NASSIR Posted August 4, 2010 SOMALIA | Leaders Can Prevent Galgala Conflict from Merging with Civil War TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2010 AT 12:27PM The road south of Bosaso, Puntland, Somalia. HELO. WITNESS Somalia’s civil war has raged in the south for some time, but locals fear it might spread farther than it already has. The northeastern state of Puntland, aside from troubling local security issues and humanitarian concerns, has been largely insulated from the war. But at the end of July, a long-bubbling local conflict between a renegade leader from the Galgala Mountains named Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom, and the Puntland government, re-surfaced in a battle in the village of Karin on the road south of the port city of Bosaso. While international media has followed the Somali and Puntland government assertion, denied publically by both parties, that Atom is bringing the civil war to the north on behalf of the Islamic radical group al Shabaab, specialist Mohamed A. Elmi argues that this is instead a local-level conflict that can be solved locally. Too often, Elmi points out, journalists, as well as leaders with access to foreign funding may over-simplify the description of a conflict in order to draw attention. But if this increases confusion and argument on the ground, it may encourage the conflict it seeks to address. **************************************************** http://www.helomagazine.org/somalia/2010/8/3/somalia-leaders-can-prevent-galgala-conflict-from-mergi ng-wi.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
