While Somalia has grappled with three decades of civil war and an entrenched Islamic insurgency, the enclave has been mostly peaceful. Trump withdrew US military personnel from Somalia during his first term, a decision the Biden administration reversed.

Voting is underway in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland in a key presidential election that was delayed for two years and comes as the Horn of Africa region is experiencing political tension

Voters in Somaliland head to the polls on Wednesday to choose a president at a time when the breakaway Somali region sees international recognition within reach after three decades of de facto self-rule.

Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia at the centre of a diplomatic storm, holds a presidential election on Wednesday at a tense moment in the Horn of Africa.