Somali president visits city claimed by breakaway region of Somaliland

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Friday visited a provincial capital claimed by the breakaway region of Somaliland - the first visit there by a sitting president in over 40 years.

The visit to Las Anod, the administrative capital of the Sool region, comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions in the Horn of Africa after Israel officially recognised Somaliland, drawing strong opposition from Mogadishu.

Mohamud was attending the inauguration of the president of the newly created Northeast State, which became Somalia's sixth federal state in August.

It was the first visit by a Somali president since 1984.

Somalia is a federation of semi-autonomous states, some of which have fraught relations with the central government in Mogadishu.

The Northeast State comprises the regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn, all territories Somaliland claims as integral to its borders.

Somaliland had controlled Las Anod since 2007 but was forced to withdraw in 2023 after violent clashes with Somali forces and pro-Mogadishu militias left scores dead.

Mohamud's visit "is a symbol of strengthening the unity and efforts of the federal government to enforce the territorial unity of the Somali country and its people", the Somali president's office said.

Somaliland reacted swiftly.

"Las Anod is Somaliland and we are committed to resolving differences through dialogue and peaceful means," Somaliland Minister of the Presidency Khadar Hussein Abdi said.

"Hassan Sheikh Mohamud must put his own house in order... Somaliland's recognition is now a reality and no-one can change that," he added.