Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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President Abdiweli Gaas has failed to honour his promises to SSC regions of Puntland state

By Muhammad Suldaan Sa’id

This article will attempt to cover a wide range of topics. Before I delve into this potentially contentious theme though, I reaffirm my political stance in regard to Puntlands’ unity.

Gaas Puntland
President Gaas of Puntland

Having clarified my personal position on Puntlands’ territorial unity, it is crucial that we assess the political disillusionment of the Dhulba-hante masses to the entire political establishment in Garowe. This piece of writing presents a discussion that I had with community members inside the aforementioned regions as well as a large portion of the diaspora communities. The vast majority of Dhulba-hante populace hold deeply cynical attitude towards the idea of unitary Puntland and to put it at its crudest, not only do they question the validity of SSC being as part and parcel of Puntland state, but, they broadly assert their unequivocal contempt of the whole concept.

The SSC regions, though constitutionally being integral part of Puntland, are nonetheless forcefully occupied by Somaliland which preposterously lays claim of this territory. Somaliland captured Las’anod in October 2007 with the help of treacherous collaborators hailing from the area, and then solidified its hegemony on the local people. (See Faisal roble’s somaliland-invading-las-anod-part-creating-new-reality-ground, Wardheernews, 2007). Today after 8 years of Somaliland illegal occupation, residents of Las’anod feel abandoned and left to their fate by their own government (Puntland). There was a euphoric atmosphere within SSC people when President AbdiweliGaas was elected as the 5th president of Puntland state in January 2014. People thought they were ushering in a new beginning in Puntland; they viewed him as agent of change with pre-stated strategy of tackling head on the Somalilands’ flagrant aggression on Puntland soil. Thousands of Buuhoodle residents initiated impromptu and ecstatic

Celebrations, fireworks and live rounds until the air smelled gunpowder. That jubilant gathering has quickly turned into disappointment, largely because of the President’s continued use of evasive and euphemistic terminology to obscure the disastrous mistakes committed by his predecessor; and the none-performance to their protracted state negligence. Regrettably, despite the much-hyped expectations of Abdiweli’s ascendency to power, little has changed in regard to Puntlands’ state policies towards Sool, Sanaag and Cayn. His error-ridden contemptuous policies further alienated segments of hard-core Puntland supporters who now deem his political master plan as the continuation of his predecessor, Faroole. President Faroole’s perspectives on the SSC regions were nothing more than pawns in his often miscalculated political chess game, and a great deal of the current lingering grudge against Puntland can be laid at the feet of former President.

Puntland state must adapt a coordinated and concerted policy of winning the hearts and minds of average citizens for its long-term unity and longevity as manifested in its constitution. Long-term political reconciliation requires structural injustices in the political, economic and social domains which the community complained about; be looked at and addressed accordingly. The clearest evidence prevalent in mainstream SSC community is that, the common man and woman in any city of SSC feels that the creation of Puntland offered him-her very little if any at all, that perception of political dissatisfaction and disenchantment cannot be resolved by mere usage of words but rather physical engagement with the community backed up by tangible developmental projects.

Random but serious discussions I had with the local community about this emotionally draining matter have increasingly been negative in tone and character. Years of gross state negligence and less institutionalised engagement with the community have unfortunately taken their toll, this legitimate political resentment against the whole structure has been capitalised on by inward-looking politicians with hidden motives.

Cali Khalif
Ali Khalif, President of Khaatumo

President Abdiweli Gaas, received overwhelming support from the community during his campaign as he passionately talked about the illegal occupation of Las’anod, the capital city of Sool region. Today there is a wide spread notion that he let-down the expectations of the ordinary man and woman who are critical of Puntland’s strategic vision towards their territory but who also strenuously support the territorial integrity and unity of Puntland.

In the same vein, care needs to be given to the reality on the ground including the fact that Khaatumo even though is characterised by its visionary bankruptcy, yet, enjoys far greater grassroots support than Puntland does at the moment. The supreme leader of this enterprise Ali Khalif Galaydh is an exceedingly able with exceptional talents and a one of the most effective managers ever to lead an entity as complex as Khaatumo is. On the other hand, the managerial type politics he practiced since he was enthusiastically elected in Saaxdheer, divided the SSC people beyond measure. His policies are neither practical nor pragmatic and therefore lack the description of “visionary leader”.

Contrary to his prevailing image of being the guardian of the Dhulba-hante interest, he chose to slice-and-dice the wider community into Khatumites and the enemy and as someone who do not subscribe to Khaatumo mantra myself, one will not find difficult which supreme leader’s category I must fall into “the enemy”. Otto Von Bismarch, a Prussian statesman who dominated Germany and European affairs from 1860s until 1890 once said “politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best” Puntland can no longer overlook the real life circumstances on the ground if it wants to swim against the hostile political tides.

Transformative measures of equal distribution of state powers and resources need to be undertaken in order to counterbalance the profound mistrust created by state none-fulfilment. The upper echelons of the political establishment in Garowe, have to realise the detrimental effect of the absent Dhulba-hante Garaads on Puntland’s reinvigoration. They are prerequisite for any tangible remedy for this ever-widening mistrust. Puntland must use its multiple state apparatus to open communication links with those disillusioned traditional leaders before the Puntland grand reconciliatory conference scheduled to be held after the holy month of Ramadan.

Puntland has already invested time in bringing back number of traditional leaders into Puntland fold and that got much praise from the mainstream society however, this line of reasoning has been questioned more recently as many belief that the received Issims were designated scapegoats on the fringes of the spectrum who were already in constant contact with Puntland’s current and former leaders. They argue that the real Puntland doubters have not been won and hence, these episodic visits by some Garaads may not change the status quo. If current Puntland leadership is unable or unwilling for whatever reason to undertake drastic rectification steps, to resolve these potentially ruinous grievances; it may inevitably result to peaceably Part Company and go our separate ways. As diehard Puntland unity supporter, I prefer the first option but lamentably, the latter troubling possibility of peaceable separation is gaining momentum as a result of state failure.

Muhammad Suldaan Sa’id
EmaI: [email protected]

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Said is a student studying Sociology and history at Kingston University, London, U.K.


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