Alula, also spelled Aluula, is a coastal town in the northeastern Bari region and is part of the autonomous state of Puntland, on the coast of the Guardafui Channel. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it served as the main capital of the Majeerteen Sultanate. It is ten miles east of Ras Filuk and 100 nautical miles from Bosaso.

Puntland, officially the Puntland State of Somalia, is a Federal Member State in northeastern Somalia. The capital city is the city of Garoowe in the Nugal region, and its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland had a population of 4,334,633 in 2016. Geographically to the west, Puntland lays claim to the intra-46th meridian territories that were outside European colonial rule during parts of the Scramble for Africa period.