Las Anod, 17 November, 2007 (SL Times) – On Monday, the local-government authority that was recently set up by Somaliland administration in Las Anod, began cleaning-up operations in the town’s main roads and the collecting of road side debris and refuse dumps which have built up over the years in the town.

All week, bystanders in the town centre have marvelled at seeing the local government tanker spraying and washing the main road with water, after the local authority’s workers swept up huge amounts of sand and dust accumulated over the years on the road’s surface and then loaded it on the back of local authority trucks.

New refuse collection trucks, recently purchased by Las Anod local government authority, have been all week ferrying small and hefty litter and roadside junk debris to an out of town refuse dump. The townsfolk were clearly taken aback by the town’s local authority first cleaning operation in many years.

“I have not seen for more than 30-odd years an activity of this magnitude and energy by our local authority,” said one elderly bystander to Haatuf’s Sool region reporter, A Yussuf, on Tuesday.

Another bystander watching local government workers and vehicles carrying out cleaning operations in and around the main town centre, who preferred not to reveal his identity, said, “at first, I had doubts over Hargeysa government’s promise to rejuvenate Sool region and its capital with development and investment. The way things are going, I maybe be proved wrong. Hargeysa is making an effort.”

Meanwhile, there has been a large influx of Las Anod residents coming back to their homes after fleeing from last month’s battle between Somaliland and Puntland forces for control of the town.

Thousands of the town’s residents had fled Las Anod and took refuge in the surrounding villages. But For the first time, this week, a large number of people have returned, and the number of returnees is increasing by the day.

Source: Somaliland Times