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SOMALIA: About 30 killed in renewed fighting in Puntland

NAIROBI, 2 January (IRIN) - Fighting has again broken out around the villages of Jadid and Qararsoor in the Qardho area, some 260 km south of Bosaso, the commercial capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, according to local sources.

The fighting pits forces loyal to Col Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmad against those of Jama Ali Jama, both of whom claim to be the legitimate president of Puntland.

The fighting, which broke out on Monday, follows the failure of mediation efforts between the two sides by Qardho elders, a local journalist told IRIN from Garowe, the region's administrative capital.

"Basically, the elders could not convince either side," he said, adding that the fighting had sparked fears in the region of a renewed civil war.

However, Isma'il Warsame, Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of cabinet, told IRIN that the fighting was not a renewed civil war, but "a police action".

"It is part of continuing efforts to bring law and order to Puntland. The security forces were clearing anti-government and criminal elements from the area," he said. "As of today, [Thursday], the anti-government elements have been forced out of Puntland," he told IRIN. Attempts by IRIN to contact Jama's side were unsuccessful.

Isma'il said the total death toll from both sides was around 30. "The numbers being bandied around are exaggerated. Around 30 people were killed and roughly 60 wounded," he said.

However, sources in Garowe told IRIN that the death toll was over 40, with twice that number wounded. According to these sources, 55 injured militiamen were brought into Garowe in the last couple of days, with another group, of unknown number, being sent to Bosaso.

Jama's forces are reportedly led by Gen Ade Muse Hirsi, while Abdullahi Yusuf is personally leading his men, according to local journalists.

There was a lull in the fighting on Thursday, because Jama's forces had retreated to the neighbouring Sanaag Region, which is claimed by both Puntland and the self-declared republic of Somaliland.

However, this did not mean the end of the fighting in Puntland, one journalist said. "Both sides are reorganising their forces for fresh attacks on each other," he said. "Unfortunately this power struggle is far from over."

Controversy over Puntland's leadership has been increasingly vocal since June 2001, when Abdullahi, whose presidential term ended then, claimed that the region's parliament had extended his mandate.

A number of Puntland traditional elders meeting in Garowe in July 2001 rejected his claim, and named Yusuf Haji Nur, Puntland's former chief justice, as "acting president" until the election of a new administration. The elders then convened a general congress in August and, on 14 November 2001, elected Jama Ali Jama to a three-year term in the hope that this would end the leadership wrangle.

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

[ENDS]

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