Sanaag - Territorial Dispute

Territorial Dispute

Sanaag is a disputed region, claimed as sovereign territory by the two autonomous Somaliland and Puntland macro-regions of Somalia.

The dispute between Somaliland and Puntland stems from 1998, when Puntland formed and declared the region as part of its territory. Prior to that, it had been claimed but with no control over the region by Somaliland since the 1991 events of the Somali Civil War. In 1994, the historic USP political party was reinstated by Awad Ahmed Asharo, former party Chairmain of the main Warsangeli clan. With the support of Sanaag pro-union civil society, local admin and politicians, USP was subsequently recognized by UNISOM as the legitimate representative of Sanaag.

Beginning in 1998, after Puntland was formed, Sanaag was one of the regions of Puntland, with Sanaag elected politician given the Speaker of the House position in a power sharing agreement. Thus, both the police and army of Puntland were already established in the region based on the desires of the local population for their security and the territorial integrity of Somalia. The separatist Somaliland administration, however, still claimed the territory as part of the original but colonial boundary of British Somaliland. Fighting between the two forces led to casualties and captured prisoners, who were later exchanged. As a related contention, in 2005 Puntland tried to sell off mineral rights to foreign investors, including the disputed territories of Sool and Sanaag.

The dispute with the TFG stems from the passage of the new Charter in November 2004. However, this was not a pragmatic issue until the military successes of the government in the 2006–2007 war in Somalia. Assertions of sovereignty in January 2007 by the TFG leadership sparked riots in Somaliland, both for and against a reunification with the south.

On July 1, 2007, the state of Maakhir was declared in the area. It claimed autonomy from both Puntland and Somaliland, but was eventually incorporated into Puntland in January 2009.

In the late 2000s, HBM-SSC (Hoggaanka Badbaadada iyo Mideynta SSC), a local unionist group whose goal is to establish its own regional administration (Sool, Sanaag and Cayn or SSC), was formed.