By Demonizing the Shabaab, the World Community Only Worsens the Dramatic Situation in Somalia
The world will only fail if great powers and the international body stick to their present hypocrisy.
And what term better than this can be found in order to describe the lack of willingness from the part of the international community to admit the reality that
1. A period of 18 years of Somali civil war,
2. A period of 2 years of partly Abyssinian invasion,
3. The indirect and duplicitous acceptance of the breakaway tyranny Somaliland and of the shadowy administration Puntland,
4. The criminal incitation of the piracy phenomenon,
5. The ongoing bribery of numerous warlords and traitors,
6. The provocative favoritism of the neighboring racist, dictatorial regimes of Abyssinia (fake "Ethiopia") and Kenya,
7. The unfair treatment (by the world community) of the illegally occupied (by Abyssinia) Ogaden, and the genocide perpetrated there by the - still unpunished - Amhara and Tigray gangsters,
8. The total disregard and disrespect of Somalia’s problematic environmental conditions, and in general
9. The overwhelmingly biased stance toward Somalia and the illustrious, 4000-year long History of the Somali Nation
cannot be left without response from the Somali Nation, cannot be accepted by the Somalis as normal, and cannot occur without consequence.
In fact, it’s not the Somali supporters and followers of Sheikh Mukhtar Robow who founded, manned and developed the Shabaab as organization.
Long before the Shabaab emerged to existence, the perfidy and the iniquity of the Western colonial powers and the indifference of the rest had made it sure that the Shabaab would exist – as a reaction to the aforementioned biases. A shrewd observer may have already anticipated it; the development was expected.
Further failure from the part of the international community to understand the reality that all the UN member-nations stand today accused - for having left the situation deteriorate that much in Somalia - will result in more catastrophic consequences that we will all attest, either Muslim or not.
For the international community to stick to the duplicity of the UN Security Council and the UN top envoy and attempt to support the unrepresentative TFG president with the soldiers of some dictators (this is what AMISOM forces truly are) will be truly too much.
Already loathed by all the Somalis, the AMISOM forces, if they attempt to save the TFG administration, will deprive Sheikh Sharif of the last few supporters he has been left with, among the Somali Nation.
On the contrary, it would be wise for the UN Security Council under China’s proposals to launch a totally new approach and summon Sheikhs Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Turki, and Mukhtar Robow to discussions about Somalia’s pacification, reunification, and rehabilitation.
Particularly exposed to US deceitful schemes, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow must be helped by the international community to demonstrate to his supporters that their rightful anger and protestation against the colonial powers’ anti-Somali evildoings have been adequately understood by the world community – and that there is no need for further radical reaction.
This is the key to Somalia’s pacification.
The 37th Ecoterra press release makes available the latest news and comments, analyses and republications about the piracy around Horn of Africa. I therefore republish it integrally.
Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) - XXXVII
Ecoterra International – Updates & Statements, Review & Clearing-house
A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or overseas, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities nor the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act". George Orwell
2009-05-15 17h14:22 UTC
EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia@ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: SMS to +254-738-497979 or call +254-733-633-733
"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream!"
Capt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y TANIT - killed by attack of French commandos - 10. April 2009
Non A La Guerre - Yes To Peace
(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT shot down on day one of the French assault)
Clearing-house
Breaking:
Five passengers survived and 10 died in a tragic boat accident off Southern Somalia. Yesterday's accident of a dhow - a small wooden sailing boat belonging to Somali businessman Ahmed Rashid -, which was used as ferry to carry people and goods from Kismayo to Bur Gavo, caused the death of eight women and two children, coastguards and authorities from the local government confirmed.
The boat had left Kismayo, the Southern Somali port 500 kilometers south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, and was carrying 15 passengers plus lots of basic foodstuff and goods. The vessel capsized during the trip near the remote location of Barakasi, between the island of Kudah and the coastal village of Bur Gavo. No immediate help was available and until today evening only 6 bodies had been retrieved. Most of the deceased were from one Somali sub-clan from Ras Kiamboni, while the two children are the daughters of a Bajuni man, Lali Shemote, whose Somali wife also drowned. According to Bajuni captain Bakari Shee Lali, who rescued one small boy, the accident was caused by bad, stormy weather and an overloaded vessel. Media reports speaking of 14-16 deceased, incl. three children and ten missing out of 40-50 people on the vessel could not be confirmed. However, the loss of ten innocent lives in such an accident is tragic enough, said Sheikh Hassan from the Islamic Administration of Kismayo.
The population of the southern coastal stretch of Somalia, often pounced upon by illegal trawlers from Kenya, is among the poorest of the whole country and especially the Bajuni, a people of Shirazi origin, who were driven off their ancestral islands - the Bajuni Islands - already in 1973 by Russian naval forces, are in constant distress. Many of them already have fled to neighboring Kenya, from where some gained asylum in the USA and Canada.
News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships
Akio Yonago's 36-foot sailboat, the S/Y EMU II as well as another yacht have not yet been located in Somalia and some observers from the Yachting community believe that maybe the initial information concerning the abduction of the yachts from the Seychelles by Somali sea-shifta, published first in a US newspaper, is not correct.
Tension is high on MV MARATHON, the Dutch vessel boxed in at the Somali coast of the Gulf of Aden by a Dutch as well as a Spanish naval vessel. An additional Italian warship is stationed about 40 miles away. The present location of the small freighter is about 29 nm off a place called Laasmacaan not far from Laakoraay in Sanaag Region. Local reports stating that yesterday early morning at around 04h00 local time (=01h00 UTC) a raid was launched against the pirates of MV MARATHON could not be confirmed by a spokesman from the Dutch ministry of defense nor Spanish sources. However, local observers maintain that a commando attack was launched using also strong lasers units and that one Somali sea-bandit was captured from the Dutch vessel by frogmen after he fell injured overboard. The sea-shifta had captured the freighter with a cargo of fuel coke derived from coal in the Gulf of Aden about 100 nm southeast of Mukalla.
NATO sources stated that it was regarded as a high risk vessel with a small freeboard and capable to sail at a speed of just 10 kts. The eight-man crew on board is said to be all-right under the given circumstances, but clear reports are difficult to obtain, since official marine observers in Bossasso report that the VHF radio communication in the area appears to have been jammed by the naval forces.
Tuvalu’s Transport Minister is seeking the support of other countries in the Pacific to put pressure on the Government of Somalia to release twelve Tuvaluan sailors being held hostage by pirates, Radio New Zealand Intl. reports. Taukelina Finikaso has told Pacific Maritime Ministers meeting in Niue that the seafarers from Tuvalu had been held prisoners for over a month now. He says the pirates have demanded 15 million US dollars from the owners of the 20,000 tonne container vessel, German owned HANSA STAVANGER. The Pacnews agency reports the Tuvalu men are among 24 foreign hostages, including five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians and two Filipinos. Mr. Finikaso says the ransom is beyond the resources of the Tuvalu Government so it is appealing to the region to exert pressure on the Government of Somalia to negotiate with the pirates for the release of the seamen.
With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 foreign vessels (18 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, possibly 20 with two further yachts) with a total of not less than 242 crew members accounted for (of which 81 are confirmed to be 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 (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 79 averted or abandoned attacks with 36 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least two wrongful attacks (incl. friendly fire) on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-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 piracy related reports
Escalating piracy has roots in fishing encroachment, priest says. The rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast has its roots in the encroachment into fishing zones by large fishing vessels from other countries, but that does not excuse the escalating violence launched by pirates against oceangoing vessels, said a priest who has a ministry to seafarers. Father Sinclair Oubre, president of the Apostleship of the Sea USA, made the comments at the group's annual convention in New Orleans. A priest of the Diocese of Beaumont, Texas, he also heads the Apostleship of the Sea for his diocese. Speaking May 8, he said port chaplains first began hearing reports of piracy in the Gulf of Aden five to seven years ago. Those disputes mostly involved encroachment on fishing territories, but "because no big Western ships were getting hit, it was no big deal", Father Oubre said. "It's good that we are finally paying attention to it", he said.
European fishing ships went to the coast of Somalia and secured "either very advantageous fishing rights or else there was basically no one able to enforce the fishing zones", Father Oubre said. "Basically those boats began exploiting the area. At the root of the piracy is the Somali fishermen attacking those boats to defend their area".
The South Korean destroyer ROKS Munmu the Great and the US-American cruiser USS Gettysburg launched helicopters in response to a distress call on Wednesday from the MV AMIRA in the Gulf of Aden, a US- Navy statement said. South Korean and U.S.-American military helicopters then chased suspected Somali pirates away from the Egyptian freighter. South Korea's Joint Chiefs said in a statement Thursday that sharpshooters aboard the South Korean helicopter prepared to fire warning shots. It said the suspected pirate ship stopped pursuing the Egyptian vessel and sped away. The South Korean warship has been operating off Somalia since last month on a mission to protect South Korean cargo ships from pirates. While en route to the Egyptian-flagged ship, a dhow was spotted that the navies suspected was being used as a pirate "mother ship". An American search-and-seizure team boarded the dhow and found eight assault rifles, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and one rocket-propelled grenade, the US-Navy said. All 17 people aboard the boat were detained. It was the first time the anti-piracy task force CTF 151 had captured suspected pirates, the US-Navy said. The U.S. Navy says the17 suspected pirates have been apprehended after an attack on an Egyptian ship it brought the alleged pirates on board the USS Gettysburg for further questioning.
ASI Demands Release of Alleged Somali Pirate Members of the African Socialist International (ASI), a worldwide Socialist party that is part of the Uhuru (Freedom) Movement, held a press conference in front of the State Department on Thurs., May 7 to demand the release of Abdi Wali Muse and the end of what they described as "U.S. and European piracy throughout Africa". Muse is the alleged teenage Somali pirate who is being tried in the U.S. as an adult. ASI members contend that Muse is 15-years-old, but other sources put his age at anywhere from 16 to 19-years-old. However, according to Diop Olugbala, an ASI member and chair of the African Liberation Day Steering Committee, the fact that Muse is being tried at all is the main cause of outrage. "His age is not the primary question, his captivity is a crime in itself", Olugbala said. Muse’s treatment was likened to that of other African Americans under the current U.S. penal system. "Now we see young Abdi Wali Muse treated like any other young African in the U.S. prison system. He has no humanity in the eyes of his oppressor", Olugbala said.
According to ASI members, any alleged piracy is the result of exploitative treatment of Somalia by other nations. "We recognize that the Africans being characterized in Somalia today as ‘pirates’ are Africans whose ability to make livelihoods by any traditional means have been taken away by imperialism’s actions of real piracy", Olugbala said. "The European and Asian companies that over-fish the waters in that region are stealing more than $300 million worth of fish from Somalia’s waters every year. On top of that, European companies have been using Somalia’s waters as a dumping ground for the past two decades for deadly toxic waste they wouldn’t allow anywhere near their own shores".
