The semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland has announced that it will seek direct cooperation with the international community, arguing that the mandate of Somalia’s federal institutions has expired.
In a statement issued after a cabinet meeting in the Puntland capital, Garowe, the regional administration said the terms of Somalia’s president and parliament had ended under provisions of the country’s provisional constitution.
The meeting, chaired by Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni on 21 May, focused on what officials described as the deteriorating political and security situation in Somalia.
Puntland authorities stated that, according to Article 91 of Somalia’s Interim Federal Constitution, the mandate of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud expired on 15 May 2026. The administration said it therefore considered him a “former president” without constitutional authority to continue exercising presidential powers.
The regional government also argued that the mandates of both houses of Somalia’s federal parliament ended on 14 April 2026 under Article 60 of the constitution, declaring that the federal legislature no longer holds legal legitimacy.
Puntland said it supported a declaration issued earlier this month by the “Somali Future Council” in Mogadishu, which similarly claimed that the mandates of the president and parliament had expired.
In the statement, Puntland accused the federal government of interfering in state-level elections and undermining the constitutional authority of federal member states. It also questioned the legitimacy of the body overseeing Somalia’s federal electoral process, saying it lacked constitutional authority under the 2012 provisional agreement.
As a result, Puntland called on international organisations and donor countries to work directly with the Puntland administration during what it described as a “transitional period” for Somalia’s federal institutions.
“The constitutional institutions of the Federal Government have entered a transitional period,” the statement said, urging “limited cooperation” with federal authorities until new institutions are formed through an agreed electoral process.
The Puntland administration also accused former President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of intimidation, arrests and the displacement of civilians in Mogadishu.
The announcement marks a significant escalation in tensions between Puntland and Somalia’s federal government, amid longstanding disputes over constitutional powers, elections and the balance of authority between Mogadishu and regional administrations.
Puntland, which declared itself an autonomous state in 1998, has traditionally maintained cooperative — though often strained — relations with Somalia’s central government while advocating for a federal system with strong regional autonomy.
The federal government in Mogadishu has not yet publicly responded to Puntland’s latest declaration.
