The territorial status of Somaliland is rooted in a uniquely clear and well-documented colonial boundary regime established by Britain during the British Somaliland Protectorate (1884–1960). Unlike many African territories whose borders emerged from ambiguous or inconsistently applied colonial arrangements, Somaliland’s boundaries were defined through a series of formal Anglo–Ethiopian, Anglo–French, and Anglo–Italian treaties that specified the Protectorate’s limits with notable precision.

These agreements placed Somaliland approximately between Latitude 8° North and 11°30′ North, and Longitude 42°45′ East and 49° East, creating a clearly identifiable territorial unit that Britain administered as a distinct political entity for seventy-six years. These were not abstract or retrospective geographic descriptions; they were operational boundaries reflected in diplomatic correspondence, official cartography, and physical demarcation efforts, particularly the Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commissions of the early 20th century.

Consequently, when Somaliland attained independence on 26 June 1960, it entered the international system with defined and internationally acknowledged borders corresponding directly to these treaty-based limits.

This historical clarity is central to Somaliland’s contemporary claim. The doctrine of uti possidetis juris, affirmed by the........

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