Somalia - With a friend like Faroole who needs a foe

By Osman Hassan
Feb 12, 2012

Abdirahman Faroole, the President of Puntland

The SSC had a history of making sacrifices for the Somali cause for which they paid heavily, got little in return and expected none. First was the Darwish campaigns against the British colonisers in which close to a million people died, directly or indirectly, as a result of that struggle. Then there was their unquestioning support for SYL from the outset and the quest for independence . And it was their continued wish to save themselves and the union from its enemies that led them to be a partner in the establishment of the Puntland State of Somalia as a way of fending off the predatory, anti Somali (Soomaalidiid) secessionist authority based in Hargeisa.

As the SSC came to learn to their bitter regret and cost, joining Puntland has become like jumping from Somaliland's frying pan into Puntland's fire. For too long, it had been a one-way relationship in which the SSC (and others from NW Somalia) had been used for what they were worth. Even so, they had accepted their lot as if that was their role or as if they were hostage to fate and had  no other option. That is the way Puntland administrations under various leaders have seen it.

Abdullahi Yusuf might have been a ruthless power-hungry despot who stopped at nothing to achieve his ends. But one has to give the devil his due : unlike the other charlatans after him, he was certainly more presidential who earned the respect of his people through firmness and fear and brought stability to the those parts of Puntland that mattered to him, something many of his people miss so much and yearn for in their present ballooning instability.Continued