Breakaway Somaliland votes as quest for recognition gathers pace

Hargeisa: voters in Somaliland turned out Wednesday to choose their next president, as the breakaway region of Somalia pursues a quest for international recognition that has heightened tensions in the Horn of Africa.

Many hailed the election as a display of Somaliland's peaceful democracy as it seeks to end decades of isolation following its unilateral declaration of independence in 1991.

Ballot counting began after polling stations closed around 6:30 pm (1530 GMT) but results are not due until next week.

Around 1.2 million people were registered for the election, and voters in the capital Hargeisa had lined up before dawn to avoid the heat, many showing off voting cards and sporting the territory's red-and-white flag.

In the city's main square, under a MIG fighter jet shot down during fighting with government forces in 1988, five polling stations were set up in tents.

Incumbent president Muse Bihi faced two challengers: his main rival Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi -- popularly known as "Irro" -- and Faysal Ali Warabe.

Bihi, who has been in power since 2017, tested special glasses introduced this year to identify people by their irises.

"It's a very important day because we have to showcase to the world our peaceful co-existence in Somaliland," aid worker Hamza Moussa Ali, 32, told AFP.

The territory has become the focus of a fierce dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia that has raised fears of another conflict in the volatile region.

On New Year's Day, Somaliland signed an agreement with landlocked Ethiopia, offering a lease on 20 kilometres (12 miles) of its Red Sea coastline for a port and a military base.

Bihi says Ethiopia offered to recognise Somaliland in return, though this has never been confirmed by Addis Ababa and full details of the deal have not been made public.

The memorandum of understanding has aroused fury in Somalia, sparking a verbal and military escalation with Ethiopia that has alarmed the region and the international community.

Khadra, 26, said international recognition for the former British protectorate of around six million people was "now on the table".

"The international community has its eyes on us," she told AFP after casting her ballot.

"This election reflects Somaliland's sovereignty, as voting peacefully each time shows that we are an established nation. The surrounding countries don't have the peace -- we do."

While Somalia continues to grapple with a deadly insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab jihadist group and political feuds, Somaliland has remained relatively stable.

The 76-year-old Bihi, head of the Kulmiye party, has pledged there will be progress on the Ethiopia deal if he is re-elected.

"During his seven years in power, recognition has never been so close, and we hope that it will be announced soon. I want Muse Bihi to be re-elected. We want him to continue developing Somaliland," said Ayaan Abdilahi Abdi, a 22-year-old supporter.

The self-proclaimed republic, which enjoys a strategic position in northwestern Somalia, has its own money, passports and army.

But its lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the region remains deeply impoverished.

Critics accuse Bihi, a former soldier who led the fight for independence, of fostering clan divisions that led to the partial loss of the Sool region in 2023 after clashes with pro-Mogadishu forces that left at least 210 people dead and nearly 200,000 displaced.

There were also protests -- violently suppressed -- after Bihi delayed the election by two years in 2022 for "technical and financial reasons".

"The great thing we had was peace and stability and now we have problems and conflict," said Abdirahman Muhumed, a 30-year-old living in the United States, who returned to Somaliland to vote for Irro.

Irro, of the Waddani party, is a former ambassador of Somalia to the Soviet Union and Finland in the 1980s, and a long-time speaker of the Somaliland parliament.

The 68-year-old offers few concrete policy changes but says he will be a more unifying figure.