Puntland minister calls for stop paying ransoms

(BRUXELLES2) In an interview with the German specialist magazine IMS, Puntland's Minister for Maritime Affairs, Saeed Mohamed Rage, calls on the international community to stop paying ransoms. This threatens our stability, he explains. “Our annual budget is around 20 to 30 million US dollars per year. So we have, for the whole of government, about US$2 million a month. The pirates continue to receive very high ransoms of around five to seven million dollars per ship. This is a very dangerous situation for us, because we can pay our security and police forces only about 50 US dollars per month. There is a risk that they are corrupted. If we don't do something about hackers very quickly, we run the risk of them taking over. The high ransom payments by the shipping companies undermine our efforts to keep the situation under control and endanger our security. This must stop. »

The rise of piracy: a ransom of $700.000

Saeed Mohamed Rage was already minister of fisheries and responsible for ports in Puntland in 2007 when piracy took off. For him, one of the causes of piracy is clandestine fishing carried out by large ships " One cause of piracy is the fact that for many years illegal fishing off our coasts has kept our fishermen from working. Many fishermen tried in vain to defend themselves against illegal immigrants, and there were no alternative sources of income for them, many of them became pirates »

But the triggering event that degenerated everything are the ransoms paid; and the minister accuses the Westerners of having played this game from the start. He remembers it very well. " The pirates had hijacked the MV Golden Nori in late 2007, a chemical tanker, and brought the vessel to Bossasso. He was accompanied by two warships, including an American. I didn't want to let the Golden Nori pirates enter the harbor and wanted the ship released. The international forces asked us, in order to free the ship, not to arrest the pirates. He was eventually paid $700.000 in ransom and the pirates freed the ship. (...) At that time, I immediately resigned from my post and I believe that these ransoms contributed to the fact that piracy increases ».

280 pirates behind bars in Puntland

Puntland tries with the means at hand to fight against piracy. " 280 pirates are in prison, of which about 40 were handed over to us by the naval forces (NB: mainly France). The rest were arrested by us, including some leaders like the most popular, Booyah” who is behind bars.

Fight with the means at hand

Information circulates. But in terms that are not related to the challenges in question. " I inform NATO when a ship leaves the port of Bossasso and transmits its route and its target, so that the NATO forces are informed. But we are not connected with the information systems of the armed forces. All I can do is write a daily email to NATO. »

As for the Coast Guard, seven stations have been built along the coasts” to fight against piracy. But, Puntland has “ one boat ". Puntland benefits from the help of a private military company, Saracen, for the training of its coastguards; accused in the UN report of circumventing the arms embargo imposed on Somalia and Eritrea. “We need Saracen” for that. " We invited the UN officials to come and inspect that there were no weapons. They have not yet responded (...) Pending the contract with Saracen is suspended ».