Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor. Part XIX - Somalia Needs the Italian Way

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said "that "the Italian way is to ensure, always and under all circumstances, that there is no danger to the hostages".

This is precisely what Somalia needs, either TFG president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed understands it or not.

More details about the pertinent and humanitarian approach that Italy steadfastly presents to oppose the evilness of the Anglo-French – US colonialism and about the other developments off the Somali coast are included in the Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor - Part XIX that I herewith publish integrally.

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

Ecoterra International – Updates, Statements & Clearinghouse Citations

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 or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.

2009-04-18 14h56:43 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!"

Cpt. 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)

None of the various, local or foreign pirate outfits we like to add -

Clearing-house

Breaking: (the Somali weekend on Friday is over, on Saturday the new-week and the "work" starts again)

The Belgian-owned and Belgium-flagged small stone-carrier MV POMPEI with 1,482 gross-tonnage has been seized today about 150 miles off the Seychelles. The 1988 built ship sent two distress calls, warning early this morning that it was under attack in the Indian Ocean off the east African coast on its way to the Seychelles. Since the distress call was made the Belgium authorities have not been able to contact the ship. The families of ten crew members, which includes Belgians, 2 or 3 Filipinos and some other nationality. The Belgium government stated to AP that the next of kin of the crew had been informed.

Seven pirates were arrested today by forces from a Dutch naval vessel under NATO command in the Gulf of Aden after an attack on Marshall-Islands-flagged chemical tanker MT HANDYTANKERS MAGIC, a Greek owned, 38,600 dwt brand new vessel built in 2009. The pirates fled to their mother-ship, a hijacked Yemeni Dhow but could be intercepted by naval forces and could also free the 20 Yemeni fishermen. The naval officers seized seven Kalashnikov rifles and one rocket-propelled grenade launcher from the Somalis. Speaking to the Associated Press, Portuguese Lt.-Capt. Alexandre Santos Fernandes said NATO forces would eventually release the seven pirates who attacked the tanker. "Due to Dutch internal law, under the circumstances they were intercepted, we will have to let them go", he said, without elaborating.

MV HANSA STAVANGER - Intensive interactions and mediations by local leaders and elders as well as a humanitarian organization achieved that at around 21h30 on Friday night the 20 sailors of the crew, who earlier had been abducted to different hideouts on land, could return to their ship. The 24 men strong crew from five nations is reported to be all right now under the given difficult circumstances. Meanwhile the vessel was relocated and is now moored 9 miles off Hobyo.

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

Danish registered cargo ship MV PUMA was attacked Friday morning in the Gulf of Aden, the shipper said. A boat with five armed pirates tried to board the ship at 7 a.m. local time but failed after the ship zigzagged and an emergency flare was fired in the direction of the pirates, said Per Nykjaer Jensen, chief executive of the small Danish company Shipcraft. Finally, a helicopter from the multinational force in the area was able to chase them away. There were three Danes and four Filipinos on board. Nykjaer Jensen said in a statement all crew on the ship are fine. The ship was almost empty and was on its way back to Europe from Singapore.

MT STOLT-STRENGTH - abducted since 10th November 2008. The 23 Filipino crew held now for 160 days is desperate. Apparently no negotiations ongoing. The vessel was repositioned but is still at the Mudug coast of Central Somalia.

MT SEA PRINCESS II - 15 men crew with 8 Indian sailors is still on board while final arrangements for the release of crew and vessel are still not concluded.

FV MOMTAZ 1 and FV AHMED SAMARAH - Negotiations for the release of the Egyptian fishing vessels, impounded for illegal fishing since 10. April have started between the owner and the captors. Detained at Ga'an with 18 crew. Vessel is not IOTC (Indian Ocean Tuna Commission) authorized. No valid fishing license.

T/B BUCANEER with 2 Barges - All 16 crew (10 Italians, 1 Croatian, 5 Romanians) are ok, but part of the crew is still held on land, while Italy yesterday ruled out a "blitz" to free the crew. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini "has ruled out any possibility of a blitz" to free the crew of the Italian tugboat held in Somalia since 11 April, the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa reported on 17 April. Under the headline "No blitz, we'll negotiate with the pirates", the paper quoted Frattini as saying that "the Italian way is to ensure, always and under all circumstances, that there is no danger to the hostages. I am not judging the operations of others. In our case", the minister added, "no operation will be set in motion that might jeopardize the safety of our compatriots or of the other hostages". The Italian tugboat, which has a crew of 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croat on board, is currently anchored off the village of Ga'an in northern Somalia, close to the bigger town of Laasqoray The Italian-flagged and UAE operated tugboat is owned by Micoperi Marine Contractors from Italy is allegedly detained for attempted dumping of toxic waste. International organizations, experts and the UN have been invited by the captors to inspect the content of the two barges. The validity of the claim could not yet be established, since the company didn't respond to questions requesting a declaration of the content. Mediation efforts to return all the crew to the vessel are ongoing.

