Puntland
Puntland, officially known as the Puntland State of Somalia (Somali: Maamul Goboleedka Buntlaand ee Soomaaliya; English: Puntland State of Somalia), is a self-proclaimed state of Somalia. It occupies the tip of the so-called Horn of Africa, northeast of Somali territory and east of the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland.
Puntland, unlike Somaliland, was part of colonial Italian Somalia, but the disintegration of the Somali state, in which there is no effective central government, and the vicious civil war, has meant that each region be controlled by warlords. Puntland made this decision in 1998, it is in one of the most strategic geographical points of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It has not been recognized by any country, nor by any international organization. In addition, since its creation, Puntland has been in conflict with the also separated Somaliland, by border areas and as well as the clans of the rest of Somalia. At the same time Puntland continues to consider itself part of Somalia with a self-imposed obligation to restore and maintain the unity of Somalia based on a federal system.
Demographics
Scattered across several countries, the Somali nation is made up of three social groups: nomadic herders; sedentary farmers; and city dwellers. The Somali nation is divided into groups of confederated clans: Digil, Rahanweyn (farmers), Dir, Issaq, Hawiye and Darod (herders), in turn divided into clans and sub-clans. Puntland is dominated by the Darod confederation. There are also those of lower status who traditionally do unwanted work for herders, such as the Yibro, Tumuaal and Midgo, and those who speak foreign languages (those who speak Munshungulu and Oromo for example).
In the hills and mountains called ogo and golis, the frankincense tree is cultivated and traded for centuries. Puntland is the land par excellence of incense, which can be considered its most typical product.
_Puntland_Somalia.JPG)
History
The Egyptians gave the name Punt to the region around Cape Guardafui, the western limit of the Guardafui channel. Reliefs decorating the temple walls at Deir el-Bahari show an Egyptian naval expedition to the Country of Punt organized by Hatshepsut, ruling queen and regent with Thutmose III (18th Dynasty). The products of the land are listed: gold, incense, ivory, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, ebony among other products of the time. Other Egyptian mentions of the Country of Punt appear, which was a tributary of the Egyptian Empire during the 18th dynasty and whose districts have analogies with places in present-day Puntland. The Country of Punt is also mentioned in the Bible.
The country was known to the Greeks and Romans, who developed trade. Some religious rituals called for the use of frankincense and myrrh, the former of which was found in abundance in Puntland, as were various varieties of myrrh, which were native to the area. The journey of the Eritrean Sea (50 AD) cites various cities on the Somali coast: Ayalites (Assab?); Malao (Berbera), Mundi (Heis), Mosyllon (Bandar Kassim?), Akannai (Álula?). Pliny the Elder mentions "the Port and the promontory of the Barbaroi species", referring to Cape Guardafui.
Later came the Arabs. The first recorded traveler is Al Khwarizmi (847). Arab travelers rarely mention Bilad al Barbara (or Barabra), that is, the North and Northeast of Somalia, although it is recorded that they traded there with ivory, gold and slaves, on the other hand, the trade in incense and myrrh had ceased. The Chinese Tuang Cheng Shih mentions the Somali coast under the name Po-pa-li, later mentioned as Chu Ju Kua under the name Pi-pa-lo, as divided into four districts (information probably based on a work by Chu Chu Fei from 1178), and camels, ambergris, ivory, Styrax gum, myrrh, tortoise shells, pearl necklaces, incense, ostriches, giraffes and zebras.
The first Muslim settlements date back to the 8th century and although they were initially small enclaves, Islam spread easily, with populations being Islamized in the 12th or 13th century. The main cities constituted small commercial states, but there are only archaeological finds, and no written trace has remained. In the northeast, no state probably developed, since there are no coin finds, and the pastoral life of the territory must have continued for centuries. It is the Arabs who give the inhabitants of the country the name of Somalis. Tradition attributes the origin of the Somalis to Akil ben Abu Talib, a cousin of Muhammad.
The entire region was under Muslim influence in the 13th century, extending from the area west of Cape Guardafui (in the north) to Merca (Marka), capital of the Hawiyya Somali domain. The Hawiyya of Merca, mixed with Arab emigrants, gave rise in the 15th century century, to the Ajuran dynasty, which ruled the area of the Shebelle River. Further north of Merca is Mogadishu, which used to be a city-state. Further north was Obbia (Hobyo), where a sultanate was created, similarly arising from the fusion of Arabs and Somalis; another sultan exercised hegemony in present-day Puntland.
The Portuguese began to frequent these coasts in the 16th century, and they considered the territory under their jurisdiction, but the Portuguese presence was very little. In 1516 the Portuguese reached Zeila, and shortly thereafter the Ottomans began to challenge them for influence in the region.
