By Prof. Farjac

Secession of Bari Region: Disintegration of Puntland. By Prof. Farjac

 

Preamble: What Is Happening and Why?

When Somalis and the international community view the videos showing the dictator of Puntland using tanks against the people of Mudug (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GBW9fhUWnT8#! ), it reminds us the stubborn dictators such as Bashar Al-Asad against the civilian Syrians, Gheddafi against the Libyans and Ali Saleh against the Yemenis. Would anybody believe that state owned tanks are used against the people of Mudug region and that the troops of the state of Puntland took sides in warring tribal conflicts between two sister clans living in Mudug Region?

 

To some of us who believe that the western countries are the main supporters of the dictator of Puntland, reminds us what Noam Chomsky said "instead of supporting freedom and democracy, western countries support their docile friendly dictators as long as the dictators are keeping their population under their control". Now, even though the he problem is that the Arab and western countries are clearly helping the dictator of Puntland, it is the responsibility of the population of Puntland to get rid of the dictator.

 

Despite the arms embargo on Somalia, Arab nations and western countries provided the funding for importing latest sophisticated weapons through Saracen International, a mercenary private army affiliated with former Blackwater ---hired army forces. (http://beforeitsnews.com/story/245/608/Somalia:_Ship_Loaded_With_Military_Equipment_Docks_At_Bosaso_Seaport.html), and (http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/48078-Puntland-imports-weapons-despite-the-UN-arms-embargo-on-Somalia), (http://laasqoray.org/?p=605) and (http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/48078-Puntland-imports-weapons-despite-the-UN-arms-embargo-on-Somalia).  You should not be convinced that this is the only ship carrying the armaments for Puntland (Wikileaks Cable on Puntland).

 

You might be asking yourselves: What happen to the U.N. arms embargo to Somalia? The United Nations should have investigated long time ago since the dictator of Puntland and TMG and Saracen International mercenaries breached the UN arms embargo more than 12 times (Wikileaks cables on Puntland) and (http://somaliland247.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/somaliland-holds-plane-taking-illegal-military-supplies-to-puntland-in-violation-of-the-international-arms-embargo-on-somalia/).

 

Even though most of the politicians of Puntland know the dictator's intentions to be a king for life in Puntland and to strengthen his powers by crushing all possible challenge tribes in Puntland, his main goal is also to expand his territory to the western and southern parts of Puntland by annexing Somaliland, Galmudug and Gal Hiran into Puntland.

 

The leaders of Somaliland, Gal Mudug and Gal Hiran should be much concerned about the shift of the balance of power in the northern Somalia. Now the dictator of Puntland has well trained sub-clan troops, two mercenary armies, several well armed helicopters, latest sophisticated guns, armored military vehicles, night vision goggles, large speed boats and sophisticated assault rifles with telescopic lens and silencers. The armaments are not intended to fight his pirates. They are his sub-sub clan members. These weapons are meant for other purposes. Maybe it is time that the neighboring regional states shift their priorities from investing in economic and social development to defensive military armaments. After taking care of the potential internal challengers, the neighboring regional states of Somaliland, Galmudug and Gal Hiran are next. You have been warned several times. Remember that the dictator is doing his master degree in history. Better you familiarize yourselves with the war between China and Japan in the 1800s.

 

 

Secession of Bari Region: Disintegration of Puntland.

1. Introduction and Overview

 

While the nations of the world are uniting and forming social, political and economic conglomerations, Somalia is disintegrating and dismembering with the formation of fiefdom tribal regional states controlled from the capitals of other countries.

 

The majority of the Somali population still hopes for peace and the re-establishment of a genuine Somali government. Meanwhile, to reach that stage it is necessary to bring peace in anyway possible, in the middle of the anarchy including secession and/or the creation of tribal fiefdoms.

 

Since our motto is "Somalia First", in our writings, we give priority to the well being of the Somali population wherever they are. That is why under limited circumstances, we support the temporary secession of these autonomous micro states, as a last resort for unity as long as they are going to join their Somali brothers later when fair and peaceful solution is found for Somalia.

