Somali Scaremongering

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has warned the UN Security Council that the piracy epidemic centered on his struggling nation could all too easily feed into terrorist activities.

“It will not surprise us if al-Qaeda’s agents in Somalia start hijacking tankers in the high seas and use them as deadly weapons as they did in September 2011,” warned Mohamed, whose Western-backed transitional government is struggling to wrest control from al-Shabab, a group linked with al-Qaeda.

“Why bother with a small plane when you can capture a tanker.”

The Council later issued a statement that stressed the need for “comprehensive response to tackle piracy and its underlying causes”, and called on member-states of the UN to maintain the arms embargo against Somalia.

“The Security Council condemns in the strongest terms such as violence, including hostage taking, murder and other acts of violence against individuals,” it said.