GAROWE, Somalia August 1, 2014 (bile blog)
Across cities and districts in Puntland and worldwide, people are celebrating Puntland 16th anniversary.
The festivities
began early friday morning with almost every major city holding events, to mark
the day Puntland state formed.
In the Puntland
capital, President prof. abdiweli ali gaas accompanied by Ministers, MPs and
government officials was the keynote speaker as thousands crowded Garowe center
to take part in the celebrations.
The
celebrations began with a parade which women groups; youth groups, sports
teams, horseback riders, schools and universities all took part in Puntland
security forces also took part in the parade.
The crowd of
thousands of excited Puntlanders, watched as the many different groups paraded
including internally displaced Somalis who have sought refuge in Puntland since
conflict erupted in southern Somalia.
President gaas
addressed the crowds, despite he was postpone his main speech about the
anniversary in tonightʹs ceremony will take puntland presieential place,the
president expressing his joy at the historical day and hope for the future.
The celebrations which are being
held across the world will extend late into the night as Puntlanders wait to
celebrate after they break their fast.
Puntland
background
The Puntland
State was established in 1998, as a result of a series of community-wide consultations
and constitutional conferences, aimed at setting up an administration that could
bring law and order in the territory, secure stability, reinstitute collapsed
public institutions and promote development for its people, waiting to be part
of a future federal system of Somalia.
It is unlikely
that Puntland returns to the highly centralized form of government that existed
before the fall of the central government of Somalia in 1991.
We belie ve
that a federal system, in Somalia, can be achie ved by first building state
governments in other parts of the country with functional institutions
supported by their own constituencies. Puntland State is a stable region of
Somalia with a surface land comprising one-third of Somalia and close to half
of the country’s coastline. A pproximately 3 million people areestimated to
live and work in Puntland, including an influx of seekers of safe home and
economic
migrants from other parts of the country. There is a functioning constitutional
government with security forces and sound public finance management.
The 16 year old
state has been regarded one of the most peaceful areas of somalia, but has
faced a number of challenges in the last four years including terrorist groups
they were fighting Galgala mountains.
written by: abdi omar bile
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