NY times Puntland’s last president, Mohamud Muse Hirsi, was a former warlord widely suspected of collaborating with pirates and voted out of office in January. The new president, Mr. Abdirahman, is a technocrat who had been living in Australia and came back with many Western-educated advisers — and an ambition to be Somalia’s first leader to do something substantive about piracy. He formed an antipiracy commission and even issued a “First 100 Days” report. This article was written by assistance of Garoweonline (look at the video) it is favoring their Father who's sons are the owner of the site. They are now writing a book "the pirates of Puntland". I guarantee you 100% that it will bash the former admin, it will blame numerous people and just like this article it will paint their father in a good light. Even though the Pirate base is in their province, Faroole was born in Eyl, THE SON ACTUALLY MEETS WITH THESE CRIMINALS AND HAS CONNECTIONS WITH THEM. I can't believe the presidents son would actually bring a reporter to meet with a internationally wanted criminal. It's one thing if he was doing the interview behind bars, but this is UNREAL. My guess is that he wanted to be the one to bring the reporter to the criminal rather then someone else. He wanted to translate to so he can edit the responses. He definitely didn't want the pirate to reveal too much. I see these outrage when the PIS does an operation from certain people or when the previous government signed deals. But silence when these haram acts are taking place.

Mintid Farayar Like I told you last week, the world will slowly realize the only path out of the Somali quagmire. I heard you say it last week and I ask you last week, can you PLEASE. tell me the "only" path. I'd like to hear it.

