General Duke Posted March 25, 2005 Somaliland's Murder Trial Starts BBC — Hargeisa, Somaliland — 23 March, 2005 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ten men have gone on trial in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, accused of murdering foreign aid workers in a series of attacks. Police were deployed around the court and journalists were refused entry. The Somaliland authorities say those behind the killings are terrorists intent on destabilising the country. The four victims - two Britons, one Italian and one Kenyan - were killed in separate attacks over a six-month period from October 2003. The two Britons, Richard Eyeington, 62, and his wife Enid, 61, were shot through the window of their flat at a secondary school in Sheikh, 140km (87 miles) north-east of Hargeisa, the region's capital. Their deaths followed the murder of an award-winning Italian aid worker, Annalena Tonelli, 60, in another part of Somaliland. The former British colony of Somaliland declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, when former leader Siad Barre was overthrown and the country descended into anarchy. Somaliland's independence has not been internationally recognised. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
