Ecoterra - Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor. XXX

In this article, I republish integrally the 30th Ecoterra press release that makes available the latest news and a wide array of comments, analyses and republications.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) - XXX

Ecoterra International – Updates & Statements, Review & Clearing-house

A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or overseas, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities nor the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act". George Orwell

2009-05-06 23h43:14 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

Not yet officially confirmed reports speak of an attack yesterday evening by three pirate skiffs launched against a naval ship. The pirates allegedly fired with RPGs against the warship, which responded and blew one of the three vessels out of the water. Six pirates apparently died while the other two skiffs escaped in the night. So far none of the navies has come forward to report the incident.

The presently second-longest sea-jacking case in Somalia. Malaysian owned tug MASINDRA 7 and its Indonesian owned barge ADM 1 had already been engulfed in several ill-designed release-attempts by the owner, several Somali brokers, a coast-guard militia as well as a Malaysian warship continues to subject the crew to an unbearable situation and grave danger. Families had lost contact with the vessel, which disappeared from the coast after several shoot-outs between the members of two pirate gangs, which hold the vessel. Now also new armed men have joined that group. The vessel returned this evening to the seashore near Bendar-Beyla and the situation is extremely tense.

Somali pirates said on Wednesday they had freed a UAE-owned cargo ship captured at the weekend en route to Mogadishu with goods for local businessmen, reported AFP. "We released the ship before dawn today after we identified that it was chartered for Somali traders", a pirate, who identified himself as Hussein, told Reuters by telephone from Haradheere. Local traders confirmed the release of the MV AL MEZAAN, which was carrying flour, used cars, sugar and other items, according to pirate sources. No ransom was believed to have been paid. "The traders who owned the goods on the ship and the pirates identified each other, and so they agreed to release it", Ali Mohamed Siad, chairman of a local Somali traders' organization, told Reuters by telephone in Mogadishu.

Despite an unprecedented international naval deployment to deter them, Somali pirates continue marauding in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waters off their coast. The Panama-flagged but UAE managed AL-MEZAAN 100 kilometres (60 miles) off the Somali capital, said Ali Mahmoud Siad, head of a powerful Mogadishu traders group. "The ship was released without conditions and no ransom was paid", Siad told AFP. "They agreed to release it when they confirmed it was chartered by Somali traders". The Al-Mezaan was transporting vehicles and commodities such as sugar and cooking oil for Somali traders and had been sailing from the United Arab Emirates. Many of the cargo-owners, even from pother pirate-gangs, actually traveled to the held vessel and demanded their cargo, local observers reported.

There is the possibility that the ransom for sixteen Bulgarian sailors, part of the crew of hijacked British cargo ship MV MALASPINA CASTLE, to be paid on Wednesday night, journalist Elena Yonchneva, who is at the Gulf of Aden, told Bulgarian National Television. "According to our sources negotiations on releasing the ship, hijacked by Somalia pirates at the beginning of April were successful. A chartered plain asked for permission from the Somali government for a flight. Malaspina Castle is held on the Indian Ocean near Eyl town", Elena Yonchneva said. There were 24 people in board, including Russians, Bulgarians, Ukrainians and Filipinos and according to the information all of the passengers are in good condition.

Reports from the Seychelles about rumors on Mahé Island saying that F/Y SERENITY with her three Seychellois crew members had been released and that the catamaran would be already passing Mombassa in Kenya on the way home to the Seychelles, could unfortunately not be confirmed. According to local observers the catamaran is still being held at the Somali coast near Garacad. But the three crew, which had been taken off the vessel because the pirates feared a naval attack in the aftermath of the MV ALABAMA disaster, were allowed back on board. The are reportedly unharmed and well.

Likewise also the crew of MS INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER was allowed to be back on board, while some crew-members of MV HANSA STAVANGER are said to still be held ashore.

The Romanian representative of the International Transporters' Federation, Adrian Mihalcioiu, confirmed the sea-jacking of German-owned MV VICTORIA happened in the strip secured by vessels operating under a NATO mandate. He said the ship was laden with rice and was traveling between India and Saudi Arabia, AP reported from Bucharest. Its 11 Romanian crew, aged between 22 and 64 was safe, the company that recruited them said. "The pirates allowed the ship's commander to contact the German owner and he told him they were all well," Cornel Panchici, manager of the Romanian recruiting company Kru Maritime, told AFP. Romania's foreign ministry meanwhile said it was "in contact with the ship's owner and the authorities in the region".

Over the last weekend and already before the publication of the Europe1 report by renowned journalist Didier François, which stated that investigations had revealed that the Captain of S/Y TANIT Florent Lemaçon, 28, was killed by a bullet from one of the commandos attacking the hostage takers, the man who created in 1974 the special unit GIGN (Intervention group of the national police), the former Prefect Christian Prouteau, 65, publicly criticized the conditions in which the attack were organized and led on April 10 by the marine commandos against the sailing boat TANIT at the coast of Puntland. According to Christian Prouteau "these soldiers are prepared to make knacks, to make the war. They have surely extraordinary military qualities, but it is not their trade to release hostages, where talking skills are required". This declaration caused a serious irritation with the French Ministry for Defense, whose spokesperson, the general Christian Baptiste, declared publicly that the remarks of the former gendarme "are particularly dangerous and irresponsible".

But also other observers of the TANIT case stated, it would have perhaps been preferable to dispatch negotiators belonging to the GIGN, rather than with the DGSE, as it was the case. After the publication of the findings, which as such are still classified, also the widow, Chloé Lemaçon, spoke out and declared i. a. that her husband had raised his hand for other reasons than to protect her, but did not elaborate further. It is not clear what caused her public outrage against the journalist, but the devastated family certainly deserves some privacy, while the truth about the case has to be revealed. Meanwhile the Ministry for Defense stated that verbal and written reports were presented to minister Herve Morin, and that those are classified. This means specifically: If the justice system would demand them, which is not the case until to date, such request would be first transmitted to the CCSDN (Advisory Commission of the Secrecy of National Defense) and this commission then would give an opinion, which the government is not bound to follow. For his part, Herve Morin already said he would follow the recommendation of the commission. The three arrested Somali pirates, who were captured when the yacht was retaken, were charged in France with hijacking and hostage taking. The three reportedly are being held in Rennes in Brittany.

The fate of the captives from the single largest capture last month, when a Russian naval destroyer seized 29 suspected pirates with an assortment of weapons and equipment including satellite navigation devices, is still not known. Navies have in numerous cases violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, though they base their operations mostly on three UN security council resolutions. Russian has no agreement with countries like Kenya, where other nations dump their captives for prosecution.

MV SEAPRINCESS II, whose crew had a short rest after her release, has left Bossasso under guard and is expected back at her Yemeni port.