According to Chioma Oruh, an ASI member and the National Secretary for the African Liberation Day Steering Committee, the need to protect Africa’s resources is crucial not only in Somalia but in other parts of Africa as well. However, ethnic and national divisions have hindered this effort. "All over the continent of Africa, we see wars about ethnicity and national identity. We are committed to a unified African identity and to helping others recognize that ethnic and national divisions in Africa are secondary to the main issue, which is we don’t have access to our resources in Africa", Oruh said. "Industrialization cannot function without resources from Africa and yet Africans have some of the most horrific mortality and poverty statistics".
Another objective of the press conference was to promote African Liberation Day weekend (ALD) which will take place May 23 to 24 in Washington, D.C. at the Carlos Rosario Charter School. The event will commence on Fri., May 22 at 7 p.m. with a Black and Proud Concert. The goal of the African Liberation Day weekend event is to establish a North American Regional committee of the ASI. In spite of the outrage over the situation in Somalia and elsewhere in the African Diaspora, ASI members insist that the goal of the ASI comes from a positive place. "Our need for unity is not a reaction to our oppression; it comes from the need of progression of African people", Oruh said.
Anti-piracy measures
Politics on the High Seas
Are German Anti-Pirate Forces Hampered by Bureaucrats?
By Der Spiegel Staff
A review of the political complexities behind a recent aborted anti-pirate operation off the coast of Africa has revealed that German security agencies tend to fight each other sooner than the enemy. Politicians in Berlin are trying to draw lessons from the failed mission.
The return of the would-be heroes from Harardhere took place almost as quietly as their departure three weeks earlier. After landing at Cologne-Bonn last Tuesday evening, the chartered flight from Mombassa was directed to a military section of the airport, where nondescript-looking busses awaited the 200 members of Germany's GSG-9 elite federal police unit.
There was no champagne, no buffet, no cameras, no press. It wasn't the reception that GSG-9 chief Olaf Lindner, or August Hanning, a junior secretary at the Interior Ministry, had in mind. Hanning had made a special trip to Cologne to greet the frustrated elite troops. He had trouble hiding his disappointment.
Lindner gave Hanning another detailed account of the highly successful dress rehearsal for storming the German freighter, the HANSA STAVANGER. He also explained how thrilled the US special forces were with the Germans. And he said US colleagues on the American helicopter carrier the USS Boxer were extremely impressed with the Germans' cutting-edge equipment.
Hanning knew the rest. Ever since Somali pirates had boarded and hijacked the HANSA STAVANGER on April 4, and abducted the crew, including five German sailors, a crisis team had met almost every day in Berlin. Hanning himself had to announce that the US government had pulled the plug on the GSG-9 operation off the coast of the Somali pirate stronghold of Harardhere roughly two weeks ago. He'd witnessed the squabbling among ministries in Berlin, the complicated and contradictory levels of decision-making, the political blame game.
But how could he explain to the de-motivated men of GSG-9 that operative ability and a political will to conduct foreign operations were sometimes light-years apart? How could he break the news to Germany's elite forces that, when in doubt, German bureaucrats were more prepared to fight each other than to tackle Somali pirates?
It's not the same as, say, the Labor Ministry in Berlin squabbling with colleagues from the Family Ministry over the details of rent subsidies -- or the economics minister attacking the finance minister because he doesn't agree with the amount of money offered under Germany's car-scrapping bonus plan. That's all part of business as usual in a democracy.
But when the Foreign, Defense, and Interior Ministries lock horns while thousands of kilometers away a strike team waits for orders, then it's no longer democratic business as usual -- it's a matter of national security.
'Post-Heroic' Politics
The failed Somali mission can also be explained by the fact that, since the end of World War II, Germany has been reluctant to engage in violent interventions -- in contrast to the US and France, which used their militaries to secure the release of hostages over the past few weeks. In the words of Berlin political scientist Herfried Münkler, Germany is a "post-heroic society". Two decades after the end of the Cold War, the country would like to play a key role on the international stage. But it's rarely prepared to bear the consequences.
The typical German response to hijacking and hostage threats has been the way of the bank account, not the special military mission. Since this strategy tends to save hostages' lives, a broad consensus has emerged among the general public that ransom payments are acceptable. But paying ransom, in the long run, is an inadequate response to the asymmetrical warfare conducted by Afghan Taliban fighters and Somali pirates. There's a world of difference between Berlin sensitivities and the raw realities of a failed state. Over the past few months, these realities prompted German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of the center-right Christian Democrats (CDU), and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD), to search for an alternative. They'd had enough of checkbook diplomacy, so they decided to organize an aggressive hostage rescue to send a strong signal to the pirates not to mess with Germany.
The Germans proved themselves last Thursday when the special forces command of the German military, or KSK, captured a Taliban leader in a spectacular operation in northern Afghanistan. After the flop in Somalia, it was a sign that Germany would resist falling back into old patterns.
But news of the Afghan military operation also shed cruel light on the reasons the hostage rescue operation off the coast of Harardhere was doomed to fail. The Bundeswehr, or German military, is solely responsible for the KSK elite unit, but no less than three ministries were involved in the planned GSG-9 operation: Foreign, Interior and Defense. The German Federal Police, the Bundeswehr and various commando and leadership levels also wrangled over power and influence. The scuppered operation to free the hostages illustrates what is wrong with the nation's security architecture.
Germany's closest allies operate differently in such crises. In France and the US the presidents decide whether hostages abroad should be freed by force. Then experts on the ground carry out the plan as well as they can, and if it fails, the president -- as commander in chief -- takes the heat.
Government leaders in Berlin prefer to pass such issues down the ladder, where inter-ministerial struggles often take over. It can be impossible to reconstruct afterwards just who supported and who opposed a given operation. This is compounded by a chancellor who, as a matter out of principle, avoids commitment, issues no directives and delegates problems to her cabinet.
There are "no recognizable coordination efforts from the chancellery", says Sascha Lange from a think tank called the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Merkel dispatched only a departmental head to the crisis team meetings, while she herself took a trip over the Easter break -- right in the middle of the critical operational planning phase -- and enjoyed a holiday on the Italian resort island of Ischia. Merkel's chief of staff Thomas de Maizière was briefed on the situation, but he indicated no preference for a particular course of action.
With no firm political leadership, the squabbles between participating ministries can spiral out of control. The German Foreign Office heads the crisis team and thus has the job of freeing the hostages -- but it has no authority over an operation by the GSG-9. The elite police force is under command of the German interior minister, who cannot deploy the commandos without the defense minister, whose navy patrols the Indian Ocean to combat piracy.
Everyone is in charge, in other words, but no one is at the helm.
The chancellor has maintained a safe distance from all participants. She seems unwilling to risk a botched operation just a few months before an upcoming election. This would make the foreign minister -- her rival in the fall -- responsible for any fiasco. If the GSG-9 mission had failed, Interior Minister Schäuble might have resigned too, because he, according to German law, has to give the final strike order together with the foreign minister. Merkel could have dodged any political flak.
Two Warring Units
This lack of political leadership is compounded by other problems. The German government has two elite units intended for crisis situations like the one in Somalia. Both have their hands slightly tied. The KSK was established in 1996 to "save and evacuate" Germans in trouble abroad, but this military force is chronically undermanned and hard pressed in Afghanistan. Only some 200 out of a total of 400 available positions in the German special forces are currently filled, meaning that the KSK is unavailable for missions in Somalia. KSK operations also require approval by the German parliament.
The roughly 200 men of the GSG-9 police unit are perfectly trained for hostage-taking situations, but they have trouble reaching remote locations. The GSG-9 is therefore dependent on the military's aircraft and ships.
Why can't the GSG-9 and KSK cooperate to balance these deficits? The answer is simple and sobering: The two units can't stand each other, and the aversion grows every time they try to work together. Spats, Rivalries, Contradictory Field Assessments.
Ever since the two elite units freed hostages last summer, "they haven't been on good speaking terms", says a member of the military. At the time, a group of criminals in the border region between Egypt and Sudan had abducted 11 tourists, including five Germans. The German government dispatched over 100 GSG-9 police along with KSK forces, workers with the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, and Transall cargo planes.
The hostages were released before the special units could fire a shot. But the actual trench warfare took place between GSG-9 head Lindner and KSK Brigadier General Hans-Christoph Ammon. The police were afraid that the KSK wanted to seize command of the operation, and the army was annoyed because the GSG-9 had sent an advance commando before the KSK units had reached the area.
The soldiers were particularly offended by a show staged by the police when they returned to Germany. At the airport in Berlin, the GSG-9 men ostentatiously lined up in front of their Lufthansa plane in parade formation -- without their usual masks. While the police filed past, the KSK soldiers had to stay humbly in their seats, waiting for the photographers to disappear, so no one could recognize them.
In Berlin the GSG-9 is said to be better suited for missions like the one in Egypt. But the aborted mission in Somalia also revealed a range of weaknesses. Spats, rivalries and contradictory field assessments are certainly not limited to interactions with the KSK. During the Somalia mission there were also deep divisions within the Federal Police that nearly immobilized the agency. Police overrode police, and the head of operations in Potsdam contradicted the head of operations on board the US helicopter carrier Boxer. It became clear that the German Federal Police, which had been reformed only a year ago, wasn't equipped to handle crises, or at least not a crisis on the other side of the globe.
A Fair-Weather Structure
On April 4, after the first reports reached Germany that the HANSA STAVANGER had been seized by pirates, the country's police force formed a special organizational structure which was to be based in Potsdam, at the headquarters of the Federal Police. The command was assumed by Joachim Franklin, head of the Federal Police Regional Headquarters in Bad Bramstedt, where he could be responsible for emergencies at sea.
This made Franklin the most important man in the operation. But he was 6,000 km (3,700 miles) from Harardhere.
Under Franklin's command was GSG-9 head Lindner, as "on-scene commander". This fair-weather structure is outstandingly well suited to handling domestic disasters like a train wreck in Germany's industrial heartland, or even a hostage situation at a small bank in the otherwise quiet town of Winsen an der Luhe. It's unsuitable for freeing a freighter in a remote corner of the world, where criminals have the upper hand.
While Lindner had access to reconnaissance aircraft photographs, US military analyses and on-location reports, the Federal Police in Potsdam had to rely on other sources to assess the situation for the Interior Ministry, including freely available information such as Google Maps on the Internet. This conflict came to a head in the last few days before the mission. Franklin made an appointment with Interior Ministry State Secretary Hanning to voice his concerns.
