I reported on Wednesday that President Abdullahi Yusuf of Somalia had appealed to the Russians and the Americans — and anyone else, really — to help him control the pirates off his coast.
Now it appears that Mr. Yusuf is following the example of St. Augustine: “Lord, make me chaste, but not yet.”
Common sense would expect the “president” of a failed state like Somalia to generate as many income streams as he could: UN aid, Western charity, bribes, kickbacks… and payments from pirates.
According to the Somali Press Review:
Somalia: Report Implicates Somali President in Piracy
London, October, 28 (Somali Press Review)—A new report from Chatham House on the Somali pirates has implicated Somali president in the surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia. The report coincides with the ongoing standoff between the US warship and Somali pirates who seized the Ukrainian cargo vessel carrying tanks and other weapons.
The report is an in-depth analysis of the threat Somali pirates pose not only to cargo ships but also to ships carrying relief supplies for drought stricken and war ravaged people in Somalia.
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“Money [from piracy] will go to [president] Yusuf as a gesture of goodwill to a regional leader,” Roger Middleton, the report writer quoted an expert on Somalia as saying although the Somali president thanked the French president, Sarkozy, for the French navy’s action to capture Somali pirates now on trial in Paris.
The Somali president’s remarks further angered pirates who overwhelmed Puntland security structure and caused more mayhem on the high seas. Somali Press Review asked Roger Middleton of Chatham House’s Africa Programme, if there was solid evidence showing the Somali president’s pecuniary association with the pirates. “Because of the lack of stability in Somalia it is very hard to trace payments,” Roger Middleton said. The Somali presidency has not so far challenged the quote in the Chatham House report.
Previous posts about the Somali pirates:
Hat tip: Henrik.