Reports indicate that heavy violence erupted in Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in Somalia, claiming more than twenty lives.
On Tuesday, fighting broke out in the state capital of Garowe as lawmakers discussed changing the voting process.
According to Dr. Abdirsak Ahmed, who works at the Garowe Public Hospital, where some of the remains were transported, at least 26 individuals perished, 16 of them military, and 30 more were injured.
Three further witnesses provided accounts of the fierce fighting that broke out when opposition parties accused Said Abdullahi Deni, the leader of Puntland, of seeking constitutional amendments to either extend his tenure in office past January of next year or to influence the election in his favour.
The Puntland government announced on Facebook that the regional parliament had voted to consider constitutional revisions and that more discussions and votes would follow.
“Fighting erupted immediately after the Puntland parliament voted for a one-man-one-vote election with multiple political parties,” local elder Farah Osman said. “It is a very fierce battle.”
Somalia’s Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre issued an urgent appeal for the rivals to reconcile their differences through dialogue “rather than the barrel of a gun”.
“Puntland was the home of peace and after 20 years of having a government, it is unacceptable to have a war breaking out in its capital,” he said.
An arid oil-rich region on the northeastern coast of Somalia, Puntland declared autonomy in 1998 and relations with the central government in Mogadishu have often been tense.
“Anti-aircraft guns and machine guns are raining down around Garowe today. Government forces and other troops and clan militias loyal to opposition politicians are fighting over politics. I closed my shop and ran home,” said shopkeeper Abdullahi Omar.
Policeman Abdiweli Hassan in Garowe claimed that some of the victims were civilians.
According to Hassan, the incident started when assailants of opposition MPs tried to stop parliament from meeting by engaging security troops guarding the building.
“They have been defeated and the situation in town is calm now,” he said. “No one will be allowed to act above the law.”
Puntland is one of several autonomous and semi-autonomous territories in Somalia where no single government has had complete power over the region for many years. Political differences have also been made worse by clan rivalries and residual grievances brought on by colonial legacies.