The Failed Puntland Presidential Meeting

President Farole of Puntland was welcomed in Somalia during a visit in late November 2012. Puntland is a breakaway region in northern Somalia., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

SOMALIA: The Failed Puntland Presidential Meeting

Posted on December 18, 2013

Which is Graver: Food Rejected or Time Wasted?

Said Y. Mohamed
awsaid937@hotmail.com
Dec 18th 2014

OPINION

The leading piece of information circulating in Puntland today is not how the outgoing President Faroole and the other presidential candidates failed to agree on anything in their well-publicized rendezvous; but what is discussed everywhere is how the candidates declined to have lunch with him. In Somali culture it may not be acceptable to reject an invitation to food and that is not taken lightly on the part of tradition-minded elders.

Consequently, it may end up in cultural fines (xaal) being imposed on those who refused to dine with Faroole. However, what is on the table is graver than a few plates of food and who eats them. The political future of Puntland is at stake, but it seems few of the stakeholders present in that meeting were giving it the weight it deserves.

In the ensuing press conference Faroole attempted to deny the other side any involvement in the affairs of the election procedure. In fact, he wants to manage the whole feat single-handedly.

He claimed that of the three issues brought forward by the opposition candidates, he accepted three: including the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Conflict Resolution Committee (not agreed upon yet), the request for local and international observers of the election and the establishment of a Steering Committee for the traditional leaders.

As important as those three matters sound, the point of contention still remains unsolved.

Since the inception of Puntland in 1998, the Conflict Resolution Committee was a matter of dispute; usually so late into the election period. An exception was when in the last election of 2009 no one other than Faroole himself insisted that the opposition candidates must have a say in the nomination of such an important body.

The then President General Cadde was the first and last to accept such proposition.

Ironically, today Faroole is against the joint nomination of the Conflict Resolution Committee, and he believes the opposition has no right to meddle with it, while in the last election he was the main spokesperson of the opposition demanding that they must be given a say in the matter.

On their part, the opposition candidates asserted how they were confronted by a stubborn rival. President Faroole was demanding rather than proposing anything.

This was obvious in his press conference where he sounded dictating his terms rather than being part of any negotiations.

The opposition seemed to be the weaker underdog as they did not have many options.

It was obvious they were anticipating the arrival of the UN envoy to Somalia Mr. Nicholas Kay to mediate in the trouble. That may be why their mood was subdued.

They did not show any aggressive or provocative reaction as the occasion may have required after the failure of that initial face-to-face meeting. Accusations will wait for the failure of the second or last attempt for that matter.

There was also some hope traditional elders will wake up to the occasion and intervene in the deviating electoral process. The role of the traditional elders is usually essential at such stage of the deadlock.

Nevertheless, it was only yesterday (Monday, Dec. 16) that the outgoing President Faroole blessed, in his residence, the establishment of a so-called Traditional Leaders Commission who is supposed to mediate in matters of disagreement as need be.

Needless to say, all could figure out that the members of such a commission were a bit biased toward the ruling candidate.

Therefore, the question is how the potentially powerful traditional leaders of Puntland can play their noble and historical role in the absence of their revered freedom.

The only hope is that many of the original and prominent leaders, who are still ducking the game in the sidelines, will come into the arena and take the matter into their hands before it is too late.
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