Monday 14,April 2025 {HMC} Somali Prime Minister Hamse Abdi Barre has taken 25 prisoners who were captured by SSC-Khaatumo forces during the 2023 conflict in the Sool region, according to a statement issued during his landmark visit to Las Anod.
The SSC-Khaatumo administration formally handed over the detainees to the Federal Government of Somalia as part of what officials described as a goodwill gesture tied to the government’s broader peace and reconciliation program.
“In consideration of the Peace Program sponsored by the Prime Minister of the Federal Government of Somalia, the SSC-Khaatumo administration, in consultation with local councils, has handed over to the Federal Government 25 prisoners who were captured during the war in Somaliland, along with others in special humanitarian circumstances,” the statement read. “The Federal Government will ensure their safe return to their families.”
Officials confirmed that the detainees were captured during months of fighting that culminated in the expulsion of Somaliland forces from Las Anod in early 2023. Both SSC-Khaatumo and Somaliland are believed to hold additional prisoners from the conflict, though negotiations for further exchanges remain ongoing.
The handover follows Prime Minister Barre’s historic visit to the region, the first by a sitting Somali prime minister in more than 50 years. Barre declared SSC-Khaatumo a recognized federal administration and extended a formal invitation to its leader, Abdikhadir Ahmed Aw-Ali Firdhiye, to attend the upcoming National Consultative Council (NCC) meeting in Mogadishu scheduled for May 1–2.
The federal government has dismissed claims that SSC-Khaatumo territory is disputed, asserting full jurisdiction and urging all government institutions, NGOs, and international partners to operate normally in the area.
The prisoner handover is viewed as a confidence-building measure aimed at reducing hostilities and opening the door to broader reconciliation efforts between SSC-Khaatumo and Somaliland.
