THE LAND OF PUNT: Grassroots factor to Security and Economic development

[Xudeedi]

THE LAND OF PUNT: grass roots factor to Security and Economic development

 

 

 

 

By: Mohammed Elmi (Dholey)

 

 

I would like to revisit this article published in 2006 by popular Somali websites and would like to share with readers the genesis of Puntland State. The Galgala debacle stemmed from a decade old conflicts between Puntland and communities of Sanaag, Haylaan and Western Bari. For those interested in root causes, this piece is an eye openner.

 

 

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LAND OF PUNT: Grassroots factor to Security and Economic development

 

 

Designated as the land of primal trading ties with the ancient civilization of Egypt, Land of Punt still keeps its distinctive characterization of trade in the Red Sea. Here in Sanaag and Bari regions of Somalia the Pharaohs used to come and purchase a variety of commodities such as frankincense and myrrh that were sold to them by the local dynasties. Until today, frankincense and myrrh yield more returns for the economic sector of Puntland state. Exports of livestock earnings, remittances, humanitarian aid, and small subsistence farming around Galgala district have also proved to be the principal sources of income. With its vibrant emporium, Bossaso, Puntand, in its de facto state power, has been able to raise taxes (Real Estate, and Private Businesses) and charge levies on imported goods thus swelling its reserve for the treasury. This has afforded it to create public services (limited only to few districts) and maintain instruments for security provision, thereby improving the relationship between the regional state and the people.

 

 

Though all of these developments from the region helped build reputable portrait for Abdillahi Yusuf during his tenure as a president of Puntland and so his quest for the head of Somalia, they also marked a time of much-needed democratization as there were genuine anticipations of upcoming state elections and easy transfer of power after Abdilahi Yusuf became the president of Somalia. These two elements of democratic process are somewhat alien to African Nations, at least most of them. Yet, they accorded Puntland, an illegitimate state, a national symbol similar to Somaliland’s “best kept secret”. However, recently we are witnessing a new direction and uncertain outlook as its cabinet ministers were reshuffled, but then the reshuffling process returned the same ministers to their former portfolios except the Planning Minister Farole whose termination turned out to be a violent battle at Garowe, the capital. Gun fires were exchanged in which two persons were killed and one person wounded.

 

 

Ever since Gen. Adde came to power in Puntland, the region has been deteriorating in its political and economic developments as well as its cohesiveness. Prior to the establishment of the region as a regional autonomy, the goal was to revive the position of a certain group in the political arena. There were disintegration amongst clans, lack of central authority, and increased vulnerability to hostile attacks on its territories from Hargeisa administration in her attempt to secure artificial borders demarcated by the former colonial administration. Besides, a war of attrition and sporadic factional conflicts in Galkacyo from militias of Southern Mudug and Galgadud added to its growing insecurity. The whole region was in debacle and too weak in form to act a deterrence against fierce rivals from both Hargeisa and Mogadisho. So, the genesis or the basis of its creation emerged out of a strategic concern for security interests, preservation of a common identity from a possible separation, and to enhance both of its political and economic security. Hence, by accommodating all the divergent clans that make up the ***** sub-clan of *****, Puntland was formed as a sub-state mechanism that is entrenched in kinship networks.

 

 

Creation of Puntland

 

 

On Jan 1994, the first all-inclusive meeting of ***** clan was arranged in Garowe conference under the “UNISOM-sponsored peace conferences” (also known as the ***** conference). The Al-Hayat newspaper was said to have reported that, “"more than 250 clan leaders, traditional arbitrators of the regions and, ulama (religious leaders)” attended the conference. The risk embedded in this particular convention was that it divided politicians of Sool and Sanaag as “collaborationists” of Garowe conference and “antagonists” led by the two Garads of *********** section of *****.

 

 

This latter group’s position supported the Borama meeting, which preceded the Garowe meeting , of which they were signatories. However, the “collaborationist” led by Awad Ahmad Ashara won legitimacy of who is to represent the Northern *****, and he was, therefore, recognized as the rightful representative of Sool and Sanaag constituency by UNISOM, under the chairmanship of the old U.S.P. This party of old standing was retrieved from a defunct status so as to “dispense justice and decide the rights of the subject”. The United Nation which has yet to give a green light to the “secessionists” was with this latter group, making an implicit support that no group is to misrepresent, claim, or employ arbitrary power over another group’s “liberty, land, and possession”. Thus, having received both financial and political backing, the deliberative process of the conference had gone uninterrupted with the consent and participation of the traditional elders, Garads, Sultans and Issims. It was not until 1998 that the state building formation of Puntland was officially announced and effectuated. Though, tribal territories overlap, Puntland state incorporates five regions as one.

 

 

Moreover, a question of social need was raised as to how a bottom-up approach resolution to our strife-ridden society be established. For instance, a bottom-up approach to state building is a vision that underlay the fundamental reason for a “social contract” theory developed by Thomas Hobbes. As an alternative to their customary security arrangement, a society may decide to renounce its indigenous rights and delegate political authority figures to take over the responsibility of their land in exchange of “mutual vows and commitment” to one another. Al-Farabi, an Arab philosopher, explicates.

 

 

‘The unsatisfactory nature of this mode of existence eventually drives Man to join with others who find themselves in a similar predicament to seek a means of mutual protection………This voluntary renunciation of rights, taken in the form of mutual vows and commitments, constitutes a compact between the people and the sovereign that establishes the state.’ It seems a primary care was given to meet this fundamental condition of state formation and finally a mutual agreement of power-sharing system based on clan composition and territoriality was reached.

