Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor. Part XX – Waiting for the Monsoons

As MT STOLT STRENGTH and MV SEA HORSE sail free, we seem to have again reached at a level of Somali pirates’ inflection and concession that reflects an interest to avoid the well planned amphibious military operation at the wider Horn of Africa. Since fall 2008, several colonialist headquarters have prepared various plans against all those who might be assumed to have played the role of pirate and their obscure associates. However, if the operation is averted now, the monsoon period starting in June will help further delay the militaristic plans.

More details about the various recent developments off the Somali coast are included in the Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor - Part XX that I herewith publish integrally.

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

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.

2009-04-21 7h02:12 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)

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

Clearing-house

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships

MT STOLT STRENGTH sailed free with its 23 Filipino crew members unharmed, Sagana Shipping Inc. the owner-manager of the Japanese owned vessel confirmed. The chemical tanker (33,209 dwt, built 2005) was abducted after the vessel had passed south through the Suez Canal, and allegedly had been in the Maritime Security Patrol Area. It held by Somali Pirates for more than 5 month due to numerous flaws in the negotiation process. Only when the families finally stood up and the Philippine government intervened a conclusion was reached. This shows ones more that it can not just be left to the ship owners and managers to secure the release of seized ships. The vessel is short of fuel, since it had been misused in the meantime also for other piracy missions and served as mother-ship. The vessel will have to call to the nearest port. The crew of this vessel has gone through nearly all nightmares Somali pirates, cunning brokers and reluctant ship owners can come up with.

Somali pirates have released Togo-flagged MV Sea Horse Monday without ransom but against some payment to the gang for expenses. Before it was hijacked by a gang in 3 skiffs on 14th April, the Lebanese-owned cargo vessel was on her way to pick up 7,327 tons of WFP food destined for Somalia from Mumbai / India in connection with the World Food Programme (WFP), Peter Smerdon, a spokesman for the UN's food agency said Monday. "Somali traders were involved in the release of this ship. They mediated and paid some money", a source told Reuters by telephone. This case highlights that the escort needs for WFP ships are comparatively minimal, since the Somali businessmen, who in these days always are involved in the WFP deliveries, have to come up with hefty bonds prior to any food delivery. Thereby the consignments are actually protected by the militias and connections of these businessmen, as can be seen in this quick release.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 foreign vessels (18 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, 19 with JAIKUR I who with its last 4 members of the original crew are still held in Mogadishu harbour) with a total of not less than 288 crew members accounted for (of which 99 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

Abdiweli Abdulkadir Muse remained in the hands of the US-American Navy after three of his comrades were killed by US-American snipers to rescue the life of another US- American, captain Richard Philips, whom four Somali pirates held captive for five days. Abdiweli has reportedly surrendered to the Americans to look for medical help in an injury on his hand. Some other reports also suggest that he was helping the US Navy with the negotiations when they killed his comrades. The US-American government said it would put Abdiweli Muse in New York on trial. His mother, Adar Hassan said her son was 16 year old and pirates influenced him. "I have been looking for him for 15 days and I have traveled to many towns in northern Somalia to look for him, but I heard his news from the media", Adar said. "My son was not a pirate I sent him to school in Galk’ayo in central Somalia when I last heard from him", she added. "I request the US-American president Obama to free my son or to fly me to New York to hear his case", Adar pleaded. Adar lives in Galk’ayo, the regional capital of Mudug region in central Somalia.

The Supreme Court in Somalia's northern breakaway state of Puntland last Wednesday handed down three-year prison terms to 37 pirates detained by the French and US navies, officials said. "After listening to the charges against the defendants, who were accused of being armed gangs attacking ships, the court recognized them as criminals and sentenced them to three years each", judge Mohamed Abdi Aware said. The same court, in the port city of Bossasso, had jailed another 15 pirates to three years in prison last week. Out of those sentenced on Wednesday, 19 were handed over by the French navy and 18 by the US navy, said a court official. The pirates denied the piracy charges in court, claiming they were "fishermen illegally arrested" by foreign navies. Dozens of pirates and suspected pirates have been detained by foreign navies in recent months as part of a concerted international effort to curb attacks which have disrupted one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

Naval Tourists and their mindset in Somali Waters. Claire Cormack, 25, has received specialist training in submarine warfare and maritime security as part of her role on the British warship HMS BULWARK, based in the waters between Yemen and Somalia. Claire is on board as a first aid specialist. Speaking from the ship, Claire, from Burnley, said to her hometown newspaper: "This deployment is very exciting for me. I’ve managed to get as far as Iraq but have not visited the Far East before. I joined the Navy to have an interesting, different job, traveling the world and experiencing new things, and that is exactly what this deployment has given me".

