Recently I asked about postal services into Somlia in general and Somaliland in particular. From the German postal service (DHL) I now received the information, that since 1991 they cannot bring a letter into that country. This situation has not changed. I wonder, if there is any other postal route available? (Kuhl in DXplorer, Oct 01). I wrote this sometime around 2000: "In early 1997 Radio Hargeisa was heard here in Finland on 7537 and I tried to send them a reception report. I contacted our Postal Service Headquarters and they told me that letters from Finland to Somalia are OK and they'll be delivered to Hargeisa Airport. Anyway, after couple of days my envelope bounced back (from Frankfurt I guess) with " Retour - service postal suspendu " markings. Earlier I had noticed that the Ethiopian Postal Service was very reliable, so I decided to try them. New envelope, this time " via Ethiopia " was sent. Couple of weeks went by and again my envelope came back. This time it had travelled to the town of Jijiga near the Ethiopia-Somaliland border. Good try. Checking the map, I noticed there is (or has been) a railway from Djibouti to Hargeisa. Next letter was sent " via Djibouti ". And still waiting for the results :-). At this stage I gave up. There might be a chance by routing a letter via Yemen, who knows. But of course, if one has personal contacts to the area, it is best to use their help."
Seems not much change in the situation for a long time. (Savolainen in DXplorer, Oct 01/DX Window 464)
