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Somaliland.Org » Somaliland: Africa’s Best Kept Secret

Somaliland.Org » Somaliland: Africa’s Best Kept Secret: "After my brief visit, I now fully appreciate the support Somaliland is receiving from her visitors including the admiration of acclaimed scholars such as Prof. Ali Mazrui, Prof. William Reno, Prof. George Eshiwani, Gerard Prunier, Bernard Helander, I.M. Lewis, and the courageous Prof. Iqbal Jhazbhay of South Africa to mention just a few.
The first thing that strikes a foreigner against his/her expectations is the peace, tranquility and order in the city. Unbelievably, one can walk or drive on the streets of Hargeisa by night without the slightest fear of muggings, carjacking and armed robberies, much unlike Nairobi and other major towns of Kenya where the government has nearly ceded control to organized crime. A robust and lively city, it is in many ways similar to the sprawling Eastleigh estate, in terms of aggressive commerce and social lifestyles.

However, the similarity ends there. Where eastleigh is crime prone, water and sanitation services stretched to the limit and burst sewers releasing raw human waste onto pot holed streets, Hargeisa is neat and with a working system of social services. The ordinary Kenyan accustomed to heavy police presence on our city streets, occasionally falling victim to their harassment, will not believe his luck to find unarmed and unobtrusive, though poorly dressed policemen,"

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