There is now no formal administration in charge of Garowe, the capital of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, a local journalist told IRIN on Monday.

"Garowe is peaceful with no reported security incidents since Col Abdullahi Yusuf left it last week," said Adan Abdirahman Dolar of the Garowe-based Nugal Times. "There is no one from the camp of either Abdullahi Yusuf or Jama Ali Jama running the town's affairs", he said. "The locals are running their own affairs.".

However, Isma'il Warsame, Abdullahi Yusuf's chief of cabinet, told IRIN that Garowe was not functioning satisfactorily, but neither was it "a no-man's-land". "Garowe is not as normal as it should be, but it will soon resume its functions as Puntland's state capital," he predicted. "The president will soon reshuffle his cabinet. Once that has happened, he will return to Garowe."

Abdullahi Yusuf left Garowe early on Monday morning, leading between 600 and 800 militia, along with 30 "technicals" - pick-ups mounted with heavy weapons. On Wednesday he captured the economically important port of Bosaso, the commercial capital of Puntland.

According to Dolar, since Abdullahi's departure, militia loyal to his rival, Jama Ali Jama, have taken control of the checkpoint south of the town, so "Jama loyalists now control both the southern and northern entrances to Garowe".

Meanwhile, Jama Ali, who had been in Las Anod town, Sool Region, since his forces were defeated in Bosaso, reportedly left for Djibouti on his way to Libya, a local source in Las Anod told IRIN on Monday. Sool Region is geographically part of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, but is ethnically and politically linked with Puntland.

"Jama and a five-member delegation flew out of Las Anod yesterday," he said. According to this source, Jama's trip was planned "long before the events in Bosaso".

The controversy over Puntland's leadership started after Abdullahi Yusuf, whose term of office ended on 30 June 2001, claimed that his mandate had been extended by parliament.

Puntland's traditional elders, meeting in Garowe in July, rejected his claim, and named Yusuf Haji Nur, Puntland's former chief justice, as "acting president" until the election of a new administration.

The elders subsequently convened a general congress to this end in August 2001 and, on 14 November, elected Jama Ali for a three-year term in the hope that this would end the leadership wrangles.

Puntland declared itself autonomous in 1998, following a conference of local elders. Abdullahi Yusuf was then elected as the region's first president for a three-year term.