MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia started training 500 recruits June 10 to serve as the country's first naval force in two decades to fight rampant piracy off the country's coast.
Graphic: Tamiko G. Muhammad/MGN Online
Wearing simple uniforms of shorts and white T-shirts, the young men gathered on the shores of Mogadishu, Somalia's seaside capital, to practice swimming, diving and shooting. But their effects on piracy will likely be small—piracy has exploded in recent years around the Gulf of Aden and Somalia's 1,900-mile coastline, the longest in Africa.
The new force, which Somali officials hope to have operating in two months, will face a sophisticated network that brings in millions in ransom every year despite international patrols.
“Once we complete the training, the forces will begin both search operations and routine scrutiny on the Somali waters,” said Adm. Farah Omar Ahmed, who is heading the new force.
While there have been calls for companies to place armed guards on vessels, most experts believe that would only escalate conflict and spark firefights.
The pirates operate freely because Somalia has had no effective central government in nearly 20 years. Nearly every public institution has crumbled, and the weak, UN-backed government is fighting an Islamic insurgency.
A surge of violence in Somalia's capital since May has killed about 200 people as insurgents battle the government and its allies. Insurgents want to topple the Western-backed government and install a strict Islamic state.
Fighting has killed thousands of civilians and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing for their lives in recent years. Observers say the Somali insurgents have been boosted this year by up to 400 foreign fighters who are believed to have come from as far away as Afghanistan.
Experts have expressed fears that the foreign Islamic militants could use Somalia as a base for terror.
The International Contact Group on Somalia issued a statement in Rome saying it supports “initiatives aimed at combating piracy, which is an international security threat that also affects the Somali people by worsening the internal economic conditions and hampering delivery of humanitarian assistance.”
The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, condemned the ongoing violence during the contact group's meeting in Rome.
“We are not going to accept business as usual,” he told a news conference. “It's been going on for two decades. If you would like to access power, you do it by negotiations with Somalis ... not by force.”
(AP Writer Marta Falconi contributed to this report from Rome.)
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