Aug 05 2007  - The second deputy Speaker of Somaliland's House of Representatives, told local press that the unannounced visit to the region is part the Somaliland administration's efforts to bring development initiatives to Las Anod.   A delegation from the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland arrived in the provincial town of Las Anod Saturday, the first such visit to the region since 2003. The Somaliland delegation included ministers and parliamentarians and were received in Las Anod by local elders, politicians and former Puntland officials, local sources said. Bashi Mohamud Farah, second deputy Speaker of Somaliland's House of Representatives, told local press that the unannounced visit to the region is part the Somaliland administration's efforts to bring development initiatives to Las Anod. Deputy Speaker Farah's delegation, which included Justice Minister Ahmed Hassan Ali, met with local leaders in Las Anod. It was unclear if the Somaliland delegation met with Ahmed Abdi Habsade, the former Puntland security minister who was sacked earlier this month. Delegation members told reporters that they plan to regularly conduct government affairs in Las Anod, noting that Puntland soldiers who used to stand in their way are no longer there. Somaliland, the northwestern regions in Somalia, unilaterally declared independence in 1991 but has not gained recognition since. The breakaway region claims ownership of Sool and Sanaag regions under colonial-era boundaries, but neighboring semiautonomous Puntland administration forcefully evicted Somaliland officials from Las Anod in late 2002. Officials in the Puntland capital, Garowe, said Puntland troops in the Las Anod area were redeployed to other regions, including the Somali capital Mogadishu. Others had simply left their barracks due to nonpayment,.