Somalia’s autonomous state of Puntland has requested an explanation from International donors led by the United Nations…
Somalia’s autonomous state of Puntland has requested an explanation from International donors led by the United Nations on security fears in the region after curtailing their operations since an attack on its staff members.
Puntland Vice President Abdulhakim Abdullahi Amey said that the operations of the United Nations organisations in the region decreased massively since the 20th April attack on a bus ferrying UNICEF staff, leading to the death of four foreign staff members.
Mr Amey, speaking at a review meeting on the UN Joint Programme on Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery (JPLG) which aims to strengthen local governance and enhance decentralized services in Puntland and also other parts of Somalia, accused the aid donors of intervening with security issues of the autonomous state ever since bomb attack that took place in Garowe.
‘’There are some agencies that are intervening with our security responsibilities; they shouldn’t make any false claims to create fear on those people who want to do relief work here,’’ he said angrily.
Since the attack, UN agencies suspended all non-essential field missions as precautionary measure, withdrawing foreign staff members.
However, Puntland Vice President strongly denied the existence of insecurity in the region.
‘’There is no any kind of insecurity in Puntland and whoever said that should explain it. The 20th April attack has been an excuse for these agencies.
‘’They [donors] want us to go and meet them in Nairobi instead of coming here… if they want to control us on the little stuffs they are giving us, then we have to decide on it.’’
At the tip of the Horn of Africa and with a third of Somalia’s population of about 10 million, the semi-autonomous Puntland spans the north of Somalia and has largely escaped the worst of the country’s upheaval of the last two decades.
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