LAS’ANOD (IRIN) – Authorities in the town of Las’anod in the disputed region of Sool have appealed for help in providing safe drinking water for the town’s residents.

Both the self-declared republic of Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland claim Sool and Sanaag regions.

“We call upon the government, UN agencies, as well as international aid organisations, to help us search for solutions to the town’s water supply problems,” Mohamed Mohamoud Ali, secretary of the town’s local government, which is loyal to Somaliland, said.

He told IRIN many residents were suffering as water prices had reached a record high.

“A barrel of water was just 30,000 Somali shillings [US$1] the other day but it has reached 80,000 Somali Shillings [$2.20] in less than two months,” he said.

The situation, he said, was due to a prevailing drought that has hit Sool, “where animals have now started dying for lack of pasture and water”.

Ali said the town previously had a water well but it has fallen into disrepair and been closed for the past three years.

“Since Somaliland’s authority replaced the Puntland administration of the town, several attempts to dig more water wells have been made but they have yet to be fruitful.”

Somaliland took control of the area from Puntland on 15 October 2007 in fierce fighting.

He said local people blamed Somaliland authorities for closing the only well in the town without providing a replacement.

“The town’s residents drink water trucked from a well in Hawd berkedis [to the south of the town],” Ali said.

Faisal Jama, a journalist based in Las’anod, said: “They [Somaliland authorities] closed the town’s well, saying its water was salty and [promising] to dig a new one. They have dug in several places but none has potable water.”

The water problem in the town has been aggravated by poor rainfall.

“We are worried about the availability of water and the rising prices of the commodity; the current price of 80,000 Somali shillings a barrel for water is out of most people’s reach,” Said Samira Yusuf, a resident, said.

“The town’s residents had moved to different areas such as Hargeisa [the Somaliland capital], Garowe [Puntland's capital], the port city of Kismayo, south of Somalia, Nairobi [Kenya], and Ethiopia,” Asha Ahmed, a resident of Las’anod, said.

Source: IRIN

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