http://www.pretorianews.co.za/private-firm-flouts-un-embargo-in-somalia-1.1242748
Private firm flouts UN embargo in Somalia
February 26 2012 at 12:34pm
By Ivor Powell
Eight months after SA-linked private military company Saracen International
was fingered in a UN Security Council as the “most egregious threat” to
peace and security in the failed state of Somalia, Saracen continues to run
and train a private army in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
Saracen, one of a cluster of shadowy private military contractors born from
the ashes of the SA/British mercenary outfit Executive Outcomes, after
nearly 18 months of military activity in the region, has yet to secure
permission to operate as a security provider in a region so volatile
Somalia has not had a functioning central government for upwards of 20
years.
Tlali Tlali, the spokesman for the National Conventional Arms Control
Committee, confirmed that neither the SA arm of the Saracen operation, nor
any of the individuals associated with the Somali adventure had applied for
accreditation as legitimate security contractors.
UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group (SEMG) co-ordinator Matthew Bryden
confirmed the company had failed to seek or secure authorisation from the
international authority to operate as a private military contractor in
Somalia after being fingered in the Monitoring Group’s June 2011 report.
We understand that the UN is in possession of compelling evidence that
Saracen has continued with military training and deployment in defiance of
the UN’s general arms embargo. The continuing violations of UN Resolutions
1973 and 1976 are expected to be addressed in detail in the SEMG’s
forthcoming annual report at midyear.
Saracen’s operation in Somalia is headed by Executive Outcomes stalwart and
– until the mercenary outfit was disbanded – holding company director,
Lafras Luitingh. Luitingh is also a director of Australian African Global
Investments (AAGI) the company primarily involved in logistical supply and
procurement for the operation.
The Saracen operation, funded by anonymous donors in the United Arab
Emirates, has also been linked to US private military contractor Erik Dean
Prince, formerly head of the notorious Blackwater, now operating out of Abu
Dhabi as Xe Services. A third shadowy connection uncovered in respect of
the Saracen programme is to former Mogadishu CIA bureau chief Michael
Shanklin.
Originally contracted under the auspices of Somalia’s fragile Transitional
Federal Government (TFG) to train up an anti-piracy task force, and to take
care of presidential security, Saracen has since early 2011 been
exclusively contracted to the administration of Abdurahman Farole,
“president” in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and based near the
Puntland port of Bossaso.
The transfer of base and allegiance followed the cancellation of the TFG
contract in the wake of allegations of violations of the UN arms embargo in
February 2010.
Shortly before the TFG deal was cancelled, a flight chartered by Saracen
was grounded by the authorities in Somaliland – another of the
semi-autonomous regions that make up the failed Somali state – and an
unauthorised cargo of combat uniforms, military webbing and other materiel
impounded. The cargo – enough to equip more than 500 soldiers- was vaguely
detailed in the flight manifest as “safari equipment”.
At the present time, Saracen controls, on behalf of Farole, what is
estimated to be the largest military presence in Somali territory with the
exception of the nearly 20 000 strong Amisom peacekeeping force.
Photographs in the possession of Independent Newspapers show that its
troops are equipped with state of the art hand-held light machine guns, as
well as heavier machine guns mounted on turrets fitted in armoured vehicles
and AK47 assault rifles.
Earlier, as highlighted in the SEMG report, Saracen’s trainers complained
that weapons already available from Puntland’s armouries were inadequate,
and proposed that new weapons be accessed by “other channels”.
Warned by the UN they would be closely monitored and that such imports
would be in flagrant violation of the general arms embargo enforced under
UN Security Council Resolutions 1973 and 1976, Saracen apparently backed
down, saying they would rely on what the Farole administration could
legitimately access on Somali markets.
However, sources close to the UN in Somalia told Independent Newspapers
that while the UN mission had not been in a position to scrutinise all
deliveries, many of the weapons in the possession of the Farole forces were
not available on internal markets in Somalia.