From 1698 (after the victorious siege of Mombasa) the Yarebite sultans of Oman and Muscat established themselves permanently on the African coast and seized all their settlements from the Portuguese, in a process that concluded between 1728 and 1729. The Al Busaid dynasty of Oman and Muscat began in 1741 and gave a decisive impetus to the colonization of the African coast. It was at this time that the city of Mogadishu, the Sultan of Obbia, the Sultan of Mijurtin and other local powers recognized the sovereignty of the Sultans of Oman and Muscat, which until then had been rather nominal.
19th century
In 1803 the sultan of Oman and Muscat allied with England and fought the Wahhabis of Nejd. In 1840 Sultan Sayyid Said moved his capital to Zanzibar and Zanzibar rule became more effective, although it never exceeded the coastal zone. In 1858 the Al Busaid dynasty split into an African branch (which gave rise to the royal house of Zanzibar) and another that ruled in Oman with residence in Muscat. The Al Busaid used the smooth red flag (which persisted in Zanzibar until 1963) whose use extended along the entire East African coast from Tadjurah to Mozambique and the Comoros. Great Britain recognized the independence of Zanzibar in 1856.
European exploration of the coast began in 1833 with Owen and Butler, followed by Carless, Grieve and Selby (1837–38). Captain Guillain of the French Navy explored the area in 1848 and then Captain Fleuriot de Langle under de la Cordelière (1861). Ethnographic investigations were started earlier in the interior by Salt (1809) and Lieutenant Smee (1811), and above all by Antonio de Abadie who collected a lot of information (1838–41). In 1883 mention is made of the Sultan of Guelidi, who held the explorer Jorge Revoil prisoner. The British settled in northern Somalia in 1887, at the same time that Leonce Lagarde was appointed French governor in Obock. The Ethiopians occupied Harrar in the same year 1887.
Italian penetration began in 1886 by a commercial company that leased a territory from the Sultan of Obbia (Hobyo) who was called Benadir. The company's slaving activities were considered inconvenient, and Italy decided to penetrate directly, buying the rights of the company and signing a Treaty with the Sultan of Obbia in 1889. The sultan used the red flag typical of the sultan of Zanzibar, whose influence on the area was in decline in the face of European penetration.
According to what has been said, in said year 1889 the Benadir was acquired by Italy, and the sultan of Obbia remained under the Italian protectorate; Puntland, however, remained outside the sphere of Italian influence under the Sultan of Mijirtuni, feudatory of the Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1890, Zanzibar was recognized as a British protectorate in exchange for the cession of Heligoland, relinquishment of Madagascar, and other agreements. Consequence of the establishment of the protectorate was the limitation of the sultan of Zanzibar in his rights on the African coast of Somalia, Kenya and Tanganyika, which were divided between Italy, Great Britain and Germany. Italy and Great Britain paid rent to the sultan and Germany bought the rights to him. In 1892 the Italian protectorate was extended to the north (to the Sultanate of Mijurtini) after an agreement with the Sultan of Zanzibar, then encompassing present-day Puntland.
The Sultan of Mijurtini, who essentially dominated present-day Puntland, recognized the Italian protectorate the same year but in fact the region was not pacified until the 1920s after Mullah's defeat. Sultan Osman Mahmud of Mijurtini (or Mijertin) used, like the one from Obbia, the plain red flag. The sultan's residence was Bergal, but the Italian commissioner settled in Álula (Caluula).
The sultan's possessions ranged from Bender Ziada in the Gulf of Aden to Cape Gabee, or Ras Maber, in the Indian Ocean. To the west stretched the British possessions (for years dominated by the nationalist leader Mullah, called by the British 'The Fool'). To the south were the domains of the sultan of Obbia, Ali Yusuf. Mogadishu was a direct Italian possession, integrating a part of the colony called Benadir, divided into three districts: the Xuddur commissariat (on the border with Abyssinia and up to the Indian Ocean in the El Gabobe area), the Juba district or commissariat (ital Giuba) with capital in Brava; and the region or police station of the Shebeli river with the capital Mahaddli. Later, in 1925, by cession from Great Britain, the Transjuba region (ital. Oltre Giuba) with its capital in Kismayu (ital. Chisimaio) was incorporated.
20th century
The entire territory was placed under the authority of a governor assisted by a general secretary. The military forces in the country comprised 56 Italian officers and 2,500 indigenous soldiers.
