The government of Somaliland deported an anti-khat activist on October 28.
Reports from Hargeisa said that authorities raided a hotel where Abukar Awale Qad-diid was staying on Tuesday.
At the time of his arrest, the activist was preparing to hold a rally to educate the masses on the dangers of using Khat, a substance that is popular with Somalis.
Awale has been at the forefront in urging the government to ban the drug, which is widely grown in Kenya.
The activist was arrested while in a Las Anod hotel.
Later, police officers deported him to Garowe, which is the administrative capital of Puntland, one of Somalia’s semiautonomous states.
Awale’s deportation takes place at a time when diplomatic relations between Somalia and Somaliland are quite frosty.
Although elders from Somalia and Somaliland back his anti-khat campaign, it is instructive that Mogadishu and Hargeisa are both apprehensive over the issue.
Somalia has recently banned planes carrying khat from Kenya from landing in the country.
However, it recently allowed a plane from Ethiopia that was carrying khat to land in one of its airports.