You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Africa Horn
Somaliland troops and separatists clash, five killed
2012-04-02
HARGEISA: At least four Somaliland troops and one rebel fighter loyal to the breakaway enclaveÂ’s secessionists were killed during clashes on Sunday, both sides said.
This is northern Somalia across from Yemen; formerly British Somalia, nominally independent since the rest of the country slipped into chaos in 1991, though no other country recognizes them as sovereign.
The fighting first erupted in January after the leaders of the northern regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn decided to band together into a new state called Khaatumo and declared they wanted to be an independent region within Somalia.

SomalilandÂ’s troops have since clashed with militia fighters loyal to Khaatumo, with reports of dozens of casualties. The newly declared Khaatumo state is near the border with Ethiopia and is a disputed area that Somaliland seized from Puntland in 2007, though relations between the two territories have improved since.
That area has tribes more loyal to the central and south regions than to the north, hence the fighting.
“Militia loyal to anti-Somaliland groups in Buhodle and South Sool simultaneously began (fighting) in the early hours of dawn. The army repulsed attacks on both fronts,” said Osman Abdillahi, a spokesman for Somaliland’s defense ministry.

Abdillahi said four Somaliland government soldiers were killed and 10 injured during the fighting. Mohamed Yousouf, a spokesman for the secessionists, said one of their fighters was killed and two were injured.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  A little more than normal tension. A little.
Posted by: newc   2012-04-02 01:21  

00:00