Sunday October 3, 2021
Mogadishu (HOL) - The Governor of Puntland's Mudug region, Abdilatif Muse Nur (Sanyre), has condemned the actions of the Somaliland government on Sunday following the deportation of hundreds of Somalis from Las Anod.
The governor accused Somaliland of committing a heinous act, saying it was a disgrace to Somalis and disrespectful to human dignity. He offered his apology on behalf of Puntland.
Sanyare said that if Somaliland were to expel its community members, it should have the decency to give them enough time to gather their affairs and prepare to relocate.
"Deporting Somalis from Somali territory abruptly while they are unprepared is ugly," said Sanyare.
He said that the people who were deported left overcrowded farms in the Lower Shabelle and that the people of Las Anod were compelled as Muslims to be their hosts.
The governor of the Mudug region said people from the Bay and Bakool regions were not a threat to security and that their presence could not be attributed to insecurity in Las Anod.
He said that during a recent sweep in the Mudug region, authorities discovered that those responsible for killings were from Puntland, adding that not a single person from Southwest State was found to be a member of Al-Shabab during their investigation.
Sanyare said Puntland would welcome those forcibly removed from Las Anod, adding that some of them had already arrived in Burtine and Buhoodle districts this morning.
Somalis have been moving to Las Anod from southern Somalia - primarily from the Bay and Bakool region - in successive waves since the collapse of the central government in 1991, seeking refuge from war and famine.
Somaliland authorities forcibly repatriated over 700 people, including women and children, from Las Anod on Saturday.
The mass expulsion comes just days after delegates from Somaliland - hiding their faces in masks and headscarves - elected eleven senators to serve in the next Federal Parliament. Somaliland's Vice-President, Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismail (Saylici), threatened the masked delegates with arrest immediately upon return to the breakaway region.