Can Puntland’s Farole Put an End to the Somali Piracy Phenomenon Now?

The ability of the newly elected ‘president’ of Puntland to eliminate corruption and put an end to the fake phenomenon of the Somali piracy will be the litmus test for the breakaway administration’s survival and its role in a re-unified Somalia in the future. This is highlighted through the recent news that all included in the Ecoterra 102nd Press Release Update.

102nd Update 2009-01-09 00h15:43 UTC

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

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

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

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

Day 107 - 2530 hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

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

Rising corruption in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania was among the worries faced by U.S. businesses operating overseas in 2008, according to an annual U.S. State Department report released Wednesday. Bulgaria is ranked as a top "corruption destination" for American businesses abroad together with Romania, Russia, and the Ukraine. "Problems were particularly evident in Russia, with ongoing concerns about 'corporate raiding,' the takeover of businesses by dubious means, including misuse of government agencies by government and non-government actors, and those connected with criminal organizations", the report said.

Has corruption also entered the negotiation talks concerning the release of MV FAINA, ask many observers and wonder why with the substantial amount of money apparently collected in Ukraine by a party and the families of the seafarers plus what the owner will get from the insurance for the case, the crew and vessel can not be released. What is the real reason for the delay, many analysts explore.

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

Clearing-house::

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

Games Crazy People Play: Kidnapping, Pirating, and War - Naval War-games to protect Fish-piracy and to cover the real agenda !

VLCC SIRIUS STAR and her crew seem, hopefully, to be on the way to freedom. The Saudi oil tanker definitely is on the move, local observers confirmed. Unconfirmed reports from Somalia already speak of a successful release and say that the supertanker is heading South-East. Official confirmation, however, could not yet be obtained and it is therefore not clear yet if that is not just another re-positioning move.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 foreign vessels with a total of accounted for 348 crew members (of which 92 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held). For 2009 the account stands at 11 abandoned attacks and 2 sea-jackings. 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 related news ------

"I am one of the founding fathers [of Puntland] who helped enact the Provisional Constitution [of 1998]", Mr. Farole, the newly elected president of the semi-autonomous province of Puntland said. "It is a historic democratic election in Puntland, making me the region's fourth president since 1998. I hope I will bring some changes", Farole said after being elected. But first opposition responses in Puntland reacted angrily to the election of Abdirahman Mohamed (nicknamed Faroole) a former banker and Puntland finance Minister under Presidents Hashi and Yusuf as well as minister of Planning & International Cooperation under Mohamud Muse Hersi [nicknamed Muse Adde] and stated that he only won with the financial backing of a dubious exploitation company.

Farole was using his website, Garowe Online ‘http://www.garoweonline.com’, created weeks after his departure from Puntland in 2006 and maintained by his son to expose mistakes of the former president. Farole's opponents also predict now serious clashes between resigned TFG President Abdullahi Yussuf's clan - the Omar Mahamoud - with Faroole's Isse Mahamud sub-clan, though both hail from the dominant Majeerteen clan. "If his legacy is to be taken at face value, then Farole is by far the single most corrupt government official Puntland has seen so far. As the finance minister, Farole bankrupted the State setting off its deep descendent into fiscal and economic crises - that was before the dim-witted Adde arrived at the scene to clear its coffers" stated Mohamed A. Ali. "The dispute with the President [of Puntland, Gen. Muse Adde] happened as we were in the process of finalizing the Five-Year Development Plan" which was authored by the Ministry of Planning, Farole countered. Farole and former Puntland president Muse Adde – who were allies during the 2005 election – disagreed strongly on an oil deal the then Puntland leader signed unilaterally with that small mining firm based in Australia, Range Resources.

When Muse engineered thereafter a parliament plot to sack him in February 2006, Farole supporters prohibited lawmakers from entering the parliament building in Garowe, the capital of Puntland. Three young men were gunned down in front of parliament hall in the government's crackdown, causing political uproar and a security nightmare for the government. When later questioned as to the rationale for such actions, he categorically denied of any involvement. Thanks to the late Islam Mohamed, further bloodshed was averted. Farole has lived in Melbourne / Australia since, where he is said to be a doctoral candidate in the history department at La Trobe University, and returned only two months ago to Puntland. "When I left, Puntland was well-established with security, law and order and on the correct path. There were no pirates, no [illegal militia] roadblocks", Farole stated and he has been an outspoken critic of Range's rights to Puntland's resources since the initial agreement was signed by Muse Adde, which gave the Australian company Range Resources as well as their Canadian joint venture partner, Africa Oil - co-sponsored by Sweden's Lundin family's wealth from Lundin Oil -, exclusive mineral and oil rights to Puntland in 2005. "We don't deal with any of the opposition leaders", said Range's executive director, Peter Landau recently, but insiders insist that the company had invested in both major candidates.

It remains to be seen if President Farole will maintain his former opposition to Range Resources' neo-colonial rights he criticized so vehemently in the past. And he also first has to declare how he will structure the future development in Puntland. Back in 2005 and as Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Mr. Farole said he supported efforts to ensure that aid agencies "operated in all parts of Puntland" at a time when the region was still reeling from the effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. President Farole's win will create another tsunami - that's for sure - question is only if this one will help and empower Puntlanders in general or if it just will be a turning tide for the benefit of himself and his sub-clan. Forle, however, has vowed to eradicate piracy and human trafficking originating from Puntland.