Navies Have Apparently Still Not Found or Arrested the 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 - wanted for murder in Mogadishu harbour - 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 MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. of Piraeus in Greece and the tanker is operated from an office in the UAE. Please report any sighting.

Meanwhile MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. claims that it is no longer the owner of the vessel. In an unspecified e-mail an unidentified sender claimed that MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. is incorrectly registered as owner in the shipping registers and that the MT AGIA BARBARA was sold to new owners and would be managed by new managers since September 2008. The sender further stated that the current owners would be WORLD CHAMPION MARINE (the Buyer) and not MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. (the Seller).

WORLD CHAMPION MARINE, however, could so far not be traced. Unconfirmed reports warn that the vessel if not stopped immediately could reach Eritrea or Sudan and the crew could disappear from there. The Somali Government has officially requested all navies and coastal authorities to immediately impound the vessel and to arrest the crew. Vessel picture: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=70209 Please report any sighting to: somalia[at]ecoterra.net

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 19 foreign vessels (20 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore) with a total of not less than 289 crew members accounted for (of which 84 are confirmed to be Filipinos (plus maybe 16 of recently captured MV PATRIOT) 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 77 averted or abandoned attacks with 35 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least two wrongful attacks (incl. friendly fire) on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly piracy related reports

The pirate king of Somalia
By Jay Bahadur
A freelance reporter currently working on a book on piracy in Puntland
From Globe and Mail

Garowe, 6 May 2009 (Somalilandpress) - When Gilbert and Sullivan composed their melodies about the pirate king, it was doubtful they had a Somali like Garaad in mind. Yet this former fisherman, the man behind many of the recent hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, is as close as it comes to pirate royalty in the modern world.

In an interview on the breezy patio of a Somali hotel, he explains how he exerts direct control over 13 groups of pirates with a total of 800 hijackers, operating in bases stretching from Bosasso to Kismaayo, near the Kenyan border. Each group has a "sub-lieutenant" who reports directly to Garaad, and none of them make a move without his authorization.

An armchair CEO, Garaad is curiously uninterested in the fruits of his operation. "I don’t know the names of any of the ships my men capture, and I don’t care". He says, "The only thing I care about is sending more pirates into the sea".

Garaad is a name that has grown notorious in his own time – at least within the borders of Puntland, the autonomous region in northern Somalia that has spawned the recent pirate epidemic.

Garaad had agreed to the interview on the outskirts of the northern Somali port city of Bosasso, about six weeks before the high-profile hijacking of the U.S.-flagged Maersk ALABAMA. The interview was supposed to take place on the previous day, but after preliminary discussions in the morning, Garaad turned off his phone and disappeared. "He’s off chewing khat somewhere", suggests Mohamed, the interpreter who arranged the meeting, referring to the leafy narcotic religiously consumed by most pirates.

Much later, Garaad calls with his explanation: "I was busy", he says.

The next day, he shows up at the gated entrance to the hotel, and meets on the restaurant patio at a table separated from its neighbors by a barrier of ferns and shrubs. With his freshly ironed dress shirt, pressed slacks, and his clean, cropped hair, Garaad blends right in with the crowd of Somali businessmen staying at the hotel. In contrast to his impeccable clothing, his face looks ragged for someone in his mid-30s, his eyes scratched raw by the constant rubbing – a textbook case of khat withdrawal.

Like many pirate headmen, Garaad hails from the infamous coastal pirate haven of Eyl. He began as a front-line pirate, participating directly in hijackings, but has since risen through the ranks to become one of the better known organizers and financiers in Puntland. As with most pirate handles, Garaad is a nickname, taken from the Somali word for "clan elder", and is a sign of his status among his colleagues.

He instantly prickles when he hears the word pirate. "Illegal fishing ships, they are the real pirates" he says, insisting that his operations got going in 2002, with the sole objective of defending his livelihood and that of his fellow fishermen. So far, his crusade against the "real pirates" of Somalia has netted him a total of about a dozen captured illegal fishing ships, and an untold number of commercial vessels.

Garaad remains close-lipped about the dozens of hijackings he has reputedly financed, maintaining that seizing commercial vessels is a necessary evil in his private war against illegal fishing. "I’ve never personally attacked commercial ships", he says. "The only one I’ve ever captured is the Stella Maris, and the reason for it was the financial problems we were having then".

The MV Stella Maris, a Japanese-owned bulk carrier, was seized in the Gulf of Aden in July 2008 and held for eleven weeks before being released for a ransom of $2-million. Garaad’s operating expenses since then must have been high, because he insists that he is broke. "I don’t have one cent", he says. "I don’t even have a house".

Despite his protestations of poverty, it’s said that when he took his third bride, the wedding procession included 100 vehicles. And, there is a credible rumor that Garaad was involved with the much-reported hijacking of the MV FAINA, the weapons-laden Ukrainian transport ship that fetched a generous $3.2-million ransom after a four-months hijacking. The story goes that in December of 2008, Garaad left Garowe, the region’s capital, with a heavily armed convoy, aiming to relieve the FAINA hijackers and bring them back to safety in Puntland.

They were in dire need of his assistance; forced by the U.S. Navy to anchor the captured ship at Xarardheere, south of the Puntland coast, the Americans proceeded to encircle and blockade the pirates onboard the FAINA. On shore, the environment was equally hostile; Xarardheere is rival clan land, and thus was alien turf for the hijackers.

Completing the third point of this Bermuda triangle of perils was the proximity to al-Shabaab controlled territory, where militias from the Islamist group were waiting patiently inland to relieve the FAINA pirates of any ransom they received the moment they came ashore. Into this melee allegedly charged Garaad with his Toyota-brand cavalry.

His intention, presumably, was to escort the hijackers to Puntland once they had secured the ransom payment for the FAINA. Unfortunately, on his way to Xarardheere, Shabaab militants ambushed his motorcade, confiscating his weapons and vehicles. He was unharmed, and had to make the long journey back to Puntland, but wasn’t discouraged from resuming pirating.

"If the international community ever pays us our rightful compensation for the illegal fishing", he says, "attacks will stop within 48 hours".

Japan Journalist's Surprise Visit to Puntland Capital
by Yusuf M. Hassan, Managing Editor of GaroweOnline.com

He drove for a long distance in northern Somalia without trouble – and without soldiers. For police officers in Puntland, a regional autonomy in northeastern Somalia, his story was a unique and surprising journey to a land long forgotten by the rest of the world.

His name is Kenji Goto, a Japanese national whose business card identifies him as a journalist working for Independent Press. He arrived in the Puntland capital Garowe on Monday evening and was arrested by authorities at the police checkpoint.