 

In light of the recent establishment and declaration of many regional tribal states in Somalia, the issue of secession which is deeply rooted in the Somali pastoral democracy principles and the tribal self-determination rights, is an important and timely issue in Somalia in general and in Puntland in particular. In our opinion, at least it deserves a short article worth of reading.

 

 The purpose of this article is to explain the formation and underlying philosophical principles of the wave of autonomous and semi-autonomous mini tribal regional states in Somalia in general and the imminent dismemberment of Puntland in particular.

 

The fact that we chose to analyze solely the situation of the tribes of Bari Region of Puntland in this article, in no way negates the legitimate claims to secession by other tribes in the other provinces of Puntland or for that matter, that of other tribes in other tribal regional states of Somalia. Even though this article deals with specific analysis of the problems of Puntland, in reality it could be extended and applied to any oppressed tribe or ethic settings in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia and Europe.

 

While you are reading this article, we are hoping that you will be inspired to take notes and have new thoughts and solutions for the problems of Puntland, so please have a notebook and a pen with you.

 

As the dissatisfaction of the Puntlanders with their current dictatorship grows rapidly, so does the probability of the breakup and disintegration of the tribal regional state of Puntland.

 

It is a fact that the objectives and the mission in which the alliance of tribes of Puntland was established has been derailed and diverted, therefore inadequate to fulfill the ends in which it was created. It is our objective to shed light on the sources of the existing problems such a way that the problems can be solved to the best interest of all Puntlanders.

 

It is a fact that some of the tribes complained many times to various administrations about the injustices in power sharing, the lack of political, economic and social development in their regions.

 

It is a fact that some of the political, tribal and religious leaders who made several complaints about the various injustices and requested several simple concessions were insulted, jailed and accused of false horrible fabricated crimes. Those who are not yet killed are still hiding in remote areas.

 

Would it be a surprise to anyone if finally some of them decided to find alternative solutions for the chronic problem of Majerten State. Some of them such as Ras Asseyr and Gagaab, Nobir and Al Bari States decided to count on themselves and declare their  unilateral secession from the tribal regional alliance of Puntland. Will they be left alone? Not really. Recently the dictator sent four ministers of his cabinet with their well armed body guards entourage (fully armed with the latest technicals) to see what and why the tribal members of Ras Asseyr State are seceeding. Remember why the queen said "Let them eat cakes." The tribal elders asked one question. Why nobody from the state of Puntland has never showed up in our region while we were part of Puntland? Everybody knows that Ras Asseyr State is the real "Gari Waa" province, not only in previous Somali regimes but also to the successive corrupt administrations of Puntland. Non of the economic, social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, health clinics, orphanages, boarding schools, fishing boats and factories have ever been planned or allocated not only for the region of Ras Asseyr but also any area that falls east of the highway between Bosaso and Gardo. These amenities are specifically made available for the population of the minority ruling sub-clans provinces. To add insult to the injury of the population of the region of Ras Asseyr, the body guards of the visiting ministeries from Garoe killed the only obstetrician (OBGY) in the region. What a shame! Maybe you should know whose body guards killed the nurse. The dictator promised that he will pay the blood money of the nurse that "his boys" killed. What is really more offensive is that when it came to the payment of DIYA (value of a life -- blood money), out of deep rooted sexism, the dictator ordered his Minister of Finance to pay from the general revenue an amount of money equivalent to half-diya since the person who died was a "woman". We are in year 2011. Could you imagine that a life of a woman is different from the life of a man? We appeal to all Somali women to raise their voices and intervene on behalf of justice and gender equality. Please write to the dictator of Puntland to pay full DIYA. So far nothing has been paid. To please the dictator, some of these ministers are volunteering for the invasion of the State of Ras Asseyr using their clan militia. Bal Gardaradaas arka! When you hear that Puntland invaded Ras Asseyr, please ask, which clans are invading Ras Asseyr?

