http://dissidentnation.com/oil-is-bringing-surprising-unity-back-to-somalia/In Somaliland you will find Genel and Jacka, in Galmudug you will find Liberty Petroleum, and in Puntland you will find Range, Red Emperor, and Horn Petroleum. Off the shores of the recently-formed Jubbaland federal state, you will find Cove and Anadarko digging around where they shouldn’t be. Likewise, there are also disputes between the two more quiet states in the north. Puntland’s most lucrative oil block, covering the Nugaal Valley basin, bleeds into territory claimed by Somaliland and also a smaller, lesser known regional state known as Khatumo.
While all of this is playing out, the Somali federal government based in Mogadishu has thumbed its nose at what it sees as vain attempts at self-determination by politically toothless regional administrations. While oil splits Somalia one way, it unites the country in other ways. This week, the Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is in the Puntland capital of Garowe, which is the center of Somalia’s controversial oil debate. With funds from Qatar and promises of reconstruction from Turkey, the Somali president hopes to smooth relations with his counterpart in Puntland.
The government in Mogadishu has also serves as a peacemaker between the northern administrations, which had been continuously warring since 2003. For the first time in a decade, there is a Somali leader who sits with both parties as both a reconciliatory agent and an overseer.
Somalia’s peace is very crucial for the Arab league, especially rising star Qatar which is a major shareholder in Royal Dutch Shell plc. Former beneficiaries of Gulf investment, like Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt — are all reeling from intense political disruptions and all-out warfare, and states like Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait are looking south now. As North Africa and the Levant continue to burn, there is a surge of optimism in the troubled Horn of Africa.
At the center of all this commotion is Somalia’s controversial oil deals, which garnered massive traction following Puntland’s first exploration wells in over twenty years in January 2012. For months, there has been an uneasy tension between Mogadishu and Garowe, and now the unease is joined by the administrations of Somaliland, Galmudug, and Jubbaland as all parties race to secure bargaining chips in the future Somalia. Amid these hairsplitting confrontations may be space for compromise come the May 7 Conference on Somalia being held in London.
It is without any doubt that the only reason Somali parties speak to each other today wrests entirely on the energy bargaining chips held by the respective parties involved in the ongoing reconciliation process.