Times Online Boyah is a pirate. One of the original “Old Boys”, he quietly pursued his trade in the waters of his coastal home town of Eyl, years before it galvanised the world's imagination as Somalia's infamous “pirate haven”. Boyah is dismissive of the recent poseurs, the headline-grabbers who have bathed in the international media spotlight and it shows; he exudes a self-assured superiority. Pirates are easy to spot on the streets of Garowe, the regional capital: their Toyota 4x4s cluster around equally new white-washed mansions on the edge of town. But to approach them, I am warned, is to invite kidnapping or robbery. In Somalia, everything is done through connections, be they clan, family, or friend, and Mohamed, my interpreter, was on and off the phone for almost a week to coax his network into producing Boyah. Our meeting takes place at a virtually deserted farm 15km outside Garowe. Mohamed is the son of the newly elected president of Puntland and does not want to be seen in public cavorting with pirates. Moreover, Boyah has recently contracted tuberculosis and Mohamed insists that we meet him in an open space. As we step out of our vehicles, I catch my first glimpse of Boyah. Immensely tall and disconcertingly menacing, he is wearing a ma'awis, the traditional robe of a clan elder, and a cimaamad, a decorative shawl. On his feet is a pair of shiny onyx leather sandals. He weaves his way around the tomato plants and lemon trees, before settling in a shady clearing, where he squats down. Other than the farm's owners, there is no one near by, yet the two AK-47-toting police escorts, who accompany me wherever I go, stand guard with an amusing military officiousness. Asking my first question through my interpreter, I hesitate to use the word “pirate”. Somali pirates are aware enough of themselves in the international media that the word has become part of their vernacular but its closest Somali translation is burcad badeed, which means “ocean robber”, a political statement I am anxious to avoid. Boyah likes to refer to him and his comades as badaadinta badah, “saviours of the sea”, a term that is most often translated in the English-speaking media as “coastguard”. Boyah jokes that he is the “Chief of the Coastguard”, a title he evokes with pride. To him, his actions have been about protecting his sea; his hijackings, a legitimate form of taxation levied in abstentia on behalf of a defunct government that he represents in spirit, if not in law. His story is typical of many who have turned to piracy since the onset of the civil war. Fourteen years ago, he was still working as a lobster diver in Eyl - “one of the best”, he says. Since then, according to Boyah, these reefs off Eyl have been devastated by foreign fishing fleets - mostly Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean - using steel-pronged dragnets. He says that there are no longer lobsters to be found locally, a claim partially corroborated by a 2005 UN Development Project report into the depletion of local stocks. From 1995 to 1997, Boyah and others captured three foreign fishing vessels, keeping the catch and ransoming the crew. He boasts that he received an $800,000 bounty for one ship. When the foreign fishing fleets entered into protection contracts with local warlords, making armed guards and anti-aircraft guns fixtures on ships, Boyah and his men went after commercial shipping vessels instead. Boyah says that there are about 500 pirates operating in the area, over whom he serves as “chairman”. Eyl's pirate groups function as a loose confederation, and Boyah is a key organiser, recruiter, financier and mission commander, rather than a traditional crime boss, but he claims that all applicants for the position of Pirate (Eyl Division) must come to him. Boyah's sole criteria for a recruit are that he has to own a gun, and that he must “[be] a hero, and accept death” - qualities that grace the CVs of many local youth. Turnover in Boyah's core group is low; when I ask if his men ever use their new-found wealth to leave Somalia, he laughs: “The only way they leave is when they die.” He adds that a member of his band departed last night, dying in his sleep of undisclosed reasons. When it comes to targets, Boyah's standards are not very exacting. He says that his men go after any ship that wanders into their sights. He separates his prey into “commercial” and “tourist” ships. The commercial ships, identifiable by the cranes on their decks, are slower and easier to capture. Boyah has gone after too many of these to remember. He claims to employ different tactics for different ships, but the basic strategy is that several skiffs will approach from all sides, swarming like a waterborne wolfpack. If brandishing their weapons fails to frighten the ship's crew into stopping, they fire into the air. If that doesn't do it, and if the target ship is incapable of outperforming the 85 to 150 horsepower engines on their skiffs, they pull alongside their target, toss hooked rope ladders on to the decks and board the ship. Resistance is rare. Boyah guesses that 20 to 30 per cent of attempted hijackings succeed. Speedy prey, technical problems, and foreign naval or domestic coastguard intervention account for the high rate of failure. Captured ships are steered to Eyl, where guards and interpreters are brought to look after the hostages during the ransom negotiation. Once secured, the money - often routed through banks in London and Dubai and parachuted directly on to the deck of the ship - is split: half goes to the hijackers, a third to the investors who fronted cash for the ships and weapons, and 20 per cent to everyone else, from the guards to the translators (occasionally high school students on a summer break). Some money is also given as charity to the local poor; such largesse, Boyah tells me, has turned his merry band into Robin Hood figures. When I ask where his men have obtained their training, he pithily responds that it comes “from famine”. This isn't the whole truth. Beginning in 1999, the government of Puntland launched a series of ill-fated attempts to establish an (official) regional Coastguard, efforts that each time ended with the dissolution of the contracting company and the dismissal of its employees. The new generation of Somali pirates - better trained, more efficiently organised and possessing superior equipment - can be traced in part to these failed experiments. When pressed, Boyah