Somali President Visits Las Anod in First Trip By a Head of State Since 1991 Collapse

GOOBJOOG NEWS| LAS ANOD: Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travelled to Las Anod on Friday, marking the first visit by a Somali head of state to the Sool regional capital since the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991, in a high-profile trip that underscores Mogadishu’s effort to strengthen national cohesion and widen the reach of federal institutions.

Las Anod, a strategic city on the corridor linking Somaliland’s eastern regions to Puntland has for years stood at the centre of Somalia’s unresolved territorial and political disputes. Control of the city and the wider Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC) area has been contested, with competing administrations and armed groups seeking to shape its future.

Las Anod is also the capital of North Eastern State (NES), which emerged as Somalia’s sixth Federal Member State in late July 2025 after a delegates’ conference in the city declared the new administration. Regional lawmakers later elected Abdiqadir Ahmed Aw-Ali (Firdhiye) as the state’s president on 30 August 2025, and Mohamud is in Las Anod to attend his official inauguration/swearing-in ceremony

The president’s appearance in the city comes after years of instability that repeatedly pushed Las Anod onto the national agenda.In 2018, clashes between Somaliland and Puntland forces around Tukaraq, west of Garowe, highlighted how quickly tensions along the disputed boundary could escalate into open fighting.

In 2023, Las Anod was the epicentre of months of warfare between Somaliland forces and local fighters aligned with SSC-Khaatumo, a conflict that triggered major civilian displacement and deepened political fault lines across northern Somalia.The visit also lands at a moment when the federal government is under pressure to demonstrate national authority amid shifting regional dynamics, including renewed diplomatic activity around Somaliland’s status.

While Somaliland has operated as a self-declared independent entity since 1991, Somalia regards it as part of its sovereign territory.

For residents of Las Anod, the presence of a sitting Somali president is a rare and consequential event — one that places the city at the centre of federal politics, not only as a conflict zone, but as a test case for whether Somalia’s unity project can be pursued through political engagement after years defined by rivalry and violence.