent formal recognition of Somaliland by Israel is framed, a decision that was welcomed by Somaliland's president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and condemned by Somalia together with Egypt, Türkiye, and Djibouti. Beyond the diplomatic novelty, the Israeli recognition has once again placed at the center of the debate a historical process that has been underway for more than three decades.
If the step taken by Benjamin Netanyahu finds imitators, Somaliland could definitively break the prolonged international isolation that it has dragged along since 1991. But even without that external endorsement, the territory already offers an uncomfortable fact for global diplomacy: for more than 30 years, it has existed, governed, and functioned as a State.
