By Liban Ahmad

The unresolved conflict in Mudug between Galmudug and Puntland federal member states exposed the favouratism of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS)  when it comes to responding to upsurge of organised political violence  beyond  Mogadishu. The federal government   facilitated airlifting of Galmudg and Somali National Army soldiers wounded in Galkayo clashes to Saudi Arabia.  Puntland State had to treat its wounded soldiers in Galkayo and Garowe. The federal government  gives medical priority on grounds of shared clan affiliation.

President Mohamud’s government  is the most divisive government  Somalis have had since President Abdullahi Yusuf  Ahmed resigned in December 2008 after  pressure of the international community  which looked upon him as a leader with no  consensus-building skills needed in  a country  recovering from  state collapse.

To understand the seriousness of the federal government’s medical favouratism, we have to compare President Mohamud with post-1991 Somali leaders.  In 1991 when the interim government of President Ali Mahdi Mohamed received aid from Somalia’s friends his government allocated a portion  of the aid to people in Gedo region. He said that a distinction should be made between the clan of the ousted president  and  Mohamed Siad  Barre who was then holed up  in  Buurdhuubo. To make such a judgement at a time when Somalia was experiencing the  worst  civil war in its history   shows that Ali Mahdi Mohamed had qualities of a consensus builder.

In 2004 when Somaliland and Puntland forces clashed at Adhiaddeye in Nugaal valley of Sool region, President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed  told diplomats “I used to be President of Puntland, now I am President of Federal Republic of Somalia and my duties are to observe the laws.” . He said ” that the conflict will only be solved by dialogue.”

Puntland State accuses the Federal Government of Somalia of fuelling the Galkayo conflict; it rejected the proposal  of the federal government to send peacekeeping troops to Galkayo.  Galkayo conflict has myriad causes. The most overlooked cause is the insistence of the federal government that there is a National Army based in South Galkayo under Galmudug State. Puntland State views  the Somali National Army as clan militias paid in the name of the state.

To argue  that Somali National Army  contingents  have  presence  in parts of South Mudug is to point out one of the main catalysts for clashes between  Galmudug and Puntland forces.  The Somali National Army is less professional and more partial than Somaliland Army, which intervened in intra-sublcan clashes in Sool a few months ago. Somaliland  President, Ahmed M. Mohamud,  appointed a committee of elders  to reconcile two subclans in Sool. The regulation of violence  in Somaliland, discussed in Alex  de Waal’s book,  is not a miracle. It is  a product of conscious decision by political leaders who knew that state collapse gives way to anarchy  or recurrent inter and intra-clan clashes if leaders allow to be   overwhelmed  by narrow, exclusivist  political considerations.

The only  silver lining  in the sorry state of affairs in Somalia is the decision by the international community to fund regional forces  instead of an ineffectual  Somali National Army.   According to a British official in Mogadishu “Donor countries have put significant resources into the Somali security forces and haven’t seen significant results yet,” . This policy change may be a verdict on President Mohamud’s tenure  in Villa Somalia.

Liban Ahmad
Emai:libahm@icloud.com