Godobjiran | |
|---|---|
District of Puntland | |
  Godobjiran Location in Puntland (Somalia). | |
| Coordinates: 7°30′43″N 49°24′46″E / 7.51194°N 49.41278°E | |
| Federal State within Somalia |  Puntland |
| Region | Nugal |
| Capital | Godobjiran |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (EAT) |
Godobjiran District (Somali: Degmada Godobjiran) is a district in the northeastern Nugal region of Puntland, a state with a high degree of autonomy within the Federal Republic of Somalia. The district capital is Godobjiran. Godobjiran's district status is only used and valid in Puntland, but not in Somalia's federal administrative system, where Godobjiran is a village in the Jariban District in the Mudug Region in Puntland.
Created by the Puntland government, Godobjiran District was confirmed in Article 2 of "Law Nr. 04 of 15 August 2023 concerning the amendment of the Law on the Election of Local Councils of the Government of Puntland" (Sharci Lr. 03 ee 15-ka Agoosto 2023, kuna saabsan wax-ka-bedelka Sharciga Doorashooyinka Goleyaasha Deegaanka Dowladda Puntland).[1]
Godobjiran is a status "C" district, which means its Council has 21 members.
Article 120(3) of the Puntland Constitution confers upon the government the responsibility to demarcate the boundaries of the regions and districts of Puntland.[2] An attempt at demarcation was made in 2022 but contained many errors and the demarcation method chosen made it impossible to convert the data into maps.[3] As a result, there are no authoritative maps of the Puntland districts, and apart from the district capitals it often remains unclear in which district a certain village lies or which districts share borders. As the districts also function as electoral districts, this provides a measure of flexibility. But the lack of clarity make Puntlands administrative divisions an unusable tool for the national Somali government or for outside entities. The UN, for instance, still use the old administrative divisions of Somalia. So does Wikipedia.[4]
- ^ See Law Nr. 04 of 15 August 2023 hier.
- ^ See the 2023 Constitution of Puntland here.
- ^ See here: "Akhriso soohdimaha Degmooyinka iyo Gobolada Puntland ee ay gudbisay xukuumadda Deni". The district boundaries in this list are not provided by means of geographical coördinates but by naming 828 villages and giving the direction and distance from each village to its district capital. Some of the errors in this list (that was drafted in preparation of local elections) are thought to be deliberate, some the result of ignorance. In Somali Facebook discussions the list was ridiculed, see eg. here. An example of an error: The list informs that from the village Xamxamaa it is 15 km in a northern direction to the district capital Ufayn, in Bari. In reality Ufayn is 288 km north of Xamxamaa and Xamxamaa is not even located in Bari but in Nugal. See entry No. 33 in the list under "Bari".
- ^ Although Wikipedia of course mentions the Puntland districts as encyclopedic items.