Situated at the top of the Horn of Africa, the country of four million citizens has  become a haven of stability in that turbulent part of the world.

After independence,former British protectorate Somaliland joined with former Italian colony Somalia in the vain hope of forming a greater Somalia.

Somali dictator Siad Barre turned on the country flattening  the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa with aerial bombardments.

When Barre was overthrown in 1991, Somaliland broke with Somalia and began a painful but successful program of reconstruction.

The country has had a succession of elections, including the defeat of a president who stood down without argument.

It receives development aid from Western countries but has yet to have its sovereignty acknowledged.

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