Ecoterra – Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor - Part VII. MV BOW-ASIR Hijacked and Piracy Revivified

Against the real interests of the beleaguered Somali nation, against the proper interests of all the Somali regimes, governments, statesmen, and elders’ associations, and against every concept of pacification and rehabilitation of the Horn of Africa nation, the piracy phenomenon undergoes a dangerous re-manifestation.

It would be essential for all the factors of Somali politics to meet in an extraordinary conference whereby, instead of solving Somalia’s sociopolitical problems, they will investigate ways to eliminate once forever the dangerous phenomenon that can very easily and very unexpectedly bring forth the end of them all.

All the recent developments off the Somali coast are to be found in the new Ecoterra Press Release which – very honorably – demonstrates the multi-dimensional character of the problems in the region, as it also sheds light on the practices of illegal fishing, dumping and trafficking carried out off the Horn of Africa.

Denouncing at the UN level the practices of illegal fishing, dumping and trafficking that are detrimental for their own country is an essential step that the new Somali government has to take as soon as possible, if it is determined to prove that the national interests of Somalia are still within its sphere of concerns.

I herewith republish most parts of the Ecoterra Report.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) Part VII

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release

A Voice for the Voiceless, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or overseas and 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 or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate funding.

2009-03-26 23h56:22 UTC

EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia[at]ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979

Clearing-house

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships --------

Panama-flagged MV NIPAYIA was seized on Wednesday off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia with its crew of 19 of which 18 are Filipinos and a Russian captain. The Maritime Security Center run by the E.U. naval force confirmed the sea-jacking of the 9,000 ton Greek-owned vessel today and local sources reported the freighter would be on the way to Harardheere or Hobyo. The ship is managed by Athens-based Lotus Shipping.

This incident was followed early today, Thursday, with the abduction of the 23,000 ton Norwegian-owned and Bahamas-registered MV BOW-ASIR, a chemicals and oil tanker, off the Somali port of Kismayo at the southern coast of Somalia with 23 people on board (Russian captain, five Polish nationals and 17 other sailor from different countries). The vessel was hijacked by 16 to 18 pirates, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association said. The owner of the Bow Asir, Salhus Shipping AS, said it received a security alert message from the vessel at 0729GMT saying the ship was being chased by two small boats with suspected pirates on board. At 0745GMT, the captain reported that the pirates had boarded the vessel, the company said. Three hours later, Salhus Shipping received an e-mail from the ship confirming that 16 to 18 pirates carrying machine guns had gained control of the vessel, managing director Per H. Hansen said in a statement. "We have no reports of any injuries", he said. "We are doing our utmost to ensure the safety of the crew, and have established communication lines with naval forces, insurance companies, flag state and charterer". The vessel was headed for Mombassa with a cargo of caustic soda but is now commandeered towards the Somali central coast.

These two European-owned tankers sea-jacked off the Somali coast were seized within a few hours time and triggered an alert by the European Union's anti-piracy naval mission to other vessels in the area since a significant increase of pirate activity can be observed. The crews of both hijacked vessels are believed to be unharmed.

Somali pirates had hijacked the yacht S/Y SERENITY from the Seychelles (we reported then) with two men on board, a maritime official said on Wednesday. The yacht had left the Seychelles already on 28th February en route to Madagascar but disappeared soon after, Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance Program confirmed. He could name now the two missing sailors on board as Gilbert Victor and Andre Conrad, both men hail from the Seychelles. "The ill-fated yacht is presently under tight security, anchored next to Garcad in the northern part of the Somali coast", he said. The Seychelles Government has appealed to British, American and French governments for help.

An Indian cargo dhow MSV Al-RAFIQUEI with 16 Indian seafarers on board, carrying a load of rice, refined oil and wheat, was en route to Somalia's capital, Mogadishu from Dubai, when it was allegedly attacked by pirates using a small craft, who chased and boarded the Indian-flagged vessel on March 21 at 10h30 around 145 miles east of the Somali coast. "Coalition forces and the Indian Navy vessels operating in the Gulf of Aden were informed about the incident and asked to provide immediate assistance", said officials at the Director General of Shipping office in Mumbai. But after a few hours on the dhow and after robbing personal effects from the crew and stealing from the ship’s stores the group escaped, according to crew reports. Indian naval sources confirmed hours later that the dhow was safely proceeding to a port in Somalia.

St. Vincent-flagged M/V TITAN, with 24 crew members on board, is now held 3 miles from Dhanaane. Contacts with the owner of the vessel ALBAMAR Shipping seem to have started.

The pirates of MT STOLT STRENGTH with 23 Filipino seafarers on board have reportedly set a date for the resumption of final negotiations tomorrow, Friday. So far the crew has still very limited food and water resources and the vessel is held between Harardheere and Hobyo.

Captors on SEA PRINCESS II, the Yemeni-flagged fuel vessel, which escaped from the Puntland coastguard to Harardheere have now apparently contact with the owner of the vessel. The owner-manager so far left the negotiations to the Somali businessmen involved, who had not achieved anything for the release of the vessel and its 15 crew (incl. 8 Indian nationals).

