Somalia’s real president?

[Jacaylbaro]

Politicians have reacted angrily to reports that a German firm has signed a deal with a Somali warlord to provide security services. Former members of German special forces and an elite police unit could soon be working as bodyguards and trainers in the lawless country.

 

For years, German politicians and pundits have been taking the moral high ground over the activities of the American private security contractor Blackwater, now known as Xe Services, in places such as Iraq. “The US government has allowed private security firms to develop into an omnipresent, uncontrollable apparatus in the war zones of this world,” wrote one German newspaper back in 2007.

 

That moral outrage is now looking distinctly shabby in the light of revelations that a German security company is planning to supply mercenaries to a Somali warlord. On Monday, Thomas Kaltegärtner, CEO of Asgaard German Security Group, confirmed a report by the German public broadcaster ARD that his company plans to send former German soldiers to Somalia.

 

In a December 2009 press release, Asgaard announced it had signed an “exclusive agreement on security services” with Abdinur Ahmed Darman. Darman, a Somali warlord who styles himself as the country’s president, does not recognize the legitimacy of the United Nations-backed transitional government of Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. The agreement, the company said, would cover “all necessary measures to reintroduce security and peace to Somalia.” The country has not had a functioning central government since 1991.

 

According to Kaltegärtner, himself a former Bundeswehr soldier, Asgaard employees would provide security for Darman and train police and military forces. He stressed, however, that combat operations were not planned. He said that over 100 mercenaries could be involved in operations. Although negotiations were not yet complete, it was possible that Asgaard employees would be operating in Somalia in the near future, Kaltegärtner told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel newspaper. Kaltegärtner also told the newspaper that his company employed former members of the German army’s special forces, the KSK, and Germany’s elite GSG-9 police force.

 

Privatizing State Violence

 

Several German politicians have reacted angrily to the news that former soldiers could soon be in action on the Horn of Africa. “In my opinion, this is not acceptable,” Rainer Arnold, the defense expert of the center-left Social Democrats, told the Tuesday edition of the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. He called for new legislation to “clearly limit” such operations, adding: “One cannot privatize state violence.”

 

Speaking to the same newspaper, Green Party politician Omid Nouripour accused the German government of not doing enough in the past to regulate private security firms. Paul Schäfer of the far-left Left Party and Rainer Stinner of the liberal Free Democratic Party, which governs in coalition with Merkel’s conservatives, also criticized the deal, with Schäfer talking of a “shadow foreign policy.”

 

Observers warn that German employees of the firm could be killed or targeted for kidnapping in Somalia. The Islamist Al-Shabab militia, which controls several regions of the country and parts of the capital Mogadishu, has allied itself with Al-Qaida, which wants Germany to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. The Islamist groups would be pleased to get their hands on German hostages, experts say.

 

“If a German firm were to train and support a Somali militia, that would certainly go against Germany’s interests,” said Annette Weber from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in remarks to ARD. The German Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry now want to look into what Asgaard is planning to do in Somalia, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

 

The company itself tried to play down the significance of the operation. “We want to work closely together with the German government and will in no way act against its interests,” Asgaard said in a statement published on its website on Sunday. “There are currently no German citizens working on behalf of Asgaard in Somalia.” The company stressed that it would only begin its operations in Somalia once Darman “once again assumes control of state affairs with the approval of the UN.”

[Jacaylbaro]

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

how many tiknikos and soldiers does he have?

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

The Germans got duped.

[Somalina]

A mafioso like Joe Bananas aka Darman will never be the president

of Somalia. We already have enough tuugo as it is.

[FatB]

lols gota love somalia! everybody wants a slice of the cake

[Jacaylbaro]

INTERVIEW WITH DARMAAN

[Raamsade]

Darman is clinically insane. This is the same man that started to verbally abuse airport staff in Istanbul, requiring police involvement, because he didn't get "presidential welcome"!

[Juje]

Investigation opens into German mercenaries in Somalia

The public prosecutor in the German city of Muenster has opened an investigation into reports that a German security firm is sending mercenaries to a Somali warlord amid concerns the deal violates UN sanctions.

A German public prosecutor on Wednesday began an investigation into reports that a German security firm has been contracted to provide a Somali warlord with more than 100 German ex-soldiers.

Wolfgang Schweer of the Muenster public prosecutor's office said he was looking into the deal reportedly agreed between Asgaard German Security Group and Somali opposition politician Galadid Abdinur Ahmad Darman.

"We are checking whether the offence of recruiting for a foreign army has been committed here," Schweer said.

Ahmad Darman, who is based in the United States, claims he is the legitimate president of Somalia. In an interview with German public broadcaster NDR, he said the soldiers "would be ordered to fight if necessary. They will fight alongside our units."

The Asgaard websiteBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Asgaard's deal with the Somali warlord has caused outrage

Asgaard said in a press release "the contract includes wide-ranging tasks and areas of competence: from strategic planning to security to implementation of all measures that are necessary to restore peace and stability."

Asgaard's managing director, Thomas Kaltegaertner, has declined to comment on the Muenster prosecutor's investigation, according to German broadcaster ARD.

 

Internal opposition

 

German lawmakers have also come down hard on the deal, criticizing it as a potential violation of United Nations sanctions against the conflict-stricken East African country.

Rainer Arnold, defense spokesperson for the opposition Social Democrats described the Asgaard deployment as "not acceptable," adding that "legislation should be created to limit such things."

Somali gunmen sit atop a carBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The German soldiers are to fight alongside Somalis

Greens parliamentarian Omid Nouripour said Tuesday his party would investigate the deployment. Nouripour also criticized the German government for not implementing tougher laws to prevent ex-soldiers from serving as mercenaries in foreign wars.

The German Foreign Ministry acknowledged that it knew nothing about the contract or the activities of Asgaard. The Defense Ministry also confirmed that it has never entered into any contractual agreement with the company.

Security experts warn that a Somali warlord backed by highly trained Western soldiers could shift the fragile political balance in the country and spark a bloodbath.

"If a German company now trains and supports a Somali warring faction then it is surely against the interests of the German government," Annette Weber from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs told NDR.

 

dfm/dpa/AP/AFP

Editor: Rob Turner

 

 

JB there is your president.

[NGONGE]

^^ (JB is from SL).

[Juje]

Not in my books Xaaji Ngonge

[NGONGE]

^^ Hada ma in JB's book?

[Cowke]

Oh No It's DARMANNNNNNNN

[Juje]

Originally posted by Cowke:

Oh No It's DARMANNNNNNNN

loooool

 

You seem to fancy him sxb se wax u jiraan?

[Peace Action]

Originally posted by NGONGE:

^^

(JB is from SL).

And Guulwaade Riyaale too.