HARGEISA, 15 November 2009 (Somalilandpress) – Puntland president, Abdirahman Mohamud Farole , is facing security challenges that his predecessors did not face.

President Farole was in Kenya and having a photo-op with American Embassy officials in Nairobi when a judge and a member of Punltand people’s assembly were murdered in Bosaso and Garowe respectively.

A hand grenade was thrown into Punt land’s local government offices in Galka’yo in the same day. Almost two weeks ago the Puntland president asked people in Puntland to trust in the ability of his government’s security forces to deal with mounting insecurity and violence in Puntland. Without having solid evidence president of Puntland implied that people coming from other parts of Somalia and Somali populated territories in Ethiopia endanger Puntland security.

[ad#Google Adsense (336×280)]

Puntland’s security related problems partly lie in the misuse of resources for political and personal purposes. Puntland mistakenly believes that it has a Secret Service known as Puntland Intelligence Service (PSI). Since Puntland is an administration based on a clan consensus, why its political leaders have chosen to mislead people into believing PIS is as adept at “ counter-terrorism” as Ethiopia’s or Kenya’s or Djibouti’s secret services is not known.

Puntland may collapse if president Farole does not avoid pinning blame on external forces. Candid discussion of Puntland’s problems can start from figuring out what is the direct and indirect role of Puntland government in security and economic woes.

If the assassins targeting government officials are linked to ‘extremist groups’, who created conditions in which one can carry out targeted killings and bombing? Puntland has moved from honesty and self-criticism based positive clan consensus that gave the Puntlanders the relative peace they enjoyed for ten years. If Puntlanders see that public resources are being misused, Puntland government will be gradually paving the way for the break up of Puntland into clan fiefdoms, each using a system of self-rule —traditional or religion based –to try to coexist with each other peacefully.

Liban Ahmad
E-mail: Libahm@gmail.com

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Views expressed in the opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the editorial

1 COMMENT

  1. There is no doubt that the so called geographical entity of Puntland is in deep trouble. A week can not pass without violent assassination in one or more of the three major towns there.

    The issue here is not one of common security problem rather it is one of broader political corruption and mishandling which has been going on for a while and has now reached at a breaking point.

    The situation has been made worse now by Faroole's incompetence and lack of political acumen. Blaming others for their mistakes will not bear solution. Instead they should look inwards for a solution but it may be too late and their state may be irreparable.

  2. There is no doubt that the so called geographical entity of Puntland is in deep trouble. A week can not pass without violent assassination in one or more of the three major towns there.

    The issue here is not one of common security problem rather it is one of broader political corruption and mishandling which has been going on for a while and has now reached at a breaking point.

    The situation has been made worse now by Faroole’s incompetence and lack of political acumen. Blaming others for their mistakes will not bear solution. Instead they should look inwards for a solution but it may be too late and their state may be irreparable

  3. This is funny..Does the avater pic has to do something with what i say? Hahaaha funny laugh (Smile test)