At least 24 people have been reportedly killed and another 53 injured in a second day of heavy fighting in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, two doctors said, after local leaders declared their intention to rejoin federal Somalia.
It should be recalled that Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 but has not gained widespread international recognition for its independence, and has faced opposition from some clan elders in the east of the territory who seek to be governed from Mogadishu.
On Tuesday, Somaliland said fighters from neighbouring Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, were fighting alongside local militias in the town of Las Anod, accusations Puntland denied.
Two doctors said the bodies of 58 people had been brought to their public hospital in Las Anod since the clashes began on Monday morning, with many more injured unable to reach the hospital because of heavy fighting in the town.
Local elders in Las Anod said electricity and water had been cut off, and health centres attacked with mortars.
“Somaliland forces are carrying out heavy attacks on medical facilities and civilian homes. The deaths and injuries of civilians cannot be counted,” said Mukhtar Abdi, a resident of Las Anod, the administrative centre of Sool region.
Puntland’s interior minister Abdi Farah Said Juhaa said his government, which has controlled the town in the past, was not involved in the fighting, and that Somaliland should withdraw its troops from Las Anod and other areas.
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Tuesday called for a ceasefire: “let the Somaliland administration and the clan elders of Las Anod sit and talk. The solution is in our pursuit of united Somalia.”
