Prof. Stig Jarle Hansen, University of the Life Sciences, Oslo.
In 2008 the author observed serious strains between the then president Adde Musa of Puntland and the international community, many suspected the former to have been in lead with the pirates, while the Puntland administration accused the international society from pressuring them to avoid attacking captured ships because of the likelihoods of deaths of hostages. Trust was definitively an issue. This paper asks has this issue been overcome, questioning how the local entities in the pirate areas have participated, mapping various opinions on the work of the group in the local communities, taking into consideration that there are considerable political cleavages in both Puntland and Galmudug, that might create differences in opinion as well. The paper also asks local decision makers what was useful or not in the contact group. Read the full paper here.