Somalia: Somaliland forces take over oil-rich area in Sool region
25 Apr, 2014 - 9:27:40 AM
GAROWE, Somalia April 25, 2014 (Garowe Online) -Somaliland's separatist
administration on Friday deployed hundreds of its soldiers in the disputed
region of Sool amidst looming threats of instability in northern Somalia,
Garowe Online reports.
Speaking on Puntland-based independent station, Radio Garowe a local
reporter who asked to remain anonymous said that heavily armed Somaliland
troops arrived in Holhol village, with units within the forces seizing
strategic oil-rich targets.
"Soldiers in fighting vehicles captured Holhol, the armed men were in
military fatigues decorated with Somaliland army and they immediately stood
guard at oil rich vicinities in the outskirts of the village," he noted.
According to independent sources, Somaliland is planning to dismantle a
forthcoming clan convention in Sool regional district of Taleh which lies
less than 100 km from Puntland capital of Garowe.
Despite surprise withdrawal from the historic town of Taleh by Somaliland
forces on April 17, the sources further disclosed that local clan militias
who come from the same clan as the self-declared administration of Khaatumo
leaders are coordinating the offensives with Somaliland government forces.
Among the key organizers of Khaatumo conference is Federal Member of
Parliament Ali Khalif Galaydh. Galaydh and his entourage last week arrived
to warm welcome in Taleh.
In Septemper 2013, Anglo-Turkish Oil Exploration Company, Genel Energy
withdrew its expatriates from Somaliland due to political pressure with the
possibility that Federal Government of Somalia threatened license
revocation, Somaliland officials initially disclosed.
A spokesman for the company told that security issues forced them to vacate
the oil exploration fields in the separatist region.
Somaliland government awarded an exploration license for onshore blocks
SL-10-B and SL-13 with a 75% working interest in August 2012 but Garowe
Online has learned that Somaliland renewed the previous license by signing
Oodweyne Production Sharing Agreement which covers blocks SL-6, SL-7 and
SL-10-A in November 2012 with Genel Energy Company.
On August 6, Somali Federal Government signed an oil and gas exploration
deal with newly established UK-based Company Soma Oil and Gas, but according
to the agreement, Soma Oil and Gas would carry out seismic surveys in
territorial waters while the onshore regions are likely to witness limited
operations.
UN Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea warned in 2013 confidential
report that Western commercial oil exploration may spark new conflict in
Somalia: "These inconsistencies, unless resolved, may lead to increased
political conflict between federal and regional governments that risk
exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security," the
UN report noted.
Somaliland's neighbor to east, Puntland warmed of "consequences" in
Somaliland's pursuit of oil exploration in Sool and Sanaag regions.
"Somaliland is creating conflict in the region. Somaliland cannot give land
to foreign companies to explore oil when the land does not belong to
Somaliland," former Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said while
he was delivering a keynote address at Puntland State House in Garowe on 1
August, a date on which Puntland people celebrated 15 years of statehood.
The newly elected Puntland leader Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas pledged the
restoration of Sool regional capital of Lasanod back in the hands of native
residents at the height Puntland elections campaign.
Puntland and Somaliland have fought sporadic battles since 2002 over the
control of territories mainly in Sool region.
Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia unilaterally declared its
independence from the rest of the country as a de facto sovereign state in
1991 but it hasn't been recognized internationally yet.