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People of Somalialand in Somalia Votes on Independence
The people of Somaliland in Somalia began voting on Thursday in a referendum on whether to endorse their independent status, according to reports reaching in Nairobi from Hargeisa in Somalia.
Voting in Somaliland kicked off at 6 a.m. (local time) and will continue until 6 p.m., with observers from the United States and South Africa visiting polling stations around the region.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate, split from Somalia 10 years ago after that country's brutal civil war.
In the years that followed, much of the rest of Somalia descended into clan-based anarchy, while the people of Somaliland rebuilt their state in peace.
So far Somaliland's independence has never been recognized by the international community.
Last year, clan leaders from all over Somalia elected a new transitional national government headed by President Abdiqasin Salad Hassan after a lengthy meeting in neighboring Djibouti.
Abdiqasin's government, which sits in the Somali capital Mogadishu, is fiercely opposed to the idea of a referendum in Somaliland, which it claims as part of Somalia.
The government of Djibouti has also come out against the referendum.
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