Friday March 24, 2023
Hargeisa (HOL) - Faysal Ali Warabe, chairman of the UCID party in Somaliland, stated on Friday that a ceasefire and dialogue are required to end the conflict in Las Anod.
Warabe said that the conflict would cause more destruction if peace was not achieved, adding that the Somaliland army would not leave the territory claimed by the SSC.
"If peace is not reached, it will result in destruction. Nobody will be permitted to secede from Somaliland territory. We won't depart from Tukaraq," Warabe declared.
Tukaraq is a small village in the eastern Sool region of Somaliland. The town is located on the road between Las Anod and Garowe in Las Anod District. Somaliland has had effective control there since 2018.
Faisal emphasized that SSC traditional elders should accept the ceasefire, and establish a ceasefire monitor to identify truce violations.
Warabe, who was critical of the Somaliland President's violent crackdown on protestors in Las Anod in February, said that Puntland forces have exploited the Las Anod conflict to invade Somaliland. He said that, as a result, opposition parties are standing by the Somaliland military.
Jaama Mohamed Mursal, a medical doctor at the Las Anod General Hospital, reported that artillery fire could be heard in Las Anod on the outskirts, even though there are no reports of shelling in the city itself since Tuesday.
Las Anod has become a focal point of the unionist movement that seeks to reunify Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC) with Somalia since Somaliland's troops captured it in 2007 from Puntland.