Another week, another masterclass in political theatre from Villa Somalia. The stage lights dim, a single spotlight hits the podium, and a solemn decree is read: The Federal Government of Somalia severs ties with the United Arab Emirates. Cue the dramatic music, the murmurs of geopolitics, the swirling analysis in foreign capitals. But in the […]
The Recognition That Broke the Dam On December 26, 2025, a diplomatic bombshell shattered three decades of careful, if uneasy, consensus in the Horn of Africa. Israel became the first United Nations member state to recognize the breakaway Republic of Somaliland as an independent, sovereign nation. In the streets of Hargeisa, this was celebrated as […]
Puntland is once again being summoned—to halls, forums, and carefully curated “consultations.” The Puntland State Presidency and the President Said Abdullahi Deni, have opened their doors to intellectuals, former public office holders, segments of the youth, and—selectively—traditional elders. The optics are impressive. The question is brutal: is this statesmanship, or is it federal electioneering in […]
Welcome back to the 1990s—where constitutions are decorative, term limits are optional, and mandates expire quietly while leaders cling loudly.Somalia has perfected a political magic trick: elections without exits. The calendar moves forward, mandates run out, and yet the chairs remain warm—occupied by men who insist that legality is a suggestion and power is a […]
BOSASO/GAROWE — A set of unverified social-media posts is fueling speculation that Saudi Arabia is preparing a major strategic opening toward Puntland, including maritime-security cooperation and large-scale investment tied to ports and logistics.The posts — presented as “high-level intelligence assessments” — allege Riyadh has offered Puntland priority access to a Saudi “African Investment Fund” reportedly […]
Golaha Mustaqbalka Soomaaliya was announced with trumpet blasts and heroic adjectives. An alternative leadership, we were told. A corrective lens for a broken state. A platform bold enough to say what Villa Somalia refuses to hear. In short, the Future finally arrived—only to ask politely for permission to sit next to the Past. Now comes […]
Source: SOMALIA WATCH By Federico Battera, Saturday, August 12, 2000 UNDOS Research Specialist, Professor Development Studies – University of Trieste, ItalySummary and purposesThe crisis of the State in Africa goes back to the early 80s: postcolonial African state has been neither able ‘to rule’ economy, nor territorial policy. Ethnicity has spread all over the continent. […]
WAPMEN EDITORIAL There is a quiet but corrosive confusion eating away at Puntland society — not a military threat, not a fiscal collapse, but a mental fracture. Many residents have reached a breaking point where they can no longer hold two ideas at once: Puntland and Somalia.One thinker once asked: “Who can keep two opposing […]
EDITORIALToday’s all-day consultation convened by the President of Puntland State of Somalia, Said Abdullahi Deni, was not an ordinary meeting. It was a rare convergence of accumulated state memory: former cabinet ministers, ex-parliamentarians, veteran security commanders, and leading intellectuals—nearly one hundred minds shaped by war, peace, institution-building, and the hard lessons of Somali federalism. Such […]
Somalia’s tragedy is not merely one of collapse, but of an unending cycle of failed rebirths. The state did not fail solely because it lacked governments or resources. It has consistently failed to rebuild because its would-be architects—across the political spectrum and the clan map—have repeatedly chosen factional control over inclusive nation-building. The conduct of […]
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 