"He [Kenji] was the only passenger and the driver said he picked him up in Las Anod", said Mr. Ahmed Jama Salah, the Garowe central police station commander.

The police officers at the Garowe checkpoint, who could not speak English or Japanese, took both Kenji and his Somali driver to the central police station.
Evidently, the driver did not speak a word of either language and the two men were reduced to hand signals for the 120km stretch of road between Las Anod and Garowe.

Kenji's story

I visited Kenji at the central police station in Garowe, finding him and his driver resting atop a mattress and their vehicle parked in the impound lot.

Mr. Farah Aden Dhala, the Planning and International Cooperation Minister in Puntland, was at the police station speaking with Kenji.

"I took a flight from Tokyo on Apr. 30 and spent a layover in Djibouti. I arrived in Berbera on Sunday", Kenji explained.

From Berbera, he hired a vehicle that transported him to Las Anod. Both towns are under the control of authorities in Somaliland, a peaceful region in northwestern Somalia that seeks complete independence from the rest of the country.

"Do you understand that this land [Puntland] has laws and security forces?" Planning Minister Dhala asked.

Kenji's answer was as surprising as his trip: "Yes, Mr. Minister. But I wanted to go to the pirates place".

Apparently, Somaliland authorities had misinformed him that Puntland is the "pirates place".

Lessons

The 'pirate story' is an easy sell for major news organizations around the world. For good or worse, it seems pirate gangs off the Somali coast have attacked or hijacked ships from too many countries, and have kidnapped hundreds of innocent civilians and thereby indirectly touched the lives of thousands of people worldwide.

This is what drove Kenji to Somalia – alone.

"I want the people of Japan to know the truth about this [piracy]", Kenji told me. "The world is sending warships…but I believe the world should send medicines and food to Somalia".

He was especially grateful to the Puntland Planning Minister, who signed off on papers to release Kenji and the Somali driver after being held for a few hours at the police station. He received an entry visa from the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to finish his journalism work in Puntland.

Kenji rented a room at Hotel Maka al-Mukarrama in Garowe, located near the Puntland presidential compound, and three Special Protection Unit (SPU) officers were especially assigned at his service.

Later that night, Kenji shared his story with two American journalists working for the New York Times, who were visiting Puntland to do a story on piracy.

Men from different corners of the globe found common ground in humanity and the foreign traveler found comfort in a Muslim land where helping travelers remains a religious duty and tradition.

For Kenji, it was the spirit of informing the people of Japan about the realities of piracy, and the true situation in Somalia, that drove him thousands of kilometers away from his home in Japan.

For Planning Minister Dhala, it was an opportunity to assist a lost traveler and to welcome a foreign visitor to Puntland.

And for me, as a journalist, it was the understanding that the world can forget Somalia – but that not everyone will forget Somalia.

Anti-piracy measures

US eyes fighting Somali pirates onshore

Top US military commanders have floated the idea that the fight against the Somali pirates needs to be taken ashore in the country which lacks a functioning government.

Following a Navy League conference on Sunday, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead said it would be impractical to fight the Somali pirates in their area of operations that spans four times the size of Texas according to PRESS TV

"Pirates don't live at sea. They live ashore. They move their money ashore. You can't have a discussion about eradicating piracy without having a discussion about the shore dimension", Reuters quoted him as saying.

Adm. Roughead said that while the strategy has to be one of "deterring and responding and disrupting activities at sea" the solution lies ashore.

"You act at sea, but you have to have the rule of law present to be able to apprehend and prosecute pirates ashore. And that's what's missing in Somalia. There's no rule of law. There's no order in Somalia".

He also added that shipping companies were reluctant to use arms aboard their sea-liners, which leaves no choice other than "putting the pirate" threat away on land.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, who also attended the conference, estimated that over a thousand battleships were needed to ward off piracy threats, noting, "I've got a big globe. I don't have 1,000 ships that I can devote to that".

In addition, Mullen said that the issue was larger than just piracy. "It's about Somalia and it's about a future safe haven, and it's about what the international community is going to do with respect to Somalia, among other things".

Somali pirates have carried out hundreds of surprise attacks on vessels crossing one of the busiest seaways around the world-- the Gulf of Aden.

Attacks by the heavily-armed Somali sea-jackers in speedboats have prompted some of the world's biggest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and send cargo vessels around southern Africa, causing a hike in shipping costs.

With piracy off Somalia in global headlines, naval forces from the United States, Europe and Asia have been deployed to crack down on buccaneers.

The proposal to extend anti-piracy measures from sea to land in Somalia -- a country of grinding poverty and internal chaos -- comes amid already-existing concerns about the large presence of foreign troops, undermining the fragile unity government of Mogadishu.

Note: Local people who can afford it have already left Harardheere and Hobyo as well as other coastal settlements along the Central Somali pirate coast in anticipation of a military strike against targets in presumed pirate-lairs. 200 elders have gathered to calm the exodus and provide for peaceful solutions.

Military action won't resolve crisis
By Saeed Shabazz for FinalCall.com

President Barack Obama vowed there would be an international crackdown to halt piracy off the Somali coast during an April 13 press conference, where he talked about the rescue of the captain of the Norfolk, Va.-based Maersk ALABAMA.

The captain was seized by four Somali pirates on April 6. Three of the youthful so-called pirates were killed by Navy snipers, a fourth, who reportedly is 16-years-old, is in U.S. custody.

Observers say while the exploits of Somali pirates dominate the corporate media, there's been too little discussion of the root causes behind the piracy. A New York Times story about pirate seizure of an Ukrainian ship last September acknowledged the Somali piracy industry started about 10-15 years ago as a response to illegal fishing.

Reuters reported over $300 million worth of tuna, shrimp and lobster are "stolen" every year off Somalia coasts.

Others say it is impossible to put a price tag on the illegal dumping of waste, some of it nuclear waste, on the Somali economy and marine life since 1992.
Mohamed Aloshi Waldo, a Kenya-based Somali journalist, consultant and analyst, said April 13 on nationally syndicated Democracy Now, "It is no secret—the issues fuelling the humanitarian crisis in Somalia. It is not hidden—not something we are making up, the world knows, but it doesn't do anything about it".

"There is a critical need to tackle the problem with a multifaceted approach to ensure that the political process, the peacekeeping efforts of the African Union, and the strengthening of institutions may work in tandem bearing successful results", added UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during a special Security Council meeting.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the secretary-general's special envoy to Somalia, told the Security Council the international community should help the Horn of Africa nation reach the end of its "long march to normalcy" with employment programs, and aid for infrastructure, renovation and rehabilitation of local institutions. "Somalis need to draw upon their own resources", he added.

