Puntland and Somaliland could be considered as the two only attempts to rebuild a State in Somalia without major involvement of external actors. At least, this is the dominant view, though not shared by the author. Beyond the discussion on this important point, both trajectories illustrate a strategic difference in the way "a Somali State" should be rebuilt. This debate was very apparent in all discussions related to federalism and it has been summed up in the confrontation of two terms: u dhashay versus ku dhashay. The first one refers to people who belong to the clan that claims the ownership of the region. The second refers, on the contrary, to people who are born in the region, without any specific conditions on their clan origin...