Wararka
‘No Ethiopia soldiers in Puntland’: Security Minister
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May 7, 2008 - 9:30:06 AM

BOSSASO, Somalia May 7 (Garowe Online) - A senior security official in Somalia’s Puntland regional government has said that Ethiopian soldiers will not be deployed in the territory.

Abdullahi Said Samatar, the Puntland security minister, told Garowe Online during a Wednesday interview that the security situation in the Puntland region is “going well.”

He especially thanked traditional elders, whom he praised for partaking in efforts to ease tensions and help improve local security.

Abdullahi Said Samatar, Puntland security minister

Further, Minister Samatar said the Puntland Ministry of Security plans to take strong measures to stop the continued illegal practice of human trafficking.

“It [human trafficking] is an embarrassment for Puntland,” Minister Samatar said.

Each year, thousands of mostly African migrants die taking the dangerous sea journey between northern Somalia and Yemen by crossing the Gulf of Aden.

The Puntland security minister did not clearly answer a question regarding media reports that ethnic Somalis were arrested inside Puntland and later handed over to Ethiopian intelligence services.

On this matter, Security Minister Samatar said that he has no comment but indicated that local officials were waiting for Puntland President Adde Muse’s return home.

Muse has been overseas for the past month, including a weeks-long trip to Ethiopia with a Puntland government delegation that included the security minister.

But Mr. Samatar did not provide any details from their visit to Addis Ababa, saying only that the Puntland delegation held security-related talks with Ethiopian government officials.

Last month, the Puntland leader told a crowd of Somalis in London that he intends to bring Ethiopian soldiers into the territory to play an active role in oil exploration efforts by small foreign companies.

Locals have repeatedly resisted the Puntland ruler's exploration ambitions, with foreign companies who have invested in the controversial project worried about Muse's ability to secure the region seen as the main reason fuelling the need for Ethiopian troops.

The Ethiopian army is fighting Somali insurgents in regions south of Puntland, where thousands of Ethiopian troops have been protecting the weak interim government in the capital Mogadishu for the past 15 months.

Source: Garowe Online