Fighting in Puntland

Fighting broke out in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia on 5 August, a local journalist told IRIN on Monday, leaving at least 20 dead. One local source put the number dead as high as 40. The clashes were between militia loyal to the Puntland “president”, Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, and those loyal to the former chief justice and now “acting president”, Yusuf Haji Nur, said Muhammad Deq, the editor of the Bosaso-based ‘Sahan’ newspaper. Fighting started when Abdullahi Yusuf’s militia tried to gain control of the airport in the morning of 5 August, with both sides using heavy weapons, including battle-wagons armed with anti-aircraft and antitank missiles, he said. It soon spread to the town centre, and by Monday morning, “the whole town was fighting against the Abdullahi Yusuf militia”, he told IRIN. The death toll is believed to be at least 20, with 60 or more wounded. Most of the dead and wounded were civilian non-combatants, local sources said.

Bosaso returned to normal at around 1100 local time, after militia loyal to Abdullahi Yusuf refused to fight, and the rest were persuaded to leave town. Bosaso was now busy burying its dead and going about setting up an administration which “will be responsible to the elders of the area only” Muhammad Deq said.

Tension has been building up since clan elders meeting in Garowe, the regional capital, to discuss the Puntland leadership dispute confirmed Yusuf Haji Nur as acting president, early this month. Abdullahi Yusuf refused to accept the elders’ decision and accused them of engaging in activities outside their mandate.