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00:00 managed to arrange a meeting with the prisoners of war
00:02 captured on March 18 in Las Sanod,
00:05 the capital of the Sur region.
00:07 There, troops clashed with fighters
00:09 who want to break away from Somaliland.
00:11 In the prison yard, soldiers give them instructions
00:14 before the interview.
00:15 The eight men say they are being treated well.
00:18 But surrounded by soldiers, they can't speak freely.
00:21 And when we try to understand more
00:23 about why they were fighting...
00:26 -You can't ask these kinds of political questions.
00:29 Just ask them about their health.
00:32 -The government invited us to cover the conflict,
00:35 but we were not authorized to film anything else.
00:38 The local clan, feeling neglected by the authorities,
00:42 wants to leave Somaliland and join Somalia.
00:44 The government has accused them of sparking the conflict
00:47 and of being part of a wider plot to destabilize the country.
00:51 -Forces from Boutilane, from Somalia,
00:58 has taken and made the escalation
01:02 and the fighting of Las Sanod to be taking place.
01:09 -To support these allegations,
01:11 the minister shows us this confidential document
01:13 submitted to the UN Security Council.
01:16 -That man is the commander of the Al-Shabaab
01:19 in the area of Bohol and Las Sanod.
01:21 -The next page mentions soldiers
01:23 from the neighboring Somali region.
01:25 Mohammed Kahin accuses them of trying to create chaos
01:28 and bring Somaliland down.
01:30 However, the man's presence does not necessarily reflect
01:33 the existence of an organized destabilization plan.
01:37 -We do not have evidence to suggest that Somalia
01:41 has instructed fighters to go there
01:42 or that Putland has done so or that Al-Shabaab has done so.
01:45 We rather think, based on a number of conversations
01:48 with our sources, that those people have joined the fight
01:51 on a clan basis.
01:53 The issue at stake here is very much political in nature
01:56 and will have to be solved through dialogues.
01:59 -The government says it's open to negotiations,
02:01 but in order to start these talks,
02:03 the militias are asking for the army to withdraw from the region.
02:06 In the meantime, the government is still regularly accused
02:09 of bombing the town without any distinctions
02:11 between rebels and civilians.