More Than 185,000 People Are Displaced Due To Conflict In Somaliland.
In a disputed border town in Somalia’s breakaway province of Somaliland, fighting has forced more than 185,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to the UN’s emergency response agency.
In a tumultuous area, Somaliland, which has claimed independence from Somalia since 1991 but has never received international recognition, is sometimes seen as a glimmer of calm.
But, political unrest has increased recently, with fatal clashes breaking out last week in the disputed town of Las Anod between government troops and militias loyal to Somalia.
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) of the UN in Somalia stated in a statement late on Thursday that reports of intense fighting were still coming in despite a proclaimed truce.
According to the report, “more than 185,000 people have been displaced,” and humanitarian workers are finding it difficult to address the crisis because of a lack of resources.
Women and children made up an estimated 89 percent of the displaced people, according to OCHA, and many of them allegedly sought refuge inside schools that had to be closed because of the violence or beneath trees.
OCHA said that 57 fatalities had been recorded by Las Anod General Hospital authorities, and 401 wounded patients were being treated at four separate hospitals.
More than 60,000 more people have fled to Ethiopia’s Somali region to escape the violence, in addition to the tens of thousands of individuals who have been internally displaced in Somaliland, the UN’s refugee agency said on Friday.
During a news conference in Geneva, UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado Mur said, “Exhausted and scared, they have come with very little, simply carrying what they could carry.”
The Somali area, which is experiencing a record drought after five failed rainy seasons, is resource-strapped, she said, adding that an average of 1,000 people continue to cross into Ethiopia every day.
Accusations
On February 6, violence broke out in Las Anod, a strategic trading hub claimed by both Somaliland and the nearby Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northeastern Somalia.
Elders in the Sool region, where Las Anod is situated, released a statement promising support for the federal government of Somalia and requesting that Somaliland authorities remove its forces from the region, which sparked the violence.
The Somaliland government declared a truce on February 10, but Somalia was accused of assaulting its soldiers on Sunday.
The accusations received no immediate response from Mogadishu.
