Somalia: Officials from Somaliland administration, Kulmiya ruling party visited Taleh

HARGAISA, Somaliland- A delegation led by officials from Somaliland administration have visited several towns in Sool region and held talks with clan elders over worsening drought situation and upcoming Somaliland elections, Garowe Online reports.  

The delegate led by State Minister for Presidency, Mahmoud Hashi Abdi, Chairman of Kulmiya ruling party and presidential candidate, Muse Bihi, Interior Minister, Yasin Mahmoud “Faratoon”, Information Minister, Mahmoud Adani Ibrahim and state parliamentarian, Saleban Yusuf Ali.

The officials visited Las Anod town before heading towards Taleh town on Friday morning, despite that Puntland government declared that Taleh district falls under their control.

The trip wasn’t the first from Somaliland government, as high level officials have previously held talks with community elders in Taleh in several occasions. However, Somaliland officials have stated their visit was focused to assess the effect of drought on communities in Sool region.

This comes amid consecutive trips by Puntland leadership to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, while local communities in drought-stricken areas have called numerously for relief assistance.

On the other hand, Puntland officials who hail from areas in Sool, Sanag and Ayn were reported to have barely visited their regions, whereas officials from neighboring administration have repeatedly visited contested regions over the past months.

Early this year, scores of people have died following deadly clashes between Puntland and Somaliland in contested areas over latter’s voter registration exercise.

Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia declared its independence from the rest of the country as a de facto sovereign state in 1991 but it has not been recognized internationally yet.

GAROWEONLINE