An editorial in a Somali newspaper noted that the crisis in Somalia is tied to the "power vacuum" of the last 17 years. Somalia has been without a central government since 1991. The UN served as a de-facto government, until the forming of the Transitional National Government in October 2000, with a mandate to create a permanent government in three years.

However, because of fighting between the TNG and the Union of Islamic Courts, there have been no national elections. A new president was installed by the temporary parliament in February, after the resignation of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who had been in power since 2006.

Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, held a meeting in the Somali capital of Mogadishu with the new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. Rep. Payne said in a statement that it was "important to focus on the progress the people of Somalia have made over the past several months".

"I feel strongly that despite the ongoing piracy, this two-month-old government is making significant progress", said the congressman. His plane was fired at on April 13 as he was leaving the airport in Mogadishu. Rep. Payne said that despite the mortar fire, his experience in Somali was "positive".

A spokesman for Al-Shabaab, the youth organization of the Union of Islamic Courts, told Agence France Presse they fired on the congressman's plane because "this government is welcoming America which is our open enemy and we will never stop attacking them".

The Somali press editorial April 15 added, "Piracy is being taken advantage of as a guise for intervention". It noted that Somalis "welcomed" the U.S. naval attack that freed the Maersk ALABAMA's captain and urged the international community to eradicate piracy.

Emira Woods, a senior fellow with the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, said it is understandable that piracy not be allowed to flourish, but the media should also talk about the U.S. designs to occupy Somalia through a proxy government. "The U.S. is backing a militaristic response to the piracy while not offering a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia; the lack of any type of local economy, high unemployment and a serious food crisis. The goal is to plunge Somalia back into the warlord-craze of the past", Ms. Woods told The Final Call.

Ms. Woods believes the key is for the Obama administration to move away from the Bush administration's policy of viewing Somalia as a breeding ground for al-Qaeda.

Sen. Russ Feinstein (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, sent a letter to President Obama in February arguing for "a comprehensive and coherent strategy using diplomatic efforts along with military and intelligence; and a break from the former administration's short-sighted approach to Somalia".

Refugees International, a Washington-based human rights group, agreed with Sen. Feingold: "U.S. policy requires a complete overhaul, prioritizing humanitarian concerns over narrow counter-terrorism objectives".

Jeff Sidiqui, a Seattle-based Arab American activist who heads the American Muslims of Puget Sound, noted in an e-mail to The Final Call: "In America's hysterical search for al-Qaeda, we killed thousands of Somali men, women and children without compensation. We directed the imprisonment and torture of untold numbers of Somalis—even to Guantanamo Bay. We did it in the name of the integrity of our nation".

The State Dept. said the U.S. has given $350 million in humanitarian aid to Somalia—including $25 million to build courthouses and to create jobs for Somali teenagers. The UN estimates that 3.2 million or 40 percent of 9 million Somalis need food assistance and water.

UN High Commission for Refugees reported 1.3 million Somalis are considered internally displaced persons, with 400,000 Somali refugees in other nations.

While the secretary-general and his special envoy spoke of the need for the international community to see the piracy issue as tied to illegal fishing and waste dumping issues, the response so far from the 15-member Security Council has been Resolutions 1816 and 1838. The measures authorize mobilization of foreign warships to form a global armada to fight piracy in the sovereign waters of Somalia and, if needed, to track pirates in the country.

The British Royal Navy leads the 20-nation armada known as "Operation Atalanta" with war ships from countries like the U.S., France and even China.
"The resolution contains no mention of the illegal fishing piracy, hazardous waste dumping; or the plight of the Somali fisherman", Mr. Ould-Abdallah said after the council vote.

Prof. Abdi Samatar of the University of Minnesota's Geography and Global Studies Department, explained to The Final Call, "If the international community wants the cooperation of the Somali people, then the issue of the piracy of the Somali fishing stock must be addressed as a political issue not a military one".

"For 20 years, nations from Europe and Asia have been dumping their waste and stealing the livelihood from Somalis, and still the international community does nothing, says nothing", he said.

He added that in the northern region of Somalia known as Puntland, where many of the pirates hide, a court sentenced 10 pirates to 20 years in prison for the October 2008 attack on a Syrian ship. It is an example of how Somalis are willing to help in the fight against piracy, Prof. Samatar said.

Marine ecosystem and IUU fishing

Exclusive:

Somalia Toosaan Committee asks for the Protection of the Somali Seas from Pollution (also by Navy Ships)

- Somalia’s marine environment is a ‘special area’ –

Introduction

This is a recommendation by The Somalia Toosaan Committee to have the United Nations (UN) International Maritime Organization (IMO) identify and designate Somalia’s marine environment as a special area for protection.

Currently there are several navel vessels deployed in and around Somalia’s marine environment from a number of countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Unites States, Japan, China, Taiwan, South Korea and many more under UN mandate. Resolution 1838 "calls upon all states interested in the security of maritime activities to take part actively in the fight against piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia, in particular by deploying naval vessels and military aircraft". Resolution 1851 (2008) authorizes international land operations for the first time against armed pirates sheltering in Somalia.

The anti-piracy efforts have been adopted within the context of assisting peace in Somalia and rebuilding security, governance capacity, addressing human rights issues and harnessing economic opportunities. This paper recommends a means of meeting the expectations of the international community, preserving the sovereignty of Somalia and enabling Somalis to take responsibility for protecting their marine environment and come up with solutions to the continuing conflict.

The issue of piracy needs to be discussed within the context of foreign illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels currently operating in Somalia. "In 1998, Famiglia Cristiana, an Italian weekly magazine, claimed that although most of the waste-dumping took place after the start of the civil war in 1991, the activity actually began as early as 1989 under the Barre government" (source: Aljazeera English). The link between the activities of these illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels and the effect they are having on local Somali fisherman need to be examined further. The Associated Foreign Press (UN envoy decries illegal fishing, waste dumping off Somalia - Jul 25, 2008) identified that "[s]ome Somali pirates have reportedly claimed to be acting as "coastguards" protecting their waters from illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste. Ould Abdallah [the UN special envoy for Somalia] cited the case of a Spanish trawler captured by pirates while illegally fishing for tuna off Somalia in April".

These illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels come from many of the countries which have sent a navel force deployed for anti-piracy efforts. The UN Resolutions and anti-piracy efforts must not be allowed to over shadow the illegal activities of these foreign fishing and waste dumping vessels, which have destroyed the livelihood of Somali fisherman and provided the circumstances to make piracy an attractive means of generating an income.

