Britain leads dash to explore for oil in war-torn Somalia
March 1, 2012 in Headline, Politics, World News
Mark Townsend and Tariq Abdinasir – guardian.co.uk
Engineers and visitors tour an exploratory well in Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region. Photograph: Reuters
Government offers humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in country’s future energy industry
Britain is involved in a secret high-stakes dash for oil in Somalia, with the government offering humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in the beleaguered country’s future energy industry.
Riven by two decades of conflict that have seen the emergence of a dangerous Islamic insurgency, Somalia is routinely described as the world’s most comprehensively “failed” state, as well as one of its poorest. Its coastline has become a haven for pirates preying on international shipping in the Indian Ocean. Read the rest of this entry →