Unprepossessing and isolated, situated on a coastal strip so scorched the Somali called it “the Burnt Land”, Berbera was rarely a destination of choice for foreigners.
Perspiring British officials posted to the Somaliland Protectorate disparaged the town as “the armpit of Empire”.
Yet foreigners came for centuries, drawn first by the frankincense and myrrh cultivated in the interior and later hoping to dominate the vast and dangerous shores of the Horn of Africa.
But decades after the imperial powers that once jostled for control withdrew, a new scramble is under way which could transform its benighted economies — or tip a highly volatile region into renewed instability.
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Perspiring British officials posted to the Somaliland Protectorate disparaged the town as “the armpit of Empire”.
Yet foreigners came for centuries, drawn first by the frankincense and myrrh cultivated in the interior and later hoping to dominate the vast and dangerous shores of the Horn of Africa.
But decades after the imperial powers that once jostled for control withdrew, a new scramble is under way which could transform its benighted economies — or tip a highly volatile region into renewed instability.
Read the article here
SHARE
Follow @Medeshi
