Postby Bilis » Sun Aug 11, 2013 7:26 pm
^The Puntland government is playing hardball with the SFG. That aid was destined for the IDPs in the camps outside the state's major cities, who as you know are mostly from the rural parts of the south. At the same time, certain spoilers within the SFG repeatedly blocked access to scholarships from Turkey and other countries that were originally meant for Puntland students. Those scholarships were instead assigned to Mogadishu students, like just about all the previous federal aid/funding.
This has left Puntland in an awkward situation, where the SFG expects it to support the numerous displaced peoples from the south with its limited state resources, while in return allocating little to no federal resources for Puntland locals, as had been guaranteed in the Federal Constitution. To make matters worse, certain other spoilers within the SFG have tampered with the constitution in order to centralize power in Mogadishu even further.
This latest move by Puntland was also in response to the SFG's recent attempt to assign patroling of Puntland waters to some unknown European company without even consulting Garowe about it. This is despite the fact that the SFG was well aware that Puntland already has a coast guard. Similarly, the SFG now wants to assign federal security officials to guard distribution centers under Puntland jurisdiction, which are also already guarded by Puntland forces.
So basically, the Puntland government is reacting to the mixed messages that the SFG is sending out. It's saying to the SFG either you a) respect the Federal Constitution and all that it stipulates with regard to the autonomy of the Federal Member States and the equitable sharing of national resources and funds between the federal government and the constituent states, or b) don't respect the Federal Constitution and we will only follow our own Puntland Constitution.
