Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys Denounces U.N. Envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah as the Destroyer of Somalia
Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) - 2009-05-18 14h09:54 UTC
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
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)
Clearing-house
Breaking:
Kenya's judiciary has dropped charges against Andrew Mwangura, who heads an NGO providing assistance to seafarers and was detained for nine days following a controversial hijacking by Somali pirates. Mwangura was arrested Oct. 1 in the Kenyan port of Mombassa, days after pirates seized the MV FAINA, a Ukrainian freighter carrying 33 battle tanks and other weaponry. A statement signed by Assistant Deputy Public Prosecutor Jacob Ondari said the state had notified the court of its intention not to proceed against Mwangura, who was arrested on charges of "making alarming statements to foreign media touching on the security of the country". He had been among the first to suggest the FAINA's cargo wasn't intended for Kenya, as was initially announced, but to the semiautonomous government of South Sudan. Even after the ship's release in February, the Kenyan government continued to insist the tanks were for its own armed forces, despite a number of reports by intelligence sources to the contrary. Confirming the dropping of the case against him, Mwangura complained he had been unlawfully detained last year and his lawyer Francis Kadima said he would consider suing the state. "I have always received phone-calls from Kenyan and Somali officials trying to muzzle me in my efforts to secure the lives and well-being of seafarers taken hostage in Somalia", Mwangura said. Since 2007, Somali pirates have multiplied their attacks on merchant ships and other vessels plying the busy trade routes of the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, hijacking dozens of them to demand ransoms. Through his activity with the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program, Mwangura is on the front line of a crisis which has taken global proportions, threatening vital shipping lanes and drawing in the world's naval powers. The man nicknamed 'the pirate whisperer' could soon be the inspiration for a Hollywood film. Filmmaker Andras Hamori and actor Samuel L. Jackson have secured the rights to his story.
Nolle Prosequi for Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme
Early this morning at the Mombassa high court the Attorney-General entered a Nolle Prosequi saying that the proceedings against me shall not continue.
I was arrested by evil police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department Mombassa upon allegations of "making alarming statements to foreign media touching on the security of the country".
I was arrested outside the Kenya Television Network (KTN) studio in Mombassa at around 21h00 local time on 01. Oct. 2008 and detained for five days at the police cells at Central Police Station and for two nights at the Shimo La Tewa maximum security prison, Mombassa.
I was brought before Mombassa law courts on 2nd October 2008 charged for making alarming statements and allegedly being in possession of two rolls of ganja (2 sticks of Marijuana containing cigarettes). I denied as well as objected to any such allegations.
I attended court on 7th October 2008 for the mention of my case whereby my counsel made an application on constitutional reference.
I also attended court on 13th October 2008 whereby my application for constitutional reference was dismissed.
As per the laws of the Republic of Kenya I can be held for up to 24h, but I was detained for a total of 9 days contrary to the laws of Kenya.
I cater firmly for the interests of seafarers, I have been instrumental in the unharmed release of many seafarers and their vessels from Somalia and my untiring efforts to assist members of ship crews from all over the world and their families have been acknowledged and recognized worldwide.
I have always received phone-calls from Kenyan and Somali officials trying to muzzle me in my efforts to secure the lives and well-being of seafarers taken hostage in Somalia.
Prior to my arrest I had been requested by family members of the Ukrainian seafarers on board MV FAINA to do everything i can to secure their safe release and had made my pleas on the 7 o'clock TV news in Kenya .
I strongly believe that my arrest without having done anything unlawful and without any proven charges is an affront by various players, who try to further cover up on the saga of the Ukrainian arms shipment, which was intercepted by Somali Pirates and whose crew was comprised of 17 Ukrainian citizens, three Russians and a Latvian.
Andrew Mwangura
News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships --------
See our last comprehensive update of 16th May - no changes at hostage vessels reported.
Tanker Master commended for foiling pirate attack. The Master of the Dubai Princess, a 115,485 dwt oil tanker, has been commended for his efforts in foiling a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden. A speed boat carrying half a dozen pirates armed with guns and a rocket launcher was observed chasing the Emarat Maritime managed vessel at 10:12 hours (local time) on May 17. The Officer In Charge of UKMTO has congratulated the vessel's Master, Capt. Syed M. A. Naqvi, on his early detection of the pirate skiff and his evasive manoeuvres and actions which enabled the frigate to close on the attack and drive the pirates away. The Master of the Dubai Princess increased the tanker's speed to the maximum and repeatedly changed course while 2 rocket parachutes were fired at the skiff as it gained ground. The pirates unleashed RPG and machine gun fire off the tanker's Port Side and pictures have now been released of the dramatic chase, with the speed boat no more than 15 metres from the vessel. After several unsuccessful attempts at boarding the tanker the pirates gave up as Capt. Syed M. A. Naqvi headed toward the coalition warship which had answered his distress signal. A second pirate skiff had by this time also joined the attack but gave up chase when a coalition helicopter arrived on scene providing air support. It is understood that the pirates were subsequently disarmed. Capt. Jitendra Misra, Managing Director of Emarat Maritime, the vessels management company said this is an excellent example of a very brave and professional Master and crew working together with the coalition forces to foil yet another pirate attack- all need our sincere thanks and congratulations.
With the latest captures and releases now still at least 16 foreign vessels (17 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, possibly 19 with two further yachts counted in) with a total of not less than 227 crew members accounted for (of which 59 are confirmed to be Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 114 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 36 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
Politiks,
The Pope and The Pirates -
Missionaries, Mercenaries & Mischief -
but who is who?
Irene Lagan of Vatikan Radio spoke with Bishop Giorgio Bertin, Apostolic Administrator of Somalia, about hope for finding a way out of the conflict and providing relief to the displaced civilian population. http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=288205
A seafarers' group appealed to the Roman Catholic Church and other religious groups to help campaign for the ratification by the Philippine Senate of the 2006 Maritime Labor Convention to protect the rights of seafarers. The International Seafarers’ Action Center (ISAC) Philippines Foundation Inc. sought the inclusion of the 2006 MLC in Church socio-pastoral dialogues to raise awareness about the issue. "It is very important to discuss the provisions of the MLC ’06 for we believe, at ISAC, it will lessen, if not eliminate, the abuses and discrimination against our seafarers and other seafarers in the world such as nonpayment of salaries, benefits, unhealthy working environments, and the Flags of Convenience or the FOC system", lawyer Joseph Entero, ISAC secretary-general, said in an article on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines website (www.cbcpnews.com). "But our appeal is not only for the Catholic Church, but to other religious and ecumenical institutions as well, those who have heart for our local and international seafarers", he added. He made the appeal after the first migrant workers’ summit in Mindanao last Monday.
Mindanao is a major sender of Filipino migrant workers, seconded by Visayas and then Luzon. Since 2006, ISAC has campaigned for the ratification of the Convention but failed to gain ground due to what it claimed were "political reasons". Entero did not elaborate on what’s taking Philippine lawmakers to act on the 2006 MLC, but ISAC’s project development officer, Jeremy Cajiuat, had earlier been reported saying some legislators are benefiting from the existing set-up. "The reason behind the delays or the non-interest of the Philippine government and even the members of the august body of Congress is that most of our legislators and members of the executive branch are benefiting from the system existing today in the seafaring industry", Cajiuat was quoted saying in a Bulatlat.com. "Some of them are ship-owners, some are stockholders in different shipping companies, and some are owners of manning agencies", he said, without naming names. The International Labor Organization’s (ILO) MLC ‘06 provides comprehensive rights and protection at work for the world's more than 1.2 million seafarers. It consolidates and updates more than 65 international labor standards related to seafarers adopted over the last 80 years. The Convention sets out seafarers' rights to decent conditions of work on a wide range of subjects, and aims to be globally applicable, easily understandable, readily updatable and uniformly enforced.
