January 2009–The Somali Piracy Records. I - The Evil Tactics of Somaliland’s Warmongers, Gangsters

Abdulazez Al-Motairi is the pen name of a shadowy clannish figure of Northern Somalia, who has been hired for journalistic services by the criminal butcher Rayaale of the secessionist entity Somaliland, a fabrication of the racist regime of Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized ‘Ethiopia’).

In several articles I unveiled in the past the fallacies, the lies, and the malignant propaganda composed by the ignorant and analphabet person who covered under the ridiculous and non-Somali pseudonym "Abdulazez Al-Motairi" promotes the criminal interests of the gangsters who tyrannize the Northern Somalis.

All the Somalis know very well and have repeatedly denounced with the utmost indignation the totalitarian rule imposed and the inhuman criminality promoted by the Hargeysa gangsters around Rayaale and his influential wife Huda Barkhad.

The web is full of references to Somaliland as the "Huda Barkhad Republic" (http://madaxweyne.blogspot.com/2008/10/huda-barkhad-republic-former-somaliland.html), which shows the extreme disrespect with which all the Somalis treat the criminal gangsters of Hargeysa, who are the mere puppets of the defeated Abyssinians, the vicious, racist and hereditary enemy of Somalia.

In an earlier article in which I denounced the evil tactics of the illegal Hargeysa gang (widely republished, e.g. http://torontoseeker.com/item-2900990.htm and http://www.iconocast.com/B000000000000029/Z4/News7.htm), I stated that the prolongation of the illegal pseudo-state Somaliland threatens the entire Horn of Africa region with precipitated diffusion of Islamic extremism and with all sorts of terrorism. It is not by coincidence that Somaliland is widely called So-Mafi-land.

The statement proved to be correct not only in the light of recent revelations (http://www.topix.com/so/woqooyi-galbeed/2008/07/somaliland-no-so-mafi-land) but also in the calamitous attitude pursued by the Hargeysa gang’s representatives with respect to the Somali piracy phenomenon.

Somali Piracy – Totally Unrelated to the Breakaway Somali State Puntland

The orchestrated misinformation carried out by Abdulazez Al-Motairi’s toxic literature and unreliable innuendos and by similar distortions published by other Hargeysa gang members creates the impression that the breakaway Somali state Puntland has promoted piracy as a form of possibly lucrative business. As in the case of all the other fabrications of theirs, the Hargeysa gangsters and the Rayaale subordinates like Al-Motairi never provide any piece of justification, any proof, and any evidence. They simply compile a fable out of some correct data interwoven with the vicious falsehood they want to diffuse.

In this case, the Anti-piracy, Anti-Puntland, and Anti-Somali literature represents a trap for unsophisticated militarists who consider the end of the Somali piracy phenomenon as possible through military means. By depicting – erroneously – the breakaway state of Puntland as a piracy-promoting institution, similar texts invite for double, naval and inland, military engagements. If this happens, the piracy phenomenon will further expand, Islamic radicalism will be overwhelmingly shared among all Somalis, and the endless military expeditions will cause collateral damages to all.

What is even worse for the brainless and inane scribes of the Hargeysa gang is that this development will become the reason for Somaliland’s collapse, as the expansion of the piracy phenomenon will primarily take place in the ill-controlled areas of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn whereby the disreputable gangster Rayaale is greatly reviled for his policy which consists in undisputed high treason.

The newly elected Puntland president Farole reflects a certain legitimacy whereas the Hargeysa butcher Rayaale represents only his own criminal Mafia; that’s why the defamatory pseudo-text of Al-Motairi depicts the translator ‘Dr. Said’ as "kinsman" to president Farole.

What is more critical in this regard is that MV FAINA ship owner never denounced "the efforts of the translator "Dr. Said" provided to the pirates".

The corruption described by the paranoid liar Al-Motairi as prevailing in Puntland is simply endemic in the lawless Mafia pseudo-state Somaliland for which this scribe works.

Al-Motairi’s attempt to depict Puntland president-elect Farole as "pirate" originates from the fact that Al-Motairi’s "president" Rayaale is a mere gangster, responsible for crimes against the Mankind.

