Puntland President Visits Drought-Hit Dhinowda Amid Territorial Dispute

GOOBJOOG NEWS | GALKAYO: Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni has visited the Dhinowda area in eastern Mudug, where drought, climate change and advancing sand have placed growing pressure on communities and livestock.

Deni’s visit comes as residents face worsening environmental conditions, with large areas reportedly covered by sand and pastoral livelihoods increasingly affected.

The visit, however, has also taken on a political dimension because Dhinowda is among the areas where Puntland has held one-person-one-vote elections.

Officials from Galmudug have reportedly criticised the visit, arguing that Dhinowda falls within Galmudug’s administrative territory, highlighting a longstanding dispute over parts of Mudug between the two regional administrations.

The competing claims add a political layer to an already difficult humanitarian situation in Dhinowda, where climate pressures are affecting access to pasture and threatening livestock-dependent communities.

Deni’s visit therefore brings together two issues that continue to shape politics in central Somalia: the impact of climate change on pastoral communities and unresolved territorial and administrative disputes between Puntland and Galmudug.