Cheers! News from Africa

Ever heard of the armies of Puntland, and Somaliland?

(Reuters) HARGEISHA, 9 April 2007: Forces of the breakaway Somali republic of Somaliland and neighbouring semi-autonomous Puntland clashed on Monday over a disputed strip of desert that has been the source of sporadic violence for years.

One person was killed and three others wounded durig fighting between Somaliland and Puntland security forces along their shared border in the Sanag region.

“Puntland forces attacked the town of Dahar around 8:00 this morning,” Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Hagi Dahir said in a statement. “ The attacking forces were supported by 17 technicals and 3 big trucks.”

Technicals are pickup trucks mounted with heavy weapons, the Somali version or a tank.

Both Somaliland and Puntland are in the north of the Horn of Africa and have enjoyed relative peace, while the south of the country has been mired in anarchy since the 1991 ouster of Mohamad Siad Barre.

Somaliland, formerly the colony of British Somaliland, claims independence as a sovereign nation. Despite having held democratic elections and maintaining relative security, it has no international recognition.

Puntland remains part of greater Somalia, butgenerally administers its own affairs through its own military and governmental institutions.

The two have fought for years over the SOOL and Sanag regions, part of which Puntland claim on an ethnic basis while Somaliland says they are part of its territory under the colonial border Britain left.