Franklin said the Federal Police in Potsdam was advising against the operation -- it was too risky. He said it was still unclear where the hostages were being held on the ship, and he added that the time between the possible discovery of the attack commando and the boarding of the HANSA STAVANGER was too long. Berlin was left with the impression that the man from the Federal Police wanted to abort the operation. In fact, the situation looked very different in the Indian Ocean. While Franklin was conveying his concerns in Berlin, Lindner was training his troops day and night. The GSG-9 tested rappelling from the air and using suction equipment to climb the side of a vessel. The US Navy SEALs on board the USS Boxer assisted during these exercises, adding to a growing sense of optimism on board the helicopter carrier. On April 27, the Monday before the planned operation, Lindner wired an upbeat risk assessment to Berlin. But he said the dress rehearsal would determine the final decision.
The last rehearsal was conducted during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. According to sources in Berlin, the result was "outstanding". Lindner now believed he could launch the operation with a justifiable amount of risk. He'd also picked a specific time. He wanted the GSG-9 to strike early on May 1, Friday morning. Just a few hours before US National Security Advisor James Jones withdrew American support for the operation, the GSG-9 commander sent his optimistic message to Berlin.
But who or what had moved Jones to pull the plug on the mission? There is a rumor circulating in a number of ministries and agencies in Berlin that the Bundeswehr had contributed to this decision with critical assessments of the situation, which had allegedly also been sent to US Central Command in Bahrain. According to this version of events, although the commanders on board the Boxer supported the operation, the headquarters in Bahrain voted against it in Washington.
The decision prompted Hanning to ask his counterpart from the Defense Ministry, Peter Wichert, for a word on the sidelines of the crisis team. He wanted to know if there was any truth to the rumor. Had the Bundeswehr actually passed on a statement to the Americans? Wichert denied it. No such statement had been issued, he said.
'The Sword is Dull'
In the wake of the failed Somalia mission, most of the major players in Berlin now realize that things can't continue in the same vein. There won't be a second operation without reforms because "the sword", as a high-ranking official from the crisis team says, "is dull". A repeat failure is too predictable. Interior Minister Schäuble and Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung now want to hold talks with other European countries and the US government to ensure that the transport of the GSG-9 at sea and in the air will go smoothly in the future.
"Germany apparently can't resolve hostage crises like this on its own, but is instead reliant on outside help", says Peter Struck, a former defense minister who leads the Social Democrats' parliamentary faction, and "we have to seriously consider the question of whether we should build up our own capabilities to handle similar situations".
Both special units lack large cargo aircraft for long-distance transports, big ships to transfer troops, reconnaissance instruments and modern communications technology. "The deficits are well-known", says defense expert Lange with biting sarcasm. "We've been debating them for 15 years".
Little has apparently changed since the first foreign mission by Bundeswehr infantry and supply troops. In 1994, US and German units beat a hasty retreat after abandoning the disastrous United Nations operation in Somalia. Since the Americans didn't allow their allies on board their landing ships, the Bundeswehr had to evacuate its rearguard troops by cramming them onto a narrow frigate. After the recent failed GSG-9 mission, Defense Minister Jung may exhume old plans for a German landing ship.
More equipment alone won't be enough. From now on, Germany will undoubtedly avoid having dual strategists in Potsdam and on location in the field. Birgit Homburger, a defense expert with the opposition liberal Free Democrats, is calling for a new policy decision to use the KSK instead of the GSG-9 in the future. She says this would place the leadership of an operation "unequivocally under one agency" -- the military. Her SPD colleague Rainer Arnold advocates that the two units should at least "train together and collaborate".
Schäuble took Jung aside during a cabinet meeting last week. He wanted to know if the Defense Ministry would be willing to station a kind of mobile task force consisting of KSK soldiers and frogmen on the German frigates in the Indian Ocean, at least as a provisional measure? This could make it possible to quickly end hijackings before the seized ships reach the pirate ports on the coast. Jung remained noncommittal.
He's aware that Schäuble's suggestions don't have a good track record. In response to a request by the Interior Ministry, Jung sent a submarine to Somalia to secretly observe the pirate stronghold from periscope depth and drop off GSG-9 men. On the way there, the much-praised fuel cell propulsion system -- which allows the world's most advanced conventional submarine to stay under water for weeks on end -- came to a grinding halt. Before it even reached the Suez Canal, U-34 was stopped in the Mediterranean by engine trouble.
"If we do not have a political change inside Somalia, if we do not have in the long run a stabilized political situation in Somalia, we still would have piracy in the area", Rear Admiral Karl-Wilhelm Bollow, who commands Germany's flotilla with 4,200 personnel in the North Sea, told The Associated Press. "We don't have enough ships. So we are dealing with the symptoms, rather than the origin right now". Captain Jens Beckmann, squadron commander of eight frigates based at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, said: "We can capture them, we can bring them in front of a judge somewhere", Beckmann said. "But at the end of the day, we must solve the problem ashore, economically, I think. We must give these people some hope".
EU probes report of intelligence leak to Somalis
* EU naval force reinforces security procedures
* Force chief says no sign that operations compromised
* Spanish report said Somali gangs can access sensitive data
A European Union naval force tackling piracy off Somalia's coast is reinforcing security procedures after a report that gangs are using information from London to plan attacks, the force's chief said on Wednesday. British Rear Admiral Philip Jones said he was "bemused" by the report, which was broadcast by a Spanish radio station. He said the EU force's headquarters in northwest London kept tight control of shipping intelligence and there was no indication any of its operations had been compromised, according to Reuters. "We are assuming, if anything at all, that when reports are made about London, we are talking about elements of the Somali Diaspora in London and the way it builds its information", Jones told a news briefing in Brussels.
"But we are redoubling our efforts to make sure there is no way in which information we promulgate to merchant shipping companies and information they make available to us becomes widely available outside the protected and secure channels in which we use it at the moment". Spain's Cadena Ser radio quoted a European military intelligence report on Monday as saying Somali gangs had built up a network of informants in London with access to sensitive data from shipping firms about vessels, routes and cargoes. It said the gangs received information by satellite phone and used sophisticated equipment to locate targets. It listed several attacks in which the groups surprised crew with detailed information, including the nationalities of those on board. Western nations have sent warships to try to stop Somali groups which have made millions of dollars extorting ransoms from ships and their crews in strategic shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa that connect Europe to Asia. Jones said this week's report was "a useful wake-up call to check that our procedures are robust in this area". He said the EU operation, codenamed Atalanta, was investigating the origin of the report but added: "There's no indications we've had of any compromise to any of the operations we are setting up". Jones said no information had been found on any of the Somali gangs' vessels that had been captured to link them to any source of information about merchant ships in London. "There is no evidence of that whatsoever", he said.
Japan on Friday ordered its navy to dispatch two aircraft to watch out for pirate activity off Somalia. Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the two P-3C surveillance planes to assist Japan's two Maritime Self-Defense Forces destroyers patrolling off the coast of Somalia in their anti-piracy mission. The Defense Ministry said it plans to send about 40 people to neighboring Djibouti Monday before the rest of the support team heads off later this month. About 100 personnel were expected to begin anti-piracy surveillance activities with the P-3C planes in June with Djibouti international airport as their base. The two Japanese destroyers have escorted 55 Japanese-linked commercial ships, including some passenger vessels, in the Gulf of Aden since they began their mission in late March. Besides the planes patrolling over the gulf, Japan would dispatch ground forces armed with pistols and rifles to guard the aircraft, the ministry said. Countries including the United States, Russia, China and South Korea have sent their navies to the region to counter surging pirate attacks. The Japanese parliament has been considering legislation to enable the Self-Defense Forces to protect foreign vessels and use force against pirates. But opposition politicians have protested because it could conflict with the nation's pacifist constitution, which limits Japanese military activities only to self-defense.
Shipping firms hire anti-pirate gunboats
At least four Dutch shipping companies have taken out insurance packages which include a hefty discount if they use an armed escort to sail through the Gulf of Aden, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday. Insurance agent Aon Nederland claims to have sold four polices and to have two offers pending. 'Those opting for a security firm get a discount on their insurance premium', director Rogier van der Sluijs tells the paper. The use of an armed escort boat through the pirate-infested waters of the gulf avoids the ban on Dutch ships carrying weapons, the paper says.
Machine gun
Van der Sluijs tells the paper that British security firm Hart not only trains crews to deal with the threat of pirates but keeps in contact in an armored escort boat. That boat has a machine gun with a range of 1.8 km mounted on the deck. The escort boats travel under other flags and are manned by British, US and South African former soldiers, the paper says. Last week, the Dutch Antillean ship Marathon was taken by pirates and is now thought to be off the coast of Somalia.
The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provinciën shall assist in the hostage situation. However, Hart Security has an at least controversial past in Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in North-East Somalia, where the company was contracted, but at the end failed to train local coastguards though it stands accused to have trained many of today's buccaneers also in the use of electronic equipment, while at the same time illegal fishing licenses were sold in the UK. Now the Hart mercenaries seem to have switched side. Mercenaries always just go where they get more money at the time - this is what distinguishes them from soldiers or security forces, who stand for a cause and in harms way.
Iran has sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect oil tankers and other vessels from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter against attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia, state radio said on Thursday. "The mission of these warships is to protect Iranian merchant ships and oil tankers against pirate attacks", state radio said. They would arrive in the Gulf of Aden in the next two days and stay there for five months, state television said. Iran said in December it had dispatched a warship to the same waters, but Thursday's reports did not say whether it was still there, Reuters reports. Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal. Seven percent of world oil consumption passed through the Gulf of Aden in 2007, according to Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit. Analysts say the only way to stop bandits on the high seas is to resolve Somalia's political crisis on land where pirates profit from lawlessness as Islamist-led rebels fight government troops and African Union peacekeepers. The deployment comes at the opening of the tuna-fishing season and is believed to be a measure to also secure the many Iranian fishing vessels, who often poach also in Somali waters.
Marine ecosystem and IUU fishing
Somali Diaspora Groups condemn the violation of Somalia’s territorial waters by Kenya, assisted by Norway and the UN
By Somali Diaspora Coordinator Mr. Abdulqani Qorane; abdiqanim@hotmail.com
Representatives from influential Somali Diaspora organizations in Europe and North America herewith express their deep concern and dissatisfaction with the recurring extra-judiciary actions of some neighboring countries against the interests of the war-torn beleaguered country of Somalia. We abhor and unreservedly denounce dishonorable attempts by the government of Kenya, in close cooperation with the Government of Norway- in violating UN laws of sea convention by submitting ill-advised proposal to the UN. This unacceptable maneuver by Kenya raises doubts and claims on larger sections of the continental shelf of Somali territorial waters bordering Kenya. We equally deplore the support, legal advice and financial assistance offered to Kenya by core European states led by Norway.