The Iranian fish-factory vessel "SAFARI" with 14 Iranian crew on board is still near Kulub (close to Garcad) are entangled in a tug of war between businessmen, authorities, a local fishing co-operative and pirates - a mix which is a guarantee for a prolonged process.

The case of T/B YENEGOA OCEAN, the longest pending abduction, is turning into a major humanitarian disaster for its 10 Nigerian seafarers, where neither the owner nor the Nigerian Government seems to be interested, willing or capable to solve the case.

Pirates on Malaysian-owned T/B MASINDRA 7 with its Indonesian-owned barge ADM1 have lowered their ransom demands but a final agreement has not yet been achieved. The 11 Indonesian seafarers are desperate and one sailor is seriously ill. The pirates, however, allow humanitarian assistance.

In the case of MV JAIKUR I (one), whose original crew is still held at Mogadishu harbour, though a replacement core-crew has arrived, the off-loading of the cargo (water-damaged cement) is nearly concluded. Based on the insurance case influential and powerful local businessmen with armed militias have forced the harbour authority to still hold the innocent international crew (incl. 14 Indians) illegally under siege, though the Prime Minister of Somalia had already ordered their unconditional release.

The negotiations for German-owned gas-tanker MT LONGCHAMP with one Indonesian and 12 Filipinos on board, have reportedly reached a conclusion. The vessel is currently still held near Kulub (17 miles from Garcad) and if rumours concerning a near delivery of ransom are true remains to be seen.

Negotiations for the release of the Greek-owned MV SALDHANA, held off Kulub (south of Eyl - between Danaane and Garcad) with 22 crew, are going on and the crew is ok.

The captured and re-captured Yemeni fishing boat FV AL-HUSSEINI with her dead captain on board has left for Yemen, loaded with tuna. The pirate who killed the Yemeni master was arrested and is now jailed in Bossasso.

An automobile carrier operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines was attacked by pirates off Somalia but managed to escape, the transport ministry said Monday. Pirates in two small vessels approached the ship Sunday and fired several shots before escaping, the ministry said. The windows and ceiling of the bridge of the JASMINE ACE were hit by bullets, but no one was hurt, the ministry said.

Registered in the Cayman Islands — a British territory — the ship has a crew of 18, all Filipinos. After the attack, which occurred at around 10 p.m. Sunday Japan time around 900 km east of Somalia, the freighter zigzagged for about 40 minutes and got clear of the two boats that were chasing it, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. The ship was heading toward Mombassa, Kenya, when it was attacked.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 12 (13 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore) foreign vessels with a total of not less than 218 crew members accounted for (of which 89 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 (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 42 averted or abandoned attacks and 11 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by 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.

Illegal fishing, dumping and trafficking news

The crew of FV TAWARIQUE, arrested by the Tanzanian Authorities for illegal fishing in the Indian Ocean (taking 300 tonnes of tuna, while being licenced for 70 tonnes) comprises of 15 Chinese, 8 Filipinos, 5 Vietnamese, 6 Indonesians and 3 Kenyans. Owner and crew will have to await further court procedures. Until today the Authorities could not clarify which flag this vessel is sailing under - obviously with a Chinese connection, the vessel sports an Arab name and is operated from Mombassa in Kenya.

Report of the Meeting of the UN FAO Committee On Fisheries 2-6 March: Deep Sea Fisheries on the High Seas

The meeting of the UN FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI) took place 2-6

March, 2009 at the headquarters of the UN FAO in Rome . COFI meets every two years to discuss major international fisheries issues as well as the work of the UN FAO related to fisheries. Over 80 countries participated in the meeting; amongst the items on the agenda was the issue of the management of deep-sea fisheries on the high seas.

A set of guidelines - The UN FAO International Guidelines for the Management of Deep-sea Fisheries in the High Seas - were endorsed by COFI. These Guidelines were adopted in 2008 after two rounds of intergovernmental negotiations hosted by the UN FAO. They are designed to assist States and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) in the implementation of the 2006 UN GA resolution 61/105 calling for the protection of deep-sea ecosystems from bottom fisheries on the high seas. Amongst other things, the Guidelines outline criteria by which States and RFMOs should conduct impact assessments of deep-sea fisheries, identify the types of deep-sea ecosystems that are vulnerable to bottom fisheries, and determine the extent to which bottom fisheries may impact such ecosystems using the best scientific information available.

The UN General Assembly called for the implementation of the FAO Guidelines in UN GA resolution 63/112 (paragraph 102) adopted in 2008. The DSCC is of the view that, on balance, the Guidelines should serve as minimum standards for the management of high seas bottom fisheries. Provided they are effectively implemented, in conjunction with the measures agreed in the 2006 UN GA resolution, they could provide significant protection for deep-sea ecosystems.
The Meeting of COFI also discussed progress in the implementation of UN GA resolution 61/105 regarding the management of bottom fisheries on the high seas.

