Journalist arrested in Puntland for 'Somaliland war' story

[Jacaylbaro]

GALKAYO, Somalia Nov 16 (Garowe Online) - Soldiers working on the orders of Puntland President Adde Muse, a regional ruler in north Somalia, arrested a radio director Sunday, Puntland-based Radio Garowe reported.

 

Hassan Mohamed Jama, director of Radio Galkayo, was detained on the day President Muse arrived in Galkayo and remains in jail, while Puntland soldiers shut down the radio station.

 

A Radio Galkayo journalist said Mr. Jama was arrested after the radio station aired a story on President Muse's unannounced trip to Galkayo.

 

The Puntland leader was angered when Radio Galkayo aired a story that President Muse is attempting to get access to big weapons stockpiled at a Galkayo warehouse "to attack Las Anod," according to the journalist.

 

Las Anod, the provincial capital of Sool region, has been at the heart of a Puntland-Somaliland land dispute since 2002. Troops from Somaliland, a separatist republic, captured Las Anod in 2007 for the first time after ousting Puntland security forces.

 

Puntland is slated to hold presidential elections in January 2009, but several presidential candidates have warned the Muse administration against any attack on Las Anod in an effort to detail the elections.