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Cape Town journalists Chris Everson, left, and Anton van der Merwe, centre, were detained in a Somaliland jail for 10 days.
Authorities in Somalia's unrecognized separatist region of Somaliland have fined a cargo plane, confiscated all materials on board and sentenced the plane's crew to jail terms
court in Somaliland capital of Hargeisa made the ruling on Thursday. The plane's six crew members, who are reportedly of Russian origin, were charged with delivering weapons to an enemy.
Abdirahman Jama Hayan, the judge at Hargeisa Regional Court, sentenced the six crew members to one-year jail terms. Court documents state that the crew members can buy off their sentence instead of serving the full one-year term.
Judge Hayan also fined the six crew members $500 U.S. dollars each, while fining the airplane approximately $4,000 U.S. dollars.
The six crew members had a defense attorney named Khadar Mohamed Guled, but it's not clear that the defense attorney could fairly defend his clients in such a highly-charged political case.
Plane story
A small cargo plane made an emergency landing to refuel at Hargeisa's Egal International Airport on Dec. 10. Somaliland police immediately seized the plane and its eight passengers, but later released two South African journalists.
Since Dec. 10, Somaliland authorities have spoken publicly a number of times claiming that the airplane was delivering weapons to Puntland, a self-governing stable state to the west that supports the establishment of a federal Somalia.
Officials in Hargeisa have claimed that Puntland is violating the 1992 U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, but Somaliland authorities have failed to produce any evidence that weapons were found on board the plane.
Puntland's government has not responded publicly to the plane seizure or Somaliland's accusations about violation of the U.N. arms embargo.
However, the plane's manifest states that a number of different items were on board, including: uniforms; boots; video cameras; T-shirts; mosquito sprays; and rat traps.
Somaliland President Ahmed Silanyo appointed a committee consisting of five Cabinet ministers to oversee the case. However, confidential sources in Hargeisa tell Garowe Online that the committee members "disagreed" about Somaliland's response, with "hardliners" gaining the upper hand.
On Dec. 22, South African newspaper Cape Times reported that the coordinator of the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia, Mr. Matt Bryden, traveled to Somaliland at the authority's request to interview the plane's passengers.
However, the U.N. Monitoring Group has not issued any report of Mr. Bryden's visit to Somaliland or any violation of the Somalia arms embargo with regard to the seized plane.
Furthermore, the Hargeisa Regional Court ruled that the Somaliland government confiscated all materials for government use, which contradicts accusations that the materials was a violation of U.N. arms embargo.
Puntland's anti-piracy force
On Dec. 1, the Associated Press reported that Saracen International is training a 1,050-strong anti-piracy force in Puntland.
The report triggered immediate responses from the U.S. government and the U.N., with mild expressions of concern being voiced.
Puntland's government did not respond to any of these reports or public expressions from the U.N. and foreign governments. Saracen International, which is contracted to train Puntland's anti-piracy force, is currently training the force's second batch of recruits.
In recent years, the international community has repeatedly blamed Puntland and its government for the rising wave of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden waterway that straddles Puntland's northern coast.
Puntland officials say that the international community has failed to help Puntland establish a force to fight pirates, adding that Puntland should not be blamed for setting up anti-piracy force in the face of the international community's neglect.
Political tensions
Somaliland and Puntland have clashed several times since 2002 over control of Sool and Sanaag regions whose inhabitants share kinship ties with Puntland.
In Oct. 2007, Somaliland troops seized Las Anod town, which became the epicenter of the Somaliland-Puntland dispute. Puntland authorities have condemned Somaliland's military aggressions as provocative and demanded the withdrawal of Somaliland forces from Las Anod.
Insiders say Somaliland authorities are politicizing the airplane story after Puntland officials accused Somaliland's government of funding and arming Al Shabaab insurgents in Galgala hills area of Puntland.
In late October, Puntland troops completed a three-month military offensive and seized control over all insurgent strongholds in Galgala area, killing nearly 100 militants.
Puntland officials said that 70 Somaliland soldiers were "fighting alongside" Al Shabaab insurgents in Galgala hills area and some Somaliland soldiers were killed in the conflict.
Somalia's last effective central government collapsed in 1991 when the country imploded and disintegrated. Al Shabaab insurgents now control most regions in south-central Somalia, while Puntland and Somaliland in the north have remained relatively stable.
Puntland supports Somalia's UN-recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which is facing a relentless insurgency since 2007 led by Al Shabaab, listed as a terrorist organization in many countries including the U.S.
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