A number of countries expressed concern over the lack of full implementation. Amongst these was Brazil , which stated that it had called for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawl fishing and full implementation of UN GA 61/105 at the COFI meeting in 2007, and that it was disappointed at the lack of compliance with the UN GA resolution to date. The US stated that although progress has been made, more needs to be done. The US was strongly critical of the Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) Encounter protocols agreed by some RFMOs, arguing that the threshold levels have been set so high in some cases that they may never be met. The US further stated concern about the lack of adequate impact assessments and sufficient numbers of closed areas to protect VMEs.

South Africa called for full implementation of the UN GA resolution and the FAO Guidelines, in particular impact assessments, stating that the Guidelines should be recognized as minimum standards. South Africa also called for RFMOs and flag States to publicize lists of vessels authorized to fish on the high seas. Australia stated that more needs to be done to implement the GA resolution, in particular in relation to impact assessments. New Zealand and the European Community spoke of the challenges in implementing the UN GA resolution.

By contrast, a number of countries whose vessels are engaged in deep-sea fisheries on the high seas stated good progress was being made. These statements were echoed by interventions from representatives of various RFMOs.
Greenpeace International and the Pew Environment Group on behalf of the DSCC echoed the comments made by Brazil and the US expressing disappointment over the slow pace of the implementation of the measures agreed in UN GA resolution 61/105.

As a contribution to international discussions over deep-sea fisheries on the high seas, the UN FAO released a report "Worldwide Review of Bottom Fisheries in the High Seas" at COFI with recent information on the catch and geographic extent of high seas bottom fisheries, the countries involved in such fisheries, and a summary of the information available on the status of the species and ecosystems impacted by bottom fisheries on the high seas. An electronic copy can be found on the FAO website at http://www.fao. org/fishery/ publications/ technical- papers/en

In a related vein, the UN FAO also released its biannual publication "State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2008" ( SOFIA ) at COFI. In the introductory summary to SOFIA (page 8), the report states:

"The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 62/177 in 2007 deplored the fact that fish stocks in many parts of the world are over-fished or subject to sparsely regulated fishing effort. The relationship between excess capacity and illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing was also highlighted in COFI, the United Nations General Assembly and regional fora. There was only limited progress in the implementation of measures inter alia to mainstream the precautionary and ecosystem approaches to fisheries, eliminate by catch and discards, regulate bottom-trawl fisheries, manage shark fisheries, and deal with IUU fishing in a comprehensive manner". (ftp://ftp.fao. org/docrep/ fao/011/i0250e/ i0250e.pdf)

Fishermen in Yemen and Somalia suffer from navy atrocities. The war on piracy going on in the waters off the coast of Somalia and Yemen may be making this important shipping lane safer for global commerce, but local fishermen become collateral damage, reported now also Arab News on similar cases as they were reported from Somalia already. Some navies seem to be clearly out of bounds.

There are approximately 12,000 fishermen along the coast of Yemen’s Hadramout province supporting over 3,000 families using more than 4,000 boats of various sizes, according to the Fisheries Cooperative Union (FCU), and Yemeni fishermen have told now stories of brushes with both pirates and the navies that are fighting them.

According to the FCU, an Indian frigate aggressively boarded the tuna trawler Al-Tayser about 69km from Al-Mukulla, the largest port city in the western portion of the country. The Indian seamen allegedly boarded the vessel and tossed all but one of the fishermen overboard. The mishandled fishermen there had to tread water until the search of the vessel was complete. During the interrogation the Indian naval commando even was striking one of the men. After a search of the vessel, the Indian navy men returned to the frigate and left the area. There were no serious injuries or deaths reported in that incident, different to when the Indian Navy just blew the fishing vessel Ekanawat Nava 5 out of the water a few months back.

Part of the problem is that the traditional fishing routes run between the coasts of Yemen and Somalia, and the fishing crews are comprised of men from both countries. At its narrowest, the distance between Somalia and the coast of Yemen is about 300 km in a body of water separating the Gulf of Aden from the Arabian Sea.

Fishermen have also complained of harassment by the pirates when they fish nearer the Somali side of this rift. They say the pirates are using them as decoys and human shields and purposefully trying to mix in with the fishing routes to confuse the pirate hunters.

"We have been working in fishing for ages and our fishing route has been from Al-Mukulla to the coast of Somalia", said Mohammed Omer Bin Dehbaj. "Our crew consists of two Somalis and five Yemenis. We left Al-Mukulla on the morning of Jan. 18, heading toward Somalia. When we were in Somali waters, a group of pirates on a fiberglass boat rammed our boat". The armed pirates boarded the fishermen’s vessel and ordered them to retrace their route. The men say the pirates wanted to use them as decoys or human shields. Eventually the pirates found another Yemeni vessel hailing from Hudaidah (a coastal Yemeni port city on the Red Sea) and commandeered that vessel, letting the others go. After breaking from the pirates, the eight men said they headed to Abd Al-Kuri, a tiny, barely populated island between the diving haven of Socotra and the coast of Somalia. Ten days after leaving Al-Mukulla, the men headed home — but their adventure didn’t end there.

