President Bihi Defends Forced Displacement of Somalis in Las Anod

[Deeq A.]

Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — President of Somaliland administration Muse Bihi Abdi today defended the decision to forcibly displace more than 6,000 Somali citizens in Las Anod. “We hosted those people for more than thirty years. Now that we found ourselves unable to host them any longer we have decided to return them to Somalia” said Bihi.

President Bihi has criticised the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) for characterising the expulsion of Somali citizens as forced displacement. “OCHA publicises suffering of people when it raises funds in Muslim countries. It has never done anything for the people who lived in Las Anod” said President Bihi.

President Bihi criticised OCHA for highlighting the plight of Somali citizens whom Somaliland government forcibly displaced from Las Anod.

OCHA reported that more than 6,000 Somalis had been forcibly displaced in Las Anod. “The forceful displacement of scores of families from Laas Caanood has raised protection concerns. The displaced have reported separation of families, child abandonment and loss of property” reported OCHA.

“President Bihi took full responsibility for forcibly displacing Somali citizens in Las Anod. OCHA’s use of the phrase ‘forced displacement’ points to the fact that what Somaliland authorities did in Las Anod is a crime under the international law” said Issa Mohamed, a human rights lawyer in Nairobi.

© Puntland Post, 2021

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