 

The problems in which Puntland suffers are in the core of its establishment and its constitution. These two factors were delibrately planted in to the system, in order to benefit the specific clans who organized the establishment of Puntland. In the representation shares of the parliament, the organizers excluded all the logical possible criteria in which every country's representation of a parliament is based such as the size of the province or the size of the population or the revenue contribution of the province.

 

In addition to the problems of its inception, there are several birth defects in which Puntland was born with. Among these are deception, tribalism, hegemony, slavery, exploitation, corruption and sexism. Furthermore, Puntland has contracted dangerous infectious diseases in its infancy stage of life.

 

The State of Puntland is more than 13 years old, and the mistakes and problems in its foundation have never been corrected. It was promised to the delegates of the tribes that the mistakes in the distribution and shares in the representatives in the parliament would be corrected on a later date. That date never came. Lets set the record straight. Since many tribes are excluded in the parliament of Puntland, the tribal regional state of Puntland is not for all Puntlanders. It is only for specific group of sub-clans. What infuriates these tribes is that several tribes have received the lion share in the hall of tribal representatives of Puntland, therefore, dictated all social, political and economic rules and regulations.

The problem is not limited only on the absence of certain tibal representatives in the parliament, but also in the executive and judiciary branches. Furthermore, these marginalized tribes have no representation in the civil and military services. The absence in the high and law ranking civil and military service bares direct correlation of the lack of voice of these tribes in Puntland. What is amazing to all of us is that most of these tribes take a lion share in the contribution of the revenue of Puntland. They pay taxes with no representation. On the other side of the complaining tribes we have those who are the most populous tribes who received a token representation at the hall of the tribal representatives of Puntland.

 

If the policy of the founders was intended to fulfill tribal ambitions of hegemony, it did achieve the intended goals. But before the disintegration flares up, there is still hope to correct the ugly policies by the current administration or by the council of the tribal leaders. Nobody expects from the current administration to correct any problem. Our worry is that while we are trying to correct the existing problems, the current dictator might create more problems on the top of the existing ones.

 

Speaking of the department of the lack of trust and fear of the minority ruling sub-clans of loosing their status quo, the reasearchers found that if the ruling sub-clans and other tribes who pay no taxes with over representation in the hall of the tribal representatives view the needed correction of past and present injustices with myopic eyes, they too might feel threatened with the fear of loosing their majority status, then the only alternative left for the tribes of Bari Region is the secession.

 

Defenitevely the well armed minority sub-clans on power will feel threatened by the request of the tribes of Bari Region. Some of the members of the ruling sub-clans will object the long due corrections in terms of representation and sharing of the local financial resources from the taxes and international assistance projects.

 

Because of existing clan pact among the minority ruling sub-clans, definitively the minority sub-clans who have been in power previously will be on the side of the current dictator. Then one would conclude that the secessions of many tribes in Puntland would be a legitimate response to the lack of justice and understanding.

 

This article should be viewed with caution as a warning to the current administration and to the tribal elders of Puntland on the imminent danger of disintegration of Puntland. At the same time we are appealing directly to the intellectuals, religious leaders, women's organization leaders, businessmen, students, politicians, tribal elders, tribal militia leaders and specifically the think tank of the sub-clans who dominated the political arena of Puntland to unite their forces and find fair and reasonable solutions for the present and past political, social, environmental and economic injustices in Puntland in such a way that the coming disintegration of Puntland can be averted. Otherwise unite all your forces to defend your status quo which could be in danger regardless of possible future consequences.

 

Even though the choice is yours, most of the peace loving Puntlanders have hopes that the majority of you will have the common sense to find solutions fair and just to all Puntlanders.  As the wise man said "It is better to have intelligent enemies with whom you could negotiate rationally than stupid ignorant friends".

 

To avoid further dismemberment of Puntland and put an end to future secessions, it would be advisable to immediately revise and reform the representation of the tribes in the hall of shame of Puntland (parliament) or at least create temporarily a policy acceptable by the marginalized tribes. The leadership of the dominant sub-clans have to think hard and fast and come up with unilateral concession based solutions before the human waste hits the fan and more tribes assert their "God given" self-determination rights and their privilege of secession. A real change based on equality and justice is needed. If the intellectuals of the ruling sub-clans are committed to save Puntland and they are sincere in their effort to make concrete changes on the continuous abuses, they should request and seek for a peaceful genuine dialog with the oppressed and alianated tribes of Puntland.

