Puntland President making efforts to make Puntland safer :
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UNITED STATES/SOMALIA
President Farole gets a powerful lobbyist in Washington
The President of the autonomous administration of Puntland (north-eastern Somalia) Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud known as Farole, has hired a new American lobbyist on security and anti-piracy issues. In a letter dated 21 November 2011, he authorised Stephen Heifetz, a partner in the firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP, to represent Puntland in Washington on both subjects. Heifetz’s work should in particular be to find funding to create a Puntland Maritime Police Force. In a document dated 7 November, Heifetz promised Farole that he would carry out this lobby activity "at no cost to you" inasmuch as it did not interfere with the interests of his paying customers. The latter include the firm Sterling Corporate Services (SCS) that he advises "regarding counter-piracy issues". If SCS interests ever come into conflict with those of Puntland, Heifetz would stop representing the latter. This would appear to suggest that SCS may be interested in Farole’s counter-piracy projects.
In any case, Heifetz will provide Puntland with a powerful ally in Washington. Formerly with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (1996-98), he subsequently worked for the Department of Justice (1998-2000), before joining the private firm WilmerHale (2000-2005), where he specialised in anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations. He then joined the Department of Homeland Security (February 2006 to March 2010) as Deputy Assistant Secretary in charge of Policy Development. There, he was in charge of air and maritime cargo screening, aviation and transportation security, visa screening. He is also a member of the think tank Council on Foreign Relations.
Heifetz is not President Farole’s first lobbyist in the United States. In 2009, Farole hired Duane Morris to try to obtain American funding for Puntland. And last year, he took on the services of The Moffett Group, owned by the former Democratic congressman Toby Moffett, to try to persuade ConocoPhillips, which had abandoned oil exploration in Somalia in 1991, to resume operations in Puntland."
Red