Navies have apparently not yet arrested murder ship MT AGIA BARBARA: still at large! Crew Wanted for Murder. The position and route of the vessel with a crew of 6 Syrians and 6 Indians as well as at least one Somali business-agent on board are now roughly known. The small tanker with the IMO number 7616004 and call sign HO4050 flies a Panama flag (possibly now changed). Registered ship owner and manager is WORLD CHAMPION MARINE. Please report any sighting.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 19 (20 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, 21 with JAIKUR I whose last 4 crew members are still held in Mogadishu harbour) foreign vessels with a total of not less than 321 crew members accounted for (of which 125 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 67 averted or abandoned attacks and 31 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.

Piracy related news

F/Y TANIT: Florent Lemacon, the captain of the yacht, was killed by a single bullet to the head, but whose bullet it is it was apparently not yet clear to those who conducted the post-mortem examination. Though the given evidence points into the direction that a bullet fired by one of the commandos killed the sailor, the officials said Friday that a post-mortem had not enabled them to determine at whose hands he died. "It is [at the moment] impossible to determine" declared Hervé Pavy, "because not all pieces of evidence were provided to answer this question". The experts require to examine the guns used by both sides and inspect the sailing boat but want to also wait until the official investigation by French authorities into the whole case has concluded. Still no clues have been provided what happened with the third pirate, who was reportedly shot at from afar, but whose body was not found on the deck and who is said to have gone over-board. The other pirates were said to have been under deck with the hostages at the moment of the late afternoon attack. Some officials spoke of 2 some of 3 remaining while 3 where arrested. It is presumed that at least one Somali guarded the skippers wife as well as the child in the stern cabin and another one the two male passengers at the bow cabin while one was with the captain at the centre underneath the gangway hatchet.

These three hostage-takers allegedly fired from underneath at the 8 boarding commando soldiers while they fired through the deck into the boat from above. Chloé, Mr. Lemaçon’s wife, and Colin, their three-year-old son, were rescued from a cabin in the stern of the craft while Mr. Dorian Pierre and Mr. Steven Ménoret, friends of the Lemaçons, were rescued from a cabin in the bow. With 3 arrested, 2 dead and one missing pirate somehow 6 hostage takers are accounted for, while local reports speak of a 14 man strong group to which most likely also 3 survivors in a small blue vessel as well as . It is not understood why neither the guns of the pirates, which have been recovered, nor the guns of the attackers have been made available to the investigating experts. A forensic expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that if the fatal shot had been fired by any of the pirates inside the small yacht, the evidence in form of powder particles at the head of the victim, which usually are found around a gunshot wound if the shot was fired at close range, could already have provided the evidence. Since such traces of powder residues are obviously missing, the bullet must have either come from afar or was fired through something which held the other non-bullet particles back (something like the deck planks or the hatch). It is not known to the public, where the yacht - the actual crime scene - is at the moment and to what extent pieces of evidence at the vessel can deteriorate or be tampered with. The commando assault was launched from the French stealth frigate Aconit, while frigates Floréal and Commandant Ducuing were seconding and the German Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with hospital facilities was also nearby.

Since at the time of the attack at least one of the navies involved was part of EUNAVFOR's operation Atalanta and at least one other European country participated in the operation leading to the assault, Ecoterra Intl. demands an independent inquiry on highest level not only conducted by France or by the EU, but separately carried out at the level of the UN Security Council, which authorized the use of force in the Somali waters, especially also because the specific Security Council resolution (1851) is believed by many to be legally flawed.

Meanwhile the three suspected Somali pirates captured by French commandos during the attack on the yacht TANIT have been charged with hijacking and kidnapping, said French prosecutors on Friday. All three suspected pirates were transported to the town of Rennes for questioning on Friday. They face life sentences if convicted of the charges pressed against them. The three pirates were captured on 10th April after French commandos launched a rescue operation to release five hostages on board a French yacht that was hijacked by a group of pirates off the coast of Somalia. Two pirates and the skipper of the yacht, the Tanit, were killed in the operation while the skipper's wife, son and two other crew were rescued from the yacht unharmed.

