Dicing with death: Somaliland The Country that Does not Exist

Despite separating from Somalia over 20 years ago, the state of Somaliland is still unrecognised by the rest of the world. Life here is hard. The popular series Dicing with Death brings us a eye-opening look at life in country that isn’t officially a country.

Due to lack of infrastructure and leftover mines from the civil war delivery drivers in Somaliland take their lives in their hands each time they cross the dessert. Before the lorrys, transporting goods was done by camel, nowadays Somaliland is one of the main exporters of camels to the rest of the middle east; it is said here that both eating their meat and drinking their milk will make you virile. Somaliland is one of the biggest consumers of the plant khat which when chewed gives a cocaine like high. The plant quickly loses its potency and so the delivery drivers must race to get their product to the distributors, rather than stopping they just throw the bundles of the side of the moving trucks; with clamouring customers waiting eagerly for each drop off.

But life may be about to change here as supposedly there is a lot of oil under the ground, an as yet untapped resource which may one day bring Somaliland the wealth and recognition it craves.

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