UN chief says concerned by complicity between Somalia pirates and Puntland

[Mintid Farayar]

UN chief says concerned by complicity between Somalia pirates and Puntland

 

19 March 2009

Sudan Tribune

English

Copyright © 2009 Sudan Tribune - All rights reserved.

 

March 18, 2009 (UNITED NATIONS) - The UN chief expressed concern today about links between the red sea pirate groups and the officials from the breakaway territory of Puntland. In a report published Wednesday, Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary General, mentioned an increasing complicity between the Somali pirates and members of the Somali region of Puntland administration. The study prepared by Ban's office identified two main groups located in Eyl district, and in the central Mudug region, where pirates operate mainly from the fishing village of Xarardheere. The UN chief pointed out that by the end of last year, the "Eyl Group" was holding hostage six vessels and their crews and was expected to have earned roughly 30 million dollars in ransom money. While the Mudug network had held the Ukrainian MV Faina vessel, and three other ships, for about five months from September 2008 to last month.

 

The Faina with a crew of 20 was released on February 5 in exchange for a ransom estimated at 3.2 million dollars. However Ban Ki-Moon said it was "encouraging to note that both the former and current leadership of (Puntland) appear to be taking a more robust approach in the fight against piracy and armed robbery at sea" off Somalia. Pirates have been seizing vessels in the Gulf of Aden, which connects Europe to Asia and the Middle East via the Suez Canal, hijacking dozens of ships last year. The International Maritime Bureau reported an unprecedented 11 percent worldwide increase in piracy and armed robbery at sea in 2008. Of the 293 incidents worldwide, 111 occurred off the coast of Somalia "an annual increase of nearly 200 percent in the critical trade corridor linking the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean." In the first two months of 2009 there have been seven reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery in the Somali region. The report said there is a "critical need" to tackle the problem of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia in a coordinated way - by promoting political reconciliation and the establishment of an effective government, supporting African Union peacekeeping efforts, and strengthening law enforcement institutions. It encouraged U.N. members to help promote development and good government in Puntland and another breakaway region, Somaliland. Somalia has had no effective central authority since the 1991 ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre touched off a bloody cycle of clashes between rival factions.

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The story has legs! It's spreading fast, just at the North tip of Sudan, about to reach Egypt. All these countries' critical shipping traffic/trade has been affected by the high insurance costs associated with the Puntland piracy. Damage control, boys, where is your famed damage control?

[Mintid Farayar]

The final death toll for the Puntland administration has been this pirate scourge.

 

If one looks logically at the situation, Puntland's undoing in the past few years has been an inability to pay civil servant and militia salaries. The Puntland administration can not even pay the salaries of a Garowe police force, hence the need for politicians to come with their own security and technicals during the recent tribal-enclave elections.

 

The pirates on the other hand due to their handsome profits from their loot are able to hire thousands, making thousands(in US Dollars) weekly. You do the math - who would the normal 'Waranle' work for in the region?

 

Work for Puntland administration = get plenty of promises but no pay

 

Work for Pirates = get paid regularly and handsomely, build a villa in Kenya, marry a pretty young lady

 

Hmmm, tough choice...

 

You be the judge?!?

[Thankful]

UN? The same UN that sat back and allowed close to a million Rwandans to kill each other as they did nothing, actually pulling their forces out? Why is the UN so concerned now with pirates when their are millions suffering throughout the world? Where is the UN when Israel bombs civilians in Gaza?

 

I've seen the UN in Somalia and they have done nothing, resting 24/7 in there continuously air conditions compounds, so detached from the people they are there suppose to be helping.