Somaliland To Charge Eight Over Illegal Arms

[Jacaylbaro]

Somalia’s northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland will charge the crew of a plane laden with weapons with airspace violation and carrying weapons to Puntland despite a UN arms embargo, a minister said yesterday.

Mohamed Hashi Abdi, minister of air transport and civil aviation, said that Somaliland had shown a UN delegation from the Committee of Weapons Embargo on Somalia, the weapons the plane was carrying when it landed on December10.

“Investigation of the Antonov-24 plane, which landed in Hargeisa carrying weapons, a six-man crew and two South African passengers, is completed,” Abdi said.

“Their case is in the hands of the prosecution and will be taken to court soon,” he added.

The two passengers will also be charged with falsely claiming to be journalists, the minister said.

Details of how the plane came to land in Somaliland and what type of weapons it was carrying were not clear.

Officials in Hargeisa say that there are elements arming the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, despite a UN weapons embargo for Somalia.

They are concerned armed groups across the border in Puntland could destabilise Somaliland.

“The aim was to show the (UN) committee and the world what the plane was carrying and that our complaint that Puntland is being armed was correct,” Abdi said.

There have been attacks in the town of Las Anod near the border with Puntland, the latest in September which killed a civilian and an army colonel.

Somaliland is proud of its relative stability, unlike southern regions of the failed Horn of Africa state, where al Shebab insurgents control large amounts of territory and are fighting a weak Western-backed government.

In July, its president, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, was sworn in after an election observers said was free and fair, furthering its democratic credentials as it fights for international recognition.

 

 

 

Source: Gulf Times

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland to probe Puntland military supply plane

 

 

 

MOGADISHU (AFP) – Authorities in autonomous Somaliland said Sunday they opened an investigation into a plane seized en route to neighbouring Puntland that contained military supplies and two South Africans posing as journalists.

 

 

"We have sent transferred the case to the prosecutor and the affair will now go through the courts," said Transport Minister Mohamud Abdi Hashi.

 

 

The government of Somaliland, a northern region of Somalia which has declared independence but is yet to be internationally recognised, made the decision to investigate on Saturday evening, Hashi said.

 

 

Hashi said prosecutors would probe a violation of Somaliland airspace, the violation of an international embargo on arms to Somalia, and the presence of two South Africans who passed themselves off as journalists.

 

 

Somaliland authorities seized the plane on December 10 after it was forced to land in regional capital Hargeysa because it was short on fuel.

 

 

It was heading to Puntland, another autonomous Somali region which is home to many of the pirates who threaten international shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, after travelling from South Africa via Uganda.

 

 

It contained military equipment including uniforms and there were six people on board, authorities said.

 

 

Tensions run high between Somaliland and Puntland, which are separated by a disputed territory where armed clashes sporadically break out.

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland to charge 8 over weapons-laden plane

 

 

(Reuters) - Somalia's northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland will charge the crew of a plane laden with weapons with airspace violation and carrying weapons to Puntland despite a U.N. arms embargo, a minister said Sunday.

Mohamed Hashi Abdi, minister of air transport and civil aviation, said Somaliland had shown a U.N. delegation from the Committee of Weapons Embargo on Somalia, the weapons the plane was carrying when it landed on December10.

"Investigation of the Antonov-24 plane, which landed in Hargeisa carrying weapons, a six-man crew and 2 South African passengers, is completed. Their case is in the hands of the prosecution and will be taken to court soon," Abdi said.

The two passengers will also be charged with falsely claiming to be journalists, the minister said.

Details of how the plane came to land in Somaliland and what type of weapons it was carrying were not clear.

Officials in Hargeisa say there are elements arming the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, despite a U.N. weapons embargo for Somalia. They are concerned armed groups across the border in Puntland could destabilize Somaliland.

"The aim was to show the (U.N.) committee and the world what the plane was carrying and that our complaint that Puntland is being armed was correct," Abdi said.

There have been attacks in the town of Las Anod near the border with Puntland, the latest in September which killed a civilian and an army colonel.

Somaliland is proud of its relative stability, unlike southern regions of the failed Horn of Africa state, where al Shabaab insurgents control large amounts of territory and are fighting a weak Western-backed government.

