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Despite the tragic past of Somaliland I am over the moon that FINALLY Simon is covering my country👏🏾 THANK YOU🥇

cool, never have i ever thought Simon would do a video about my Somaliland. greetings from Hargeisa Somaliland.

I hadn't really heard about Somaliland until like two days ago when there was a news story about diplomatic relations between Somaliland and Taiwan about how they face some of the same issues with recognition of their independence, etc.

I was in Somaliland in December. I am a white European man and I can tell you with great joy that the country has a very bright future and it's people are very interested to raise themselvs and the county. The don't wait for help and given the conditions and the trade difficulties they have , they are all contributing . Lately big advances were made towards recognition and I am on the oppinion within few years they will get it. I wish them all the best as they are truly good people with a wonderful country .

A friend of mine went on a world tour just before covid and started in Somaliland He enjoyed his time there and had nothing but good things to say

I like this, let's hear more about developing nations on a path to a brighter future. We hear so often about failed states but there are so many more on the way up! Bravo Somaliland!

As someone who was born and bred in Somaliland after the Isaaq Genocide, I can tell you that I may not have seen the death and destruction myself, but I have seen the grim reality of the destruction of hearts and minds of Somalilanders. This is deeper than anyone tells you. From outside in, you only see the damage and trail of destruction inflicted upon us. Be it the indiscriminate bombing of infrastructure - civilian or not. But what we have suffered afterwards was far more difficult for Somalilanders. In 1991 when Somalilanders started to return from the refugee camps in Ethiopia and Djibouti, what they came back to was unimaginable. There was no functioning private or public institutions. No healthcare, no pharmacies to dispense the basics, no access to water ( water sources were either deliberately poisoned or destroyed by the Barre junta dictatorship), no electricity and so on. What Somalilanders came back to was over 1 million landmines indiscriminately scattered across civilian areas which till date, The HALO TRUST is removing. Somalilanders suffered physically and mentally from the unimaginable cruel and inhumane pain inflicted upon them. Human rights watch report dated 1991 documents the grim reality of the Isaaq Genocide, the report states that residents in cities and towns in Somaliland were forcefully taken from their homes, in buses and taken to stadiums. They were forced to watch executions of those who were accused of supporting the SNM. There would be people watching the crowds in the stadium and anyone who turned away or shed a tear would also be killed because the junta considered crying or mourning a sign of showing empathy therefore anyone who cried was killed. This was a war to destroy somaliland and anything in it physically and mentally. I remember going to school in Hargeisa and I’d see THE HALO TRUST removing mines just meters away from my school. There were even instances where I would come across unexploded bombs myself in Hargeisa, as a child. I shall never look to Somalia again for anything.

Nearly in tears here, and I kept saying "but WHY" through most of the video. These are people who are doing their damnedest to move away from violence and towards stability - and somehow managing to scrape by. And no one cares?! Why?! These people have suffered and rebuilt and they're NOT making war on the people who harmed them - and no one thinks that's important?? Shameful. If humans are supposedly trying to encourage peace, then NOT encouraging and recognizing Somaliland is just plain WRONG. Astonished at the perseverance these people display - are they doing a great job at being a republic? Probably not, but then again it's not like the USA is living up to its own hype... Ugh, I want to kind of shake the UN as a whole and yell at them >.

As a somalilander, this honestly made me so happy to see almost made me cry.... you cam imagine how much my people have been fighting for this day, the pressure from somalia saying we're part of them and Noone in the world knowing we exist I'm truly grateful!!

Thank you for covering the genocide in my country Somaliland. Our capital, after the genocide, was called the Dresden of Africa. The destruction was unimaginable.

Another genocide survivor here. I was just 3 weeks old when the genocide broke out. I was born under martial law. Men and women were separated. The men were being hunted by the army and rounded up for mass killing and the women had no choice but to leave and cross the colonial broader into Ethiopia. On the way there government planes ✈️ were bombing us soldiers were gang raping women. My mother passed out under a tree 🌳 due to server dehydration from walking for days without water. A old lady from another clan found me and my sister and mother in the middle of nowhere after crossing the border. I was malnourished my sister was ok and my mum had server dehydration (being a new mum she was 18 at the time). The old lady splashed water on my mother and screamed for help. There was no help coming. Furthermore another woman crossed the border in full labour pain ready to push her baby out. My mother woke up too weak to pick me up. The old lady was running back to the lady now in full blown labour. The sun was starting to set and the hyenas were coming out ready to eat. The vultures were circling around and eating dead or dying babies and adults wounded by the army and airforce… This is why Somaliland deserves recognition. Genocide is horrific My family lives with PTSD till this day

