Saturday January 21, 2023
Las Anod (HOL) - Somaliland government has agreed to allow heavily armed bodyguards to escort elders to Las Anod, where a high-level meeting to discuss the future of the Sool, Sanaag, and Ayn regions is expected to begin in the coming days.
A voice recording of Somaliland's Minister of Internal Affairs, Mohamed Kahin Ahmed, while speaking with elders from Las Anod town, reveals that the Somaliland government accepted the elders' request to arrive in the politically charged city with armed security.
In the audio recording, the Minister stated that it is important to be truthful if the elders were sincere in finding a solution to the Las Anod issue.
"If we are honest with these issues and want to do something about this, we need to ask ourselves how to do it. We need you (elders) to come to the town as a small group, and we will come as a small group, then we will discuss on how we can love forward," Kaahin explained.
The elders do not want representatives from the breakaway Somaliland government or Puntland state to attend their meetings. The leading Las Anod elders who oppose the Somaliland government seek to form a local administration that is part of the Somali federal government.
However, both administrations want to influence the delegates by demonstrating their presence.
In response to people who accused the Minister of interfering with the local community issues, Kahin stated that they would not stop interfering because they are the legal government and that they allowed the elders to enter Las Anod with their weapons in hopes of achieving peace.
While the situation in Las Anod remains unstable, the government of Somaliland has agreed to allow elders to return.
The leader of the SSC Liberation Front, Faisal Falalug, who has been advocating for Las Anod to be the center for Khatumo leaders, is among the delegates in the city.