Puntland retaliates for Somaliland expulsions

The Puntland administration on Friday declared that it will not take part in any meeting held in Hargeisa, principal city of the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwest Somalia, after the deportation under armed escort from Hargeisa last week of a group of Puntland teachers due to attend a training session by the Centre For British Teachers (CFBT). Puntland also refused to take part in a planning workshop in Hargeisa this week for the Somalia component of the EC-funded Pan-African Programme for the Control of Epizotics (PACE), which aims to enhance livestock production and trade through monitoring and controlling major notifiable diseases. The Puntland administration’s press release, issued by Information, Post and Telecommunications Minister Awad Ahmed Asharo, also expressed surprise at the EC and UN’s support of Somaliland, which it described as secessionist and divisive. Asharo also protested Somaliland’s “sending of militiamen to the Sanaag region of Puntland state” on 16 January. Regional observers told IRIN on Wednesday that increasing tensions between Somaliland and Puntland over the disputed territories of Sool and Sanaag underlay the dispute. There was a drift within those regions towards affiliation with Somaliland (not least because Somaliland is in a stronger economic position), which had recently led Puntland to reinforce its militia presence and send high-level delegations to the regions to consolidate its claim on them, diplomatic sources said. It would be hard for the international community to continue to avoid tackling the issue of Sool and Sanaag, as it has so far, because deteriorating relations between Puntland and Somaliland had serious implications for Somalia and, particularly, the Djibouti peace initiative, they added.