The number of Somalis involved in piracy is also not clear. Such stories make the headlines of most major newspapers but the detrimental effect on local Somali fishermen and the contribution to piracy of illegal foreign fishing and waste dumping vessels are not highlighted. The UN Resolutions have to be carefully examined to determine whether Somali fisherman and traders are being detrimentally affected thereby worsening the situation in Somalia. We know from our links to the Somali community that fisherman are concerned about fishing in their own territorial waters for fear of being mistaken for pirates. More effort needs to be made to engage with Somali governmental and environmental bodies to respect the sovereignty of Somalia and empower Somalis by coordinating the activities of the foreign navel vessels

Special area and special interests

The environmental damage to Somalia’s marine environment because of the unregulated fishing methods of the foreign fishing vessels also means that local fisherman have to trawl further offshore to catch their normal amount of fish. The actions of these illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels must be tackled with as much determination as that of piracy. The reluctance of the international community to combat illegal fishing and waste dumping with as much force as anti-piracy is a cause for serious concern. The issue is not helped by the fact the illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels come from many of the countries involved in the fight against piracy in Somali’s marine environment. This special interest must be recognized as a hindrance to tackle all breaches of international law and not just the issue of piracy.

The case for designation of Somalia’s marine environment as a special area is to protect marine life, Somali fisherman and traders and to limit all illegal activities including the illegal fishing and waste dumping activities of foreign vessels. The countries which have sent navel vessels must also take responsibility for stopping their illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels from operating in Somalia’s marine environment.

A Somali marine environment monitoring group

A representative of Somalia governmental or civil society must sign up to the London Protocol. As Somalia is a member nation, the new Somali Transitional Federal Government can sign up to the London Protocol. The IMO can also work with NGOs to implement protection of Somalia’s marine environment.
A Somali marine environment monitoring group must be supported to ensure the effective monitoring of all activities within Somalia’s marine environment. They should be assisted by marine environmental specialists. Their activities must not be hampered and local fishing communities should be empowered to understand that this is a means for improving their livelihood.

Where illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels are identified then the IMO must act to support the findings of the Somali monitoring group and highlight which countries are involved. The IMO should also lobby for member nations to remedy and compensate for the actions of their illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels including pursuing prosecution under national law.

A further recommendation which requires consensus among Somalis is to designate 1 or 2 navel vessels to work with the Somali Transitional Federal Government to patrol and specifically deter illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels from operating in Somalia’s marine environment.

All Somali Fishermen are not pirates

The designation of Somalia’s marine environment as a special area for protection will also help distinguish Somali fisherman from pirates. At the moment Somali fisherman are at risk of being identified as pirates while no agreement exists to distinguish fisherman from pirates.

Somali fishermen who earn a reasonable income from fishing have reported incidents of intimidation by foreign illegal fishing vessels. The extent to which Somali fisherman have taken it upon themselves to defend their livelihood and fish within their territorial waters needs closer examination. The carrying of weapons within an unstable country and in the absence of law and order cannot be taken as evidence that Somali men on boats in Somali waters are intending to carry out acts of piracy. Without a national Somali coast guard, individuals may feel they need to take action to prevent the illegal actions of foreign fishing and waste dumping vessels that have no business or authority to be in the area.

The number of foreign navel vessels operating in Somalia’s marine environment needs to be limited. The recommendation should be to only authorize the activities of the navel vessels in international waters and their activities need to be monitored by the Somali monitoring group. The role and responsibilities of a manageable number of foreign navel vessels also needs to be agreed with the Somali Transitional Federal Government and marine environment monitoring group. We are aware of no Third World War which necessitates the involvement of the large number of foreign navel vessels in Somalia’s marine environment.

A criteria needs to be established for identifying fisherman from pirates including the use of documentation and the designation of certain areas for fishing. The Somali monitoring group can work with marine environmental specialists to implement a strategy for promoting sustainable fishing including designating certain areas for fishing while fish stocks recover at different period of the year from other areas. The Somali monitoring group should have no authority to grant fishing licenses to foreign vessels and should work on a voluntary basis to limit any possibility of corruption. There must be strict codes of conduct including excluding and prosecuting those accepting bribes to facilitate illegal activities.

A further recommendation is to ban any new fishing and waste dumping licenses and the canceling of all previous fishing and waste dumping licenses until a Somali government is voted into power by all Somalis. It has been shown that the previous licenses have been abused for the benefit of a few corrupt individuals.

Prosecuting piracy requires evidence

Those accused of piracy should be handed to the Somali Governmental representatives and all evidence should be presented in a tribunal to determine whether they are involved in piracy. Video or pictures of Somali men in boats in Somali territorial waters is not in itself evidence of piracy because as already outlined they may have taken it upon themselves to respond to incidents of intimidation by foreign illegal fishing and waste dumping vessels.

These tribunals can follow the model of the Somali sharia courts which were established and must draw up a code of conduct to determine who can serve on them. The tribunal must free from partisanship and act in the interests of justice. To this end, the tribunal must be headed by a broad section of Somali society including women, socially empowering individuals and marginalized clans. The Somali government and military factions must provide their backing to these tribunals and ensure they are free from political interference and/or corruption. The tribunals can work closely with the Somali monitoring group to verify facts and should facilitate the rehabilitating of those convicted of piracy.

Refer to a special register

A special register of Somali fishermen operating in and around Somali territorial waters should be held by the Somali monitoring group. The information should be passed to the Somali Government and tribunals.

A copy can be made available to the IMO from which any foreign navel vessels operating in the area can request and refer to solely for the purpose of verifying suspicions of piracy. A log must be kept by the IMO of countries which request access to the register and also the purpose of their request. This information will help resolve any disputes at the evidential stage of the tribunals and also to ensure the monitoring group can address accusations in relation to its duties.

Conclusion

Somalia’s marine environment should be designated as a special area for protection as soon as possible to prevent the current over fishing by foreign vessels and environmental degradation.

Foreign navel vessels empower under UN mandate need to respect the sovereignty of Somalia and coordinate their activities with the Somali Government.

A Somali monitoring group needs to be established. Individuals should be identified to head the Somali tribunals and a special register should be drawn up.

( N.B.: contact to the Somalia Toosaan Committee can by made via: somalia[at]ecoterra.net )

The Somali government on Wednesday again defended a maritime agreement signed with Kenya last month that caused huge controversy in the war-torn east African country, Xinhua reports. The two governments last Month signed a memorandum of understanding on their maritime boundary which the two countries say will facilitate the presentation of both country's submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf by May as required under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. "This (memorandum of understanding) is not about the government giving other country a span of our land or sea. It is about Kenya and Somalia granting each other non-objection in respect of their submissions on the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf to the Commission", Mohamed Abdullahi Omaar, Somali foreign minister, told reporters in Mogadishu on his way to Norway. However, the maritime agreement between Somalia and its southern neighbor has caused an uproar in Somalia and is increasingly being seen by many including some officials within the Somali government as being compromising the territorial integrity and ceding land to Kenya. The deal is expected to be brought before the Somali parliament soon with some ministers to be questioned regarding the maritime agreement with Kenya.

