by DAVID AXE
Most Somali pirates are based in Puntland, an autonomous region in Somalia’s north. While many Puntland officials are in the pay of the bigger pirate groups, the region still makes half-hearted efforts to suppress sea banditry. In October last year, Puntland troops raided and freed a hijacked ship. In August, Puntland and the Republic of Somalia signed an accord allowing Somali navy troops to operate in Puntland. Meanwhile, to bolster its own navy, Puntland shuffled around some of its security forces. The government “immediately brought [a] combination of soldiers from the dervish and the police, to act as [a] marine force,” said Mohammed Farah Adan, the fisheries minister.
But some of these soldiers and police up and joined the pirates, former Puntland president Ade Moses Hirsi alleged. Adan denied that ever happened, but admitted that the soldiers and cops made poor pirate-fighters. “Eventually we came to understand that they could not work properly, and took them back to their former places,” Adan said.
It’s not clear what Puntland will do to replace the canned navy troopers.
(Photo: via Armybase.us)
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[...] Related: Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force Survivor Describes Mogadishu Hotel Bombing Mogadishu Hotel Bombing Claims Reporters, Officials World Politics Review: Somali Islamists Reject U.N Food Aid Kidnapped Somali Journos, Freed Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission Targets Seafarers’ Hearts and Minds No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] A.U. Air Defenders Could Block Eritrean Arms Maritime, Air Roles for A.U. Peacekeepers in Somalia Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission [...]
[...] A.U. Air Defenders Could Block Eritrean Arms Maritime, Air Roles for A.U. Peacekeepers in Somalia Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission [...]
[...] A.U. Air Defenders Could Block Eritrean Arms Maritime, Air Roles for A.U. Peacekeepers in Somalia Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission [...]