By falsely portraying Farole as the recipient of pirates’ ransoms, Al-Motairi consciously works against one of the few people who can contain and ultimately eradicate the Somali piracy phenomenon to the benefit of all the Somalis and to the detriment all the swindlers whose subservient Al-Motairi has long been.

Anyone who takes Al-Motairi’s forgery seriously falls victim of a malignant plan geared to trigger a generalized war in the Horn of Africa.

I republish here the Media Note of the Office of the State Department Spokesman (on the Inaugural Meeting of the Contact Group on Somali Piracy), and the 110th Ecoterra Press Release Update.

Media Note - Office of the Spokesman
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/01/113783.htm

Washington, DC
January 12, 2009

Inaugural Meeting of the Contact Group on Somali Piracy

The Contact Group on Somali Piracy (CGSP) will hold its inaugural meeting at the United Nations Headquarters Building in New York City on January 14, 2009. This meeting is pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1851 adopted unanimously on December 16, 2008. A total of 24 countries and five multilateral organizations are planning to participate in the inaugural meeting which will be chaired by the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, Mark T. Kimmitt.

The CGSP will focus on coordinating activities between states and organizations to suppress piracy off the coast of Somalia. It is anticipated that discussions will address:

- Improving operational and intelligence support to counter-piracy operations,

- Establishing a counter-piracy coordination mechanism,

- Strengthening judicial frameworks for the arrest, prosecution and detention of pirates,

- Strengthening commercial shipping self-awareness and other capabilities,

- Pursuing improving diplomatic and public information efforts, and

- Disrupting pirate financial operations.

The CGSP will issue a statement at the conclusion of the discussions.

There will be a press availability following the meeting. Media wishing to cover the event should ensure they have proper UN credentials.
2009/036

Released on January 12, 2009

110th Update 2009-01-13 17h20:23 UTC

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

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

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

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

Day 111 - 2643 hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now nearly four months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved, though negotiations through middlemen are said to have continued.

Abdulazez Al-Motairi reveals on a website that the Ukrainian ship owner recently had denounced the efforts of the translator "Dr. Said" provided to the pirates in the ongoing negotiations in Harardheere. The owner, allegedly, has termed him a broker instead of translating the issues into Somali language. "Dr. Said" is originally from Puntland and a kinsman of new President-appoint Farole, according to Abdulazez Al-Motairi. But this was refuted by people on the ground and termed false propaganda. According to Abdulazez the owner also informed that he then sent his representative to the ground in a bid to secure a quick release of the vessel. However, the "representative", nicknamed "Mahad" is seen likewise as a broker by the head of the pirates, who - according to the statement of the Captain of the FAINA - so far never had received any communication from the owner, though it was requested several times over the last 3 month.

We are living in strange times: One weirdo's twisted mind and sick desire to exhibit his nonsense proposed actually to use the international acronym SOS (Save Our Souls) - a straw of hope signal sent by people in distress and to be responded to by international law - as SOS "Shoot On Sight" ! That nut-case calls himself "Brock Novak" - thereby revealing Eastern-European decent. If he is part of the Ukrainian/Russian/Israeli negotiation team for MV FAINA is not known, because the team can no longer be found in Nairobi at the plush 5-Star hotel they were staying. Likewise weird is what the Australian reports: "Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the bloke in charge of keeping Vladimir Putin's seat warm in the Kremlin, has opened his video blog for public comment. Ominously, the Prez has promised to read all remarks "with great interest", which in Russia still sounds like code for "We know where you live". So far, most of the comments have been innocuous enough, asking Medvedev what label jacket he's wearing, how he likes his new MacBook (a gratuitous product placement by Strewth, on the off chance Steve Jobs is reading), and whether he's planning to befriend Barack Obama on Facebook. But pray for the hapless sap who suggested his beloved leader has baggy eyes. Still, it could have been worse, says a semi-frozen European, asking Medvedev when he might get around to turning the gas back on".