The limits of Italian Somalia were fixed in various treaties: with Abyssinia (May 16, 1908), with Great Britain in the area of British Somaliland (British Somaliland) (1915) and in the zone with Kenya (which included the incorporation into the Italian dominions of Oltre Giuba (Jubaland), according to the treaty of June 1, 1925).
On June 1, 1936, the colony of Italian East Africa was created with Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Somalia acquired the Ogaden, segregated from Ethiopia. The governor and the colonial secretary general of each of the colonies that made up Italian East Africa were under the authority of a viceroy.
The situation lasted until World War II. In 1940 the Italians occupied British Somalia which was added to Italian Somalia. Late in 1941, with the Allied counter-offensive, Somalia and all of Italian East Africa was occupied by the British and remained under military administration until 1950. The Ogaden was reintegrated into Ethiopia in 1948 when the United Nations assumed the international mandate over Somalia, in which The de facto British administration persisted.
On November 10, 1949, the United Nations entrusted the trusteeship of the Territory to Italy for ten years. Italy took over in 1950.
Shortly thereafter, the first Territorial Consultative Council was created, whose first meeting took place in Mogadishu in 1951. Somalia's first own flag was used during this period, which appears on a series of 1951 postage stamps although it is practically indistinguishable. The flag was probably red with the emblem of the territory: two facing crescents with a star in the center. The two crescents would symbolize the two sultanates and the star the Somali nation.
On October 12, 1954, Somalia (the Italian mandate zone) adopted a national flag. It consisted of a light blue flag, typical of the UN (in whose name the trust was exercised) with a five-pointed white star in the center, representing the five regions inhabited by Somalis: Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somaliland and itself. ex-Italian Somalia.
On July 1, 1960, Somalia was recognized as independent. British Somaliland (which had become independent four days earlier) was united under previous agreements to the new republic and the Republic of Somalia was established, adopting for the new state the flag that had already existed since 1954 (also adopted in the former Somaliland). British since June 26, 1960). The first president was Aden Obdullah Osman.
The independent life of Somalia was marked by the national question: on the one hand, a strong nationalism instigated the war against Ethiopia to recover the Ogaden, where Somalis lived. On the other, the internal centrifugal forces were dissatisfied with the unitary State, due to the existing regional differences. In 1964 there was a first war with Ethiopia. Somali groups (the Shiftas) carried out incursions into Kenyan territory during the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1967, Abdirashid Ali Shermarke was elected president and was assassinated by a policeman in 1969. He was succeeded by the president of the National Assembly, Sheikh Mukhtar Muhammad Husaid, but five days later a military coup brought the communist general Mohamed Siad Barre to power.. The country was renamed the Somali Democratic Republic. There is no denying the achievements of the Barre regime, with strong Soviet support. But in 1977 a new adventure in Ethiopia, in support of the Eastern Somali Liberation Front, forced the Soviets to choose between Barre or Menguistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia. The USSR and Cuba supported the latter and Barre broke relations with his former protector and allied with the United States. Since December 1979, a new constitution was promulgated and the one-party regime was established, the leading party being the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSRS) led by Barre himself, who went from president of the Revolutionary Council to President of the Republic.
The resistance began in 1980. In 1981 the Somali Salvation Front began its actions. The state of emergency was in effect from 1980 to 1982. In 1982 the border war with Ethiopia resumed and persisted until 1988. Barre was reelected as president in 1986.
In 1987 Ali Samatar took over as Prime Minister and Hadji Muhammad as Deputy Secretary of the PSRS. The peace with Ethiopia in 1988 put an end to the support provided by the Ethiopian regime to the Issaqs, who, as part of the Somali National Movement, were fighting for the restoration of the independence of Somaliland (in whose region they lived). Government forces recaptured the Hargeisa-Burao-Berbera area, prompting the exodus of 300,000 Issaq to Ethiopia, while disorganizing the distribution of aid to the 800,000 Ethiopian refugees in Somalia. The lack of food caused riots as early as 1988 that had to be suppressed by the Barre police.
In 1989 the defense minister, General Nur, was dismissed, and soon after arrested. The soldiers of the Ogadeni ethnic group, the same as Nur, rebelled and created the Somali Patriotic Movement in the south. Another group created the Somali National Army in the center where a third group called the United Somali Congress (dominated by the Hawiye Clan) operated. Since 1990, the MNS has recovered the entire north of the country, except for the large cities.
