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Somalia

Broken Down Tank Somalia

Somalia is a messy, violent, fractured and ungovernable entity, seemingly engaged in an endless and fratricidal war. Perhaps one of the most lawless corners of the world, it ranks below only Iraq and Sudan in a triumvirate of exceptional social disasters on the global Index of Failed States. As a consequence there is at best limited potential for travel in the region, and even in a journalistic or diplomatic context, with the full protection of a foreign country, simply being an outsider in Somalia is an act of almost suicidal bravado.

Despite all this very limited scope for independent movement does exists in the northern, self proclaimed autonomous state of Somaliland, but limited is the key word, and certainly there is little recreational potential. In most of the border regions of Somaliland, and much of the interior, it is simply too risky for any kind of travel at all.