In July, its president, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, was sworn in after an election observers said was free and fair, furthering its democratic credentials as it fights for international recognition.

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland frees South Africans in weapons plane

 

 

Somaliland has freed two South Africans who were passengers in a plane that officials say was laden with weapons destined for Puntland, its deputy chief prosecutor said.

Aden Hero Diig told reporters it had been confirmed that the two were journalists and they had been released, a day after Air Transport Minister Mohamed Hashi Abdi said they would be charged with falsely claiming to be journalists.

"They were only passengers and are working for SPA, an American TV station," Diig said. The plane, an Antonov-24, landed in Hargeisa on December10 on its way to the semi-autonomous region Puntland.

Somaliland Officials say Puntland region of Somalia is obtaining arms despite a U.N. weapons embargo on Somalia, and are concerned that armed groups in Puntland region could destabilise Somaliland.

 

 

 

 

Source: Reuters

[Jacaylbaro]

Somaliland frees SA men

 

Hargeisa - Somalia's northern breakaway enclave of Somaliland has freed two South Africans who were passengers in a plane that officials say was laden with weapons destined for Puntland, its deputy chief prosecutor said.

 

Aden Hero Diig told reporters it had been confirmed that the two were journalists and they had been released, a day after Air Transport Minister Mohamed Hashi Abdi said they would be charged with falsely claiming to be journalists.

 

"They were only passengers and are working for SPA, an American TV station," Diig said. The plane, an Antonov-24, landed in Hargeisa on December 10 on its way to the semi-autonomous region Puntland.

 

Officials in Hargeisa say Puntland is obtaining arms despite a UN weapons embargo on Somalia, and are concerned that armed groups in Puntland could destabilise Somaliland.

 

 

Source: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Somaliland-frees-SA-men-20101220

[Jacaylbaro]

Newsmen freed after mercenary mix-up

 

 

Two Cape Town journalists detained for 10 days in Somaliland as suspected dogs of war after the plane on which they were passengers was found to be loaded with military equipment are to return home this morning.

 

 

 

They were released by the Somaliland government yesterday after a South African intermediary intervened.

Christopher Everson and Anton van der Merwe were arrested on December 10 when the aircraft landed in Hargeysa in the breakaway state of Somaliland, officially part of Somalia.

 

 

 

They were well known for their work, albeit separately, covering the Trojan Horse outrage in Athlone in October 1985 in which security force members shot dead three people and wounded 13 others.

Everson’s footage of the shootings was credited with serving to strengthen the resolve of international communities to move against apartheid.

Everson, who was then working for CBS News, won an Emmy for his coverage. He has since won three more.

 

 

 

His wife, Su, told the Cape Times the pair were expected to arrive in Johannesburg from Nairobi last night. They would fly to Cape Town later this morning.

She was reluctant to comment and said Everson would speak to the media today.

“I don’t want to give out information that is not correct,” she said.

 

 

 

Everson had every right to speak for himself, Su said. She slammed the press, saying it had failed to report accurately what took place, but declined to set the record straight.

According to initial reports, Everson and Van der Merwe were working for Moonlighting Films, a film production company based in Cape Town.

Su denied the pair had been working for Moonlighting Films, but could not say who they had been working for.

 

 

 

Theresa Ryan van Graan, of Moonlighting Films, refused to comment about Everson and Van der Merwe and did not confirm whether they had been working for the company.

Everson, a cameraman, and Van der Merwe, a sound recordist, had worked for some time as journalists.

 

 

 

The non-lethal military equipment on board the Antonov 24 cargo plane originated in South Africa and was destined for a South African-linked security company in

Puntland, another autonomous northern region of Somalia.

 

 

 

The pair believed they were flying to Puntland to film counter-piracy operations in Bosaso and said that they knew nothing about the South African-linked security company Saracen International.

Saracen is run by Lafras Luitingh, a former senior executive of the now-defunct South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes.

It was not clear yesterday whether Saracen International was in Bosaso to train Somalis to counter pirates or to protect an oil-drilling operation that was about to begin.

