Somalia: We are witnessing genocide in Las Anod - elder

LAS ANOD, Somalia - The current situation in the Las Anod city within Sool region has reached the heights of genocide, an elder has said, while calling on the international community to intervene and prevent more people fron dying following a week of skirmishes in the Horn of Africa nation.

For the last one week, the situation in Sool region of Somalia has been the epicenter of serious skirmishes which have left over 50 people dead after the second wave of violence which saw local militia engage Somaliland army in gunfight which lasted for about three days.

Garad Jama Ali, an elder who had been in exile since 2007 told the BBC Somali Service that Somaliland administration has been torturing, killing and mistreating the people of Laascaanood for 15 years and that the situation has reached the point of being called a "genocide".

"This is pure genocide and the international community should call it by the right word instead of hiding for all this long," he saud. "For the last 15 years, our people have been killed carelessly by the Somaliland military and there senseless deaths ought to be called by their right words."

Jama, a respected community elder, said there was need for Somaliland administration to withdraw her soldiers from Sool to pave way for relative stability as elders look for a lasting solution to avert tensions which have continued to build up in the Horn of Africa nation.

"It is clear that the people of Las Anod want to be governed from Somalia's capital Mogadishu and not Hargeisa. This should be the reason why the military from Somaliland should gently quit instead of suffocating the people of Las Anod without good reasons, " he added while sharing the plight of the people.

The United Nations and the President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud have called for immediate cessation of hostilities in Las Anod, but Somaliland authorities are yet to oblige. So far, over 70 people have been killed following the skirmishes which have rocked the town for the past one week according to authorities.

GAROWE ONLINE