(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/54272000/gif/_54272259_garowe.gif)
Puntland, an arid region of north-east Somalia, declared itself an autonomous state in August 1998.
• Territory: Puntland
• Status: Self-declared autonomous state
• Population: 2.4 million (Puntland government estimate, 2003)
• Capital: Garowe (administrative), Bosasso (commercial)
• Major languages: Somali, Arabic
• Major religion: Islam
• Life expectancy: n/a
• Monetary unit: Somali shilling
• Main export: Livestock
• GNI per capita: n/a
• International dialling code: +252
The move was, in part, an attempt to avoid the clan warfare engulfing southern Somalia. Nevertheless, the region has endured armed conflict, and grabbed the world headlines with an upsurge in pirate attacks on international shipping in the Indian Ocean.
Unlike its neighbour, breakaway Somaliland, Puntland says it does not seek recognition as an independent entity, wishing instead to be part of a federal Somalia.
The region's leadership refused to take part in peace talks in Djibouti in 2008 that led to the formation of a new transitional federal government headed by a moderate Islamist PM, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, but later reluctantly recognised the new administration.
Sporadic fighting has broken out between Puntland and Somaliland over the ownership of the latter's Sool and Sanaag regions, which are claimed by Puntland on the basis of ethnicity. Violence also accompanied a political power struggle in 2001 between rival claimants to the Puntland leadership.
Livestock herding and fishing sustain the people - many of them nomads - of the drought-prone region. The money sent home from overseas workers is an important source of foreign exchange.
Since 2005, the region has become famous as the hub of a burgeoning piracy operation in the seas around Somalia, particularly in the Gulf of Aden, where the pirates prey on key international shipping lanes to and from the Suez Canal.
BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14114727)