The talks on FAINA, however, seem to be frozen like the citizens in Ukraine and Europe, who suffer from the Russian gas-turn-off. Hopefully this will not cause a "heated" response from Somalia.

Mr. Vadim Alperin (alias Vadim Oltrena Alperin, alias Vadim Galperin) was named in the Ukrainian parliament as the real owner of the vessel, while Mr. V. Murenko is believed to act as the managing proprietor with Mrs. E. Kopitsyna as executive director.

Ecoterra Intl. demands immediate humanitarian assistance to be allowed, facilitated and dispatched to the vessel, and calls for human rights protection to be provided for all crew members, their families in Russia and Ukraine as well as for all well-meaning people assisting in solving the case, which have been subjected already to serious threats, acts of intimidation and persecution.

Russian state energy company Gazprom has ordered the resumption of gas supplies through Ukraine to Europe, after they were cut for nearly a week. Analysts say supplies could in theory return to normal within 24 hours, but a more likely time frame is 36-48 hours. Hundreds of thousands of Europeans were left without gas when Russia turned off the taps in a dispute with Ukraine. The two countries are locked in an ongoing bilateral dispute over debts and prices. Disagreement remains over how much Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas, and what Russia should pay Ukraine in return for transporting gas to Europe. It seems that the Ukraine only understands the iron-fist-language Russia is using in solving conflicts - so far the Somali captors of MV FAINA had not yet resorted to it.

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

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships --

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

The owner of a hijacked Turkish chemtanker confirmed Somali pirates have freed his vessel and 14 crew on board. Turkish Parliamentary Assembly Defense Commission Head Hasan Kemal Yardimci says his ship Karagol was freed was released at midnight, late Monday. Pirates had hijacked the Karagol on Nov. 13 off the coast of Yemen as the tanker was heading to India with 4,500 tons of chemicals on board. Yardimci says all of the 14 crew members released are well, but he did not say what happened to the chemicals and did not speak on the amount of ransom paid. Still one more Turkish ship hostage. The vessel was heading to India ex-Israel and laden with 4,500 tonnes of chemicals at the time of the hijack.

The parliament of the semi-autonomous region of Somalia "Puntland" recently appointed Cabdiraxman Maxamed Farole to be the new president for the next four years. Puntland's parliament is a combination of clans, where each clan has a specified number of representatives in the house, writes Abdulazez Al-Motairi from the semi-autonomous region in Somalia and reveals that the majority of the current MPs in the Puntland Parliament paid between $30,000 and $50,000 to clan-chiefs for their nomination to the parliament (parliament seat). The people have no role in the politics and cannot decide their future leaders. "Who pays more money gets the seat". This is how the clan-chiefs operate in nominating the MPs of their clan, and if you want to be president of "Puntland" you should pay huge money to every MP and clan chief to earn their support. Newly appointed President Cabdiraxman Maxamed Farole is a very influential pirate, and manages several bandits including the hijackers of a Saudi Oil Tanker, Abdulazez says and adds: "He operates pirate offices across "Puntland" and even hired translators and accountants to communicate with owners of the hijacked ships". Recently, Farole earned millions of dollars from the piracy and he used the ransom money to finance his campaign, explains Abdulazez Al-Motairi and states: "Farole´s boys hunt the international vessels across the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden". They hijacked more than 15 ships in one year including Ukraine MV FAINA Ship and the Saudi Oil Tanker [Sirius Star]. They received millions of US Dollars as ransom money, stated Abdulazez Al-Motairi, indicating that Farole used the money to become New President-appoint of "Puntland". His son was also the head of the pirates of the Saudi Oil Tanker, he says. Abdulazez Al-Motairi, however, did not provide proof for his allegations.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 13 foreign vessels with a total of 243 crew members accounted for (of which 44 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by naval forces. For 2009 the account stands at 11 abandoned attacks and 2 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by friendly fire on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly related news ----

