SYDNEY, Australia June 27 (Garowe Online) - The executive director of Australia-based mining firm Range Resources, Ltd., has admitted that the company has assisted a regional government in Somalia with unspecified "security programs." [ Watch Here]

Peter Landau was addressing a crowd on June 25 in Australia regarding Range's controversial deal to explore for oil in Somalia's relatively stable northern region of Puntland.

Range's executive director told the gathering – including potential investors – that "the problems you read about [in the news] are in the south."

During his 22-minute presentation, Mr. Landau attempted to portray major security differences between Mogadishu – in the south – and Puntland, which is located in northeastern Somalia.

He claimed that "50 experts working in Somalia for the first time in 50 years" is a testament to the relative security in Puntland.

Providing background information, Mr. Landau informed the audience that American oil giant Conoco-Phillips invested USU$150 million in the 1980s to explore for oil wells in the present-day Puntland region.

He suggested that Conoco's exploration data provides valuable evidence linking similarities between the geologic landscape of northern Somalia with Yemen, a Gulf of Aden country where oil has been found.

Mr. Landau also spoke about Range's farm-in partner Africa Oil Corp., a Canadian oil company that has an 80% stake in the Puntland exploration project according to a 2007 agreement.

He stated that Swedish oil company Lundin Petroleum is a "major shareholder" of Africa Oil.

On support from the Puntland community, Mr. Landau said: "We are not doing anything in the region without clan support."

He claimed that Range Resources has helped fund airport construction projects in Puntland, saying: "We've assisted the government in terms of sealing the two main runways in Garowe and Bossaso, which will allow jets to land in northern Somalia for the first time ever."

So far, construction of the Garowe and the Bossaso airports is not complete.

Mr. Landau looked as if he was in an uncomfortable position and "seemed uncertain" during the presentation, one attendant privately told Garowe Online.

Further, Range's executive director indicated that the Australian company has helped the government of Puntland in terms of security.

"We assist in community programs, we assist in security programs with the [Puntland] government. We do everything we can to ensure that we do have the overwhelming of the community."

Critics of the Puntland-Range agreement have wondered the nature of the "security program" Mr. Landau referred to.

In early 2006, deadly clashes were reported between Puntland soldiers protecting geologists hired by Range and clan militias in Sanaag region.

For months, local sources have been reporting that a private militia funded by foreign oil companies has been set up in Puntland to oversee exploration operations there.

Puntland's oil deal has met resistance from local clans, who feel alienated by the process. Local elders and lawmakers have accused Puntland President Adde Muse was leading a corrupt administration that has failed to pay its security forces and civil employees, while allowing crime and piracy to increase in the region.

VIDEO: Watch Here

Source: Garowe Online