The unusual case of the breakaway state of ‘Puntland’
Discover the unusual 'national' story of Puntland, a breakaway state in the Horn of Africa.
My Borderlines newsletter continues.
In the last two weeks, I’ve explored the world’s oldest borders. Those that no longer exist, but shaped the world we live in. And those lingering on in the form of national divides to this day. This week, I’m skipping forward centuries to the modern era. From here on in, I’ll be regularly highlighting ‘geopolitical oddities’ found within the boundaries of modern nation-states.
Today, I’m looking at the unusual case of ‘Puntland’, a semi-autonomous region and breakaway statelet I didn’t even know existed until I started writing this newsletter. You see, Puntland, a little-known region of Somalia, has largely flown under the radar until Donald Trump (who else?) began spouting his antagonistic and criminally depraved plans to replace the long-suffering people of Gaza with hotels and resorts.
I’m currently in Jordan, where some 25 per cent of the population is of Palestinian descent, so it’s an issue I’m taking a keen interest in. But before I explain how Puntland is linked to Gaza, some of you may be wondering, ‘Where on earth is Puntland’, and what exactly is ‘Puntland’?
Let me explain.
Where and what is ‘Puntland’?
Somalia is hardly the picture of stability (an understatement, I know). The East African nation, bordered by Kenya and Ethiopia, is, unfortunately, best known either for its piratical undertakings or its starring role in Black Hawk Down (which, as an aside, a recent Netflix documentary sheds a surprisingly unbiased light on the Somalian side of 1993’s Battle of Mogadishu, rather than simply portraying the Americans as heroes).
Somalia’s internal instability has fractured the nation. In the northwest, Somaliland declared its independence in 1991. Despite being a beacon of African democracy and a long-standing haven for travellers (at least compared to places like Mogadishu), Somaliland has never received international recognition. It remains a breakaway territory, despite functioning as a de facto independent nation.
Lesser known than Somlialand is its eastern neighbour, Puntland, a swathe of territory occupying the northern tip of the Horn of Africa on the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Ocean. Officially a federal member state of Somalia, unofficially, Puntland is another breakaway nation with de facto independence.
A brief history of Puntland
Puntland’s history stretches back millennia. The Ancient Egyptians recorded battles and trade with the ‘Land of Punt’, a rival kingdom thought to have existed somewhere around what’s now modern-day Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia. Fast forward, and the Italians colonised Puntland during the Scramble for Africa, before the region merged with British Somaliland in 1960 to form the independent nation of Somalia.
This patchwork nation, defined by colonial boundaries, fell apart in the 1990s. While Somaliland declared outright independence, in 1998, Puntland declared itself to be an autonomous state within Somalia. The BBC describes this political manoeuvring as an effort “...to avoid the clan warfare engulfing southern Somalia”, and Puntland quickly became a safe destination for refugees fleeing the brutal conflicts elsewhere in the country.
Autonomy allowed Puntland to establish its own government, elect a president and council of ministers and build a legislative assembly. Puntland formed an army, and its military has helped hold back militant Islamist groups like Al-Shabaab and ISIS. With all the trappings of a nation-state, it was only a matter of time before Puntland reached out for its ultimate goal of independence.
In March 2024, they took their chance. With a constitutional crisis causing chaos in Somalia, Reuters reported how Puntland’s councils of ministers declared that "Puntland will act independently until there is a federal government with a constitution that is agreed upon by a referendum in which Puntland takes part.” In other words, a de facto declaration of independence.
Puntland and Gaza
Less than a year later, Puntland piqued my curiosity when it was reported by The Telegraph that Donald Trump had informed the Israeli government that Gazans could be resettled in Morocco, Somaliland and Puntland. Trump had picked two breakaway territories, and a sovereign nation with a breakaway territory (Morocco’s Western Sahara), to advance the heinous ethnic cleansing campaign against Gazans. The Israelis jumped at the idea.
As usual, Trump had not even consulted the territories in question where he planned to send the Palestinians he wanted to displace to build his hotels. Luckily, a few Middle Eastern and North African news agencies have. Daily News Egypt spoke to Mohamed Mubarak, head of Puntland’s security coordination office, for example. He told the news organisation in simple, categorial terms, that they weren’t playing along: “We have not been informed, consulted, or presented with the said plan. So, it does not concern us,” said Mubarak.
Tellingly, Somalia’s central government said nothing about Trump’s plans, giving slight recognition to both Puntland and Somaliand’s de facto independence.
