HARGEISA, Somaliland — Somaliland authorities on Wednesday quietly released a senior Somali military officer held for more than a week, even as officials in Hargeisa continue to warn of what they describe as a coordinated campaign of infiltration by Mogadishu-backed, Turkish-trained operatives.
Colonel Hassan Aden Mohamed, widely known by his battlefield name “Iraqi,” was freed around midday after being detained since Sept. 24, according to multiple sources familiar with the case. Arrested in Wajaale, a major trading hub on the Ethiopian border, Mohamed was transferred to Hargeisa, where he remained in custody until his release. Witnesses said he crossed into Ethiopia shortly after and later arrived in Jigjiga, capital of Ethiopia’s Somali regional state. Somaliland police, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed his release.
The decision has triggered an immediate uproar in Somaliland. Mohamed, commander of Somalia’s 18th Gorgor Battalion — a unit trained and equipped by Turkey — had been accused of operating inside Ethiopian territory to undermine Somaliland and recruit young men in the Awdal region.
“Why would Ethiopia’s Somali Region authorities intervene to secure the release of someone plotting against our sovereignty?” asked one Somaliland activist, speaking anonymously to SaxafiMedia. “His mission was to recruit, destabilize, and create chaos. The release makes no sense.”
Alleged infiltration campaign
Mohamed’s case has spotlighted what Somaliland security officials say is a pattern of covert Somali military operations launched from Ethiopian soil. Officials in Hargeisa claim Mogadishu has dispatched at least 18 Turkish-trained officers — many from the Darod clan — into Somaliland in recent months, with particular focus on the western Awdal region.
“Colonel Hassan was not acting alone,” a senior Somaliland security official said. “He was part of a broader mission to stir unrest and prepare the ground for violence. We have stopped some of them, but not all.”
Intelligence sources in Hargeisa allege that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is planning a politically explosive visit to Las Anod — the Sool region capital, where clashes have raged for years — in tandem with uprisings in Borama, another strategic city. “For many Somalilanders, such a visit would be nothing less than an act of war,” said Abdinasir Jama, a political analyst in Hargeisa.
Jigjiga as a staging ground
Jigjiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali region, has increasingly come under scrutiny from Somaliland’s security services, who argue it is becoming a hub for Somali operatives transiting into Somaliland.
“This raises a critical question,” Jama said. “Is Addis Ababa unwilling to intervene, or is the Somali regional government complicit? Ethiopia cannot afford instability spilling across its borders, yet it appears to be tolerating these movements.”
Turkey’s expanding footprint in Somalia
The case has also renewed debate about Turkey’s deepening role in Somalia’s military sector. Over the past decade, Ankara has trained thousands of Somali soldiers at its sprawling TURKSOM base in Mogadishu. Somaliland officials and regional analysts allege that some of these forces are now being directed toward destabilizing Somaliland.
According to sources in Hargeisa, Mohamed had been part of a recruitment mission linked to TURKSOM, targeting youth in Ethiopia’s Somali region and in Somaliland itself. On Wednesday, intelligence reports circulating in Hargeisa alleged that 320 new recruits — including ex-ONLF fighters, Ethiopian Liyu Police members, and young men from Somaliland’s western districts — had recently been funneled to Mogadishu for Turkish-run training.
“This is not just one colonel,” said Dr. Hodan Osman, a Horn of Africa security researcher at Addis Ababa University. “It is part of a systematic strategy to embed Turkish-trained proxy forces in Somalia’s orbit, with potential to destabilize Somaliland and shift the balance of power across the Gulf of Aden.”
A shifting regional chessboard
The convergence of Turkish, Chinese, and even Egyptian interests in Somalia has reshaped the Horn of Africa’s fragile security landscape. Ankara has poured resources into military training and infrastructure, while Beijing has underwritten development and governance projects. “These are not just development partnerships,” said Michael Shinn, a Horn of Africa expert at King’s College London. “They are instruments of influence. Somaliland is now caught in the middle of a geopolitical tug-of-war.”
A fragile recognition bid
For Somaliland, which regained independence in 1991 but remains unrecognized, the stakes are existential. Officials in Hargeisa cast themselves as guardians of a democratic, stable territory in a volatile region, but they warn they are under attack from Mogadishu’s “hybrid warfare” — a mix of infiltration, recruitment, and political pressure.
“Somalilanders want peace, but they are not naïve,” said Amina Abokor, a civil society leader. “We cannot ignore that trained officers are coming here to incite unrest.”
Interior ministry officials insist Somaliland will not be drawn into reckless conflict. “Every nation has the right to defend its sovereignty,” said Adan Kahin, a senior ministry official. “We will strengthen our border security and respond with restraint, but we will not allow proxy forces to undermine our stability.”
A public backlash
Still, Mohamed’s release has left many Somalilanders furious. For some, it is seen as a failure of leadership; for others, as a dangerous concession. In Hargeisa and Borama, residents voiced suspicions that the president and his cabinet ministers are either too weak to stand up to foreign pressure or, worse, are betraying Somaliland’s 34-year quest for re-recognition.
“The people are asking if our leaders are protecting our sovereignty or selling it out,” said Abdirahman Warsame, a lawyer in Hargeisa. “Releasing an enemy colonel sends the wrong signal — to Mogadishu, to our allies, and to our own people.”
As Somaliland navigates mounting pressure from within and without, the episode underscores a larger dilemma: whether the government can safeguard stability while maintaining public confidence in its long and often lonely struggle for international recognition.