 

Since it is already too late to prevent the spread of the disease, you have to find methods of containing within the limited space in which it has infected, before it contaminates more. Then start curing the symptoms of the infected areas.

 

You need to think of ways to soften or end your monopoly of power in Puntland or at least suspend for a term or two the revolving door for power in which your sub-clans alone take turns. Last time the buzz word was "This time is our turn". The question is "Whose turn is the coming one?" As you have seen, the dictator want to stay in power. Get smart and start a new campaign in which the buzz word could be "This time is for ---THE OTHERS".

 

The introduction of an inclusive policy based on rational criteria is needed. Keep in mind that the cat is out of the bag, the giant rhynocerant realized its might much faster than thought before and the big elephant got back its limbs and is awake but still dazed. Therefore, whether you like it or not, as the poet said: "In a partnership or in a bloodshed, an inevitable radical change is bound to happen in Puntland". Again the choice is yours. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Therefore, pull up your sleves and get ready to rumble in the mud or be smart and come to the table with reasoable offers. The poet said "Muslinimo ninkaan kuula socon mu'minimo khaas ah, gaal maxaysta kuu dhawrah ood magan gashaa dhaama."

 

A well known wisdom says "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time".

 

It is clear to most of the people of Puntland that the status quo is not sustainable any longer. Therefore, whomever you are, whatever bias you might have, please devote your time for a noble cause by supporting justice and equality for all Somalis.

 

The article is intended to create a conversation among the great minds of Somalia and justice lovers of other nations. We need more writers, politicians, intellectuals, religious leaders, businessmen, businesswomen, leaders of women's organizations, members of the armed forces, tribal militia leaders, students and most of all the courageous independent journalists and media to join the debate and break the silence. Remeber that because of their lack of education due to the continuous practices of educational discrimination by the consecutive administrations of Puntland, the population of the tribes of Bari Region can not participate in the debate on the electronic social media such as facebook, twitter, blogs or in the Somali websites. For many motives beyond the obvious reasons we want your involvement, your help and your commitment to fight for the underdog, justice, equality and fairness would be highly appreciated by many of us and rewarded by the supreme power of the world. Remember that the pen is mightier than sword. No more standing beside the wall uninvolved. Don't be a wallflower. Nobody is going to invite you in the dance floor. Jump in and burn the floor with your never seen before funky moves. We need you to get involved and take action now. No action is not an acceptable option.

 

Although we cannot exhaust in this article all the factors that created the current dissatisfactions, we would like to at least mention a few of them.

 

We will try our best to present political, social and economic arguments and tell truthfully with honesty and candor the issues that need to be addressed, analyzed and debated in order to find fair and peaceful solutions. We don't sugar coat the problems. We tell the truth so raw, that you might not like us. We put it on the table for you as it is.

 

At the same time we will avoid and exclude any arguments and real facts deemed to possibly arouse animosity which could ignite and create conflicts among the peace loving tribes of the tribal regional state of Puntland. That doesn't mean that all the dirt will be swept under the rag.

 

The majority of the Somali people did not come into terms with the tribalism. Most of the intellectuals pretend that the tribal regional states of Somalia is not based on tribalism and we should not talk openly about the disease that we are infected with. We have to admit to ourselves that we are infected with the worst evolving form of chronic cancer and we are in denial. The open admission of the tumor will allow us to seek for a cure because denial will not cure us. Those who are the beneficiaries of the tribalism will try to redicule anybody who talks openly about the problem of tribalism.

