Feral Jundi

   Ok, just a heads up to any of the fleets floating around out there.  If Al Shabab is wanting to get to Yemen, more than likely they are going to hitch a ride with some pirates.  It is the cheapest and easiest way for them to get over.  Plus, Yemen is just across the way, so it would totally make sense to try and take out a few of these bums as they cross.

   Further more, if there is any doubt that arming ships is not sensible, then behold this latest round of hijackings.  These guys actually grabbed another chemical tanker!  Believe it.  So how is the strategy working out for all of these multi-million dollar ultra-highspeed Navies floating around in the GOA?  It seems to me that it is severely sucking.  It will really suck when one of these days, a pirate either sells a chemical tanker to Al Qaeda or Al Shabab, or they are contracted by these guys to take a ship.  Then what?  Does it take thousands of people killed in some terrorist attack involving a large ship filled with explosives and chemicals?  Arm the ships I say! Or continue with this current strategy, and see what happens when terrorism and piracy do a waltz in the Gulf of Aden.-Matt

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Somali Rebels Pledge to Send Fighters to Aid Yemen Jihad

January 2, 2010

By MOHAMMED IBRAHIM

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Senior leaders of the Shabab rebels promised Friday to send their fighters beyond Somalia to Yemen and wherever jihad beckoned.

In a military ceremony here, where the rebels publicly showed off hundreds of new recruits, Sheik Muktar Robow, a senior rebel official, said the group would “send fighters to Yemen to assist our brothers.”

He said that the fighters had been trained to fight the African Union peacekeeping force and the transitional federal government in Somalia but that Yemen was just across the Gulf of Aden and that “our brothers must be ready for our welcome.”

While it was not clear when or whether the rebels could carry out their threat, the avowed goals signaled a shift in strategy from an Islamist insurgency that has drawn foreign fighters here to one that aims to provide them to insurgencies abroad.

The Shabab have increased their ties with Al Qaeda, which has recently been fighting the American-backed military in Yemen.

A Shabab spokesman, Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rageh, said the fighters, who had just completed military training, would fight in every corner of the world that is ready for jihad, or holy war.

The Shabab and allied Islamist insurgent groups control most of Somalia, while the weak transitional government controls a small enclave in Mogadishu, the capital, under the protection of African Union peacekeeping troops.

At the ceremony on Friday at a rebel camp near the former animal market in northern Mogadishu, hundreds of jubilant fighters paraded before reporters and senior rebel leaders chanting, “God is great.” It was the first time the rebels had presented their recruits to the news media.

The officials rebuffed reports of a split among Shabab fighters and vowed that they would unite with a rival rebel group, Hizbul Islam.

Somalia has not had effective central government since the former government was overthrown by armed clan militias in 1991, leading to the current chaos.

Story here.

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Two Ships Seized Off Somali Coast

02 January 2010

Authorities say Somali pirates have hijacked a British-flagged cargo ship transporting cars and a chemical tanker from Singapore.Officials say pirates seized the cargo ship Asian Glory and its 25-member crew late Friday in waters about 1,000 kilometers east of Somalia.A spokesman for the European Union task force in charge of battling piracy off the Somali coast says the seizure took place outside the mission’s patrol zone.The spokesman, Commander John Harbour, said the pirates had not yet contacted the ship’s management company, Zodiac Maritime Agencies, and it was unclear where the vessel was headed.The ship’s crew includes 10 Ukrainians, eight Bulgarians, five Indians and two Romanians.  Officials say they appear to be safe.Earlier Friday, pirates seized the chemical tanker Pramoni in the Gulf of Aden.The Pramoni’s crew includes 17 Indonesians, five Chinese, one Vietnamese and one Nigerian.  They are reported to be well.Maritime officials say Somali pirates are currently holding more than 10 foreign vessels and more than 200 crewmen hostage.Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars over the past two years hijacking ships for ransom.Multinational naval forces have stopped many attacks near the coast, but pirates have increasingly focused their efforts on the Indian Ocean, an area too large for foreign navies to effectively patrol.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Story here.