On Jan. 29, a day after leaving the island, about 110 km south of Al-Mukulla, the men encountered two looming battleships. "We didn’t know the identity of the giant ships, but they seemed to be from the coalition forces’ Navy which were sent to combat piracy", said one of the men. "When they saw us, a helicopter took off from one of the ships and, without sending any warning, it started to fire bullets heavily and indiscriminately toward the vessel. One of the crew got injured who was rushed later on to Al-Mukulla. The helicopter hovered overhead for two hours then went back to the ships, which left shortly after".
Omer Gambeet, the head of the FCU in Al-Mukulla, the umbrella organization for all of the fishermen in the 360 km long coast of Hadramout, told Arab News that his biggest concern is the treatment of fishermen by the Indian naval forces. "Because they are unable to understand their language, the Indians mistreated the Yemeni fishermen severely and, in many cases, they tossed them into the sea like dogs, which is entirely beyond the pale", he said, without stating that there have been any deaths involved in these incidents.

"Piracy and these actions by the navies has posed a serious threat to the Yemeni waters and the safety of the local fishermen", he said. "It has terrified the fishermen’s families and if the problem remains unresolved, many will feel obliged to abandon fishing. That would aggravate the ongoing problem of unemployment and the import of fish from outside Yemen". In a conference held last month and devoted to discussing the stakes of the pirates and the coalition forces on the Yemeni fishermen, Yemeni Coast Guard Forces Commander Ali Ahmed Ras’ee said that some ships of the coalition forces have harmed the local fishermen greatly. The commander urged countries involved in anti-piracy patrols to work more closely with the countries caught between the sea bandits and the forces aimed at stopping them.

Directly piracy related news

The Gulf region could descend into chaos if pirates are recruited by terrorists, a security expert warned Monday. The scourge of piracy off the coast of Somalia and nearby areas could soon develop into a terrorism problem if more action is not taken to halt it, said US Department of Energy Co-operative Border Security Programme manager Jimmie Collins. She said at present, the motivation for acts of piracy appeared to be economic gain, but warned that could change, reports Mandeep Singh in the Gulf News. "Understanding the economic motivation raises concerns that pirates may easily be seconded into terrorist operations for monetary gain, thus shifting to mercenary objectives", said Ms. Collins at the Middle East and North Africa Maritime Security and Coastal Surveillance Conference. Ms. Collins was speaking on the sidelines of the three-day conference, organised by the US-based International Quality and Productivity Centre, where maritime security experts from around the world attended. Ms. Collins, who works at the department's National Nuclear Security Administration, said there was also concern that the some factions of the pirates in war-torn Somalia may have a more geo-strategic thinking, which Western intelligence services have long seen as a safe haven for Islamist terror groups. "That, if it happens, could be catastrophic for this region, being so close to it, and would increase severe problems for all those involved", said Ms. Collins.

However, she said the Arabian Gulf region was a "difficult" one for pirates since it is always heavily patrolled by the navies of the world who have strategic interests in those waters. "The good thing is that all those navies involved are now pro-actively involved in tackling the menace", said Ms. Collins. "Hopefully, this will continue". Ms. Collins said another danger was that the nature of the piracy threat may shift to terrorist orchestrated events, such as martyrdom operations. "No one can let that happen and in this part of the world these incidents would be catastrophic", she said. Ms. Collins warned that the pirates' network could easily be also used to fuelling illicit transnational trafficking networks and spawn rampant expansion of trafficking in humans, drugs and counterfeit commodities. "They could soon have a ghastly amount of weapons into their most dangerous hands - including possibly weapons of mass destruction, and their delivery systems", she said.

Ms. Collins said every nation in the Gulf faces a significant and growing challenge to its national border security systems. Ms. Collins said another issue to tackle was rapid response - providing mobile and rapid deployment to quickly counter and interdict based on shifts in illicit cross-border traffic and tactical intelligence. She also warned that the threat of piracy was great and increasing. Ms. Collins said the Combined Taskforce 151, the border security force providing the majority of the system's components and capabilities, was primarily focused in the Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) in the Gulf of Aden and it is only within this area that they are able fully to exercise capabilities. "The taskforce's surveillance, detection, inspection and interdiction capabilities are seriously hampered within the MSPA, though, by the limited numbers of interdiction vessels in a large area of operations", she said. "This creates significant vulnerabilities". Ms Collins said the issues of what to do with pirates after they are captured was also problematic. "The current legal framework rests on individual nations' laws when incidents occur in international waters", she said. "While one country's law may dictate that they can prosecute a captured pirate despite the national ownership of the attacked ship, other countries have laws in place that state the opposite".

New anti terror forces formed in Somalia. Well disciplined and heavily armed Somali forces dressed in special uniforms and equipped with battle-wagons and sophisticated communications and weapons have been seen for the first time openly in the Somalia capital Mogadishu and other cities in the country, officials and witnesses told Waagacusub and other Somali media. Their vehicles are marked "Gulf Security Group". Reports say that these troops have already since a longer time been training inside Somalia and have units of naval officers, commandos and other specialized security forces. The chief commander of the Gulf Security Group - Ismael Haji Noor - who was speaking to Waagacusub Media said his GSG forces already number 600 highly trained soldiers and will carry out missions against groups of Al-Shabab militants as well as pirates to help restore peace and stability in Somalia.

