Horn of Africa Update- Somali, Ethiopian Troops Seize Al-Shabaab Stronghold; US Airstrike Kills Foreign Fighters; Somaliland Open for Business?

Somali troops seen on the move outside of Baidoa

SOMALIA- Backed by Ethiopian troops, the nascent Somali army captured one of al Shabaab's strongholds in the central part of the country last week.

AFP - Truckloads of Ethiopian and Somali troops on Wednesday captured the strategic Somali city of Baidoa from Al-Qaeda allied Shebab insurgents, who vowed to avenge the loss.

"We have taken control of Baidoa without a single shot, it is a great day for the people who are now welcoming us warmly," said Muhidin Ali, a Somali government military commander in Baidoa.

Baidoa, 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu, is one of the main bases of the hardline Shebab, and its capture deals a major blow to the insurgents, who control large parts of southern and central Somalia.

Sporadic shooting was reported on the outskirts of the town, but residents said the city was largely calm.

"We are at the centre now and moving towards every corners of the town, to ensure that we are in full control," Ali added. "The enemy fled the city before our army has reached the town empty."

Ethiopian troops, who moved into southern and western Somalia in November, began a major push Tuesday towards Baidoa, which hosted the transitional parliament before Islamist rebels seized the town in 2009.

"There was no fighting, the Somali troops and the Ethiopian forces entered the town, setting up their base at the police station and the main crossroads in town," said Abdulahi Hassan, a resident.

"People are out in the streets watching the soldiers who are gradually moving into the different parts of the city."

Witnesses had said earlier that Shebab fighters and their families were seen fleeing Baidoa towards rebel-held Afgoye.

"Many people, most of them Al-Shebab families and supporters, are fleeing Baidoa," said Hussein Ali, a resident. "They are heading towards the Afgoye."

An al Shabaab commander confirmed the retreat, calling it a strategic withdrawl and promising more bloodshed and attacks against the Somali transitional government and African Union peacekeepers.

In recent years, forces from Somalia's transitional government controlled little more than a few blocks within the capital city of Mogadishu as the Islamic militia al-Shabaab swept through the countryside.

Less than a week before al Shabaab forces fled Baidoa, an al Shabaab commander and 13 other fighters were killed in clashes with Kenyan security forces in the southern part of Somalia.

Then Kenyans reportedly ambushed al Shabaab financier Mohamed Asmaya in Somali territory near the Kenyan border and seized a number of areas that provided the islamic militia with the bulk of its financial support.

On Friday, two foreign members of al-Shabaab were killed in an airstrike by a US drone about 60km south of Mogadishu.

Somali militants say that a Moroccan was killed in a strike that a U.S. official said was carried out by an American drone.

The statement Saturday on an al-Shabab website named the dead Moroccan as Sheik Abu Ibrahim. The statement said two others - including a second foreigner - were killed in the overnight Friday attack.
A U.S. official told The Associated Press the attack was carried out by a drone. Somali officials identified another of the militants killed in the attack as a Kenyan citizen.

Local reports claim that the total number killed in the airstrike was 4.

PUNTLAND- While under pressure from troops from Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia's transitional government as well as African Union peacekeepers in the South, Al Shabaab made its way north into the semiautonomous Puntland region, reportedly joining forces with a previously unaffiliated militia.

An Islamist militia group in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region has merged with the al Shabaab rebel group, said the insurgents on Saturday, a union which threatens to destabilize the relatively secure area targeted by oil explorers.

Al Shabaab said it wanted to scrap the licenses of Western oil and gas firms drilling in Puntland. The al Qaeda-backed insurgents used social media site twitter to declare all oil and gas exploration and drilling licenses nullified.

While they do not hold the administrative control in the region needed to enforce their demand, the militants could try to target installations operated by Western oil companies.
The union comes as the insurgents are being weakened, relinquishing ground to African Union troops around the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and losing territory to Kenyan and Ethiopian forces in parts of southern and central Somalia.

Puntland security officials have previously said the Islamist militia camped out in the Golis hills outside the port city of Bosasso is led by Yasin Khalid Osman.

"I ... the leader of Golis ranges Islamists have signed an agreement with al Shabaab leader Sheikh Muktar Abu Zubeir. We are now al Shabaab," a voice identifying itself as Osman said in an audio recording on al Shabaab's website.