According some credible confirmed reports, Kenya with Norway's and the UN's assistance has filed a "Memorandum of Understanding" between itself and the "Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic". With this initiative, the Kenyan authorities might prematurely conclude that as the attention of the Somalis and the world is directed to the conflict in Somalia, when the country recovers, it will be too late to object Kenya's claim to future undersea oil drilling rights. In addition the related 15-page memo makes the UN's and Norway's role clear. It recites that Special Representative of the Secretary General Ahmedou Ould Abdallah: "initiated the preparation of preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of the continental shelf of Somalia beyond 200 nautical miles... In the preparation of this material the SRSG accepted an offer of assistance from the Government of Norway... Both the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate have been involved in the preparation... All of the expenses related to the preparation of the present submission have been covered by the Government of Norway".
On behalf of the Somalis in general and those in the Diaspora in particular we strongly declare and insist that the sea and the land of Somalia belong to Somalis, all Somalis. No one else have therefore the authority to claim or commercialize any part of the country including territorial waters.
It is exceptionally disgraceful that Norway, with an advanced democracy and relatively positive global record and the UN system, that many Somalis expect safeguard ethical and international legal responsibilities, contribute to the unfolding conspiracy of bogus maritime agreement, thereby taking advantage of Somalia’s current unfortunate political turbulence. We call for both the UN and the government of Norway to firmly oppose and strongly reject any such attempts by the government of Kenya or any other country to occupy and tear off substantial part of Somali territorial waters.
Finally the least Somalia now needs is additional atrocities and new cycle of hostilities on top of the decades long devastating civil war maintained mainly by external manipulation coupled with internal brutal warlordism. The UN, other international agencies and Norway should instead come to the rescue of war-ravaged Somali people in their efforts of creating viable peace. This joint statement is the result of debates, teleconferences and consultations among major Somali Diaspora associations in the US, UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and other countries in the EU.
Whaling peace talks 'fall short'
Moves to make a peace deal between pro and anti-whaling nations have stalled, with no chance of agreement this year. Countries have been talking for nearly a year in an attempt to hammer out an accord by this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. But a draft report seen by BBC News admits the process has "fallen short". A source close to the talks blamed Japan, saying it had not offered big enough cuts in its Antarctic hunt, conducted in the name of research. New Zealand actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, who starred in the hit 2002 movie Whale Rider, spoke out last Friday against a proposal to let Japan resume commercial whaling in its coastal waters. She said that many governments believed the measure could act as leverage to control Japan's so-called "scientific" whaling programme, which is permitted under IWC rules. "Unfortunately, this is not the case", Castle-Hughes said. "In fact, it could not guarantee a reduction in the number of whales killed by Japan, Norway or Iceland". She expressed pride that New Zealand was one of the first countries to speak out against commercial whaling, but the government had not yet publicly come out against the new proposal, "which would give the green light to this outdated and unspeakably cruel practice". Blue whales have begun reappearing in Pacific waters off the coast of Canada and Alaska for the first time since whaling ceased in 1965.
Whalers formerly caught hundreds of blue whales in the northern zones, landing 1300 between 1908 and 1965. Yet despite the ban, they seemed not to recover there, suggesting to some researchers that the cultural knowledge of the area had been lost. Now fifteen of the world's largest creatures have visited the waters off British Columbia and Alaska since 1997, and four of them were individuals also photographed in Californian waters earlier. This show clearly that banning any whaling is the right choice.
Key coral reefs 'could disappear'
writes Lucy Williamson for BBC News from Manado, Indonesia, where coral reefs, like those off Komodo island, support entire eco-systems
The world's most important coral region is in danger of being wiped out by the end of this century unless fast action is taken, says a new report.
The international conservation group WWF warns that 40% of reefs in the Coral Triangle have already been lost.
The area is shared between Indonesia and five other South East Asian nations and is thought to contain 75% of the world's coral species.
It is likened to the Amazon rainforest in terms of its biodiversity.
Temperature change
The WWF report paints a bleak picture. If the world's richest coral reef is destroyed, the fish that people rely on for food could be gone.
By the end of the century, 100 million people across South East Asia could be on the march, looking for something to eat. Communities might be breaking down and economies destroyed.
It's billed as a worst-case scenario, but the report's chief author, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, says it is not as bad as the future we're currently headed towards.
"Up until now we haven't realized how quickly this system is changing", says Professor Hoegh-Guldberg.
"In the last 40 years in the Coral Triangle, we've lost 40% of coral reefs and mangroves - and that's probably an underestimate. We've fundamentally changed the way the planet works in terms of currents and this is only with a 0.7 degree change in terms of temperature.
"What's going to happen when we exceed two or four or six?"
Climate change consequences
Avoiding a worst-case scenario would need significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and better controls on fishing and coastal areas, says the report.
The Coral Triangle covers 1% of the earth's surface but contains a third of all the world's coral, and three-quarters of its coral reef species.
If it goes, an entire eco-system goes with it - and that, says Prof. Hoegh-Gudberg, has serious consequences for its ability to tackle climate change.
"Pollution, the inappropriate use of coastal areas, these are destroying the productivity of ocean which is plummeting right now. That is the system that traps CO2 - 40% of CO2 goes into the ocean. Now if we interrupt that, the problems on planet earth become even greater", he says.
Indonesia is hosting the World Ocean Conference this week because, it says, oceans have been neglected so far in global discussions on climate change. It wants the issue to have a bigger profile at UN climate talks later this year. Though the study by Prof. Hoegh-Gudberg is of great importance, the funding organization WWF often fails to go the extra mile in proposing effective measures for fears of loosing the support of corporate sponsors, especially the fishing and oil industry, which has since years blurred the vision of the WWF for the real culprits and causes of environmental decline due to ecosystem damage.
Japan's Whaling below target Japan’s whaling catch in its latest Antarctic hunt fell far short of its target after disruptions by anti-whaling activists. Japan, which considers whaling to be a cultural tradition, killed 679 minke whales despite plans to catch around 850. It caught just one fin whale compared with a target of 50 in the hunt that began in November. Some ships in its six-ship fleet have returned home after clashes with the hard line group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. A Japan Fisheries Agency official said ships could not carry out whaling for a total of 16 days because of bad weather and skirmishes with the activists. Japan officially stopped commercial whaling after agreeing to a global moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling programme the following year. Whale meat can be found in some supermarkets and restaurants. Japan has a moratorium on catching humpback whales, a favourite with whale watchers, after international criticism.
No real peace yet
Somalia's government said it has repulsed a military attack by foreign-backed insurgents trying to overrun the presidential compound in Mogadishu and oust President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, VOA reports. The African Union has secured pledges of two additional troop battalions to re-enforce its Somalia peacekeeping mission. Somalia Defense Minister Mohamed Abdi Gandhi said security forces beat back an attempted coup by a combined force of domestic and foreign fighters in a series of battles during the past few days in the streets of Mogadishu. Gandhi briefed a closed-door meeting of the Somalia consultative group at African Union headquarters. AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said the attacking force, backed by nearby Eritrea, came from outside the city and was trying to capture Villa Somalia, the presidential palace.
"The attack was defeated, the Shabab and Hezb-i-Islami did not succeed in getting near the Villa Somalia or getting near the positions of AMISOM", he said. Lamamran also said Sierra Leone and Burundi have each agreed to send an additional battalion to bolster AMISOM. The mission is at just over half its authorized strength of 8,000, and the two new battalions will bring it up to about 6,000. Lamamran refused to say when the troops would arrive. The international donor community pledged $213 million to help stabilize Somalia at a conference in Brussels last month, but nothing has come forward for the Somali Government so far. According to Mr. Lamamran, the Islamists managed to introduce heavy military equipment in the Somali conflict, but have so far failed in their ultimate goal. "Now the situation is under control by Somalia Government", Mr. Lamamran said.
Somalia peace overture rejected. Somalia's president has appealed to Islamist insurgents to negotiate as intermittent fighting continued for an eighth day in the capital, Mogadishu, but his former ally and Islamist spiritual leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys rejected his overture. He told the BBC talks were not possible while African Union troops were in the city where they are guarding key sites. Another prominent Islamist leader, Omar Iman Abou Bakr, told the BBC most government soldiers had fled, and those remaining were being protected by soldiers from the African Union. "Sheik Sharif has 4,300 foreign fighters while we have just 500 non-Somali Muslim brothers fighting on our side", explained one al-Shabab fighter in near Villa Somalia, where the president and some of the ministers, which have not yet fled to Nairobi are holed up.
AU peacekeepers do not have the mandate to pursue the insurgents while many diplomats have insisted that the country's AMISOM forces should intervene if the government and civilians are threatened even if they are not mandated.
Others have called for the withdrawal of foreign troops. But AU envoy Nicholas Bwakira said AU peacekeepers would not pull out of the country. "It would be unacceptable that Shabab/al-Qaeda take over government in Somalia. This is a group of war criminals", he said. "There are several members of al-Qaeda, 300 to 400 who are training the Shabab. They have also received heavy armaments from outside. They have received support logistically, financially. We are aware of that", he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. But the UN envoy to Somalia, Ahmed Ould Abdallah said he wanted Somali Islamists - such as Mr. Aweys - removed from both the UN and US terror lists, to help dialogue. "No-one who is on the UN Security Council list of terrorists can be president, or prime minister, because he cannot sit in an office. Even traveling... he can be in trouble", he said in Nairobi. According to the BBC the UN envoy said: "Those who are on the US list, we are ready to lobby for them".
Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a has taken control of Wabho town in Galgadud region in central Somalia, witnesses said on Friday. Residents said al-Shabab was defeated in the town and the town is under the control of Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a. Six people including combatants were confirmed killed in the clashes. A lot of civilians have fled from the town in fear for other clashes between the rival Islamists. It is not known why Ahlu Sunna attacked the town but Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a and Al-Shabab have been fighting in central Somalia since Ethiopia withdrew its military from Somalia in mid January 2009. On the other hand, at least four people have been killed and more than four others have been injured in fighting between allied local militias and Islamic Courts Union and al-Shabab in Mahas district in Hiran region in central Somalia. Residents confirmed that al-Shabab has got the upper hand and took control of the town.
Somali insurgents want to "liberate" Jerusalem while AU is planning to send 1,700 more troops to Somalia
A founder and top leader of Somalia's insurgent Shebab group Wednesday vowed to continue his armed struggle until Islamic law spreads across the world and Jerusalem is "liberated". Ahmed Abdi Godane, best known in Somalia by his nom de guerre "Abu Zubayr", spoke in a recorded message that was distributed to local media in Mogadishu, reports Reuters. "We will fight and the wars will not end until Islamic Sharia is implemented in all continents in the world and until Muslims liberate Jerusalem", the senior Shebab leader said. "The fighting in Mogadishu is between the forces of Allah and elements whose intention is to introduce democracy and Jewish theories", Godane said. "So we ask the population in the capital to choose the right path". The Shebab, which controls most of southern Somalia, has admitted to receiving the support of foreign fighters. Observers have warned that since Ethiopia's military withdrawal in January, Somalia risked becoming a haven for Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadists. Godane also issued a warning to the Somali media. "Journalists should work professionally", he said in his audio message. "It is your duty to take part in the current jihad (holy war). Don't misrepresent the facts, don't mislead the people", Godane added, addressing the country's press corps.
