Shabelle Media Network – Report by Aweys Osman Yusuf

Somali fishermen in Lower Shabelle province, southern Somalia, have voiced concerns about harassments inflicted on them by US warships on the coasts of Somalia.

Abdirahman Osman, one of the fishermen, told Shabelle that he and some of his colleagues were detained by US marines on the southern coast of Somalia. “While we were fishing somewhere off the coast of Merca, a town about 100 km south of Mogadishu, a huge US warship spotted us. It closed in and were ordered to follow the ship, covering about 500 km deep inside the sea,” he said.

Osman said the Americans had a Somali translator who asked them plenty of questions.

“They were asking us: where are the terrorists? Are you fishermen or pirates? Then they let us go,” he said.

The fisherman complained that they could not reach the shore by the boat as it lost all fuel during the long journey.

^{(back to 2000s general archives)}