confirms that some of his men are former coastguard recruits, and he reveals another detail of the interwoven dynamic between pirates, coastguards and fishermen. He claims that the Puntland Coastguard of the late 1990s and early 2000s worked as a private militia for the protection of commercial trawlers in possession of official “fishing licences”, alienating local fishermen. Sometimes the situation escalated into confrontation and Boyah recounts that in 2001 his men seized several fishing vessels “licensed” by President Abdullahi Yusuf and protected by his coastguard force. Almost a decade before the rise in pirate hijackings hit the Gulf of Aden, the conditions for the coming storm were already recognisable. Boyah's moral compass, like his body, seems to be split between sea and shore. “We're not murderers,” he says, “we've never killed anyone.” He warns me, half-jokingly, not to run into him in a boat, but assures me that he is quite harmless on land. He insists that he is not a criminal but that he knows what he is doing is wrong. Boyah hasn't been on a mission for more than two months, for which he has a two-pronged explanation: “I got sick and became rich.” He has called for an end to hijackings albeit from a position of luxury that most do not enjoy. I ask him whether his ceasefire was motivated by the recent deployment to the region of a Nato task force. “No,” he says, “it has nothing to do with that. It's a moral issue. We realised that we didn't have public support.” That support, according to Boyah, took a plunge last summer when a delegation of clan and religious leaders visited Eyl and declared that dealing with pirates is haram - religiously forbidden. Nato deliberations regarding possible missile strikes on Eyl, though, do not worry Boyah: “Only civilians live there, it would be illegal for them to attack. If they do...that's OK. We believe in God. Force alone cannot stop us,” he says vehemently, “we don't care about death.” Throughout our interview, Boyah has looked uninterested but when I ask him to recount his most exhilarating raid, he brightens up, launching into the story of the Golden Nori. In October 2007, he captured the Japanese chemical tanker about eight nautical miles off the northern Somali coast, only to be surrounded by the US Navy. Boyah recalls seven naval vessels encircling him. He recites by rote the identification numbers marking the sides of four of the vessels: 41, 56, 76, and 78 (the last being the destroyer USS Porter). Fortunately for them, the Golden Nori was carrying volatile chemicals, including the extremely flammable compound benzene. The stand-off dragged on for months and he claims that they “almost abandoned the ship so we wouldn't start eating the crew”. Eventually, Boyah ordered the ship into the harbour at Bosasso, Puntland's big port and most populous city. In case the Nori's explosive cargo proved an insufficient deterrent, Boyah added the defensive screen provided by the presence of the city's civilian population. His perseverance paid off. After extensive negotiations, a ransom of $1.5million was secured for the ship and its crew. The US military guaranteed Boyah and his team safe passage off the hijacked ship and Puntland's security forces could only watch as US gunships escorted the pirate skiffs to land and allowed them to disembark. Why did he and his men trust the Americans? “Because that was the agreement,” Boyah says. But I already know the real answer. Like many Western nations, the Americans wouldn't have known what to do with Boyah and his men if they had captured them. According to international law - to the extent that international law has any meaning in an utterly failed state - the Americans were not even supposed to be in Somali territorial waters. The Golden Nori hijacking took place before the international community had become aware of the piracy problem, when foreign navies tended to give them a slap on the wrist. More recently, concerned states have begun to use the international legal instruments available - particularly a UN Security Council Resolution allowing entry into Somali waters - more rigorously. Foreign warships are increasingly excluding, detaining and rendering suspected pirates to neighbouring countries to face justice. In April 2008, Boyah's gang seized a French luxury yacht on route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean - what he refers to as a “tourist” ship. Boyah calls it the “Libant,” a clumsy fusion of its French name, Le Ponant. After delivering a ransom and freeing the hostages, French helicopters tracked the pirates to the village of Jariban. On the orders of President Sarkozy, French commandos laun ched “Operation Thalathine”: Special Forces snipers disabled the pirates' getaway vehicle and captured six men, later flying them to Paris to face trial. Such a determined pursuit was once a rarity but that incident, along with US use of navy SEAL snipers to kill pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage this week, illustrates that the international community is now taking piracy more seriously. But a military solution alone is incapable of completely eradicating piracy off the Somali coast-certainly not one which is economically or politically feasible. Boyah's men have been captured or killed with increasing frequency (his brother is sitting in a local prison), yet imprisoning them is almost useless: for each pirate captured, there are dozens of young men desperate to replace them. If there is a solution to the problem, it lies in economic principles: the cost-benefit analysis for these men must be shifted from piracy to more legitimate pursuits. Naval battle fleets can do their part to boost the “cost” side, but without the “benefit” of meaningful occupations on land, there will be no permanent resolution. Boyah may have accumulated a small fortune, but how long his current state of affluence will last is unclear - he announces with pride how he has given his money away to his friends, to the poor and how he didn't build a house or a hotel like many of his more parsimonious co-workers. When asked about his future plans, Boyah is evasive. “That is up to the international community,” he says, “they need to solve the problem of illegal fishing, the root of our troubles. We are waiting for action.” Jay Bahadur is working on a book The Pirates of Puntland, with news agency Garowe Online (garoweonline.com). E-mail: piratesofpuntland@gm ail.com

