Briefing Room

Somali Forces Shoot and Kill Iranian Sailor in Indian Ocean

Published

1 month ago

Oct 09, 2017

Somali regional officials say the Iranian captain of a fishing boat was killed and another sailor was injured after security forces opened fire during an operation in the Indian Ocean.

Officials said the shooting occurred after Puntland Maritime Police Forces spotted two boats suspected to be fishing illegally Friday in Somali waters.

Colonel Mohamed Abdi Hashi of Puntland police told VOA Somali the two boats ignored orders to stop and attempted to escape.

“Our security forces were conducting an operation on October 6, they encountered two illegal fishing boats off Ras Hafun coast. When they tried to stop them in order to check their permits they escaped,” he said.

“They managed to seize one of the boats, the other one escaped.”

Colonel Hashi said during the shooting captain Haydar Abdalla Sabiil of the vessel Al-Sa’idi was killed and a second sailor was injured, 16 others are unharmed and were apprehended, he said.

The boat carrying the sailors have arrived at Bosaso port for questioning. The boat is carrying two tons of fish illegally caught in Somali waters, officials said.

“The boat is now docked at Bosaso port, the body of the captain is in the freezer of the boat, and according to the law we transferred the case to the courts.”

Officials did not release the name of the dead sailor.

Colonel Hashi says he wasn’t sure if Somali political leaders have made any contact with Iran about the incident.

“We are just soldiers, it’s possible that Puntland leadership have contacted Iran but I’m not aware of contact.”

Recurring problem

Illegal fishing in Somali waters occurs often according to maritime organizations. Most of the boats illegally fishing in Somali waters come from Iran, Yemen, China and number of Southeast Asian countries, according to the organizations.

A 2015 report by the U.S.-based watchdog, Secure Fisheries, says foreign fishing boats caught more than 132,000 metric tons of fish off Somalia in each of 2013 and 2014, while local fishermen caught only 40,000 metric tons. In monetary terms, foreign vessels have out earned their Somali counterparts by nearly $250 million per year, the report said.

Other maritime organizations have often warned illegal fishing sparks increases of piracy activities in Somalia waters.

In late 2015, Puntland seized six boats and dozens of sailors from Iran and Yemen. They were all released after heavy fines and confiscation of their catch.

Last year, Somalia received a $65,000 fine from the owners of Belize-flagged vessel, Greko 1, which was found guilty of fishing illegally in Somali waters.

The European Union Naval Force (EUNAVFOR), which combats piracy activities off the coast of Somalia, tipped the Somali authorities and international watchdogs about the fishing activities of Greko 1.

Jacqueline Sherriff who is a spokesperson for the EUNAVFOR tells VOA Somali an important part of its mandate is to monitor fishing activities off the coast of Somalia.

“That vessel, the only reason that we could successfully prosecute that vessel is because the EUNAVFOR provided photographic evidence and location evidence that it was actually illegally fishing in Somali waters,” she said.

Sherriff said the EU office in Brussels works with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, an intergovernmental organization responsible for the management of tuna and tuna-like species in the ocean, to investigate illegal fishing cases.

She said if EUNAVFOR naval ships see a vessel that is not Somali actively engaged in fishing they take a note of the vessel, its location, its name, the color of the vessel, what type of fishing gear it has deployed and then pass on the information to the maritime watchdogs.

Fadumo Yasin Jama contributed to this report.

Briefing Room

Islamic State thriving in Somalia: UN report

Published

23 hours ago

Nov 11, 2017

Bartamaha Admin

An Islamic State faction in Somalia has grown significantly over the past year, carrying out attacks in Puntland and receiving some funding from Syria and Iraq, a report by UN sanctions monitors said Friday.

The faction loyal to Sheikh Abdulqader Mumin was targeted by US drone strikes last week in the first US operation targeting IS in the Horn of Africa, US Africa Command said.

In the report, the UN monitoring group for Somalia said the IS faction, which was estimated in 2016 “to number not more than a few dozen, has grown significantly in strength” and may “consist of as many as 200 fighters.”

