Ras Assuad
Coordinates: 4 ° 34 ' N , 48 ° 5' E
Ras Assuad (also Ras Asued, Ras Aswad or Ras Assuat , roughly: black cape) is a cape on the northeast coast of Somalia in the Mudug region . To the north of the cape is the town of Hobyo , south of the cape, about 14 kilometers from Hobyo, is the port of Obiat . Confusingly, both coastal towns are alternatively referred to as Obbia , but are different from each other.
Before the colonization of Somalia, the cape was the southern border of the Majerteen Sultanates and the northern border of the Congo area defined as a free trade area in the Congo Conference in 1884.
Only the survey trips of the imperial German gunboat SMS Hyäne off the coast of Somaliland claimed by the German East African Society in 1886 determined the correct northern latitude of Hobyos, Obiats and the Cape.
The port areas of the region have become a center of piracy since the collapse of the fishing industry as a result of the Somali civil war . In 2007, two Korean tankers and 24 crew members were kidnapped off Ras Assuad and only returned for a ransom.