LAS ANOD, Somalia — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived on Friday in the town of Las Anod, the administrative centre of Somalia’s newly formed North Eastern State, in a rare and symbolically significant visit, officials said.
Mohamud and a delegation he is leading were welcomed at Las Anod airport by federal government officials, senior security commanders, representatives from regional administrations, traditional elders and hundreds of local residents from the Sool region.
Ahead of the president’s arrival, National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) chief Mahad Mohamed Salad and Somali Police Commissioner General Asad Osman Abdullahi travelled to the town to oversee security arrangements. Additional units of the Somali National Army and police were deployed across the city.
Senior cabinet ministers, military officers and lawmakers from both chambers of Somalia’s federal parliament are also in Las Anod for the visit.
The trip is linked to preparations for the inauguration of Abdikadir Ahmed Aw-Ali, widely known as Firdhiye, who was elected in August 2025 as the first president of the North Eastern State of Somalia. Las Anod is set to host the swearing-in ceremony, alongside a series of consultations between federal leaders, traditional elders, civil society groups and local authorities.
The visit is widely regarded as historic, marking the first time in around four decades that a sitting Somali president has travelled to Las Anod, a town that has long been at the centre of political and territorial tensions in northern Somalia.
