Galkayo town of Puntland falls to Islamists in recent.......

[Enemy_Of_Mad_Mullah]

Galkayo town of Puntland falls to Islamists in recent clashes
By ABDULKADIR KHALIF
Special Correspondent
Latest reports reaching Mogadishu indicate that heavy fighting erupted between the forces of the Union of the Islamic Courts (UIC) of Somalia and militia loyal to Col Abdi Hassan Awale alias Abdi Qaybdeed. The hostility took place near Bandiradley village in Mudug region, 700km north of Mogadishu. Col Qaybdeed was reportedly backed by forces of the semi-autonomous authority of Puntland in northeastern Somalia.

Being a sparsely vegetated area with harsh terrain, Bandiradley and its surroundings does not offer many hiding places. A military confrontation is often a fight to the death. Initial news indicated that Col QaybdeedÂ’s militia suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat in the face of aggressive Islamist forces.

Although this last confrontation has taken place away from the capital, Col Qaybdeed is remembered as the last warlord ousted from Mogadishu by the Islamists. It happened when he resisted their request to surrender his weapons in July following the disintegration of the so-called Restoration of Peace and Anti-terrorism coalition.

Col Qaybdeed retreated to his home area of Mudug region in Central Somalia. His main mission was to oppose the Islamist forces moving towards Galkayo town, the capital of Mudug region. His influence scored some success when the Islamists were met by angry mobs and retreated.

The Islamists blamed Qaybdeed and the authority of Puntland, which controls a large territory in northeastern Somalia including two thirds of Galkayo. The town is officially known as the most southern border of Puntland, hence being susceptible to influence from the troubled southcentral regions of Somalia.

To defend Galkayo from incursion by the Islamists, Qaybdeed assembled his militia 60km south of Bandiradley village. Although it was not officially admitted, the colonel was helped by the Puntland authority and even by a small Ethiopian contingency.

Since July, there has been war of wards between the opposing sides without the Islamists leaving Galinsor district and the coalition forces remaining stationed at Bandiradley, 90 km away.

With reports of Bandiradley village and the surrounding area falling to the Islamists, the buffer zone separating the Islamists and the Puntland authority is gone. To make matters worse, some clansmen from Galkayo area were influenced by the Islamists ideology.

A significant number of influential people from the portion of the town controlled by Puntland state voiced their support for the Islamists and even announced their intention to establish their “own brand” of Islamic Courts, unofficially allied with the courts in Mogadishu and most of South-Central Somalia.

Mohamed Mohamud Jimale alias Agaweyne, the spokesman of Al-Furqan Islamic Court in central Somalia vowed to defeat any resistance against the Islamists in Mudug region and even to cross over to the Puntland to work with sympathisers.

The Puntland authority vehemently denied that it was siding with Qaybdeed in his confrontation with the Islamists. Ali Abdi Aware, Puntland’s minister for Regional Affairs explained his authority’s guiding principles. “We exist to safeguard the security of our people,” Minister Aware stated. “We are here to protect our people against any threat whether it is from Islamists or from other sources,” he added.

To generate some kind of assurance, Ahmed Abdi Habsade, PuntlandÂ’s Interior Minister insisted that his government would do anything to protect PuntlandÂ’s stability. Some people interpreted the officerÂ’s remarks to mean that the best strategy to protect Puntland from advancing Islamists was by supporting Qaybdeed, even though that might anger the clergymen whose wider ambition is to rule the whole of Somalia via Sharia.

The violent confrontation around Galkayo town is not only a threat to Puntland but also a litmus test to the determination of the Islamists to gain the total control of the Somali territory.

In defence of Puntland, the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is said to be flying ammunitions and other military stuff from its base in Baidoa town, 240km southwest of Mogadishu to Galkayo, 750km north of the capital. Col Mohamud Muse Hersi (Adde Muse), the president of Puntland is said to have declared a state of emergency and even escorted a convoy of military vehicles from the port town of Bossaso to nearly 800Km away to Galkayo.

A looming danger as a result of confrontations between the Islamists and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland worries not only Somalis but also the international community. In a recent BBC radio debate, Jendayi Frazer, the US Assistant Secretary of State accused the Islamists of dangerously advancing towards Puntland. She warned against such expansionist tendency.

Professor David Shin, a former US ambassador to Ethiopia and a Horn of Africa expert believes that a war involving the TFG and Ethiopia on one side and the Islamists and their sympathisers on the other seems imminent.

[muslim-man]

"Being a sparsely vegetated area with harsh terrain, Bandiradley and its surroundings does not offer many hiding places"




who ill-adviced him to fight the wadads in such terrain thats harsh to his retreating manners

[qudhac-m]

[quote="muslim-man"]"Being a sparsely vegetated area with harsh terrain, Bandiradley and its surroundings does not offer many hiding places"





SHAW RAGU WAA IS HALEELAY OO CARALAAY CAGO BAA KA DHACDAY