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The last batch of 120 Somalis touched down at Mogadishu’s international airport yesterday after serving up to 7 years in jail for piracy offenses.
75 Somali men received a warm welcome from Mahdi Mohamed Guled Khadar, deputy prime minister, and other government officials. All the men kneeled to kiss Somali soil as they got off the plane. India’s navy captured the men off Somalia’s coast and they were charged with piracy.
In early January this year, Somalia received the first batch of 41 returnees, some of them having completed their jail terms. 2 Somali prisoners died in Indian custody since being captured 7 years ago. The men died from diseases including tuberculosis due to the lack of heath care.
The incident comes off the back of an agreement signed in August last year between India and Somalia to transfer convicted pirates.
15 Somali pirates hijacked a commercial oil tanker belonging to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last year, in the first successful hijack since 2012.
The European Union arrested 6 pirates off Somalia’s coast in November last year. The operation took over 24 hours, after the Somali men attacked a 52,000-tonne container ship and a fishing vessel.
India has previously provided Somalia with development support, including transport infrastructure.
Source: MEDIA
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