MOGADISHU (Somalilandpress) — Somali pirates in Puntland seized food aid trucks and their drivers to obtain the release of detained comrades, officials said Friday, in a rare land attack by the sea bandits.

The five trucks had been contracted by the UN’s World Food Programme and had finished delivering food aid in the Galkayo area, in the semi-autonomous northern Somali state of Puntland, which harbours several major pirate lairs.

They were on their way back to Berbera, the main port in the neighbouring breakaway state of Somaliland, when a gang of pirates intercepted them on Thursday.

“The pirates hijacked five trucks with nine people onboard and took them to their base in Garaad. They are demanding the release of their colleagues arrested recently by the Somaliland security forces,” Abdullahi Mohamed, a security official in Galkayo, said by phone.

“We heard pirates took civilians from Somaliland region as hostages and we are still investigating the incident,” police officer Colonel Dahir Jama said.
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The Somaliland authorities have arrested and jailed dozens of pirates from Puntland in the Gulf of Aden recently.

“We are treating the hostages well here in Garaad and our aim is to get our friends in the jails of Somaliland freed. We are not demanding anything else. When our friends are free and back home we will free the drivers and the trucks,” Abdi Jamal, a pirate, said by phone from Garaad.

Dozens of other trucks transporting food aid in the same region are stranded in Galkayo, their drivers afraid to continue.

“There are many trucks from Somaliland still here in Galkayo, too afraid to return, but we will give them escorts,” Jamal said.

Source: AFP, 26th February 2010

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1 COMMENT

  1. These pirates should free these innocent fellow Somalis. They were in that area to help the WFP get the needed food to that region but not to be taken hostage and treated like foreigners. If the pirates start these kinds of land crimes they’ll be the ones who will loose everything. Including, entering/staying in Somaliland in order to go to Ethiopia.

    Who ever was in charge of the escort and the safety of these drivers should be help responsible for this case.

  2. They went there to help the starving people of Somalia, after this I reckon we should get our army as well as the Ethiopians to accompany those food aid trucks and should travel via Ethiopia and enter Galkacayo from there.

    I think Puntland is behind the pirates because they upset the WFP didnt use their tiny thing they call port in Bosaaso which only handles macawis (somali garments) and fishing cargo.

    We need to travel via Ethiopia, and the WFP needs to pay Somaliland and Ethiopian security to work together.

    We will not free those pirates and those trucks will be rescued, watch.

  3. the world is watching closely how the puntland adminstration deals with these terrorist pirates and set free the innocent somaliland civilians abducted in puntland.

  4. It's good that now the world sees that Somaliland and Somalia are two different places. Somaliland is the peaceful place where this aid trucks delivered the food from to Somalia where all the instability is, WFP could not even use their ports, they had to make that long journey.

    Now remember the people of Somalia are as hostile as they are to any foreigner as they are to Somalilanders, so WFP next time give them arms or our port is happy to serve Ethiopia where at least our trucks do not get kidnapped.

    This is why its better to do business with Ethiopia than Somalia. See what happens?

  5. This is way some of us call this part of Somalia, a Mafialand, There is no authority to speak of if there is one then how comes tugs can stop an innocent hardworking individual and demand for payback? where is the so called Puntland authorities? are they in the pockets of these pirates?

  7. There you go. Is there ever any doubt that Puntland is totally overrun by pirates? At least they had some decency to wait until the food got the starving people in Somalia. It is now up to the "administration" in Puntland to sort this out. For a long time, Somaliland has been trying to show the difference between Somaliland and Somalia. It is now crystal clear. Somaliland arrests, tries and sentences pirates, Somalia and Puntland act as a haven for such pirates, both on sea and now on land.
    I would like to see Garowe Online or Mareeg.com spin this!

  8. So whats the Somaliland government doing to free the hostages? They should be dealt with harshly no mercy for the pirates

  9. My good friends,
    we are all Somalis, like everyone is English.
    Ooh! yes we all Frech! But each one of us has his own territory
    Etc…Begium, France, Switzerland etc……
    Do not be and ever cheap and fooled by the Somali.
    Djibouti is alive tkx to heavens.
    Rule yr home and yr domain !!!!

    Tkx

    Yace

  10. it is unfortunate if the pirates started operating in puntland,and starting capturing the trucks for somaliland civilians, which are delivering food aid to Galka’ayo area.
    i think it is very shamefull for puntland Goverment,

  11. Somaliland needs to invade Puntland and their pirates if they do not release these men and their trucks as soon as possible. We will continue to arrest Puntland thugs and put them behind bars.

    They are furious because Somaliland has law, they have port, and the international agencies such as WFP want to deal with Somaliland because of its peace, law and facilities.

    You are hungry pirates and no one is going to deal with you, we will come to Bosaso and Garowe like we chased you from Sool and arrest you all.

  12. I think Putland and Somaliland are what they are. They are the same old boys of SSDF and SNM who helped destroy Somalia and Somalism. Now you guys cannot make a deal to reunite and work a thing or two together. So you guys can unite to destroy but you cannot even make a simple deal. Shame on you. You fooled the other Somalis. Now you are claiming you are not even Somalis as I can see from your comments you are French and Italians trapped in Africa. Tell me that. Heheheheheh! Those are the people the revolution has to deal with.