Puntland–Federal Government Standoff Deepens Over Military Salaries and Control of Security Forces

Garrowe (WDN) – Mogadishu’s decision to distribute Hormuud payment cards directly to federal troops stationed in Puntland has exposed the continuing political and security confrontation between the two administrations, raising fresh questions about who controls the region’s security forces and how their salaries should be administered.

The Federal Government of Somalia has begun distributing Hormuud telecommunications company payment cards to federal government forces stationed in Puntland, in an apparent effort to bypass Puntland’s administration and ensure that soldiers receive their salaries directly from Mogadishu.

The move follows Puntland’s refusal last month to allow the federal government to channel the troops’ salaries through private commercial banks operating in the state. By distributing the payment cards directly to individual soldiers, Mogadishu appears determined to establish an independent mechanism for paying and maintaining its forces without relying on Puntland’s financial institutions.

The dispute, however, goes beyond the mechanics of salary payments. It reflects a deeper political and security standoff between Mogadishu and Garowe over the presence, authority and future of federal forces operating inside Puntland.

Puntland declared months ago that it had ended the presence of forces under the command of the Federal Government in its territory, making the latest attempt by Mogadishu to maintain direct financial links with those troops particularly sensitive. The distribution of payment cards could therefore be interpreted as an effort by the federal authorities to preserve their influence over military personnel despite Puntland’s objections.

Puntland’s Financial Contradictions Raise Questions

Yet the dispute has generated an uncomfortable question for Puntland’s leadership: why is Garowe resisting Mogadishu’s efforts to pay federal forces directly when Puntland itself has struggled to meet its financial obligations to its own public employees and security personnel?

Puntland’s civil servants have reportedly gone without salaries for a cumulative eight months this year, highlighting the administration’s serious financial difficulties and its inability to maintain a dependable public-sector payroll. The situation is not limited to civilian employees. Members of Puntland’s own security forces have also faced irregular salary payments, with wages frequently delayed and no consistently reliable payment schedule.

This creates an apparent contradiction in Puntland’s position. While the administration has struggled to pay its own civil servants and security personnel regularly, it is simultaneously opposing a federal arrangement intended to ensure that soldiers under Mogadishu’s command receive their salaries directly.

The question, therefore, is whether Puntland’s resistance is primarily about financial administration, political authority or control over the security landscape.

From Garowe’s perspective, allowing Mogadishu to pay federal troops directly could strengthen the federal government’s institutional and military presence inside Puntland. Direct salary payments would preserve the soldiers’ financial dependence on the central government and reinforce their allegiance to the federal chain of command rather than Puntland’s regional administration.

For Mogadishu, however, paying its own forces is a matter of federal authority and responsibility. The Federal Government may argue that it should not need the approval of a regional administration to compensate personnel who formally serve under its command.

A Political Dispute with Security Implications

The confrontation also highlights the unresolved question of security-sector authority in Somalia’s federal system. Although federal and regional governments are expected to cooperate on national security, disagreements over command structures, financing and political jurisdiction continue to undermine that relationship.

The danger is that a disagreement over military salaries could evolve into a broader security confrontation, particularly if federal troops and Puntland security forces find themselves operating under competing political instructions.

Ultimately, the dispute exposes a fundamental weakness in Somalia’s federal arrangements: the absence of a mutually accepted framework governing the deployment, command and financing of security forces across federal member states.

Puntland’s concerns about federal authority may have a political and constitutional dimension, but its opposition becomes harder to defend publicly when its own employees and security personnel are struggling with prolonged and unpredictable salary payments.

The central question is not simply who pays the soldiers, but who commands them, under what constitutional authority, and in whose interests they operate. Until Mogadishu and Garowe reach an agreement on these fundamental issues, even a routine salary payment risks becoming another flashpoint in Somalia’s widening federal political crisis.

WardheerNews