Puntland Settlement
In January 1991, Barre, supported only by the Marehan clan, fled the country. Ali Mahdi Muhammad, of the CSU, proclaimed himself president, not being accepted by other leaders, especially Mohamed Farrah Aidid, of the Somali National Army (Marehan), restarting the civil war. On May 18, 1991, Northern Somalia (Somaliland), dominated by the Issaq of the MNS, proclaimed itself independent. In this situation, the Majeerteen of the Northeast tried to establish a regular government that would preserve their region from fighting and disorganization. After 1997 the state managed to establish democratic institutions and an organized administration, culminating in the establishment of the State of Puntland in 1998.
Red line: border of Somaliland according to Puntland.
Yellow line: border of Somaliland according to Somaliland.
Violet line: Maajir state (now incorporated into Puntland).
On July 13, 1998, the leaders of various factions (Husayn Muhammad Aydid, Ali Mahdi Muhammad, Uthman Hasan Ali, alias Uthman Ato, and Muhammad Qanyareh Afrah) established a 7-point agreement in Mogadishu which formed the High Committee for Benadir Administration led by two chairmen Husayn Muhammad Aydid and Ali Mahdi Muhammad, and two vice-chairmen, Uthman Hasan Ali, alias Uthman Ato, and Muhammad Qanyareh Afrah. The High Committee would look after the interests of the Benadir region and decide on all regional matters, including formulating laws and issuing orders. The Benadir region took legal force from July 18, 1998 and the port and airport of Mogadishu were opened. After this agreement on Benadir, the agreement of the clans of Northeast Somalia was made public, through a meeting of 450 delegates held in the last two months in Garowe, in the district of Nugal (May 15 to July 18), for the creation of an autonomous region which was a new phase of the process begun in 1991. All the delegates belonged to the Darods clans or sub-clans of Majerteen, Dulbahanti, Warsangeli, Lelcase and Awrtable.
On Friday, July 24, 1998, the BBC announced this decision, and announced that the name chosen for the new regional power would be Puntland or Frankincense Land, which is the main product. Finally, Puntland was chosen.
Puntland roughly comprises the former province of Bari. The capital is Garowe but it is not the most important city, which is Bossaso on the North coast. Some areas considered to be included in Puntland are under the control of the Somaliland government.
Agence France Press reported on the same day that the factions in the Northeast had elected Colonel Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, of the Democratic Front for the Salvation of Somalia (chaired by General Mohamed Abshir Musa), and Mohamed Abdi Hashi of the Somali United Party as deputy-chief. The influential head of the Majerteen clan, Abdullahi Boqor Musa, son of the last Sultan Bokor Musa, and who chaired the Congress of Northeastern factions, did not participate in the final meeting in a possible episode of regional power struggles. People close to Musa had warned of a fissure if a group appointed its own leader at the helm of the new regional power.
At a press conference the two leaders of the region's main faction, General Mohamed Abshir Musa and Abdullahi Boqor Musa, of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front denounced the deal. Part of the opposition of the two leaders is the mistrust of Colonel Yussuf and the establishment of the capital at Garowe instead of the city of Bossaso. They did, however, acknowledge that the Conference supported Yussuf. However, incidents occurred in Bossaso, claiming the capital. Finally, the transfer of the capital to Bossaso was agreed.
A Parliament of 69 deputies was created and a 9-member government was announced whose composition would be established within 45 days.
Recent events
Puntland began experiencing political unrest in 2001 when President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed wanted his term extended. Ahmed and Jama Ali Jama fought for control of the state, which Ahmed won in 2002. Ahmed served as president until October 2004 when he was elected chairman of the Transitional Government of Somalia. He was succeeded by Muhammad Abdi Hashi, who ruled until January 2005 when he was rejected for re-election by parliament, which chose General Mohamud Muse Hersi (& # 34; Adde & # 34;). In December 2004 Puntland suffered serious damage during the tsunami that followed the Indian Ocean earthquake. The international community has been accused of ignoring Puntland and other African areas where the tsunami caused serious damage.
In November 2006, the Islamic Courts Union of neighboring Somaliland captured Bandiiradley, a settlement strategically located near Puntland's border with Mudug. However, a spokesman for warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid claimed that his troops had only made a tactical withdrawal from the area. Mohamed Mohamud Jama, a Mudug-based spokesman for the Islamic courts, announced the intention to march on Gaalkacyo, part of which is claimed by Puntland. So far, the courts have avoided making inroads into Puntland. That same month, General Adde announced that he would rule according to Islamic law, but in a different manner from Islamic courts in order to avoid "politicizing religion." Adde then announced that Puntland would oppose any attack by the Islamic Courts.
Tensions between Puntland and Somaliland erupted into a violent encounter in October 2006.
On December 23, 2009, Parliament approved the new flag.
Communication
The state radio station is Radio Gaalkacyo, formerly called Radio Free Somalia.