Puntland is building a coast guard to deal with the pirates operating along its coasts. The thousand man force is being paid for by an undisclosed Arab country (probably Saudi Arabia or the UAE) and led by two former U.S. government officials (a war crimes investigator and CIA station chief). ... The first class of 150 coast guardsmen graduated from the training last month. The force is equipped with infantry weapons, pickup trucks and single engine aircraft for patrolling coastal waters.
So instead of a legal state doing the job, or a legal state hiring mercenaries to do the job, a state has sponsored a non-state entity to hire a private company to organize locals to do the job.
We shall see if this effort keeps the "coast guardsmen" loyal or whether they take their training and go rogue, like the effort a decade ago. Maybe that's why there is no mention of sea-going elements--those are the ones trained for piracy if they don't want to be counter-pirates.
If this doesn't work, is the next step simply hiring a professional military contractor company to run a coast guard?