Also, it has been designed to become a global instrument known as the "fourth pillar" of the international regulatory regime for quality shipping, complementing the key Conventions of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). "The Roman Catholic Church, with its large network, is instrumental for the information dissemination, education and creation of public opinion about the MLC, which is very important for the ratification of the said international labor instrument", Entero said. Last February, the ISAC has formed the Decent Work Alliance for Seafarers to push the ratification of the Convention.
Somalia's Muslim jihad at sea
By Joshua E. London
Following the recent rescue by Navy SEALS of Capt. Richard Phillips, who was taken hostage by Muslim pirates off the coast of Somalia last week, the Justice Department is contemplating what to do with the one pirate the rescuers captured.
What is clear is that the U.S. government is treating the matter as a criminal case because officials have "found no direct ties" between East African pirates and terror groups. This will not do. These "criminals" are jihadist Muslim pirates and must be dealt with in the context of America's larger regional and international war against Islamist terror networks.
For starters, the Somali pirates do not think of themselves as pirates, but instead consider themselves to be devout Muslims protecting Somalia against the infidel West. As one pirate put it to a Reuters news agency reporter, "We are Muslims. We are marines, coast guards - not pirates".
According to a recent report on Radio Garowe, the Puntland community radio station in northern Somalia, these Muslim pirates have been praised for "protecting the coast against the enemies of Allah" by Sheikh Mukhtar Robow ("Abu Mansur"), a terrorist leader and spokesman for the radical Islamist and al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen group.
Sheik Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, leader of the al-Shabaab-linked Mu'askar Ras Kamboni (designated by the State Department as a terrorist group), said: "I can say the pirates are part of the mujahedeen [religious fighters], because they are in a war with Christian countries who want to misuse the Somali coast".
According to a Reuters interview last summer with Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, "The entire Somali coastline is now under control of the Islamists. ... According to our information, the money they make from piracy and ransoms goes to support al Shabaab activities onshore". In other words, the actions of Muslim pirates off the coast of Somalia help support the larger jihad taking place in East Africa.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in his March 19 audiotape to the people of Somalia praised the efforts of these insurgent Somali jihadist groups, saying they are engaged in "a war between Islam and the international crusade", and he described the Somali jihadists as "one of the important armies in the Mujahid Islamic battalion, and are the first line of defense for the Islamic world in its southwestern part".
There is nothing surprising about any of this. On March 10, before the recent pirate attack pushed this issue to the front pages, Somalia already was a national security concern. As part of the Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair and the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Somalia and the surrounding region as well as the rise of al Qaeda and its allies in East Africa.
As Mr. Blair succinctly put it: "We judge the terrorist threat to U.S. interests in East Africa, primarily from al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists in Somalia and Kenya, will increase in the next year as al Qaeda's East Africa network continues to plot operations against U.S., Western and local targets and the influence of the Somalia-based terrorist group al Shabaab grows". Gen. Maples highlighted al Shabaab and al Qaeda's long alliance and elaborated on the Intelligence community's concerns: "Cooperation among al Qaeda-inspired extremists throughout the region strengthens al Qaeda's foothold in Africa".
There even is growing concern about the rise of Islamist fundamentalism among the Somali-expat community in the United States. (See the eye-opening March 13 report "What Senators Didn't Hear About Somali-American Jihadists" by Patrick Poole on PajamasMedia.com.)
Given the import of what is going on in and around Somalia, it is particularly troubling that the media blindly embrace the administration's "nothing to see here, folks" attitude and refuse to recognize the Islamic nature of this piracy. These thugs are jihadists who see their actions as religiously sanctioned.
The threat of Muslim piracy as jihad is nothing new. In my book "Victory in Tripoli", about America's war with Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean under Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, I noted the religious nature and legitimacy of what the pirates were doing.
Of course, times change, and centuries of failure and military disadvantage have shifted the institution of Muslim piracy from being primarily about al-jihad fil-bahr, or the holy war at sea, to the more rewarding notion of al-jihad bi-al-mal, or the financial holy war (raising money for Muslims and jihad warriors).
Muslim pirates of centuries ago had very Old World aspirations and even more Old World tools and technology. Fundamentally however, little has changed about their motives or their strategy.
What has changed, unfortunately, is the Western world. The United States seems to have lost the fortitude to fight these Muslim pirates effectively. Somalia has been a "failed" and lawless state since 1991, so it has become all too convenient to blame the intelligence establishment's inability to point to clear, unambiguous and unimpeachable links or alliances among the pirates, tribal warlords, village chieftains and known terror networks. As long as the pirates are officially nothing more than organized criminal entrepreneurs making the most of Somalia's lack of security and police infrastructure, this jihadist Muslim piracy will continue.
This scourge of Muslim piracy cannot be defeated through defensive policing of the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean or precision strikes, soft power, smart sanctions, or carrot-and-stick approaches or, really, any other related half-measures. What is needed is the offensive use of brutal, overwhelming force to crush the jihadists at sea and on land, back in their strongholds.
The same policy debates took place during the rapid development of the nascent American republic and then continued to plague Presidents George Washington and John Adams. Even President Jefferson's parsimony got the better of him, and it was not until President Madison finished the job in 1815 that the Muslim pirates of their age ceased to threaten American interests.
President Obama should not repeat the mistakes of the past but should, instead, hunt down and destroy these pirates and the terror networks they aid and abet.
Anti-piracy measures
Guantanamo in Kenya?
The International community seems to have turned Mombassa, Kenya, into another Guantanamo Bay, whereby, every other day Somalia citizens, particularly from the Somali Coast Guards, who have been labeled Pirates, are being dumped for trials by the Kenya Judiciary, which is known for injustice. As we talk now, more than 70 men implicated in such cases and extradited by officers on warships ships from the U.S. of America, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany are rotting in the infamous Shimo la Tewa Prison awaiting for their turn of injustice.
The Prepared Society has launched a campaign to have the Kenya authorities review their so-called agreements with the super-powers to have these Somali citizens tried here, and if they must be tried here, justice must not only be done, but be seen to be done. The sound popular instinct already has turned against these unjust machinations by the United States of America and European countries with the help of Kenya . If nothing is changed, the present situation, where for example the alleged culprits even do not have defense lawyers - certainly will cause further serious implications and disrupt the positive understanding between the peoples of Somalia and Kenya with the peoples from Europe or America.
The respective memoranda of understanding with Kenya especially by the European Union are unconstitutional, since they create an extra-judicial room, where existing Kenya laws and their provisions shall not be applied. Kenya has not abolished the death penalty and any Memorandum of Understanding with a former colonial (UK) or other naval powers in order to not apply the death penalty - the penalty provided for by the Kenyan penalty code e.g. in cases of armed robbery with violence - is a violation of the Kenyan constitution, laws and sovereignty. Either the death penalty has to be abolished in Kenya altogether, which is what the Prepared Society also stands for, or the alleged pirates can not be delivered to Kenya, since the European constitution rules out any extradition into a country, where the death penalty still exists. In any case an MoU between a foreign power and Kenya can not rule out existing Kenya law.
