HARGEISA— Somaliland President Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro on Tuesday declared the country’s rising toll of road accidents a national emergency, calling for swift and coordinated action to reduce deaths and injuries nationwide.
Speaking at the National Road Safety Conference in Hargeisa, Irro said the scale of the crisis demanded urgent government attention and stronger enforcement across the transport sector.
“The rising toll of road accidents in our country has become a national emergency,” he said. “We must act swiftly, decisively and in full coordination to safeguard the lives of our citizens.”
The conference brought together government agencies, road-safety experts, police officials and civil-society representatives to discuss measures aimed at reducing the country’s high accident rate.
Earlier in the event, Transport and Roads Development Minister Osman Ibrahim Nuur (Afgaab) presented five-year national statistics reporting 37,291 road accidents, 1,150 deaths, and more than 25,000 injuries since 2019. He said property losses exceeded $200 million, while medical treatment for injured victims had cost “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The minister said most accidents were linked to speeding, driver negligence, poor vehicle condition and weak enforcement, adding that stronger regulatory oversight and public-awareness campaigns were urgently required.
President Irro said his government would prioritise road-safety reforms, noting that high accident rates had become a major public-safety threat and were undermining economic productivity.
He called for greater collaboration between the police, transport authorities, local governments and communities. The president urged the conference to submit actionable recommendations aimed at reducing fatalities, improving road standards and strengthening driver licensing and traffic-enforcement systems.
The conference is expected to issue a set of policy recommendations later this week.
