Feral Jundi

Monday, July 23, 2012

Somalia: To Catch Pirates, Somalia Turns To Outsourcing, By Eli Lake

I wanted to post this story after Somalia Report put it out there that the Daily Beast pulled it. It is very odd to me that they would pull such a story…. Was it because the PMPF was too effective of a force, trained and mentored by the men of Sterling Corporate Services? Or was Newsweek/Daily Beast told to pull it because of politics or whatever?

And why did the UAE pull it’s funding right when the PMPF was beginning to produce results? Is there a bias against Puntland at the UAE. Check this quote out, and one million dollars is hardly enough to keep the PMPF going.

Ahmed said he thought international donors such as the United States were reluctant to contribute funds because they were concerned that the money would be embezzled and said he was willing to allow them to pay and train such forces themselves to allay such fears.”If they (donors) are willing to help … we can give them the chance to come and do the training, to give salaries to soldiers by themselves,” he said.Ahmed’s complaint came as it was announced that the United Arab Emirates has pledged to donate $1 million to help build a Somali coast guard. Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, confirmed the news to reporters.

I mean I thought that it was agreed upon by the international community that piracy must be dealt with both on sea and on the land, and it just does not make sense that the UAE would so quickly shut this down?

Here is the other kicker. If anyone remembers what happened after Hart Security trained Puntland’s coast guard back in late nineties, then you would know that after the collapse of the Puntland government, many of those who were trained by HS went on to fire up the beginnings of this current piracy industry. Here is the quote.

Ironically, piracy in the Gulf of Aden partially grew out of efforts in the late 1990s by the same Hart security outfit to train Somali militias as a self-sufficient coast guard. When the Puntland government fell in 2000, the transition from coast guard to piracy took about a day. Enterprising sailors such as Boyah and 38-year-old Mohamad Abdi Garaad grabbed guns and began boarding unsuspecting fishing vessels operated by Thai, Spanish, and Chinese companies, demanding “fines” of $20,000 to $50,000.

Are we doomed to repeat history here? Will veterans of the current PMPF go on to be pirates, complete with 17 weeks of maritime police training under their belts?  pfffft.  –Matt

 

PMPF Camp. Credit: Somalia Report.

 

To Catch Pirates, Somalia Turns to Outsourcing
Eli Lake, Senior National-Security Correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast
06 June, 2012
“From the vantage point of a desert airstrip that serves as an airport, the Somali town of Bosaso could be an exotic beach resort. Breezes carry scents of the sea, and the small port on the horizon shimmers against the pastel blue Indian Ocean. The closer we get to town, however, the more the reality of Bosaso comes into focus. Misspelled signs along the dirt road advertise foreign brands like “Marlboro” and “Nokia Telecon.” Shacks of cardboard, wire, and corrugated metal look like they’d be blown away in the next storm.
This is Somalia, one of the most lawless places in the world, a country that has lacked a functioning government for more than 20 years. In that time, Somalia’s shores and waters have been overrun by powerful outlaw-entrepreneurs—otherwise known as pirates—who menace key trade routes, take hostages with near impunity, and at times collaborate with al Qaeda’s increasingly influential local affiliate Al-Shabab. Since 2007, the U.S. government has spent nearly half a billion dollars propping up African Union troops in Mogadishu and paying the salaries of the security forces affiliated with the weak transitional government there. None of that seems to have made much of a dent in the $7 billion piracy business.

(more…)

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…)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Maritime Security: Somalia News–Firms Bid For Contracts To Fight Pirates, UNSC Passes Resolution, And The PMC Halliday Finch

Now this is interesting for several reasons. The big problem everyone had with Saracen International was that they thought there was no transparency with that contract, and that they could be in  violation of the UN Arms Embargo placed on Somalia.  With this current resolution passed by the UN Security Counsel, this is basically giving legal authority for anti-piracy operations in Somalia, by making these operations fit in with this UN Arms Embargo.

Meaning, regions like Puntland can go forth and contract with private industry to set up UNSC approved legal apparatus to fight piracy with.  Companies could be used to train police forces or navies for anti-piracy, and not have to worry about any conflict with the UN–just as long as it fits in with the SC resolution.  That is why this conference was so interesting, and got little mention in the news. I guess a comparison here, is how private industry is used to prop up the police or military forces in Iraq or Afghanistan and have legal approval by authorities to do so.

