|
Bossaso, Somalia, February 27, 2010 (SL Times) – Bandits from Puntland
confiscated nine Somaliland-owned vehicles that were on their way to
Somaliland after delivering food aid to the starving people of central
Somalia.
The bandits gave conflicting explanations for why they did it. According
to the Voice of America’s Somali Service (Feb.26, 2010), the bandits
claimed that they did it because Somaliland authorities are holding
fifteen of their fellow pirates in jail. The VOA reported that Puntland
police are working on apprehending the bandits.
Other reports say that the bandits commandeered the vehicles because of
a court dispute in Buroa (Somaliland) regarding the parentage of a
five-year-old girl, between two families, one from Puntland and the
other from Oromia, Ethiopia. The bandits allegedly want to use the
vehicles to pressure Somaliland’s courts to give the disputed child to
the family from Puntland.
The seizure of the vehicles is just one more example of the spreading
lawlessness in Puntland which recently forced the President of Puntland,
Mr. Faroole, to sack the Governor of Bari Region, Mr. Muse Geelle and
the Mayor of Bosaso, Mr. Abdirizaq Hared. Mr. Faroole also dissolved
Bosaso’s city council. Abdihafid Ali Yusuf was appointed as the new
governor while Mohamud Farah Muhammad (Beeldaaje) will act as a
transitional mayor.
|
|