In co-operation and co-ordination with other International and local NGOs - also from Somalia - the Kenyan NGO Prepared Society has now become the focal point to oversee that justice in every aspect is done to arrested alleged pirates, who were already extradited to Kenya, and demands that in future no more pirates are dumped onto the Kenyan judiciary. Countries involved in the fight against piracy should ensure that the accused can be tried in their homeland (Somalia or Yemen) or - where not feasible - in the countries of the states which has sent their captors. The Prepared Society also supports a solution where alleged pirates of merchant vessels would be tried in front of a legitimate international court specialized for such cases. In its present state, whatever, the Kenya Judiciary can neither guarantee just trials or the humane execution of a sentence.
Somali officials on Monday appealed for international help to establish a properly equipped coastguard, saying it was the key to eradicating rampant piracy off its coast. Deputy Prime Minister Abdirahman Aden Ibbi said in a speech to an international conference that foreign naval patrols alone would not wipe out pirates who are disrupting one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes. "Somalia needs a more effective coastguard to protect its sea, to protect our fishermen and to protect foreign ships against piracy because international naval operations are not enough", he said. "We know where they hide. We are prepared to fight. We ask the international community to help us to fight piracy", he said in a speech read by Nur Mohamed Mohamoud, deputy director of Somalia's national security agency. Ibbi said that with a "massive increase in patrol boats and well-trained crew", Somalia could rid the world of the high-seas menace, reported AFP. Ibbi said that Somalia, where the current transitional government is facing a serious challenge from Islamist insurgents, would not be able to eradicate piracy as long as it remained poor and ungoverned. "An end to piracy can only be brought if the rule of law can be enforced and causes of piracy tackled. Piracy will continue to be a problem as long as the violence continues in Somalia", he said.
Nur Mohamed Mohamoud, of Somalia's National Security Agency, told an anti-piracy summit in Malaysia the government was eager to tackle pirates, reported the BBC. He said an effective coastguard was also needed to protect fishermen from illegal foreign fishing boats and to prevent dumping of toxic materials. Somalia wants equipment and training, not a foreign anti-piracy force. However, Somalia's internationally recognized government only controls small parts of the country, while Islamist insurgents hold much of the south, said the BBC.
Abdullah Said Samatar, security minister from the breakaway Somali state of Puntland which is a major piracy hub, backed the call to establish a coastguard and said he was disappointed that no help had been forthcoming, reported AFP. "We are fed up. We are frustrated", he told reporters at the conference, saying that with only two or three coastguard ships the pirates could be eliminated. He welcomed the multinational naval task force currently patrolling the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, but ruled out suggestions that foreign militaries could be sent to storm pirate bases onshore. "On land, we only want local forces. Foreign forces cannot distinguish who is a fisherman or who are the pirates. They will create more problems for us", he said. International donors at a recent UN-sponsored conference pledged more than $250m (£165m) in military and development aid to Somalia. UN bodies will oversee funding earmarked for the government, which wants to build a police force of 10,000 and a separate security force of 6,000.
Experts at the two-day conference in the Malaysian capital are tackling divisive issues including who should pay for anti-piracy operations, and whether crews should be armed or mercenaries hired to guard ships. There is also a debate over what to do with pirates arrested by the navies patrolling the troubled region, and whether short-term security measures or longer-term development initiatives are the best way to curb high-seas crime. The delegates, including maritime experts, diplomats and security officials, will adopt a statement Tuesday outlining possible solutions to eliminate the pirate menace. Somali piracy started two decades ago with more noble goals of deterring illegal fishing and protecting the nation's resources and sovereignty at a time when the state was collapsing. Today's pirates have morphed into a sophisticated criminal ring with international ramifications. Anti-piracy naval operations operating under US, European Union and NATO commands now patrol the region.
The results so far look bleak, summarizes DW from the Malaysian anti-piracy conference aimed at fighting Somali piracy as concern remains that international efforts are too disjointed to be effective. Bjorn Seibert, a Research Affiliate for Security Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Peter Lehr, a piracy specialist at the University of St. Andrews, - when asked whether the presently four differently co-ordinated naval missions to tackle piracy around the Horn of Africa would suffer from a lack of cooperation - stated clearly that "they are hampered at the moment", according to Deutsche Welle. Lehr pointed out that the different missions have different chains of command, different rules of engagement and operate under different domestic laws. That means that for example Dutch or German warships can only apprehend pirates if they pose a threat to their national interests, he explained. A more tragic example of the lack of international cooperation mentioned by both experts happened late last year. An Indian warship sank a Thai fishing boat it mistook for a so-called pirate mother ship, killing 15 Thai crew members. "This would be something that under EU rules of engagements would not have been possible", says Lehr.
The international community has recognized coordination is necessary. At the beginning of the year the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CPGSC) was launched to do exactly that. While the CPSC is a step forward because it provides a broad framework under the United Nations for countries to engage in counter-piracy, it does not provide much help in the concrete fight against pirates taking place every day, the experts say. Instead as a more practical approach, suggests Seibert, the Europeans should ask themselves whether they really need to participate in four different operations to address the same problem. The answer could be to merge the EU and NATO missions and create one combined structure. "Something like this has been done before in 1992 in Bosnia where both the Western European Union and NATO had separate naval forces and they had eventually a unified command", argues Seibert. "So that's something that you could look into at least over the long term in Somalia too". Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said on Monday that Somali piracy has become "a scourge comparable to other major acts of crime".
In a speech given to inaugurate a two-day conference on sea piracy, Anifah said "the UN must take the leading role" to find a solution to the problem. Lehr agrees that it is vital to establish one set of rules of engagement under the same chain of command. "But that's wishful thinking, that won't happen anytime soon, I fear", he adds and points out that the international community has been faced with the same problem in Afghanistan for years. But even if a unified command structure proves to be impossible to implement, there are other measures to bolster the effectiveness of counter-piracy operations, such as increasing the number of airplanes patrolling the region. Still, given the recent spike in attacks despite the naval missions in the area, do counter-piracy operations stand any realistic chance to stop the pirates? Everybody, especially the navy commanders running the operations, know that it is impossible to tackle piracy with a naval mission, says Lehr. It must be solved on land. "But you can deny the pirates the long reach they have at the moment. They are operating from mother ships which give them a reach of up to several hundred nautical miles off their shores. If you can ferret out these mother ships and either arrest or sink them you will turn this high-sea piracy into coastal piracy again which means it will be less lethal, it will be less of a problem".
"We, the Somali government, will guarantee if we were to get the kind of support we have been asking for", there will be no more pirates in Somali waters, Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Abdirahman Aden Ibbi said in the speech, as reported by AP. Capt. Richard Farrington, chief of staff for the European Union naval force, told reporters that an estimated 60 warships are needed to patrol the Gulf of Aden and 150 in eastern and southern coast of Somalia, he said. Currently, there are only 25 frigates in the region, including six or eight from the E.U., he added.
"This is a long campaign ... all we can do is to provide a rather expensive and sophisticated sticking plaster (Band-Aid). You need surgery here, not sticking plasters", he said. "It's about rule of law. It's about governance. It's about generating economic alternatives", he said, referring to war-driven poverty in the country and the absence of government control outside the capital, Mogadishu. But - according to AP - experts say that even if international donors were willing to create a coast guard, they wouldn't know who to give the money to because of lack of authority in the country.
