Las Anod — The traditional elders from Southern Somalia, mainly the capital, Mogadishu arrived in Las Anod and paid a visit to the front-line zones on Monday.
The elders, together with the SSC-Khatumu leaders, inspected the newly captured areas in east and west of Las Anod, where the Somaliland troops faced the local forces in battles.
The purpose of the inspection was to see with their own eyes the battlefields and the distance between the two warring sides, according to the reports coming from Las Anod.
After their visit, the elders went back to the city of Lasanod to see the extent of the damage caused by the Somaliland bombardments during the fighting that started in Feb 6.
Elders from Southern Somalia who are looking for a peaceful end to the Lasanod conflict have met with officials from the Somaliland side but didn’t cross further in the region.
Somaliland president Muse Bihi Abdi has announced a ceasefire on February 10, but both sides in the Las Anod conflict accused each other of violating it and starting the fighting.
The UNHCR said over 185,000 people were forced to flee the city, owing to the clashes, with aid workers struggling to respond to the situation due to inadequate resources.