Garowe (PP News Desk) — Last year, the President of Puntland State of Somalia Said Abdullahi Deni stated that the proposed currency for Puntland does not signify withdrawal from the Union. His nuanced remarks left no doubt that he does not share the disappointment over how the new federal member states and even the secessionist administration of Somaliland have reaped the benefits of the federal system more than Puntland has.
Unlike his Interior Minister, Abdi Farah Said Juha, who advocates for a confederal system proposed by some Mogadishu elites several years ago — based on South-North power-sharing to woo back secessionists — President Deni opted for an approach to rectify a system weakened by excessive Puntland concessions to Mogadishu. In 2023, President Deni stated that Puntland would only return to the National Consultative Council if the Somaliland administration participates in deliberations in Mogadishu without claiming to have seceded from Somalia. This stance preceded the 2024 maritime Memorandum of Understanding that the Somaliland administration signed with Ethiopia in January 2024 in violation of the sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Somalia.
Puntland rejected the federal representation of Somaliland, which refuses to acknowledge Somalia’s sovereignty and continues to pursue secessionist policies. In 2021, Somaliland forcibly displaced Somali citizens in Laascaanood, and in 2023, it shelled Laascaanood for nearly seven months under the pretext of being a sovereign state.
The 2023 conflict in Laascaanood has had geopolitical consequences in the Horn of Africa. Puntland regained control of territories that fall under its federal jurisdiction. Puntland’s position on the future nominal representation of Somaliland in federal institutions remains one of the major stumbling blocks to holding indirect or one-person, one-vote elections in Somalia in 2026 or beyond.
In 2012, Puntland State agreed to the current arrangement, whereby Somaliland MPs and Senators could be selected in Mogadishu. This compromise turned out to be a political bonanza for political elites who view Mogadishu as their stronghold. MPs and Senators from secessionist constituencies have consistently supported violations of the federal constitution by successive incumbent federal governments. They backed the attempted term extension for the previous federal government (2017–2022) and supported the controversial constitutional amendments of 2024.
Last year, Mahdi Guled, a federal MP representing a Hargeisa constituency and a former Deputy Prime Minister, claimed that “one person, one vote can take place in Buuhoodle.” His remarks astonished observers. “Why cannot a similar one-person, one-vote federal election not take place in Burco or Hargeisa?”
The ongoing political deadlock may provide an opportunity for a term extension for President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud if Puntland does not support the customary indirect elections should the electoral model proposed by Villa Somalia for 2026 falter. Puntland State, made up of six regions, feels politically disadvantaged by an alliance between unionist Mogadishu and secessionist Hargeisa political leaders, who have since fallen out following the maritime MoU that former Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi illegally signed with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
© Puntland Post, 2025
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