Laascaanood (PP News Desk) — The assassination of Laasanood city councillor Mohamed Aflahar heightened fears of targeted assassinations against Somaliland Administration functionaries in the disputed district. He was the second councillor assassinated by unknown gunmen, several months after the murder of regional chairman of Somaliland Electoral Commission, who was killed in front of his house. The former Mayor of Laascaanood survived two attempts on his life.
Somaliland Administration controls Laascaanood in alliance with local subclan militias commanded by Mahad Ambashe, who is related to the putative MP of the district Yasin Haji Mohamud, a British-Somali citizen. Ambashe managed to supplant militias cobbled together by Ahmed Abdi Habsade whose defection to Hargeisa in 2007 caused Puntland to withdraw from Laascaanood. Habsade had to re-defect to Puntland in 2014 after Somaliland Administration government had refused to hand him regional development funds allocated by Somaliland Development Fund.
A divided district
An unofficial green line developed in Laascaanood as attested to by the beleaguered local militias’ claims that “assassinations do not place in West Laascaanood particularly near Masjid Jaamaca”. Not too far from the area in question a judge of Sool regional court was killed after a remotely-controlled bomb was attached to his car. No group has claimed responsibility for the spate of assassinations in Laascaanood, where militias controlling the district and their dependency, Somaliland Administration, lack the capacity to investigate targeted assassinations.
A member of the regional security committee has recently fallen out with Mahad Ambashe who had suggested that assassins might be based in South Laascaanood. “West Laascaanood, known as Yagoori Cadhootay, is a base of the subclan militias of Ambashe. They are unaccountable to Somaliland because they have not undergone demobilization process. They only replaced Habsade’s motley group of militias who facilitated the fall of Laascaanood. Ambashe’s militias carried out the forced displacement in 2017” said an acquaintance of the security committee member.
Ineffectual securitization
Laascaanood assassinations provide a case example of the futile securitization policy
in Somalia. Options for Somaliland Administration to deal with insecurity in the district are limited. Hargeisa relies on local subclan militias whose leaders oppose demobilization or security reform. “Local subclan militias host Somaliland Administration forces in Sool. Militias’ us- against -them mentality reduces the presence of Somaliland Administration to a promoter of an ineffectual securitization policy, according to a former Laascaanood City Council member.
“The British government’s assistance to Somaliland security sector brings about destabilization in Sool. Why is Britain funding the militias illegally controlling a district that is federally under the jurisdiction of Puntland State of Somalia? Britain does not seem to be keen to act impartially in Somali politics” said a counsel for Puntland State Parliament.
A counterterrorism expert in Mogadishu told Puntland Post that “the fate of Mogadishu warlords is awaiting Laascaanood militias bankrolled by Hargeisa”.
© Puntland Post, 2022
You must be logged in to post a comment.