He pointed out that SGS is not commandeered by the new Somali government but supports it and operates with a clear set of operational guidelines agreed with the government within the framework of the Somali and international laws. "The work of the Gulf Security Group is to assure the safety of the Somali commercial companies as well as the civilian population; we have focused on and want to hunt down our special targets, which are mainly the officials of the Al-Shabab groups, but we will also arrest those foreigners that are involved in and support these armed underground-groups, commit atrocities in Somalia against Somali people and against law and order", said Noor. "For the past three months, the number of hijackings of foreign ships have decreased due to heavy seas and adverse weather as well as the strong presence of foreign navy ships off the Somalia coasts", he explained and added that if nothing is done on land piracy then acts of such crime on the high seas would continue and develop even more fierce than in the past.

Asked whether their military operations are a part of direct support for the new government led by Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the GSG commander replied: "Our mission is not meant to support the current government forces directly, since we are doing this to save Somalis from the dangers of direct attacks by radical groups, but we supplement the efforts of the Somali government to rid the country of criminals and terrorists", Ismael Haji Noor responded. Himself a Somali businessmen, the SGS commander was also asked about rumours that his group is working for Western powers, but he stated categorically: "We do not work for Westerners and I am not a warlord, but we also can not continue to just watch our country to be inundated and submerged by more and more horrors caused by Al Qaeda linked groups, other insurgents or pirates".

Gulf Security Group (GSG) comprises of Somali nationalist elite security forces manned by seasoned, well trained and equipped military and intelligence professionals. Most members have also a good basic education and - coming mainly from the Somali Diaspora in Europe, Scandinavia and the GCC - they have a much wider horizon than local Somalis, who have been trapped for 20 years inside the country and saw nothing but violence, corruption and crime. GSG officers are enlisting in increasing numbers to repulse radical criminal elements, who are guilty of murdering and oppressing innocent families throughout Somalia.

Many of the most radicalised Islamists are of foreign extraction attracted by the security vacuum in Somalia that has existed for nearly twenty years. Foreigners from the United States of America, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia as well as Europe and other parts of the globe are executing murderous crimes and destroy vital parts of the Somali culture with its 1400 years of tradition.

GSG is pro-government and although operating totally independent is working in clear agreements with the government as well as within the Somali and international laws. GSG can conduct these rather independent operations through reliance on their own resources.

GSG elite direct action strike forces and marine expeditionary commandos share the common goal to totally eradicate fundamentalist and radical Islamists who perpetuate - with so far no consequences for them - terror and human rights violations of epic proportions in Somalia. This situation has now changed. The Somali nationalist commando elements within GSG are highly trained for night raids are accompanied by sniper units, which leave the radicals no place to hide. Night operations will soon be supported also by air and naval capabilities.

GSG marine expeditionary forces are targeting criminal enterprises incl. those engaged in piracy and have focused on hard-line Islamists who have directed their interests on kidnapping, human trafficking and hijackings, attractive to them due to large ransoms which they plan to use to further their terrorist activities on land. The Marine Expeditionary Units have unrestricted access to the entire Somali coast line.

The Somali nationalist assault forces of the Gulf Security Group are greeted with cheering and prayers for success in all the areas they are conducting operations. Now more than 600 in number and backed by the financial and logistical support from the international Diaspora of Somalis, GSG is steadily increasing in strength. Overwhelming numbers of supporters and raising numbers of requests to enlist are seen as proof of solidarity to fellow Somalis, who are fed up with seeing the country of their birth being driven into the wall by foreign and local criminal elements carrying out their personal criminal or political agenda at the expense of innocent Somali citizens, who just want peace and stability.

Foreigners steadily transit into and out of Somalia on commercial airlines and the number of fair complexioned non-Somalis is highly noticeable among the radical groups of fundamentalists. They were also the main culprits, who stoned an innocent child of 14 to her death a few month ago in Kismayo.

The Somali Elite Strike Forces of GSG hit now back with the same fierce aggression and even harder, but observe clear rules of engagement in combating enemy elements inside Somalia, who have demonstrated no respect for human life or suffering and have displayed a sense of brutality highly offensive to the Somali people, who resent and lament seeing nearly every part of Somali culture being crushed along with their hopes of ever regaining a semblance of normalcy and peace.

Extreme violence had emerged with the arrival foreign terrorist elements, who are supplying Al Shabab and other Al-Qa'ida groups with funds, weapons, vehicles and training. State sponsors of the foreign criminals faintly disguise their culpability and complicity in promoting a violent extremism unknown and unwanted by the vast majority of Somalis.

GSG intelligence units are operating aggressively throughout the regions where the radical extremists hide. These GSG officers are equipped with encrypted communications systems, which are virtually impossible to detect, track or identify as they are widely supported by the local Somalis where they are conducting operations. Additional commando units are anticipated shortly to arrive, who are specialized in interrogation techniques in order to uproot even the last radical element in the country.

