At least 96 people have been killed in more than two weeks of clashes between security forces and clan members in the Somali region of Somaliland, a hospital director said Thursday.
“We have 96 dead and 560 wounded,” Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, director of the main hospital in the contested town of Las Anod, told AFP by telephone.
Garaad Jama Garaad Ali, a senior clan leader, said on Wednesday that 150 people had been killed and 500 wounded.
Somaliland: ‘Beacon of Stability’
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 tensions have risen in recent months, leading to deadly violence between government forces and militias loyal to Somalia.
The latest fighting broke out on February 6 in Las Anod, which straddles a major trade route and is claimed by Somaliland and neighboring Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northeastern Somalia.
The UN says more than 185,000 people have been displaced by the violence.
Heavy fighting was still going on Thursday, according to clan leaders and witnesses in the area.
“It started in the morning and already several cannons and mortars landed in the city,” resident Mohamed Saleban said by phone, adding that people were evacuated.
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On Wednesday, Hassan said the hospital itself had been bombed and that some employees had “occasionally” survived the attack.
“They have damaged the hospital’s electrical system, oxygen system, blood bank, human resources office and other parts of the hospital building,” he told reporters, vowing to continue working.
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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 a few days later accused Somalia of attacking its forces.
The UN said last week that more than 185,00 people had been uprooted from their homes, with aid workers struggling to respond to the situation due to insufficient resources.
Women and children make up about 89 percent of the displaced population, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.
Many reportedly sought shelter under trees or inside schools, which were forced to close.
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In addition to those 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.
Senior UN chief Volker Turk this month called on authorities to conduct a “credible and impartial investigation” into the clashes and warned that they were worsening an already fragile humanitarian situation in the region.
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.
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However, the region is relatively stable compared to Somalia, which has witnessed decades of civil war and Islamist insurgency.