Is-afgaradka Beelaha Ceerigaabo: Saamaynta uu ku leeyahay Puntland State iyo North Western State of Somalia

Analysis: In Ceerigaabo, a Local Truce Holds National Promise for North Western State of Somalia and Puntland State

At first light in Ceerigaabo, the mountain air smells faintly of resin from the frankincense groves that have fed trade routes for centuries. Today, the conversation in this highland town in the Sanaag region is less about caravans and more about coexistence. Elders, clerics and businesspeople are trying to turn a fragile respite from clan tension into something sturdier—an agreement that could unlock security and growth for communities straddling the de facto boundary between North Western State of Somalia and the semi-autonomous state of Puntland State.

This is not the kind of news that sets off sirens. No explosions. No urgent count of casualties. Yet the stakes are high. Ceerigaabo—also known as Erigavo—sits at the hinge of two administrations that claim the territory, two port corridors that carry the region’s commerce, and two political projects that will rise or stall on the stability of their shared hinterland.

Why a Town’s Peace Talks Matter

To understand the weight of this moment, consider the geography. Ceerigaabo links interior grazing lands to Bosaso Port in Puntland State and Berbera Port in North Western State of Somalia—two gateways feeding Gulf markets with Somali livestock, a trade that employs hundreds of thousands and fills state treasuries during the Hajj season. The roads that run through Sanaag are arteries for livestock, sorghum and sesame, and for goods moving to and from Ethiopia via the Berbera Corridor. When fighting shutters a road or spooks truckers, the damage is immediate: shortages in markets, lost income for traders, and squeezed revenues for both administrations.

“Peace is progress,” a Somali proverb goes. It’s more than a saying here. In a region struck by the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in four decades and battered by erratic rains, every day of calm is an opening for herders to move their animals, for merchants to reopen shops, and for schools and clinics to stay open. The economics of reconciliation are tangible, and they cut both ways. As Ahmed Abdirisak Dirie, the director general of Puntland State’s finance ministry, has argued in recent remarks, a settlement in Ceerigaabo is not charity; it’s a growth strategy.

When Local Feuds Invite Bigger Dangers

The cost of letting local disputes fester is equally clear. Clan clashes—often triggered by disputes over pasture, wells or micro-politics—don’t stay small. Insecurity opens space for armed banditry, for illicit trades that exploit porous borders, and for extremists who know how to recruit in areas where state services fail to reach. The Horn’s hard lessons, from the Shabelle valley to coastal Puntland State, suggest that ungoverned pockets are invitations to criminal networks and to Al-Shabaab’s mobile recruiters.

Ceerigaabo has seen cycles of skirmishes and truces before. Each time fighting flares, families are displaced. Markets close. Young men, adrift from school or work, are pulled toward militias or hustles that promise respect and a paycheck. For a generation raised on smartphones and remittance-funded expectations, the most dangerous commodity is idleness.

Elders as Institutions, Not Footnotes

Outsiders often underestimate the role of elders in Somalia’s political economy. But in places like Ceerigaabo, customary authority remains the backbone of dispute resolution. Influential figures—including respected leaders such as Suldaan Siciid and other isimo—mediate under the shade of acacia trees and in modest town halls, drawing on the xeer (customary law) that predates the modern state. Their moral capital, and the respect they command on both sides of the North Western State of Somalia–Puntland State divide, can create a narrow but vital bridge where formal politics struggles to cross.

When traditional leaders succeed, they do more than silence guns. They reset incentives. Traders regain predictability. Families stop planning for flight. Aid groups can reach communities before hunger deepens. Above all, elders—often unpaid, always exposed—model a civic habit that politics desperately needs: the slow, sometimes tedious, work of staying at the table.

Politics in the Background, People in the Foreground

Both Hargeisa and Garowe have reasons to support reconciliation in Ceerigaabo. North Western State of Somalia seeks to consolidate internal stability as it courts investment through the Berbera Port expansion and the corridor toward Ethiopia. Puntland State, navigating its own political transitions and border security, has a clear interest in steady trade flows to Bosaso and calm along its western approaches.

A durable local agreement won’t settle constitutional questions. But it can lower the temperature, build channels for practical cooperation and buy time for politics to find a more sustainable path. In the Horn, big shifts often start small: a demilitarized stretch of road, a shared market reopened, a cross-line committee that solves water disputes before they turn to gunfire.

A Global Pattern: Peace First, Development Follows

The logic playing out in Ceerigaabo echoes far beyond Sanaag. Along the Ethiopia–Kenya border, cross-border peace committees have cut cattle raiding and reopened markets. In South Sudan, local “peace markets” have allowed traders to cross front lines when national talks faltered. In Afghanistan and Pakistan’s borderlands, jirga traditions—cousins to Somalia’s shir—have mediated land and water use where state courts lack reach.

The lesson is straightforward: local peace is a precondition for the kind of investment the region craves. Road contractors don’t pour asphalt amid mortar fire. Telecoms don’t lay fiber through contested valleys. Banks don’t lend where the collateral can burn. When quiet holds, opportunity shows up.

What Success Could Look Like

• A jointly endorsed ceasefire code, with clear penalties agreed by elders and enforced by local security units on both sides.
• Reopening key trade routes to Bosaso and Berbera with escorted convoy days until trust rebuilds.
• Joint markets in neutral locations, with fee revenue transparently shared to reduce suspicion.
• Community-led resource pacts over wells and grazing corridors, refreshed each season.
• Regular liaison meetings—elders, administrators, women’s groups and youth representatives—so disputes are solved early, not after blood is spilled.

