Monitoring Desk
BOSASO: At least 24 people were killed and another 53 wounded in a second day of heavy fighting in Somaliland – the breakaway region of Somalia – after local leaders announced their intention to rejoin federal Somalia.
Somaliland separated from Somalia in 1991 but has not gained international recognition for its independence. It has faced opposition from some tribal elders in the east of the territory who want to be governed from Mogadishu.
On Tuesday, Somaliland claimed fighters from neighboring Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, were fighting alongside local militias in the town of Las Anod; Puntland denied the accusations.
Two doctors said the dead bodies of 58 people had been brought to their hospital in Las Anod since the fighting began on Monday morning, with many more wounded unable to reach the hospital due to heavy fighting in the town.
Local elders in Las Anod said water and electricity had been cut off, and health centers targeted with mortars.
“Somaliland forces are carrying out major attacks on medical facilities and civilian homes. The civilian casualties cannot be counted,” said Mukhtar Abdi, a resident of Las Anod, the administrative center of the Sool region.
Unclear which side started fighting
It was unclear which side initiated the fighting, but it came a day after a committee of local leaders, civil society groups, and religious scholars said in a statement they did not recognize the administration of Somaliland.
“Today, the (perpetrators) were assisted by militias from the neighboring Puntland region of Somalia and the so-called Khatumo militia in a carefully coordinated manner,” the state broadcaster of Somaliland said on Twitter.
Puntland’s interior minister Abdi Farah Said Juhaa, informed that his government, which has controlled the town in the past, was not involved in the fighting and that Somaliland should withdraw its forces from Las Anod and other areas.
On Tuesday, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called for a cease-fire: “let the Somaliland administration and the clan elders of Las Anod sit and talk. The solution is in our pursuit of a united Somalia.”