"I urge residents to take part in the jihad against the Christian invaders and the Somali infidels that work with them," he said, referring to the foreign troops inside Somalia.

Osman rarely makes statements and it was not immediately possible to verify his voice.

Al Shabaab's announcement comes a month after western companies began drilling an exploratory well in Puntland- the first to be sunk since the 1991 collapse of the Said Barre regime that left Somalia without a functioning government for more than 20 years.

Canadian-based Africa Oil Corp [TSX- AOI.V] along with Australian-based Red Emperor Resources [LSX: RMP] and Range Resources [ASX: RRS] are targetting what could be 300 million barrels worth of recoverable oil.

Somaliland moneychanger with stacks of Somaliland shillings in the capital city of Hargeisa- photo; Phoenix of Somalia

SOMALILAND- In the hopes of attracting foreign investment to the relatively stable breakaway region of Somalia, Somaliland has established a UK-linked development corporation to circumvent concerns over potential problems arising from the fact that it is not recognized as an independent state.

President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo told Reuters that the purpose of the Somaliland Development Corporation was to "to attract companies and institutions which want to invest in our country."

"Since we are not a recognised country, insurance is always a difficult problem in Somaliland so if this can help with that, it would be useful."

Silanyo did not indicate what economic sectors he wished investors to target. But energy and mining minister Hussein Abdi Dualeh said in November the northern enclave had hydrocarbon potential with a geology similar to basins containing 9 billion barrels across the Gulf of Aden.

A number of big oil companies with permits to operate there left what is now Somaliland in the late 1980s and declared force majeure during Somalia's escalating civil conflict.

Several foreign banks have expressed interest in operating in Somaliland where they are keen to capitalise on its untapped market potential. Somaliland has no formal banking sector and its people rely heavily on remittances from diaspora communities in Europe, North America and the United Arab Emirates, as there are no ATMs or loan facilities.

Somaliland was briefly independent from Britian in 1960 before joining the rest of Somalia. However, with the 1991 collapse of the Barre regime, Somaliland once again declared independence. Despite establishing the rule of law as well as trading with Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and a number of Gulf States, circulating its own currency and aiding international navies in combatting piracy, Somaliland's independence remains unrecognized by most nations as well as the UN and a number of international agencies.

Currently, Somaliland's economy depends heavily on remittances from Somalis overseas, but the breakaway nation has been doing a robust business in exporting cattle and camels

Some speculate that if Somaliland gains internationally recognized independence from Somalia, it could trigger a number of similar secssionist movements throughout Africa.

MOGADISHU- The director of a Mogadishu radio station that was once shut down by al Shabaab was shot and killed by two unknown gunmen at his home this week, becoing the third journalist to be slain since December 2011.

Radio Somaliweyn is an independent radio station operating in northern Mogadishu.

The National Union of Somali Journalists has condemned the killings. Union Secretary General Mohamed Ibrahim said it is not clear why Mohamoud was targeted, but noted that in recent times he was involved in civil society activities.

“He was planning to bring the radio on air again. The reason is yet unclear, though he was very involved in civil society activism, such as youth in Banadir region in recent days. This is a really worrying trend for the journalists working in Mogadishu and the government has not done enough to investigate and bring suspects for prosecution,” said Ibrahim.

The killing came just a month after another journalist, Radio Shabelle Network Director Hassan Osman Abdi, was gunned down outside his house in Mogadishu. The Transitional Federal Government promised to investigate the murder and arrested two suspects.

In December, a government soldier killed journalist Abdisalan His at a checkpoint in the capital.

A number of media-rights groups say that due to the prolonged lack of any form of government, Somalia is the most dangerous country in Africa for journalists.

INDIA- Due to a steep decline in the number of pirate attacks off the western coast of India from Somali-based pirates, India plans on petitioning the International Maritime Organization to de-list their territorial waters from a list of high-risk nautical areas.

Citing the noticable dip in pirate attacks as well as increased patrolling by the Indian Navy off the west coast, India is hoping that the de-listing would lower insurance premiums on vessels operating through that area and possibly decrease demand for armed guards on some ships. The increased costs of both the insurance and armed protection means that the cost of shipping goods would be passed along to consumers worldwide.

