An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir May 2017 www.dfmagazine.ie 18 | The EU's comprehensive approach in Somalia is based on active diplomacy and support to the political process, security support, development assistance, and humanitarian aid. It aims to tackle both the symptoms and root causes of piracy. An Irishman and former member of the Naval Service, Mr Chris Reynolds, is playing a key part in this important work as Head of Operations with EUCAP Somalia. Director of the Irish Coast Guard since 2006, Mr Reynolds is on secondment from his position to assist in the EU's efforts to build a force from the ground up that will be able to protect the vulnerable fisheries and the ever-in- creasing trade plying the waters of Somalia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). I began by asking him about his main duties. "My role is head of operations," Mr Reynolds told me, "which is divided into three sections: maritime capacity building, policing and institution building, and national policy. "We have policing and legal advisors who work with the Somali system to try and improve it using the concept of 'crime to court'. We are also try- ing to develop the Somali ca- pacity to inter- dict maritime crime and ensure that the correct pi- racy, trans- national crime, and fisher- ies laws; everything you need to have in place to exercise good gov- ernance. "The other role I have is head of field offices, of which we have three: Moga- dishu; Garoowe, in Puntland; and Hargeisa, in Somaliland." He is very positive about the progress that has been made in a relatively short time. "It is hard to overstate how far they have come," he said, "even though they are really still at the beginning of creating a state and facing the problems that come with that. There is also the clan issue here; a lot of power politics is based around the clan." Somali politics is nearly inseparable from its clans and some of the main problems lie in the complicated nature of its clan-based politics. Claude Gonot, a senior international security advisor for Scandi- navian Risk Solutions, has a great knowledge of the security situ- ation in Somalia and his view is: "Rebuilding Somalia will be huge and hard work. Clans and sub-clans are ancestral, omnipresent and at all levels. Somalia remains in a condition of internal conflict, fragmentation and is complex politically. The partial exceptions are Somaliland and Puntland in the north." It is very hard to create a climate for investment and growth given this fractured nature of politics and the lasting effects of 25 years of civil war. "To actually create business here is very difficult," Mr Reynolds says. "Especially for people from the outside who want to have transparency in the banking, legal or policing system. "There is an agricultural capacity in Somalia, but it is mainly to the south in Jubaland, an area heavily influenced by Al Shabaab." (Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen is a Salafist, jihadist, Islamic fundamentalist group based in East Africa. In 2012, it pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda and is a further complication in an already volatile and muddled security picture.) "The army and the police tend to try and control the towns and cities," Mr Reynolds continued, "while Al Shabaab have a lot of sway in the countryside. Farming is very difficult and there are reports of farmers paying 'tax' to Al Shabaab. "The people want to move on but it is a challenge because it has been 25 years of people fending for themselves." Mr Reynolds also told us about efforts underway to create the infrastructure needed to create growth in the maritime industry. "They have three major ports," he said, "Berbera in Somaliland, Bosaso in Puntland, and Mogadishu." The UAE are interested in developing the norther ports in the north of course because of their proximity, and Turkey is develop- ing Mogadishu Port as its area of influence. Regarding fishing, Mr Reynolds said: "One problem with the fisheries is that there is widespread abuse of the licensing system. This leads to a lot of crime and vigilante-type activity at sea, which is not in anybody's interest." This abuse of the fisheries industry was highlighted in a report, 'Securing Somali Fisheries', released in September 2015 by Secure Fisheries (www.securefisheries.org), a programme of the One Earth Future Foundation and developed as part of Oceans Beyond Piracy (www.obp.ngo). It is the first comprehensive report carried out since the 1980s, and shows that foreign, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Somali waters by foreign fleets is reducing fish stocks and has caused widespread resentment among Somali coastal communities, threatening renewed mari- time insecurity.

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