None of this requires constitutional settlement. It requires restraint, patience and a commitment to the idea that neighbors must find ways to be neighbors, even when politicians disagree.

The Quiet Center of a Noisy Region

Somalia’s map is often drawn in adversarial lines; in Ceerigaabo, it may be redrawn in pencil, with room to adjust as people figure out how to live together. The elders’ work is not glamorous. There will be false starts. Spoilers will tempt hot heads. But the alternative—a relapse into conflict that chokes trade and sends families fleeing—is a price neither North Western State of Somalia nor Puntland State can afford.

Somewhere in Ceerigaabo this week, a merchant is tallying a ledger and wondering whether to restock. A parent is weighing whether it’s safe to send a child back to class. A truck driver is checking tire pressure and looking toward the next ridge. Their quiet decisions will tell us whether this local peace begins to hold.

For the regional administrations, and for international partners eager to see a more prosperous Horn of Africa, the message is simple: empower the elders, protect the trade, and let the town breathe. From there, bigger possibilities may follow.

By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.

 

Ceerigaabo, waa magaalo leh istaraatijiyad muhiim ah oo dhinacyo badan leh.  Waxay hoy u tahay beelo kala duwan oo Soomaaliyeed oo muddo dheer wada degganaa deegaankaas, balse mararka qaar uu khilaaf ka dhex dhaco, kaasoo isu badalay dagaal saameyn ku yeeshay deegaankaas.Is-fahamka iyo nabadda ka dhalata heshiisiinta beelahaas waxa ay xambaarsan tahay muhiimado dhowr ah, oo ay ugu horeeyaan amniga, dhaqaalaha, ganacsiga, iyo siyaasadda, kuwaas oo si toos ah u saameynaya labada maamul ee North Western State of Somalia iyo Puntland State.Marka Deegaanku helo xasilooni waxay  fure u tahay horumar kasta oo la doonayo in laga hirgeliyo, haddii ay noqoto adeeg Bulsho, maalgashi, ama isu-socodka dadka iyo ganacsiga.Colaadaha beelaha waxay fursad siiyaan kooxaha hubeysan, kuwa muqaadaradka isticmaala iyo xagjirka inay ku faafaan deegaankaas, taasoo khatar ku ah labada maamul iyo Bulshada halkaas ku nool.Nabaddu waxay xaqiijisaa in adeega dowladnimadu gaaro Bulshada deegaankaas ku dhaqan, sidoo Kalena ay xasilooni ku noolaadaan.Ceerigaabo waa marin muhiim u ah isku xirka Gobolada North Western State of Somalia iyo Puntland State, taas oo ka dhigaysa marin ganacsiyeed oo istaraatiiji u  ah labada Maamul iyo dadka ku dhaqan deegaanadaas.Nabadda Beeluhu waxay dhiirrigelisaa in isu-socodku furmo, iyadoo suurtagal ka dhigeysa in ganacsatadu helaan marin ay soo marsiiyaan Ganacsiyada u kala gooshaya Gobolada North Western State of Somalia iyo Puntland State, maadaama labada Bulsho ay leeyihiin xiriir soo jireen ah oo ganacsi.Ceerigaabo waxay hodan ku tahay dhanka Xoolaha nool, macdanta, iyo dhulka beeraha leh, balse dhammaan kheyraadkaas waxba ma tarayaan haddii khilaaf beeleed ka taagan yahay deegaankaas, wana sababta keentay in Madaxda labada maamul ay wada qaataan Heshiisiinta beelaha, si looga wada faa’iiideysto dhan walba deegaankaas.Puntland State iyo North Western State of Somalia labaduba Heshiisiinta beelaha waxay u dhiseysaa jawi wada-hadal Siyaasadeed oo fursad siin kara xal waara oo ay labada maamul ku gaaraan is-afgarad ku saleysan danaha dadka deegaanka iyo Maamuladooda.Isimada dhaqanka ee deegaankaas  waxay leeyihiin awood iyo saameyn ay ku dhex leeyihiin dadkooda ku dhaqan deegaanadaas, waxayna fure u yihiin nabad iyo xal waara in ay gaarsiiyaan Bulshadooda, Isimadaas oo ugu horeeyo Suldaan Siciid, waxay ku dhex leeyihiin Maamulada Puntland State iyo North Western State of Somalia ixtiraam iyo qadarin wayn taasoo u sahlaysa in ay mar walba qayb ka noqdaan Nabada iyo Heshiisiinta Beelaha walaalaha ah.Heshiiska laga gaaro Khilaafka Ceerigaabo waxay Puntland State u sahlaysaa inay sii xoojiso xiriirkeeda Ganacsi iyo dhaqaale ee ay la leedahay North Western State of Somalia.Heshiisiinta beelaha wada dega Ceerigaabo waxay muhiimad wayn u leedahay labada Maamul ee Puntland State iyo North Western State of Somalia, waxayna si toos ah u saameynaysaa amniga, dhaqaalaha, ganacsiga, iyo siyaasadda  guud ahaan, waana muhiim in qof kasta oo Soomaaliyeed  uu boogaadiyo Heshiisiinta Beelaha iyo isdhex galka Bulshada Walalaha ah.

Ahmed Abdirisak Dirie Agaasimaha Guud ee Wasaaradda Maaliyadda-Puntland State.