Somalia signs training deal with private security firm

MOGADISHU — Somalia's fragile government said Friday that it had signed a deal with a private security company, Saracen International, a firm that has been criticized by the US government.

"The agreement the government engaged with Saracen International covers training security guards ... and some humanitarian tasks including renovating places like hospitals and other buildings," said information minister Abdikarin Hasan Jama.

Hasan Jama said the arrangement had no connection with company's activities in the neighboring breakaway region of Puntland.

The funding for the deal would come from other Muslim countries, Jama said without specifying.

Puntland contracted Saracen International to assist in its crackdown on pirates, many of whom operate from the territory's lawless coastal regions and target shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

The US State Department earlier this month criticized the arrangement, saying it lacked transparency and could potentially violate a 1992 UN Security Council arms embargo on Somalia.

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