Somaliland: The fragility security in the Horn of Africa

Hargeisa (HAN) August 29, 2014, Regional defense and security news. The Somali Federal government sent to Khatumo presidential inauguration ceremony, three planes carrying delegation from Mogadishu and Nairobi landed at airstrip in Buhotle. In attendance at the inauguration of Galaydh were Mogadishu clan elders, politicians and Federal Somalia Parlimenterians.

The fighting broke out in Saah-dheer where the Khatumo inauguration of the newly elected president of the regional state of Khatumo Dr. Al Khalif Galeyr was taking place.

The Geeska Afrika Online security reporter in Hargeisa reported that the delegates who were invited to attend the inauguration ceremony crossed the border to the nearing Ethiopia to escape the fighting.

The Khaatumo state leaders in Somalia seeks substantial autonomy without Somaliland repablic and Puntland Authority. It has long called for the removal of Somaliland troops from Lasanod.

The regional authority of Puntland and Somaliland republic have fought sporadic battles since 2002 over the control of territories mainly in Sool region.

saaxdheer1
The fighting broke out in Saah-dheer where the Khatumo inauguration ceremony held

ABDIQANI HASSAN of AP reported: At least nine people were killed in fighting on Thursday between rival areas in Somalia’s usually calm Somaliland region, residents said, highlighting the fragility of security improvements anywhere in the Horn of Africa nation.

Somaliland forces launched an offensive on a town where people had inaugurated a man they said was president of the newly autonomous Khatumo area. Officials and many attending the occasion in north Somalia fled to the nearby Ethiopian border.

The incident shows how quickly clashes can flare in Somalia, even in quieter regions like Somaliland where some semblance of normality has returned to towns after years of conflict between warlords across the nation on Africa’s eastern tip.

Somalia was fractured by more than two decades of conflict after the toppling in 1991 of the dictator Siad Barre, who held the nation together with brute force. Clan warlords and then Islamist militants have fought over the pieces.

Somaliland itself is a self-declared independent state, which Somalia’s government in Mogadishu is seeking to gather into a federal system, although even getting the two sides together for talks on the subject has proved difficult.

The Somaliland forces attacked Saahdheer, a town that lies close to the Ethiopian border, the boundary of Somaliland and another semi-autonomous area known as Puntland.

“Somaliland took over the town and the Khatumo state officials and forces fled into Ethiopia after serious fighting,” shopkeeper Abdullahi Farah told Reuters by telephone.

“Now the mood is calm and Somaliland forces control the town, which is under curfew now. I counted nine dead people and more than 10 others injured,” he said.

The areas claimed by supporters of Khatumo are themselves disputed by Puntland and Somaliland.

Somalia’s Western-backed government in Mogadishu has been trying to reassure suspicious regions about the benefits of federalism, while it also battles Islamist rebels, relying heavily on African Union peacekeeping forces for security.


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One response to “Somaliland: The fragility security in the Horn of Africa”

  1. Abshir

    These new fightings in Somaliland borders is nothing else other than Somalia’s expansionist projects because they know Somaliland is going to be a New Republic among the civilized nation of the world soon.

    So, new Somalia government, backed by the Western governments, are trying to grap as many land as possible.

    Well, Somaliland knows peace and war, better than them. So, we will defend against their aggressions.

    Somalind Forever

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