Somaliland Parliamentary Speaker Accuses Muse Bihi of Authorising “War Crimes Against Laascaanood”

Khalif:”President Bihi undermined all peace efforts to resolve the Laascaanood conflict.”

Laascaanood — (PP News Desk) The Speaker of Somaliland House of Representatives Abdirisaq Khalif Ahmed today accused Somaliland Administration President Muse Bihi  Abdi of undermining peace efforts to resolve the Laascaanood conflict. “It all began on 27 December 2022, when the former regional governor and the commander of the area Ali Barre, used the military force to quell people demonstrating peacefully in Laasanood. The indiscriminate shelling of Laascaanood on the second day of the war while I was in the district along with the Somaliland Interior Minister [ Mohamed Kahin] and his delegation including the Commander of the Somaliland Army ensued. President Muse Bihi Abdi who is the commander of Somaliland Forces authorised the indiscriminate shelling of Laascaanood [by Somaliland forces]” said Khalif at a press conference held in Laascaanood earlier today.

“I would like to make it clear that President Bihi undermined all peace efforts to resolve the Laascaanood conflict. When the first peace initiative had failed, we shared details of another peace effort  with the European Union to arrange talks via the telephone between Laascaanod traditional leaders and traditional leaders from Western regions. President Bihi held a meeting in  the presidency and unilaterally declared a peace summit  to be held in Yagoori” he added.

The remarks of the Somaliland Parliamentary Speaker could be used as a basis for accountability called for by Ms. Isha Dyfan, the United Nations Independent Expert on the Situation of Human Rights in Somalia.

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