Somalia's Puntland breaks off relations with central government
MOGADISHU | Aug 6, 2013 2:24pm EDT
(Reuters) - Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Monday it had
cut all ties with the central government in a likely setback to efforts to
pacify the Horn of Africa Country as it emerges from two decades of
conflict.
Puntland accused the Mogadishu government of refusing to share power and
foreign aid with the regions in line with the country's federal structure,
as well as taking its eye off the fight against al Qaeda-linked Islamist
militants.
"The fragmented country has been plunged back into a vicious cycle of
violence, displacement, clan animosities and a complete disregard for the
country's genuine Provisional Federal Constitution," Puntland's
administration said in an official statement.
"Puntland hereby suspends all cooperation and relations with (the) Federal
Government of Somalia."
The election in September of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a political
newcomer with a background in reconciling clan feuds, was seen as a vote for
change.
But he has struggled to overcome acrimonious clan politics, corruption and a
stubborn Islamist insurgency. Somalia's neighbors and foreign powers fear a
return to civil war in a country long seen as a launchpad for militant
Islam.
Mohamud's cash-strapped federal government exerts little authority beyond
the capital. How to divvy up power between the center and regions is a
thorny issue that the provisional constitution failed to address.
In a country where clan loyalties rather than ideology determine political
support and access to resources, analysts say Mogadishu is reluctant to hand
power to the provinces fearing a breakup of the state. Meanwhile the regions
are demanding more autonomy.
Puntland's move raises the prospect of other regions following suit, in
particular Jubaland in the far south where dozens of civilians have been
killed in recent fighting between two rival warlords who claim control.
Puntland said it would only resume normal relations with Mogadishu when the
central government respected the country's federal structure. There was no
immediate response from the federal government.
Puntland has largely avoided being caught up in successive Islamist
insurgencies although its shores have been a haven for pirates. But al
Shabaab rebels, squeezed out of their redoubts in southern and central
Somalia by African peacekeepers, have slowly infiltrated Puntland, regional
officials say.
Somaliland, on Somalia's northwestern tip, declared itself independent in
1991 shortly after civil war erupted, but it is not an internationally
recognized as a sovereign state.
(Editing by Richard Lough; Editing by Michael Roddy)