Arta Faction now starts to undermine

 Puntland Security

 GALKAIO, Jan. 17 (PUNTIN): A number of destabilizing incidents associated with the Arta Faction-Puntland political controversy have taken place in Puntland in the past week. On January 13, an armed group acting under the cover of the night sneaked into the residences of some prominent businessmen and killed three of them. This has not been related to the common revenge killings in the inter-clan feuds which are very common in Somalia. In another incident just two days later, an armed group ambushed a truck from Galkaio to Las Anod at Taallo Cad, just ten kilometers to the northeast of Galkaio. The truck overturned after the driver was hit. At least two have been reported killed and around ten people injured, some seriously. The ambushers were identified as new comers to the city form Mogadishu. According to sources in Galkaio, the incident is believed to be a part of a concerted campaign launched by the Arta group. According to one source, there is a rumor that Arta faction has chosen Galkaio, a multi-clan city in the south of Puntland, to be the target of its campaign to bring Puntland to its knees.

The security situation and stability in Puntland has been a rarity in Somalia and was the only achievement the Puntland local administration could be proud of since its establishment. These destabilizing incidents are taking place at a time when the Puntland people are preparing for election at the end of three-year mandate given to the present administration.

The Arta faction, a group groomed by the Djibouti government, but not recognized neither by the existing local administrations in many peaceful parts of Somalia nor by the other armed faction, is now believed to be trying to undermine the relative peace and stability enjoyed by these areas in order to weaken them and bring them into their fold. Earlier this month Arta faction tried to resort to force to dislodge a faction militia in Balaad, a town 30 km to the north of Mogadishu.