Following aggressive expansion by the pirates further off the coast of Somalia and closer to Indian territorial waters, the Indian Navy stepped up patrols off the Western coast in 2011 resulting in the capture of a number of pirates and sinking a captured pirate 'mothership' which the pirates would use to launch smaller vessels to stage attacks on ships.

However, as recently as December 2011, Indian Navy officials warned that Somali pirates remained within striking distance of the southwestern archipelego of Lakshadweep.

UK- During an international conference on Somalia last week, Britain announced that it would pledge £20 million for a rapid reaction force to train police in areas retaken from al Shabaab.

Under the plans, Britain will contribute £20 million to a 'stability fund' for Somalia to help its new government secure the territory it has won from the al-Qaeda backed insurgency.

This will pay for a civilian force of “chino-clad warriors” who will be sent into vulnerable areas to help establish a police presence, health care facilities, schools and basic services before the militants can return.

The fund would target areas where either al-Shabaab had been driven out completely, or reduced as a fighting force. Its experts would be trained in forging local peace deals as well as overseeing government services in battle-ravaged regions. Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary, said Britain hoped to attract further backing from around the world for the scheme. Somalia has had no functional government for two decades and has been described by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, as “the world’s most failed state”.

In addition to the 40-nation conference in London, the United Nations security council is expected to take up a resolution regarding increasing the number of peacekeepers in the Horn of Africa. Currently, the African Union is combatting al-Shabaab in Somalia with soldiers from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti while Ethiopian and Kenyan troops operating seperately from each other and the AU force have opened up a second and third front against al Shabaab elsewhere in the country.

HORN OF AFRICA UPDATE: South Korean Naval Commandos Kill 8 Pirates, Free Hostages; Private Military Contractors Training Private Anti-Pirate Forces?

South Korean sailors from the Cheonghae Naval Unit conducting an antipiracy drill in 2009- Militaryphotos.net

Six days after the MV Samho Jewelry was boarded and seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, South Korean commandos stormed the cargo ship, killing 8 pirates and rescuing the 21 member crew. Taking part in multinational anti-piracy patrols in the region, the destroyer Choi Young was dispatched by South Korea to intercept the hijacked vessel.

The Samho Jewelry was carrying chemicals from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka when the pirates attacked. A vessel from the same company shipping oil from Iraq to the USA- the Samho Dream- was hijacked by pirates last May and it's crew was released 217 days later only after a largest-of-its-kind ransom payment of US$9.5 million.

"Our special forces stormed the hijacked Samho Jewelry earlier today and freed all hostages," said Colonel Lee Bung-Woo, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"During the operation, our forces killed some Somali pirates and all of the hostages were confirmed alive," Lee told reporters on Friday. Another JSC spokesman said eight pirates were killed.

The military said Friday's rescue followed a brief gunbattle Tuesday, when the destroyer encountered pirates who had apparently left the South Korean freighter to try to seize a nearby Mongolian vessel.

The South Korean commandos aboard a speedboat and a Lynx helicopter were dispatched to rescue the Mongolian ship.

Tuesday's firefight left several pirates missing and believed killed although their bodies have not been found, spokesmen said. Three commandos were slightly hurt.

The rescue took place 800 miles off the northeastern coast of Somalia, according to the Joint Chiefs.

ELSEWHERE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA, is reportedly backing an effort by South African Private Military Contractors to train 2000 Somalis for a land-based private army that would protect officials from Somalia's fragile Transitional government as well as combat pirates and the al-Shabaab Islamic militia.

Prince reportedly brokered the deal between officials in the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern nations and South Africa's Saracen International to fill the security vacuum in the lawless region.

Presently an African Union peacekeeping force is propping up the internationally recognized Somali Transitional government that only controls parts of the capital city of Mogadishu. Last month, the AP reported that the Somalia project encompassed training a 1,000-man anti-piracy force in Somalia's northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland and presidential guards in Mogadishu, the ruined seaside capital. The story identified Saracen International, a private security company, as being involved, along with a former U.S. ambassador, Pierre Prosper; a senior ex-CIA officer, Michael Shanklin; and an unidentified Muslim donor nation. Prosper and Shanklin confirmed they were working as advisers to the Somali government.

