HARGEISA, Somalia Oct 19 (Garowe Online) - A senior official in the breakaway Somali enclave of Somaliland warned this week that "blood will spill in Garowe and Bossaso" if the semiautonomous Puntland administration attempts to recapture the disputed town of Las Anod.
Puntland security forces withdrew from Las Anod last Monday after Somaliland-backed clan militias overran local police. Puntland has controlled Las Anod since late 2002 and fought with Somaliland troops over control of the region several times since.
"If we know the enemy is preparing [for war], we have the right to carry out preemptive strike and go to wherever they [enemy] are meeting," Somaliland Foreign Minister Abdullahi Mohamed Du'ale told local press.
Somaliland considers the regions of Sool and Sanaag, also claimed by Puntland, as integral to its aspirations to be recognized as an independent republic. The breakaway region's leaders unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not gained international recognition.
But comments made earlier this week by Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Dahir Elmi stirred controversy in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland region.
While addressing the Las Anod conflict, Minister Elmi told reporters that "blood will spill in Garowe and Bossaso" if the Puntland government fails to "respect Somaliland's borders."
Garowe is the administrative capital of Puntland and Bossaso serves as the region's major commercial port.
The deputy Speaker of Somaliland's parliament, Bashi Mohamed Farah, responded to Mr. Elmi's controversial remarks by saying that Las Anod needs a “political solution†after a successful military mission.
"I am bothered by the [information] minister's comments. Somaliland does not need more blood. No official should say 'blood will spill in Garowe and Bossaso,'" said Deputy Speaker Farah, who is the most senior official in the Somaliland government that hails from the Las Anod area.
There are growing concerns of more imminent armed clashes, not only between the two administrations in northern Somalia, but between local clans supporting the rival regional entities.
Garowe is teeming with troops and clan militias and Puntland President Mohamud "Adde" Muse has vowed to retake Las Anod by force.
Ahmed Abdi Habsade, a former Puntland minister, is now openly supporting the Somaliland takeover of Las Anod after denying any links with Hargeisa for months.
