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Comment by btware | Hacker News Reader

interesting article. Never heard of Somailand before but after reading few articles at http://www.somalilandfoundation.com. This breakaway region deserves to be heard and recognised by world powers.

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I hadn't either. Kind of off topic but the membership of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization[1] which Somailand is a member is pretty interesting reading.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrepresented_Nations_and_Peop...

The AU has a strict 'no border changes' policy, mostly to try and protect from extra-continental bodies interfering with African affairs. Somaliland is a case where that policy is maybe lacking a little nuance. That said, there are movements in the right direction; the government has already been implicitly recognised by the National Assembly of Wales, so they're basically half way there.

Though, Somaliland isn't quite the Paradise that some news articles like to portray. There are still serious issues over the Puntland-Somaliland border, and the political parties are very closely tied to the various clans, which concerns me somewhat. Still miles better than Somalia though!

Do you frequently hear about countries for the first time?

The point here is that Somaliland is not a "country" (as in, officially recognized), in spite of having, apparently, more solid institutions than Somalia.

Legitimate country or not, I found it amusing how people on HN were surprised it exists when it's just been sitting there for a long time. I guess everyone is at different stages of learning.

Geography isn't taught as thoroughly as it used to be in ye olde days.

Young people don't read as much as they used to in ye olde days.

National Geographic tv is just trash reality shows.

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