Fears of renewed fighting... Will the "Las Anoud" crisis bring the Somaliland file back to the fore?

Since Somaliland declared its independence from the mother country;

Somalia, unilaterally in 1991, and although it did not obtain international recognition, it witnessed a state of political stability compared to the bloody civil wars that Somalia witnessed.

This rule remained permanent until the recent conflict erupted in the city of "Las Anoud", the capital of the Sool region of "Somaliland", which claimed dozens of lives, injured hundreds and displaced more than 185,000 Somalis.

• What is the story of Las Anoud?

Las Anod is the administrative capital of the Sool region in Somaliland, which has been claiming independence from the Republic of Somalia since 1991. It is located on the border between Puntland and Somaliland, on an area of ​​11,240 square kilometers, with a population of 108,000.

Las Anod is inhabited by the Dolbahanti and Warsangali clans, who belong to the Darud tribe that controls the Puntland region. Since the beginning of Somaliland's tendency to independence, the Ishaq clans that control Somaliland have tried to reassure the minorities in the region through reconciliation, but the tendencies and desire to belong remain.

• How did the differences begin in Las Anoud?

In 2002, the then president of the Somaliland region, Dahir Riyali, visited a priest with heavily armed forces, Las Anoud, which provoked the Puntland government that was running the region, and immediately sent combat units and entered into armed confrontations with the Somaliland forces, which made him withdraw with his forces and with him the local administration of the region, and the confrontations were repeated. After that, period after period, until the forces of the Somaliland region managed to control Las Anod in 2007.

• What is the nature of the conflict in Las Anoud and what are its parties?

The dispute over Las Anud between the two regions centers on the claim of subordination to Las Anud and the east of the Sanaq region, where the Somaliland administration relies on the borders inherited from colonialism and adopted by the continental institutions in Africa, while the Puntland administration believes that the clan extensions are what should be adopted in the borders, and thus the annexation of the regions Inhabited by Dolphanti and Warsangli clans to Puntland.

In addition, there is a fundamental disagreement between the two regions over the independence of Somaliland, supported by the position of the clans, which tends to a specific region, which means that there is local and regional will scrambling with conditions related to economic interests, as the population complained of being excluded from major development projects in the region and issues Representation in political power at the regional level.

• How did the dispute develop into armed confrontations?

The region has witnessed intermittent events since the Somaliland region took control of Las Anod in 2007, and it also witnessed another tension in 2011 when Somaliland established a new administration in the Sol region, which is the state of Khatumo, and another conflict erupted in 2018, which stopped through mediation, in addition to the expulsion of the Somaliland administration. Somalia for about 6 thousand Somalis as foreigners who entered Somaliland illegally, which aroused the discontent of the Somalis, who consider that every spot in Somalia they have the right to live in.

In December 2022, one of the political opponents in the region, Mr. Abdel Fattah Abdullah Abdi, was killed by unknown persons, which brought tension and protests back to the fore again. The security services met them by force, causing the killing of about 20 protesters. This was the spark that sparked It ignited armed confrontations between the forces of the region and other tribal militias supported by the Puntland region, and the confrontations continued and expanded to cause killing, displacement and widening of the hernia between the parties.

Sheikh Abdul Adam died after being shot by #Somaliland forces today, Friday, in the outskirts of the city of Lasanod, and the Sheikh was on a bus heading to the western regions of Somalia.

According to some reports, a Somaliland soldier demanded that the car be stopped, then shot the passengers directly and injured a woman pic.twitter.com/WqDjYUl2XB

- Somalia in Arabic (@somaliainarbic) February 24, 2023

• What are the main results of the confrontations?

Since February 6, tensions and combat confrontations have escalated between the parties, especially after the clans in Las Anoud planned to announce a new region directly under the administration of the federal government in Mogadishu, announcing the end of the association with the Somaliland region. The administration of the region preempted the announcement and suspended the meeting, which raised the degree of confrontation Over a period of 18 days, the outcome of the confrontations was about 150 dead and more than 560 wounded, and more than 185 thousand were displaced from their areas, 89% of them women and children, and it is reported that about 60 thousand arrived in Ethiopian territory, in addition to the huge material losses in other aspects.

• What efforts are being made to stop the fighting?

On February 10, an agreement was reached to stop the fighting, but the clans' tendency to announce their desire to join the central government sparked the fighting again, and Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Geli made attempts to bring the federal government in Mogadishu and the government of Somaliland closer together, but the attempt failed. Good luck.

A delegation from the US embassy mission in Mogadishu also visited the city of Hargeisa in Somaliland seeking to stop the war in Las Anod, calling on the parties to an immediate and unconditional end to the fighting and discussing opportunities to open dialogue between the federal government in Mogadishu and Somaliland.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud also received delegations from Norway and Turkey, mediating between Somalia and the administration of Somaliland.

• Where are the events heading in Las Anoud?

The federal government did not intervene directly in Mogadishu so as not to count on one party against another in light of the refusal of the Somaliland government to negotiate with President Hassan Sheikh except by recognizing independence first and then starting dialogue after that, which may push it to support the parties that seek secession from the territory of Somaliland. And return to the bosom of the central government, which is fighting a zero-sum war with the youth movement, through its support for the Puntland region.

Although the situation seems calm during the past two days, it is open to all possibilities, because the factors for the continuation of the fighting are the most abundant with the weakness of peaceful diplomatic efforts, which could guarantee a longer period to stop the fighting.

In addition to the availability of clan tension, which Somali memory stores many of the tragedies associated with it in the period after the fall of the government of General Muhammad Siad Barre, at a time when the performance of the administration of the region declined and the differences appeared clear, which affected the political process in the region, which could move The motives of clan disputes, even within the same tribe, threaten the return of civil war.