Instabiliteit in de Hoorn van Africa

[Elzenga]

Inmiddels zijn er via twitter foto's verschenen van 1 van de gedode Franse commando's en de nodige bewapening en uitrusting. Triest beeld...maar ja...dat was te verwachten helaas (dat men fotomateriaal e.d. zou plaatsen).

[Lex]

'Twee Fransen dood in Somalië'

De terreurgroepering al-Shabaab zegt dat twee Franse militairen zijn omgekomen bij de mislukte reddingsactie in Somalië. Een van hen zou al direct zijn gedood, de ander is vandaag aan zijn verwondingen bezweken.

Een woordvoerder van al-Shabaab heeft dat telefonisch aan persbureau Reuters laten weten. De rebellen willen de lichamen van de twee militairen binnenkort aan de wereld laten zien.

Vastgehouden

Het Franse leger probeerde in de nacht van vrijdag op zaterdag geheim agent Denis Allex te bevrijden, maar dat mislukte. Bij de actie kwamen meerdere mensen om, onder wie waarschijnlijk ook Allex zelf.

De Franse regering gaat ervan uit dat hij is omgekomen, maar volgens al-Shabaab is hij nog in leven. Allex werd sinds 2009 vastgehouden in de Somalische hoofdstad Mogadishu.

NOS.nl,
maandag 14 jan 2013, 11:11

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

VS hielp bij mislukte actie Somalië

maandag 14 jan 2013

De Verenigde Staten hebben Frankrijk afgelopen week bijgestaan in Somalië bij de mislukte reddingsoperatie van een Franse veiligheidsagent. Dat heeft president Obama geschreven in een brief aan het Congres.

Het Franse team wilde Denis Allex bevrijden. Hij werd in 2009 in Somalië gegijzeld door leden van al-Shabaab, een organisatie die is gelieerd aan al-Qaida. Tijdens de bevrijdingsactie werd Allex door zijn gijzelnemers gedood. Frankrijk zegt dat er ook zeventien strijders zijn omgekomen bij de operatie.

Volgens Obama is een Amerikaans gevechtsvliegtuig het Somalische luchtruim binnengegaan om de Fransen te assisteren, maar is er niet geschoten. De president schrijft dat er verder geen Amerikaanse militairen waren betrokken bij de operatie.

Obama is wettelijk verplicht het Congres binnen 48 uur in te lichten over militaire operaties.

Bron: NOS

[Lex]

Even een blik naar de beheerders. Dat hier bediscussiëren? of bij ander topic? visie 2030?

Bij voorkeur in een ander topic, aangezien er geen direct aantoonbare relatie is mbt de HOA.

Lex
Algeheel beheerder

[dudge]

Even een blik naar de beheerders. Dat hier bediscussiëren? of bij ander topic? visie 2030?

Ander topic.
Maar wel een praktijk voorbeeld van een kleinschalige actie tbv het bevrijden van een gijzelaar. Nu deze toevallig in de openbaarheid is geeft dat toch weer een klein inkijkje in dat wereldje.

[Elzenga]

Een operatie die Nederland ook uit zou moeten kunnen voeren.

Even een blik naar de beheerders. Dat hier bediscussiëren? of bij ander topic? visie 2030?

[Elzenga]

Het ziet er naar uit de de Franse heli's opgestegen zijn van BPC Mistral.
Zie: http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2013/01/12/les-tigre-de-somalie.html

De Mistral was enige tijd "van de radar" verdwenen...communicatieverbod....echtgenoten waren al ongerust. Het zou gaan om 2 Tigers en 4 Eurocopter EC725s met in totaal zo'n 50 commando's.

[dudge]

Het ziet er naar uit de de Franse heli's opgestegen zijn van BPC Mistral.
Zie: http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2013/01/12/les-tigre-de-somalie.html

Een operatie die Nederland ook uit zou moeten kunnen voeren.

[Lex]

Het ziet er naar uit de de Franse heli's opgestegen zijn van BPC Mistral.
Zie: http://lignesdedefense.blogs.ouest-france.fr/archive/2013/01/12/les-tigre-de-somalie.html

[dudge]

Een oud nieuwsbericht dat mogelijk gerelateerd is.