So there were no reports of fighting this heavy and violent the whole time President Sharif is president and amisom is here. But it just happens to start right after Hassan Aweys comes to mogadishu and people start dying at a huge rate. Unlike President Sharif, hassan aweys is not very educated so he resorts to fighting. He is the worst person in Somalia and must have been sent by eritrea to cause trouble.

Hassan Dahir and his ability to destroy amazes me. This man come to the capital right after President Sharif is offered a over 200 mil in aid and almost immediately people start to die and war breaks out.

Galkacayo is longer a Puntland city per say. I am almost certain you have never been to Puntland or any of the cities you have mention. RIDICULOUS. Have you? Be honest. To say Galkacayo is no longer a Puntland city or that Garowe is a village, tells me there is no way you have ever been there. Forget websites, i've probably been to Puntland more then anyone here, and I can tell you, it is growing at unbelievable rates. BOSASOO HAS GROWN ENORMOUSLY FROM WHEN I FIRST WENT THERE. If Lascaanod was gone for good, I think Riyaale would have visited it by now. Don't talk about places you have never even been to.

Don't you think you should be focusing more on trying to hold elections? That you have never been able to hand over power peaceful doesn't concern you?

How's your elections coming along? Weren't they suppose to happen in May? Or pushed back again?

You are writing about aiports that were built decades ago by a fully functional internationally recognized government. Hargeysa and Mogadishu was built by Siad's government and by finicial aid from numerous countries. Somalia was given like over 300 mil in military aide alone. Bosasso is trying to build it's own airport on its own, the most ambitious development project that we've probably seen since the civil war. You're speaking of infrastructure that was built ages ago. Mogadishu the capital and Hargeysa the second capital got practically all the funding. Lets talk about the present. Bosasso project has hit many snags, but insha'Allah it will be completed

I think you might have wanted to omit that picture, it's ridiculous. Where is everyone?

Can you show me on allpuntlands website where this article is? I'm having trouble finding it, thanks.

Well, little by little, one solution will manifest itself as the only possible solution to the Somali quagmire! What is it exactly?

’Next time I will carry a gun.’ - .. . Now Kantner has returned successfully to Somaliland, travelled to Berbera, and spends his days rebuilding his yacht, on the other side of the pier from the Somaliland coastguard base, seemingly safe from pirate attack. He has, however, little belief in the effectiveness of the coastguards. 'They put on a Mickey Mouse show,' he said, dismissing them with a wave of the hand. 'They will never catch a thing.' HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA LOL. Never catch a thing? But they like to announce that they do, and then they present 3 or 4 guys with the arms and ankles tied up.

recently, I ran into a friend of mine at a coffee shop. I always wondered what those guys sitting at the coffee shops were talking about.

Hmm, guess we got differing opinions on failed state!! Having the exact same leader either as pres of vice for over a decade. Who continuously pushes the elections back and even though you claim to have been oppressed by Siad's regime, your current leader was head of the secret police!!! I'd say that's a failed state!

Right now, I, Mintid, am your best friend I keep telling you 'the Puntland boat is in trouble'! Unfortunately, you're getting worked up instead of thanking me for the free advice. Thanks for the concern and the free advice. Let me repay the favor. As terrible as piracy is, it has exposed many of Somalia's problems. This is a reason why many young men get into this criminal activity. People are paying attention to it and are now finally realizing that Somalia can't be ignored. The attention piracy has brought might be the only benefit. So if the Puntland boat is in trouble, it might end up positively. My advice to you is to focus on the Somaliland boat that is in extreme trouble. Somaliland was known for it relative peace and was fighting for recognition. It claimed to be a democracy that held free and fair elections. It has never had a peaceful transition of power by vote. Being able to change leadership peacefully would have really helped its cause. Your leadership has on more then one occasion cancelled the election in fear of losing. Canceling elections would be unacceptable in any democracy, especially doing it more then once. There is no way you can even expect your cause to be taken seriously now; your current leader has completely thrown it away. My advice, holding democratic elections is essential in helping your cause, the damage seems to be permanent though, but focus on getting back on track and demonstrating you can change leadership peacefully.

Mr. Amputee needs to really show that his administration is not a collaborator by: 1. Raiding the Pirates hide outs 2. Distrubting the Pirate organisations (be it Xawala money transfers, transportation, communication, cars etc etc 3. Confescating the known Pirates's properties and richies 4. Bringing to justice the bigwigs and the rank/file pirates including the government ministers and police who collaborate. All we need from them is to stop paying ransom, arm ships if you must or raid them. Nothing can be done while the pirates make more then the government does, who don't have to worry about running a state. The U.S has a stict policy of not negotiating with kidnappers, other nations must adopt this!!! I don't understand why this thread was started, you tribal state of somaliland no longer has elections. It claimed to be the only democracy which was thrown out the window. Obviously Riyaale doesn't have what it takes to realize your goal and has done nothing to further the cause. Yet you focus on Puntland? If you put more time and effort into regaining your elections, it might help your cause.