NATO plans tougher action against Somali pirates reports Jane's Defence Weekly. NATO's military planners and legal experts are developing a comprehensive operation plan for a new anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, with an anticipated launch date in June, a senior NATO source told Jane's. In contrast to the first NATO foray into piracy deterrence off the coast of Somalia, the new operation will be planned and force-generated, with substantial assets at its disposal, including maritime patrol aircraft and the possibility of close-to-shore patrol vessels. The current NATO deployment has sent five ships - from Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United States - into the region, where it operates alongside vessels from countries including Iran, China and Russia. The new mission will have a more aggressive approach, targeting the 'mother ships' that support the high-speed fishing boats that pirates have used to attack 114 ships in 2009 - successfully in 29 cases, according to the International Maritime Bureau. "It's not a matter of simply putting more ships on the ocean", said the source. "We have to use them more efficiently and in a different way". The new NATO mission also seeks to establish a common set of rules governing the capture, handover and detention of pirates.
EU wants help with Somali pirates from Australia. The European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Joe Borg, has told The Australian that the rapid spread of piracy eastwards from Africa may soon affect Australian interests and Australia may need to join forces with the European Union to combat piracy in the Indian Ocean if Somali pirates continue to expand their area of attacks. "We are interested to work more closely with Australia in order to fight international piracy, particularly if these piracy activities continue to extend further eastwards", he said. "As these instances of piracy come close towards you (Australia), it becomes more urgent to take action". Dr Borg, who is visiting Australia, stopped short of requesting Australian naval assistance for the fight against piracy, saying such matters were for the Australian Government. The EU has an anti-piracy naval taskforce patrolling the African coast. Defence said early this year it was considering sending a warship to join anti-piracy forces off the coast of Somalia, but yesterday said no decision had been made. "Any ADF support for anti-piracy efforts needs to be balanced against current operational pressures and our regional responsibilities", a Defence spokesman said. "Should government decide to make an anti-piracy contribution, we would be likely to operate as part of the US-led Combined Task Force, which works closely with the European Union-led anti-piracy effort, Operation Atalanta". The EU has a taskforce from eight countries with six warships and three surveillance aircraft patrolling one million square kilometres of the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.Dr Borg discussed closer co-ordination between Australia and the EU on piracy during a meeting this week with Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus. He said the EU taskforce was succeeding in reducing attacks in its patrol zone, but pirates were moving further south and east to evade the naval vessels. "The pirates are extending their operations south and the states of the EU need to see if there is scope to extend the EU operations to cover these new areas of attacks", Dr Borg said. The concerted international effort to combat piracy includes a dozen warships from the US 5th Fleet based in Bahrain, as well as warships from India, Russia, Malaysia and several other nations.
Korean Unit Exposed to Attacks From Somali Pirates, reports the KoreanTimes.
South Korea's naval unit operating off the coast of Somalia has been placed on high alert over Somali pirates' possible attacks using U.S. surface-to-air guided missiles against its helicopter, according to intelligence and Navy sources Monday. The National Intelligence Service and the Defense Security Command recently provided the classified information to the Cheonghae Unit that Somali pirates seemed to have acquired "Stinger" missiles from al-Qaeda, said the sources. The Stinger missile is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile developed in the United States for service in 1981. The shoulder-launched weapon has to date been responsible for downing 270 aircraft. The missile can hit targets flying as high as 3,500 meters at a speed of Mach 2. It has a range of eight kilometers. "Cheonghae has been put on alert since its Lynx helicopter doesn't have any single sensor system against Stinger-like guided anti-aircraft missiles", an intelligence source told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.
The unit reported the potential threat missiles to the Navy command here and requested data on the weapon, the source said. To avoid an anti-aircraft attack when taking pictures of Somali pirates during missions for public affairs, the unit also asked the Navy headquarters to send a 400mm zoom lens to replace the current 300mm lens, he said. With a 300mm lens, a photographer can take a picture of target up to 1.5 kilometers away, but a 400mm lens doubles the range. A military spokesman in Seoul said there was no confirmed intelligence that Somali pirates had secured Stinger missiles, citing sources from the Combined Forces Maritime Component Command based in Bahrain and Korean military attaches to embassies in the Middle East. "We're aware that Somali insurgents have Stinger missiles, but the pirates don't at the moment as far as we know", the spokesman said. "However, we will come up with proper countermeasures to thwart potential anti-aircraft attacks from the pirates in the mid- to long-term, including equipment modifications". The South Korean Navy operates 24 anti-submarine warfare versions of the Lynx, built by the U.K.-Italy joint venture AugustWestland.
The Navy wants to equip these with basic missile protection systems, such as flare launchers; infra-red guided missile countermeasure devices, nicknamed "disco balls"; and radar warning receivers (RWR), according to a military source. He said the manufacturer has shown its willingness to conduct modification work for the helicopters immediately even in Djibouti, where the Korean unit is based, if required. "The best option is to fit required infra-red guided missile countermeasures systems to the Lynx helicopter as soon as possible", the source said. "If not, we hope the modification work will be implemented for the second Cheonghae unit to be dispatched by September". A defense expert called on the JCS to take quick steps to protect South Korean sailors operating off the Somali coast. "If the intelligence proves true, it's quite urgent to take measures to prevent our personnel being killed in a possible anti-air attack by pirates", the expert said, asking to remain anonymous. "We can't exclude the possibility of a `Lynx down' situation similar to an incident where U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot down by Somali insurgents in the early 1990s". Since it was deployed in March, the 4,500-ton destroyer-based Korean naval contingent has shown one of the most outstanding anti-piracy performances among coalition forces operating off the coast of Somalia. Since it began operations last month, the unit's Lynx carrying sharpshooters has successfully rescued four foreign vessels, including a North Korean cargo ship, from the heavily-armed pirates. The Somali pirates reportedly run sophisticated operations using high-tech equipment such as satellite phones, rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers and GPS receivers.
Will GPS Wear Itself Out? asks William Matthews and reports that experts say already the system will be less reliable if older satellites fail. Four F/A-18 Super Hornets hurtled off the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Arabian Sea and sped north toward Afghanistan on April 26 to drop 500-pound GPS-guided bombs on dug-in Taliban machine gunners.
Thanks to GPS, the bombs hit their mark, ending a firefight on favorable terms for U.S. forces on the ground, Air Force Lt. Gen. Larry James told a U.S. House subcommittee.
"GPS provides critical services every second to our deployed forces around the globe", James said, "from the infantrymen walking the streets of Fallujah, to the ships combating piracy off the coast of Somalia, to the aircraft patrolling our country's borders".
James commands the 14th Air Force and the Joint Functional Component Command for Space. GPS - the Global Positioning System - is his baby.
But there's a problem threatening GPS. Its 30 satellites are wearing out, and new satellites being built to replace them are three years behind schedule and have more than doubled in cost, from $729 million to $1.6 billion.
Sometime in 2010, "as old satellites begin to fail", it is possible that the GPS network will be unable to provide the level of accuracy that the U.S. military needs, Christina Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee May 7.
If that happens, GPS-guided bombs may miss their targets, troops in distress may be harder to rescue, navigation may become less certain, and telling friend from foe on the battlefield may become harder.
And it's not just a problem for the military.
"It is not an exaggeration to say that GPS is everywhere", said Michael Swiek, director of the United States GPS Industry Council.
"Whenever you make a call on your cell phone, withdraw money from your ATM or send an e-mail, you are using GPS", he said.
