Somaliland president announced a deal with defected Colonel Aarre

Hargeisa, July 25 ( Somaliland.com) Somaliland president Muse Bihi announced that the end of the year-long insurgency of defected Colonel Aarre is near.

President Muse Bihi Abdi announced that a peaceful resolution of the issue of defected colonel Aarre and his armed group is near.

At the grand opening of a new car dealership at the capital, the Somaliland president made the good news regarding the biggest security threat of his administration. A deal is to be reached with colonel Saeed Awil Jama Aarre who defected from Somaliland army in mid-2018.

The president without naming Col. Aarre announced that all parties are in agreement to resolve the issue peacefully.

“Of the issue of Erigavo, there is peace. We have no worry that it will be resolved peacefully. The people who gathered down there, the ones already been there, the delegates, the diaspora community, all agree that the issue to be resolved peacefully among us and that we don’t lose anything,” he said.

The reports of the talks between the government and the colonel and his forces surfaced last week. However, the president says all that remains now is only the legal details of the agreement.

“The question is how to make this agreement compliant with existing laws. There is no conflict there now, not from the government, intermediaries or from our disgruntled youth. Now, the only thing that needs to be resolved is a few legal issues.”

Colonel Saeed Awil Jama Aarre defected from Somaliland national army last year following inter-clan clashes in the Sanaag region. He based his armed group in Qardho, Puntland State of Somalia, but later relocated to the highland outskirts of Erigavo, the administrative capital of the Sanaag region.

Ending this insurgency peacefully in effect nips in the bud one of the most serious security challenges that Somaliland could face – That is an insurgency within the main clan of this clan-based nation.

Abdillahi Plastaro

Somaliland.com