The head of the UN has already said it himself, that he believed Puntland gov't officials were link to Piracy. This is nothing new, everyone knows that the UN and other parties believe this. However when the Puntland government asks for evidence or names of individuals involved in Piracy, they are never given anything. What are you trying to say, if the UN says something then it must be the truth? Well the UN also doesn't recognize the tribal state you hail from Somaliland, but you seem to disagree with them. Puntland which is a state within Somalia attended the meeting with the Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid, it's a matter of protocol to give the Federal gov't the money, who will then spread it throughout the country. President Sharif was promised 250million, a portion of which will go to Puntland insha'Allah other regions like Somaliland. Stop with the nonesense that Puntland was promised no money, the money goes through the Federal government and we all now how much they were promised. The Puntland government can not allow these allegations from the UN to spread, they need to demand evidence. Names of people and evidence so they can be investigated. They need to push the fact that it is the paying of ransom that fuels the piracy.

Puntlandpost Garoowe: Soo Dhawaynta M.wayne C/raxmaan maxay kaga duwan tahay sidii loo so dhawayn jiray M.waynayaashii ka horeeyay

It is strange that Eyl is the only base in Puntland, you'd think that towns in bari and mudug would also have bases that started competing with Eyl, but you don't. Only Eyl, Nugaal has set up a pirate haven where the majority of ships are being held close to, bring them supplies and other things. When I was there I never heard of any other pirate area from people then Eyl. President Faroole being from there should be able to close it down without force. And not allow that activity to take place there like other provinces have. You'd think that places like bari that is so much bigger then nugaal would have bases but it doesn't. Enough is enough, forces need to be sent there and shut down if negotiations don't work. Lets see them try and move to somewhere else.

These guys are not the coast guard, I've seen these young criminals driving around in their convoy's of SUV's in Garoowe dressed in their nice clothing. They would get drunk and night and start shooting in the air, rumour was that they were fighting over the girls they bring over from Hargeysa and Addis. They made more money in a few months then they would have ever make in their entire lives, but it's like a disease they always want to go back for more and can't stop. The best way I can describe them is like drug dealers over in the west. Even though they have money and the cars, the majority of people look down on them and see them a criminal failures. Who are not doing it to help anyone but themselves. They might have young highschool wanna be kids who look up to them, but no one wants to be around them. They are definitely not respected. I never met one person that though what the pirates were doing was a good thing, or that they thought the Pirates were defending the coast, most people spoke negatively about them and would never be friends with them. The Pirates are alcoholics and addicted to drugs. If you don't believe me, make a trip and you'll see.

I didn't realize his english was that good. I heard he can speak somali to. An educated man indeed.

I don't like how the Somali governemnt and Puntland admin are staying quiet about the piracy and not taking control of the media and showing what they are doing to fight piracy. Every news website and every new agency is talking about pirates right now and always mention how it has no government and is lawless. When in fact the jails are full of pirates and there has been ships freed by force. Every time I turn on the t.v the news mentions the pirates as a top story. Having all these experts speaking against it. But i'm not seeing any somali/puntland government officials countering claims that nothing is being done and that things are in fact not lawless and there is a government. I'm sure things are definitely being done behind the scenes however they must focus on diplomacy and foreign relations.

Something that was on a Canadian national news station, some interesting information and powerful images. I am not justify these pirate criminals, they just hijacked a small ship with a young couple and baby,the go to another nations waters and hijack ships. They are by no means interested in protecting the ocean, but to make an enormous amount of money. I guess those that have prayed upon our shores for so long are now the ones being prayed upon. Video

As for your comments they make no sense The PIS is an organ of the state, thus why are you defending it? I'm going by what the president said! "Puntland security is the responsibility of security forces paid by the Puntland government. There are other security agencies, who are paid from elsewhere," President Farole added ambiguously. The PIS has secretive ties to Western intelligence agencies, especially the American CIA, with widespread reports indicating that PIS soldiers are paid, trained and equipped by the CIA. President Faroole made this comment! that there are other security agenices who are paid from else where! Garoweonline says that the American CIA is said to pay, train and equipt the PIS. The vice President even said he was not notified of the arrest before hand, so how are they an organ of the state? This isn't me saying this! I'm quoting the President and Garoweonline! Unless President Faroole is shifting blame somewhere else which I doubt, It's clear what he is saying and that the PIS are doing their own thing. Speaking of getting rid of the PIS is impossible! Even suggesting that is ridiculous. This article which was done by Garoweonline(like I said is run by the President Sons) should make it clear the difficulty in touching the PIS.