Airlines rely on GPS to plan routes that save fuel; banks rely on precise GPS time signals to authenticate electronic transactions; GPS synchronizes communications and aids in activities from weather forecasting to earthquake predicting. GPS-based systems in automobiles alert police to car crashes and medical emergencies.
GPS probably won't disappear, but there are likely to be gaps in GPS service.
GPS needs at least 24 working satellites to provide signals that maintain the level of service that's available today. But starting next year, "the probability of maintaining a constellation of at least 24 operational satellites falls below 95 percent", Chaplain said. And between 2010 and 2014, the probability falls to as low as 80 percent.
If replacement GPS satellites are delayed for an additional two years, there is a 90 percent chance that the Air Force won't have 24 working GPS satellites, Chaplain said.
The first new GPS satellite originally was to be launched in 2006. Now it's scheduled for launch in November, but it suffers from "significant technical problems that still threaten its delivery schedule", Chaplain said.
James said the Air Force might be able to prevent GPS service from degrading by using "partially mission-capable satellites" as backups for any GPS satellites that fail. There are three such satellites available now, he said.
And the service might be able to prolong the lives of current GPS satellites by turning off their equipment used for missions other than providing GPS signals, he said.
Building a new generation of GPS satellites has been a struggle for the Air Force, Chaplain said.
The effort began in 1996 and has been plagued by technical troubles and management problems. Mergers among contractors and Air Force requirement changes added to cost overruns and schedule delays, Chaplain said.
Originally, Rockwell won the contract in 1996 to build GPS IIF satellites. Then Rockwell was bought by Boeing. The GPS program was relocated twice as Boeing bought McDonnell Douglas and then Hughes Electronics. With each move, experienced employees were lost and delays were compounded. There have been seven program managers.
There were technical difficulties, too. In 2008, progress ground to a halt while Boeing tracked down the cause of a transmitter failure. Parts became obsolete; there were problems with maintaining proper propellant fuel-line temperatures; there were satellite power failures.
"The problems experienced on the IFF program are not unlike those experienced in other Defense Department space system acquisitions", Chaplain said. "What sets GPS apart from those programs is that GPS has already been done before".
In 2008, Boeing lost a bid to build even more advanced GPS IIIA satellites to Lockheed Martin.
News that GPS soon may become less reliable is likely to be a surprise to many, even those in the military.
"I can't say that [military commanders] are necessarily aware that there is a potential of possible degradation in the future", James told the subcommittee. "Their concern is more near-term - am I getting my GPS signal today?"
Most commercial GPS users are also probably unaware of possible service interruptions, said Swiek of the GPS Industry Council.
"Engineers, technical people, people in the manufacturing community" are aware of the problem, he said. But among "the public at large, the users of GPS, particularly in the consumer area, I would say there the awareness is probably nowhere near as great".
Proposals to arm sailors on commercial shipping vessels to battle pirates could lead to an "arms race" on the high seas, a senior maritime official said on Monday. Some shipping companies want their crews to have arms or use mercenaries to deal with Somali pirates, who have mounted 81 attacks between January 1 and April 20, according to data from the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), compared with 115 for all of 2008. But Nicolaos Charalambous, deputy director of IMO, a United Nations body, told Reuters in an interview that arming sailors is not the answer. "Do we want to turn the whole area into a naval battle?", he said while attending a conference in the Malaysian capital on piracy. "And if you are having firearms on board, where do you draw the line? Somali pirates have the capability of getting more heavy caliber weapons". Using satellite trackers, pirates from lawless Somalia have struck merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, capturing dozens of vessels and hundreds of hostages and making off with millions of dollars in ransoms.
U.S. Navy commandos shot and killed three Somali gunmen last month to free Richard Phillips, the U.S. ship captain held hostage who later told Congress in May that arming some members on commercial ship crews could reduce pirate attacks. Charalambous said the pirate attacks could only be contained by navies operating in the Gulf of Aden and the only long term solution was an end to Somalia's 18 years of anarchy that has displaced millions, killed thousands and defied 15 attempts to establish central rule. "When you have a proper legal framework and show willingness to take action on land, then necessity of the coast guard comes into the picture", he said in response to a call from a Somali official at the conference to help set up a national coast guard. The attacks have disrupted shipping, delayed food aid to restive east Africa, increased insurance costs and persuaded some firms to send cargoes around South Africa instead of through the Suez Canal, a key route for oil. "U.N. data has shown that if this attack rate is sustained, it will easily surpass the record number of 115 attacks in 2008 and could climb to 200 attacks in 2009", Charalambous said.
Somali pirates patrol 2.5 million square miles (6.5 million sq km) of ocean, about four times the size of Texas, and can very easily elude capture from ships from the United States, Europe, China, Japan and others flocking to region to protect sea routes. Unlike the pirates in some parts of West Africa's coast especially Nigeria, the Somalis tend to treat their hostages well in hopes of getting higher ransoms, the IMO said. That is not the case everywhere and the IMO is concerned by a rising tide of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa. "On the Somali side, all information shows hijackers tried to keep crews well. Unfortunately in Gulf of Guinea, more lives were lost ... it's more political", Charalambous said referring to piracy by armed gangs from Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta. "But that might change for the Somali pirates if commercial ships are armed and someone gets killed in the gun battles", he said.
Tanzania and Kenya have pledged to start joint naval operations off the East African Indian Ocean coast, to tame rising cases of piracy in the area. Zanzibar President Amani Abeid Karume and the visiting Kenyan Vice- President, Kalonzo Musyoka, yesterday expressed concern over the upheaval caused by pirates in the area. Mr. Karume proposed joint naval patrols in the areas by Tanzanian and Kenyan forces in the war against piracy. The two leaders noted during talks at the State House here that the route was crucial to economies of the two countries, because most imports and exports of the region pass through. Pirates hijacking ships have been a problem affecting trade and other activities in the region. We should work jointly to stop these illegal activities, President Karume told the Kenyan VP. He said some commercial ships to the East African coast were forced to divert the route up to more than 6,000 nautical miles, sometimes leading to delays in delivery of cargo to avoid being hijacked. This, he said, result in shipping companies to increased freight charges. Mr. Musyoka also expressed Kenya's concern at the destruction caused by piracy off the Coast of Somalia. "We are concerned and every effort must be put in place to deal with piracy decisively", said Musyoka. The Zanzibar president urged Kenyans to promote and safeguard peace and stability in their country, saying internal squabbles would undermine development efforts. Mr. Musyoka also held a meeting with his Tanzanian counterpart Dr. Ali Shein in Dar-es-Salaam where they agreed that Kenya and Tanzania will revive an agreement for a Joint Commission for Cooperation that was signed 21 years ago.
Marine ecosystem and IUU fishing
At the beginning of the tuna fishing season in the Indian Ocean the European Union nations want to reinforce European anti-piracy efforts off the Somali coast and expand its zone of operation as far as the Seychelles, Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said Monday. "There is unanimity on the new needs; to extend the coverage up to the Seychelles, to reinforce the capacity of the air and naval patrols, which have already had good results, and prolong the duration of its operations" beyond the current December mandate, Chacon told reporters after a meeting with her E.U. counterparts in Brussels. The first priority is widening the anti-piracy operations southwards and eastward, she stressed. "The undergoing activities in the north have had the effect of pushing the pirates to the south and the Seychelles", she said. The ministers also believe it is necessary "to improve cooperation with NATO and third countries", in the fight against the pirates. Chacon said while there was general agreement among the 27 E.U. nations, details such as which countries will send extra ships and planes to reinforce the E.U.'s current Atalanta operation would have to be hammered out.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks off lawless Somalia increased tenfold in the first three months of this year compared with the same period in 2008, jumping from six to 61. In the same period the number of naval ships in the area has tripled, reaching 20, according to a military source. With foreign navies focusing their efforts on the Gulf of Aden, a key convergence point for maritime traffic and a large proportion of the world's oil supplies, ransom-hungry pirates have hunted their prey further out into the Indian Ocean up to the Seychelles archipelago. Atalanta has already delivered about 100 Somali pirates to Kenya, a European diplomat said. While Spanish companies have been observed to be among the most notorious fish-poachers in Somali waters, the French Government has not even yet recognized the 200nm EEZ of Somalia.
