Gabiley authorities arrest dozen citizens over dispute on cemetery land

SOMALILAND.COM – Somaliland government violently broke up a protest in Wajaale town against construction work at the city cemetery.

People in Wajaale town took to the streets on Tuesday after building materials were loaded into the town’s newly designated cemetery. They were led by the city business people including the chairman of the business community in town. 

The police arrested eighteen businessmen including the chairman and deputy chair of the business committee in the city. The chairman Mohamed Jama Qalinle who spoke to media before his arrest said he was badly beaten by the police and sustained 29 wounds on his body. 

The people in Wajale are either arrested or beaten by baton sticks. I have twenty-nine wounds and nineteen baton blows on my body. I was carried from the ground. I was standing at the street trying to diffuse tension between the police and people when a roaring policeman ordered my beating. 

Mohamed Jama Qalinle

The protestors alleged that the city administration sold the land to a private businessman. They disrupted the construction material moved into the cemetery by picking up the stones one by one.

However, the government claimed that they are using the land for a facility to control heavy trucks on the newly constructed road. The governor of Gabiley region Mohamed Cismaan Haji Ahmed insisted that the government owns the land and now will build a facility for the ministry of roads and transportation.