Rebels at Ga’an Libah Mountain Surprise Attack Killing 19 in Sahil Region of Somaliland

Somaliland Interior Minister Mohamed Kahin Ahmed and Somaliland Police Commissioner Mohammed Adam Saqadhi spoke to the press on Friday in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, and gave details of the clash between the Lion Mountain Rebels and the police in the Sahel region of Somaliland as well as today’s protests in the major cities of Somaliland connected with this new turn of events.

“The chief of the Somaliland police said that armed rebels invaded Go’da area, killing 9 soldiers of the Somaliland army and injuring 17 more.
“Armed rebels have committed anti-security acts, while the military had no orders to reaction to them. First in July, they abducted cops; on July 30, they killed a police officer; in August, they stole vehicles belonging to the agency Hallo Trust carrying out demining activity; lastly today they killed 17 soldiers in a furious fight”. Somaliland Police Boss Mohamed Adan Saqadhi.

The Police Chief – Saqadhi – expressed that at first the military had no authorization to go after the Lion Mountain rebels who opposes the administration of President Muse Bihi, but from this point forward direct engagement will be pursued against them as the military presently has full power to get the region clean from any kind of revolt.

The Somaliland Interior Minister – Mohamed Kahin Ahmed – has connected the armed defiance to the chairman of the Wadani party – Abdirahman Mohamed Irro – by saying that the individuals in the rebellion are closely related to the Wadani chairman, most of whom are his relatives, so he failed to do something about it.

The rebel group based in Ga’an Libaah Mountain is primarily made up of Wadani supporters who are against president Muse Bihi’s extension of his term in office by the House of Elders, the preference for holding first political association election over presidential election, and who believe that Somaliland is an exclusive club for a select group of constituencies

Abdirahman Ciro, the presidential candidate of Wadani, stated in a press statement made in the town of Borame following the conflict that occurred at Ga’an Libaah Mountain that his party is opposed to the present solution which calls for a war and compulsion. The presidential candidate urged the government of Somaliland to give a chance to find a peaceful way of dealing with the Lion Mountain Rebels and an opportunity to currently undergoing enormous efforts to find a solution by halting the firing.

He also asked the rebels – whom he referred as armed civilians – to lay down their guns. He finally added that he does not want to shed blood and take a bloody path in realizing his ambition to the highest office.

The Somali media, which is consistently biased against Somaliland statehood and its development, has interpreted the violence near Ga’an Libaah mountain as another front of insurgency for Somaliland and questioning whether it has the military strength to withstand two wars in light of the ongoing conflict in Sool.

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