EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana told a Brussels news conference that Somali security forces have asked for special training to fight against the growing armed insurgency in their country, the EUobserver reports. Solana said the training would not be a big operation. "It will probably be in the hundreds, not the thousands," he said Tuesday.
Solana said the training would not be a big operation.
"It will probably be in the hundreds, not the thousands," he said Tuesday.
Spain has proposed to lead the new EU training mission, with a possible start date being the first half of next year under the Spanish presidency of the EU. Madrid would run a mission headquarters in Brussels and take care of logistics, finance and infrastructure, with a number of EU member states indicating a willingness to lend troops. The meeting of defence ministers also threw up a range of concerns, including the need to prevent the newly trained forces becoming a danger to Somali civilians in the future.
Madrid would run a mission headquarters in Brussels and take care of logistics, finance and infrastructure, with a number of EU member states indicating a willingness to lend troops.
The meeting of defence ministers also threw up a range of concerns, including the need to prevent the newly trained forces becoming a danger to Somali civilians in the future.
"There was a heavy exchange of gunfire between some of our friends" one pirate told the local journalist, speaking of the other pirates. "They fought over the 3 million euro ($4.5 million) received as a ransom from the Spanish boat." At least two pirates were wounded in the gunfight in Harardhere, a pirate stronghold in central Somalia, the local journalist told CNN.
"They fought over the 3 million euro ($4.5 million) received as a ransom from the Spanish boat."
At least two pirates were wounded in the gunfight in Harardhere, a pirate stronghold in central Somalia, the local journalist told CNN.
Soon after the Alakrana, a Basque tuna-fishing vessel, and its 36 crew were freed on Tuesday, the Spanish opposition Popular party challenged the government to explain how the kidnapping happened and how it was resolved. Sixteen of the crew are Spanish. EDITOR'S CHOICESomali pirates seize arms shipment - Nov-09Somali pirates seize Chinese carrier - Oct-19"The time has come for the government to speak," Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, PP parliamentary spokeswoman, said in a television interview on Wednesday. "Now that they [the crew] are safe and sound, we must insist that the government take responsibility for how the kidnapping began, for how it was managed and for everything that needs to be done to ensure that cases like the Alakrana don't happen again."
"The time has come for the government to speak," Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, PP parliamentary spokeswoman, said in a television interview on Wednesday.
"Now that they [the crew] are safe and sound, we must insist that the government take responsibility for how the kidnapping began, for how it was managed and for everything that needs to be done to ensure that cases like the Alakrana don't happen again."
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months, especially off the Seychelles as the pirates extend their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa. ... The European Union naval force EU Navfor force operating in the area said on Tuesday that pirates had seized the 22,294 DWT tanker MV Theresa VIII 180 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles with 28 North Korean crew on board. ... The European force said gunmen opened fire on the Maersk Alabama with automatic weapons on Wednesday morning, but a security detachment with the huge container ship responded and the vessel managed to escape with no casualties reported.
There was a pause in hijackings during monsoon rains, but Somali sea gangs have stepped up attacks in the past two months, especially off the Seychelles as the pirates extend their range to evade navies patrolling off the Horn of Africa.
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The European Union naval force EU Navfor force operating in the area said on Tuesday that pirates had seized the 22,294 DWT tanker MV Theresa VIII 180 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles with 28 North Korean crew on board.
The European force said gunmen opened fire on the Maersk Alabama with automatic weapons on Wednesday morning, but a security detachment with the huge container ship responded and the vessel managed to escape with no casualties reported.
The 2009-present phase of the Somali Civil War is concentrated in southern Somalia. It began in early February 2009, with the conflict between, on the one hand, the forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops, and on the other, various militant Islamist factions. The violence has displaced thousands of people residing in Mogadishu, the nation's capital.
