(Sh.M.Network)-President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed has shielded a top pirate leader from arrest by issuing him a diplomatic passport, according to a United Nations...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the sound of artillery...
inquiry, which criticizes the "climate of impunity" enjoyed by pirate kingpins in Somalia and abroad.
The United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia said in a report to the Security Council that senior pirate leaders were benefiting from high-level protection from Somali authorities and were not being sufficiently sought by international authorities.
The group said a diplomatic passport had been provided "with the authorization of" Mr. Ahmed to Mohamed Abdi Hassan, a pirate leader also known as Afweyne, who presented it to authorities in Malaysia on a trip there in April.
The report said Mr. Ahmed said the passport was "one of several inducements" for Afweyne aimed at dismantling his pirate network.
Mr. Ahmed, in a letter to the chairman of the Security Council Sanctions Committee, called the report "one-sided" and described its contents as "unsubstantiated allegations."