 

Just think for a minute about the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Its establishment was based on 4.5 tribal distribution. Puntland was established on 3.5 tribal share. Somebody might mis-interpret the tribal distribution of Puntland. The revolving door policy of power in Puntland for specific sub-clans tells us that the power policy is divided into three (3) ruling sub-clans and the remaining half is for the remaining tribes of Puntland. it is a marriage made in heaven for the ruling sub-clans. A well known tribal chief who was one of the founders of Puntalmd (bless his soul) dictated to the the other tribal members that the presidency of Puntland is reserved for Majertenies while the vice presidency is reserved to the "dhulos" and the presidency of the parliament is reserved for "Ciros". Nobody has ever challenged that authority.

 

The beneficiaries of tribalism who are hiding behind Somalism need to come out of the closet. As the poet said "Kii dhuumanaayee dhabarku muuqdow, waa dharaar lagu dhawrayee, dadkaaga dhinac ka raac."

 

In order to avoid new conflicts or rekindle dormant existing animosities among the sister tribes of Puntland, at the advice of the Conflict Prevention Team, we intentionally omitted from the analysis most of the issues which were deemed to be sensitively flammable. We are sure that you will notice the omissions of these basic issues that are the pillars or the mother of all the problems of Puntland which could have been included in the analysis of this article. Sometimes ignorance is a bliss.

 

Inasmuch as we would like to avoid sensitive aspects of the major problems, nevertheless, we will touch some less sensitive unavoidable issues of common knowledge which we believe would not arouse the nerves of prozac, cymbalta, abilify, paxil and zolof cocktail users. Hence we would not be accused of inciting trouble or causing any damage to the already fragile unity of the tribal regional state of Puntland.

 

If one wants to see a complete picture of the existing problems in Puntland created by the successive administrations then he/she has to read some of the the literature widely written by various independent authors published on the Somali websites.

 

Our ultimate goal in this article is to have a united Somalia based on mutual respect, equality, fairness and justice among all tribes in every aspect of the lives of the Somali people. We believe that without justice at individual and tribal level, there will be no unity and peace in Somalia, let alone progress.

 

Despite the low percentage of Somali literacy and the negligible number of Italian and English educated Somalis, this article is specifically intended to be read by a mature intellectual audience that can view the arguments presented in the following pages with impartiality, or at least, the readers are expected to be open minded and associate themselves with the underdog oppressed tribes. We tollerate with our highest respect the right of others to differ from our opinion. We know that there are certain people who would never change their mind. Therefore, in your challenge, please bring on the table some solutions and plans that are better than ours. You could be the last line of defense for the unity of Puntland. Therefore, come up with recepies that could render the state of Puntland fail proof.

 

We hope that some of you are capable of viewing the topic impartially and considering the legitimate gripes of the tribes who want to move on with their lives and start all over from scratch to build new institutions and a better administrative infrastructure for their people.

 

 We are hoping that impartial writers weigh in with their unbiased opinions that could benefit those who are on the far extremes of the topic of tribal secessionist movements.

 

This article might seriously offend the touchy current administration and its unconditional faithful fanatical supporters who are adimantly defensive on all the illegal actions taken by the dictator. As you have seen we are washing some of the dirty laundry in the open, because the consecutive administrations took for granted the silence of the intellectuals, politicians, religious leaders, media and the businessmen of the marginalized tribes.

 

We would like to apologize to the readers of this article if you find some incomplete thoughts, it is because this article is an extract or pits and pieces of a report based on the presentations made by the researchers of a three day conference.

 

We will try to provide you the needed information such a way that you can use it to make well informed rational decision. As they say "The best decisions are made by well-informed people."

 

Again our apology to the readers if in some cases we are bluntly honest and describe how bad things are in Puntland. For some of you it is not something new. "Ma kuu sheegaa wax aad ogtahay?"

 

Warning: This article is written for the few Somalis who are able and posses the patience to read. The majority of Somalis are blood type O. They don't have the patience to sit for a 20 minutes reading.

 

2. Background

In the Somali civil war, the people who tribally didn't belong to the Capital of Somalia fled out of the Somali capital and went back to their ancestral land. After reaching their home ancestral land, the same people who were part of the leadership of the oppressive military regime of Siad Barre organized the elites of their clans and started establishing some kind of temporary administrations. The basis of establishing and proclaiming sovereign statehood of the current Somali secessionist states was based on a tribal lineage. The clans that belonged the same tribe decided to unite against a common enemy--- "The others".