Probably the most significant part that jumped out at me was this gem:

Halliday Finch, a Nairobi-based firm that is seeking funds to build a 1,500-strong maritime police force on behalf of the government in Mogadishu, said it follows such steps.
The company has already trained 500 non-maritime police, said CEO Sam Mattock, and has kept the UN and other organisations abreast of its activities.
“We’ve said, let’s do this properly, let’s make it transparent,” he said. “No secrets.”
The firm has drafted a law for the government to submit to parliament that would regulate maritime police.
To ensure the force is sustainable, the firm aims to spend $52 million in the first year and train up an officer corps within two years. With a Kuwaiti partner, Mr Mattock said, he plans to solicit the funds from the Kuwaiti government.

I have never heard of these folks before, but supposedly they have $52 million of Kuwaiti money to play around with, and they are helping their client in ‘drafting laws’?  Not to mention that they have already trained 500 police? Wow, how come this wasn’t reported and I am sure the folks at Saracen are scratching their head as to why they were singled out? Here are some of the jobs they are offering, to give you an idea about the company:

Are You interested in joining the Halliday Finch team in Africa?
We respect your privacy: Any details you submit will be sent directly and in strict confidence to the CEO. Your details will not be shared or passed on to any other party. If we have a vacancy matching your skill set (now or in the future), we will contact you to arrange an interview or to request further details.
Current Vacancies
OPERATIONS MANAGER: Position filled.
CLOSE PROTECTION OPERATIVES: Close protection operatives needed for tasks in Africa for VVIP and VIP principals. African Experience essential.
ESCORT DUTIES FOR GULF OF ADEN: Required for ongoing tasks, must have relevant maritime experience.
AVIATION SECURITY INSTRUCTOR: The successful applicant will be a certified / licensed Aviation Security Instructor who has successfully attended a UK DfT-approved Level 5 Training Course.
POLICE MENTORING SERVICE: Potential Police Service mentoring task in Somalia. Must have relevant Police Experience, Royal Military Police, UK Police, South African Police Service or East African Police Officers would be ideal.

So there you have it. This is some news that you will not hear anywhere else, and certainly significant. I also posted the UNSC Resolution that coincides with this article, just so you can see what I am talking about. –Matt

Firms bid for contracts to fight pirates
Carol Huang
Apr 20, 2011
Eager to capitalise on the rising threat of Somali piracy, private security firms are lining up to win contracts to train maritime forces in Somalia.
And while the international community backs the idea of building up Somali forces to fight piracy, it is raising eyebrows about the prospect of unregulated training and arming programmes that could later backfire.
Still, over 100 security firms have made pitches for contracts, said Saeed Mohamed Rage, the government minister overseeing counter-piracy for the Somali region of Puntland, where most pirates come from. (more…)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Somalia: Puntland Suspends Contract With Saracen International Due To UN And US Pressure

 

This was to be expected. What I would be interested in is what kind of sweet deal or alternative did the US or UN offer, to get Puntland to suspend this contract?  Also this was ‘suspend’ and not canceled, which is equally significant. Perhaps some kind of military mission through AFRICOM is the alternative? –Matt

Somalia’s Puntland suspends security contractors

March 17, 2011

By ABDI GULED

Somalia’s northern region of Puntland has suspended a controversial deal with a private security firm contracted to train an anti-piracy force, two government officials said Thursday.

Saracen International was hired to train 1,050 men in Puntland to battle the pirates that menace shipping off Somalia’s coast.

(more…)

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Industry Talk: UN Official Glad About New Somali Force But Wary

    The news here is that now Pierre Prosper has identified Saracen International as the company being used, and until Bill Pelser or someone else comes up with some facts to counter this statement, then this statement will become fact in the realm of the media. This is called strategic communications folks, and if you want to get your story out and correct the record, then this is the place to do it. I have top Google Search for blogs on this subject, and people will read your statements here.

    I also think this is an interesting statement from the UN. Maybe they might actually get behind this project, because this donor–whomever they are, is definitely putting their money where their mouth is.  Speaking of which, if any reader knows who the donor is, I sure would like to hear from you. –Matt

UN official glad about new Somali force but wary

By Pauline Jelinek

12/05/2010

A senior U.N. official cautiously welcomed news that an anti-piracy force is being created in Somalia but he and U.S. officials say they’re concerned about secrecy surrounding the undertaking.

(more…)

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