After being fingered for “egregious violation of the arms embargo” and
“representing a threat to peace and security in Somalia” in June 2011,
Saracen undertook to suspend all operations, but said it would maintain a
presence to secure equipment already inside Somali territory and to perform
humanitarian functions like building clinics and delivering famine relief
in rural areas.
However, Independent Newspapers investigations have revealed that Saracen
has routinely exceeded its avowed brief, and appears to have been pursuing
different and shadowy agendas.
At present the Saracen base outside Bassaso has capacity for an estimated 1
500 soldiers – three times the number of soldiers trained by the time
Saracen agreed to suspend operations.
Moreover, in the course of the past year, according to sources close to the
UN operation, Saracen is known to have brought 15 000 tons of materiel into
Puntland in defiance of the UN arms embargo, and without the UN being in a
position to execute inspections.
Other intelligence in the possession of Independent Newspapers indicates
that in the second half of 2011, the Puntland port was closed off to normal
control mechanisms for a period of 10 days while Saracen materiel was
unloaded. It remains unclear exactly what the cargoes were.
Meanwhile, in the current frame, Saracen has deployed forces to a military
command centre at Qow in the Puntland hinterland, according to sources on
the ground. There is also evidence that Saracen is operating at least four
helicopters in Puntland – after UN monitors blocked the unloading of two
Alouettes on a vessel linked to Saracen and its shadowy associates in the
early part of 2011. In addition the operation is suspected to have access
to at least six ocean-going vessels as well as several inflatable attack
vessels.
Funded to the tune of some $50 million (R380m) a year for an initial period
of three years – the figure excludes the cost of military hardware – the
avowed purpose of the Saracen operation was to train up an-anti piracy
force on behalf of the Puntland administration. However, even in the June
2011 SEMG report the concern is expressed that “there were early
indications that the Puntland authorities may have had alternate objectives
in mind for the force”.
Some of those “alternate objectives” could be highlighted in a letter dated
6 December 2010 and addressed to the UN by the “president” of the Galmudug
region of fractured Somalia. Here reference is made to a “massacre” of
“innocent nomads” carried out by Puntland security forces explicitly
identified as having been armed and trained by Saracen. In one of a series
of actions conducted by troops in armoured vehicles equipped with heavy
weapons, the Galmudug leader says 35 people were killed, and 46 wounded,
many of the casualties inflicted on women and children.
While the direct involvement of Saracen in the incidents referred to has
been questioned, sources close to the UN monitoring group said there were
indications that Saracen could be equipping and advising militias loyal to
Farole in ongoing civil conflict with Bedouin clans in the Puntland domain.
Especially targetedare clans with an allegiance to the militant religious
leader Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom – who has emerged as one of the major
targets of US interventions in Somalia.
Avowedly linked with the militant Al Shabaab, Atom, as well as other clan
leaderships in the area are also highly resistant to the exploitation of
mineral resources in their territory.
Ironically, little activity is on record or has been alleged involving
anti-piracy actions on the part of Saracen.
Meanwhile the stakes have risen higher in troubled Puntland. With a
concerns growing that Farole intends to secede from the fragile Somali
federation, drilling has begun on two oil concessions in the territory held
by Canadianmining company Africa Oil. With huge reserves already identified
– and initial surveys indicating even more extensive offshore resources,
Puntland is poised to become a major player in the horn of Africa.
Against this backdrop, intelligence sources indicated that Saracen’s
operatives, backed by Mohamed Farole – son of and designated advisor to the
president – have sought to insert themselves into an oil security operation
that to date has operated with UN accreditation and in co-operation with
the international authorities.
This would give Saracen a foothold in the resources-for-arms trade that
characterised Executive Outcomes’ military adventures in Angola and Sierra
Leone among other troublespots in the 1990s.
Contacted for comment, Luitingh said he could not speak at that moment and
failed to answer calls later. - Sunday Independent
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Received on Mon Feb 27 2012 - 10:06:38 EST