 

 

However, as years have gone by, Puntland’s fair representation enshrined in its constitution was never taken into consideration by its top leader. Instead, nepotism, cronyism and all forms of corruption replaced its institutional foundation. The current president selectively singled out ministers highly qualified for their respective positions by supplanting their hold with members who belong to his own sub-clan. According to its constitution; this is a violation of the social contract between the state and its stakeholders. The president is obliged to appoint any elected MP to a public office based on a merit and acceptable background.

 

 

Sanaag And Sool

 

 

Sanaag and Sool regions have suffered from the post-independency centralized administration of Somalia(1960-91). The Somali governments prior to the civil war had been very reluctant to allocate any resources to these two regions and therein lay the lagging of these regions behind other regions. An important location to note in which the centralized government of Somalia had built an important economic infrastructure is the Laasqorey fish-canning factory, but this industry collapsed with the state. Local businessmen then decided to invest a similar project that had neither remodeled nor rebuilt the old industry, in this historic city, which is good in fishery.

 

 

Over the years, the industry has underwent a separation of ownership and management problems, creating a hostile takeover by businessmen from outside the region and who up to this time have remained impervious to the deterioration of the city as far as city development, education, and employment opportunities are concerned. In addition to the exclusion of public services from the interior department of Puntland due to a benign neglect, Las Qoray and by extension the whole region is facing gradual and severe social and economic decline. Nevertheless, there appears a slow progress in some parts of the region such as Dhahar and Badhan, two major cities in Sanaag but their improvements aimed at the educational and health sectors of the society still remain insufficient.

 

 

Majority of the population are nomadic pastoralists whose source of income is mostly derived from the marketing of their livestock, earnings from remittances for those whose families live in the West, and NGO services like Horn Relief. Horn Relief’s Cash relief program that helped thousands of draught-stricken nomads during the Sool Plateau Draught deserves reward and recognition. Yet, these sources of income of sustainability are limited and fructify only during certain seasons of the year. “The usual seasonal migratory patterns of nomadic life are often determined by prolonged dry seasons and recurrent droughts, which occur once every 5 years, causing wells and water points to dry up forcing nomads and their livestock to migrate longer distances in life-threatening situations,” reports the annual report of “Puntland Facts and Figures”. On the other hand, the region is politically and economically isolated from the rest of the world.

 

 

International NGO’s restricted activities in the regions perhaps impute to Garowe and Hargeisa and their depictions of these regions as under circumstances considered to be dangerous for functional U.N operation in order to foster strategic coordination of Aid Distribution on behalf of Sool and Sanaag people but without their consent and knowledge. The United Nation’s proposal of constructions and funding of primary schools around every region attest to this fact. Hardly has any school funded or built by either these two unofficial administration or UNICEF exist? Besides, there is a severe scarcity of water in Hadaftimo, a city coined as “thirsty city”. There are no streams, water drilling rigs, or other means of water supply in the city. A Horn Relief worker who had paid a visit to the city last year, reports, “Hadaftimo , a city of 20 thousand located Eastern Part of Somalia has no rivers, streams, creeks, and lakes which are vitally important to people's everyday life. Due to that there is no surface water available in the whole region; ground water can supply the water needs for Hadaftimo residents.”

 

 

However, a new UN-backed initiative augurs well for the future of Sanaag in an effort to build a war-torn country. The article, “UN-backed reconstruction project launches largest survey to date” which is dated on 14 March, 2006, points that there will be national experts that will be dispatched to Somalia and particularly to “areas that are currently inaccessible to international team members, querying the many concerned Somalis from civil society and regional authorities in order to ensure all voices are heard and included in the ongoing Post Conflict Needs Assessments.” We should be thankful to the efforts of the UN and hope that all of the Somali regions will be equally helped and that no region is left behind.

 

 

Moreover, the governor’s recent gaffe with regard to the increasing isolation and underdevelopment of Sool and Sanaag regions highlights an upward appeal to local Diasporas outside his control. An upward appeal (interpersonal influence tactics) is often a negative factor on someone’s reputation, ability, and confidence towards his own government. A leader should manifest a degree of dependency to both his people and public officials if he wants to increase his influence because such is the hallmark of leadership. The more degree of dependency the more chance the leader would have to strike efficiency. Otherwise, Puntland, as is evident of its degenerative signs, would sink to its early period in which a half of its populace might detach from its politics and put at risk the symbiotic relationship that strengthens the bond amongst the divergent clans of *****. Because a group of divergent clans agreed in principle to unite within a defined physical territory base and identity, it is thus fair to say that an agency problem theory exists between the current president Adde and **********, one of the three clans that formed Puntland.

 

 

Finally, the main concern for having Puntland as a state has been security interests, collective effort to tackle the combined effect of draught and factional wars, and preservation of a common identity from a possible separation from the complex situation of Somalia’s dismemberment spearheaded by the ad hoc administration in Hargeisa, and this is still a strong case for the survival interest of Puntland as an unofficial de facto state, for instance, safety from direct attack. Up to now, Puntland has been relatively stronger than its rival Somaliland due to the fact that it has attracted more population from the South, which then stimulated its economic growth. Its main objectives, on top of the above-stated reasons, are to widen the scope of its core strengths, such as education, enhancement or remodeling of its economic infrastructure like the Bossaso and Laasqoray ports, roads, energy, and communication and transportation networks.

 

 

It is certain that even partial of those have not been achieved and everything else is a misjudged essay in self-preservation as a paper regional state run by rogue officials. If Puntland is to survive, it must go back to a grassroots development by serving its entire regions and people on equal terms.

 

 

Mohammed Elmi (Dholey)