Independence Day in Somaliland (Arabic:عيد استقلال أرض الصومال) is an annual celebration held on 18 May in

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

to mark the polity's declaration of independence from the

Somali Democratic Republic The Somali Democratic Republic (; , ; ) was a socialist state in Somalia that existed from 1969 to 1991. Established in October 1969, the Somali Democratic Republic emerged following a 1969 Somali coup d'état, coup d'état led by Major General ...

, a unilateral proclamation which remains unrecognized the world over.Human Rights Watch (Organization), Chris Albin-Lackey, ''"Hostages to peace": threats to human rights and democracy in Somaliland'', (Human Rights Watch: 2009), p.43. Although internationally seen only as an autonomous area of Somalia,Somaliland’s Quest for International Recognition and the HBM-SSC Factor
the territory's self-declared independence has endured, and the twentieth anniversary was celebrated in 2011 at the National Palace in

Hargeisa Hargeisa ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a ''List of states with limited recognition, de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also th ...

, Somaliland's capital, with shops closing down for the day.

Gallery

File:Independence monument in Hargeisa, Somaliland.jpg, Independence monument in Hargeisa, Somaliland

References

Culture of Somaliland May observances {{holiday-stub