Somaliland: Half-starved Soldiers Decamp Puntland Armed Forces Service
By: Yusuf M Hasan
LAS ANOD (Somalilandsun) – The third batch in as many weeks of defecting Puntland soldiers has been received and accommodated by Somaliland authorities
The latest defection by over 30 Soldiers From the Somalia administrative region of Puntland was received by Somaliland government officials in Las Anod the Sool regional capital on Wednesday during a function in which the defectors all Somaliland citizens said they were driven by homesickness and hunger
"We are thankful for being home and feel like kings following the inhuman conditions in which we were forced to exist while in the service of the Puntland custodial corps" said a spokesperson for the defecting group of 30
Asking their relatives and country to forgive them for any difficulties their actions might have caused the returning citizens who said they were now fully fed after more than six months of being half starved said they were treated worse than the prisoners they were employed to guard.
The 30 youthful somalilanders who were enticed into defecting to Puntland by Abdi Nuur Adan a former Sool regional prison commander who absconded to Puntland himself after Somaliland authorities embarked on investigations pertaining to the escape of a notorious criminal from the Las Anod regional based penitentiary where he was a guest of the state on 1st January 2014.
The escaped criminal who was subsequently reported to be in Garowe where he was acknowledged as hero and appointed to a senior post within the Puntland administration had been serving a lengthily sentence after conviction on charges related to immoral conduct as pertained to child battery and sexual assault.
According to the returning and formerly errant citizens the worst part of their stay in Puntland was daily taunts by their purported colleagues in the custodial service and citizens of Puntland of "Why did you recant your nationality to come here looking for our hard earned money" and We shall kill you with hunger because this is not your land and because we are sure you cannot return to Somaliland"
True to their words narrated the now belly full youths they were never remunerated for their alleged service to the Puntland administration and had to survive through handouts or remittances from relatives in Somaliland and abroad.

