Puntland’s State Minister for Information, Najiib Barkhadle Warsame, said on September 27 that the regional administration has a right to reconsider its political future if Somalia’s unity project is used in ways that Puntland believes undermine the federal bargain. His remarks add a new official voice to a debate that had already intensified after Puntland’s September 13 letter to the United Nations referred to public pressure for full independence.
Speaking at a press conference in Garowe, Najiib said Puntland, Somaliland and Jubaland were facing political and security pressure connected to disputes over Somalia’s unity. He argued that if the national project had been misused, Puntland retained the right to think about its future. Horseed Media reported his statement as an assertion of political choice rather than a declaration of independence or announcement of a referendum.
The distinction is important. Puntland has historically presented itself as a founding advocate of a federal Somalia rather than a secessionist administration. Its 1998 political project was built around restoring a Somali state through federal arrangements. The latest rhetoric therefore represents an escalation in the language of the dispute with Mogadishu, while the regional government has not announced a legal process to leave Somalia.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre rejected the suggestion that Puntland’s population is moving toward separation. Speaking on Dawan Media’s Miizaan Podcast, he distinguished between the people of Puntland and the administration of President Said Abdullahi Deni. Hamza said he believed Puntland’s public, intellectuals and political class remained committed to Somali unity, while accusing Deni’s government of taking steps that distance the region from federal institutions.
The prime minister cited disputes over the national identification system, education policy and national symbols as examples of the widening institutional separation. Puntland has challenged several federal initiatives and has developed some regional alternatives, arguing that Mogadishu has exceeded powers assigned to the federal level. Federal officials describe the same measures as withdrawals from institutions meant to operate nationally.
The present argument grew sharper after Puntland’s September 13 letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the Security Council. The letter said Puntland faced pressure from what it described as large numbers of residents favouring complete independence and warned that the region might eventually consider permanently severing ties with Mogadishu if an inclusive settlement was not reached. The letter supplied no polling, referendum result or other representative measurement of public support for independence.
That absence leaves two separate questions. One is whether Puntland’s leaders are willing to use the possibility of separation as part of their dispute with the federal government. The other is whether a measurable majority of Puntland’s population supports such a course. The statements now available establish the first proposition more clearly than the second.
Federal Interior Minister Ali Yusuf Ali has also rejected the suggestion that Puntland’s UN letter reflects the population as a whole. Former prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, himself from Puntland, has emphasised the region’s long investment in building the Somali state while calling for a negotiated agreement on constitutional and federal-election disputes. These responses illustrate that views inside Puntland and among politicians associated with the region are not uniform.
The underlying conflict concerns the structure of federal power. Puntland withdrew recognition and confidence from federal institutions in March 2024 after parliament amended the first four chapters of Somalia’s provisional constitution. Garowe said it would exercise the powers of an independent administration until a consensual federal constitutional settlement was restored. Mogadishu defended the amendments and has continued to advance a revised constitutional and electoral framework.
Further constitutional changes in 2026 deepened the dispute. Puntland and opposition groups argue that the process lacks the political consensus required for a durable federal settlement. Federal authorities argue that the constitutional review had been delayed for years and that elected institutions have authority to complete it. The disagreement therefore reaches beyond personalities and into competing interpretations of where federal power begins and state autonomy ends.
Najiib’s September 27 remarks do not resolve that constitutional dispute, and Hamza’s response does not establish the public’s preference through measurement. Together, however, they show that the argument has moved into more consequential language. A Puntland official is openly asserting a right to reconsider the region’s future, while Somalia’s prime minister is publicly insisting that the people of Puntland remain committed to the union.
The next meaningful evidence would come from formal political steps rather than rhetoric: an official Puntland process, a representative public consultation, a negotiated federal agreement, or institutional measures that further separate or reconnect Garowe and Mogadishu. Until then, the political future of Puntland remains contested inside a broader struggle over the terms of Somalia’s federal system.