Jan. 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –
At least twenty people have died during five days of protests in the town of Las Anod, the epicenter of the long territorial dispute between the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland and the Somali semi-autonomous region of Puntland, in the north of the country, since 2007. horn of africa
Protesters began taking to the streets on Tuesday to demand once and for all that the Somaliland government drop its claims on the town, which it took control of some 15 years ago, characterized in part by the forced expulsion of more than 7,200 Somalis in the last few months, and hand it over definitively to the Puntland state.
The expulsion of Somalis has provoked protests from both the Somali federal state and the international community. However, Somaliland has defended its actions by saying the evictions were the culmination of various security threats posed by the evictions.
The protests are primarily targeting Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi, whom they accuse of orchestrating political assassinations against his rivals — including politician Abdifatah Abdulli Hadrawi, shot dead by masked men last week — and other dissidents. In addition, he is accused of clinging to power with an illegitimate mandate, which ended last December, without elections having been held so far “for technical reasons”, according to the authorities.
The vote was scheduled for November 13, a month before the end of the president’s term, in a call to the polls that was seen as a milestone for a relatively peaceful state until a few years ago that has spent decades trying to gain international recognition. after it declared its independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991.
The president has denied any responsibility for the death of Hadrawi, of which he has accused the “enemies of Somaliland” while opposition parties such as Waddani have urged him to leave power immediately and dedicated their efforts to call these protests that have been settled with this provisional twenty deaths after the intervention of the Somaliland security forces, according to the Somali portal Garowe On Line, citing “multiple independent sources”.
The situation has reached such gravity that the Somali government, the United States and the African Union mission in Somalia, ATMIS, and the United Nations have immediately called for calm. “International partners are concerned about the violence in Las Anod that has caused deaths and injuries among the civilian population,” according to the UN Mission in the African country, UNSOM, in a statement published this Sunday.
“The prevention of violence and the guarantees of the protection of civilians are essential factors. We call for calm and moderation. Tensions must be resolved through détente and dialogue,” the UN mission said.
