You must be kiddingTake off the rose coloured glasses and face...

You must be kidding

Take off the rose coloured glasses and face reality

African Oil was supposed to have finished 2600Km of seismic not 700Km

Afican Oil was supposed to drill Nugal last Jan(or was it July/Sept or Dec 07) not Dharoor possibly as late as 2010

Afican Oil is playing the ownership game of 80% on Dharoor and Range will need to play their tune if a drill rig gets anywhere near the coastline of Puntland. Read their last quarterly, the message was loud and clear.

The situation in Puntland politically is looking untidy at the moment because of the Djibouti power-sharing agreement with the ICU, thats why Yusef is arm in arm with Hersi. I agree with Preempt Hersi is looking safer for Jan09 because of this.

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4B20LV.html


"Somalia will collapse if the international community approves the Djibouti power-sharing agreement,"


Somali leader decries scant means to fight piracy
Wed 3 Dec 2008, 15:53 GMT

By Abdiqani Hassan

GAROWE, Somalia (Reuters) - The leader of Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland said on Wednesday he lacks the capacity to combat rampant piracy from bases in the enclave, and denied any of his officials were involved.

"Puntland has a coastline of 1,690 km (1,050 miles) and we have no navy to fight the well-organised criminal activities of pirates," Puntland President Adde Muse told Reuters.

Running its affairs for years with relative independence from the chaotic south of Somalia, Puntland has nevertheless become a base for pirate gangs who have caused havoc hijacking ships in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean waterways.

The pirates have earned millions in ransoms this year, enabling them to flaunt their wealth with new cars, homes, wives and luxuries in the otherwise poor and arid province.

Some regional analysts say Puntland officials are complicit in the trade, even though local authorities have staged some rescues by hiring commercial boats, and keep dozens of pirates in jail.

"My government officials are not among the pirates but a mere soldier might join them for greed," Muse said in the interview from Garowe, the capital of Puntland.

"Though we are weak we freed three commercial ships and our jails are full of pirates," he added of his security forces' anti-piracy efforts in the last four months.

"We are in the front line of the global war on terror," the Puntland leader said, noting his men had arrested 108 pirates.

Muse said the international community must step in to eliminate piracy in the region.

The problem was fuelled by ransom payments that made it an attractive business for local youths, and exhortations from foreign embassies for his security forces not to attack hijacked ships in case hostages are hurt, the Puntland leader said.

SUICIDE BOMB

Muse, who is standing for re-election in Puntland in January, said he was extremely worried by the insurgency in south Somalia where Islamists are fighting the government and its Ethiopian military allies.

Suspected Islamist suicide bombers struck on October 29 at the intelligence headquarters in Bosasso, the commercial capital of Puntland, killing three people and injuring more.

"The Islamists will take the entire south and central Somalia if the international community does not step in," Muse said, singling out the militant al Shabaab group which has been spearheading the insurgency.

"These Islamists, particularly al Shabaab, have started destroying Puntland that had been calm prior to their suicide bombings in October. We have been using our already limited resources to fight all these security challenges."

He expressed strong opposition to U.N.-brokered peace talks in Djibouti between moderate Islamists and the Western-backed interim government of Somalia, saying it would fail because it was not based on clan representation.

"Somalia will collapse if the international community approves the Djibouti power-sharing agreement," he said.

Muse said he was proud of Puntland's record in attracting foreign investors for oil exploration and construction given its relative stability.

"The oil exploration and Bosasso airport, which is under construction, created employment and developed our trade."