Hargeysa, April 15, 2007 – President of Somaliland President Dahir Rayale Kahin sacked his Defense Minister Adan Mire Waqaf on Sunday as fighting flared between his forces and militia’s of neighboring semi-autonomous Puntland for the second time in a week.

A statement by the Information Minister, Ahmed Haji Dahir Elmi, a copy of which was received by Awdalnews Network , said the President accused the Minister of refusing his orders and taking actions that had jeopardized the security of the country.

“The President has relived all responsibilities from the Minister of Defense Adan Mire Waqaf after he refused to take the President orders who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and severed all communications with the Military High Command,” the statement said.

The Defense Minister is already at the war front and has made no statement on the President’s accusation.

President Rayale has appointed a war cabinet led by the Vice President, Ahmed Yusuf Yasin, to supervise the war in the Eastern regions. The Committee includes Ali Waran Adde, Minister of Civil Aviation, Abdi Hassan Buuni, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, and Ahmed Hassan Duale, Minister of State for Water and Mineral Resources. The Committee will depart to the war front today.

Meanwhile reports say that the forces of the two sides used heavy weapons in the clashes and Sunday over a strip of desert that has been the source of sporadic violence for years. Both sides claim inflicting heavy casualties on the other.

"Forces from Puntland attacked two positions held by Somaliland forces outside the city of Dahar ... in the afternoon," Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Hagi Dahir 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 in a state of lawlessness since the collapse of the central government of dictator Mohamed Siyad Barre.

The two sides have fought for years over the Sool and Sanag regions, part of which Puntland claims as being of the Harti clan that also rules Puntland, while Somaliland says they fall within its territorial borders left by the British colonial administration.

Source: Awdalnews Network