Seventeen Somali pirates that had been released from a jail in Mombasa, Kenya, were flown on Monday to Galkayo town in Central Somalia, 750 km north of Mogadishu. The group was welcomed by some officials from Puntland, a semi-autonomous state in northeastern Somalia.
In a meeting at Galkayo airport amid tight security, the Puntland Governor in Mudug region, Ahmed Ali Salad, told the former pirates who spent over a year in a Kenyan prison to employ the bitter experience they had by starting to advocate against piracy.
He said that the youngsters were in a position to tell those engaged in piracy to stop the practice that harms the Somali communities as well as national and international trade.
“You must be an example of good conduct,” Governor Salad told the pardoned former pirates.
Lobbied
The released pirates were initially captured along the Indian Ocean and handed over to the authorities in Kenya, accused of attempting to hijack a ship in the high seas.
The authority of Puntland had lobbied for the release of the alleged pirates with the Kenyan officials, a move that pleased the youngsters and their families.
Mr Abdirizak Mohamed Ahmed alias Du’aysane, the Head of Piracy Issues of the Puntland Ministry of Ports and Maritime Services flew with the youngsters from the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa.
He urged the former pirates never to repeat the past deeds, reiterating that the Puntland government would look for ways of creating alternative sources of livelihoods for the youth.
