HARGEYSA

also spelled Hargeisa, town, northwestern Somalia. It is located in an enclosed valley of the Galgodon (Ogo) highlands, at an elevation of 4,377 feet (1,334 m). During the Somalian civil war that began in the 1980s, the town was severely damaged; much of the town was reduced to rubble, and most of the population fled. In the past, Hargeysa was quite prosperous. The region has a fairly equable climate, and Hargeysa was originally the summer capital of former British Somaliland, of which it became the permanent administrative centre in 1941. No large industries developed, but the town became an important watering and trading locus for the nomadic stock herders who formed the majority of the population. Meat, livestock, skins, and ghee were exported through Berbera, 117 miles (188 km) northeast, on the Gulf of Aden. Imports were consumer goods, including tea, sugar, and cotton cloth. Pop. (1981 est.) 70,000.