http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.as ... tml&Lang=E
14. By the time of Saracen’s withdrawal from Mogadishu, its operations in Bosaaso were well
advanced: to establish a force of approximately 1,000-strong, equipped with 3 transport aircraft, 3
reconnaissance aircraft, 2 transport helicopters and 2 light helicopters. The maritime component of the
force would be equipped with 1 command and control vessel, 2 logistical support vessels and 3 rigidhulled
inflatable boats (RHIBs) for rapid deployment and intervention. If fully implemented, these
plans would establish the best-equipped indigenous military force anywhere in Somalia.
15. Just two days after the Saracen team redeployed to Bosaaso, on 31 October 2010, the MV
NOORA MOON 1 delivered approximately 500 MT of equipment and hardware, including
construction vehicles and also 85 pick-up trucks to the port of Bosaaso. Between October 2010 and
February 2011, Saracen also chartered fifteen flights to Somalia from the UAE and Uganda, involving
two Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft operated by Ayk Avia, carrying supplies for the Saracen training
camp in Puntland.
19. Pathfinder and Focus Africa are South-African companies contracted by the Puntland Petroleum
and Mineral Agency (PPMA) to supervise the security aspects of the deployment in Puntland of
foreign companies involved in oil exploration.
And below is the weirdest shit I've ever seen; Galmudug was nearly taken over by some White drug traffickers.20. Salama Fikira is a private security company based in Kenya and with offices in Mauritius and
Puntland, Somalia. They are contracted by Africa Oil Corporation, registered in Canada, to “protect
Africa Oil Corp.’s activities in Puntland”.14 Africa Oil is leading a consortium of foreign oil
companies which includes three companies incorporated in Australia (Range Resources,15 Lion
Energy Corporation and Red Emperor). The consortium had its license renewed in January 2011 by
the Puntland government, and plans to begin drilling operations in the Dharoor valley, situated
between Bosaaso and Garowe, within July 2011.
1. Southern Ace Ltd. was officially established in Hong Kong on May 18, 2007 by owner and
director Edgar Van Tonder for the purpose of “import and export of logging trucks and trailers and
their spare parts”.1 Paul Calder Le Roux also known as Bernard John Bowlins is a ‘silent partner’ in
the company, and believed by law enforcement officials concerned by the company’s operations to be
the actual owner.
2. In January 2009, in association with a Somali businessman named Liban Mohamed Ahmed
“Ottavio”, Southern Ace made a proposal to the ‘Gaalmudug State’ administration, based in
Gaalka’yo, presenting itself “traders and importers of fisheries products in Hong-Kong” and
“interested in establishing operations in the central and coast of Somalia starting with the Mudug
region”.3 Several months later, on 22 April 2009, Erwin Bockstaele, Southern Ace operations officer
in Mudug and reportedly a former soldier, signed an agreement with the then President of the
Gaalmudug administration, Mohamed Warsame Ali “Kimiko”, establishing the company in
association with Ali Hashi Dhoore, owner of the Iidan Fishing Company and candidate in the January
2009 TFG presidential election.
3. By the end of April, Erwin Bockstaele, assisted by Shaun Right, also known as Abed Abu Radi,
began recruiting militiamen from “Ottavio”s subclan (Hawiye/Habr Gedir/Sacad/Reer Nimacale),
equipped with Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifles and light machine guns, offering up to US$300 per
month.
4. At the same time, the company began to purchase weaponry from the Gaalka’yo arms market,
acquiring about 70 Kalashnikov-pattern assault rifles, 5 light and heavy machine-guns, 5 rocketpropelled
grenade launchers, and one anti-aircraft ZU-23 machine-gun with 2,000 rounds of
ammunition, as well as a number of handguns.5 Southern Ace’s arms purchases were so substantial
that local officials in Gaalka’yo noted a significant rise in the price of ammunition and a shortage of
ZU-23 rounds.
5. Several of these weapons were mounted on vehicles, including two four-wheel drive vehicles
mounted with light machine-guns, three pick-up trucks mounted with heavy machine-guns and two
GMC trucks mounted with ZU-23.7 Southern Ace also imported to Somalia radio equipment,
Philippine army-style uniforms and bullet-proof jackets in support of their operations.
