WIDHWIDH, 23 July 2010 (IRIN) – Several thousand people in northern Somalia have been displaced in recent weeks by clashes between Somaliland troops and a new rebel group, according to local and UN sources.<\/p>\n
The armed group is called Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC) after the regions it hopes to \u201cliberate\u201d from the government of Somaliland, a northwestern region which unilaterally declared independence in 1991. No country formally recognizes Somaliland\u2019s statehood.<\/p>\n
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 1,232 displaced households in the Buuhoodle and Widhwidh districts of the Sool region received a month\u2019s worth of oil and sorghum in June. WFP works on the basis of an average of six people per household. Insecurity prevented 468 targeted households from receiving the rations.<\/p>\n
In an email to IRIN, WFP cited a local NGO report that an additional 334 households had been displaced more recently in the Kalabaid area of Sool.<\/p>\n
One of those displaced, Hawa Hassan, told IRIN in the town of Widhwidh on 21 July: “We first ran away in early June when the war broke out and I brought my family back in July, but another war broke out a few days ago between the army and the region’s militia.”<\/p>\n
Hawa said she fled with her family to Dhagah Dheer, 18km northwest of Widhwidh.<\/p>\n
“We have been struggling to survive in a forested area but the heavy rains and the cold weather makes it difficult for us to endure,” she said.<\/p>\n
Saleebaan Warsame Guuleed, Somaliland’s defence minister, said one soldier was killed and another injured in the latest clashes with SSC.<\/p>\n
Elders in Widhwidh District said families started fleeing from 21 May to neighbouring villages such as Xidh-Xidh, Bali Cad, Geed Dheer, Balihadhac, Dhagah Dheer, Dabayl ma arke, Shululux, Qalanqale, Geed Xamarka, Dhilaalo, Horufadhi, Beeyaal and Laas-dhooble.<\/p>\n
Cold climate<\/strong><\/p>\n Abdillahi Awad, one of the elders, told IRIN: “Those displaced are living under difficult conditions because of the rains in the `Gu\u2019 season as well as the cold climate. In fact, malaria, diarrhoea and common colds have broken out in many of the places where these people fled to.”<\/p>\n Awad said the displaced had received some aid but more was needed.<\/p>\n “They have only received some plastic shelter material from the local business community, and medicine from Las-anod hospital; food has been distributed by WFP,” Awad said.<\/p>\n Ali Sabarey, the deputy leader of SSC, was quoted in some media reports as saying the group’s “ultimate goal is to make this area peaceful and prosperous and also seek a united Somalia”.<\/p>\n During campaigns ahead of 26 June presidential elections, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo, who won the poll, pledged to start negotiations with SSC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WIDHWIDH, 23 July 2010 (IRIN) – Several thousand people in northern Somalia have been displaced in recent weeks by clashes between Somaliland troops and a new rebel group, according to local and UN sources. The armed group is called Sool, Sanaag and Cayn (SSC) after the regions it hopes to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-somalia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanrightsleague.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n We have been struggling to survive in a forested area but the heavy rains and the cold weather makes it difficult for us to endure<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n