Guerissa Region sees combat

The Indian Ocean Newsletter, No. 657, 4 February 1995

According to information obtained by The Indian Ocean Newsletter, Issa militia controlling the zone around Zeila and Guerissa in western Somaliland, close to the frontier with Djibouti, were attacked by Samerone (Gadaboursi) troops on the afternoon of January 27, and their positions in Guerissa (the birthplace of Djibouti head of state Hassan Gouled, lying some 80 km east of Djibouti between Borama and El Gal) were overrun by the attackers. The Mohamed Ace subclan of Gadaboursi, whose members live near Somaliland’s coastline, has for some time now been at war with Issas in this region. Last week’s attack took the Issa militia by surprise while they were in a rest area, and reports say there were a number of dead and wounded. The first men to be wounded were evacuated to Djibouti during the night of January 29-30: Osman Daher Hadji Hussein (20 years old, gunshot wound in the right leg), Daher Himet Omar (20 years old, gunshot wound in right thigh), and Xeyleh Hussein Elmi (15 years old). About one hundred of the defenders of Guerissa took to their heels and are now believed to be holed up in the bush not far from their former positions, where the attackers were able to recover food and personal belongings.

I.O.N.- According to several observers, the Issa militiamen’s failure to mount an immediate counter-attack could be explained as due both to a shortage of ammunition and to conflicting views between several Issa subclans in the region. Unconfirmed rumours mention the possibility of an alliance between some Issa subclans, the Samerone and the Issaq in this region in order to recover control of the zone.