Meanwhile, the Somali foreign minister accused some foreign ships of "illegal fishing and of dumping industrial waste into Somali waters", saying that helps piracy by providing bandits excuses to launch attacks off the Somali coast. Piracy is rife in the Somali coastal waters and in the Gulf of Aden. Nearly 20 ships with nearly 250 crew members are being held hostage for ransom by Somali pirates who operate in an ever increasingly widening area in the Indian ocean. Several countries have deployed warships in the troubled east Africa waters to protect ships from hijacking by local pirates, who claim to be protecting Somali waters from foreign ships involved in illegal fishing and the dumping of dangerous industrial waste into the coast. Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for nearly two decades, does not have the navy or a strong army to protect its territorial waters from the rampant piracy, illegal fishing and the dumping of industrial waste by foreign ships.

No real peace yet

The making of a Minnesota suicide bomber
By Richard Meryhew, Allie Shah and James Walsh, Star Tribune staff writers

His remains lie a few hundred yards from a bustling highway, in a section of the Burnsville cemetery reserved for Muslims called the Garden of Eden. There is no marker. Only dirt and small rocks cover the final resting place of Shirwa Ahmed, who lived most of his life almost as anonymously.

But the manner of the 26-year-old Minneapolis man's death has put him at the center of one of the most far-reaching U.S. counterterrorism investigations since 9/11.

Nobody knows for sure why Ahmed left Minnesota in late 2007, or how he wound up obliterated in a bomb crater in Somalia a year later. Did the once passive teenager who came of age at Roosevelt High School shooting hoops, wearing hip-hop fashions and hanging out at the Mall of America volunteer for Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaida? Did his self-described transformation into a "God man'' lead him to return to fight in his homeland's civil war, or become a recruit for jihad? Most frightening, was he or any other Somali ever a candidate to return home and strike within the United States?

His remains lie a few hundred yards from a bustling highway, in a section of the Burnsville cemetery reserved for Muslims called the Garden of Eden. There is no marker. Only dirt and small rocks cover the final resting place of Shirwa Ahmed, who lived most of his life almost as anonymously.

But the manner of the 26-year-old Minneapolis man's death has put him at the center of one of the most far-reaching U.S. counterterrorism investigations since 9/11.

Nobody knows for sure why Ahmed left Minnesota in late 2007, or how he wound up obliterated in a bomb crater in Somalia a year later. Did the once passive teenager who came of age at Roosevelt High School shooting hoops, wearing hip-hop fashions and hanging out at the Mall of America volunteer for Al-Shabaab, an affiliate of Al-Qaida? Did his self-described transformation into a "God man'' lead him to return to fight in his homeland's civil war, or become a recruit for jihad? Most frightening, was he or any other Somali ever a candidate to return home and strike within the United States?

So far, more than two dozen local Somalis have been subpoenaed to tell a grand jury in Minneapolis what they know of Ahmed and up to 20 other missing men.

While the community anxiously awaits the investigation's outcome, those who knew Ahmed are left to wonder. "I don't know where things went wrong, but to be honest with you, I wish I could find out myself", said Sahal Warsame, his high school best friend. "And if he was still alive, I'd probably ask him why and how. ... I know he didn't put himself in that situation".

A startling discovery

At midmorning on Oct. 29, 2008, a car packed with explosives smashed through the doors of the Ethiopian Embassy in Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland, killing 20 people. At the same time, other suicide bombers hit targets across northern Somalia, including two bomb-filled vehicles that plowed into an intelligence headquarters in the port town of Bossasso.

In all, 28 people were killed and dozens more injured. Within hours, Somali officials asked the FBI to send teams to comb the blast sites.

In Bossasso, investigators were surprised to discover the fragmented remains of an American.

They had found what was left of Shirwa Ahmed.

Days later and a world away in Minneapolis, Nimco Ahmed glanced at the newspaper and was stunned to see a familiar face.

She immediately called a mutual friend, Nicole Hartford, who had been Shirwa Ahmed's high school prom date eight years earlier.

"Are you positive it's him?" Hartford asked.

She was. But it was hard to reconcile the person she knew with the person she was reading about.

Blending in

It had been about 10 years since a skinny and quiet 15-year-old Shirwa Ahmed, raised by a single mom and living with three brothers and a sister, first showed up at Roosevelt High School, where many Somali immigrants attended. There Ahmed, only a few years removed from a refugee camp, honed his English skills and took steps toward U.S. citizenship.

Repeated attempts to reach Ahmed's relatives were unsuccessful. But a teacher at Roosevelt recalls that Ahmed didn't distinguish himself as a student.

"He was not high in grades and not low in grades. He was average", said Mohammed Osman, who taught social studies. "He was very respectful to me as a teacher".

Where Ahmed excelled was at making friends.

Afternoons were for pickup basketball at one of several parks near the school or at the Brian Coyle Community Center in the shadows of the Cedar-Riverside high rises.

Weekends were for girls.

Often, Ahmed and friends would hop the bus to the Mall of America, where they'd gather on the top floor near the movie theaters to scope out the girls four floors below in Camp Snoopy. When they saw one they considered pretty, they'd dare each other to try to get her phone number.

"The ultimate goal was to see who could collect [the most] numbers", said one of his closest friends, who is now a Minneapolis businessman and spoke on the condition that he not be named. "But Shirwa could never do it. He was shy. He'd say 'That's a kid's game'".

In all, 28 people were killed and dozens more injured. Within hours, Somali officials asked the FBI to send teams to comb the blast sites.

In Bossasso, investigators were surprised to discover the fragmented remains of an American.

They had found what was left of Shirwa Ahmed.

Days later and a world away in Minneapolis, Nimco Ahmed glanced at the newspaper and was stunned to see a familiar face.

She immediately called a mutual friend, Nicole Hartford, who had been Shirwa Ahmed's high school prom date eight years earlier.

"Are you positive it's him?" Hartford asked.

She was. But it was hard to reconcile the person she knew with the person she was reading about.

After Ahmed took a job pushing wheelchairs and moving luggage at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport, he met and became fast friends with Hartford, who worked at a couple of restaurants there. They spent their breaks together, along with Nimco Ahmed, the high school friend who also worked at the airport. The three became inseparable, often heading to the mega-mall after work to try on clothes and people watch.

The Shirwa they recall was hardly a traditionalist. He wore the latest hip-hop styles, from sagging jeans to crisp, button-up shirts and new sneakers, blending in with his American peers. Sometimes, he affected an exaggerated swagger.

"He used to say, 'Watch my swag, Nicole. Watch my swag'", Hartford said.
He even found a way to jazz up his airport uniform.

