Hint/Taste of Puntland's Gold Rush

[kingofkings]

Earlier this week I opened up and investigated the involvement of an Italian contractor named Coipa International in Somalia’s Puntland State, and what I found opened up a new dimension in the great game to influence post-transition Somalia.

 

 

 

The images above are from both the planning and construction stages of the project, which is now nearly complete.

 

The contractor was tasked with working on the Bandar Qassim International Airport in the port city of Bosaso. In 2005, the industrial giant Lootah Group of the United Arab Emirates began the construction of the airport but ditched plans toward the ends of President Mohamed Muuse Hirsi’s term in 2008.

 

It is likely that during the gap between 2009 and 2011, and certainly to the lead-up of oil exploration in Puntland that Coipa jumped on board.

 

Now, you may ask, what does this work of construction have to do with oil? Among Coipa’s most influential board members is a man named Sheikh Mohamed Bin Abdulla Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, a member of the ruling dynasty of Qatar.

 

We know that Puntland does not have the pockets to assign a contractor to take on a project of such magnitude, not even close in fact, so who is funding this mission and why?

 

For one, we know that our Qatari ‘Sheikh’ has deep pockets, and we certainly know from prior experience that ‘board member’ is a fancy way of saying ‘valued investor.’ So we’ve got it figured now that Qataris are bankrolling the project, just as the UAE’s Lootah was financing the airport project on its own. But why are they putting money into Puntland?

 

The answer is simple, and its a fact that this is not the first time Gulf Arabs have tried to lend Puntland a hand. It wasn’t more than two years ago when the UAE attempted to sweet-talk India into lifting the embargo on Puntland’s Saracen allies, whose payroll, up to $100 Million in total, was certainly paid for by the UAE, Kuwait, or Qatar; the three most active Gulf states in Somalia.

 

And the answer is oil. Puntland does not have lush rivers or lakes for the thirsty Arabs to fawn over, and neither are these Arabs interested in fish. All Puntland has to offer is oil, and let’s of it. Going back as far as early last year, the exploration firms in Puntland were not shy about propping up this troubled region as the Mecca of new oil finds, even bypassing more stable projects in Trinidad, Texas, and Georgia–the first of which has even paid off already.

 

The Arabs know that Puntland is what they used to be, and that no expense will be spared in order to get a foothold in the world’s next great goldmine.

[kingofkings]

reer PL; a beautiful future awaits us all. :cool: