Informal camp for displaced people, in Hargeisa, Somaliland region, Somalia, September 16, 2021. EDUARDO SOTERAS / AFP
Violence has forced more than 185,000 people to flee their homes in the disputed town of Las Anod in Somaliland, a self-declared independent region of Somalia, the local UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Thursday evening (February 16th). (BCAH).
“More than 185,000 people have been displacedOCHA writes in a statement, saying 89% are women and children, many of whom have found no refuge other than the shade of a tree or one of the schools that have closed due to the violence.
Clashes and tensions
A former British territory, Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, an act not recognized by the international community. This region of 4.5 million inhabitants has since remained poor and isolated but has enjoyed relative stability while Somalia was plagued by the Islamist insurrection of the shebab.
However, recent months have been marked by tensions in Somaliland. Clashes broke out on February 6 between the armed forces of the region and militias loyal to the Somali central government in Las Anod. This locality, bordering the border and strategic in terms of trade, has changed hands several times in recent decades.
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Cease fire
According to OCHA, officials at Las Anod General Hospital reported 57 dead and 401 injured, split between that structure and three others in the city. The identity of the victims has not been specified. A few days later, on February 10, the Somaliland authorities declared a ceasefire. But on the 12th, they accused militias of having attacked their soldiers.
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OCHA, which conducted its research over the weekend, reports reports that clashes have continued despite the ceasefire. Mogadishu has not directly responded to accusations from Somaliland authorities. Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre said on Friday “welcome the ceasefire and call for (…) immediate access for humanitarian aid“. “With thousands displaced, the need for emergency aid is even more pressing now“, he wrote on Twitter.
Influx to Ethiopia
During a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said that “over 60,000 Somalis, mostly children and womenreached the southeast of neighboring Ethiopia from the Las Anod region. “Exhausted and traumatized, they arrived with very few belongings, taking with them only what they could carry.said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado Mur.
“An average of 1,000 people continue to enter Ethiopia every dayshe added, noting that resources were limited in the Somali region of Ethiopia, which is plagued by record drought.