Somali Government assigns new Military Commander. Farhan Ali Mohamud, the information minister of the transitional government of Somalia held a press conference in the prime minister's house in Mogadishu on Thursday and said that the military commander of the Somali government General Said Dhere was relieved of his duties. Mr. Farhan told the reporters after a cabinet meeting that General Said Mohamed Hersi known as "Said Dhere" was now appointed to be the security secretary of the Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik. Ahmed resigned and Yusuf Hussein Dumal, the deputy police commander of Somalia, was appointed the new commander of the Somali armed forces. Information minister Farhan Ali Mohamud also said that Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the Islamist opposition leader of Somalia wants to overthrow the transitional government of Somalia led by president Sharif Sheik Ahmed. The minister said finally that during the last 8th day fighting in Mogadishu at least 103 people died and 420 were wounded and stated that most of these people were civilians, referring to hospital sources. He added that more than 18,000 civilians fled their houses in Mogadishu as a result of heavy shelling and gunfire in the capital Mogadishu.
The spokesman of the Islamists hardliners Sheikh Mukhtar Robow (Abu-Mansoor) has on Wednesday told the local media that it is sinful to call the current government of Somalia a Muslim government and a nationalist one. "The government is based on a system called 4.5 established by western countries and its is working for the interest of the western countries, thus we cannot call it a Muslim government, and I urge the Somali population to support the current waves of fighting in the capital which is absolutely a right one, there are merely few positions remaining for the accurate Islamists to take control so therefore be patient and wait for the right guidance", said Sheik Mukhtar Robow Abu-Mansoor the spokesman of Al-Shabab speaking to local media. The spokesman of Al-Shabab has also informed the independent local media to speak of the right and to observe its responsibility upon the Somalis. This was the first message from the spokesman of Al-Shabab Sheikh Mukhtar Robow after 10 days of series of clashes in the city between the government soldiers and the insurgents.
Indonesia has offered to spearhead U.N. peacekeeping in fellow Muslim country Somalia, but a mission is too risky for now as the Somali government battles Islamist rebels, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population, and United Nations officials have long insisted a Muslim country should be in charge of any U.N. force sent to the lawless, volatile state in the Horn of Africa. Indonesia has informed the United Nations "that it would be ready to provide troops and to take on a lead role in a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Somalia", U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told the 15-nation Security Council, according to Reuters.
Two other heavily Muslim nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh, have also pledged military support for an eventual mission, while Uruguay has pledged military observers, he added. Le Roy said however a peacekeeping mission in Somalia would be "a high-risk operation" that would most likely fail unless security improves first. The Security Council, long under pressure from African states to send a U.N. force to Somalia, has repeatedly delayed deciding and is due to consider the matter again by June 1. Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar voiced frustration. "We ask for your assistance as you have pledged to give us the resources, the support, and the partnership ... so that the turmoil in Somalia both on land and in the international waters can be addressed", he said. Le Roy recommended boosting aid for African Union peacekeepers in Somalia and gradually phasing in a direct U.N. presence as security conditions improve -- a tack diplomats say is in line with U.S. President Barack Obama's thinking.
Heavy clashes have resumed in Somalia's capital as some of the fiercest clashes in months show no sign of abating. Pro-government forces in the city are exchanging fire with rebels from the radical Islamist group al-Shabab, the BBC reports on Wednesday. Thousands of civilians have fled. It came a day after the Islamic insurgents and Islamic pro-government forces fought a deadly battle in central Somalia. Meanwhile, the UN warned the Horn of Africa nation was facing its worst drought for at least a decade. At least two people have been killed and 10 injured in Wednesday's fighting near the presidential palace in the Wardigley district and in the north of the city at the Bondere and Karan areas. Five people died a day earlier during clashes in the village of Mahas, about 300km (180 miles) north-east of the capital.
'Rotting on the streets'
"Al-Shabab fighters ran into a mosque for refuge, but residents kept firing at them with rocket-propelled grenades", local man Aden Hussein told Reuters news agency by telephone. But al-Shabab spokesman Sheik Ahmed Abu-Yahya said pro-government forces had lost the battle, telling AFP news agency by telephone: "Many of their dead are rotting on the streets". It is estimated more than 120 lives have been lost since the latest round of bloodletting erupted on Thursday. Somalia's fragile Western-backed interim government has been fighting radical Islamist groups like al-Shabab since 2006. A moderate Islamist president took office in January but even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the guerrillas who battle pro-government and African Union (AU) forces in the capital almost daily.
Meanwhile, the UN special representative for Somalia warned against treating the upsurge of fighting as just another round in a civil war, with faction fighting faction. Ahmed Ould Abdallah told a meeting at the AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, that Somalia now had a legitimate government and the current fighting should be viewed as an attempted coup d'etat. He said: "There is no civil war any more in Somalia. What we have in Somalia is a government - weak, fragile - but it is a government and we have a moral, political obligation to help it. We cannot treat the aggressor and the victim at the same level".
Sierra Leone surprise
The AU announced a boost for its peacekeeping effort in Mogadishu - with the unexpected offer a battalion from Sierra Leone, which would raise the strength of the force to more than 5,000 troops. Although it has been able to keep the port and airport open it cannot stop fighting on the present scale or provide more than very limited protection to civilians, she adds. The AU is still hoping for wider support through the UN, but every new outbreak of fighting makes it more likely the outside world will write off the problem as unsolvable, according to our correspondent.
Pastoralists hardest-hit by drought in Somaliland
A severe drought that has gripped Somaliland's Sanag region in the past months has hit pastoralists hardest, with hundreds of families moving to urban centres after their animals died, officials said.
"We estimate that up to 400 families [2,400 people] have been displaced to Erigavo [the region's capital], after they lost their animals in the recent drought", Yasin H. Nour, the mayor of Erigavo, told IRIN.
"Hundreds of families are now in a serious situation due to the drought that has hit the region. Their cattle and donkeys have already died; now their camels and sheep are dying daily", he added.
The drought has also affected regions surrounding Sanag in both Somaliland and the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.
The region has suffered consecutive rainfall failure in the past three years.
Officials in the El-Afweyn, Hulul and Dararweyne districts of Sanag said 60 percent of pastoralists' animals had died in the drought.
The most affected areas are in the eastern regions of Sool, Sanag and Togdheer, according to Mursal Askar Mire, the mayor of El-Afweyn district.
"WFP [UN World Food Programme] and its partners used to supply food to the district and other rural surroundings but they stopped at the beginning of this year", Mire said. "Now the situation has deteriorated and the people are facing shortages of food and water".
Mahamud Hassan "Guled", senior public information assistant, WFP Somalia, told IRIN: "We have no relief operations at the moment due to the last FSAU [Food Security Assessment Unit/Food and Agriculture Organization Somalia] assessment, which did not warrant any relief programmes. WFP distributed 86 metric tonnes of food to 5,064 people in the district four months ago before the FSAU assessment".
Disease threats
Salah Yusuf, the mayor of Dararweyne, said the nearest water point in some areas was about 120-130km away, while most animals could only walk about 60km a day.
Yusuf and Mire called for help, saying Dararweyne was the worst-affected district.
"We are calling on the government of Somaliland, as well as the international community, to come to the aid of the people hit by the drought in the districts of El-Afweyn, Gar-adag, Hulul and Dararweyne", the mayors said.
Yusuf said: "About 40 families [200 people] have moved to urban areas of Dararweyne District after they lost all their animals and, last week, 20 people were hospitalized for diarrhea. The problem is not only lack of food and water but also some diseases have erupted in the areas, such as malaria, flu and diarrhea".
Trucking water
Ahmed-Kayse Hussein Mohamed, a data collection officer with Candle Light, a local NGO, said a team toured the remote areas of the affected districts on 10 May and found hundreds of families who had moved out of their home areas to the urban centre of El-Afweyn after losing all their animals.
Mayor Nour said the local government was trucking water to some of the affected areas in the district.
"We send eight to 10 water trucks daily to the remote areas of Erigavo, particularly the areas to the south-east and south west of the district", Noor said.
Local officials said if the rains - expected any time now - are delayed, more pastoralists would lose their last remaining animals.
"We are worried that if the rains do not start in coming weeks, more animals may die, and even if the rains start, we fear the animals may not adapt well to the wet conditions because there is no pasture", Nour said.
Heavy rains aggravating conditions for "poorest of the poor" Heavy rains have compounded the already difficult conditions for thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who fled fighting in Mogadishu for camps outside the Somali capital, civil society groups said. "The rains have made their living conditions even more difficult; almost all the new arrivals are staying under trees with nothing to shelter from the rains", Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group, who was visiting the IDPs at the Ceelsha camps (15km south of Mogadishu), told IRIN on 14 May. He said many of those displaced by the latest fighting were first-time IDPs, residents of some of the poorest neighbourhoods of Mogadishu. "These are people from the Siina'a, Arjantiina and Tookiyo [all slums in the north of the city]; they are the poorest of the poor", Dini said.
He said they had stayed put during previous clashes in the capital because they did not have the means to escape. "It is an indication of how bad things are," he said. "This current displacement is affecting mainly minorities and others who have no clan support". Dini said the civil society community was appealing to Somalis and donor agencies, "particularly to the United Nations, to urgently come to the assistance of these people who are living in the open and under trees". Nadiifo Hussein, one of the displaced, fled her home in the Siina'a slum on 13 May following heavy fighting and shelling. She went to the Ceelsha camps where she is caring for eight orphaned relatives. "I left my house with nothing except what I am wearing and these children", said Hussein. She said they had taken advantage of a lull in the fighting to escape but she was worried about how she would feed the children. "I had a small stall in the market and that was our food; now I don’t know what I will give them". Dini whose group monitors children, said 60 of the 150 dead and 125 of the more than 300 injured were children.
Daily exodus
Despite a lull in fighting on 13 May, many people were still leaving the city. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said the rate of displacement was increasing on a daily basis. "Between yesterday [13 May] and the day before, 10,000 people were displaced", said Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia. Russo said the agency had partners on the ground who were preparing for the immediate distribution of shelter material and sleeping mats, blankets and kitchen sets. "In the warehouse in Mogadishu, we already have sets for over 100,000 people," she said. "We are also planning to appeal to all parties through radio and other mass media to spare civilians".
Renewed fighting
Meanwhile, the fighting in Mogadishu resumed on 14 May in the northern part of the city, according to a local journalist who requested anonymity.
