Voters in Somaliland went to the polls on Wednesday amid the growing possibility of the region being recognized as an independent state.

Voting is underway in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland in a key presidential election that was delayed for two years and comes as the Horn of Africa region is experiencing political tension

Voters in Somaliland head to the polls on Wednesday to choose a president at a time when the breakaway Somali region sees international recognition within reach after three decades of de facto self-rule.

Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia at the centre of a diplomatic storm, holds a presidential election on Wednesday at a tense moment in the Horn of Africa. Now, it has become the focus of a major dispute between Somalia and Ethiopia that international observers fear could spark conflict in the restive region.