UK stakes claim to huge area of South Atlantic seabed, while Kenya-Somalia claims are unresolved.
UN submission heralds battle with Argentina over mineral rights. A vast tract of the South Atlantic seabed – rich in oil and minerals – was formally claimed by the United Kingdom today in defiance of Argentinean opposition. The submission to the United Nations commission on the limits of the continental shelf has been issued two weeks after the government in Buenos Aires lodged its application to extend control over an almost identical area of underwater territory. The British claim is contained in a 63-page document that will be posted on the UN's website. It defines the precise limits of the extended continental shelf area around the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The islands are all British overseas territories, although ownership is disputed by Argentina. The Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown said: "Successful completion of this process will confirm the boundaries of the UK's jurisdiction over its continental shelf, thus ensuring our sovereign rights to manage the shelf for future generations". The UK document deals concisely with the Argentinian counter-claim, stating: "The UK has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime area".
The submission was one of several last-minute claims for millions of square kilometres of the ocean floor that arrived at the UN's New York office before an international deadline – 13 May – for demarcating possession of extended continental shelves. In the past two weeks, Ghana, Pakistan, Norway, South Africa, Iceland, Denmark, France, Vietnam, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Kenya and others have delivered boxes of documents to the UN in the hope of securing valuable oil, gas and mineral resources around the world. The hefty files of detailed paperwork – one Australian submission ran to 80 volumes – are the culmination of years of underwater exploration by each state, plotting submarine contours that mark the outer edges of the continental shelf. The complex rules of the UN convention on the law of the sea allow states to extend their control and exploitation of the seabed beyond the traditional 200 nautical mile limit and up to 350 nautical miles offshore.
The precise extent of each claim frequently involves establishing the foot of an underwater continental slope, thousands of feet down in the chilly, dark oceans – and then measuring 60 miles outward. Some claims, usually the legacies of unresolved international conflicts, are mutually exclusive, generating fresh diplomatic unease along the fissure lines of ancient boundary disputes. As well as the overlapping claims for the Falklands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic, a dispute has emerged between France and Canada over claims to be presented for the seabed surrounding St Pierre and Miquelon, a small archipelago off the coast of Newfoundland. The French have also raised hackles by claiming the seabed near their Pacific island territories. The 13 May deadline applies only to those states that were signatories of the original treaty 10 years ago. Other states, which signed later, have more time left to submit their claims.
The US has still not ratified the UN convention, but the prospect of neighbouring countries such as Canada and Russia carving up the seabed for exploration is rapidly shifting opinion in Washington. Greenpeace and other marine environmental groups have derided the process as a series of colonial land grabs. Britain has submitted several major claims, all in the Atlantic. They are around Ascension Island, in the waters near the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and in the Hatton-Rockall Basin to the west of Scotland. The UK has signaled its interest in the continental shelf that slopes away from the British Antarctic Territory. All territorial claims at the south pole are, however, formally frozen by the Antarctic Treaty, to which the UK is a signatory. Britain, France, Spain and Ireland have also lodged a shared submission for a 31,000 square mile tract of the ocean floor on the edge of the Bay of Biscay. (guardian)
No real peace yet
Al-Shabab militants have captured Mahaday a key town about 23 km north of Jowhar, the regional capital of middle Shabelle Region, witnesses said on Monday. The militants seized Jowhar on Sunday after three hours of fighting. Three combatants and civilian was killed in the fighting. The seizure of Mahaday and Jowhar towns will be a big blow to the fragile government of Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the Shabab will take over the whole country. Residents said al-Shabab captured the town with no resistances from the Islamic Courts Union who were controlling Middle Shabelle region. Three districts of the four districts of Middle Shabelle region has now fallen to the hands of al-Shabab militants. The Somali government has been amassing troops in Mogadishu to defend al-shabab and their allies. Former warlords have been reportedly active in the activity of the troop mobilization in Mogadishu. Meanwhile sources close to mareeg.com say Somali government soldiers with more than seventy armoured vehicles are reportedly advancing to Jowhar, a strategic town that connects Mogadishu and central Somalia towns. Al-Shabab and Raskamboni fighters led by Hassan Abdulahi Hersi known as Turki captured the town from pro government Islamists on Sunday. Residents in the suburbs of north Mogadishu said the government soldiers overran a rebel, Islamist commander, Moalim Hashi with his militia and took from him three battle wagons. Reports from Jowhar town in middle Shabelle region say there is fear that fighting could start in the town at any time since the government soldiers are heading to the town.
Al-Shabab Islamists said Sunday they will continue fighting against the government till it collapses and the African Union troops leave the country. The spokesman of the Shabab, Sheik Mukhtar Abu Mansur, said they were fighting in Mogadishu and other central towns what he called infidels and their stooges. Al-Shabab and Hisbul Islam groups are fighting against the Somalia government which controls a few blocks in Mogadishu, mareeg reports. Separately, Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indho Ade who held a press conference in Mogadishu declared that his group joined the government and vowed to defend it. Islamist rebels as violence makers and called for the Somali people to defend the government. The Islamist leader with eleven battle wagons joined the government on Sunday and met with Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke in the presidential palace.
At least 17 people were killed Sunday afternoon in the Somali capital Mogadishu after a mysterious explosion occurred at a house where militants were lacing vehicles with explosives, independent sources tell Garowe Online. One source close to Al Shabaab hardliners confirmed that four foreigners were among the dead, but he declined to name the victims' countries of origin. "An explosive device that was connected badly to two Toyota trucks exploded accidentally, killing everyone around and destroying the house", the source said. The house was located in Daynile district, in the outskirts of Mogadishu, he added. Neighbors were forced to stay inside their homes and onlookers were prevented from coming anywhere close to the house by Al Shabaab gunmen. Neither the Somali interim government nor Al Shabaab have spoken out publicly regarding the mysterious blast that was heard at faraway locations. Al Shabaab hardliners have boasted that foreign fighters from across the Muslim world are fighting among their ranks as they attempt to overthrow the U.N.-backed interim government led by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed. The group has previously claimed responsibility for suicide bombings using explosives-laden vehicles, a tactic imported to Somalia from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. government considers Al Shabaab to be a terrorist organization, but the Islamist group controls most regions in south-central Somalia. President Sheikh Sharif's interim government is the 15th attempt to restore national order in Somalia since the outbreak of civil war in 1991.
Somalia’s minister for Planning and International Cooperation, Abdisalam Abdishakur Warsame, has promised that the Somali government will soon fight back the Islamists challenging its authority and accused the opposition forces of causing hardship. Mr Abdishakur reiterated his government’s accusations that the radical Islamists are committed to destroying the Transitional Federal Government and its unity government that was established during the last reconciliation conference in Djibouti. "My government is going to defend itself from the destructive forces of the opposition groups. They are anti-peace and will face the consequences", he added. The al-Shabaab movement and Islamic Party of Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys have been waging a military campaign for the last two weeks and have captured a large part of Mogadishu.
