Special to WorldTribune.com LONDON — In an unprecedented move, the European Union has directed air strikes against Somalia. The EU said a range of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft attacked the Somali coast in search of pirates. The EU said the May 15 operation, in which no casualties were reported, took place in the Somali region [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com ABU DHABI — Despite international naval patrols, Somali piracy continues in the Gulf region. Somali pirates hijacked an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea 630 kilometers from the coast of Oman on May 10. The Liberian-flagged Smyrni, operated by a Greek company, was carrying 135,000 tons of oil and said to have [...]
John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — There’s been a significant drop in ship seizures and hijackings by Somali pirates in the troubled waters off East Africa. Despite last year’s spike in piracy with 28 vessels captured in the first half of 2011, there were only three ships seized in the second half of the year [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — Despite a sharp drop in the success rate, hundreds of Somalis continue to engage in piracy in the Red Sea and Gulf. A senior U.S. official said hundreds of Somalis continue to be employed as pirates and target merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Thomas Kelly, [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — A Canadian-owned company has begun drilling for energy in war-torn Somalia. Horn Petroleum Corp. has spudded a well in northern Somalia in the first such project in the African country in more than 20 years. Horn, a majority stake of which is owned by Canada’s Africa Oil Corp., intends to [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Bill Gertz, Geostrategy-Direct.com The Somalian-based Al Qaida affiliate Al Shabaab is recruiting followers through its Twitter page, U.S. sources said. Those who follow the terrorist group’s Twitter account, @HSMPress, are located in Africa, mainly nearby Kenya, followed by South Africa, Somalia and Uganda. Others are from Europe and North America. [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com from Geostrategy-Direct.com WASHINGTON — A month after denying the threat, the United States has expanded its operation to find the missing surface-to-air missile arsenal of ousted Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. The administration of President Barack Obama has approved a $30 million allocation to track and intercept SAM systems smuggled out of Libya. [...]
Special to WorldTribune.com Backgrounder, Compiled by Bill Gertz U.S. officials are stepping up efforts in North Africa and the Middle East to account for thousands of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles that have been dispersed around the region as the result of the Libyan civil war.The officials said the missiles are beginning to show up on the [...]
By John Metzler UNITED NATIONS — The four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are stalking Somalia and riding further a field into the impoverished Horn of Africa. Drought, famine, militias and global indifference plague this parched region at the mercy of weather, failed states, and donor fatigue. Today, over thirteen million people face a deteriorating food [...]
