Somalia: SSC-Khatumo announces ban on Somaliland

LAS ANOD, Somalia - On April 10, 2023, the 33-elder committee in LasAnod announced a complete halt to the movement of traffic and people between SSC-Khatumo and Somaliland.

Effective April 15, 2023, vehicles and people coming from or going to Somaliland will not be permitted to pass through SSC-Khatumo-controlled areas.

Mohamud Salad, the Deputy Chairman of the Committee said: "Whoever sends his vehicle on that road will be responsible for the consequences."

The ban came after Somaliland's Minister of Agriculture said the region faces a decline in the economy due to the Lasanod conflict. Several trucks carrying cargo from the port of Berbera, currently blocked at the western checkpoint in Lasanod, are expected to be released following the traffic ban implementation.

All commercial activities, they said, will be stopped forthwith, with SSC-Khatumo pushing for "secession" from Somaliland. For the last eight weeks, clashes between Somaliland security and SSC-Khatumo forces have left over 200 people dead and thousands injured, with several others displaced.

The humanitarian conflict has been building up with displaced persons struggling to make ends meet. 

Despite local and international calls for a cease-fire, fighting has continued, raising fears of a full-blown humanitarian crisis amid a biting drought that has already affected thousands of people in the contested region.

GAROWE ONLINE