According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its native inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people. [47] [48] [49] [50] The ancient Puntites were a nation of people that had close relations with Pharaonic Egypt during the times of Pharaoh Sahure and Queen Hatshepsut. The pyramidal structures, temples and ancient houses of dressed stone littered around Somalia may date from this period. [76] The public killing of Hadrawi was not an isolated incident, but the latest in a string of unresolved assassinations in Las Anod that are linked to decades of simmering tensions. Las Anod is the capital of Sool, a region caught between two colliding state building projects: Somaliland to the west and Puntland to the east (Hoehne 2015). Somaliland was borne out of the Somali National Movement (SNM), a predominantly Isaaq clan guerrilla resistance that fought, in coalition with other rebel movements, against the Somali dictatorship under President Mohamed Siad Barre. In 1988 the indiscriminate bombing of major Isaaq inhabited cities of Hargeisa and Burco under Siad Barre resulted in the systematic massacre of tens of thousands of civilians. This brutal episode of violence, and the notion of a state-sponsored Isaaq genocide, is central to the narrative of Somaliland independence, which was declared in 1991 following the collapse of the Somali state (Bradbury 2008).

A referendum was held in neighboring Djibouti (then known as French Somaliland) in 1958, on the eve of Somalia's independence in 1960, to decide whether or not to join the Somali Republic or to remain with France. The referendum turned out in favour of a continued association with France, largely due to a combined yes vote by the sizable Afar ethnic group and resident Europeans. [128] There was also widespread vote rigging, with the French expelling thousands of Somalis before the referendum reached the polls. [129] The majority of those who voted no were Somalis who were strongly in favour of joining a united Somalia, as had been proposed by Mahmoud Harbi, Vice President of the Government Council. Harbi was killed in a plane crash two years later. [1 Long term mean monthly sunshine fraction in Somalia". Food and Agriculture Organization. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016 . Retrieved 4 November 2016. uranium and largely unexploited reserves of iron ore, tin, gypsum, bauxite, copper, salt, natural gasAlthough unified as a single nation at independence, the south and the north were, from an institutional perspective, two separate countries. [5] Italy and the United Kingdom had left the two with separate administrative, legal, and education systems in which affairs were conducted according to different procedures and in different languages. [5] Janina Dill, an associate professor of U.S. Foreign Policy, states: [6] To make sense of this, we need to understand that the success of Somaliland rests in no small part on the efforts of an influential Hargeisa-centred elite and Somali-landers in the diaspora who have successfully produced and sustained a powerful narrative of statehood, inclusivity and peace in juxtaposition to (and in part because of) prevailing international understandings of chaos and violence in Somalia. Somaliland has – quite rightly – been lauded for its (relatively) democratic elections and largely successful attempts to keep the peace. For example, as Somaliland celebrated its 30 year anniversary two years ago, a steady stream of journalistic and academic pieces heaped praise upon the de facto state, describing it as ‘ a miracle on the Horn of Africa’, and ‘a beacon of democracy’. https://www.oneearth.org/ecoregions/hobyo-grasslands-and-shrublands/. {{ cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= ( help) An ancient Chinese document from the 9th century CE referred to the northern Somalia coast — which was then part of a broader region in Northeast Africa known as Barbara, in reference to the area's Barbars ( Cushitic) inhabitants [61] — as Po-pa-li. [62] [63]

In early 1962, GSL leader Haaji Mahammad Husseen, seeking in part to exploit northern dissatisfaction, attempted to form an amalgamated party, known as the Somali Democratic Union (SDU). [5] It enrolled northern elements, some of which were displeased with the northern SNL representatives in the coalition government. [5] Hussein's attempt failed. [5] In May 1962, however, Egal and another northern SNL minister resigned from the cabinet and took many SNL followers with them into a new party, the Somali National Congress (SNC), which won widespread northern support. [5] The new party also gained support in the south when it was joined by an SYL faction composed predominantly of Hawiye. [5] This move gave the country three truly national political parties and further served to blur north–south differences. [5] Greater Somalia [ edit ] Barre was the most senior and the leader the SRC. [21] The SRC subsequently renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic, [22] [23] arrested members of the former government, banned political parties, [24] dissolved the parliament and the Supreme Court, and suspended the constitution. [25] See also [ edit ]a b c d e f Hadden, Robert Lee. 2007. "The Geology of Somalia: A Selected Bibliography of Somalian Geology, Geography and Earth Science." Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, Topographic Engineering Center Las Anod water supply spearheaded by Dhulbahante community and diaspora. Credit: Jethro Norman Consequences for Las Anod Adam, Hussein Mohamed; Richard Ford (1997). Mending rips in the sky: options for Somali communities in the 21st century. Red Sea Press. p.226. ISBN 1-56902-073-6. We are recovering from almost 30 years of devastating civil strife which destroyed the fabric of our society. The pain and loss from this period scars our nation and we are working hard to rebuild trust across different communities. Genuine national reconciliation is a must but it is not instant. In the same way, development is fraught with complexity and will not miraculously appear out of thin air.