Somaliland votes amid Horn of Africa tensions

The territory is an oasis of peace and stability in violence-racked Somalia but has failed to win recognition from any country since declaring independence in 1991.

Hundreds of voters in the main city Hargeisa lined up calmly before dawn to avoid the heat, many proudly 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.

President Muse Bihi, his main rival Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi -- popularly known as "Irro" -- and third candidate Faysal Ali Warabe all voted early at the nearby Civil Service Training Institute.

Bihi 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 an international dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia, raising fears of another conflict in the restive region.

In January, Somaliland signed an agreement with landlocked Ethiopia, offering a lease on 20 kilometres (12 miles) of its Red Sea coastline.

Bihi says Ethiopia will 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 international community.

- 'Never so close' -

Bihi's opponents have not criticised the agreement.

In power since 2017, the 76-year-old Bihi of the Kulmiye party has pledged there will be progress on the 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 has its own money, passports and army, but its lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment.

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.