 

Unfortunately, those who took over the leadership of the newly established states of Puntland and Somaliland, were the same people who caused the destruction and the collapse of Somalia. Instead of benefiting from the lessons learned from the causes of the collapse of Somalia, to run the new secessionist states, the leadership utilized the same techniques they had learned from their master chief Siad Barre.

 

It seems that their main goal was to have power in their newly established fiefdoms. The philosophy of "Jinni Cambar Helay" prevailed. The leadership of these states focused on expanding propaganda that "The Others" are the enemy. They created powerful clan and tribal militia with the pretext of defending the state from the enemy tribes. They collected money to buy weapons and salaries for the soldiers. The hidden agenda was first to dominate the people of their own region, then to extend their tentacles and expand their ambition of empire to the neighboring tribes.

 

Anyway, since the collapse of the brutal and oppressive military dictatorship regime of Siad Barre, there has been a tendency toward creation of regional governments in areas of relative stability. The first two tribal regional states were Somaliland and Puntland. There are many differences between the two tribal regional states, but the main relevant differences could be summarized in three points.

 

The first is that, even though they are based on tribal representation, the members of one of the houses of the parliament of Somaliland are elected by the people (One man/woman, one vote), while in Puntland, despite the repeated false promises of fair elections and chronic failure to honor the promises by the ruling tribe, the members of the parliament are appointed only by the tribal chiefs (http://www.somaliland.org/blog/2009/01/13/puntland-parliament-appoints-new-pirate-president/). The above link explains clearly some of the major problems in Puntland.

 

The second point is that in Somaliland there are few tribes missing from the arena of the parliament, while in Puntland, one tribe dominates the scene and the power of the state rotates within the sub-clans of one clan. Many tribes are not represented at all, while some other tribes received a nominal token representation.

 

The third point is that the two tribal regional states differ in the sense that Puntland declared itself as an autonomous tribal regional state of Somalia with the hope to join Somalia when it becomes politically stable, while Somaliland, despite the lack of international recognition broke off with Somalia and declared itself as an independent state.

 

Let is add a fourth point which some of the researchers considered of a great value.  It took only three years for Somalilanders to establish a new government in their homeland. Puntland waited for 10 years to do the same thing. Then out of jealousy, they decided to establish their own tribal regional government.  At least, they received the message from God much faster than Moses' 40 years of wondering in the desert.

 

It is our belief that, for the well being of the population of Somaliland, the political leaders and the tribal elders have the unelianable right for self-determination and secession from Somalia after all the suffering they have endured during the Somali dictatorship.

 

On the other side, the establishment of Puntland was based on the coalition and cooperation of tribes of Darod descendents. The main principal objectives of the coalition were for defensive purposes against enemy tribes, security, equality, peace and justice among the allied tribes, equitable economic and social development for all the regions of the tribal regional state of Puntand.

 

 Despite the ever present threat of an invasion by "enemy tribes" and continuous military skirmishes at the boarder towns, the mere existence of the coalition served as a deterrence for any massive invasion (if it exists), therefore, one could conclude that simply the existence of the alliance for the purpose of defense was successful.

 

In addition of leaving out major Darod tribes such as Sede and Ogaden descendents, in forming the alliance of the united tribes of the regional state of Puntland the founders forgot or intentionally neglected the inclusion of many tribes that are the economic, social and political backbone of the tribal regional state of Puntland.

 

If the reason for the neglect was lack of knowledge of the number of tribes, their size or their economic power as tax payers, the long overdue correction should have been done a long time ago. Furthermore, the past and present injustices should have been corrected in the last 13 years.

 

Instead of equality, justice and equitable economic development purposes, the leaders of the successive regimes of Puntland focused on accumulating personal wealth and tribal military power. Furthermore, to keep the population distracted from the looting of state financial resources, the compulsive kleptomaniac kakistocratic leadership of the tribal regional administrations of Puntland created ugly hostility and continuous conflicts among the peace loving neighboring allied tribes by arming one tribe against another.

