Puntland calls Buuhoodle to arms where Somaliland breathes new life into area development
Starkly showing a contrast between two official visits a minister from the Republic of Somaliland and the Somalia federal state of Puntland made to Buuhoodle, within five days of one another, city residents among whom were city councillors, traditional leaders, mechanized military and security personnel, students and government employees came out in full force, Monday, to jubilantly escort the minister from a distance of 30 kilometres to the city center.
Somaliland Minister for Public Works, Abdirashid Duale Qambi, on his third visit to his hometown since he took office six months ago, had a message of peace, hope, and development for the city.
Speaking to the people at the town square, Minister Qambi said only peace promised life and development.
“Peace,” he said “gives us a dependable security enough to attend to and develop life-saving issues such as education, health, policing and the like”.
“My government,” he added, “wishes you to overtake other, more developed regions of Somaliland and to leave aside all kinds of divisive, explosive hostilities such as those the Puntland state is calling you to adopt”.
To take up arms against kin or neighbor, he pointed out, only spawns more violence retarding hope and coexistence.
Ammey beats an ill-received war drum in BuuhoodleMinister Qambi’s message won over a Buuhoodle that was reeling from a war-mongering blitz visit the Vice President of the Somalia State of Puntland, Abdihakim Hajji Abdullahi Omar Ammey, from 30th May. Ammey asked residents of Buuhoodle and surrounding areas for fighters, battlewagons and material support to shore up the tribal-laced war his administration was waging against the Republic of Somaliland in the Tukkaraq area in order, as Puntland puts it, “to liberate Sool, Ayn and Sanaag regions” from a Somaliland they geographically and politically belonged to.
Mr. Ammey appealed to the people’s ethnic relationship with the rulers of Puntland, and not to their sense of intellect and judgment on what was correct or incorrect in the context – a fact which, obviously, revolted them explaining why his mission failed.
Mr Qambi’s delegation spent the night before in neighboring Qorilugud town, Buuhoodle region, which, previously, had run, violent confrontations with Buuhoodle proper before a peace deal between the two was brokered by traditional leaders supported by the Somaliland government. This partly accounted for the fact that why non-Buuhoodle officers, such as ex-Vice Minister Abdirashid Rio-raa’, were among the minister’s delegation for the first time. Buuhoodle Governor, Mustafe Hajji Abdi Musa Noor, and the Regional Coordinator of the Somaliland ruling party, Kulmiye, Suleiman Abdi Hussein, were among the delegation, too.
This latest visit follows up on development schemes the minister delivered on his two earlier visits aiming to accelerate progress.
Above shows Minister Qambi’s February 2018 visit to Buuhoodle.