Heavy gun fire could be heard in the town of Bossasso in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in north-eastern Somalia, Wednesday. "The exchange of fire was between two groups of pirates, and it occurred right in the center of Bossasso town where the two groups fought over the sharing of ransom money they had taken from one of the vessels they had kidnapped off the Somali coast. During the gunfight between the two groups of pirates 5 civilians were wounded" said Somaliweyn correspondent in the semi-autonomous region of Bossasso on Thursday. Most of these pirates hail from the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, and have bases at Eyl while others are based in Central Somalia's Hobyo district. The administration of Puntland has earlier said that it would do all to eradicate the pirates. The other unconfirmed report (by Garoweonline.com) says the fight is also related to the arrest of a cleric and "it is not clear why the PIS targeted Sheikh Osman, but unconfirmed reports said the arrested cleric recently returned from a visit to the port of Kismayo, which is under the control Al Shabaab, an Islamist guerrilla group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government." Meanwhile, Gen. Abdisamad Ali Shire, Puntland's vice president, spoke live on Bossasso radio stations and urged the public to calm down, while sending condolences to the families of the deceased. "The situation in Bossasso returned to a state of normalcy by the evening, as meetings continued between government officials, traditional elders and local clerics".

Attacks on vessels off the Nigerian coast are going unreported and could exceed those occurring off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, International Maritime Bureau divisional director Michael Howlett has warned. While there were 40 attacks reported in Nigerian waters in 2008, Mr Howlett said the actual figure was closer to 150 or 200. "We need owners to come forward", he told a London Metropolitan University seminar. BIMCO chief security officer Giles Noakes confirmed that the situation in the Gulf of Guinea was as bad as that in the Gulf of Aden. However, he said, compiling accurate statistics was difficult in view of the varying nature of the attacks, which could involve armed robbery or guerilla actions as well as piracy.

No real peace in sight yet

A roadside bomb in Somali’s capital Mogadishu has injured the interior minister Sheik Abdulkadir Ali Omar and killed his secretary near his house late Thursday, officials have confirmed. The minister who has recently occupied the position was reportedly passing through the capital's busy Bakara market, a stronghold of the radical al-Shabab militia when a landmine went off. Local media reports quoted Mr. Omar, following the blast, saying the country will pursue the peace process and saying the country will manage to overcome the enemies of the people, referring to the al Shabab. No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack yet, but many insurgent groups in and outside Somalia had vowed to continue fighting against the new government led by president Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the African Union peacekeepers. Mr. Omar led an Islamist militia that fought alongside al-Shabab against the Ethiopian troops, who invaded Somalia in late 2006 in an effort to prop up a wobbly UN-backed government.

Somali President meets Libyan and AU leader. The political and security situation in Somalia and the measures taken by the Somali National Unity Government were discussed in the meeting. The meeting also dealt with the piracy phenomenon on the Somali coast. The Somali President appealed to the Libyan Leader to support the National Unity Government, expressing hope that problems of Somalia will be solved during the Leader's AU chairmanship.

The association of Somali Islamic scholars last Sunday called on the transitional federal government of Somalia to withdraw its recent demand for more foreign peace keeping forces to be deployed in the country, APA reports. Sheik Bashiir Ahmed Salad who chairs the recently formed Islamic scholars’ Association told a press conference in Mogadishu that deploying extra foreign forces into Somalia will fuel the country’s already troubled situation. "We are calling on the Somali national unity government to withdraw its recent demand for more foreign forces, because this is totally against our former statement ordering the current African Union forces in Somalia to be withdrawn within 120 days", said the Sheik.

He noted that Somali government is obliged to apologies to the Somali people for what he called its recent mistake of asking extra foreign troop deployment in the country. "Let alone bringing more troops in Somalia, but we are calling on the African Union and the rest of international communities to suddenly with draw the foreign powers currently in our country", the Sheik emphasized. The Sheik said that government’s policy of demanding the deployment of more troops will damage the current on going peace and reconciliation process by his Islamic scholars association. Early this week, Somali government foreign minister Mohamed Abdulahi Omar called for the sudden deployment of thousands of extra AU peace keepers into Somalia. Currently AU mission in Somalia is made of up to 3,450 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi, the sole countries who fulfilled their promise to send peace keepers to the lawless horn of African nation. The Somali government is currently pushing for the lifting of an UN arms embargo, in order to rebuild the Somali security forces.

At least 15,000 Somalis, who had fled to the self-declared republic of Somaliland to escape violence in Mogadishu, want to return home following the recent change of government but lack the means to do so, aid workers said. Moreover, the circumstances of the estimated 2,500 families are complicated by the fact that Somaliland authorities consider them refugees while aid agencies consider them internally displaced. "The families want to return due to the difficult conditions they live in here", Zainab Mohamud, head of the Gashan Women's Development Organisation, who works with the displaced families, told IRIN on 25 March. She said the families shared camps with locally displaced people and "receive very little help. The main problem is the lack of clarity over their status; are they refugees or displaced?" She said the families had received some food aid from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) but little else.