 

To minimize the suffering of the marginalized population of Ras Asseyr, the political leaders who organized these separatist tribal regional states started from scratch to build and establish a self governance apparatuses where there were no governing infrastructure. The majority of the tribal political elite and technocrats of the marginalized tribes sough asylum in western countries.

 

After a long struggle for security, freedom and self-determination, a few tribes declared their own secession from the existing regional states of Puntland and Somaliland. Among these are Awdal, Ras Asseyr, Gagaab, Darwishland, Nobir, Makhir and Al Bari.

 

Recently other tribal regions imitated Somaliland and Puntland and established themselves as autonomous tribal regional states. In addition to Awdal, Ras Aseyr, Gagaab, Nobir, Al Bari, Makhir and Darwish state which seceeded from Somaliland and Puntland, there are newly formed tribal regional states. Among these are Gal Hiran, Galmudug, Hiran, Himan, Harir, Mareg, South West, Central, Piece of Land and a Beach, Azania, etc.,. We are welcoming the new regional state of Gal Hiran with open hearts, wishing the new president Mr. Cabdulkadir Bahdoon the best wishes, success and progress for the population of Gal Hiran (http://www.somaliweyn.info/pages/news/oct_11/1oct10.html).  Soon we expect the establishment of another five new tribal regional states.

 

Demographically speakung, the population of Somalia is very young because the population pyramid is extremely large at the base, therefore, the majority of the Somali population has never seen the days of democracy, patriotism and nationalism. The Somali population that has seen a democratic government in somalia is almost gone. The only system that the majority of the current Somali population grew up is dictatorships. More than 87% grew up in dictatorship in a period that everybody lost the individual liberty and freedom. They grew up in tribal oriented Somalia with primary loyalty to tribe, clan or sub-clan.

 

Puntland is blessed with peace loving people, but cursed with consecutive corrupt kleptocratic administrative regimes. Since its inception, no tangible economic infrastructure has been built or even the existing infrastructure maintained by the successive administrations. Only when a project is financed through an international donor agency, the leader of the corrupted regime of the time does move the project to the province of his own sub-clan.

 

On one extreme we have the members of a group of tribes who are victims of chronic injustice pushing for separation and secession; on the other extreme, we have a corrupt regime supported by sub-clan members not willing to have equality or to give up their superior political advantage.

 

Having briefly described some of the existing chronic problems causing the disintegration of Puntland, it is our intention to research and analyze the validity of the underlying causes that legitimize the tribal self-determination and secession rights and the consequences of such decisions.

 

This article should not be viewed as an encouragement for secession of a tribe or group of tribes, but as a warning that needs to be analyzed carefully and ascertain what could bring the most desired viable concrete corrective measures to prevent secession.

 

3. Problem Statement

Anywhere you look in Puntland, there are miriad of problems. Some of them are environmental, social, religious, political and economical. In the following paragraphs we will present only few of the many problems caused by the ugly politics of Puntland leadership.

 

3.1 Political issues:

 

3.1.1 Lack of political representation of many tribes in the parliament and unfair distribution of the tribal representatives in the parliament of Puntland. Because of the fear of military threat from the south, that want to conquer Puntlanders and subgiugate them, Puntlanders paid little attention to the unjust distribution of political power. Furthermore, many tribes that were not included in the parliament, or obtained less than their fair share were initially persuaded that the mistakes will be corrected at later dates.

 

3.1.2 Top government positions such as cabinet ministers, director generals, administrators of agencies, and other lucrative decision making positions are exclusively reserved to specific clans.

 

3.1.3 Biased Constitution favoring the status Quo. This topic is intensively discussed in the section of the "Constitution of Puntland". This section shows who made it, the reasons that the draft of Puntland constitution was made in Padova, Italy. The instruction that were given to the author. The modifications that were made, why the Status Quo doesn't want to change to reflect the reality of today's Puntland, the reasons in which should be rejected.

 

3.1.4 Political Issue