Puntland Is No Emirate: The Absurdity of Secession Jokes and the Empty Hallways of Somali Federalism

By Ismail H. Warsame

A Dangerous Joke in a Fragile Nation

When someone floated the absurd notion that Puntland might one day secede to join the United Arab Emirates as another emirate, it might have been meant as humor — but the laughter died in the throat of every conscious Somali. It was not funny. It was symptomatic. It revealed, with brutal honesty, the deep disillusionment with Mogadishu’s failed federal project under Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration.

Let’s state facts: Puntland is several times larger than the entire UAE in landmass. Its coastline dwarfs that of most Gulf states combined. Its untapped mineral wealth, hydrocarbons, fisheries, livestock, and fertile interior plains represent a sleeping economic giant. The only thing missing is leadership — one that governs by vision, not by opportunistic foreign appeasement.

So when the rumor mills echo with “joining the Emirates,” it isn’t a dream — it’s a sarcastic reflection of despair in the Somali political imagination.

The Anatomy of a Somali Political Vacuum

Puntland, Jubaland, and Somaliland — three states with administrative coherence, relative stability, and defined borders — now stand isolated, abandoned by a central government that neither listens nor learns.

Under Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) has mutated into a narrow political cartel — a Damul Jadiid experiment in ideological arrogance. The result? The spirit of federalism — the sacred pact that bound Somalia together after 1991’s disintegration — is now dead in all but name.

Every federal member state looks inward, not outward. Every president becomes a mini-head of state, not a federal partner. Villa Somalia has become a centralizing force of division, not unity.

Somaliland’s Old Argument Revisited

For decades, Somaliland justified its withdrawal from the union with one haunting phrase:

“There is no one to negotiate with in Mogadishu.”

That line, once dismissed as separatist propaganda, now echoes ominously in Garowe and Kismayo. Puntland, long the most loyal advocate of a federal Somalia, finds itself confronting the same painful realization — there is no credible partner left in Mogadishu.

When the very seat of the federal government becomes a theater of corruption, manipulation, and clan-centric governance, dialogue dies. When dialogue dies, secession talk thrives.

The Strategic Patience of Puntland

Puntland has always played the long game. It resisted the Arta Conference in 2000, not out of arrogance, but because it demanded genuine federalism — not clan arithmetic dressed as unity. It participated in Mbagathi to shape a real national charter, not another political illusion.

Now, two decades later, Puntland’s political patience is being tested to its limits. Garowe’s quiet diplomacy is giving way to growing cynicism. The people’s frustration is real — not because they want to “join the UAE,” but because they are tired of waiting for Somalia to grow up.

The Real Secession is Already Happening

Let’s be brutally honest — the real secession is not territorial; it’s institutional and psychological.
Every time Villa Somalia undermines federalism, it secedes from the covenant of the 2012 Provisional Constitution.
Every time it manipulates parliament, it breaks the moral union.
Every time it treats Puntland and Jubaland as political adversaries instead of partners, it accelerates the national disintegration it pretends to prevent.

So, when Puntland intellectuals or elders joke about joining the UAE, they are merely mocking a failed system — not seeking a new flag.

Conclusion: The Coming Reckoning

Somalia’s unity will not be saved by slogans or donor-funded conferences in Mogadishu hotels. It will be saved when the federal ideal — autonomy within unity — is respected in deed, not in speech.

Until then, Puntland will continue to be misunderstood: too pragmatic for Mogadishu, too patient for separatists, too self-reliant for parasites.

But make no mistake — if the current trend continues, the laughter about Puntland becoming an emirate will be replaced by something far more serious: the quiet declaration of independence through governance, accountability, and results.

And when that day comes, it won’t be because Puntland left Somalia —
It will be because Somalia left Puntland.

—

© 2025 Warsame Digital Media (WDM)
Critical analysis, satire, and truth-telling from the Horn of Africa’s uncompromising voice.