To make matters worse for the government, al-Shabaab (youth in Arabic), the radical Islamist movement opposing the government, admitted on Tuesday, May 12, that foreign Jihadists were fighting alongside its fighters. Islamist authorities in upcountry regions, especially in Juba regions in Southern Somalia offered their sympathies to fellow Islamists fighting the government in Mogadishu. They admitted to have sent fighters to Mogadishu to support al-Shabaab and Islamic Party. Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, the Information Officer of the Islamist Coalition in Kismayu town, 500 km south of Mogadishu, has today admitted that his group is supporting the campaign against the TFG positions in Mogadishu. "We are helping our fellow Islamists, morally and militarily", said Sheikh Yakoub while visiting neighbouring Gedo region. "We are not neutral to the confrontations in Mogadishu", said Sheikh Yakoub. "We oppose the enemy in the country and those who welcome them", he added. The radical Islamists usually refer as Cadawga Ilaahay (enemy of Allah) the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and the government that brought it to the country. "The war is not going to end until we chase Amisom (peacekeepers) out of the country", said Sheikh Yakoub. Minister Abdishakur forecasted big security change in the coming days. "We are going to do a lot to neutralise the anti-government plot orchestrated by international and local groups", said the minister, talking to government supporters in Mogadishu.
U.N. envoy "destroying" Somalia - Aweys
* U.N. envoy "destroying" Somalia, Aweys says
* Presence of foreign militants exaggerated
* No talks with interim government
By Abdiaziz Hassan (Reuters)
Hardline opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys accused the U.N. special envoy to Somalia of "destroying" the Horn of Africa nation, and dismissed talks with the interim government.
Aweys is seen as an influential figure among insurgents in Somalia where he has headed numerous Islamist groups since the 1990s including the Islamic Courts Union that controlled Mogadishu and much of the south in 2006 before being ousted by Ethiopian soldiers later that year.
The 62-year-old cleric told Reuters in an interview that U.N. envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah was harming Somalis by only supporting the weak transitional government.
"It is a surprise to see Ould-Abdallah destroying Somalia when he, as a Muslim, has an obligation of being honest of what he has to do for Somalis", Aweys said.
"He consistently defends the government policies as if he is the president of this country, and he is not playing his role of engaging every side of the conflict".
The world body was not immediately available for comment.
Since the weekend, some of the fiercest clashes in Somalia for months between opposition and pro-government forces have killed at least 139 people and wounded more than 400 others.
Aweys along with President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed led the ICU, which briefly ushered in a time of stability in Somalia before being ousted in December 2006.
"This war is between Somalis who tasted the sweetness of being free and stability and aides of foreign enemies against their interest ... It is a political war", he said.
Somalia's 18 years of civil conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
Foreign Fighters
Aweys -- whom the United States accuses of links to al Qaeda -- said reports that foreign militants had flocked to Somalia to aid insurgents were embellished.
"It is possible that young, excited Muslim men had arrived in Somalia individually, but it is unfortunate to exaggerate this as a hideout for foreign fighters", he said.
"As Somalis, we reach our own decisions, and we had not requested any organisation or governments to come and fight along with us".
Western security agencies have long feared that Somalia with its porous borders and lack of central rule could become a haven for terrorist organisations and could breed extremism.
Aweys has denied rumours that he has links to terrorists.
He reiterated that he would not enter into talks with the government until African Union peacekeepers leave. The presence of foreign soldiers has been a sticking point for opposition figures since Ethiopia's 2006 invasion.
"The troops who came to keep Muslim leaders away from the leadership have to leave the country. (Then) we are granting every Somali that there will be no fighting. We will sit together and solve everything through dialogue", he said.
By Demonizing the Shabaab, the World Community Only Worsens the Dramatic Situation in Somalia
by Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
One may not agree with Sharia Law either in Somalia or in another Muslim country, but this is truly secondary when it comes to Somalia´s pacification. The world will only fail if great powers and the international body stick to their present hypocrisy. And what term better than this can be found in order to describe the lack of willingness from the part of the international community to admit the reality that
1. A period of 18 years of Somali civil war,
2. A period of 2 years of partly Abyssinian invasion,
3. The indirect and duplicitous acceptance of the breakaway tyranny Somaliland and of the shadowy administration Puntland,
4. The criminal incitation of the piracy phenomenon,
5. The ongoing bribery of numerous warlords and traitors,
6. The provocative favoritism of the neighboring racist, dictatorial regimes of Abyssinia (fake "Ethiopia") and Kenya,
7. The unfair treatment (by the world community) of the illegally occupied (by Abyssinia) Ogaden, and the genocide perpetrated there by the - still unpunished - Amhara and Tigray gangsters,
8. The total disregard and disrespect of Somalia´s problematic environmental conditions, and in general
9. The overwhelmingly biased stance toward Somalia and the illustrious, 4000-year long History of the Somali Nation
cannot be left without response from the Somali Nation, cannot be accepted by the Somalis as normal, and cannot occur without consequence.
In fact, it´s not the Somali supporters and followers of Sheikh Mukhtar Robow who founded, manned and developed the Shabaab as organization.
Long before the Shabaab emerged to existence, the perfidy and the iniquity of the Western colonial powers and the indifference of the rest had made it sure that the Shabaab would exist – as a reaction to the aforementioned biases. A shrewd observer may have already anticipated it; the development was expected.
Further failure from the part of the international community to understand the reality that all the UN member-nations stand today accused - for having left the situation deteriorate that much in Somalia - will result in more catastrophic consequences that we will all attest, either Muslim or not.
For the international community to stick to the duplicity of the UN Security Council and the UN top envoy and attempt to support the unrepresentative TFG president with the soldiers of some dictators (this is what AMISOM forces truly are) will be truly too much.
Already loathed by all the Somalis, the AMISOM forces, if they attempt to save the TFG administration, will deprive Sheikh Sharif of the last few supporters he has been left with, among the Somali Nation.
On the contrary, it would be wise for the UN Security Council under China´s proposals to launch a totally new approach and summon Sheikhs Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Turki, and Mukhtar Robow to discussions about Somalia´s pacification, reunification, and rehabilitation.
Particularly exposed to US deceitful schemes, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow must be helped by the international community to demonstrate to his supporters that their rightful anger and protestation against the colonial powers´ anti-Somali evildoings have been adequately understood by the world community – and that there is no need for further radical reaction.
This is the key to Somalia´s pacification.
Al-Barakaat: the little charity that could have saved Somalia
by radio host, writer Allison Kilkenny
Most Americans only hear about Somalia if the country's name precedes "is a failed state", or "is a hotbed of pirate activity". But what many Americans don't know is that the US worked to undermine a Somali charity that stepped in to provide aid to the chaotic state.
After the gross failure of the 1993 Black Hawk rescue mission which left 18 US Army Rangers and perhaps 1000 Somalis dead, the world turned its back on the impoverished country. Somalia was largely supported by a charity group, Al-Barakaat, which accounted for "about half of the country's $500 million remittances".
Al-Barakaat, which literally means "blessings" was "set up to address the needs of Somali immigrants who sent, on a weekly or monthly basis, a significant part of their earnings to their families", writes Ibrahim Warde in The Price of Fear.
