A WDM Editorial

There is an uncomfortable truth Puntland must confront: a state cannot claim sovereignty while politicians, businessmen, clan figures and political factions maintain private arsenals and battle wagons inside their residences and garages.

This is not merely a security problem. It is a question of whether Puntland intends to remain a state governed by institutions or gradually become a collection of armed neighbourhoods negotiating with one another through gun barrels.

And nowhere is the contradiction more painful than in Mudug.

Mudug Has Defended Puntland — It Must Not Be Consumed by Revenge

The people of Mudug have historically been among the most gallant defenders of Puntland. When Puntland’s security has been threatened, Mudug communities have repeatedly supplied courage, manpower and sacrifice.

That history deserves recognition.

But precisely because of that distinguished record, the continuing cycle of sub-clan confrontation, revenge killings and armed tension in Galkayo is intolerable.

Galkayo cannot remain permanently suspended between civilisation and the battlefield.

A murder produces retaliation. Retaliation produces another funeral. Another funeral produces another armed mobilisation. Then elders negotiate temporary calm while armed men keep their weapons and wait for the next incident.

That is not law and order.

That is managed anarchy.

The cycle must end.

President Said Abdullahi Deni’s current working visit to Mudug should therefore be about more than meetings, receptions and speeches. It should clarify something fundamental:

Who governs Galkayo — the Puntland State or armed sub-clans?

There cannot be two answers.

The Law Cannot Stop at Galkayo

But Puntland authorities must resist the temptation to treat Galkayo as though it were the state’s only security problem.

It isn’t.

Armed groups and privately controlled militias remain elsewhere, including around Carmo and Garowe. Some operate openly under clan loyalties. Others dress themselves in the more respectable language of “opposition.”, and others as “Federal Troops.”

Opposition to President Deni is legitimate.

Opposition politics is legitimate.

Criticism of the Puntland Government is legitimate.

Private armies are not.

Nor should political opposition become camouflage for armed groups allegedly cultivating relationships with political interests associated with the Banadir-based administration of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

If you oppose Deni, oppose him politically.

Write against him. Organise against him. Campaign against him. Defeat his policies in Parliament. Challenge his government in court. Mobilise voters.

But do not park and hide technicals in your house garages and call yourself a democrat.

Garowe’s Battle-Wagon Culture Must End

Perhaps the most embarrassing manifestation of this problem exists in the capital itself.

There are politicians, influential residents and businessmen in Garowe reportedly keeping armed battle wagons at their residences.

Why?

Garowe is the capital of Puntland State, not an assembly point for private armies.

A businessman does not need a battle wagon.

A politician does not need a battle wagon.

An elder does not need a battle wagon.

A former official does not need a battle wagon.

A citizen living under a functioning government should not require a private military capability capable of confronting the police.

Once individuals acquire such firepower, their relationship with the state changes. They cease being merely citizens protected by law and begin possessing the means to negotiate with the state through force.

That is how governmental authority slowly disappears.

Today it is one technical.

Tomorrow five.

Then twenty.

Eventually the government itself must negotiate before entering neighbourhoods supposedly under its jurisdiction.

Puntland must never reach that point.

No Selective Disarmament

There is another principle that matters enormously.

Disarmament cannot be political.

The government cannot confiscate weapons from its opponents while ignoring equally armed supporters. It cannot dismantle one sub-clan militia while tolerating another because its commanders happen to enjoy political connections.

That would not establish law and order. It would simply redistribute armed power.

The principle must therefore be brutally simple:

One state. One security authority. One law.

From Galkayo to Garowe, Carmo to Bosaso, no politician, businessman, clan elder, opposition figure or government supporter should operate a private armed formation capable of challenging the constitutional security forces.

And where crimes have been committed, disarmament alone is insufficient.

Murder must go before the courts.

Political violence must go before the courts.

Instigation of armed violence must go before the courts.

Those who organise illegal armed groups must face the law.

Otherwise Puntland merely confiscates yesterday’s weapons while manufacturing tomorrow’s gunmen.

The Writing Is on the Wall

Those still maintaining sub-clan militias or armed political formations should understand what Puntland’s recent security confrontations ought to have demonstrated.

The era of competing armed centres of authority must end.

That message applies equally to government supporters and opponents.

No individual political grievance gives anyone the right to establish an alternative security structure. No disagreement with Garowe transforms a private militia into a constitutional institution. And no relationship with political actors in Mogadishu should provide protection for activities that destabilise Puntland.

If outside political interests wish to compete in Puntland, let them compete through ideas and constitutional politics.

Puntland cannot become somebody else’s proxy battlefield.

Puntland Must Become a Peaceful Country

The objective is not militarisation.

It is precisely the opposite.

Puntland must become a peaceful country where ordinary people do not have to calculate which sub-clan controls which checkpoint, which politician owns which technical, or whose militia might mobilise tonight.

A shopkeeper should worry about customers, not crossfire.

A student should carry books, not ammunition.

A politician should carry arguments, not machine guns.

And a businessman should invest in trucks carrying merchandise — not battle wagons carrying gunmen.

Mudug’s historic gallantry should be channelled into defending Puntland, not settling neighbourhood revenge.

Garowe’s political class should compete for public confidence, not firepower.

Carmo should belong to the state and its citizens, not armed factions.

And Puntland’s government must understand the other half of this bargain: once it demands civilian obedience to law, the government itself must submit absolutely to law.

No arbitrary arrests. No collective punishment. No clan profiling. No political score-settling disguised as security operations. Disarmament must be lawful, impartial and subject to judicial accountability.

That is the difference between restoring the state and merely empowering another armed faction.

Puntland has spent twenty-eight years building institutions out of the ruins of Somali state collapse. It should know better than almost anywhere else in Somalia what happens when private guns become stronger than public institutions.

The lesson was purchased with blood.

There is no reason to purchase it twice.

Clear the cities of illegal battle wagons.
Disband private militias.
Prosecute criminal violence.
Protect legitimate political opposition.
Apply the same law to friend and foe.

Puntland must belong to its citizens — not to whoever happens to own the biggest gun.

WDM — Commentary and Critical Analysis