Since then, AP has learned from officials and documents that Prince is involved and that a second 1,000-man anti-piracy force is planned for Mogadishu, where insurgents battle poorly equipped government forces.

This has some analysts fretting over what they call 'the privatization of war', which in a region that has been racked by famine, prolonged civil wars, lawlessness, piracy and terrorism for the last 20 years seems like a rather petty and abstract complaint.

I mean, really? Suddenly, employing some battle-hardened South Africans (or Brits, or Aussies, or Americans) with extensive military backgrounds to break the impasse and restore some sort of order is bad?

Worse than multiple civil wars dragging on for decades at a time that's killed millions?

Worse than multiple famines triggered by said civil wars and ethnic cleansing that's killed millions more?

Worse than rampant piracy that threatens to choke off the Red Sea to commercial maritime traffic to all nations?

Worse than yet another failed state playing host to yet another Islamic terror group that can operate with impunity?

I mean, it's not as though Saracen is usurping a Democratically elected government- there has essentially been no functioning central government in Somalia since 1991.

Food for thought.

PUNTLAND- The autonomous reigon of Puntland- where a number of pirate raids have been launched from- said it was breaking with Somalia's Transitional Federal Government 'until a legitimate Federal authority is in place in Mogadishu'.

The decision was made during a special cabinet meeting in the Puntland capital Garowe, said a government statement received by AFP in Nairobi.

It said the Mogadishu government "does not represent Puntland in international forums" and called on "the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) to reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders".

And it criticised "the lack of participation, consultation and representation of the Puntland Government during the 2008-2009 Djibouti Peace Process which led to the formation of the current Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia."

The statement also slammed "the marginalization of Puntland from the international community's initiatives and funding intended for the reconstruction and development of Somalia as a whole."

It said it "welcomes, supports and endorses the new U.S. Dual-Track Policy which is based on realities on the ground in Somalia" and called for a conference to speed up national reconciliation.

Unlike neighbouring Somaliland, Puntland, which was founded in 1998 by former transition president Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, did not secede from Somalia but has its own government bodies at Garowe.

While it's rumored that some government officials in Puntland take a cut of ransoms paid out to pirates, the Saracen project is reportedly using a pool of recruits from Puntland. Local reports also indicate that Saracen is aiding in the construction of a new Naval facility outside the coastal village of Bandar Siyada.

Photo- Guuleed

SOMALILAND- It could be that there's a country newer than South Sudan waiting in the wings. Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia during the 1991 Civil War and has managed to avoid the chaotic slide into lawlessness and anarchy that has characterized the rest of Somalia. It has managed to set up a functioning government and legals system, hold regularly scheduled elections and circulate its own currency- although for whatever reason the international community has been reluctant to recognize it as an independent state [I was actually made aware of Somaliland in the 1997 editon of Fielding's World's Most Dangerous Places; apparently Somaliland stood out because it wasn't as dengerous as the rest oF the country- NANESB!].

Surveys indicate that Somaliland holds considerable oil and mineral reserves, but because of it's unrecognized status, foreign companies are unable to extract those resources while Somaliland itself lacks the expertise on a local level to set up large scale drilling or mining operations. Presently, it's main source of income is exporting livestock, remittances from abroad and allowing Ethiopia to use the port of Berbera.

And they also view the rampant piracy in the region as one more problem that jeopardizes their bid for international recognition as a sovereign state. The de facto government in Somaliland has offered to put the port at Berbera at the disposal of the international navies that are patrolling the Red Sea and Indian Ocean as part of their stepped up campaign against Somali pirates as far back as 2008.

More recently, they have arrested and jailed pirates fleeing into Somaliland waters, handing out sentences of 15 years each. Last month, they arrested six Russian pilots violating territorial airspace and suspected of attempting to deliver military supplies to the Puntland reigon in defiance of a blanket arms embargo on all of Somalia (it is thought the supplies were destined for the Saracen project in Puntland). Puntland and Somaliland are involved in an ongoing border dispute as well. The Russians were released after being given a suspended sentence and fine at the end of December.

While far from perfect, this resilient and fairly orderly enclave along Somalia's northern coast could be what the international community needs to serve as a counterweight to the out of control piracy and al Shabaab militias that have taken over elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.