18 May: Somaliland Independence Day

Somaliland Independence Day is today. Here are 10 things you might not know about Somaliland:

1. Somaliland is a self-declared independent state and autonomous region of Somalia. Its independence is widely acknowledged, but not officially recognised as the international community hasn't yet given up trying to reunify Somalia.
2. The area used to be a British protectorate known as British Somaliland. The British were mainly interested in protecting it to stop foreign powers interfering with the slave trade and the transportation of meat via caravan routes to the British Indian outpost in Aden. Hence the region's nickname of "Aden's butcher's shop".
3. In 1960, the former British Somaliland became the State of Somaliland, but within a week, the State of Somaliland merged with the former Italian Somaliland, to become Somalia. At the beginning of this short period of independence, Somaliland adopted a National Anthem. It was performed by the Royal Highland Fusiliers at the independence celebrations. They didn't even have a chance to write any lyrics before the merger. It lasted five days and is therefore the shortest lived national anthem in the world. Now, the national anthem is Samo ku waar (Long Life with Peace).
4. Its claimed territory has an area of 137,600 square kilometres (53,100 sq mi), with approximately 3.5 million residents. The region is slightly larger than England.
5. The capital and the largest city is Hargeisa, with a population of around 750,000.
6. There are three official languages: Somali, Arabic and English.
7. Tourist attractions in the area include the Laas Geel cave paintings, discovered by a French archaeological team in 2002, believed to date back around 5,000 years. Only a restricted number of tourists are allowed entry. There is also the Freedom Arch in Hargeisa, the Naasa Hablood - twin hills just outside Hargeisa; the historic towns of Sheekh, Berbera and Zeila. Zeila has old colonial landmarks, mangroves, coral reefs, towering cliffs and a beach.
8. However, although Somaliland is said to be a safer place to visit than Somalia, the Somaliland government requires that all foreigners take armed guards when travelling outside of the major cities. These guards are known as SPUs (Special Protection Units) and are available from the local police department or the office of tourism in Hargeisa. Since homosexuality is illegal in Somaliland, punishable by prison, torture and death, it is definitely not safe for gay people.
9. The flag consists of three equal horizontal stripes of Green, white and red. Written in white on the green stripe is the shahada ('There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger'). The white strip has a black five pointed star. The Somaliland flag was introduced on 14 October 1996. Before this the flag of Somaliland was plain white with a green disk in the middle with the shahada handwritten in Black around it.
10. Its currency, the Somaliland shilling, is not an internationally recognised currency and has no official exchange rate. Nor are there any banks or cash machines in the region.