The aircraft, carrying military uniforms and other non-lethal military equipment, took off from Entebbe, Uganda, on December 10 and landed in Hargeysa to refuel before flying on to Puntland.

It declared its cargo as clothing and car parts. Suspicious Somaliland authorities investigated and found the military gear. They detained the six Russian crew members and the two South Africans.

 

 

 

Until Sunday, Somaliland’s Air Transport Minister Mohamed Hashi Abdi was saying the two South Africans would be charged with falsely claiming to be journalists.

But yesterday Somaliland’s deputy chief prosecutor, Aden Hero Diig, told reporters that authorities had confirmed that Everson and Van der Merwe were journalists or film-makers, working for SPA, an American TV station.

 

 

 

Moonlighting Films supplied the two journalists to SPA for the assignment, according to sources.

The families of Everson and Van der Merwe had asked the South African government to help release the two men.

 

 

 

Iqbal Jhazbhay, a Unisa academic and expert on Somaliland with close contacts to the Somaliland government, helped Pretoria to reach the government.

 

 

 

It is understood that the United Nations, which investigated the incident, also confirmed that Everson and Van der Merwe were bona fide journalists.

 

 

 

The UN probed the incident because all of Somalia is under a UN arms embargo. As a result of the investigation, the six Russian crew are to be charged with breaching the embargo, sources have said.

 

 

 

Officials in Hargeysa say Puntland is obtaining arms despite the UN weapons embargo on Somalia. - Cape Times

[Jacaylbaro]

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/newsmen-freed-after-mercenary-mix-up-1.1003550

[Jacaylbaro]

Two South Africans released from Somaliland

 

 

The two South African media workers detained in Somaliland after authorities found military equipment on their plane have been released, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Clayson Monyela said on Tuesday.

 

"The department has been aware of this matter regarding these two South Africans. We have been providing consular assistance to them and they have now been released," he said.

 

Christopher Everson and Anton van der Merwe were detained after the plane they were travelling in landed in Somaliland on December 10 while they were on their way to do filmwork in neighbouring Puntland.

 

According to Iqbal Jhazbhay, a specialist on the region who helped the South African authorities facilitate contacts, theirs is a cautionary tale.

 

"They were in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people without knowing it.

 

"It is a serious lesson for people not to board a plane when you don't know what is on there," said Jhazbhay, a professor in the Religious Studies and Arabic Studies department of Unisa and author of Somaliland: An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition.

 

Three different areas, three different situations

He said that in addition, the pilot knew little of the regional dynamics.

 

"He didn't know the political dynamics, and didn't know that Somaliland doesn't have healthy relations with neighbouring Puntland.

 

"I was totally amazed by the pilot -- he thought he had got his clearance for Somalia," he said, explaining that the situations in the regions of Somaliland, Puntland and southern Somalia were very different. The area of Somaliland had held a democratic election in June and was peaceful and stable, he said. Puntland was more of a "federal state" and in southern Somalia there was broad uncertainty and "not much of a government".

 

Source: http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-12-21-two-south-africans-released-from-somaliland

[NGONGE]

It's being milked to tedium now. Iqabal Jhazbhay is doing a good job covering up Mohamed Hashi Abdi’s faux pas there. <O:p</O:p

All in all, SL gets its name in the news in a positive way whilst painting Imam Farole’s administration as a dodgy place that is (allegedly) up to no good. :cool:<O:p</O:p

Good stuff. Leave it there and don't milk it any further.

[Peace Action]

NG, always putting a good spin on seccessionst fiasco. The SL admin are clueless and they have no idea what they are doing. Faroole has played this proffessionally, let SL piss off a major power in Africa for uniforms and he is owed his uniforms by the South African company.

[Saalax]

Good job. Sland should also detain any pirate in the plane.

[General Duke]

At the begging of the post they are charging everyone. By the mid point we have two freed. Its all a shables in Siilanyuland..

[Qandalawi]

I must say I did not read the content of the post.

 

Please share, what was the verdict (Guilty or no guilty and of what?) and the sentence?

[xiinfaniin]

Outplayed and clearly outmaneuvered, secessionists issue legal threats against bigger regional powers :D