The disputed land boundary between Somalia and Somaliland extends for 407 kilometers (253 miles), from the tripoint with Ethiopia in the south to the coast on the Gulf of Aden in the north. The boundary passes through an elevated interior plateau, descends into plains land before passing through a brief coastal mountain range. The boundary was initially delimited during the colonial period by an agreement between Italy (Somalia) and the United Kingdom (Somaliland) in 1894. Demarcation was completed by an Anglo–Italian boundary commission in 1929.

Somalia and Somaliland both have complicated colonial histories. The former was an Italian colony and the latter was governed by the British. The States agreed to unification in 1960 at the end of the colonial period, but Somaliland declared independence in 1991. Somaliland has received no official international recognition, but it does maintain representative offices in many other nations including the United States, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Since independence, Somalia has suffered widespread conflict and instability, and in addition to the separatist territory of Somaliland, there are multiple other autonomous regions and areas of the country not controlled by the federal government.