HARGEISA Feb 9 (Reuters) - The breakaway territory of Somaliland is battling
its own secessionists in a dispute that has raised tensions with
neighbouring Puntland, in an area of Somalia usually more peaceful than the
rest of the country.
The fighting first erupted in January after the leaders of the northern
regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cyan decided to band together into a new state
called Khaatumo and declared they wanted to be an independent region within
Somalia.
Somaliland's troops have since clashed with militia fighters loyal to
Khaatumo, with reports of dozens of casualties. Puntland's President
Abdirahman Mohamud Farole stepped into the row on Wednesday, accusing
Somaliland of creating chaos.
"It is unfortunate that Somaliland is sowing seeds of insecurity in the
peaceful towns of Puntland at a time the world is solving the entire
country's violence," he told reporters, calling for Somaliland to pull its
troops back.
The newly declared Khaatumo state is near the border with Ethiopia and is a
disputed area that Somaliland seized from Puntland in 2007, though relations
between the two territories have improved since.
The chairman of Khaatumo's foreign relations forum, Osman Hassan, has said
unless the dispute is resolved "it is bound to escalate into a wider
regional conflagration as other clans related to one side or the other take
sides".
Both Somaliland and Puntland have enjoyed relatively stability compared to
the rest of the Horn of Africa country and international mining and oil
exploration firms are prospecting in both regions.
The fighting also comes ahead of a conference in London on Feb. 23 bringing
together heads of government and international organisations to discuss ways
to end the instability in Somalia.
Somaliland is an internationally unrecognised state that declared
independence from Somalia in 1991.
Fighting between Somaliland forces and Khaatumo fighters flared up again on
Wednesday near the border town of Buhoodle, after a week-long stalemate,
forcing thousands to flee.
"Somaliland's national army has repulsed the attack by the Khaatumo militia,
which attacked them in the early hours of the morning (on Wednesday), after
the arrival of reinforcements," Somaliland's Minister of Defence Ahmed Ali
Adami told Reuters.
Adami said three government soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in
Wednesday's fighting.
Mohamed Yousouf, a member of Khaatumo's new administration, told Reuters by
phone from Buhoodle, they had lost six fighters and 11 were wounded. He said
they had captured four Somaliland soldiers, while seven of their fighters
had been seized.
"Somaliland and Puntland claim that the Khaatumo region is part of their
territory, but we want to be an autonomous region that is part of the
Federal Republic of Somalia," he said.
"We have had no communication with the government in Puntland at all,"
Yousouf said. (Additional reporting by Hussein Ali Noor in Hargeisa and
Abdiqani Hassan in Bosasso; Editing by David Clarke)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Thu Feb 09 2012 - 17:06:40 EST
