Somalia: Puntland businesses protest against inflation, false currency

Puntland, Tuesday, July 03, 2007 Simba Radio

BOSSASO, Somalia July 2 (Garowe Online) - Small businesses organized a protest in the northern Somali port city of Bossaso on Monday to bring attention to high inflation rates in the region.

Protestors said high inflation was a direct result of false currency that has flooded major markets in the Puntland region in recent months.

Business owners closed their operations early to join the march. One businessman told Garowe Online that he was protesting because the price of goods has skyrocketed recently.

"Customers look at the price and think twice," he said sitting alone at his kiosk.

Most businesses have been affected adversely by the sudden hike in the local exchange rate, a development that has in turn affected the price of goods.

Police officers detained some of the protesters as the day proceeded, witnesses said. Bossaso police officials said they arrested several people who had become a "risk to peace."

In Garowe, the region's administrative capital, Puntland President Adde Muse was focused on talks with Somali federal government officials visiting the region.

President Muse dismissed reports that authority over Puntland armed forces has been transferred over to the federal government, saying that there "ongoing talks" of that nature but nothing conclusive.

Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jeele and a 19-member federal delegation are visiting Garowe to finalize arrangements with Puntland authorities, including discussion over the fate of region's armed forces.

Puntland, on the northeastern tip of Somalia, has been a self-governing region since 1998 with its own police and military force