By Ismail H. Warsame
A New Cast, Same Director
Laascaanood’s political theatre has changed its actors, but the director in Villa Somalia remains the same. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s latest move is not nation-building—it is a hostile corporate takeover of SSC-Khatumo’s hard-earned autonomy. His endgame is clear: dismantle Puntland, the last effective check on his centralizing project, and replace it with a compliant “North East Entity,” a Mogadishu-loyal clone of Hirshabeele and GalMudugh.
The rhetoric of “liberation” is nothing but a hollow marketing slogan. The true mission is to install Chairman Abdikadir Aw Ali (Firdhiye) as Mogadishu’s proxy governor, rush his handpicked delegates to the federal parliament, and redraw Somalia’s political map with SSC’s blood as the ink for Puntland’s obituary.
Dueling Delegations: The Constitutional Bomb
Garowe will not sign its own death warrant. Puntland will appoint its own parliamentary delegation from SSC territories—territories it has legally represented for over two decades. The result: two rival delegations claiming the same seats, two competing mandates, one federal parliament thrown into chaos.
This is no mere “political impasse.” It is a constitutional detonation. Somalia’s Provisional Constitution contains no mechanism for resolving parallel representation. The fallout will shred what little legitimacy remains in the federal system, paralyze Mogadishu’s governance, and expose the entire state-building process as a façade.
The West’s Broken Playbook
Cue the well-worn script: foreign diplomats descending with tired calls for “dialogue” and “reconciliation.” But this is no misunderstanding. It is a calculated act of political aggression. Mediation under these circumstances will not resolve the conflict—it will entrench it, forcing Puntland to negotiate the terms of its own dismemberment under the gaze of international chaperones.
SSC’s Pyrrhic Victory
For SSC, this is the bitterest twist of fate. They fought and died to free themselves from Hargeisa’s grip, only to find themselves turned into Mogadishu’s pawn in its cold war against Puntland. Chairman Firdhiye now risks becoming the administrator of SSC’s second occupation—this time under the velvet glove of Villa Somalia rather than the iron fist of Muse Bihi.
And when Puntland is weakened and no longer a threat? Mogadishu will discard SSC like yesterday’s news, leaving them politically stranded, weaker and more divided than before.
The Real Stakes
This is bigger than 2026 elections. This is about whether Somalia will remain a federation or slide back into a centralized dictatorship with decorative regions as window-dressing.
Break Puntland over SSC, and the federal experiment dies. The likely response from Garowe? Total withdrawal from the federal project—an exit that could trigger state collapse and usher in international trusteeship, a scenario no Somali patriot should wish for.
WDM VERDICT: A Declaration of Political War
Make no mistake: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is not integrating SSC. He is annexing it. This is nothing less than a declaration of political war on Puntland and on federalism itself.
If the international community chooses to “mediate” this crisis, they become co-authors of Somalia’s undoing. The only principled path forward is to uphold the constitutional order and reject any parallel institutions designed to weaken Puntland’s mandate.
WDM WARNING:
The future of Somalia will not be decided at the ballot box but in this manufactured crisis. To endorse Villa Somalia’s fiction is to greenlight the collapse of the Somali state. The stakes could not be higher.
Warsame Policy & Media Network (WAPMEN) 