One of the most brutal parts of the genocidal campaign was the destruction of Hargeisa, the largest city in northern Somalia. In May of 1988, Barre's regime sent in fighter jets to level the city. The destruction of Hargeisa was so total that it earned the nickname "the Dresden of Africa." Bombing missions and ground troops attacks killed more than 40,000 people. Burao, the third largest city in Somalia at the time and the second principal city in northern Somalia, was razed. The relentless violence against Isaaq civilians in 1988 resulted in the world's largest refugee crisis. More than 300,000 refugees fled to Ethiopia, most of them arriving in the small border town of Harta Sheikh in Ethiopia, which became the largest refugee camp from 1988 until it closed in 2004.

I did a genetics 🧬 kit with 23andme and found out my dna shared 0.3% of people from Somaliland 🤯

the painfull thing is that all if this feels very recent, my father lived abroad but almost half of the men in his age group died as a result of that genocide and the civil war. relatives died and lost everything just because if thier clan. sigh may they rest in peace

"I will leave buildings, but no people" is one of the most terrifyingly brazen psychotic dictatorial statements I have ever seen.

I want to express my gratitude for your video which really helps people to understand the case of Somaliland and the difference between Somaliland and Somalia. As said earlier the foreign Affairs Minister of Somaliland "We were born free and we will stay free. We will run our business the way we want." Somaliland is a bridge that connects several continents of the world. Strategically, Somaliland is located in the African gateway and at the Southern shores of the Red sea. The geographic location of Somaliland has both uncontested commercial and defence strategies. Thanks again for your time and work done.

Well I'd never heard of Somaliland before this video. I hope they get the independence and stability that they needs. Thanks for the great video!

videos like this are precisely why I love Geographics.

I do really hope that the world will eventually recognize Somaliland as an independent nation.

I am actually planning on going to Somaliland as part of a tour of Africa. This is amazing, historical region of the planet that nobody visits for many of the reasons noted in this video.

1:35 - Chapter 1 - Land of ghosts 5:25 - Chapter 2 - The scramble from somalia 8:55 - Mid roll ads 10:25 - Chapter 3 - 5 days of freedom 14:10 - Chapter 4 - Genocide 17:40 - Chapter 5 - An oasis of peace 21:05 - Chapter 6 - Forgotten but not gone

I was never taught this in school, now in my 60's and learning this, I pray For Hope For Somaliland and their people 🙏.

My first reaction to ‘Somaliland’ is that I hear good and positive things about this new country. All power to you, Somaliland! 💪🏼🙏🏼

I now have a new bucket list item: visit Somaliland someday. The Somaliland people seem to be trying to do the right thing for each other... as a community... as a state. To me, that is worth witnessing... even as a tourist glimpse. I hope can visit someday.

Note the black star on the Somaliland flag; it is very significant. Somalia’s simple-looking flag is actually very aggressive. The 5-pointed, white star stands for the “Five regions of greater Somalia.” Three of those regions are in other countries. From the beginning, Somalia claimed the majority Somali regions in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti as “Greater Somalia.” The Somali guerilla groups in those regions all used the white star as their symbol. The black star on Somaliland’s flag represents the death of the “Greater Somalia” idea.

We will protect our Independence with our blood Somaliland

Am from Somaliland and more then half of my family were gathered up and shoot. We still live with the horrors of siyad barre

Thank you legend for covering about my Somaliland 🙏🏾, I lost brother and close relatives in that genocide our so called brothers did to us, imagine surviving that and after 31 years the international community want us to be part of that failed country? I really don't know why we are still being forced to be part of that war torn country ? I pray one day my country will be treated like any other country on this world before its too little too late. Peace all✌🏿

As Somaliland, I am proud of this video. I live in Canada, and I watched this program; I can say it is history that we are still severing that genocide from Said Barre, but we are happy for freedom last three decades we have independence and separation.

I knew absolutely nothing about this one and now I need to know more because the fact they're not their own country essentially because of pure international apathy is ridiculous. Thank you for sharing this.

I knew Somaliland is the most democratic in the horn, but did not know the entire history. Hope Somaliland will be Strong rich and recognized. We need these successes stories

I saw Somaliland getting recommended a few weeks back in a comment. Never heard of it. Glad to see a video about it. Really interesting.

