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Militant Groups Look to Exploit Somaliland-Puntland Tensions
[All Africa] As fighting and fiery...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... rhetoric increase between the Somali region of Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... and the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, some analysts fear that Islamist bad boy groups may try to exploit any instability to plant deeper roots in the area. "Our concern is that were there to be a direct conflict between Somaliland and Puntland, the security forces will be preoccupied with that, and would not be in a position to contain al-Shabaab ...  Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...or the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... ," says E.J. Hogendoorn, deputy director of the Africa Program at the International Crisis Group. "Obviously, this will give them the chance to expand their reach," he told VOA. Sool and Sanaag Somaliland and Puntland have had a long-running dispute over the provinces of Sool and Sanaag, which run from the Gulf of Aden all the way to the eastern borders of Æthiopia. Violence erupted again this January when Somaliland troops attacked and captured the town of Tukaraq, which headquartered a customs station for Puntland. The Somaliland attack on Tukaraq was carried out while President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo of Somalia was visiting Puntland, in what the ICG described as a "warning from Somaliland to the Somali government against getting involved in the contested areas." Ali Ibrahim, a development expert working with an International NGO in Somalia, said it is hard to determine the strength of the sides in the disputed region. "Both sides claim they are stronger, well-armed, and have the necessary skills to defend their ’land’," Ibrahim said. Shabaab, IS have toeholds Although Puntland and Somaliland have enjoyed relative peace and security compared to the rest of Somalia, there are pockets where al-Shabaab and the IS faction are present and continue to threaten and attack security forces, mostly in Puntland. On July 20, al-Shabaab seized the small town of Af Urur, 95 kilometers south of the coastal city of Bosaso, in Puntland. The town has been a scene of previous heavy fighting between the terror group and Puntland security forces, including the attack of June 10, 2017, described as the deadliest on security forces since Puntland’s founding in 1998. "There’s a mountain range that kind of basically spans this region, called the Galgala Mountains, in which there’s been an al-Shabaab faction for quite some time," said the ICG's Hogendoorn. "As far as we know, they do operate within this region. And, depending on whether you consider it to be Somaliland or Puntland areas, this is an issue." The Islamic State in Somalia, which broke away from al-Shabaab, is reported to have presence along the coastal region of Puntland. "ISIS in Somalia doesn't control any territory, but maintains influence and a very small presence in northern Puntland," said U.S. Air Force Major Karl Wiest, front man of U.S. Africa Command. In May of this year, IS fighters attacked a Puntland army base near the town of Qandala on the Gulf of Aden. They had taken over Qandala twice in 2016 and 2017 before been driven out by Puntland forces. "These groups [al-Shabaab and Islamic State] are a threat to peace and stability of Somaliland and Puntland," said Ibrahim. Posted by: Fred 2018-08-05 |
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