Ethiopian Officials Blame Puntland Leader for Insecurity

Garowe Online (Garowe)


NEWS
15 February 2008
Posted to the web 15 February 2008


ADDIS Ethiopian Foreign Ministry officials have blamed the leader of Somalia's Puntland region for rising insecurity during a meeting with interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, confidential sources told Garowe Online.

The Ethiopian government officials spoke to President Yusuf at a meeting in the capital Addis Ababa with Puntland President Mohamud "Adde" Muse present, sources in Addis Ababa said.


The officials said insecurity in Puntland is having an adverse affect on stability in Ethiopia, especially in the Somali Regional State bordering the Puntland regions.

The Puntland administration was accused of "lax security" that allows Ethiopian rebel movements like the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) to use Puntland ports and coastline to land weapons and other materials.

Some officials in Puntland President Muse's government were accused of "taking bribes" from opponents of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government, sources close to the meeting reported.

The Ethiopian foreign ministry officials also informed President Yusuf that they received a request for the deployment of Ethiopian troops in Puntland from Muse, but that the Ethiopian government "rejected" the request on grounds that insecurity in Puntland is a result of the region's leaders and not the public.

During the meeting, Ethiopian officials said their soldiers fighting in south Somalia have captured tons of weapons, some of which were originally donated to Puntland by the Ethiopian military but later sold in the black market.

Puntland has been one of Somalia's more stable regions since its formation in 1998, but the region has experienced an unprecedented rise in corruption and criminal activities since Muse came to power in 2005.

It is not clear what move the Ethiopian government wants President Yusuf to make in light of their complaints against the Puntland leader.

But many observers see Yusuf, the former Puntland strongman, as the region's de facto ruler long after his ascension to the Somali presidency.