If you love Democracy and Peace you will love Somaliland. Please support Somaliland by spreading the message of finally re-recognizing Somaliland. Somaliland is the first country in the world that used iris tech for their elections. Somaliland was one of the first countries in the world that used mobile payment systems on a mass scale. Somaliland is the first country that accepted Taiwan Representative Office to use Taiwan instead of Taipei (Lithuania is second). Somaliland has one of the oldest cave paintings in the world. Somaliland sides with peace instead of more unnecessary wars. Somaliland chose peace instead of taking revenge on some subclans in Somalia that killed 250 000+ Somalilanders. Somaliland has plenty of natural resources like oil and gas but we need re-recognition so that we can take out our resources and use it to help our people. Thank you.

Sad to say I wasn’t really familiar with Somaliland. Thanks for the interesting video!

You've inspired me to write a letter to my M.P. Great content, as always!

What an informative video! Thank you, Simon and Co.! Maybe I'm cynical, but I kept thinking the reason they aren't recognized by the UN and other global unions, is because they are a success. Britain colonized them, but not to the extent of taking away all of their governing ability, and when British stepped away... look it there, they had a government already in place that it's people respected. Here's an African country that would benefit from foreign business, but has nothing to steal or no "mess to clean" and the powers that be don't want to acknowledge it.

This one was the best so far

This is great! Along with the video on Transnistria it is one of my favorites on this channel. Hope you do more Geographics videos about these kind of unrecognised states like Ngorno-Karabach, Western Sahara or Northen Cyprys. Keep up the good work! 👍

I have been following and watching your channels for few years now, what a pleasant surprise to finally see my country, Somaliland, being the subject of one of your videos. Thank you!

Master Simon, I’ve known of this tragedy for some time, but you and your writers did a bang up job doing Justice to the fullness of the blight of Somaliland‼️ BRAVISSIMO‼️‼️

I was so shocked when i saw this video in my recommendation. It made me so happy that somebody took the time to make a video about my country thank you so much

Thank you very much for your support and time you made for this interesting video to make clear that people can understand easily how was Somaliland before reunited with Italian Somaliland. Your video also makes a clear difference between the two cultures of Somaliland and Somalia. Thank you for your video.

Great video, I never knew about this, thank you Simon!

Somaliland put so much effort into not being Somalia, but hopefully they'll get the attention they deserve.

Thanks ,Simon for covering this.i am a Somali by ethnicity . Somalis live in the following areas ; Somalia,Kenya , Ethiopia & Djibouti.

Thank you for this report on the history and possible future of Somaliland. I have a co-worker from there and this has helped me understand the differences in culture.

I am a proud Somalilander and am happy to see my country get coverage but I want to point out that the isaaq are not culturally distinct from other Somali clans, I don't know where you are getting that information from but we share same dialect and customs as all other Northern, northwestern and Ethiopian Somali clans.

Love what you do Dude. Keep up the good work

Whether you like or not Somaliland is on the right path of securing recognition.

Thanks for this one Simon!! Very informative and eye opening....

THANK YOU SIMON! I was just watching this video in the background but was able to pick up enough info to make my cab drivers day! He’s originally from Somaliland and was so happy that I’d heard of it and knew about his people. It was a really cool experience

Great video with the enlightenment of the reality many are not aware of. Thank you!

Geographics woow , the quality and state of being correct or precise is absolutely on spot , thank you vry much mate 🙏🙏

I can't understand why South Sudan is a thing and not Somaliland

Excellent video as always, hope it raises some awareness about these people's plight.

I have a classmate from here. He is really fun and never seemed upset by Somaliland or said anything like this. It was a surprise to see this ngl.

Somaliland: **exists** World nations: No you don't... Doesn't seem right really...

Thank you for sponsoring thus squarespace. Have so many geographics videos to catch up on

Thank you for covering this country! I knew nothing of this but I will be talking about it now with anyone who will listen

Thank you. I was aware of the existence of Somaliland, I knew a bit of the current situation, but I wasn't at all aware of what had happened before more or less the 2000s. It seems to be one of those rare examples of an area that stands out from their neighbours because a) they are the ones that get shit done and b) nobody else gives a fuck. A certain region spreading across Iran, Iraq, Syria & Turkey also comes to my mind. And I also find myself in a weird place, on the one hand hoping the people of Somaliland will get the recognition they apparently deserve, on the other hand I know how much "we" (as in the nations of Europa & northern America) prefer a seemingly reliable government over one that is just and in the interest of the people living there... so maybe a slow and painful rise will, eventually, yield better result ofr the people than the international community recognizing them right away. Because let's face it, the so called international community is not interested in people living happily, it is interested in trade routes not being interrupted, it is interested in ressources, cheap workers and reliable control.

