Somaliland: a photographic diary – in pictures
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Mark Tran recently spent a week looking at how life is changing in Somaliland. He covered the Hargeisa international book fair, Dahabshiil – a money transfer company, a $17m Coca-Cola bottling plant in the desert, and the thriving livestock trade at the port of Berbera. Here is a selection of his photographs
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This Soviet-era Mig in Freedom Square in Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, is a reminder of the heavy bombardment the city endured in 1988, when Somaliland broke away from Somalia – then ruled by the dictator Siad Barre. Reduced to rubble, Hargeisa became known as the 'Dresden of Africa'
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Hargeisa is experiencing a construction boom, financed by remittances from the Somali diaspora, many of whom are in the US and the UK
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Hargeisa and Somaliland are in desperate need of good roads. Some construction and repairs are being financed jointly by local authorities and private-sector moneyPhotograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Somaliland is about to pass a banking law that would allow the country to have proper banks for the first time. Dahabshiil, a money transfer company, has set up this new banking facility, which will open for business once it is granted a licence
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Street vendors in Hargeisa are a reminder of the hard existence for many Somalilanders. Youth unemployment is estimated to be as high as 75%, and at least 65-70% of the population of 3.5 million are younger than 30
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Mini-vans are the main form of public transport, although recently yellow taxis have begun to appear in Hargeisa
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Goats munching on rubbish are a common sight in Hargeisa. Livestock is a mainstay of Somaliland's economy
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Sheep, donkey and bus on a main street in Hargeisa
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Typical street scene in Hargeisa. Note the colourful stonework favoured by Somalilanders
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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A truck sets off from Hargeisa to collect camel's milk
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Typical stonework in Hargeisa
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Vendors selling drinks at the Hargeisa book fair. The drinks come from Somaliland's new Coca-Cola bottling plant located an hour outside the capital, in the desert. Local produce is also on show, including watermelons, papayas and lemons
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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Somaliland is highly security conscious. Even though this was a book fair, armed guards were out in force. Here they are talking to the fair's founder, Jama Musse Jama
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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A view of the port at Berbera. Somaliland has a big rubbish problem, which the authorities are struggling to deal with
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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A statue at Berbera, the port from where cattle, camels and oxen are shipped out in their thousands every day to Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Gulf
Photograph: Mark Tran/Guardian
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