Somalia: Puntland State President Accuses Federal Government of Undermining Federal System

QARDHO, Somalia — Puntland State President Said Abdullahi Deni on Tuesday accused Somalia’s federal government of trying to erode the country’s federal system, warning that proposals linked to officials around President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud could splinter the nation along regional lines.

Addressing army officials in Qardho, Deni said comments attributed to presidential adviser Sheikh Ali Wajiis pointed to a plan in which the federal government would take direct control of Somalia’s regions, a course he said would amount to a serious threat to federalism itself.

“The statements coming from Ali Wajiis, which I believe reflect President Hassan Sheikh’s position, recommend that Puntland State territories be governed region by region under direct federal control,” Deni said.

He said such a move would run counter to the federal arrangement forged through years of political bargaining and institution-building. Deni noted that Puntland State has spent more than two decades developing its own governing and security institutions, and he warned that any effort to dismantle them could put the region’s stability and gains at risk.

The Puntland State president also stressed that Somalis can live together only through agreement and consensus, saying no imposed model of governance would hold. He reiterated Puntland State’s support for federalism and vowed to resist any steps he believes undermine it.

Deni further accused the federal government of trying to claim direct control over natural resources in Puntland State, describing the alleged plan as unacceptable and inconsistent with the agreements that shaped Somalia’s state-building process.

There was no immediate response from Somalia’s federal government to the allegations.

AXADLETM