Puntland President Accuses Foreign Powers of Using Anti-Piracy Pretext to Exploit Marine Resources

Speaking in Garacad on August 31, 2026, Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni accused unnamed foreign powers of using the piracy resurgence as a pretext to gain access to Puntland's marine resources, saying: 'The intention is to extract our resources through deploying forces to our coast under the guise that Puntland has failed to defend itself from piracy.' Deni rejected unilateral foreign military intervention along Puntland's coast, citing concern over civilian casualties from international operations and referencing past resource depletion during earlier eras of heavy foreign naval presence. The remarks come amid an active hostage crisis in which the IMO says more than 90 seafarers remain held across multiple hijacked vessels, including the tanker MT Honour 25.