"There are clashes going on at Afarta Jardiino [north Mogadishu]", he said. "It is not as bad as it was three days ago but it is forcing people out of the area", he added. The UN Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has accused those who launched the recent attacks on Mogadishu of carrying out "an attempted coup d’état to topple a legitimate government using force. These extremists know that they do not have the support of the Somali people and that is why they have to bring in foreign fighters who are not connected to the situation in Somalia in any way", Ould-Abdallah said. Forces loyal to the Government of National Unity are fighting an alliance of the militant al-Shabab group and elements of the Hisbul Islam alliance.
Somali opposition leader slams UN envoy for taking sides.
Somali opposition leader. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys accused the UN special envoy to Somalia of taking sides in the conflict and rejected negotiations with the UN-recognized government until African Union forces leave. The UN envoy, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, on Wednesday had accused the Islamist leader of seeking to topple the recently formed national unity government in the country.
United Nations Security Council members the same day voiced serious concern at such persistent attempts by hard-line Islamist forces. Aweys, an influential Islamist figure, described the conflict with the transitional administration as "a political war". The 62-year-old cleric is from the Ayr wing of the Habr Gedir, a major sub-clan of the Hawiye, who bitterly opposed the 1992-1993 operations conducted by the international force known as UNOSOM. In an interview with Reuters news agency, he restated his position that he would not enter into talks with the government until African Union peacekeepers leave. Islamist insurgents and other militias have joined against foreign troops since the US-backed Ethiopian invasion in 2006. "The troops who came to keep Muslim leaders away from the leadership have to leave the country. (Then) we are granting every Somali that there will be no fighting. We will sit together and solve everything through dialogue", he told Reuters. He voiced particular disdain for the UN envoy: "It is a surprise to see Ould-Abdallah destroying Somalia when he, as a Muslim, has an obligation of being honest of what he has to do for Somalis. He consistently defends the government policies as if he is the president of this country, and he is not playing his role of engaging every side of the conflict".
Aweys has headed different Islamist groups including the Islamic Courts Union that controlled Mogadishu and much of the south in 2006 before disintegrating during the Ethiopian invasion. But speaking with Reuters he did not speak of the war in predominantly religious terms: "This war is between Somalis who tasted the sweetness of being free and stability and aides of foreign enemies against their interest". Clashes since the weekend, very heavy in Mogadishu, have killed at least 139 people and wounded more than 400 others.
The radical Islamists of Al-Shabab have warned that foreigners in its network should not be termed as foreigners, but Muslims who are ready to sacrifice their souls for the sake of Allah, and to salvage the Somalis. "What some people are calling foreigner fighting alongside Al-Shabab movement are not actually strangers, but are Muslims who have come from the various parts of the world in order to assist and salvage the Somali people who are absolutely in mayhem, and the invention of the Ethiopian troops in the year 2006", said Sheikh Ali Fidow head of the political department of Al-Shabab movement on Tuesday in a press conference. The Political officer also added that many of these people who have come to the help of the Somalis have died in the battles between the Islamists and the Ethiopian troops, several others wounded and yet more waiting to sacrifice their Souls for none other than sake of Allah. On the other hand the officer of Al-Shabab has strongly condemned the Somali clerics saying that they are merely deceiving the Somali people and called them as biased. Lastly the regional political officer of Al-Shabab added that what he called as the feeble government of Somalia just looking over the Ugandan and Burundi troops bombarding the Somali people and at same time keeping mute.
The Freemasonic Lerna Hydra Against Somalia: TFG, Al Shabaab, CIA Operative Al Amriki, UN Top Envoy
by Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
The recent developments at Mogadishu and the deterioration of the overall situation in Somalia testify to the accuracy of my earlier interpretations of the ongoing conspiracy which is carried out in order to obliterate Somalia as nation.
Like the mythical monster, the Hydra at Lerna, which used all its nine heads to attack human beings, the ongoing Freemasonic conspiracy employs a great number of puppets, decoys and apparatuses.
The Targets
By machinating a theatrical sketch – at the detriment of the entire Somali Nation – they try to materialize their targets that involve the following:
1. total demolition of all forms of central authority throughout Somalia (including Puntland and Somaliland)
2. final dissolution of the concept of Somali Unity
3. detrimental collapse of the environmental conditions around the Horn of Africa with subsequent death or resettlement of sizeable populations
4. a. NATO-led military assault under the pretext of Somali piracy
(and/or)
4. b. UN-US-led military assault under the pretext of Al Shabaab coup against the supposedly legitimate TFG president and government
5. subsequent occupation of the Somali coastal zone and vast deserted parts of the inland, and
6. establishment of immense NATO camps and harbours in Somalia´s deserted parts with the installation of nuclear bases and missiles targeting Russia and China.
What are the heads of today´s monstrous Freemasonic aggression against Somalia?
The Heads of the Anti-Somali Lerna Hydra
1. TFG regime – An unrepresentative regime of puppets that has aligned its survival to mere execution of orders dictated by those who gave it authority: UN – and more specifically the UN top envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah.
2. The shadowy and impotent administration at Garowe (Puntland) – a mediocre establishment that cannot impose discipline and order on its territory, which has as result the continuation of the Somali piracy phenomenon.
{Some thoughts – in this regard:
Few analyzed properly the contradictory stance of the Puntland administration; Garowe does not declare any interest in secession(ism) – contrarily to the Hargeisa regime. If this is so, then why does Puntland´s president Farole not send 10000 soldiers to help TFG president Sheikh Sharif successfully oppose the attacking Al Shabaab, obliterate the threat of extremism (that both Farole and Sheikh Sharif denounce), and then share power in the entire territory between Bossasso and the Kenyan border?
What is the reason for which two people, who declare they desire their country´s unity, and at the same time reject the same opponent whom they characterize as common threat, do not cooperate?
It is clear that throughout Puntland´s territory Islamic extremism has not yet become influential. This means that president Farole´s hands are theoretically untied, and he is free to act in a way to defend his authority and ideas before an urgent need arises.
Who guarantees to president Farole that if the Shabaab prevail in Mogadishu, Puntland will not become their next target?
The lack of coordinated action between the TFG and Puntland presidents means that both of them received the instruction not to attempt to cooperate – let alone merge their territories.}
3. The tyrannical regime of the Hargeisa Mafia lords – this only adds to the aforementioned chaotic situation, and due to its conflict with Puntland, it only contributes to the deterioration of the socioeconomic and environmental conditions in its eastern "provinces", notably in Sool and Sanaag. Absolutely controlled by the neighboring Abyssinian tyranny, Hargeisa has recently become a preferential colonial venue (mainly for English and French). It is to be noticed that throughout the breakaway and unrecognized dictatorship of Somaliland, disintegration forces start taking the upper hand; a possible split into 3 or 4 micro-states could happen relatively soon.
4. The Somali piracy – An extensive study of the phenomenon and the details of the occurred cases of piracy suggests that the master brain is located faraway. The different levels of interposed accomplices, the distribution of the ransoms, the access to an immense database, the target selection, the highly biased negotiations, the killings, the releases, and the theatrical judicial procedures, everything shows that we are in front of an immense, well orchestrated, operation that, while being a highly lucrative business, offers an excellent venue for a UN / US-led amphibious military operation that would facilitate the materialization of the aforementioned targets no 5 and 6. London as capital of the Somali piracy epiphenomenon has already been the subject of several analyses.
5. The Shabaab – Like the Somali pirates, the Shabaab represent another case of colonial involvement. In this regard, the colonial infiltration took another form. Instead of bribing some tribal authorities and local Mafia lords (which was enough to trigger the Somali piracy epiphenomenon), high tech was utilized by the US secret services. Remote mind control machinery implemented in unconscious CIA operatives, implanted chips, and a bunch of associated technologies ensure the availability of CIA operatives among those who declare open and frontal opposition to America, Europe, Christianity, Judaism, Zionism, and the Western World in its entirety.
{Some thoughts – in this regard:
One can notice in this regard that, for some months after the early arrival of the (then uncontrolled by the CIA) Shebaab in Somalia´s southernmost confines, earlier this year, Kenyan army had enough time to eliminate an unnecessary and still weak enemy. In March 2009, it would be a mere promenade for the Kenyan army to invade the southernmost confines of Somalia up to Kismayu and/or Merka and hand over the territory to AMISOM and the forces related with the TFG president.
Who prevented Kenya from undertaking a brief military expedition then?
Certainly those who have planned otherwise.
In fact, the Shabaab have been radicalized after the arrival of Abu Mansoor Al Amriki. Until then, communication channels were open among Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, Sheikh Hassan Turki, and Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. Of course, the formation of different groups (Hizb ul Islam) does not imply either opposition or confrontation. The deterioration in the relationship started after the arrival in Southern Somalia of the top CIA operative Abu Mansoor Al Amriki.
Why?
Because if united, the three sheikhs represent a trustful alternative to the fake TFG regime, and supported by a majority of the Somalis, they would be in a position to achieve Somalia´s definite pacification, reunification and rehabilitation – which is precisely what the Freemasonic colonial establishment of London, Paris and Washington does not want.
In fact, the arrival of Abu Mansoor Al Amriki in Somalia is, in and by itself, a scandal. If he is considered as an Al Qaeda operative, why he was not arrested?
Who facilitated the comfortable and highly secured travel of a "terrorist"? Simply, all those who want to use this CIA operative against Somalia.
And why publicize the faraway "conference" of a terrorist? Why on earth give space and fame to someone characterized as Islamic extremist who even does not have his own group, and who is alien to the religion he claims to defend and to the country he tries to supposedly save?
Who publicized Abu Mansoor Al Amriki´s 5th of April conference? Those who facilitate the game of Abu Mansoor Al Amriki´s remote instructors.
Who wants to drive the three Somali leaders to opposition, confrontation and reciprocal extermination? Who else but Abu Mansoor Al Amriki´s remote instructors, the forces that implement the policy of Somalia´s annihilation.}
6. Last but not least, the international community. In the person of Ahmedou Ould Abdalla, the UN top envoy. And the world´s leading colonial powers, their diplomats, military establishments, and administrations that are mostly controlled - through member selection, initiation, control and deception, through blackmailing and murder, through crimes and conspiracies - by the Apostate Freemasonic Lodge.
The harmonious cooperation of the Freemasonic Lerna Hydra heads
If you can control a patriotic youth organization engaged in a national liberation struggle, thanks to some top operatives through remote mind control, you will certainly direct them against those whom you do not control.
Since the TFG establishment of puppets is fully controlled, as they customarily obey Ahmedou Ould Abdallah´s orders, directives, and "advice", the real enemy of the Freemasonic establishment is Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and all those around him who declined the offer of the French Freemason Ahmedou Ould Abdallah.
While fierce battles have taken place in Mogadishu between mainly Shabaab fighters and pro-TFG forces and militias over the past few days, causing a heavy toll of casualties, the Shabaab have captured territory earlier controlled by the TFG forces. To prevent an overwhelming victory of the Shabaab, AMISOM forces were deployed in the strategically critical Aslubta base at the exit of the city in the south.
