Somalia: Puntland Leader Admits to Secret Deal With Somaliland

Garowe Online (Garowe)

17 December 2007
Posted to the web 18 December 2007

Garowe

The president of Somalia's Puntland State administration admitted to regional legislators Monday that he signed a secret agreement with the leader of the breakaway Somaliland region.

Gen. Mohamud "Adde" Muse, the president of Puntland, spoke to legislators at parliament hall in the administrative capital, Garowe.

Today's parliament session was convened to ask the president questions regarding the situation in disputed Sool region, which was overtaken by Somaliland troops in October.

The Puntland parliament originally gave the Muse government 30 days to recapture Las Anod, the capital of Sool.

But President Muse asked lawmakers today to give his administration more time to address the Las Anod issue.

The president's request was met with loud confusion, with lawmakers exchanging heated views in a "disorganized environment," according to one inside source.

Local reporters were immediately pulled out of parliament hall following a request from the Puntland leaders, including Vice President Hassan Dahir Afqura, a native of Sool.

But many lawmakers opposed the move to expel the reporters. Local journalists were eventually allowed back into parliament, but ordered not to record the president's answers to the Las Anod situation.

An MP from Sool region asked President Muse a question regarding speculative reports that Puntland's inability to engage Las Anod is linked directly to an agreement Muse signed in 2002 with Dahir Riyale, president of the separatist Somaliland government.

President Muse said an agreement with Riyale does exist, but declined to elaborate.

Angry lawmakers then accused the Puntland leader of treason. Once again, parliament hall burst in disorder and President Muse's attempt to close the session met stiff

President Muse left parliament hall in fury and lawmakers continued the Las Anod debate.

Before ascending to power in Puntland in 2005, Gen. Muse led a rebel movement known by its Somali acronym GBP that fought battles for power with then-warlord of Puntland, Col. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the current president of Somalia.

Yusuf's militias overran Muse and his loyalists, until Muse withdrew to western Sanaag region, where he and his men were welcomed by Somaliland forces.