6. Meanwhile, “Ottavio” set up a company called GalSom Limited, and began to experiment with
the cultivation of hallucinogenic plants, including opium, coca and cannabis, initially at the Southern
Ace compound in south Gaalka’yo. The cultivation was later extended on a larger scale at the
premises of the Iidan Fishing Company. He was assisted in this endeavour by two Philippine
nationals, Ian Caballes and Donald Gimeno, a Zimbabwean and a South-African maintenance technician.
In support of these activities, Galsom Ltd. and the Iidan fishing company imported
generators, green houses, gardening tools, herbicides, fertilizer, a bulldozer, an excavator, a
compactor, a drilling machine, and three small trucks from Philippines, China, Hong-Kong, Kenya
and UAE.
7. During an interview with the Monitoring Group in Djibouti on 2 December 2010, “Ottavio”
admitted owning GalSom, and presented himself as Southern Ace representative in Gaalka’yo. He
claimed to be head of a well-paid militia in the Mudug region, assisted by “armed international from
different countries”. He also acknowledged having purchased a greenhouse “for agricultural produce”
8. Local start up costs for the period March to June 2009 amounted to at least US$500,000, wired
from Paul Calder Le Roux’s company in Philippines, La Plata Trading, via a money transfer company
based in Dubai, UAE.
9. Early in 2010, the company established a new compound at Af Bawaarqo, about 180 kilometres
east of Gaalka’yo and 50 kilometres north-west of the Iidan fish factory compound, mid-way between
Hobyo to Jariiban. By this time, Southern Ace and its local associates operated a well-equipped, 220-
strong militia from the Habar Gidir / Sa’ad / Reer Nim’aale sub-clan, supervised by a dozen
Zimbabweans — one of the strongest forces in south Mudug region, with the potential to change the
balance of power in the area (which may help to explain several grenade attacks on the company
headquarters end of 2009 and early 2010). Southern Ace has been consequently engaged in supporting
armed groups allied to the Galmudug administration in Gaalka’yo and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a in the
Mudug region. On 29 November 2010, in Godod (30 kms south-east of Gaalka’yo), militiamen from
the Omar-Mahmud sub-clan of Majerteen, supported by four-wheel drive vehicles mounted with
heavy-machine guns, attacked Sa’ad pastoral nomads causing allegedly heavy casualties from both
sides. According to UN confidential reports, the fighting lasted several days and Southern Ace militia
was engaged in fight and supported Sa’ad militiamen.
10. Towards the end of March 2010, Le Roux planned to import by air a large quantity of heavy
weapons, including 75 kilograms of C4 explosives, 200 land mines, one million rounds of 7.62 mm
ammunition, and five AT-3 “Sagger” anti-tank missiles.12 For this purpose, Mohamad Khalif Dhore,
Gaalmudug’s aviation Minister, issued an official letter stating that the Baandiiradley airstrip was
suitable for landing of an Antonov 12.
11. According to multiple sources interviewed by the Monitoring Group, the planned delivery never
took place. Instead, in mid-2010 a dispute between Le Roux and “Ottavio” erupted, when Le Roux
realized that he was paying his militiamen almost twice the market rate. As the crisis deepened, most
of Southern Ace international staff left Somalia and in November 2010, “Ottavio”, supported by the
militiamen from his sub-clan, took over the leadership of Southern Ace in Gaalka’yo.
12. By January 2011, only two international Southern Ace personnel remained in Gaalka’yo,
apparently handling administrative tasks. On 12 January 2011, Jirat Taeko, a Zimbabwean national,
was reportedly killed at the gate of the compound in South-Gaalka’yo, following an argument with
one of the company militiamen over financial issues.14 “Ottavio” and three other Southern Ace local
staff were subsequently jailed for three weeks by Gaalmudug authorities, and company assets,
including weapons, were reportedly divided between local Habr Gedir/Sacad militias and the
Gaalmudug authorities.
13. By the time Southern Ace ceased operations in early 2011, the Monitoring Group estimates that
Le Roux and his associates had spent approximately US$ 3 million in Somalia, including almost $1
million in militia salaries and over $US 150,000 on arms and ammunition.
