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I had literally no idea that Somaliland existed, and I consider myself to be pretty up to date with the political world map. It's fascinating to read about a co

I had literally no idea that Somaliland existed, and I consider myself to be pretty up to date with the political world map. It's fascinating to read about a country you knew nothing of, even an unrecognised one. No, especially an unrecognised one

jcranmer 8y ago
The existence of Somaliland tends to come up in any in-depth article discussing Somalia's problems. Somalian piracy flared up around 2005 and more or less completely died off around 2013. Similarly, al-Shabab peaked around 2012. This means that Somalia has kept out of the news for half a decade, which reduces the opportunities to find out about Somaliland and Puntland [the region of Somalia next to Somaliland that has a stable, functioning government but doesn't claim independence]. The main reason that most countries refuse to recognize Somaliland is that the current thinking is that letting it be independent would harm the process of putting Somalia back together again after it fell apart in 1991.
grecy 8y ago
I was fascinated to learn about Western Sahara when I drove through. It was at one point a fully-fledged country, now it's listed by the UN as an "occupied territory". i.e. Morocco invaded and have taken over. They're adamant it's simply Morocco, and they get really mean to anyone that says otherwise, or even if you have a map that shows it as a separate country. Driving through it's just like you never left Morocco, except there are military roadblocks every 100km, there is a lot of new construction, and gas is noticeably cheaper than the rest of Morocco (i.e. Morocco attempting to spur development and help "claim" it) It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it.
- netsharc 8y ago
  Well there's the Spratly Islands, and (puts flamesuit on) the Occupied Palestinian Territories. And there's a place on earth no country wants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil
- s_kilk 8y ago
  >> It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. See also: Palestine
- bumholio 8y ago
  > a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. Western Sahara was never a sovereign, recognized state. Spain relinquished it's colonial claim over it and Morocco and Mauritania rushed to claim parts of the territory (Mauritania has since renounced too). The closest thing to a nationally representative organization was the Polisario Front, a military-political structure based on ethnic Sahrawi affiliation. It didn't help that the area is so sparsely populated and could barely sustain an independent state in the 70s, let alone a state capable of withstanding the territorial advances of such a powerful neighbor like Morocco.
  - dmurray 8y ago
    > Spain relinquished it's colonial claim over it and Morocco and Mauritania rushed to claim parts of the territory Is this a case where the colonial power should have been more firm when drawing arbitrary lines in the sand? The opposite of what they usually get criticised for.
- busterarm 8y ago
  The world does nothing about it because every single party involved, from Morocco to SADR to Algeria, got their hands dirty with breaking the Geneva conventions. With napalm and WP used against refugee camps on multiple sides, no country wants the optics of picking one. The political situation is also pretty stable there since the late 70s. Shit, but stably shit.
- galazzah 8y ago
  > It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories

jcranmer 8y ago

The existence of Somaliland tends to come up in any in-depth article discussing Somalia's problems. Somalian piracy flared up around 2005 and more or less completely died off around 2013. Similarly, al-Shabab peaked around 2012. This means that Somalia has kept out of the news for half a decade, which reduces the opportunities to find out about Somaliland and Puntland [the region of Somalia next to Somaliland that has a stable, functioning government but doesn't claim independence]. The main reason that most countries refuse to recognize Somaliland is that the current thinking is that letting it be independent would harm the process of putting Somalia back together again after it fell apart in 1991.

grecy 8y ago

I was fascinated to learn about Western Sahara when I drove through. It was at one point a fully-fledged country, now it's listed by the UN as an "occupied territory". i.e. Morocco invaded and have taken over. They're adamant it's simply Morocco, and they get really mean to anyone that says otherwise, or even if you have a map that shows it as a separate country. Driving through it's just like you never left Morocco, except there are military roadblocks every 100km, there is a lot of new construction, and gas is noticeably cheaper than the rest of Morocco (i.e. Morocco attempting to spur development and help "claim" it) It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it.

netsharc 8y ago
Well there's the Spratly Islands, and (puts flamesuit on) the Occupied Palestinian Territories. And there's a place on earth no country wants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bir_Tawil
s_kilk 8y ago
>> It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. See also: Palestine
bumholio 8y ago
> a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. Western Sahara was never a sovereign, recognized state. Spain relinquished it's colonial claim over it and Morocco and Mauritania rushed to claim parts of the territory (Mauritania has since renounced too). The closest thing to a nationally representative organization was the Polisario Front, a military-political structure based on ethnic Sahrawi affiliation. It didn't help that the area is so sparsely populated and could barely sustain an independent state in the 70s, let alone a state capable of withstanding the territorial advances of such a powerful neighbor like Morocco.
- dmurray 8y ago
  > Spain relinquished it's colonial claim over it and Morocco and Mauritania rushed to claim parts of the territory Is this a case where the colonial power should have been more firm when drawing arbitrary lines in the sand? The opposite of what they usually get criticised for.
busterarm 8y ago
The world does nothing about it because every single party involved, from Morocco to SADR to Algeria, got their hands dirty with breaking the Geneva conventions. With napalm and WP used against refugee camps on multiple sides, no country wants the optics of picking one. The political situation is also pretty stable there since the late 70s. Shit, but stably shit.
galazzah 8y ago
> It's fascinating to me a country can be invaded and occupied by their neighbor and the world does nothing about it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_territories