Following this recent success and internal developments due to the pervasive and remotely guided work of Abu Mansoor Al Amriki, Shabaab commanders turned against Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and asked him to …… hand over to them the weapons delivered to him by another Islamist commander, Yusuf Indho Ade.
This testifies to a terrible division among the two main opposition groups of Somalia, Shabaab and Hizb ul Islam, the latter controlled by Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. The development (extensively described in a Mareeg report republished below) shows that the CIA has the intention to physically eliminate Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, which proves that they consider the Somali leader as a serious obstacle to their plans.
The reported presence of Abu Mansoor Al Amriki in Mogadishu must be related to "ideas" he recently had about how to "liberate" Somalia – which of course are not proper ideas but remotely submitted orders. I will expand on this topic in several forthcoming articles.
It is evident to all that the recent events at Mogadishu are mostly due to the Shabaab, whereas the participation of Hizb ul Islam seems to be rather limited of scale.
But this matters little, when two heads of the monstrous Lerna Hydra act in order to place a target between the two legs of the vice. That´s is why as a true ally of the Shabaab, the UN top envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah accused – shamelessly and inanely – Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, not the Shabaab, for the ongoing fighting at Mogadishu.
Known for his pathetic and blasé style, the Mauritanian diplomat who is a French Freemason and has contributed greatly to the Burundi genocide, characterized the hostilities as a "coup attempt" that, as he said, represented Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys´ effort to topple the TFG government. (More in Mareeg report republished below)
The coordination of the CIA – US – UK – UN – French efforts against Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys makes clear that he represents Somalia´s last hope for peace. The Shabaab, manipulated by the remotely controlled Abu Mansoor Al Amriki, and the TFG regime, subordinated to Ahmedou Ould Abdallah;s Freemasonic "advice", will bring to Somalia despair, desolation and disaster.
Somalia: Al-shabab forcing opposition leader to hand over weapons
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.php?sid=12003&tirsan=3&PHPSESSID=9f44c35802655f75de6b74cf7d8ae33a
Al-Shabab Islamist fighters have ordered Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys to hand over weapons he took from Yusuf Indho Ade, sources said on Tuesday.
Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indho Ade had handed over his weapons to Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys who belongs to his sub clan Cayr, of Habar Gidir clan after al-Shabab took control of most contested areas in the capital.
Al-Shabab told Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, the chairman of the Asmara based Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia to hand over Indho Ade´s weapons.
Indho Ade is a great opponent to Al-Shabab and he was dealing with the Somali government when things suddenly changed after the Shabab got territorial gains from the government.
Sheik Aweys has reportedly turned down to hand over the weapons. The move comes after days that Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam have jointly fought against the fledgling government led by president Sharif Sheik Ahmed.
The difference between al-Shabab and Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys may lead to infighting between Hisbul Islam, the group that Mr. Aweys leads and the Shabab.
Somalia: UN Somalia envoy accuses Islamist of coup attempt
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.php?sid=12038&tirsan=3&PHPSESSID=9f44c35802655f75de6b74cf7d8ae33a
The United Nations' top envoy for Somalia blamed Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys Wednesday for recent fighting in Mogadishu and accused him of seeking to topple the country's government.
"Aweys came to take power and topple a legitimate regime", Ahmedou Ould Abdallah told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting on Somalia at the African Union's headquarters in Addis Ababa.
"The attacks of the past few days, all that has happened in Mogadishu lately, it's an attempt to seize power by force, it's a coup attempt", he said.
Clashes that started last week between forces loyal to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and radical forces including members of the Shebab group have left some 100 people dead.
Aweys and Sharif were two of the Islamist leaders who took over most of Somalia in 2006 before being ousted by an Ethiopian invasion in support of the TFG.
Sharif eventually joined the UN-sponsored reconciliation process based in Djibouti and was elected Somalia's president in January, days after Ethiopia completed its military pullout.
Aweys has always rejected the Djibouti process and returned from exile in Eritrea last month, vowing he would continue to oppose the government so long as African Union peacekeepers remained on Somali soil.
The Shebab, originally the Islamist movement's youth branch, has radicalised over the past two years and has targeted Sharif's government in recent months.
Ould Abdallah dismissed the idea that the Shebab was an organised political force and insisted that pro-government forces had repelled the danger.
"The Shebab are a ragtag alliance which is showing its true colours now. From their perspective, it's not a political or a religious struggle but an economic one designed to protect often shady business interests", he said.
"If they were as powerful as they claim to be and as their intermediaries in Nairobi say, why haven't they conquered the capital?" UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's representative argued.
"It's nothing more than a rebellion combating a legitimate government which admittedly is weak but still holds power and needs to be supported".
The Shebab movement and its allies control most of southern Somalia and have launched waves of guerrilla attacks in Mogadishu to destablise the transitional administration.
The president's forces control little more than a few districts in Mogadishu.
"The Shebab's attack was defeated. The situation is under control", the African Union peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said at the same meeting in Addis Ababa.
Lamamra said that the Shebab had deployed heavy military equipment and received the assistance of foreign fighters.
On Tuesday, Ould Abdallah and an official from the Somali president's camp both condemned the growing presence of Al Qaeda-inspired foreign fighters in the Horn of Africa country.
A senior Shebab leader admitted his movement was receiving foreign help.
According to Somali security officials and foreign intelligence sources in the region, extremist fighters have flocked to Somalia since the start of the year and currently number around 500.
Pregnant Woman Could Be Executed After 'Unfair' Trial (ai)
Ifraah Ali Aden is in imminent danger of being executed for the murder of another woman, Suad Mohamed Aware, who was another of her husband's wives. She was convicted after an unfair trial. The warrant for her execution does not set a date, and it appears that she could be put to death at any time.
She was sentenced to death by the Court of First Instance in the city of Bossaso , on the coast of the north-eastern region of Puntland. She is four or five months pregnant, according to sources close to her. The court does not appear to have ordered any medical tests to confirm the pregnancy. International human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women or new mothers.
Ifraah Ali Aden has a cell to herself in a prison in Bossasso which is only for prisoners under sentence of death. Relatives of the woman Ifraah Ali Aden killed have apparently been able to get into the prison, as have members of the security forces, to taunt her about her imminent execution.
Ifraah Ali Aden was sentenced to death on 27 April, less than 24 hours after the killing of Suad Mohamed Aware. She had no time to prepare her defense, as required under international law. The verdict says that she was represented by a lawyer during the trial, but it is not clear whether she had adequate legal representation, or whether she has the right to appeal to a higher court, as per Article 41(5) of the Transitional Constitution of the Puntland Regional Government.
Ifraah Ali Aden and Suad Mohamed Aware appear to have been in dispute for some time. There are conflicting reports about the killing, with some (including her relatives) saying that Suad Mohamed Aware was attacked by Ifraah Ali Aden with a knife in a medical centre in Bossasso. According to relatives of Ifraah Ali Aden, she was confronted by Suad Mohamed Aware and two other women; there was a struggle, during which she killed Suad Mohamed Aware in self-defense. Suad Mohamed Aware was seven or eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Ifraah Ali Aden's relatives also say that she complained to the police several times that she had been threatened by Suad Mohamed Aware, once with a gun, but that the police did nothing; some of her relatives, including her seven children, were intimidated by Suad Mohamed Aware's family before the killing. This intimidation continued after the killing, and they had to flee Bossasso, and have been unable to visit Ifraah Ali Aden in prison, where she is said to be in a "state of shock."
Background Information
The Puntland region declared its autonomy from Somalia in 1998, and has its own government. Although there is no effective or competent system of administration of justice in Somalia , Puntland has functioning courts, based on three legal systems: the judicial system of the former Somali state; shari'a (Islamic law); and customary law, as traditionally administered by elders. The system applied will depend on the matter under consideration as well as the region in which the issue arose. Several people have been sentenced to death in Puntland since it came into being, and at least one person was executed in 2008.
While the death penalty is not in itself a violation of international law, there is an increasing international trend towards its abolition and international law and standards place strict limitations on its use in those states where it is still used.
These limitations include a prohibition on the execution of pregnant women and new mothers; a requirement that people charged with crimes punishable by death are entitled to the strictest observance of all fair trial guarantees required by international human rights law; and that they should have the right to seek pardon or commutation of sentence.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally and under any circumstances, as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.
Recommended Action:
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Somali or English or your own language:
- calling on the authorities to immediately suspend the warrant of execution against Ifraah Ali Aden, and give her immediate access to a doctor, to confirm whether she is pregnant;
- stating that international human rights law and standards prohibit the execution of pregnant women and new mothers;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden has adequate legal representation and that her family is able to visit her;
- urging the authorities to ensure that Ifraah Ali Aden is able to appeal to a higher court in proceedings which comply with international fair trial standards, and that her rights to legal representation, to adequate time and facilities to prepare her defense, to challenge evidence brought against her and to call her own witnesses, and to seek clemency, are upheld;
- stating your opposition to the death penalty as a violation of the right to life and the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment;
- calling on the authorities to commute all death sentences and to establish a moratorium on executions.
Appeals to:
President Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole) President of Puntland
Email: plpresidencyg@hotmail.com
info@puntlandgovt.com
Salutation: Dear President
Copies to:
Mrs. Asha Ghele Dirie
Minister of Women Development and Family Affairs
Ministry of Women Development and Family Affairs
Fax: +2525434501
Email: mowdfa@puntlandgov.net / ashagelle@yahoo.com / mowdafa_punt@hotmail.com
and to diplomatic representatives of your own government in Nairobi , Kenya .
Ecoterra Intl. fully supports this appeal by Amnesty International and asks you to: Please Send Appeals Immediately
Islamist armed groups controlling Somalia's southern city of Kismayo have carried out amputations and unlawful killings, Amnesty International reported Thursday. The London-based watchdog cited the case of Mohamed Omar Ismail, who had one of his hands publicly amputated by local religious leaders as a punishment for allegedly stealing items worth around 90 dollars (65 euros). Hundreds of residents attended the punishment, which was carried out in a place called "Freedom Park", Amnesty's statement said.
"Punishments like amputations and killings illustrate the extent to which violence still substitutes for the rule of law in many areas of Somalia", said Michelle Kagari, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme. The port of Kismayo, Somalia's largest southern city, was seized in August 2008 by a coalition of forces loyal to rebel leader Hassan Turki, and the al-Shabab movement, the country's main radical Islamist insurgent organisation. Turki is listed as a terrorist financier by Washington. The administration formed there began implementing a strict form of Sharia (Islamic law). In October, a 13-year-old girl was stoned to death in public by around 50 men on one of Kismayo's main squares. She was accused of adultery by local hard line Islamists after reporting that she had been raped by three men. Amnesty, which listed several other cases of unlawful punishment over the past year, called on the local authorities to condemn human rights abuses and on the United Nations to establish monitoring mechanisms.