The pirate who was captured by the United States military while rescuing the Maersk Alabama cargo ship off the coast of Somalia is evidently only 17 years old and may be tried as a juvenile. The suspect, identified as Abdullahi Muse, will probably go on trial in New York. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said all four of the pirates involved were between ages 17 and 19.

Anti-piracy measures

Turkey will assist Somalia in establishing and training its security forces after years of bloody conflict and political turmoil in the African country, President Abdullah Gul said Friday. "Turkey will provide support to Somalia in establishing and training its security forces and in meeting their needs", Gul said after talks with visiting Somali President Sharif Aheikh Ahmed, AFP reported. Ankara would also help to improve health services and education in the country, he said.

France will offer to train a 500-strong Somali battalion to help bolster the country’s fledgling security forces against Islamist militants and pirate gangs, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday. Spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said Paris would propose at an international donors’ conference next week that it would use troops based in the neighbouring nation of Djibouti to train the Somali security forces, reports AP. The international community expects to raise at least €200 million ($262 million) at the meeting to bolster Somalia’s fledgling security forces, said officials. The conference next Wednesday and Thursday will be held under the auspices of the European Union and the United Nations, EU spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend, along with top EU officials, and the heads of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League. Ms. Gallach said the commanders of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia and the EU anti-piracy flotilla operating off the Somali coastline would take part in the meeting.

No real peace in sight

Somali National Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden said on Friday he received intelligence reports that nearly 100 young men from the southern regions were armed with pistols and deployed in Mogadishu "along with others already operating" in the city to carry out assassinations of parliamentarians and other officials of the government. "As the (National Security) ministry was informing the lawmakers, one of them was killed and another official and his bodyguard were also killed", Aden told a press conference in Mogadishu.

Impacting news from the global village

Somalia submits preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of its continental shelf with Norwegian assistance. Somalia is the first African country to submit such information stated a Norwegian press-release. The submission was prepared with the assistance of the Government of Norway in consultation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, acting on behalf of the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic. "Somalia has submitted preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of its continental shelf to the UN within the deadline required under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. This is a historic step, both in terms of Somalias national development and with regard to the international legal order", said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. "This clarification of responsibility and authority in maritime areas in accordance with international law is decisive for potential future resource management and thus for the welfare of future generations.

"The Somali submission therefore also sends an important signal to other States that developing countries where there is protracted armed conflict can comply with the requirements of international law", said Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim. Somalia, like all coastal states was given until 13th May 2009 to submit documentation of the extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from its coastline. Developing countries that face particular challenges in collecting data may submit preliminary information indicative of the outer limits of their continental shelf thereby meeting the deadline. Somalia is the first country to do so. No final position is taken on the outer limits of the continental shelf in the information submitted. However, the documentation provided is indicative of a continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline. It establishes that submissions made by neighbouring States shall be without prejudice to the future delimitation of maritime boundaries, which must be subject to negotiations. "The Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic has taken a significant step towards safeguarding the interests of future generations of Somalis", said Foreign Minister Stoere.

The assistance provided by Norway to the SRSG for Somalia and the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic must be seen in the context of Norway's commitment to a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the situation in the country, and as an expression of Norway's support to the SRSG in carrying out his mandate in accordance with Security Council resolutions. Neither the Norwegian Government nor Norwegian companies would have interests of their own in the area, said the Norwegian minister, but regional analysts see the assistance also as a long-term strategic move by Norway to position itself favourable for coming negotiations concerning on- and off-shore oil concessions. Somalia, which has the longest coastline of all the African countries, has been plagued by civil war and widespread human suffering for nearly two decades. Moreover, the waters off the coast of Somalia have been the scene of illegal fishing by foreign fleets since 1990 and piracy against international shipping since 2007. The submission has been prepared with the assistance of international law experts in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, experts in the geosciences in the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and experts from the UNEP Shelf Programme, represented by GRID-Arendal. Norway has a similar assistance programme in the West African countries, in cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic and the President gave their final approval on 6 April 2009 following meetings in Mogadishu attended by Ambassador Hans Wilhelm Longva of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine
East-Africa
+254-714-747090
marine@ecop.info
www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.
Nairobi Node
africanode@ecoterra.net
+254-733-633-733

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme
SAP Media Officers
+254-722-613858
+254-733-385868
sap@ecoterra.net

End of the Ecoterra Press Release

Note
Picture: Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said "that "the Italian way is to ensure, always and under all circumstances, that there is no danger to the hostages". This is precisely what Somalia needs, either TFG president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed understands it or not.