Mukhtar Mohamed, a father of six who fled Mogadishu and now lives in Mohamed Moge district of Somaliland's capital, Hargeisa, said: "I have been in Somaliland for the last nine months and have received very little help. We have safety but nothing else". Mohamed Moge district is one of the most populated IDP settlements in Hargeisa. Since the situation in Mogadishu seems to be improving, Mohamed said, he would like to return home, "but I lack the means to do so". According to Mohamud, in the past two months more than 15,000 Somalis displaced in Somaliland and in neighbouring Djibouti had returned home to Somalia through Somaliland. She said the families in Hargeisa should be assisted to return home, "instead of living in these difficult conditions and in limbo".

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Somaliland is hosting 80,000 IDPs. Roberta Russo, associate public information officer for UNHCR Somalia, said: "No IDP has approached UNHCR to ask for assistance to return to south-central Somalia yet". She said that since the beginning of 2009, at least 52,000 people had returned to Mogadishu. However, she cautioned that the "returnees are mainly heads of families coming to assess the situation, leaving the rest of their families in IDP camps". Russo said the humanitarian community "is seriously concerned about the spontaneous returns to Mogadishu as the security situation is still volatile and basic services to help the returnees are not in place". A task-force, which includes UNHCR, has been set up to assess as soon as possible the situation in the capital "and make recommendations on how best to assist people who are spontaneously returning as well as people who are still in the camps", she added.

Drought warning

Disaster warning as drought worsens in Puntland

More and more people in Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland are relying on water trucking as the drought that has gripped the region worsens, with officials warning the situation could become a "full-blown" disaster within months, states the UN publication IRIN.

"Some of the population has reached the stage where they are no longer able to cope", Warsame Abdi, Puntland's information minister, told IRIN on 25 March.
Abdi said at least 133 localities in Puntland were now dependent on water trucking, adding that the region's authorities did not have the resources to ameliorate the situation.

Warning of a disaster in a month or two "if there is no quick intervention", Abdi urged international aid agencies to come to the region's rescue.

He said the first priority was to deliver water to affected areas and to distribute food to those who had lost their livestock.

Abdi said although there were about two weeks left of the rainy season, signs were that most parts of the region would continue to experience yet another season of little or no rains.

He said the problem was most acute in Mudug, Nugal and parts of Sool and Sanaag, which are claimed by both Puntland and the neighbouring self-declared republic of Somaliland.

Abdiaziz Diriye, of the Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management Agency of Puntland (HADMA), told IRIN a recent assessment it had conducted in the affected areas found water shortages to be the main problem.

"We found that 24 wells in the most affected areas are in urgent need of repairs", Diriye said.

They had also observed high incidence of malnutrition among the elderly and children in some parts: "Food is either not available or is too expensive for most".
Abdiaziz Sheikh Yusuf, the district commissioner of Jariiban, in Mudug region, one of the most affected areas, said 42 out of 47 of the district's townships were facing "major" water problems.

"We had very little rains last year and almost all the barkads [water catchment areas] in the district are empty",he said.

Yusuf said that many nomadic families who had lost their livestock were moving to towns and setting up temporary shelters or moving in with relatives. "Our estimate is that some 400 nomadic families [2,400 people] are now in urban centres, with more coming every day".

He said minority clans in the area were especially affected. "They occupy some of the driest parts and need urgent help", he said.

He said that almost 40 percent of the livestock had succumbed to drought.

Impacting news from the global village

Nine people drowned earlier this week off the coast of Yemen after smugglers forced Ethiopian and Somali passengers to disembark in deep water because they feared arrest, reported Reuters. The latest tragedy in the Gulf of Aden came just two days after at least seven people died in Aden on Saturday evening when their vessel capsized after being towed to the harbour by a French warship.In Monday's incident, smugglers carrying 92 Ethiopians and Somalis approached the south-central Yemen coast near the town of Ahwar, some 250 kilometres east of Aden. They offloaded 36 passengers when they were about 100 metres offshore, but then returned to deeper water because they were worried about being arrested by Yemeni police.

The smugglers then forced the remaining 56 passengers to jump into the sea, before heading back towards Somalia. Nine bodies were recovered and buried in a local cemetery by a local aid group. The 83 survivors were transported to Ahwar Reception Centre, where the Médecins Sans Frontières aid agency provided them with water, high nutrition biscuits and medical assistance. Claire Bourgeois, UNHCR's representative in Yemen, said the loss of life was tragic, while adding: "We are very concerned that this trend may continue in the future". A total of 268 boats and 14,486 people are known to have made the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing from the Horn of Africa to the Yemen coast since the beginning of this year. To date, 65 people are reported dead and 36 missing at sea. Those who make the crossing are fleeing a desperate situation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa, a region scarred by civil war, political instability, famine and poverty.

Six suspected Al Qaeda militants have been detained in Yemen on suspicion of plotting attacks against oil facilities in the country and tourists. Yemeni security forces have arrested the six suspects who have been held responsible for carrying out two recent attacks against South Koreans, a statement posted on the interior ministry’s website said. Four South Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide were killed last week in a bomb attack during a visit to the historical city of Shibam in Hadramawt province. Then, a suicide bomber hit a convoy carrying a team sent to investigate the Shibam explosion, but no one was hurt. The suicide bomber, 18, is said to have received training in Somalia, according to Yemen’s official Saba news agency. According to the statement, other suspects were still being hunted but "their arrest is only a matter of time".

