Somaliland-Puntland Strategic Cooperation

- Somalis are excellent at bringing down one another. However, the success of one Somali entity should not necessarily mean the painful humiliation of other Somali entities. In other words, Somali politics should not always be a zero-sum game. I am strongly convinced that the political and economic development of any Somali entity will have positive ripple effect on other entities. Therefore, it is critical for Somalis to discourage the mutually assured destructive mentality and endeavor to forge cooperation. Currently, there are blatant disagreements and intermittent political tensions between the Republic of Somaliland and Puntland region.

These occurrences, regardless of their objectives, need not thwart other productive myriad aspects that require immediate attention of cooperation. Each entity requires pursuing its respective interests to the extent of arriving at cooperative relations with other, and sometimes unpleasant, states. Thus, Somaliland and Puntland should overlook trivial accidents and forge cooperative relations. Forging the subsequent proposed strategic cooperation, these two entities can better lift millions of their citizens out of poverty as well as improve their safety and security.

Economic Strategy

Prior to the civil war, more than 80% of Somalia’s export earnings were coming from livestock alone. Due to the close proximity to Arab markets, most of livestock exports were passing through the ports of Berbera and Bosaso. However, after the collapse of the central government, oversupplied Somali livestock has flooded the Gulf markets, which, on certain occasions, forced Arab and Australian businessmen to demand Gulf States to ban its importation. The Gulf States subsequently succumbed to the pressure and banned the import of Somali livestock by one pretext after another. This has resulted the plummeting of livestock prices inside Somali inhibited regions; hence, perpetuating abject poverty.

Somaliland and Puntland should therefore form a cartel-like structure to coordinate their livestock export strategy by limiting its supply in order to raise price and thereby enhance living standards of millions of their citizens. This sustainable economic strategy can lift millions of people out of abject poverty than what assistance programs from the UN agencies may attain. If politically rival countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran could both be members of the carter group Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), what prevents Somaliland and Puntland from creating a livestock cartel? To ensure successful implementation of this strategy, a joint commission that enforces the import quota on both sides must be formed.

Safety and Security Strategy

By coordinating their public safety strategies, law enforcement officials of Somaliland and Puntland can better improve security of their respective territory. Currently, any arrangement of cooperation between the two law enforcement agencies is nonexistent. This zero-sum mentality results constant hazardous conditions in both entities. For instance, it is a common knowledge now that criminals who commit crimes in, say, Somaliland, travel effortlessly to Puntland and vise versa. As there is no currently any coordination or cooperation of law enforcement communities in Puntland and Somaliland, ordinary citizens are forced to utilize any means at their disposal to get back at their perpetrators who fled to other territory for safe haven. To deter perpetrators from committing heinous crimes and finding save havens, Somaliland and Puntland should beef up cooperation between secret services, law enforcement, border patrol officers and other security agencies to prevent criminals from escaping.

Antiterrorism Strategy

Both Somaliland and Puntland have been victims of recent terror attacks in their major cities. By sharing intelligence and pooling resources, Somaliland and Puntland can disturb and dismantle terror plots and executions against their interests. In order to apprehend terrorist suspects promptly and dismantle their plots, both entities need to accelerate their efforts to harmonize security laws and topple barriers between them with the intention of sharing information efficiently, which is an essential component of antiterrorism strategy because it assists wipe out terrorist cells and ward off any future attacks against either entities. Somaliland and Puntland can share suspect’s whereabouts, criminal patterns, level of threats and tips, names, criminal records, risk assessments, etc, to bolster and enhance their safety.

Antipiracy Strategy

Most of pricy accidents are taking place in the waters of Puntland region, and to lesser extend, Somaliland. These accidents have skyrocketed the insurance premiums of ships (more than US$12 billion per year of which the cost of protection and the rerouting is not included) bringing food and other essentials to not only citizens of Somaliland and Puntland, but also to neighboring and distant countries. This in turn has negatively impacted the transportation cost of local import traders. By forging alliance in antipiracy campaigns and employing available detailed strategies, Somaliland and Puntland can successfully tackle the problem of piracy in their territories.

By Abdi Hussein Daud

(Minneapolis, MN/USA)