Introduction
In
this brief report, we are going to present several aspects, including, the
foundation of Puntland government, the improvements made, the challenges it encountered
in the process by each president, the current elections in 2014, and so on.
After the collapse of the Somali central government
of Somalia in 1991, after that date, the people those are originated from the
north-eastern regions of Somalia fled to those regions to recap, re-state their
livings in there and the regions of which the puntland is based was very
secured under SSDF (somali salvation democratic front ) rule led by Abdullah
Yusuf Ahmed, the former Somali and puntland president.
After
while, the situation was getting at least better, people found themselves an
environment to work in and business of its forms were picking-up. however, the
puntland community headed its key figures, namely, the traditional elders, the
sheikhs/ religious elites, business men, Politicians, the youth, and women came
to Garoe( the capital of puntland) those had some sort of representation in the
formulation of puntland administration and they were representing the regions
in puntland those were in place.
After
some days, or rather weeks with tough and the sometime so friendly discussions
on the subject of the matter, those figures decided to establish a concrete
administrational system with the three
arms of a government that is the judiciary, executive and the legislature on
August,1, 1998.
The
foundation of it had certain goals and objectives, very briefly, here they
are:-
Ø to
bring the law and order in these
regions,
Ø to re-institute the collapsed public centers,
Ø to
promote all kinds of development for its people
Ø waiting
to be part the future federal system of Somalia
Ø And so and so far.
Now,
by referring to the above, one of the supreme leaders, who had a significant
role in the stabilization of puntland
the Islan Mohamed( my Allah give him Peace) interviewed years back to the local
media talking about the objectives behind the formulation of it, he said ‘this administration is for peace
for all Somalis, we looking for now and then to return back Somalia and to
build the future of younger generations in these regions and finally, I want to
say this that Somalia is for Somalis”.
The
government worked as its best; in the meantime, this administration had met
elections of which its first election was elected Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed as a
first president of puntland,this gentleman was a military related person- who
had a personal trainings in the army and war, in that regard, he emphasized
much on the security sector, while by not leaving aside the other sectors, at
least, he worked as he could, but, primarily, faced many threats inside and
outside of puntland, where he led us times with darkness and sorrows when he fought
with his oppositional people, or regions, in the process, many people lost
their relatives and friends.
by
the end of his Administration, Yusuf( may Allah rest him in peace), because he
died around two years ago in Yemen due to heart failure of which he was
suffering in years, he became the president of transitional government of
Somalia the transitional federal government( TFG), where, the Badio town was base of his administration, like that. Secondly,
Mohamed Abdi Hashi, known as the short-time ruler in puntland has came into
been, as the time short suggests, just he was there for another leader to take
him over.
From
there, General Adde muse hersi which was a military associated person came into
the power to the puntland government and during his administration he came up
with some new changes and development and he faced challenges alike, For
example, he reshaped the physical structure of the government, by building new
ministries to work at and rehabilitating airports (like the one in Bosaso, and
Galkio) and of course, he built our security forces at different levels. Despite
the other challenges seen in his ruling time, remember, the most notable
incident that he faced during his presidency was that of piracy, since the
offence of piracy is not any more unique to puntland, or Somalia, but, it’s a
threat to the region and the world at large and hyper inflation emerged in the
late of his ruling time that came as result after the pirates received millions
of dollars as a ransom.
According
to the united nation’s papers, for instance, a report conducted by the United
Nations Office on Drugs and crime( UNODC) in the late 2007, suggested that puntland
is where such a modernized form of hijacking cargo ships and the other ships
for ransom was allegedly started from, in that basis, ,We believed and still believe
as an ordinary puntlanders that what he made his administrational performances
more stagnant because of that of piracy, in other words, Somali pirates started
their route much extensively from the date he came into the office up to the
time he left the office respectively.
