Fight Against Terror Near Key Africa Strait Is Stymied by Pay Feud
- Somalia’s Puntland region overlooks shipping route to Red Sea
- Officers mutinying, intelligence staff resigning over salaries
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Security forces protecting the semi-autonomous Somali territory of Puntland from Islamist militants on the approach to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes haven’t been paid for months.
The payment delays, spurred by a 2016 budget crisis, have developed into mutinies, with soldiers briefly seizing government buildings and officers from the Puntland Intelligence Agency resigning, according to local media and the agency’s former foreign liaison chief. Meanwhile, troops in the region are battling factions of the world’s two biggest Islamist-militant groups. Puntland’s president has denied any “real mutiny” has occurred.