ADDRESSING SOME PUBLIC CONCERNS

Having commended #HeritageInstitute for holding its Annual Conference inside Somalia for the first time, this Garowe Meeting in Puntland bringing together almost all Somalia’s Political stakeholders has special significance in managing expectations in facilitating diverse views in a neutral fashion and handling Conference conclusions devoid of any editorial biases.

As the Garowe Conference is underway, #HeritageInstitute became subject of inquiries in the social media on the issue of its policy independence and neutrality on opposing political views with regards to Somalia’s constitutional framework and respect for the solemn accord reached at Somalia’s Peace and National Reconciliation Conference (SPNRC) in Mbagati, Kenya, 2004, that was enshrined in the National Charter, following the Civil War.

#HeritageInstitute is required to respond publicly to the sceptics and people, who have some concerns on those issues on the policy and institutional principles of the organization.

BREAKING (UNVERIFIED)

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: When the “Future” Applies for a Visitor’s Pass to the Past

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 […]

REMARKS ON THE 1998 CHARTER OF PUNTLAND

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. […]

The Mental Split: Why Some Puntlanders Can’t Hold Puntland and Somalia in the Same Head

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 […]

From Consultation to Congress: Puntland Must Rise to the Moment

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 Perpetual Crisis: How Exclusion and Short-Term Power Doomed the State

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 […]

13 Years of WDM (now WAPMEN) — Fearless, Independent, Uncompromising

Thirteen years ago, Warsame Digital Media (WDM) was born out of a simple but dangerous idea: tell the truth, even when power is uncomfortable with it.What began as a modest digital platform has grown into a trusted voice for independent Somali journalism, policy analysis, and unapologetic commentary—often standing alone when silence was safer, and conformity […]

White Paper: Colonial Treaties, Clan Territories, and the Limits of Unilateral Sovereignty Claims in Northern Somalia

Executive SummaryThis policy paper examines the legal status of colonial-era treaties between the British administration and northern Somali clans and assesses their relevance to post-1991 sovereignty claims. It argues that these treaties collectively established the British Somaliland Protectorate as a colonial administrative unit, not clan-owned sovereign entities. All such treaties were extinguished by the 1960 […]

The Rule of the Jungle Returns: When Power Replaces Law

WAPMEN EDITORIAL The mask has slipped. The pretense of a civilized international order has evaporated, revealing a hollow stage. When Israel razed Gaza, killing civilians en masse while the world watched—paralyzed, mute, complicit—we learned a brutal lesson: there is no referee left on the field. That moment was not an aberration. It was a signal […]

Strategic Silence Is Not Neutrality — It Is a Choice

WAPMEN Editorial When a sovereign state is openly violated, silence is never innocent. It is calculative.In the wake of Israeli aggression—recognizing a region of Somalia as an independent state in brazen violation of international law—the world did not speak with one voice. Many did the right thing. Regional blocs, international organizations, and responsible states rose […]