Yet
again, the president Adde himself told the threats of the pirates in the region
by the time he was talking to the international and local media, suggested that
“this offence of the piracy is so
visible in here and pirates are well- equipped with sophisticated weapons than
us, then we can’t go against them, therefore, I’m requesting the international
community, the United nations and the other well wishers to help us in sorting
pirates out of the towns and cites’’.
Before
I fellow with the leaders of puntland in my list, I want to suggest that these
regions are home for all Somalis (non- puntlanders), they are visible in each
developmental sectors, very energetic, entrepreneurial, they melted with the
society by doing their daily life’s activities as they wish, puntland has the
largest IDp( internally displaced persons)camps in Somalia in the recent years,
where it hosts both the internally and externally displaced people and it
provides the minimum resources it has plus some other miner contributions from
the international donors with shelter, food, clothes, clean water and so on, in
building on this, during my documentation this small report, to make this more
valid, I asked one of the IDPs in
puntland named Ali Ahmed Yusuf this was the Question as it reads: what does
puntland mean to you? “puntland is like my home, which means,
going east, or west which is the best”
he
answered.
On
8th,January,2009, the legislature
part of the puntland government elected Farole as the president of puntland for
next four years in a high score from what has gotten from the members in the
parliament, but trials and efforts after he put on the administrational
proceedings from four years-to-five years of which brought, or led many
oppositions of being against his administration to the fact that made his rule
to reduce its speed for the development
that was intended by the people in the region as Abdi Ali Mohamed, a degree
holder in Law at Eastern Africa University in Puntland suggested that “it was visible that he would be
losing the trust of his people when he added one year extra’’.
back
to the time of his campaign, he forwarded to do develop in various developmental
sectors, including, the security, health, education, the public finance, the
infrastructure, the puntland- TFG relationships, and do sorting them out, like
the piracy, human trafficking, the extremists, etc.
As
the earlier reports suggests that he made improvements in those important
sectors, now, I want to say that, he started with the security sector and made
number one and the tap of them, in it, he started to re-organize law
enforcement institutions as reported in the first 100 days of the new
administration and the reorganization included to demobilize the excessive
militia forces to reduces it to an affordable size, In the mean time, the major
government achievement(s) in this sector was to pay salaries and other necessary
costs to all security forces, together with other government institutions,
throughout the 2009 as the first anniversary
of President Farole’s administration report in January suggests.
In relation to that, piracy remains a threat not to
the puntland government, but also to the region and to the world in general,
therefore, he fought to tackle that incident and eventually defeated without
getting much support from the international community and puntland is so proud
of that record, yet again, piracy can be there, but, in a lower scale and
pirate’s activities in the coastal are s in puntland declines from time- to time.
by making the story so valid, here is this’’ In any serious attempt to combat piracy,Puntland
must play an integral role, yet is not recognized
as a legitimate actor in the region and has been financially abandoned by the
International community, which continues to ignore the reality on the ground.”-Business daily,
January 5, 2009 by Reuters.
Of
course, He made wider efforts to do so by empowering laws against that offence,
engaging the religious and traditional leaders to be part for mission by
rehabilitating the pirates in certain ways
and doing public awareness and detaining some of the pirates ,but,
misfortunately, neither a pirate person, or those who funded for were not
sentenced to death, also, in the security aspect, during his administration,
Dr. Abdurrahman has fought against the extremists which has taken root in many
parts of the South-Central regions of Somalia and the bigger challenge is
balancing Puntland’ sadherence to humanitarian laws, addressing IDPs and
migrants issues without compromising its obligation of maintaining internal
security.
Security
forces made discoveries of terrorist elements that infiltrated Puntland
disguising themselves as genuine IDPs and refuges while perpetuating
assassinations targeted at key figures in the Puntland society and planting explosives and He tackled the problem
of inflation at some point and built some new centers, for instance, the
presidential palace in Garoe which is well- equipped and modernized one, the
Puntland Radio and Tv now are on the
air, therefore, I might say He put a
record for such contribution.
