The Puntland administration has declared that it will not rejoin the National Consultative Council (NCC), arguing that the platform has failed to resolve the ongoing political disputes. The state minister for the Presidency of Puntland, Abdifitah Abdinuur, emphasized the need for a broader and more inclusive national dialogue—one that extends beyond the Federal Government and the federal member states.
In an interview with the BBC, Minister Abdifitah Abdinuur stated that the political disagreements require genuine consensus-building and criticized the current structure of the Consultative Council.
“Puntland withdrew from the Forum in December 2022 due to irreconcilable differences in how the Somali leadership was approaching the state-building process. There’s no value in returning to a platform we left behind without first achieving mutual understanding,” he said.
He further pointed out that the current format of the forum cannot deliver solutions to Somalia’s deep-rooted political challenges and called for a broader national dialogue that includes voices from all segments of Somali society.
Puntland is urging that any upcoming Consultative Forum—such as the one scheduled to take place in Mogadishu—should address key issues raised by both Puntland and the international community. These include matters of national security and the need for an inclusive political roadmap leading up to the elections.
Nonetheless, the Federal Government of Somalia plans to convene the next NCC meeting in Mogadishu on the 5th of this month, a gathering from which Puntland and Jubbaland are expected to be absent.
