Borama also known as Borame, is a city in the northwestern Awdal

Awdal

Awdal is a region in northwestern Somalia. Its capital is Borama.Awdal is bordered by Ethiopia, Djibouti, the Somali region of Woqooyi Galbeed, and the Gulf of Aden...

 region of Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

.

The commercial seat of the province, it is situated near the border with Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

 and Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. One of the biggest towns of the British Somaliland

British Somaliland

British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...

 protectorate. The city has a population of 300,000 residents, and has been a leading example in community organizing, having been the first area in northwestern Somalia to adopt a self-help scheme during British colonial rule.

Control of Borama is disputed between Awdalland

Awdalland

Awdalland is a region in northwestern Somalia. Centered on Borama in the Awdal province, its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 2010.-History:...

, a proposed autonomous state, and Somaliland

Somaliland

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...

, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized

Diplomatic recognition

Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government in control of a state...

 as an autonomous region of Somalia.

Education

Borama is the capital of the Awdal province. It is an important education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

al center and home to Amoud University

Amoud University

Amoud University is a university located in the city of Amoud, Borama in the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia.Local control of the city is disputed between Awdalland, a proposed autonomous state, and Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region...

, the first post-civil war

Somali Civil War

The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...

 institution of higher learning in Somalia, and EELO American University. The town counts six secondary schools, four of them newly-built: Al Aqsa Secondary School, Ubaya - Ibnuka'ab Secondary School, Al Nuur Secondary School and New Amoud Secondary School. The other two secondary schools in the town are the famous Sh. Ali Jowhar Secondary and Hassan Ardale Secondary School.

Borama is also home to the first school for deaf children in Somalia. Borama Deaf School trains and provides educational services for deaf children that extends to high school. Since the school is the first and only one of its kind, it has attracted a great number of deaf pupils from across the region and even beyond.

History

Borama is one of the earliest towns founded during the colonial era and was given a status of a district administrative town. Historically, the town was founded and first settled by the British in 1886. It was given district status in 1925. It was captured by the Italians in 1939 during the onset of World War II but was re-captured by the British who returned it to it's previous state.

Geography

Borama is a mountainous and hilly city. It has green meadow

Meadow

A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...

s and fields

Field (agriculture)

In agriculture, the word field refers generally to an area of land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as:* Cultivating crops* Usage as a paddock or, generally, an enclosure of livestock...

, and represents a key focal point for wildlife. The town's unusual fertility and greenery in largely arid Somalia has attracted many animals, such as gazelle

Gazelle

A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...

s, bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s, and camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

s.

Accommodation

In addition, the city has four major hotels: Rays Hotel is situated in the western corner of town, next to the Sheera Boorama. Cape Town Hotel, Harawa Hotel and Nasimo Hotel, for their part, are located downtown. Other notable places of accommodation include Borama Hotel and Madina Hotel, which are both situated in the city's interior.

Air service

Borama International Airport is the only airport in the Awdal region. It bears the name of Somalia's first Minister of Education, Aden Isaaq.

Airlines: Djibouti Airlines

Djibouti Airlines

Djibouti Airlines was an airline based in Djibouti, Djibouti. It operated regional scheduled and ad-hoc charter services using wet leased aircraft out of its base at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport. Additionally, the airline was engaged in relief operations in East Africa.-History:Djibouti...

 and Daallo Airlines

Daallo Airlines

Daallo Airlines is an airline, headquartered in the Dubai Airport Free Zone in Al Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With its main base at Djibouti-Ambouli International Airport, the airline operates scheduled services in East Africa and the Middle East...

Destinations: Hargeisa

Hargeisa

Hargeisa is a city in the northwestern Woqooyi Galbeed region of Somalia. With a population of approximately 2 million residents, it is the second largest city in the country. Hargeisa is the capital of Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is internationally recognized as an autonomous region...

, Bosaso, Burao, Galkacyo, Mogadishu

Mogadishu

Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....

, Djibouti

Djibouti

Djibouti , officially the Republic of Djibouti , is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east...

, Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

, Jeddah

Jeddah

Jeddah, Jiddah, Jidda, or Jedda is a city located on the coast of the Red Sea and is the major urban center of western Saudi Arabia. It is the largest city in Makkah Province, the largest sea port on the Red Sea, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city, Riyadh. The...

Twinning

Borama is twinned with

• Henley-on-Thames
  Henley-on-Thames
  Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
  
  , United Kingdom, since 1981