A day after the Somaliland opposition parties announced they will hold national protests on August 11, the government has started cracking down on the organisers of the demonstrations.
On Tuesday three officials of the leading opposition party WADDANI were arrested in Hargeisa by government security officers and locked up in police cells.
The officials of the Waddani party who were arrested today are the Secretary of Sports Yusuf Nuh Tadhase, the Governor of Marodijeh Mawlid Qaro and Mukhtar Mingiste.
The arrests has sparked anger and created more tension in the country.
And the Waddani party has condemned the arrests with the General Secretary of the Party, Khadar Hussein Abdi, describing the move as illegal.
The opposition party has dared the government to arrest all opposition leaders .
“Our message to them is, arrest all the people you can, fill up all the jails in Hargeisa, fill up Madheera, know that Siyad Barre could not keep the power by arresting everybody”. said Secretary Khadar Abdi.
The arrest follows the opposition parties announcement of commencing the prodemocracy rallies on August 11,2022.
It comes at a time when the government has not totally rejected the demonstration and called for negotiation meeting with opposition leaders to discuss about the details of the demonstration.
The government is trying to stop the uprising but the opposition has indicated that there is no other avenue for them after they accused the president blocking all other processes of dialogue.
There are fears of clashes between the youth majority cities and the limited police force.
Events of previous 9th June demonstration have exposed Somaliland police brutal treatment against protesters including uaing live bullets and beating of MPs.
