Authorities in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland have reportedly imported minted currency ahead of the presidential election.
Four containers full of Somaliland Shillings were reportedly loaded onto trucks from the Port of Berbera along the Gulf of Aden, sources and Somaliland media reported.
The trucks were escorted to the region's capital, Hargeisa, under armed escort and the contents were unloaded at the government's bank under the watchful eye of soldiers, witnesses said.
Somaliland President Dahir Riyale's government did not submit a formal request to mint Somaliland Shillings to the separatist region's parliament, the sources added.
It is not clear why the Riyale administration has imported false currency now, but this development comes at a time of growing political dispute over the upcoming presidential election.
Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, Somaliland's opposition leader and the Kulmiye party candidate, reiterated his position that he "will not recognize Riyale as president after April 6."
He was quoted by Hargeisa-based newspaper Ogaal as saying that, after April 6, the Somaliland government will come under the control of the two houses of parliament.
Mr. Silanyo has refused to accept the election commission's controversial decision to postpone the presidential election from March 29 to May 31, saying that another election delay is unacceptable and demanding the appointment of a caretaker government by the Somaliland parliament.
Somaliland Shillings are used in only part of the breakaway region, including the major cities of Hargeisa and Berbera.
But in the city of Burao, the region's second-largest, old Somali Shilling banknotes is the only currency still in circulation. Burao, Silanyo's home town, has long been considered an opposition stronghold.
Somaliland, located in northwestern Somalia, unilaterally declared independence in 1991 but has not been recognized internationally.
