Security Memorandum Signals Rift Between Puntland and Unionist Allies

[Deeq A.]

Representatives from Puntland State of Somalia and the Somaliland Administration pose for a photograph after signing a Security Memorandum of Understanding in Nairobi today.

Garowe (PP Editorial) — The Memorandum of Understanding on Security signed today in Nairobi by representatives from Puntland State and the secessionist Somaliland administration stunned analysts who were glued to their television screens following the visit of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to Kismaayo. The visit was reportedly facilitated by Noordin Haji, Kenya’s Director General of the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

Puntland State of Somalia, a unionist federal member state, endorsed the secessionist claims of Hargeisa. The inclusion of the English equivalent of “self-determination” in the communiqué in support of secession sends several messages.

The first message is that President Said Abdullahi Deni has withdrawn from the Council of the Future of Somalia, which he co-founded in Nairobi on 2 October 2025. The communiqué of the Nairobi summit emphasised the territorial and political unity of Somalia. President Deni’s pro-secession stance deals a blow to the new council, which was supposed to replace the Council of Salvation led by the former President of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The second message is that President Deni seems to have resigned himself to accepting the North East State, which is made up of several regions in what was formerly known as ex-British Somaliland, and which were constituent regions of Puntland State of Somalia. Under the federal map of Somalia, Puntland State and the Somaliland administration no longer share a border.

The insertion of the term “self-determination” in the communiqué supporting secession conveys several messages.

The Somaliland administration agreed to be addressed as the “Somaliland government”  without any jurisdictional claim of secession regarding unionist constituencies in ex-British Somaliland. It is an admission of its reckless policy of waging war against unionist territories of Harti clansmen and clanswomen.

Diehard Somali secessionists accused the Somaliland administration of confining its jurisdictional claims only to Dir-populated territories in ex-British Somaliland. Another concession made by Puntland representatives pertains to the federal aviation control in Mogadishu which, despite abiding by all rules, Puntland supported the position of the Somaliland administration in seeking aviation management under the false sovereignty claim that Somaliland “is a republic that seceded from Somalia in 1991.”

President Deni needs to gain overwhelming support for his pivot towards Hargeisa. This is one reason why the communiqué issued in Nairobi by representatives of Puntland State and the Somaliland administration stresses that the understanding reached by both sides amounts to a Memorandum of Understanding, not an agreement.  

© Puntland Post, 2025

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