Puntland gov't bans arms trade, weapons display

Shafi'i Abokar
Somalia
April 13, 2011

The northeastern semi-autonomous Somali state of Puntland has prohibited trade in arms and ammunitions in a bid to prevent further violence and targeted killings in the region, the region's top security official announced.

Puntland’s deputy minister for internal security, Abdi Jamal Mohamed, speaking to reporters in the region’s commercial city of Bosaso Tuesday night, said that terrorist acts have rocked the region and because of that the Puntland government deemed it important to ban arms trade.

He said that the widespread arms trade in public markets was the main cause of renewed violence, targeted assassinations and explosions in the regions, adding that terrorists have also benefited from such business.

“We are also declaring that carrying guns in towns and cities is totally prohibited, because it will be difficulty to differentiate the real security forces and the armed gangs or terrorists so we are urging our security forces to leave their arms at camps after they have ended duties,” the deputy security minister stated.

The ban went into effect Wednesday.

The Puntland region is customarily peaceful, compared to the rest of Somalia, but for the past several months there has been increasing insecurity in the region that witnessed targeted killings against government officials, traditional elders and human rights campaigners.

Last week the Puntland government said that terrorist elements connected to al Shabaab militants are operating in the region and it was drawing a new security initiative intended to prevent the organization from spreading into the region.

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90044654?Puntland%20gov%27t%20bans%20arms%20trade%2C%20weapons%20display.