GAROWE, Somalia June 5, 2008 - Soldiers working with regional administration of Puntland, in Somalia’s northeast, have reportedly joined forces with pirates, a local mayor told Radio Garowe.

Abdullahi Said O’Nur, the mayor of Puntland’s coastal town of Eyl, said the security situation and the local economy have been adversely affected by the arrival of hundreds of soldiers.

The Mayor, who is currently in the Puntland capital of Garowe, told Radio Garowe during a Thursday interview that 400 soldiers backed by armored trucks had arrived in Eyl in recent days.

“I appeal to the ship’s owners not to pay any ransom,” Eyl Mayor O’Nur said, while addressing the fate of MV Amiya Scan, a Dutch-owned with a nine-member crew of Russians and Filipinos on board.

Earlier this week, Somali pirates who seized the MV Amiya Scan demanded a $1.1 million ransom payment, according to a Reuters report.

Independent sources in Eyl said all foreign crewpersons on board were in “good health,” but concern lingered about the safety of the crew after pirates issued death threats if Puntland troops attempted to storm the ship.

Insiders linked the arrival of hundreds of Puntland soldiers in Eyl to Puntland President Adde Muse’s recent declaration that the regional authority lacks the resources to pay for the services of its employees, including members of the security forces.

Some reports indicated that the defecting soldiers left military barracks along Puntland’s unofficial border with Somaliland, a breakaway Somali republic that has not been recognized internationally.

For months, critics accused the government of Puntland of neglecting its security forces, a development that has led to the worsening insecurity across the region.

Some ex-soldiers have turned to petty criminality, while others have joined Somali pirates, who have earned millions of dollars in ransom payments since the beginning of 2008.

Source: Garowe Online