- [SW News] ( Xinhua via COMTEX) Heavy
fighting flares up in Somalia's Puntland : Posted on 2
Aug 2002
Heavy
fighting flares up in Somalia's Puntland
Story Filed: Friday, August 02, 2002 10:11 AM EST
MOGADISHU, Aug 2, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Heavy fighting has
flared up Friday in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland between the
forces of the rival leaders, Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed and ousted
president Jama Ali Jama.
According to the information reaching here in Mogadishu, the
fighting has been carried out by the forces of Colonel Abdullahi
Yussuf Ahmed in early morning outside the northeastern port town of
Bossaso.
According to the director of the presidency of Puntland, Ismael
Hajji Warsameh, the regional government forces have attacked what he
called bandits who have erected illegal roadblocks along the road to
Qardho town.
"They have been robbing the commuters, extorting money from
all kinds of traffic and they made the road linking Bossaso to Garowe
town almost impassable," said Ismael Hajji Warsameh.
"As part of our duty, we had to clear the road for our people,
and the operation will continue until our forces reach Galkaio town,
some 750 km south of Bossaso town," he added.
Warsameh said his forces have crushed what he called the bandits
along the road apprehending 50 of them and capturing nine battle
wagons.
Warsameh has also claimed that many of the bandits were killed
before the rest have fled to the jungle.
"Now the road is clear of banditry, and the businesses can go
about smoothly," he said, admitting that two of his fighters were
also killed and more than 10 others wounded during the raid.
The two men, Jama Ali Jama and Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf, have been
at each other's throat for the presidency of the Puntland regional
government and Colonel Yussuf has been reinstated in power in Bossaso
town on May 8 this year.
In May 1998, delegates from three north-eastern regions of Somalia
met in Garowe to establish a single administration for the area,
modeled on the self-declared "Republic of Somaliland". They
named the region "Puntland", and designated Garowe as its
capital. In July, the delegates elected Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed
as president. According to him, the Puntland regional government
supports the unity and territorial integrity of Somalia,
advocating the reestablishment of a federal government in the country.
Somalia has been without a central
government since the 1991 ouster of Mohammed Siad Barre.
The interim government of Somalia
was set up after a conference of clan elders in 2000, but so far has
failed to convince the warlords to accept its rule, and it controls
only parts of the capital Mogadishu and pockets of the rest of the
country.
|