Around the Year Change 2008 – 2009 in Somalia - Horn of Africa Piracy Annals Part 4

Marking 100 days of unbearable detention of the MV FAINA crew members at the hands of the Somali pirates, Ecoterra 95th Press Release Update contains the latest details as regards the incredible situation off the Somali coast. I republish it integrally.

95th Update 2009-01-02 14h10:33 UTC

Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates and related news.

We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868

While our thoughts are with all those who are held captive in Somalia, as well as with the millions of Somalis, who are trapped in the ongoing conflict and poverty, we hope and wish for all that 2009 will bring freedom and relief, new hope and prosperity to those oppressed as well as insight and enlightenment, wisdom and humanity to those at whose hands the people suffer.

- Happy New Year!

And we thank all those who have supported in the past year our work as well as the tireless efforts of the Seafarers Assistance Programme - Thank You!

Day 100 - 2393 hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over three months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued.

Day 100 of the hostage crisis for 2 Russians, 1 Latvian and 17 Ukrainians saw what could become a major breakthrough in the final negotiations with the captors of MV FAINA, with both sides signaling to end the stand-off peacefully and to reach a fast conclusion.

Ecoterra Intl. repeats its call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen or those, who believe they are capable to try an attempt of a military solution, must be held fully responsible for the surely resulting disaster. The saga and secrecy surrounding MV FAINA must not - like in the MS ESTONIA case, which is the worst naval disaster in Europe since WWII - become the shroud for its 20 seafarers.

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships ----

Somalis have released the second Yemeni fishing boat, MSV Al-Qana'a, which they had taken early in December off Somalia's coast along with another boat, Faluja, the head of Yemen's Coastguards Ali Ahmed Rasea'a stated. 8 fishermen were onboard the boat when it arrived in the Aden port on January 1. The release of the al-Qana'a boat came almost a week after pirates released the other boat along with 10 fishermen. The two boats were seized while fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Somalia. After paying fines and fees the boats were released without any ransom, Brigadier General Ali Rasea'a confirmed, while he had earlier assumed that the two vessels were taken to serve as pirate mother-vessels.

EU forces foiled a pirate attack on a Greek-flagged crude oil-tanker off the coast of Somalia on Friday, Greece's merchant marine ministry said.

3 piracy skiffs has been reported and small arms have been fired. The MT KRITI EPISKOPI, with 29 crew, was en route to Greece from Iran when it issued a distress signal as pirates attempted to board the vessel, the ministry said. The attack occurred at position 13:42 N-050:39 E. "There were two failed attempts to board and the pirates fled after the crisis response was activated by the captains alert to the crisis unit at the Greek ministry which in turn contacted the headquarters of the EU Atalanta naval mission operating in the area which dispatched a Spanish warplane, a Dutch frigate and a helicopter to the area", a ministry official said. The tanker's captain said the pirates had by then withdrawn to a distance of 10 nautical miles. The ship, owned by Greece's Vardinoyiannis shipping family, is the first Greek-flagged vessel to be attacked in the region, although Greek-owned ships registered elsewhere have been targeted. "All members of the crew are safe. The vessel is sailing safely to the port of destination", Stylianos Dathermos, a company official told Reuters.

Today’s second reported attack refers to MV Sea Princess II at position 13 07 N 047 27 E.

The IMB Piracy Monitoring Centre issued a specific alert: It appears that one or more group of pirates are targeting vessels in the above area. All ships are strongly advised to maintain a strict 24 hours visual and radar watch even though they are in the maritime corridor of coordinates through the Gulf of Aden. Early assessment / detection will allow ships to take evasive measures to prevent boarding and request for assistance.

With the latest captures and releases now at least 17 foreign vessels with a total of at least 368 crew members (of which 92 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held). For 2009 the account stands at 7 attacks with 1 sea-jacking. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the hi-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly related news --------

"President Yusuf has taken his courageous decision [to step down] on his own and in total independence. I have no doubt that members of his friends and allies support this decision", said Ahmed Ould-Abdallah, the UN special representative for Somalia. "I also invite them to take this opportunity to rise above their differences. Time is now for Somali friends to help the country and for the spoilers to stop their destructive behaviour". Meanwhile, the Islamic insurgents are becoming emboldened, though fractured, as they continue to take territory amid the political turmoil. This week, at least 40 people died in clashes between rival Islamic insurgent groups. Analysts say the international community’s policy of propping up warlords to oust the Islamists has failed.

Moderate Islamic groups need to be included in Somalia’s nation building, according to the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank. "One way or another, Somalia is likely to be dominated by Islamist forces", said Daniela Kroslak, Crisis Group’s deputy director for Africa. "It makes sense, therefore, to offer the incentives of international recognition and extensive assistance in return for an agreement that is based on compromises by all major Somali actors and promotes the rights and well-being of all Somalis". The humanitarian situation in Somalia continued its downwards spiral this year and is now considered by many aid workers to be the worst crisis in the world. In the past year, 60,000 refugees streamed across the border into Kenya swelling the refugee camps to 230,000. The Dadaab camp in northern Kenya is the largest in the world and has recently reached maximum capacity, according to the UN refugee agency. "All refugees have to find a place with relatives or friends", said Leonidas Nkurunziza, a UNHCR field officer in Dadaab. "We no longer have any land to provide them". As the Somalia conflict enters its 19th year, 2009 brings little hope that the situation will improve, writes Matt Brown in The National.

Colonel Ge Lide, researcher at China's National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), was quoted by the weekly newspaper, Youth Reference, as saying, "As a responsible member of the international community, China is obliged to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions to curb piracy on the high seas and protect the safety of marine routes". The Chinese naval task force, which is made up of two missile destroyers and a supply vessel of the PLA navy promised to escort Chinese merchant ships, which were harassed by pirates seven times in 2008. It will also escort foreign vessels on request. Colonel Ge said, "With the discreet and aboveboard naval deployment, China doesn't have any intentions of challenging the security or commercial interests of other countries in the region. We are simply interested in guarding the international waters from armed pirates, our common enemies". The task force's commanding officer said their primary job would be escorts, not actively engaging pirates. He, however, did not rule out possible fire exchange. The 800 or so Chinese crew include about 70 members of the PLA Navy special forces.

Impacting news from the global village --------

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki hit out at the international community for not doing more in the face of Israel's deadly blitz on Gaza on Friday and demanded an immediate halt to the assault. "We are calling for an immediate ceasefire, a halt to the attacks and aid for the population of Gaza as well as an end to the (Israeli) blockade of the Palestinian territory and the opening up of all the borders, particularly the ports", Mottaki said in a sermon at the main weekly Muslim prayers here. Mottaki accused the Israeli navy of behaving like "a bunch of Somali pirates" after a patrol boat collided with an aid boat carrying medicines and international activists trying on Tuesday to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. He said the Gazans were justified in their belief that some Arab countries had "betrayed" them. After the prayers, several thousand worshippers marched through central Tehran to protest against the Israeli blitz, chanting "Death to Israel," "Death to America". Similar protests were held in other Iranian cities, state television reported. Iran is a staunch supporter of the Islamist Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, and does not recognise its arch foe Israel. The death toll from Israel's aerial pounding of Gaza reached at least 422 on Friday as it entered its seventh day.

End of the Ecoterra Press Release Update