Bosaso (Opinion) — The stand-off between Puntland State government troops and Puntland Security Forces in Bosaso risks turning the commercial city into a war zone. It looks puzzling why the Commander of PSF has refused to accept his dismissal by Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni, but it should not. The roots of the stand-off lie in an unconstitutional decision taken nearly twenty years ago to establish Puntland Intelligence Service, a predecessor of PSF’s, as a part of the war on terror. Internecine power struggle was raging in Puntland when PIS came into existence.
The peace settlement for the antagonists — Puntland President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, and General Adde Musse, opposition militias leader before being elected Puntland President in 2005 — necessitated keeping PIS intact and outside Puntland constitutional framework. Funding from an external source deepened the extra-judicial characters of PIS and its successor, PSF.
No self-respecting leader can allow for the existence of a force accountable to external entities. Puntland stakeholders have never discussed the issue of an extrajudicial organisation that views itself to be independent of government oversight. Previous administrations accepted the counterterrorism rationale of PSF. Reports indicate that PSF owns real estate in Bosaso, and that its materiel and properties remain a sticking point in talks to break the deadlock.
For starters, Puntland State government must make its intention on the organisational overhaul of PSF clear. Is President Said Abdullahi Deni’s goal to replace the PSF Commander with a loyalist Commander, or is he aiming for total reorganisation of PSF to legitimise its existence by making it more accountable to Puntland State government? President Deni alluded to PSF in his speech yesterday, but his government has yet to flesh out details about what PSF will look like following a change of guard without addressing its organisational illegitimacy.
PSF is the longest-serving extrajudicial entity in Puntland. Its existence undermines Puntland Constitution. President Deni needs to be bold in his security reforms and make his case for reorganising PSF on constitutional imperatives: security forces in Puntland should be accountable to elected leaders. That no politician vouches for PSF speaks volumes about the need to end the special and extrajudicial status of Puntland Security Forces.
By A.S. Taher
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