Excellent as usual Simon. But I just wanted to point out that Taiwan (Republic of China) established formal diplomatic relations with Somaliland in late 2020. I must get around to asking the New Zealand Government why they have not considered it (But that may be too much to ask for especially as our Foreign Minister as she seems clueless to anything foreign outside of our 12-mile territorial waters!)

Fascinating. Thank you, Simon & Co.

That was quite a good viedeo :) i reccomendend it, you are one of the best hosts I know on Yt

i am from somaliland..... and i am sad to say that we are paying a heavy price because of the bad move we made..... which is uniting with somalia..... 😭😭😭😭

Thank you Simon. This video is incredibly accurate and the people of Somaliland thanks you.

Very informative indeed! thank you for the enlightenment.

I'm in Somaliland right now. Amazing weather with absolutely endless peace. I subscribed to your channel. Thank you for your video about my homeland.

"The crime rate of the capital is on par with most American cities." Poor guys, hope things will improve.

Lack of recognition is a double edged sword. It may mean Somaliland can't get independence from Somalia, but the lack of foreign aid and investment means fewer incentives for corruption.

Around 2 years ago, Indigo Traveller (KZfaq) went to Somaliland and had n nice vacation and very little in the way of worry or trouble. That part of the world is cautious to embrace Indigo Travellers' camera and his travel itinerary, but he got some video that proves that Somaliland is more peaceful than Somalia. (Which sort of supports what you've said in this video.)

Between 1987 and 1989, the regime of Somali dictator Siad Barre massacred an estimated 200,000 members of the Isaaq tribe, the largest clan group in the northwest part of Somalia. At the time, some Isaaqs were fighting for independence, and to eliminate the threat, Barre tried to exterminate all of them. Experts now say there are more than 200 mass graves in Somaliland, most of them in the Valley of Death.

I acknowledge Somaliland

Surprisingly a lot of Somalilanders in the comments of this video. I guess this got shared pretty quickly since so few people talk about that country.

You are so good at explaining these things. Thank you

Very interesting piece, which was well presented.

Thanks Simon for telling the truth we will forever be grateful. One more fact Somaliland has 850km coastline no single piracy incident ever reported.

I'm South African and I always just thought Somalia and Somaliland were two names for the same place

Excellent!!! So interesting and hopeful .

Thank you for covering thus🥰

My sincere gratitude and highest appreciation go to GEOGRAPHICS for this new great video, i consider this as an important video that will help many people to understand the reality of this secret best state in the horn of africa.

Thanks for informing me on this. Deserves an algorithm boost.

Brilliant Video, one of the best.

Amazing !! How these people are surviving !! By far your best video

Hi dear world please regocognize our country , we are not a part from the failed state somalia We are born free and we will stay free even it takes a million years letter We get our recognition 26 june 1960 , but unfortunatly our parenst bun us on a risk and they unite somalia , we get back our country 18 may 1991 , till that day we are free , and our country is the most democratic peacefull in the horn of africa

Love the effort in these videos I learn more from these channels of Simons then I ever did in world histories in school!!! Just more horrific human carnage, we will never learn :(

Well done , amazing 😍

Thanks for the information.

Good luck for Somaliland. Everyone deserves peace in the world

I really do hope they can finally get invested and move up. It sounds like they turned some rather terrible situation and made something. It has issues, but what nation doesn't. But those nations that don't cause problems or have resources like you said are ignored. Example would be when does anyone mention Jordan?

Thank you very much for this beautiful vedio .

I am in South Africa, my friend is from Somaliland's capital Hargeysa. I first heard about this country from him. Nice to see this.

Well I always thought that Somaliland was just misspelling, every day something new.

Really good documentary on a country I knew nothing about. Shame it has not got the recognition it clearly deserves. I hope it gets recognised as a sovereign state.

1988 I was there as a two year old child when Siad Barre's army marched into Slands second city Burao, from what I've been told an RPG hit our house as we were cowering underneath the sofa. Been living in Europe ever since😢 inshallah one day I'll be going back to help contribute towards Somalilands development

Sir you are greatly apprciatted for this magnificently great video thank you again

Thank you. A truly hopeful picture in a part of Africa that has been an example of 'failed states' for ages. I hope that they do get the recognition they deserve

Thank you 4 ur report on the history nd possible future of Somaliland,I'm Somalilander and I'm not really familiar with this channel at all but all the things that u mentioned throughout this spectacular video is true and I'm very happy to see on the comment section many people who are appreciating my country. Thank you all for your support and encouragement. Hope. We would get recognition soon🖤

What a wonderful analysis. Thanks

Simon at last l was waiting for this for a long time thanks mate my country the best place on this earth