I think it is about time puntland realizes it's great importance among somalia. Firstly Puntland posesses the most strategic location in the horn. Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Somaliland, Eritrea,...noone in Africa posess the strategic location we have and i will explain why...Puntland sits on the tip of the indian and gulf of aden, the gulf of aden is the most busiest shipping-lane in the world with billions of dollars of trade that pass by our ports. Now many regions sit on the gulf of aden with puntland. Eritrea, djibouti, sland, yemen...they all sit on the gulf of aden also however they are not strategic like puntland is because they sit on the other side of the gulf of aden which i call the poor side because ships that leave from that side of the passage way is very small with the exception of saudi arabia oil other then that nothing else comes from that side of the of gulf of aden. Djibouti, Eritrea do not have an importance in trade therefore their ships are very minimal when compared to the rest of the world.
However puntland and yemen are sitting on the indian ocean where the ships of the world enter into the gulf of aden. We are the first stop-over for those ships because we sit at the gate of gulf of aden, in other words the international ships of europe, america, asia, south america if they want to enter into the gulf of aden they must come past puntland and yemen first not djibouti or eritrea or sland...that is why i say we sit on the rich side of the gulf of aden puntland and yemen because we control the international shipping trade route in africa and middle east. Both our regions are strategically critical and can be used in the future to make puntland stronger region.
Secondly Puntland future will rely also on its mineral deposits such as gold, iron, coal, and oil. There is billions of barrels of oil in puntland ground from what experts have said and there is even more oil in puntland sea because seismic studies have shown that puntland ocean plate was once connected to the gulf of mexico. If anyone knows the gulf of mexico and its oil producing capability will realize that puntland oil most of it is in our ocean and not necessarily land. We possess without a shadow of doubt the biggest oil capacity in east africa if we take into consideration our offshore and on-shore deposits.
So Natural Resources, Strategic location that noone else shares on the african continent, plus we have tourism sector that can be exploited quite well of our coastal regions where our fishing towns are located. This would give he coastal population who lost their income and jobs to illegal fishing and toxic waste-dumping a future in providing services for puntland tourists. Like hotels, tour guides, taxis, and a robust service industry to cater for tourists.
Puntland government is paving he way for 2013 multi party elections, good governance, anti-corruption organization is being opened, and other measures to keep Puntland democracy healthy. So really the future is looking very bright if our leaders don't stuff up and i pray they don't fall into the same trap many african n middle eastern nations have fallen into which is "Benefiting certain individuals and neglecting the masses". I pray to god they don't stuff it up because puntland definitely has the potential, and the government system has great future ahead of it, let just hope corruption is down and good-governance is of high standards like the nation of botswana which has "zero tolerance" for corruption and today enjoys a gdp capita of $17 000 per each person.
I stress that no other region in east africa has the potential the north-east of somalia has, our leaders i hope see past individual glory and focus on region building and stregthening good governance and keeping the peace and stability.
I could personally care less about other areas of east africa because they don't have he potential that puntland does, only puntland has this unique potential that no other region has. Good governance is the key, a patriotic population is also critical.
Anyways that is my opinion regarding Puntland.
