Vying with Somali goverment for autonomy

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Somalia has had a legitimate government since 2012 and although Islamist insurgents are still active, it is relatively stable. But there is tension between Mogadishu and semi-autonomous regions such as Puntland.

 

The mood in Garowe, capital of Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland, was festive. The crowd had tensely awaited the arrival of leading public dignitaries including the President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, who delivered a speech. The ceremony was held to mark the completion of 1,200 new dwellings for displaced persons which were built by an international aid organization. Thousands of refugees from war-torn southern Somalia have sought sanctuary in Puntland.

 

New housing in Garowe for refugees who fled the fighting in southern Somalia President Farole arrived punctually. He said a few words of thanks to the aid organization and the donors and then promptly changed the subject. The government in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu was violating the constitution, he maintained. They had been agreement over the creation of a Somalian federal state, but Mogadishu was preventing development in the regions within that federal framework. If Mogadishu did not mend its ways, then the conflict in the country would persist. The president then departed the scene as abruptly as he had arrived.

 

Interpreting the constitution

 

President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole accuses Mogadishu of violating the constitution Civil war broke out in Somalia in 1991 and in parts of the country it is being waged to this day. In the course of the conflict, Puntland became semi-autonomous. It does not, however, wish to cede completely from Somalia, preferring instead to remain part of the country and contribute to its recovery. It is prepared to recognize the authority of the central government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, but insists on extensive political space of its own.

 

The authorities in Puntland maintain that Somalia's constitution envisages the creation of new republics within the federal framework. Mogadishu insists that the opposite is true, namely that the constitution puts priority on a strong central government.

 

Cedric Barnes from the International Crisis Group says both sides are in the right under the present provisional constitution. "This problem arose because a number of key questions were left unresolved while the Somali government was being formed," he said. "We are now paying the price for this and the central government and the autonomous regions will now have to sort out the issue," Barnes added.

 

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http://www.dw.de/vying-with-somali-government-for-autonomy/a-16941069?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

[Carafaat]

This issue is about power sharing not about autonomy. Somalis hardly know nor want autonomy, on the contrary regions are constantly intervering in eachother. Puntland is intervering in Jubbaland, Mogadishu in Jubbaland, Baidoa intervering in Gedo, ASWJ from Cabudwaaq in Gedo/Jubbaland, Galmudug intervering on the Puntland side of Galkacyo, etc. Heck even Abdi Ileey from the Somali region of Ethiopia intervered in the regions of Somalia.

 

Faro galin kama dhamadaan Somalidu.