Sunday, April 15, 2007
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Fighting flared between forces from the breakaway Somali enclave Somaliand and neighbouring semi-autonomous Puntland for the second time in a week, an official said today.Gunmen used heavy weapons in the clashes yesterday over a strip of desert that has been the source of sporadic violence for years. It was unclear whether there were any casualties.
"Forces from Puntland attacked two positions held by Somaliland forces outside the city of Dahar...in the afternoon," Ahmed Hagi Dahir, the Somaliland information minister, said in a statement. "We warn Puntland to stop the violation of Somaliland territory."
Both Somaliland and Puntland, in the north of Somalia, have enjoyed relative peace, while the south of the Horn of Africa country has been mired in lawlessness since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
The two have fought for years over the Sool and Sanag regions, part of which Puntland claims on an ethnic basis, while Somaliland says they are part of its territory under the colonial border Britain left.
Source: Reuters, April 15, 2007