Puntland and Somalia are hardly safe havens for refugees, even if they somehow went willingly (which they would never). The Horn of Africa is fraught with its own tensions, despite its functioning democracies. Somaliland and Puntland have an ongoing territorial dispute, while Puntland is effectively at war with Islamist militant groups (on 11th February 2025, Voice of America reported hundreds killed in a clash between Puntland’s military forces and ISIS).
What makes a nation? Is it a government, a flag, a president? Puntland has all these things. International recognition remains elusive, but international recognition could help the fledgling nation create a stable country and bring stability to a conflicted region. But of course, I doubt politicians like Trump want any of that. Not when he needs somewhere to displace people.
Borders in world news
Here’s a roundup of how borders are being shaped, closed or reopened across the world:
North Korea’s borders have finally reopened (a little bit)
The first Western tourists arrived in North Korea five years after the hermit nation closed its borders during the pandemic.
Travellers can now visit Rason, a city in the northeast near the borders of China and Russia. This Special Economic Zone is North Korea's experiment with capitalism and currently offers the only insight into the closed-off country. Two tour companies (Young Pioneer Tours and Koryo Tours) crossed the border last week.
Standard tours (I visited on one of these way back in 2016) to destinations like Pyongyang and the DMZ are still yet to resume.
CNN Travel ran a great piece on how one American was so intrigued by North Korea he got a second passport (US citizens are banned from visiting) so he could continue travelling to the DPRK.
England’s smallest county could disappear!
Rutland, a tiny piece of countryside in the East Midlands, could disappear. This is officially England's smallest county, and time and time again, the government has threatened to merge Rutland with surrounding administrative regions.
Local history is revered in Rutland, and their sense of independence never wanes, however. Rutlanders have previously defined all efforts to redraw their borders, and are defying the latest plans too. The BBC reported how locals '‘Don’t want to lose our identity in Rutland”, meaning Rutlanders will fight these latest boundary changes wholeheartedly.
It would be a sad day when England's smallest county and one of the last holdouts of a centuries-old shire system is lost.
Iranian couple kidnapped in Iran
Sometimes I do heed travel advisories. One of those travel advisories I've stuck to is Iran, which Britain's FCDO advises against all travel to for Brits (it's red on the map).
As much as I'd love to visit Iran and see what it's really like, the government have a history of detaining Brits, due to ongoing political tensions. As a journalist, I'd felt I would be in more danger than most. However, that distinction seems loose too, because in January 2025, a British couple motorcycling in Iran were detained by security forces. Last week, they were charged with espionage.
I really hope there's a resolution to this one. The couple in question were simply travelling the world working on a project where they documented the shared positives that cross boundaries. Brits should certainly think twice about visiting Iran any time soon.
Where am I now?
I’m far from Puntland, but closer to Gaza than I’ve perhaps ever been. I’m still in Jordan, but there’s no chance I can cross the border fences and traverse the checkpoints separating this Middle Eastern nation from its Gazan and West Bank neighbours. I’ve been travelling across Jordan, meeting countless Jordanians of Palestinian descent who’ve never seen their homeland, and likely can never return, even for fleeting visits. It’s certainly opened my eyes to an issue that politicians like Trump talk so frivolously of; that of displacing entire peoples.
On a lighter note, I’ve also been following the old Hejaz Railway through the deserts, south from Amman to Wadi Rum. This epic work of Ottoman engineering was intended to unite the Middle East, with rail lines constructed at the turn of the 20th century connecting Damascus to Medina. The Ottoman Empire fell, borders were redrawn, and the railway in large parts was severed by new lines in the sand. Parts have remained though, and until the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2014, you could travel by train from Damascus to Amman.
Now I’ve heard grand plans are afoot to revive this line, since Bashar-al Assad was ousted by Syrian rebels in December 2024. The Turkish government are also hoping to build new lines all the way to Istanbul, completing the Hejaz Railway project started over a century ago. Whether this plan comes to fruition or not, we can but wait and see. But what a dream journey that would be!
Tour of the week
Omar is a humble guy. He’s of Palestinian descent, and his story is moving. I won’t tell you too much, but he founded the company 3JExpeditions in his adopted city of Amman, where he leads politically charged food tours around the Jordanian capital.
If you find yourself in Jordan, I implore you to book a tour with his company. You’ll enjoy some of the country’s best falafel and hummus. You’ll not only leave with a full stomach, but a greater understanding of Amman’s diverse roots and the role played by Palestinians, Egyptians, Chechens, and myriad other peoples in the city to this day.
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