AP reports from the Ethiopian pullout: Ethiopia handed over security duties in neighboring Somalia on Tuesday to a joint force of Somali government security forces and Islamic militiamen, a shift some fear will leave a power vacuum in the lawless African nation. Somalis overwhelmingly welcomed the Ethiopians' withdrawal despite any guarantee that the Islamists would be able to restore peace. The Ethiopian troops have been propping up Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government for two years amid a ferocious Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians and prompted the president to resign in December, saying he had lost the country to the Islamists. The lawlessness also has allowed piracy to flourish off Somalia's coast. Last year, pirates seeking multimillion-dollar ransoms attacked 111 ships in the Gulf of Aden and seized 42 of them. But the Ethiopians had said they would to end their unpopular presence as demanded under an October power-sharing deal signed between the Somali government and a faction of the Islamists. "It is time Somalia stands on its own feet", said Ethiopian commander Col. Gabre Yohannes Abate, as he handed over security operations during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Mogadishu. "So we are saying goodbye to all Somalis and their dignitaries". It was unclear when all of the thousands of Ethiopians will have departed. They were pulling out in stages, rather than all at once, and gave no exact dates for security reasons. The pull-out has received wide support from ordinary Somalis, officials and diplomats.

Many had seen the Ethiopians as occupiers, and their two-year deployment has been a rallying cry for the insurgents to gain recruits even as the militants' strict form of Islam terrified people into submission. "The insurgents have been fighting for the withdrawal of Ethiopians all this time", Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said during the handover. "When the Ethiopians have begun withdrawing, there is no need for fighting again. I urge all Somalis to become peace-loving people". The government called in the Ethiopian troops in December 2006 to oust an umbrella Islamic group that had controlled southern Somalia and the capital for six months. Many saw the Ethiopian army, one of Africa's largest, as abusive and heavy-handed. Ethiopia long said it wanted to pull out after stabilizing Somalia, but opponents said Ethiopia — a mainly Orthodox Christian country — was interested in preventing an Islamist regime in neighbouring Somalia. The two countries have been rivals for decades, and fought over a south-eastern region of Ethiopia populated principally by people of Somali origin.

Some feared the Ethiopians' departure would allow the strengthening Islamic insurgency to further take over. On Monday, Islamic insurgents attacked the presidential palace, resulting in heavy fighting with government troops, during which at least 11 civilians were killed. The Islamist groups, once unified, have split since gaining more territory last year. They have begun fighting one another for control of several towns, with the government-allied Islamists claiming to be in charge of some of them. Last year, Somalia's transitional government agreed to share power with a faction of the country's opposition, the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, a relatively moderate group that split from the al-Shabab extremist group which has been at the centre of the insurgency. But al-Shabab, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, did not participate in the U.N.-brokered talks. Hussein Siyad Qorgab, deputy chairman of the alliance faction, urged all to "come together and make a unity government". "We are happy to see Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia ... we need to see them off, but we do not need to see them off with mortars or fighting", Qorgab said. The U.N. envoy to Somalia praised the Ethiopians for honoring of a withdrawal commitment made with the power-sharing deal signed last year in Djibouti. "The ball is now in the court of the Somalis, particularly those who said they were only fighting against the Ethiopian forces, to stop the senseless killings and violence", Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah said in a statement issued Tuesday in neighbouring Kenya. Fadumo Wehliye, who lost three of her eight children during the violence, described the Ethiopian pull-out as "great" and said she would go back to home in Mogadishu. "For the last two years ... I have been living in a makeshift house in the outskirts of the capital", she said. Now "I will return to my home".

The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) issued a statement Tuesday saying it has discussed with Taiwan the problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The AIT is the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. The AIT statement drew attention as it came a day after China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese naval vessels escorted four merchant ships, including an oil tanker owned by a Taiwanese company, in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia in a special operation against pirate attacks. The Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) clarified Tuesday that the Taiwanese tanker escorted by the Chinese naval fleet was in fact a Liberia-registered ship rented out to a South Korean company. The ship, named Formosa Product Cosmos, is owned by Taiwan's Formosa Plastics Group. Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, MAC Vice Chairman Chao Chien-min stressed that the MAC was not involved in arranging for Chinese navy's escort of the Formosa Group ship. Despite Chinese Foreign Ministry's offer to protect Taiwan ships from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Chao said Taiwan is not prepared to accept China's offer to help and has no plans at the moment to negotiate the issue. "There is currently no mechanism for processing requests by Taiwanese ships seeking escorts from Chinese warships in the region", Chao said at the time. The AIT statement also said the U.S. Navy has a responsibility to render assistance to any vessel in distress anywhere in the world that requests its assistance.