[dudge]

ANOTHER French James Bond: Agent 'escapes' terrorists in Somalia - by walking to safety using stars for navigation

By Mail Foreign Service
UPDATED: 00:53 GMT, 27 August 2009

A French spy is said to have made a daring escape from Al Qaedalinked terrorists by killing three of them.

But his James Bond-style escapade in Somalia was mired in controversy yesterday.

There were suspicions the French government had been prepared to pay a ransom - and may actually have done so.
Haggard but alive: French security agent Marc Aubriere, flanked by Somali security agents, is escorted to a jet to return to France

Haggard but alive: French security agent Marc Aubriere, flanked by Somali security agents, is escorted to a jet to return to France

The agent, last night identified as Marc Aubriere, and a colleague were abducted at gunpoint last month after arriving in Somalia posing as journalists.

They were actually in the country to train forces for the fragile Somali government, which is waging a war on Islamist militia.

Marc Aubriere, who was seized along with another agent in July 14, escaped on Wednesday while his captors slept, then walked five hours through one of the most dangerous cities in the world to safety at the country's presidential palace.

Asked by the media how he escaped, the 'haggard, slightly gaunt' pointed at his feet and deadpanned: 'With my feet'.

The two French agents were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen. Militants had said the two would be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying and conspiracy against Islam.

Aubriere's adventures follow the extraordinary tale of escape by Frenchman Herve Jaugbert, an ex-naval officer, who alleges the Dubai secret police threatened to insert needles up his nose and that he was about to be thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

He stepped into a full-length diving suit, complete with breathing equipment, before adding padding to cover the shape of the kit.

Then he donned a burkha, headed to the ocean, swam to a police boat to disable its engine, then drove a dinghi to international waters.

Meanwhile, Aubriere said his captors had looked after him during his imprisonment.

'The militants who were holding me treated me well, they were giving me nice food,', Aubriere said.

'I was not harmed. There is no one I have killed or injured while I was escaping.'

He said he escaped at midnight when his guards 'were tired and sleepy'.

He told France's RFI radio that he was 'using the starlight to guide me ... Mogadishu at night is deserted and all the men that you cross paths with are armed. I was fired upon, I ran and hid and luckily they missed me.'

Aubriere and another agent were kidnapped from a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, then split up between the rebel groups al-Shabab and its ally Hizbul-Islam.

The captors 'knocked on the door and said they were the police,' he said.

'They had Kalashnikovs, so that was that.'

The second hostage is still being held.

Aubriere said: 'I am very happy but I am worried about my friend who is still held by militants.'
Aubriere, kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month, said he escaped Wednesday while his captors slept, then walked five hours through one of the most dangerous cities in the world to safety

Aubriere, kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month, said he escaped Wednesday while his captors slept, then walked five hours through one of the most dangerous cities in the world to safety

Foreigners rarely travel to Somalia, which is among the most dangerous countries in the world. The country has not had a functioning government for 18 years since clan warlords overthrew a brutal dictator then unleashed their militias on each other.

Kidnappings for ransom have been on the rise in recent years, with journalists and aid workers often targeted. Two foreign journalists - Canadian Amanda Lindhout and Australian Nigel Brennan - have been held for a year.

Farhan Asanyo, a Somali military officer,  told the AP earlier on Wednesday that the man came up to government soldiers early Wednesday, identified himself and said he had escaped after killing three of his captors.

But French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said the security agent was freed without violence and without any ransom paid.

'This was without any violence, contrary to some information that came from Somalia,' Chevallier said.

'This came without any ransom paid by France.'

Chevallier said Aubriere was already on his way back to France.

Abdulkadir Hussein Wehliye, the assistant information secretary of Somalia's presidential palace, said the agent arrived at the palace safely and was 'in a good mood.'

Chevallier confirmed that the second hostage was still being detained, but declined to provide any details, citing security reasons.

Many experts fear the country's lawlessness could provide a haven for al-Qaida, offering a place for terrorists to train and gather strength - much like Afghanistan in the 1990s.

