Two maps, two claims, and no resolution. Since 1998, when Puntland declared itself an autonomous state within Somalia, the provinces of Sool, Sanaag, and the Cayn area of Togdheer have been claimed by both Puntland and Somaliland. Each side bases its legitimacy on a different principle: Somaliland points to the colonial boundaries of British Somaliland, inherited at independence in 1960. Puntland points to the Dhulbahante and Warsangeli clans who inhabit these regions and whose kinship networks stretch east into Puntland territory. Neither map aligns with the other, and the people living in the disputed zones have paid the price for this mismatch ever since.
The border at the heart of the dispute was drawn by Britain and Italy in 1894, carving up the Somali-inhabited Horn of Africa into separate colonial zones. When British Somaliland gained independence on June 26, 1960, it existed as a sovereign state for exactly five days before voluntarily merging with the former Italian Trust Territory of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic. After the Somali Civil War and the collapse of Siad Barre's regime, Somaliland declared independence in 1991, claiming the colonial boundary as its legitimate frontier. The disputed regions fell within that boundary. But colonial borders, drawn in European offices with little regard for the people they enclosed, did not map onto the clan affiliations that organized daily life in the Somali interior. When Puntland was established in 1998 and declared the Dhulbahante and Warsangeli regions as its own, the collision was inevitable.
The dispute turned violent in October 2007, when Somaliland's army advanced on Las Anod, the capital of the Sool region, and captured it from Puntland forces. Between 10 and 20 people died. Puntland, its military stretched thin by obligations in Mogadishu and constrained by a weak economy, could not mount an effective counterattack. Somaliland relocated the Sool regional administration into Las Anod and governed the city for the next fifteen years. But control did not bring consent. A pattern of unsolved assassinations targeting local leaders eroded any semblance of stability. The population's traditional leaders — the Garads of the Dhulbahante — largely withdrew from the city, and political representation remained deeply contested. Clashes continued sporadically, including engagements in 2010, when Ethiopian forces reportedly entered Somaliland territory for the first time to help pacify the Sool region ahead of elections, and again in 2016 and 2018 in the Sanaag region.
The people caught in the middle repeatedly sought a path of their own. In 2012, Dhulbahante elders declared the Khatumo State, with Las Anod as its proclaimed capital, asserting autonomy from both Puntland and Somaliland. Khatumo was formally dissolved in 2017, but the impulse behind it never disappeared. When assassinations and political frustration boiled over in late 2022 and early 2023, the elders reconvened. On February 6, 2023, they announced the formation of SSC-Khaatumo, aligned this time with the Federal Republic of Somalia. Somaliland's military response displaced more than 185,000 people, according to the United Nations. By August 25, 2023, Khatumo forces had driven Somaliland troops from Las Anod entirely. The Somali Federal Government recognized the new SSC-Khatumo administration, but the long-term status of the disputed regions remains uncertain.
The Puntland-Somaliland dispute illustrates a tension found across post-colonial Africa: borders drawn by European powers do not always align with the communities they contain. Somaliland's claim rests on the principle of territorial integrity, the idea that the borders of the former British protectorate define a legitimate state. Puntland's claim rests on self-determination, the idea that clan communities should choose their own governance. For the Dhulbahante and Warsangeli families living in the Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn regions, both principles have been invoked to justify armed force. The International Crisis Group and other observers have warned that the conflict requires genuine dialogue rather than military solutions, but the competing logics of colonial borders and clan kinship have proven extraordinarily difficult to reconcile. The dispute is not merely a line on a map. It is a question about who gets to decide where people belong.
The disputed regions of Sool, Sanaag, and Cayn lie across a broad swath of northeastern Somaliland/Somalia, centered roughly around 8.48°N, 47.36°E (Las Anod). From altitude, the terrain is flat to gently rolling semi-arid scrubland. Key reference points include Las Anod Airport (HCMA) in Sool, and Erigavo in the Sanaag region to the north. The Gulf of Aden coastline is visible to the north. Terrain is generally featureless at lower altitudes, with scattered settlements connected by unpaved roads.