http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/freeproducts/somalia/Piracy/UNOSAT_Piracy_Gulf_Aden_2008_Highres_v7.pdf This map illustrates reported incidents of piracy in the Gulf of Aden in 2008 and was produced by UNOSAT in support of the ongoing humanitarian operations across the Horn of Africa, and in response to the UN Security Council Resolutions 1851, 1838 & 1816 (2008), and IMO resolution adopted 29 Nov. 2007 calling for increased monitoring of Somali pirate activity. Satellite imagery has been used in this analysis for the detection of suspected hijacked vessel locations between the villages of Eyl & Hobyo. All piracy incident data has been obtained from open sources.

Impacting news from the global village -------

Good Luck: Ban Ki-Moon stated that he was going on a six-day visit to the Middle East, during which he would visit eight nations with the goal of quickly achieving a lasting truce in Gaza. He said that after achieving a truce, it will be essential to focus on building up Gaza and establishing unity among the Palestinians, which would allow the peace process to move forward.

Obama, Africa, and Peace - Enough's latest strategy paper "Obama, Africa, and Peace", argues that a renewed emphasis on diplomacy and peacemaking is the critical difference between simply managing the crises in Sudan, Eastern Congo, and Somalia, and ending them. "President-elect Obama faces some very hard choices in Africa, with the situations in Congo, Sudan, and Somalia threatening to go from bad to worse", noted Enough Executive Director and report co-author John Norris. "Despite this, the new administration has a genuine chance to fundamentally transform U.S. relations with the continent, and improve millions of lives in the process, by investing in peacemaking and preventive diplomacy".

Kenya has ranked poorly in regard to exercising political rights and civil liberties, a new global survey shows. The report by a US-based Freedom House ranks Kenya among the 24 "partly free" countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ranking is based on restrictions on political rights and civil liberties, often in a context of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic strife, or civil war. The partly free ranking was the same that the country scored in 2008. Kenya has a coalition Government and lacks an opposition. Attempts by some MPs to form an opposition party have so far failed. The executive director of the Kenyan chapter of Transparency International, Mr. Job Ogonda, described the ranking as an "unfortunate verdict" on the fate of the coalition Government. "I am surprised that we did not go lower, because this regime has taken corruption to unprecedented levels". The TI boss cited the secret sale of the Grand Regency hotel (now Laico Regency) as among some of the events that could have led to the poor rank, according to the DAILY NATION. Mr. Ogonda remained apprehensive that if next year’s ranking be in the "not free" category, then the country would take an economic hit as foreign investors are likely to keep off the country. "If the State does not make good for passing the controversial media law, through amendments to the contentious clauses, then the results could reflect in next year’s ranking". The report titled "Freedom in the World 2009: Setbacks and Resilience" covered 193 countries after a year-long survey across the globe. The war-torn Somalia, with its pirate-infested coastline is ranked as "not free" due to the anarchy and extreme cases of violence that the country has experienced. In East Africa, Rwanda remains at the bottom with a "not free" status, while Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi remain "partly free". Among the issues investigated are: Credibility of elections, presence of a strong opposition, transparency in government, a free media and an independent judiciary.

Besides, the equal opportunities and lack of economic exploitation play an important role in determining the vulnerability of the population to subservience, hence making it an important indicator of the levels of freedom. The survey also envisages outside control of the regime, especially in scenarios where leaders are held hostage by cartels controlling key businesses and looks at this in relation to grand corruption. Only nine countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are designated as "free". These are: Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Benin, Ghana, Mali, Cape Verde and the Sao Tome and Principe Island off the West Africa coast.

End of 110th Ecoterra Press Release Update