Somalia collapsed as a unified nation in 1991. The international community has recognized the Mogadishu-based federal government as the only legitimate authority in Somalia, while chunks of the country in the north and east remain under the control of self-proclaimed and unrecognized Somaliland and Puntland.
Somalia’s Puntland autonomous region refused to recognize the authority of the Somali federal government until the dispute over the constitutional amendments is resolved, the regional State House announced in a statement.
“The Puntland Government has withdrawn its recognition and confidence in the Federal Government Institutions, until such time a comprehensive constitutional framework is negotiated and agreed upon by the Somali people, of which Puntland is a part of,” the statement said.
Puntland claimed that the constitution adopted in 2012 was changed without taking into account the views of all Somalis, including those in the region.
The authorities also noted that Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud “has lost the constitutional governing mandate of the Presidency” because he abrogated the constitution on which he was elected.”
“In accordance with the Puntland Constitution […], Puntland shall exercise [the] powers of an independent state,” the State House added.
The constitutional amendments were reportedly approved on Saturday in a joint session of the bicameral federal parliament in the capital, Mogadishu.
