Mogadishu (Hargeisa PP Information Desk) — In Hargeisa, the President of Somaliland’s administration, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, is grappling with a formidable political drawback: who to credit score together with his electoral victory — Hersi Haji Ali Hassan or Mohamud Hashi?
Hersi joined the Waddani occasion after he resigned from the federal government of the previous Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Silanyo) in 2015. He wrote Miyiga ilaa Madaxtooyada (From the Countryside to the Presidency ), an autobiography by which he deplored the state of Somaliland governance throughout his tenure because the minister on the presidency. He argued that the Somaliland authorities serves just a few businesspeople on the expense of the remainder of the inhabitants. His critics accused him of betraying President Silanyo.
Hashi was appointed after Hersi’s resignation and served beneath President Silanyo till November 2017, when Muse Bihi was elected President. Hashi was a vocal opponent of Bihi, whom he accused of undermining the 2017 settlement that Somaliland’s administration had signed with the late chief of the Khatumo Motion, Dr Ali Khalif Galaydh. President Bihi rejected the settlement and compelled Dr Galaydh to shift his focus to political lectures, which got here to be referred to as Tabliiq Siyaasadeed (political propagation). Alongside Professor Ahmed Samatar, Galaydh toured a number of districts and delivered political lectures.
Bihi believed that Somaliland’s technique of capturing Laascaanood relied on militia leaders reasonably than political figures. He noticed reliance on the fugitive Mahad Ambashe’s militias as the one means for Somaliland forces to take care of their presence within the territories of Sool, Sanaag, Cayn and the Khatumo administration.
Hersi was extra against the 2023 Laascaanood battle than Hashi was. Though Hashi entered politics earlier than Hersi, it was Hersi whose political judgments mirrored a sound understanding of the fragility of counting on unpopular native militias. Nonetheless, Bihi confronted a dilemma: whether or not to sever ties with the native militias—referred to as caaglayaal—in favour of a lone politician claiming to signify Laascaanood and different districts beneath the banner of Khatumo. Bihi selected to stay loyal to the militias in Laascaanood to lengthen the presence of Somaliland forces there.
The identical militias later revolted in opposition to Somaliland forces in Laascaanood in January 2023, finally expelling them from each Laascaanood and Tukaraq. “I cautioned in opposition to antagonising Jabutawi by Somaliland’s administration,” Hashi instructed Ina Ba’alul, the previous intelligence chief of Somaliland administration. Jabutawi mobilised the militias that pressured Somaliland’s forces to flee Laascaanood on 5 January 2023.
Hashi fashioned Kaah, a political affiliation that contested and gained occasion standing in the course of the 2024 Somaliland presidential elections. He supported President Abdirahman Somaliland, however confided in a few of his buddies that the incumbent president is struggling to handle the political rivalry between Hashi and Hersi, who’s the chairman of Waddani, the occasion that gained the 2024 Somaliland presidential elections.
Hersi advocates for governance reforms, whereas Hashi seeks political dividends from supporting President Abdirahman throughout 2024 presidential elections. President Abdirahman goals to keep away from repeating the errors of his predecessor, Muse Bihi Abdi, who prioritised hubris and rhetoric primarily based on legally doubtful colonial borders as the inspiration for Somaliland’s secession claims.
© Puntland Put up, 2025
