Somaliland accuses Puntland of supporting Ethiopia rebels

Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 - Puntland security forces attacked Somaliland troops stationed in contested Sool region after loosing public confidence, Somaliland's deputy defense minister said today.

Ahmed Mohamed Filanwa said Puntland leaders aim to create a distraction by attacking Somaliland forces along their hotly contested unofficial border, saying that angry locals were "uprising" against Puntland rule.

Puntland's deputy information minister, Abdulqadir Gelle, blamed Somaliland for sparking a deadly battle last Wednesday in a remote area 18km northwest of Las Anod, capital of Sool region.

The Puntland deputy minister Gelle had alleged that Somaliland authorities allied with a new opposition group established in the Eritrean capital Asmara earlier this month to destabilize the Ethiopian-backed interim government in Mogadishu.

The Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, a group that is dominated by Islamists, aims to expel Ethiopian troops from Somalia and overthrow the interim government, which they see as illegitimate.

But Somaliland's deputy defense minister categorically dismissed claims that attendees en route to the Asmara opposition conference traveled through Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway Somaliland region.

Deputy Minister Filanwa said Hargeisa had "nothing to do with" with the group in Asmara.

The Somaliland defense official launched an accusation of his own when he claimed that the port of Bossaso, the commercial hub of Puntland, is landing port for weapons intended for Ethiopian rebel group Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an ethnic Somali movement fighting for rights in the eastern region of Ogaden.

Mr. Filanwa expressed support for Saturday's Ethiopian incursion into Buhodle district, where Ethiopian soldiers took away 6 Somali men without any valid reason.

Buhodle is also contested between Somaliland and Puntland, two rival sub-states who have fought along their unofficial border several times since 2003 when Puntland troops assumed control of Las Anod.

Source: Garowe Online