The United States accuses al-Shabab of having ties to the terror network, which al-Shabab denies.

Somalia's lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off its coast, making the Gulf of Aden one of the most dangerous waterways in the world.

Various Islamist groups have been fighting the U.N.-backed government since being chased from power two years ago.

Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, sees near-daily battles between government and insurgent forces. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed.

The U.S. government - haunted by a deadly 1993 U.S. military assault in Mogadishu chronicled in 'Black Hawk Down' - is working to lower the growing terrorist threat without sending in American troops.

The Obama administration recently increased aid to Somalia by pouring resources into the weak government.

Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209245/ANOTHER-French-James-Bond-Agent-escapes-insurgents-Somalia--walking-safety-using-stars-navigation.html#ixzz2HlZrT48Q

[dudge]

Een complexe operatie, helaas lijkt het er op dat de operatie in deze mislukt is. Triest, zeker na 3,5 jaar gevangenschap.

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

12 January 2013

French hostage and soldiers die in raid in Somalia

Two French soldiers and a French hostage have been killed during a failed operation to free him in Somalia, the defence ministry says.

Commandos backed by helicopters reportedly swooped on the southern town of Bulo Marer during the night, targeting al-Shabab militants.

According to the defence ministry, the hostage was killed by his captors.

The raid in east Africa came hours after French troops intervened in the west African state of Mali.

The French military named the hostage as Denis Allex, who was kidnapped in Somalia in July 2009 along with a colleague, freed the following month.

France was "engaged in a merciless fight against terrorism wherever it is found", Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Paris.

It seems likely that the operation was linked to the intervention in Mali, the BBC's Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.

The French government knew well the intervention would have dangerous implications for the nine French hostages being held across northern Africa, our correspondent says.

Bodies

According to the French defence ministry, 17 militants were killed in the fighting in the town in the lower Shabelle region.

"Faced with the instransigence of the terrorists, who refused to negotiate for three and and half years and who were holding Denis Allex in inhumane conditions, an operation was planned and carried out," it said.

Bulo Marer resident

"During the assault, violent combat took place. Denis Allex was killed by his captors."

In a statement, al-Shabab reported a "fierce firefight" that lasted 45 minutes.

Giving no details of its own casualties, the group said it had killed "several" French soldiers and had captured an injured soldier.

The group said Mr Allex had not been killed in the raid, and instead was "safe and far from the location of the battle". It said an announcement about his fate would be made within two days.

Eyewitnesses in the town heard fighting during the night, then saw bodies this morning. Up to four helicopters were involved in the operation, they said.

Mohamed Ali, a resident of Bulo Marer, told AP news agency by phone: "We heard a series of explosions followed by gunfire just seconds after a helicopter flew over the town.

"We don't know exactly what happened but the place was an al-Shabab base and checkpoint."

Another resident of the town, Idris Youssouf, told AFP that details were sketchy because the attack had happened at night.

"But this morning we saw several corpses including that of a white man," he added.

He said three civilians had also died in the fighting.

Hostage appeal

Of the other French hostages, at least six are being held by the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group, AFP reports.


Mr Allex, reportedly an agent of France's DGSE intelligence service, appeared in a video in June 2010, appealing to France to drop its support for the Somali government.

He last appeared in another video in October, looking gaunt and calling on French President Francois Hollande to work for his release.

Somalia has not had an effective central government for more than two decades.

France has a large military base in neighbouring Djibouti, including army, marine and air force units.

On Friday, President Hollande announced that French forces were supporting an offensive by the Malian government to regain territory captured by Islamist militants in the north.

It was confirmed that French jets had made air strikes as Islamist rebels were forced out of the town of Konna.

Mr Hollande said Islamists had been trying to turn Mali into a "terrorist" state and the French intervention complied with international law and had been agreed with Malian interim President Dioncounda Traore.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-20996963#TWEET520410

[Elzenga]

Overigens schijnt het oppompen van olie ook in Somalië van belang te zijn. Klik hier.

Dat het ook hier om ging was ook al wat langer bekend....

[Lex]

Overigens schijnt het oppompen van olie ook in Somalië van belang te zijn. Klik hier.