The signing of the Somaliland Declaration of Independence occurred May 5 resolution of the Burao grand conference. At the second national meeting on May 18, the SNM Central Committee, with the support of a meeting of elders representing the major clans in the northern regions, declared the restoration of the Republic of Somaliland in the territory of the former short-lived independent State of Somaliland and formed a government for the self-declared Country.[1][2][3][4][5]