Crackdown on trafficking in Puntland

Authorities in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are cracking down on migrants waiting to be smuggled into Yemen and the Gulf states, Puntland's deputy police chief said on Wednesday.

"We have set up a special unit of 45 men to deal with this problem and hunt down the traffickers," said Col. Abdiaziz Sa'id Ga'amey, who is leading the operation. "We want to go after the ones who arrange the deals, collect the money and direct the traffic."

He said at least 100 migrants, "who were trying to board boats" to Yemen, had been detained in the coastal villages of Marer, 10 km south of the towns of Bosaso and Qaw to the west.

Those arrested included Ethiopian nationals, "mostly Oromos, with the rest from southern Somalia".

Ga'amey said it was Puntland government policy to eradicate the smuggling of people. The police were looking for suspected traffickers in Bosaso, the centre of the smuggling ring, he added.

The crackdown is timed for the beginning of the sailing season [September to March] when boats carrying would-be refugees leave Somalia for Yemen.

"They have already started; on Monday night three boats heading for Yemen left the Puntland shores with more than 100 people," said Muhammad Sa'id Kashawiito of Midnimo radio, based in Bosaso, the commercial capital of the region.

He said an estimated 5,000 migrants were in Bosaso, "and many more seem to be coming every day".

Kashawiito told IRIN the traffickers made most of the arrangements, such as collecting the fee and making deals with the boats in Bosaso and then send the people to Marer or Qaw to be picked up. The traffickers charge up to US $50, which could take over a year to raise, he said.

"The crackdown may make it more expensive and harder but it will not stop it, as long as the underlying problems are not addressed," Kashawiito said.

"Migrants are desperate people and desperate people do desperate things. Police action alone will not stem the tide. The migrants are a combination of political and economic refugees."

In search of safety, refuge from persecution or improved economic conditions, many Ethiopians and Somalis set sail from Puntland, trying to reach the Middle East or beyond. Since 2005, hundreds of migrants have died trying to reach Yemen, often packed like sardines in boats that can barely withstand the weather conditions in the high seas.

Ga'amey said Puntland would ensure that nobody used its territory as a transit point for human trafficking.

"We have stationed police in areas such as Marer, and Qaw favoured by traffickers, to cut off as many exit points as we can," he said. ""Any traffickers caught will be brought before the courts soon."

He admitted that his forces were not fully equipped to deal with the problem and needed help, "particularly in transport and communications. We need assistance from the countries that are the potential destinations and from international organisations to stop the trafficking."

However, the government had not decided what to do with the migrants.

"Right now the aim is to save as many as we can. What to do with them is a decision for the government."

ah/mw