Following clashes in the business hub port city of Bossaso, the regional authority of Somalia’s northern Puntland region declared a unilateral ceasefire on Wednesday.
Efforts were being made to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
The clashes erupted on Tuesday morning when soldiers loyal to regional President Said Abdullahi Deni attempted to disarm the Puntland Security Force, a highly active U.S.-trained special regional counter-terrorism unit (PSF).
Deni fired General Mohamud Diyano, the PSF’s overall commander, but the general refused to accept the dismissal, claiming it was political and would disrupt the region’s fight against terrorism.
As a result of the mutiny, the Puntland leader dispatched hundreds of soldiers to Bossaso to disarm this well-armed unit and its leadership.
At least nine people, mostly civilians, were killed in Wednesday’s clashes, bringing the total death toll since Tuesday to 19.
“What we have now is a fragile ceasefire,” senior police officer Mohamed Ali Hashi told dpa over the phone, confirming the death toll.
According to police, more than 45 people have been reported injured as a result of the violence.
According to civil society member Abdisalam Mohamud, “eighty percent of the city’s inhabitants fled their homes in fear of further violence and bloodshed.”
Puntland, one of Somalia‘s five federal member states, is preparing to field candidates for national parliamentary elections.
For years, the country in the Horn of Africa has been plagued by the Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab, which controls vast sections of the south and center and routinely targets government personnel and civilians.