Ethiopia reportedly to mediate in Puntland leadership wrangle

Jama Ali Jama, the president of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, has left for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, where he is due to hold talks with his rival, former Puntland leader Colonel Abdullahi Yusuf, an adviser to Jama told IRIN on Friday.

Speaking from the region's commercial capital, Bosaso, Usman Yusuf said Jama left the city on Thursday, accompanied by a 21-member delegation. Local sources in Galkayo, in Mudug Region, told IRIN that Abdullahi had also left for Addis Ababa on Thursday with an 11-member delegation.

Usman said Jama, who was in Ethiopia earlier this month, had returned "with a mandate from his cabinet and parliament to negotiate an end to the uncertainty in Puntland". Jama would not, however, "negotiate the dismantling of the duly elected administration in Puntland", Usman stressed.

According to Usman, the Ethiopians offered to mediate between the two leaders during Jama's last visit to the country. Jama had accepted the Ethiopian offer "in good faith and in the interests of the people of Puntland, who want an end to Puntland's recent political problems", he said.

Puntland traditional elders, and civil society groups engaged in mediation efforts, had so far failed to resolve the political impasse in the region, local sources in the Puntland capital, Garowe, told IRIN. "If the Ethiopians can find a solution to this problem, then they are welcome to try it," said one. He doubted, however, that anyone could find any common ground between the two leaders. "Both are claiming to be the legitimate leader, and neither is willing to step aside for the other," he pointed out.

The controversy over Puntland's leadership started after Abdullahi Yusuf, whose term was to have ended on 30 June 2001, claimed that his mandate had been extended by parliament.

Puntland's traditional elders meeting in Garowe in July rejected Abdullahi's extension claim, and named Yusuf Haji Nur, the former Puntland chief justice, as "acting president" until the election of a new administration was held. The elders subsequently convened a general congress in August 2001 for this purpose and, on 14 November, elected Jama Ali, for a three-year term in the hope that this would end the leadership wrangles.

Puntland declared itself autonomous in 1998, following a conference of local elders. Abdullahi Yusuf was elected as the region's first president for a three-year term.