"He'll pop his collar and it wouldn't look like the regular uniform", Hartford said. "He was like, 'This is me, this is how I like to dress'".

While often quiet, he was not afraid of asserting himself.

Once, after opponents started trash-talking his friend Warsame during a pickup basketball game, Ahmed stepped in to stop the quarrel.

"He grabbed my hand and said 'No man, you'd rather walk away from this before you see a cop'", Warsame said.

'Sort of like a monk'

After graduating from Roosevelt in 2000, Ahmed made a new friend while working at the airport, Russell Burge.

Burge sometimes prayed with Ahmed and other Somalis working at the airport, and the two often talked about religion.

Burge recalled that they once had a conversation about suicide bombings, and both agreed that such attacks are wrong.

"He was very, very adamant, saying, 'No, that is not Islamic. The prophet Mohammed would frown upon a Muslim who does that'", Burge recalled.

By 2002, Ahmed's commitment to his faith was growing deeper. He and Warsame were both enrolled at North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park that year, but when Warsame quit before the end of the first semester, the two began to drift apart. As Warsame hit the party scene, Ahmed turned to the mosque.

Sometimes, Warsame said, Ahmed would talk to him about making a change.
"He just used to encourage me to just pray and do good and think about life", he said.

As his religious commitment grew firmer, Ahmed's attachment to schooling became more tenuous. His stint at North Hennepin was followed by a semester at the University of Minnesota. Later, he took courses at Minneapolis Community and Technical College but didn't stick with it.

Others began noticing changes that reflected an increasingly conservative approach to his faith.

Ahmed grew a beard. He gained weight. He wore a kufi -- a Muslim prayer cap -- and traded his baggy jeans for pants cuffed above the ankle. The guy who had once crammed himself with two female friends into a photo booth to mug for the camera would no longer shake hands when he met a woman.

Nimco Ahmed said she saw him occasionally on the street and in Somali malls preaching to other Somalis and encouraging them to pray.

When another high school friend saw him at a playground near Cedar-Riverside in 2005, Ahmed told him he had become "a God man".

"He was becoming sort of like a monk", the friend said.

Ahmed worshipped at the mosque five times daily, even in the pre-dawn. Most days, he attended a small mosque near the Cedar-Riverside towers, home to thousands of Somalis. Increasingly, he'd pray at Abubakar as-Saddique Islamic Center in south Minneapolis, the city's largest mosque.

Farhan (Omar) Hurre, Abubakar's director, said Ahmed has been seen praying at the mosque "a few times".

Said another high school friend, who remained in touch with Ahmed until shortly before he left the country: "He never preached or tried to change me. He would just say that he would pray for me".

Gone, to paradise

In the fall of 2007, Ahmed went to a clinic on Bloomington Avenue to get shots in advance of a trip to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to perform the hajj, the sacred pilgrimage for Muslims.

While there, he ran into Zuhur Ahmed, a former schoolmate who worked at the clinic.

He was traveling with a group and was excited about the trip, he told her. He didn't say anything about Somalia.

About the same time he left, three other Somali men from the Twin Cities -- Zackaria Marout, Mohamed Miski, and Kamal Baniini -- disappeared, presumably overseas.

The timing of their departures, and the fact that the men all knew one another, would later prompt federal agents to investigate whether they were radicalized and recruited to return to Somalia by someone working with a terrorist group.
There would be no more news regarding Ahmed until many months later. In late 2008, while chatting on Facebook with one of Shirwa Ahmed's relatives overseas, Nimco Ahmed asked how he was doing.

The relative told her that Ahmed had gone to the Middle East to study Islam and didn't intend to return to this country.

In late October, 2008, Ahmed's sister in Minneapolis got a phone call from her brother, who said he was in Yemen. He was planning to come home, according to Abdirizak Bihi, a community leader who spoke with the sister at length a few days after Ahmed's death.

Then, on Oct. 29, came the bomb blasts that rocked northern Somalia.

Somali officials and U.S. diplomats immediately blamed the blasts on Al-Shabaab -- which means "the youth" -- a group that U.S. officials have labeled a terrorist organization aligned with Al-Qaida. Al-Shabaab had been involved in frequent attacks against the interim Somali government and the thousands of Ethiopian troops that occupied the country after the ouster of its Islamic government in early 2007. Leaders of Al-Shabaab had promised to keep fighting until all Ethiopian troops left Somalia.

The timing of this attack, Somali officials said, was likely meant to coincide with a meeting between Somali government leaders and the leaders of other regional heads of state in Nairobi, Kenya.

"They wanted to convey an image that they could reach anywhere", then-Somali foreign minister Ali Ahmed Jama told Reuters.

Their reach extended to Minneapolis.

A few days after the blasts, Ahmed's sister received another phone call, according to Bihi.

A voice she didn't recognize told her, "Your brother is a martyr. He is in paradise".

Haunted by questions

On a sunny, cold day last December, Shirwa Ahmed's remains were carried from the hearse to his waiting grave site in a small wooden box.

As several men removed a white shroud containing his remains from the box, a crowd of about 20 men circled the grave. Behind them, 20 to 30 women stood by cars parked on a nearby road.

The women watched as the men lowered the remains into the ground, grabbed shovels and covered the grave with dirt. Nearby, a cemetery worker stood near a tractor, waiting to finish the job.

Nicole Hartford wasn't there to witness the end. Months later, she's still haunted by questions.

What prompted her friend to go back to Somalia? Was it something he read? Was it someone he met? Was he, as some in the Somali community believe, a victim, and not the bomber? Or had he changed so completely that those who knew him best will never understand?

"Even through my own life changes, I'm still the same Nicole that he met in 1999", Hartford said last week. "I know deep down he was the same Shirwa. What happened after we went our separate ways, I'm not for sure. But I know Shirwa was not a violent person. Shirwa was a respectful person, he was honest and he conducted himself in that manner.

I can't see it. I can't see him taking that action. Honestly, I'm like 'Somebody drugged him. Somebody tricked him.' Something happened. Something went devastatingly wrong".

Shirwa's journey

1995
Shirwa Ahmed's family comes to the United States. He is 12 or 13 years old. They first come to Portland, Ore., then to Minneapolis.

1997
He's a sophomore at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School. Mohammed Osman taught Ahmed. "He was very ordinary. ... He was not violent, a very decent character. He was unremarkable".

2000
He graduates from high school. He goes to prom with Nicole Hartford. He dances and he was a little awkward at it but he kept the rhythm, Nicole said. When the photographer asked him to put his arms around Nicole's waist, Shirwa demurred. "I kept saying 'It's OK, Shirwa'", Nicole said.

2002
He attends classes at North Hennepin Community College. He does not earn a certificate or degree. Friends say he is becoming more religious.

