Somali President, PM Make Landmark Las Anod Visit for N.E State Inauguration Amid Somaliland Showdown

GOOBJOOG NEWS| LAS ANOD: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre arrived Friday in Las Anod to attend the inauguration of the leadership of the newly formed North East regional state, in a visit that officials framed as a major show of federal unity and authority.

In separate statements issued by their offices, both leaders said they were welcomed by North East officials and community representatives, including traditional elders, intellectuals, women and youth, ahead of the inauguration of regional president Abdulqadir Ahmed Aw-Ali (Firdhiye) and his deputy.

For President Mohamud, the trip is especially symbolic: it is his first visit to the new administration since its formation and one of the rare visits by a sitting Somali head of state to Las Anod in decades, underscoring Mogadishu’s effort to consolidate ties with the unionist SSC-Khaatumo/North East polity.

The presidency said the visit signals Somalia’s unity and the federal government’s push to strengthen peace, reconciliation and state-building, adding that Mohamud is scheduled to hold talks with North East leaders during the trip.The Las Anod stop comes against a sensitive political backdrop. The city — long claimed by Somaliland and a flashpoint of past fighting — sits at the center of an unresolved dispute over control and governance in northern Somalia.

It also follows Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland, a move that has triggered condemnation from Somalia and raised regional tensions around the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden corridor, as analysts warn of possible security and geopolitical spillovers.