Breaking Somalia apart by recognizing Somaliland won’t bring peace or stability, it would do the opposite.
I make the case in my latest piece for @ForeignPolicy
To understand the Somali “Pirates” one must first understand the reasons behind their rise.
In this clip, pirate kingpin Abshir Boyah, states that hunger has led him to this, and starvation is worse than any missile or bullet fired at him. x.com/HashiShiil/sta…
The Pentagon has confirmed that yesterday’s seizure of the Israeli-linked cargo ship was carried out by Somali Pirates, and not Houthi Pirates, as originally thought.
This comes days after Somali Pirates seized another ship off the coast of Eyl for the first time since 2017.
The men in this video were originally herdsmen and had nothing to do with piracy.
They explain that they only turned to piracy in order to “punish those foreign ships exploiting our ocean”. These so called pirates are simply men protecting their waters.
The resurgence of Somali Pirates is no surprise as foreign ships continue to plunder Somali waters while locals starve.
In this video, an Iranian ship illegally fishing threatens local fishermen and point their guns at them.
An estimated $300 million is lost annually in Somalia due to illegal, unreported and unregulated [IUU] fishing.
Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa and the potential to build a strong blue economy yet for more than 3 decades foreign vessels have bullied local fishermen.
As awful as it is, Illegal fishing is just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to the fishing, these foreign vessels have dumped countless barrels of toxic waste into Somalia’s waters for decades.
Many deformities have been reported as a result of exposure to radiation.
Boyah explains that neither he nor his partners ever harm the crew members; instead, their intention is to make money for his people, who are exploited daily by illegal vessels.
He states every dollar that comes in his hands ends up in the hands of his people who are hungry.
Until the embargo is lifted and Somalia is allowed to build a proper navy, foreign nations will continue to exploit the waters and fishermen will be forced to fight back.
The International Community has failed Somalia and its helpless citizens.
For the first time in history, the Horn of Africa is united and its leaders are on good terms. Crisis entrepreneurs want nothing but war & hostility between us but to that we say #NoMore. We will never accept the return of the terrorist #TPLF junta to #Ethiopia or #Somalia.
Ilaria Alpi, an Italian journalist, came to Somalia in order to investigate the Italian Army’s hand in dumping toxic waste.
While in the middle of her investigation, Alpi was murdered in Somalia. The Ndrangheta later claimed they murdered her due to her toxic dump investigation
Somalia has been without a Navy since the fall of the central government more than 30 years ago.
Since then, an arms embargo has been imposed on Somalia by the United Nations which is the longest running embargo in UN history. The nation is unable to effectively defend itself.
In 2008, the EU launched Operation Atalanta in Somalia, which is an ongoing counter-piracy military operation.
Ironically, the same EU allows their ships to exploit the waters they “protect”. Somalia’s DG of fisheries stated that this practice was “inhumane”.
It’s important to note that Houthi forces reportedly fired two ballistic missiles at the USS Mason following the Navy’s arrest of the pirates.
This is puzzling because Somalis have no relationship with the Houthis and I cannot see a reason as to why they would intervene.