Phone records from Mumin showed he was in contact with an IS operative in Yemen who acts as an intermediary with senior IS leaders in Iraq and Syria “though the exact nature of this contact is unclear,” said the report.

Former members of the faction who defected in December said the Mumin group received orders as well as financing from Iraq and Syria, the report said.

The group captured the town of Qandala in Puntland’s Bari region in October 2016, declaring it the seat of the Islamic Caliphate in Somalia before being pushed out two months later by Puntland forces backed by US military advisers.

In February, IS gunmen stormed a hotel in Bosaso, the economic capital of Puntland, and in May the faction carried out its first suicide attack at a police checkpoint near Bosaso, killing five people.

“The group showed signs of increasing tactical capabilities during its first attack target a hotel,” said the UN monitors.

– Haven for foreign fighters –

The UN report raised concerns that the Bari region could become a potential haven for foreign IS fighters as the extremists are driven out of their strongholds in Syria and Iraq.

The IS group in Somalia “presents more natural appeal to foreign terrorist fighters than Al-Shabaab,” whose aim is to establish a state government by Islamic law, it added.

Al-Shabaab, another Islamist militant group, is affiliated with IS’s global rival Al-Qaeda.

The Bari region has attracted a limited number of foreign fighters including Sudanese national Abu Faris who is on the US terror list for recruiting foreign fighters for Al-Shabaab.

While the faction is expanding, its fighters appear to be poorly paid or not paid at all.

Unmarried fighters receive no salary, while married militants receive $50 per month plus $10-$20 per child, depending on the age.

The report estimated that the salary payments were between $3,000 and $9,000 per month, allowing IS leaders “to fund its insurgency on a limited budget”.

UN monitors said the faction will likely face frequent defections from poorly paid fighters, a problem that also affects Al-Shabaab.

Briefing Room

African Union troop drawdown will ‘shock’ Somalia, expert

Published

2 days ago

Nov 10, 2017

Bartamaha Admin

RFI — The African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has said it will start the process of withdrawing troops from the country. Some 1,000 troops will be pulled out by the end of the year with the aim of pulling out all soldiers by the end of 2020. AMISOM has been deployed in Somalia for some 10 years. It has been fighting the hardline militant group Al-Shabaab, an Al-Qaeda affiliate. AMISOM’s withdrawal will mean handing over security of the country to the Somali national army, however there are questions as to whether the Somalis are ready to take charge. RFI’s Daniel Finnan spoke to Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa specialist, International Crisis Group…

Radio France Internationale’s English service

Briefing Room

Uganda says ready to deploy 5,000 troops in Somalia outside AU, UN mandate

Published

3 days ago

Nov 09, 2017

Bartamaha Admin

KAMPALA, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) — The Ugandan military on Thursday said it is ready to deploy 5,000 troops in Somalia outside the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) mandate for an all-out offensive operations against the Al-Shabaab militants.

Brig. Richard Karemire, the military and defense spokesperson, told Xinhua that Uganda as a Pan-Africanist country is ready to send the troops as long as the international community commits resources for the operation.

“We are always ready to deploy such a number and even more as a country and Pan-Africanists. We need some support somewhere,” said Karemire.

Karemire said there are many rules to operate under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) which sometimes may hinder the elimination of the militants.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is reported to have told Donald Yamamoto, acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs in September that Uganda is ready to deploy additional 5,000 troops to strengthen the military operations of the AMISOM.

Museveni told Yamamoto that the east African country would only send more troops to Somalia if the international community commits to regular funding, donates military equipment, force enablers and multipliers such as attack helicopters for the operations against the insurgents.

The comments by the Ugandan military come shortly after the Special Representative of the African Union Chairperson for Somalia, Francisco Madeira announced on Tuesday that some 1,000 soldiers from the 22,000 strong force will be withdrawn from Somalia by Dec. 31.

AMISOM is comprised of troops drawn from Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Uganda provides the bulk of the force.