War on the Man’a Boys

Lolita C. Baldor, who does excellent work for the AP, has this story on the Treasury Department freezing the assets of certain individuals who are either “involved in piracy off Somalia’s coast or militants who have done anything to threaten the shaky nation’s stability.”

Any names stand out?

For me it was Faris Muhammad Man’a, a prominent shaykh from Sa’dah and arms trader – although he has many other business interests – and the brother of the former governor of Sa’dah. Faris is incredibly well-connected, or at least he was well-connected and not just in Yemen. He also used to have extensive holdings in the US, so there may still be a great deal for the US to go after.

Still it is interesting to see the US go after him not for his role in a particular incident in Saudi Arabia, but rather for his role in Somalia. Hmmm.