Impacting reports from the global village
Freedom Fighters or Criminals? AFRICOM Doesn’t Care.
by Mark P. Fancher
The U.S. military’s African Command – AFRICOM – extends its tentacles on the east and west coasts and deep into the interior of the continent. Its mission: "to keep Africa safe for western corporations that need access to the continent’s oil and mineral resources". All indigenous opposition to imperial policies and interests is deemed "criminal" or "terrorist" – whether along the internationally exploited shores of Somalia or in the oil-rich delta of the Niger River. As African Liberation Day approaches, we must understand that "AFRICOM…is really all about building the capacity of western corporations to hold fast to Africa".
"The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has been establishing an extensive high profile presence on Africa’s western coast".
After U.S. Navy sharpshooters put bullets into the heads of companions of Somalia-born Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the problem of "piracy" in the waters off the Horn of Africa dominated the news. Muse and other Somalis had allegedly hijacked an American ship and held its captain hostage until the captors were all killed or, in the case of Muse, taken into custody. These events caused many progressive observers to have concerns comparable to those expressed nearly 40 years ago by Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president. He said: "By means of press and radio, accounts are given of the capture of ‘terrorists’ by ‘security forces’ …the ‘terrorists’ being usually described as poorly-trained, ill-equipped, demoralized and uncertain of the cause for which they are fighting", Nkrumah went on to observe: "This refusal to recognize freedom fighters as soldiers is again part of imperialist strategy designed to pour scorn on the armed revolutionary movement, and at the same time to discourage further recruits". It is not suggested here that Muse and his companions were freedom fighters, and there are likely many petty criminals among the ranks of those who have captured ships off the coast of Somalia.
But the western media has been so relentless in its characterization of all who hijack ships as "pirates" that few people know that one of the first of these groups, known as the "Somalia National Volunteer Coast Guard", was, according to some reports, established by fishermen who armed themselves and chased away foreign ships that were suspected of engaging in illegal fishing and the dumping of waste in Somali waters. "One of the first of these groups is known as the ‘Somalia National Volunteer Coast Guard". When U.S. right wing media pundits began urging the U.S. military to conduct full scale operations to clean out the "nests" of pirates in Somalia, there was reason to worry that legitimate freedom fighters would be caught up in the dragnet. Already, the U.S. has engaged in military activities and covert actions that have included complicity in a 2006 regime change in Somalia. There is also a significant U.S. presence at a special military installation in Djibouti. The U.S. search for "pirates", "terrorists" and other purported "evil-doers" (as Bush used to call them) has not been limited to the Horn of Africa.
For some time now, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has also been establishing an extensive high profile presence on Africa’s western coast - specifically in the Gulf of Guinea and the Niger Delta. Notwithstanding its official mission statements, AFRICOM is proving itself to be a vehicle for the U.S. to use proxy troops drawn from Africa’s armies to keep Africa safe for western corporations that need access to the continent’s oil and mineral resources. It is understandable then why AFRICOM’s directors have been just as interested in West Africa as they are in Somalia. A study by the Nigerian government shows that during 2008, the country lost nearly $28 billion as a result of armed groups having blown up oil pipelines. These organizations have also kidnapped oil company personnel. The government study estimates that about 1,000 lives were lost last year in connection with oil thefts and sabotage. "AFRICOM is proving itself to be a vehicle for the U.S. to use proxy troops drawn from Africa’s armies to keep Africa safe for western corporations". The attacks on the oil industry have not emerged from a vacuum. Oil operations have caused widespread environmental catastrophe, ruining fishing, farming and sources of fresh water for many villages in the Niger Delta.
Unemployment in these areas that (according to government estimates) exceeds 80 percent fuels a spirit of rebellion and resistance among the youth that continues to spread. Patrick Aziza, a traditional leader in the Okpe Kingdom in the Niger Delta, has urged rebels to lay down their arms, but he has also acknowledged that their deep-seated frustration is justified. His conclusion is particularly significant because he is also a retired Nigerian army general.
Nevertheless, the Nigerian government has begun to chart plans for bolstering the capacity of special military forces to fight the rebels. With so much oil at stake, AFRICOM has not been sitting idly by. It has collaborated in the operation of an "Africa Partnership Station" that has cruised from port to port along Africa’s western coast training African naval personnel to conduct military operations that are helpful to U.S. corporate interests in the region. AFRICOM has justified its activities by claiming that the region is plagued by crime and terrorism. It has also protested accusations of imperialist military intervention by insisting that the U.S. has been "invited" into the region by Africans themselves.
Admiral Robert T. Moeller, a high level AFRICOM official said: "Recognizing (threats of piracy, oil smuggling and other crimes) themselves, the Africans have requested that we provide this kind of assistance". Also, to calm fears that the U.S. is in Africa to militarize the continent, much has been made of AFRICOM’s humanitarian work. For example, during one mission, the Africa Partnership Station delivered food to AIDS patients and orphans.
"Nkrumah understood four decades ago how easy it is for the underlying causes of armed struggle to be forgotten because of media lies".
History has proven that for as long as foreign corporate operations create instability and hardship for Africa’s people, it is all but certain that there will be those who will be moved to resist – with arms if necessary. Nkrumah understood four decades ago how easy it is for the underlying causes of armed struggle to be forgotten because of media lies and caricatures of Africans who resist foreign exploitation. When African Liberation Day arrives later this month, we who wish to ensure African self-determination should heed the call of event organizers and "honor Nkrumah" (see: www.africanliberationday.net) by striving to become as skillful as he was in cutting through the crap. When Moeller says: "It is all about building the capacity of our African partners to be able to attend to their own security needs", we must instinctively know that, for AFRICOM it is really all about building the capacity of western corporations to hold fast to Africa in leech-like fashion and to suck the continent bone dry of all of its most valuable natural resources.
Report Says Same Companies Deliver Aid and Arms in Africa
By Derek Kilner
A new report says that the same cargo companies that fly weapons into African conflict zones are often contracted by international agencies to supply humanitarian and peacekeeping operations. The report says the problem has been particularly troubling in Sudan. According to the report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute - a prominent think tank that monitors international arms transfers - 90 percent of air cargo companies linked to arms trafficking have also been used by United Nations agencies, Western governments or international non-governmental organizations to transport humanitarian aid. The report singles out Sudan as the most serious case. One of the report's authors, Hugh Griffiths, says that U.N. peacekeeping missions have hired helicopters and aircraft belonging to the same Sudanese companies that have been used to ferry weapons to pro-government soldiers in the Darfur region, in violation of arms embargoes. "These aircraft and helicopters are painted white and have the U.N. logos put on them for U.N. flights to support peacekeeping missions primarily through logistics. But, then, when the U.N. is finished using these companies, the companies don't remove the white paint nor the U.N. logos and, instead, contract their aircraft to be used by Sudanese army and police, sometimes in a ground attack role", he said.
Griffiths also points out that many of the air cargo companies operating in Sudan are controlled by member of Sudan's political and military class, who are making money from both the conflict and the aid operations. According to the report, similar problems are present in other parts of East Africa. In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, humanitarian agencies regularly use companies linked to warlords involved in mining activities. In Somalia, the American private security company Dyncorp - which was contracted by the U.S. government to support the African Union peacekeeping mission - has used a cargo company that is accused of supplying weapons to Al-Shabab, a hard line Islamist militia with ties to Al Qaeda.
The report's authors concede that cargo companies with untarnished records are not always available. Griffiths says that, in Somalia, the lack of security at the Mogadishu airport has limited the number of carriers willing to fly there. But he says that, in other countries, the international community can take steps to change the situation. "Were the international community as a whole, as part of a coordinated effort, to set criteria saying we are not going to use companies that the U.N. recommend for a complete ban anymore, then you would find the market kicking in and just like we find restaurants near most conflict zones which serve good food in a clean kitchen because of the demand for that from the internationals, so you would find airlines operating safer aircraft which have a good code of conduct, an ethical transportation policy and a track record of not violating United Nations arms embargoes. You have to create a market for such companies", he said. The report recommends instituting new ethics requirements for carriers doing business with Western governments, U.N. agencies, or international NGOs. The authors also say that existing safety requirements in Europe and the United States could be applied to carriers accused of transporting arms, many of which have poor safety records.
China asserts sea border claims
A UN commission hoping to agree new maritime boundaries looks set to pit China against some of its neighbours, reports the BBC. China claims that a series of island chains in the South China Sea are part of its sovereign territory - but so do several other countries. Most coastal states have to submit declarations on where they see their boundaries by 13 May. A total of 48 nations have made full claims, and dozens more have made preliminary submissions. "This is the sweep after which the maritime limits should be fixed... the final big adaptation of the world map", Harald Brekke, vice-chairman of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, told Reuters news agency.
Overlapping claims
Under existing laws, a nation is allowed to exploit maritime resources up to 200 nautical miles from its shoreline. But some nations are able to extend their claims as a result of their landmasses - or continental shelf - extending into the sea. But the exact limits of who can use what have not been put on an internationally agreed map - until now. "We are seeing many overlapping submissions", Mr. Brekke said. Territorial disputes between Japan and Russia, and between Britain and Argentina - over the Falkland Islands - have been highlighted by the process. Russia has even used a mini-submarine to plant a flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole in 2007, an area that Denmark is also expected to claim. But perhaps one of the most complicated areas to resolve is who owns what in the South China Sea, with China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia and Malaysia all having competing claims. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu says the country has indisputable sovereignty over disputed South China Sea islands.
He says this jurisdiction also extends to what is below the seabed - which is important because the South China Sea has valuable oil and gas reserves. China has recently become more assertive in pushing its territorial claims in the area, according to the BBC's Michael Bristow in Beijing. It has formally told the UN not to consider a similar claim from Vietnam. "[This] is a gross infringement upon China's sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction, thus illegal and invalid", said Mr. Ma. Other countries are not backing down - which means sorting out these competing claims will be a both complex and time-consuming, our correspondent says.
A map by UNCLOS and the US-CIA showing rival claims in the South China Sea is somehow misleading since it shows only the 200 nm EEZ claims but not the full 350nm continental shelf dispute. A similar problem exists at the Somali coasts, since already in 1972 the Somali Law No. 37 (Somali Law on the Sea) established an area of 200nm from the coast as territorial sea and in the establishment of Somalia's rights concerning the 350nm continental zone, a final agreement with neighbors Kenya has not yet been reached. Also the final delineation concerning the 200 nm EEZ in the Gulf of Aden is still to be finalized with Djibouti on the western as well as Yemen on the northern and eastern (Socotra) side. Continental shelf disputes have already let in the past (e.g. between Turkey and Greece) as well as today (China - US) to near war situations.
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Note
Picture: Sheikh Mukhtar Robow is not an enemy of the international community; he is rather one of the correct Somali interlocutors.
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