Djibouti arms trade: Africa Sun cargo ship refuses to search at Bossaso port

Araweelo News Network

DP World officials responsible for managing the port of Bosasso were ordered to search the freighter “Africa Sun”, but the freighter’s crew.

Bossaso(ANN)-The Djibouti Shipping Company is a new shipping company created by a subsidiary of the Djibouti Port and Free Zone Authority.

The company acquired the “Asian Sun” container ship in March 2020 and renames it Africa Sun. Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh was on hand to view the ship ahead of its maiden voyage under its new name.

The container ship made its maiden voyage on July 27, 2020, to Bosasso, a small port in Puntland state, Somalia.

But already, less than a month of service, the container ship “Africa Sun” is experiencing several problems:

1 – Technical problems:

The bilge air systems are faulty, the sewage disposal system is broken and part of the electrical installation is experiencing instant blackouts like the power cuts of the Djibouti electricity company.

This freighter was not directly concluded between Djibouti and the company that sold it, but there were intermediaries who made a lot of money on this project.

They are the Director General of the Management Company of the Container Terminal of the Port of Doraleh – STCD – Mr. Abdillahi Adawe Sigad, Mohamed Hassan Ismael who had embezzled a lot of money at the port of Djibouti and the deputy Omar Abdillahi Ahmed aka (Ina Nala-Tuur), an unscrupulous business owner.

After learning about the technical setbacks of the aforementioned container ship, Ismaël Omar Guelleh refused Abdillahi Adawe Sigad to travel outside the country.

2 – Violations of the arms embargo in Somalia instituted by UN resolution 733 (1992).

The container ship “Africa Sun – IMO 9,359,105” arrived at the port of Bosasso, Puntland on July 26, 2020 and is leaving that port on July 27, 2020 at 13:55 a.m. Eastern Africa time. He only stayed there for 1 day and 7 hours at the pier in the port of Bosasso.

Indeed, Africa Sun has reduced the time of its docking at the port of Bosasso following the concerns that the cargo had with the manager of the port of Bosasso, DPWorld.

DPWorld officials responsible for managing the port of Bosasso were ordered to search the freighter “Africa Sun”, but the freighter’s crew, all of whom are Asian, rested violently. The situation escalated between the crew of Africa Sun and the technical team of DPWorld in charge of the management of the port of Bosasso.

The latter surely got information that the freighter had not docked in Bosasso to deliver only containers of goods, but also weapons intended for trafficking in the Somali market and drugs destined for the countries of the Arabian Gulf.

READ: Djibouti’s sovereign fund will be used to launder money from arms trafficking, drugs and terrorism

At the insistence of the DPWorld officials in charge of the management of the port of Bosasso, the presidency of Djibouti recommended the intervention of the Minister of Ports and Maritime Transport of Puntland. The latter accepted Djibouti’s request and ordered DPWorld officials in Bosasso to release the Djiboutian container ship “Africa Sun”.

This event at the port of Bosasso proves that the arms and drugs trafficking of the Djibouti regime has taken on a new dimension that is very dangerous for the security future of the East African region.

by Hassan Cher Hared in Africa News, Djibouti, Features, Human Rights, Featured Slider, Editorial staff, Country, Public, Society & Business, Somalia.

Source: HCH24