Somalia's anti-piracy partnership with a shadowy foreign contractor may be at an end. Even without a mercenary crew on hand, though, officials from the country's Puntland province are still pledging action against a group of pirates holding seven hostages in a mountain village.
The Associated Press reported late yesterday that authorities in Puntland decided to suspend a contract with Saracen International to train an anti-pirate militia. Lafras Luitingh, Saracen's chief operating officer, told the AP that the contract has apparently been on hiatus since February 12. Somalia's parliament revoked a separate contract with Saracen in January that would have trained Somalis to battle Islamist militants -- not just pirates -- and provide social services in Mogadishu. One unnamed Puntland official said he expected the company to return.
The deal apparently fell victim to pressure from the U.S. and United Nations, neither of which were enthusiastic to see a private army of pirate hunters. Nonetheless, Luitingh said that the suspension took place with "close consultation with the UN" adding that the international organization is welcome to drop by Saracen's facilities in Somalia whenever they liked.
Why were the U.S. and U.N. opposed to the contract? Both worry that creating a foreign-backed, private security-trained militia might violate the United Nation's 1992 arms embargo on Somalia. Pentagon officials have also cited a lack of transparency about the deal as a cause for concern. Though it's registered in Beirut, the New York Times has reported that Saracen is secretly paid by the United Arab Emirates.
Erik Prince, founder of the notorious private security contractor Blackwater, is also "at the top of the management chain" of the country, according to the Times, but it's hard to say for certain*.* Prince's spokesman gave the AP a non-denial denial about his involvement, telling them he wanted to help Somalia defeat pirates but had "no financial role" in the company.
Blackwater had tried to get in on some of the anti-piracy business in 2008 by offering up its 183-foot ship, the McArthur, to defend merchant vessels from the sea bandits. However, the idea fizzled amidst discrimination and false imprisonment lawsuits filed by former crew members on the ship.
Whatever the thoughts of the U.S. an U.N., it's also worth questioning whether yet another security contractor in Somalia battling pirates would accomplish anything useful. In addition to Blackwater, a number of foreign-backed private security companies -- Secopex, Topcat, al-Habiibi Marine Service, SOMCAN, Hart Security -- have tried to provide either maritime security or training for Somalia's anti-pirate efforts. None of the ventures has been particularly effective, as evidenced by the steady buildup and expanded maritime reach of the pirates in the last few years. Some Somalis who were trained by western security contractors even ended up working for the pirates they were supposed to neutralize
But the suspension of the Saracen contract hasn't dampened Puntland officials' enthusiasm for at least one anti-pirate action. Jan Quvist and Birgit Marie Johansen, their three teenage children, and two friends were taken hostage at sea by Somali pirates in February and brought to a village in the mountains of northeast Puntland. Yesterday, Gen. Yusuf Ahmed Kheyr, Puntland's minister of home security, announced that he was preparing an operation to free the hostages by force. One pirate with ties to the gang holding the group told the AP that the hostages will be killed in the event of a raid.
Photo: EU Navfor
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- Hostages: Did Imprisoning Pirates Spur Quest Killings?
- Pirates Kill U.S. Hostages, So U.S. Forces Kill Pirates