Anti-piracy measures

Spain will ask the European Union and the United Nations to "reinforce all measures" against piracy in the Indian Ocean, Environment Minister Elena Espinosa said Monday. The minister said Spain would "insist" on such a need at the next EU council of ministers dealing with the matter. Fishing vessels and other ships were under "constant" attacks by pirates, who came mainly from Somalia, explained the minister, whose country is coordinating the EU anti-piracy military mission, known as Atalanta.

No real peace in sight

Somali Parliament Ratifies Islamic Law As National Legislation. Somali lawmakers in the country's national capital Mogadishu voted Saturday to implement Islamic law, or Shari'ah, as the national legislation. The Cabinet formally approved Shari'ah law and introduced a motion in parliament, where 343 MPs attended to debate and vote. Osman Elmi Boqorre, the second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, said the 343 MPs present unanimously endorsed the Shari'ah law bill and formally ratified it as national law with no debate. Security was extra tight in and around the ex-police transport facility in Mogadishu, where lawmakers gathered for the most important vote since the Somali parliament was expanded in January to include Islamist moderates.

The vote comes at a time Somalia's top leaders are out of the country, with President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed visiting Turkey, Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake visiting Ethiopia and parliament Speaker Sheikh Aden "Madobe" Mohamed is currently in Nairobi, Kenya. Garowe online notes two problems: The first problem is that there are different and, sometimes, irreconcilable interpretations and applications of Shari'ah law. The second problem is that for many Shari'ah law is fundamentally inconsistent with the theory and practice of democracy. There is no way around this problem. It is a problem of so-called moderate Islamists, i.e. Muslims who choose to participate in politics and are usually exposed to democratic values, which does not mean that they accept them. It is not a problem of Islamists who interpret the Qur'an, and consequently Shari'ah law literally, and not allegorically, and the moderates do embrace allegorical interpretations of the Qur'an and Shari'ah law. Finally, the hardest issue is that Shari'ah law presupposes that the government of "man" must map the government of God, herein Allah.

This is not a new problem in the equivocal West: the reformation and counter-reformation and the European Bourgeois Revolutions were, in the main, different expressions of this problem. Perhaps, the Somalis can solve this theocratic problem of reconciling the values of belief and the values of political atheism, i.e. bourgeois democracy. Former President of the Transitional National Government (TNG) from 2000-2004, Dr. Abdikasim Salad Hassan, hailed the implementation of the Sharia and called for the government led by president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed to bring culprits before a Shari'ah court, who committed crimes against the Somali people. Mareeg reported also that Ahmed Abrone Amin, a former deputy speaker described the decision of the Somali parliament as good chance for the Somali people and called for the Islamists to stop the fighting. Dr. Abdikasim Salad Hassan said he was very glad the endorsement of the parliament. The support of the Somali government has been increasing since the parliament endorsed the Islamic Sharia.

Impacting news from the global village

When Will Congress Investigate the Death of Somali Pirates?, asks Lee Cary in The American Thinker and continues: The redux debate over enhanced interrogation techniques (EIT) promises to provoke a new flurry of Congressional investigations. So when will Congress investigate the killing of three Somali pirates? The decision to release TOP SECRET memos addressing EIT was made by President Obama on the principles of law and transparency. The use of those EIT is perceived by some as reprehensible and represents a shock to the conscience. Additionally, the argument that the EIT occurred in a context where there was indisputable evidence (in the form of 3,000 body bags) of a clear-and-present danger to the people of the United States is not viewed as an exigent circumstance by the Obama administration. Fair enough.

The declassification of documents is within any President’s authority. Now, to be consistently fair and principled, when do Congressional hearings begin on the use of deadly force in the form of three mortal head shots inflicted on three, non-combatant, Somali pirates? Sure, the pirates held an American seaman captive in international waters and were holding a gun to his head. But they’d inflicted no bodily harm on any of the ship’s crew, nor had they made any attempt on the captain’s life. In the minds of some, the pirates are aligned with the deaths of American servicemen in Mogadishu in 1993. But no evidence places them at that scene. Plus, they would have been very young at the time. Too young to hold an AK47. We used EIT on 28 al-Qaida detainees and water boarded 3 directly involved with the attacks on September 11, 2001. No one suggests the CIA intent was punitive, or designed merely to inflict pain. All agree that the purpose was to gain information to forestall more attacks. In other words, to save lives. And, across administrations, former intelligence officials claim that lives were saved. So, to the original question: When do Congressional hearings begin on the deaths of the Somali pirates? When will government memos be declassified and released, for the sake of law and transparency, that detail the decision process that led up to those killings? (Then, when will President Obama apologize to the people of Somalia for using deadly force against three of its citizens?) After all, no al-Qaida detainees died as a result of ETI, but three Somali pirates are dead. Principles are only transparent and legitimate when consistently applied.

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 Ecoterra Press Release

Note
Picture: Togo-flagged MV Sea Horse released
From: http://www.mvseahorse.nl/easypicture0027.jpg