2003
He enrolls at the University of Minnesota's College of Continuing Education. He lasts one semester.

2004-2005
Nicole Hartford talks to Ahmed less, and eventually loses contact with him. The last time she saw him, she said: "He hugged me. It was a long hug. ... There was some pain in him that he wasn't ready to speak about at that time".

2005
He attends Minneapolis Community and Technical College. Again, he does not earn a certificate or degree. Family and friends say he spends early mornings and even overnights at the Abubakar as-Saddique mosque.

2007
He leaves the country in the fall. His sister said that Ahmed told the family he was going to the hajj in Saudi Arabia. He later calls to tell her he is studying in Yemen.

October 29, 2008
Ahmed dies in Puntland in northern Somalia in a suicide attack.

November, 2008
The FBI helps the family return the remains of Ahmed to the U.S.

December 3, 2008
He is buried in a Burnsville cemetery.

Puntland drought getting worse

Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland is on the brink of a humanitarian crisis following poor rains that have created severe water and food shortages, officials said. "We had very little Deyr [October-December 2008] rain and we have had even less rain in the Gu [April-June 2009] season so far, which has exacerbated an already bad situation", Mohamed Said Kashawiito, the director-general of Puntland's Ministry of Interior, told IRIN on 6 May. Most of the population relies on livestock, but poor rainfall has left them struggling to make ends meet. "We are getting reports of livestock dying; in some places 30 to 40 percent of the livestock has died", he said. "What little livestock is left is so weak they cannot even sell it, much less use it for milk and meat". The situation had also forced many nomads to move to urban centers, he said. Most affected are the regions of Bari, Nugal and parts of Mudug, and parts of Sool and Sanaag, which are claimed by both Puntland and the neighboring self-declared republic of Somaliland.

Ordinarily, many Puntland residents depend on Barkads (water catchments), but insufficient rains have left most of the catchments dry. The Puntland cabinet, Kashawiito added, was holding an emergency meeting to devise a plan to assist the affected populations. He called on international aid agencies to scale up their activities to help the affected population. Abdi Hirsi, the governor of Nugal, said the villages of Kalabeyr, Birta Dheer and Awr Ulus, all in Garowe district, and some others were in desperate need of food and water. "Some of the populations are no longer able to cope and need immediate intervention in terms of food", he warned. "We need urgent assistance", he said.

In a February report, the Food Security Analysis Unit of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO/FSAU) for Somalia warned that Puntland had experienced a third consecutive seasonal rainfall failure (Deyr October-December 2008). At least 195,000 people were facing an acute food and livelihood crisis and humanitarian emergency, particularly in Bari, Nugal and Mudug regions, in addition to the long-term IDPs. Warsame Abdi, Puntland's information minister, told IRIN on 25 March that at least 133 localities were dependent on water trucking but the local authorities did not have the resources to address the situation. Abdiaziz Sheikh Yusuf, the district commissioner of Jariiban, in Mudug region, said 42 out of 47 townships in the district were facing major water problems.

Impacting reports from the global village

UN Human Rights Council Candidates Raise Concerns
By Joe DeCapua

Next week, the UN General Assembly decides who should be on the Human Rights Council. On May 12th, the General Assembly is expected to elect as many as 18 new members – more than a third of the council's total membership.

However, some groups are calling on UN members to block certain countries from getting a seat on the council. Freedom House and UN Watch say some of the countries seeking membership have poor or questionable human rights records.

Paula Schriefer, advocacy director for Freedom House, which is based in Washington, expressed her concerns to VOA about next week's vote.

"Our biggest concerns are [that] countries with some of the worst human rights records in the world will get re-elected to the Human Rights Council, further discrediting an institution that's already shown that it hasn't performed very well in terms of promoting and supporting human rights", she says. Freedom House conducts an evaluation that categorizes countries based on their human rights records, grading them as qualified, not qualified and questionable.

"We actually listed seven countries in the not qualified category, but I would say there's even a range within that. The ones that we're most concerned with are those that really get the absolute lowest scores that Freedom House gives out on an annual basis in terms of human rights. And those three countries would be China, Cuba and Saudi Arabia", she says.

Four other countries, including the African countries of Cameroon and Djibouti, also received poor scores, but not quite as low as the above mentioned.

"These are countries that I would put in sort of the top tier of the countries that are not qualified. Cameroon, actually of the two, has a slightly worse human rights record.… Although interestingly, it has a better voting record looking at important human rights resolutions and votes at the UN. Djibouti has a slightly better human rights record, but a slightly worse voting record at the United Nations.…Overall, they're just not qualified to sit on the council", she says.

Schriefer says membership of some of these countries on the Human Rights Council has prevented all the facts about the treatment of their citizens from being revealed. She says, "These countries not only reflect badly on the council because they've got poor domestic records of supporting human rights, but they tend to also of course to act (to prevent) the council from exposing human rights abuses in their own countries and in other countries as well".

One example she gives is Sudan. "Many of these countries have voted against taking any strong resolutions on Sudan. If you look at other countries that fall in our category of the worst – countries like Belarus… Chad…Equatorial Guinea…Somalia…Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, not a single resolution is being passed to censor these countries", she says.

Schriefer says that the countries have been "very effective in convincing other countries to vote along with them. Yes, they could be blocked. Certainly if countries with good human rights records would counter that and be more effective in terms of getting those sort of swing countries to vote along with them.… But it takes a tremendous amount of work".

Countries, such as Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Jordan and Bangladesh have "mixed" human rights records.

"They're not the lowest performers in terms of their human rights. Most of these countries fall in…in Freedom House's terminology…the partly free category of countries. And they've had mixed records", she says. Freedom House lists the countries found qualified to sit on the Human Rights Council as the United States, Belgium, Hungary, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway and Uruguay.

Russia on Wednesday expelled two Canadian diplomats working as representatives of the NATO alliance, officials said, in a further deterioration of relations between the alliance and Moscow. Canada's ambassador was summoned to Russia's foreign ministry and handed a note informing him of the expulsion of the head and deputy head of the NATO representative office in Moscow "in response to an unfriendly act by NATO against Russian envoys to NATO", the Russian foreign ministry said. The explanation was a reference to NATO's expulsion of two Russian envoys accredited at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels for alleged involvement in a spy scandal, a charge Moscow has furiously denied.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine
East-Africa
+254-714-747090
marine[at]ecop.info
www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.
Nairobi Node
africanode[at]ecoterra.net
+254-733-633-733

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

Note
Picture: Until the forthcoming hit, the Western mass media have bombarded all audiences throughout Europe and North America with incommensurable lies and a completely fake portrait of the Somalia pirates. Most of the pictures, like this one, are fake.