Category: experience

HOW PUNTLAND DESTABILIZATION STARTED IN 2000-2001

July 22, 2019

It started with the creation of network of key traditional leaders, influential religious personalities and pro-TNG political activists in PUNTLAND. TNG President Abdulqassim Salad Hassan and his political supporters of PUNTLAND origin in his Cabinet had established and maintained communication with this network of political and armed saboteurs. These Cabinet members provided the link between AbdulQassim and TNG Operation Network in Puntland.

Transfer of funds to this Network of TNG agents followed. What happened next is history.

It looks as if the current FGS is re-testing and re-playing the same operational formula without knowing that those tactics and political strategy had been applied on Puntland before, and badly failed. The damage, however, was done.

Puntland had recovered not only the damage, but also came out much more stronger to be able to lead the Somali National Reconciliation and Peace Talks and establish the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic in October 2004 – Puntland President, Abdullahi Yusuf, becoming the President of Somalia.

At that time, there was a good portion of Puntland population blindly supporting Arta Conference and TNG. Puntland leadership then knew better about Abdulqassim Salad Hassan, Ismail Omar Ghuelleh and their political objectives.

It looks like history repeating itself.

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PRESIDENT DENI’S DILEMMA AND PUNTLAND CONCERNS

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July 7, 2019
President Said Abdullahi Deni of Puntland was an outsider of Puntland politics. He is not well versed in the history of Puntland governance and its struggle during the Regime of Siyaad Barre. He is not deeply rooted in its vision for New Somalia. In ideology, he is hailing from religious groupping of Al-Islah orientation, whose members are International Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafists. By tradition, Somali religious sects aren’t well-known for paying much attention to modern statecraft beyond opposing secularism, while lacking any inclusive world outlook and experience in modern world interconnectivity. That is because politics and political power are off-limits to religious leaders in the Gulf States, Saudi Arabia, in particular. However, they are trained in getting involved in politics through religious Dawa in other countries outside the sources of Wahabi and other religious sects persuasions. Issues of secular government and any forms of governance, including federalism and division of power between states and regions etc is not included in their religious narratives or vision for national objectives.For them, it is a foreign concept and non-Islamic imitations or pretendence.
Being an outsider and involved lately in Federal politics, Mr.Deni happened to find himself as the State President of Puntland State. What made his situation even worse is the fact that he had inherited a mess left by his predecessor, Gaas, in Puntland, and therefore, had to climb up a stiff learning curve. Political dynamics are highly fluid in Somalia, waiting for no one to catch up. It is a quick-paced environment, expecting not only equally quick interventions, but also vision and planning as well.
Now, Puntland State, created out of a long struggle against One City-state domination, dictatorship repression and clan cleansing in a vicious civil war that many people may be right in arguing that it was genocide, has serious concerns about how things were developing politically lately in Somalia. People of Puntland are deeply troubled by the state of union of Somali affairs at moment, what has been happening to Somali National Accords of Federal Constitution, Federalism, Power -sharing, Resources- sharing, all the solemn declarations that Somalis had agreed to to end the civil war and revive the failed state of Somalia. There is a political dilemma and anxiety setting in the State. Puntlanders are seriously worried now for their own future and the gains of their long historical struggle against tyranny and backwardness.
Let us not only hope that the New Administration of Puntland is upto the job, but that we should also monitor performance and keep watchful eyes on the rapid political developments in Somalia.

Protected: FLASH BACK: ROOTS OF APPEARANCE OF PUNTLAND ON THE POLITICAL SCENE

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SOMALIA’S FEDERAL MEMBERS STATES ARE ALSO LITTLE MOGADISHU-LIKE CITY-STATES

Galkayo, May 28, 2019

The political narrative since the fall of Somali Government in 1991 has been focusing exclusively on blame and counter-blame of Mogadishu being the centre of all the problems of Somalia’s one city-state status. Now, we have created federal member states in regional capitals modeling exactly Mogadishu in their respective clan enclaves, doubling down and duplicating the same problems of Mogadishu all over again.

When we had been creating Puntland State in 1998, we had approved Garowe/Nugaal/Somalia as the capital city of the first federal regional state of Somalia, thinking that we had resolved finally the problems of Somalia’s one city-state legacy. We didn’t even bother enacting laws governing Garowe as a capital city publicly owned by the entire people of Puntland State and ran by the State. It was a historical oversight that led to a number of problems.

The first serious one came in 2001-2002 when Puntland had been experiencing existential constitutional crisis and violent power struggle between late President Abdullahi Yusuf and Jama Ali Jama. At time, every resident originally hailing from other parts of Puntland, had departed and fled Garowe in a hurry back to their respective towns to escape violence and armed confrontations. People from other regions of Puntland had lost business confidence and stopped building and owning properties in Garowe until very lately.

Another serious problem is the fact that Garowe have been become both the political and business centre for the entire Nugaal Region, economically suffocating other towns like Eyl, Buurtinle, Dangoroyo, and other important historical towns of Nugaal Region. Sin-u-Jiis, for instance.

Finally, came President Faroole, who had turned Puntland wholly into one city-state, just like Mogadishu City-state of Somalia.

There is still lingering public feeling of that legacy in Garowe – business confidence, though, is back on track. This is an example of a true life experience.

Other capital cities of federal member states, including Somaliland, are suffering from far worse problems than Puntland. Regional state capital cities of Federal Member States are all “little Mogadishu” in its worst scenario of 1991-1995 clan-cleasing in their sub-clan compositions statistically.

Don’t blame the “real Mogadishu” for copying and re-creating the same.

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CENTRALIZED SCHOOL EXAMS STILL IMPOSSIBLE IN SOUTHERN SOMALIA

Mogadishu, May 27, 2019.

Like most Federal Ministries in Mogadishu, the Education Ministry exists only by name. Minister Godax Barre doesn’t control even one classroom in Mogadishu. That is because the education sector in Southern Somalia come under private business cartels called “Education Umberella” (Daladaha Waxbarashada). This nominal education minister has no influence whatsoever. Godax is begging the Education Umberella to allow his proposal for centralized exams, in which the government can’t secure or implement them, for it has neither the necessary personnel nor any capacity close to that of Puntland State, for instance. Regardless of quality of education in Puntland, they have been conducting seamlessly centralized exams for a good number of school years.

How does Godax prepare, safeguard, distribute, supervise and return the exams safely?

So, Godax wants the Umberella personnel to do the job for him/Ministry. But, the Umberella is a bunch of private schools watching guardedly for their business bottom-line, and they don’t want their respective students failed in this so-called “centralized exams”. They leak the exams to their students. Others sell the exams to the students. The result is that no one can secure these exams.

Instead of asking Puntland for help to share its experience and capacity with his disfunctional portfolio, Godax found fun in bashing Puntland. Good luck!

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Related topic:

Take a read this link from
Liban Ahmad
libahm@gmail.com

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/puntlandpost.net/2019/04/17/somalia-has-no-a-national-curriculum/amp/

(Image credit: Somali websites)