Remember,
any given administration which come into the power, might do some beneficial
things to the public and at the sometime, challenges normally are there,
therefore, the challenges he encountered, might include also the piracy which
was a threat to his rule, extremists-who were political driven based on cases
they committed against the innocent people, like children, women and elderly,
human trafficking was also an obstacle for his administration, because the
daring human trafficking practice in the Gulf of Aden has been responsible for
the death of hundreds of people hailing from parts of Southern Somalia and
Ethiopia.
In
a bid to control this social menace, Puntland security forces mounted land and
water front patrols, this has resulted in the seizure and detention of traffickers
as well as their gear, In addition to that, many suspected illegal voyagers
were nabbed at checkpoints across Puntland and subsequently deported to the point
of entry, similarly, during his presidency, we lost our youth who embarked in a
dark journey all the way to the midterenian sea after he lost their aspirations
they had and they end- up un- employed, since, youth are the catalyst for the
development in every society on this planet, in the fact that puntland is a
peaceful state, from there, the number of the IDPs coming has increased
dramatically in the recent years who posed significant threats on the security
and by feeding them has/ had some sort of defaults for him.
In
2014- elections in puntland, It become the most watched subject inside and
outside of puntland when it comes to this election, because, more than 20
candidates run for the presidential office, included a highly dignified persons
with political and educational grounds, namely, the former prime minister of
Somalia( Abdiweli Mohamed Ali/ Gas),etc, in the process, some of the
presidential candidates stopped their candidacy for their allies to bring
change in puntland and Ali Haji Warsme( one of the candidates) got the biggest
share out of the others that is
according to views of the ordinary people in the streets.
On
6th of January, the parliamentary speaker was appointed, and on 8th
January 2014, was the date for the presidential election and deputies, a long
struggle with 3 tough rounds, the former prime minister become the president of
puntland in the following five years. The speaker welcomed him to address the audience,
he talked to the parliament, diplomats, members from puntland Diaspora, media,
the traditional who were there in the venue of the election by saying” I would like to thank the parliament who
voted to me and those who didn’t, also I want to thank the former president
farole for the job he did to us, really, I’m so pleased of being the president
of puntland, ladies and gentlemen, I thank.You”.
also, the former president, farole has come to the stage, then this is what he
has said “I’m
very thankful of the election in the way it has been handled and again I’m
welcoming the new president of puntland, let say this, it’s so important for
you to work as our puntland wish and intend to, finally, I want to thank the
diplomats and others here with us today, thank you’’.
The
guests who attended of this exceptional day for the puntlanders in particular,
Somalia and the rest of the world in general, were including, the special envoy
for Somalia (Nicolas key) who said his remarks by the end of the election ‘‘I
would like to congratulate the elected president Mr. Abdiweli Ali, also so
specific, I want to thank the former president farole of his leadership and the
way he managed himself after the defeat, let me thank the elders for their
tireless effort for this occasion to occur, plus the members of the parliament
for their responsibility, now you can sleep as you wish, because puntland is a
peaceful environment, have good and bright future, thank you, but I want say to the president on
the three wishes that the united nations want to see at the end of your
administration, firstly it is important to be provided of what the people need
like the social services, like, education, health and clean water, secondly,
you government has to be play a significant role in federating the country and
work so closely to Mogadishu and finally, making sure of what the international
community is looking for making possible the Democratization process, where the
people would do what is so called one man-
one vote, thank you all’’ he
concluded. finally, I would like to summarize the
story by saying, the people of puntland are looking for a change in any corner
in their lives from the newly elected president professor, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali
(Gas) of which all we his background on the administration, economical development
and so on, the puntlanders would remain the judgers on any administration, and,I
want say, my Allah help for him to hit the target and where he intended to
achieve.
Prepared by:- Mohamed
Omar Ahmed, a B.A in Development studies at PSU, Garoe. Contacts:- mohamedomaryare22@gmail.com, or + 2525907593839.
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