Feral Jundi

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Somalia: Sterling Corporate Services Replaces Saracen International For Training Puntland’s PMPF

With the news of contractor Lodewyk Pietersen being killed by his PMPF force that he was mentoring, I wanted to bring some attention to the company he was working for. Apparently Sterling Corporate Services replaced Saracen International as the prime vendor for training and mentoring Puntland’s anti-piracy force.

Of course this came out last February and I missed this news somehow. Either way, better late than never as they say, and thanks to a reader for pointing out this information.

So who is Sterling Corporate Services?  From the sounds of it, it looks like most of the guys that were with Saracen Int. just changed t-shirts and jumped into a new company. The UAE is still paying for the whole thing as well.

Also, the PMPF has a website which has several links to what is going on with the contract and their anti-piracy efforts on land.They even have a wikipedia entry, just so you can see the overall history of this force and what they are up to.

But as far as a website for SCS, that is a no go. Which is too bad because I could have done more to promote what these guys are doing in Puntland as opposed to finding out what they are doing after one of their guys gets killed while on an operation. With that said, if anyone from the company would like to correct the record as to what happened to your contractor, the industry and public would like to know.

The other reason why SCS should come up and speak about what happened, is because their competitors are taking advantage of this vacuum or ‘lack’ of information and spreading all sorts of negative information to discredit them. Pretty soon, rumor becomes fact, and then you get the main stream media reporting off of these rumors. So keeping quiet can sometimes do more harm than good, and especially in today’s fast paced social networked environment. At the least you should be contacting new media folks like myself, just because my readership are industry folks and the public. –Matt

 

 

Puntland counter-piracy force poised for launch
23 February 2012
by Richard Meade
An armed counter-piracy police force, funded by the UAE government and trained by private security, is poised to begin operations inside the Somali state of Puntland after previous attempts to launch such a force floundered.
Speaking exclusively to Lloyd’s List ahead of the UK-sponsored Somalia conference being held in London today, Puntland’s interior minister Abdullahi Ahmed Jama confirmed that the Puntland Maritime Police Force would be resuming operations imminently and directly targeting pirate gangs on land.
The Puntland counter-piracy force was established back in 2010, before being suspended in February last year under pressure from several UN agencies who criticised the force’s lack of transparency, the issue of arms sanctions and the lack of a legal framework to support operations.
According to Mr Jama those issues have now been resolved and the police force is now expected to resume training and recruiting with the backing of international governments.
The Puntland police force will operate with the co-operation of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia which is understood to be pursuing similar plans involving private security trained forces.
According to Mr Jama, the Puntland force is a locally recruited, armed coastal police force established to fight piracy on land and protect Somali marine resources. It has been formed, he argued, in direct response to multiple UN Security Council Resolutions and demands from the international community for the Somali authorities to build security and law enforcement institutions to address piracy.

(more…)

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Somalia: South African Contractor Killed In Puntland

Rest in peace to the fallen and my heart goes out to the friends and family of Lodewyk Pietersen. As to the particulars of this incident, the article states that he was killed by his bodyguard after an argument. A Somali version of a green and blue incident, and these type of incidents are not exclusive to Afghanistan.

I thought it was interesting that reports mentioned that these contractors might be going out on missions with the PMPF. Here is a quote from Garowe online. (on a side note, if the PMPF is doing land operations, then why are they wearing bright blue uniforms?-camouflage anyone? lol)

Although reports are still unclear instructor Pietersen accompanied the PMPF in the operation and was killed shortly after entering Hul-Anod district.
Puntland forces have encountered resistance in Hul-Anod before in March 2011 pirates holding a Danish family hostage attacked Puntland forces that were stationed in the district, 5 soldiers were killed.
The Puntland government approved Friday’s operation by the PMPF and it is unclear what exactly occurred in Hul-Anod Friday afternoon but Puntland authorities have already set up an investigation into the killing of Mr. Pietersen.

And the report below said.

The statement said the trainer was killed while accompanying Puntland’s maritime forces on a government-approved mission targeting pirates near Hul-Anod, a coastal area favored by pirates who use it as a base to hijack ships for ransom.

So perhaps Saracen Int. are accompanying these guys on missions and it would make sense. Contractor mentors have been used in other wars, like in Afghanistan with the Afghan Border Patrol mission. Mentors can watch how these guys do business, and help correct training deficiencies and assist in management efforts so future missions have higher success rates.

Hopefully Puntland or Saracen will do some vetting of all of their bodyguards contracted to protect trainers, and make sure that they have folks that they can trust. If they catch the killer, we will see what this guy was all about. Was he mentally ill or an enemy combatant of some type? Perhaps the killer was sympathetic to the pirates, or working for the pirates in Hul-Anod? –Matt

Edit: 04/28/2012- I was given a heads up in an email about a few corrections. Somalia Report is reporting this bit of information, and it sounds like Lodewyk had a full blown mutiny on his hands, and not some rogue body guard. Here is a quote from the website below. Also, I was told that this was not a Saracen International contractor, but some other company that took over when their contract was suspended.

The South African national was monitoring a troop of Somali anti-piracy police ordered into Timirishe village in a move against pirates of the ali Salabeen clan.  When ordered to proceed with the mission, the troops began firing their guns into the air and into the ground, apparently in an effort to warn the pirates.
Sources at the scene told Somalia Report that the mentor then approached the group to encourage them forward and was shot and killed. There is still confusion over the exact motive and exactly who the killers were. PMPF sources told Somalia Report that an investigation is underway.

Edit: 04/29/2012 The name of the company was Sterling Corporate services. Here is a quote from Lloyds back in February of this year.

It is understood that the force currently stands at around 300 officers and  more will be added in time, with UAE-registered private security firm named Sterling Corporate Services having been retained to train the troops

Puntland Maritime Police Force(PMPF)Photo-Garowe Online

 

South African security trainer killed in Somalia
April 28, 2012
A South African security trainer was killed by his bodyguard in Somalia’s semiautonomous region of Puntland, officials said Saturday.
Puntland’s government said in a statement Saturday that it had launched an investigation into Friday’s killing. The statement identified the man as Lodewyk Pietersen, and said he worked for Saracen International, a security firm that trains anti-piracy forces in Puntland. The statement said the South African was 55 and married with children.
South African foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela said Saturday no official word has been received from consular staff handling South African interests in Somalia.
“We have not yet been alerted to such an incident,” he said.

(more…)

Powered by WordPress