Fresh fighting breaks out in Las’anod as ceasefire calls land on deaf ears

GOOOBJOOG NEWS|LAS’ANOD: Fresh fighting broke out in the outskirts of Las’anod town Wednesday morning as local and international calls for a ceasefire fall on deaf ears.

Sources in the besieged town say the Somaliland army clashed again with the SSC militia but there were no immediate casualties reported. People in the town said they could hear heavy fire and artillery as the two sides went on another round of fighting.

The fighting in Las’nod now enters the fourth month with no end in sight despite numerous calls and appeals for a ceasefire. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said in a brief on Tuesday that up to 200,000 people have been displaced since fighting started in December.

OCHA says an estimated 100,000 displaced people have crossed into the Somali Region of Ethiopia. Over 250 people have been killed and close to 1000 others wounded in the deadly fighting.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud dispatched a delegation of elders from Mogadishu last week to Las’nod while Somaliland President Muse Bihi indicated he was open for dialogue to end the fighting. These, coupled with calls by the UN and other international partners have not borne fruit.