Clashes have forced more than 185,000 people to flee their homes in the seized border town in the Somali region of Somaliland, the UN emergency response agency said.
Somaliland, which has claimed independence from Somalia since 1991 but has never been internationally recognized, is often seen as a beacon of stability in a chaotic region.
However, political unrest has risen in recent months, with deadly violence erupting last week between government forces and militias loyal to Somalia in the contested town of Las Anod.
In a statement released last Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Somalia said reports of heavy fighting continued to emerge despite the ceasefire.
“More than 185,000 people have been displaced,” he said, with aid workers struggling to respond to the situation due to insufficient resources.
According to OCHA, women and children make up about 89 percent of the displaced population, with many reportedly seeking shelter under trees or inside schools, which have been forced to close due to the violence.
OCHA said officials at Las Anod General Hospital had reported 57 deaths, with 401 injured victims being treated at four different hospitals.
In addition to the tens of thousands of people displaced in Somaliland, more than 60,000 others have fled to the Somali region of Ethiopia to escape the violence, the UN refugee agency said on Friday.
“Exhausted and traumatized, they came with little, taking only what they could bring,” said UNHCR spokeswoman Olga Sarrado Mur at a press conference in Geneva.
“An average of 1,000 people continue to cross into Ethiopia every day,” he said, adding that resources are running low in the Somali region, which is in a record drought, after five failed rainy seasons.
Allegation
The latest fighting broke out on February 6 in Las Anod, which lies on a major trade corridor and is claimed by Somaliland and neighboring Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northeastern Somalia.
The violence erupted after elders in the Sool region, where Las Anod is located, issued a statement offering support to Somalia’s federal government and calling on Somaliland authorities to withdraw their soldiers from the region.
Somaliland authorities announced a ceasefire on February 10, but on Sunday accused Somalia of attacking its forces.
Mogadishu did not immediately respond to the allegations.
On Friday, Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre welcomed the ceasefire and called for “immediate access to humanitarian aid”.
“With thousands of people displaced, the urgent need is now even greater,” he said on Twitter.
Control of Anode Welding has changed hands several times in recent decades.
Somaliland, a region of 4.5 million people, is a former British protectorate.
It prints its own currency, issues its own passports and elects its own government, but its quest for statehood has been unknown, impoverished and isolated.
The region is relatively stable compared to Somalia, which has witnessed decades of civil war and Islamist insurgency.
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