Just a day after Kenya had received another warning concerning possible attacks by Muslim fundamentalists from Somalia (VOA was quoting US intelligence sources saying that a serious threat by Al-Shabab would be given) 5 Kenyans have allegedly been abducted by what the Kenyan media call the "Al-Shabab". Sources in Somalia, however, stated that the five teachers had strayed into Somalia and had come to Bula Hawa without permission or visa to enter Somalia. Wajir South District Education Officer Mr Moses Mwangi, his Quality Assurance colleague Mr. Charles Nyakundi, the Provincial Quality Assurance officer Mr. Onchiri Onyancha, their driver, a Mr. Abdullahi, and an unnamed Wajir South based education officer were abducted at about 10 am on Wednesday, in what was said by the Somali side was an arrest for entering Somalia illegally.

Kenyan media speak of an abduction of the 5 Kenyans by heavily armed Al- Shabaab militiamen, who reportedly intercepted the vehicle they were traveling in and commandeered it into Somalia. But fact is obviously that they were abducted at Bula Hawo Town, a kilometre away from the border town of Mandera. They had apparently gone shopping on the Somali side of the border, a fairly normal activity in the area. The governor of Bula Hawo, Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Barkuus, told the Nation that the officials had been "arrested" by the militia, which is in charge of security in the area, for crossing illegally into Somalia. Mr. Barkuus said the captives will be investigated and taken to court to explain their mission in Somalia. "From the investigations that are still going on, we established they are education officials", he said.

The governor is an official of the interim Somali government but said security is under the control of the Islamist militia, which controls a large swathe of neighbouring Gedo region of Somalia. "They are the ones who are concerned with the security of the town... they are investigating the case", he told the Nation by phone. But he said the captives were in good condition and that they were being taken good care of. "We have provided them with food and everything", he said, adding that negotiations were ongoing with Kenyan authorities for the release of the civil servants.

The porous border between Somalia and Kenya is still disputed by the outcome of a UN referendum in the last days of the British colonial times in Kenya, where the population of the "Northern Frontier District" as it was called then, opted to belong to Somalia - a call which has since been ignored and today's North-Eastern Province is part of Kenya. Like at other colonial boundaries in Africa local people, who have relatives and friends on both sides, usually do not bother much concerning that line on a map in their daily activities. Recently Kenya had closed that boundary and made numerous arrests of Somalis found without Kenya identity cards or valid immigration or travel documents, which is the usual case for refugees fleeing the persisting turmoil in Somalia. In this case - it seems - Somali authorities want to show that they can pay back with the same coins and do similar arrests on the Somali side.

The UN refugee agency has joined Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other UN colleagues in calling for the release of 19 staff members of the world body detained or missing around the globe, including the agency's head of office in Quetta, Pakistan, John Solecki. Solecki was abducted on February 2 during an attack in which another UNHCR staff member, Syed Hashim, was killed. "We gather here today to express our solidarity with John and with the families and friends of all 19 UN staff members under arrest, detained or missing", Pierre Bertrand, director of UNHCR's office in New York, said at a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the 24th International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members. "We call for the prompt resolution of each and every case, allowing our colleagues to return to their loved ones and to the essential humanitarian work to which they are deeply committed". Bertrand said UNHCR was no stranger to the pain and suffering that accompanies the abduction of a colleague. Solecki is the second UNHCR staff member held in captivity in the past two years. Hassan Mohammed Ali, head of UNHCR's office in Mogadishu, Somalia, was held for two months last year.

Pulling the strings of African Business

The EU is currently negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which pose a serious risk to the development of the countries involved. Email correspondence, obtained by Corporate Europe Observatory, shows that the European Commission has deliberately manipulated African businesses to create support for the negotiations.

Read the full report: http://www.corporateeurope.org/docs/pulling-the-strings-of-african-business.pdf

For families of presently captive seafarers and in order to console their worries, Ecoterra Intl. can make contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will try and answer truthfully".

Ecoterra - Alerts and pending issues:

Pirate Attack Gulf of Aden: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2

Natural Resources & Armed Fish Poachers: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, non of the countries to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked has come up with a declaration nor has any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.

LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect.

Ecoterra Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.

Ecoterra members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation.

The network of the Seafarers Assistance Programme helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. Ecoterra Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.

Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and Ecoterra Intl. Please donate to the defense fund.

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Press Contacts:

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Note
Picture:
A photo taken in 2008 and provided by Shipspotting.com, of the 23,000-tonne Norwegian-owned and Bahamian-registered M.V. Bow-Asir outbound from Rotterdam. Two European-owned tankers, including the M.V. Bow-Asir, have been hijacked off the Somali coast and other vessels in the area have been alerted to a pick-up in pirate activity, the EU's anti-piracy naval mission said Thursday. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) From: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/27/content_11081793.htm