Following the 1991 collapse of the Somali government and banking system, Al-Barakaat "assumed a significant role in the Somali government". Warde adds that at the time of the September 11 attacks Al-Barakaat was Somalia's largest business group with "subsidiaries involved in banking, telecommunications, and construction".
The charity's model consisted of wiring money (much like Western Union) from expatriate Somalis to their families in Somalia-- for means of survival -- not terrorism. Warde explains that although the global money transfers understandably raised initial suspicion, accusations that Al-Barakaat was "closely associated with or controlled by the terrorist group Al-Itihaad Al-Islamiya (AIAI)", which in turn gave a portion of money to Osama bin Laden "were dismissed by intelligence professionals, and attributed to political and business rivalries within the community".
In 2001, President Bush accused Al-Barakaat of funding Al-Qaeda. He quickly announced that the Treasury Department would force the Somalian charity to close, and remarked that the termination would "[send] a clear message to global financial institutions: You are with us, or you're with the terrorists. And if you're with the terrorists, you will face the consequences''.
About a year later, The New York Times reported that American officials claimed they had proof that Al-Barakaat provided "as much as $25 million a year to Osama bin Laden's terrorists in weapons, cash and other support", but that "some United States officials now acknowledge that the evidence of Al Barakaat's backing for terrorism is more tenuous".
All of these accusations turned out to be false, and the US government shyly snuck away from the mess. They were able to do so with an assist from the mainstream media, which barely reported on any of this. The wild goose chase not only negatively affected Somalia, but it tarnished the image of the United States. Allies, which had followed the US's lead on Al-Barakaat on good faith, began to doubt the accusations. Warde writes: "[A] Canadian judge, saying that he found no evidence of a link to terrorism, rejected the US request to extradite Liban Hussein, the chairman of Barakaat North America. The man was freed on a $12,000 bond".
Creating a link where there is no link. The mantra should be familiar to Americans by now, particularly in light of the report that Vice President Dick Cheney's office "suggested waterboarding an Iraqi prisoner ... who was suspected to have knowledge of a Saddam-al Qaeda connection".
By the time the US was ready to admit its colossal mistake, it was like watching a bull try to discretely back out of a china shop post-rampage. The mainstream media barely covered it. Worse, Warde writes, the US continued to use Al-Barakaat as an example of "a major victory of the War on Terror".
The closing of Al-Barakaat had devastating effects on Somalia. International telephone service to 25,000 people was cut off. "The company was the country's biggest employer and ran the biggest bank, the biggest phone system, and the only water-purification plant", Warde writes.
Perhaps the most devastating effect is on the psyche of the Somali people, who feel betrayed that their largest charity was accused of terrorist activities, and that they have been robbed of a valuable human resource without so much as an apology or recognition of mistakes from the United States.
Trust is another casualty of the War on Terror. In the Price of Fear, Warde cites a Wall Street Journal interview with a European diplomat assigned to the United Nations Security Council who said, "In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, there was enormous goodwill and a willingness to take on trust any name that the US submitted". That trust is gone now. It's gone because the intelligence community, and the government failed both in gathering intelligence during the lead-up to the War on Terror, and in how it has been treating War on Terror detainees, namely torturing them.
An apology and an Obama administration change of course with its inherited War on Terror Overseas Contingency Operations seems like meager largesse considering the devastation the US (along with its propaganda-peddling media) has wrought on the planet, but it would be a small step toward reparations.
The U.N. Security Council has not ruled out the idea of a U.N. peacekeeping force for Somalia, a top envoy said Saturday after meeting with African Union officials to discuss problems in Somalia and Sudan. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has come out against such a force, but the fierce fighting that has ravaged Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in the last few days appeared to weigh on the diplomats' minds. More than 100 civilians have been killed in the last week and at least 30,000 people forced to flee their homes in Mogadishu, one of the world's most dangerous cities, AP reports. Diplomats said up to 400 foreign Islamic militants were behind the anti-government attacks. Ruhakana Rugunda, Uganda's U.N. ambassador, said those militants could become a threat to the entire region. "This problem of foreign fighters needs to be contained and contained now. If not, it can escalate and cause more problems in other countries", Rugunda said.
An intricate peace deal led to the election of a moderate Islamic leader as president and Ethiopia withdrawing its troops after a two-year deployment. Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed's government also promised to implement Shariah law, but even that has failed to persuade hard-line Islamic groups to end a two-year insurgency. Burundi's AU ambassador, Epiphanie Kabushemeye-Ntamwana, said her country is hoping for an U.N. peacekeeping force. Burundi already has two battalions in Somalia as part of an AU force that guards key government officials and buildings. The U.N. Security Council condemned the violence in Mogadishu on Friday and strongly supported Ahmed's government. It also expressed concern at reports that Horn of Africa nation Eritrea has supplied arms to opponents of Somalia's government in violation of an arms embargo.
Impacting reports from the global village
East Africa sets up border monitor THe Intergovernmental Authority on Development has resolved to create a border management protocol. The resolution reached last week in Kampala comes at a time when Kenya and Uganda are involved in a dispute over the ownership of Migingo Island in Lake Victoria. The members of the authority are Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda. Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, though part of the East African Community, are not part of the authority. The protocol, according to the coordinator for border security, Richard Barno, will set up rules and regulations for border management in the region. He said it would also be used to set standards and practices in the member countries. Barno said there have been disputes over borders in the region, adding that what is important is not the disputes, but the management of the borders. If there is proper management, there will be no disputes, he said. The two-day closed-door meeting also laid ways of patrolling and protecting the open points at the borders. The seminar was sponsored by the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee and the authority's Capacity Building Programme against Terrorism. The meetings were aimed at preventing terrorism. Representatives of foreign affairs ministries, law enforcement, defence, immigration and customs attended. The meeting was also attended by experts from the International Organisation for Migration, World Customs Organisation, and the International Police.
U.N. Committee Faults Japan Human Rights Performance. Demands Progress Report on Key Issues
The United Nations Human Rights Committee, a body led by 18 individuals elected for four year terms, is charged with monitoring compliance. Its primary tool to do so is created by Article 40 of the Covenant, which requires each member country to submit periodic reports "on the measures they have adopted" to give effect to treaty rights "and on the progress they have made in the enjoyment of those rights". (treaty text)
Because the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a comprehensive human rights treaty, the ground to be covered in member states’ periodic reports is vast, as is the responsibility of the Committee as the monitoring body. Accordingly, the Concluding Observations issued by the Committee on October 30, 2008 cover a wide range of topics, including discriminatory treatment of women and non-Japanese persons, unrestricted interrogation of criminal suspects, poor treatment of prisoners, the lack of prosecution of perpetrators of crimes related to human trafficking, unreasonable restrictions of free speech, and disregard of the Committee’s longstanding recommendation that Japan establish an independent institution charged with protecting human rights. Many of the Committee’s comments and recommendations repeated similar statements issued by the Committee in response to preceding periodic reports, most recently in response to the fourth Japan periodic review in 1998. Problems identified by the Committee in 2008 were not new. In a press release issued following the hearings, the Committee put aside diplomatic niceties to quote one of its experts who declared, "it was repeatedly regretted that observations from several earlier country reviews of Japan had not had any effect and that Experts were making the same recommendations again. Sometimes, it seemed to be a dialogue of the deaf".
In an effort to recharge this dialogue, the Committee made several new recommendations. The first was a demand that Japan produce another report "within one year explaining the follow-up given to the Committee’s recommendations" concerning two areas of special concern: interrogations of criminal suspects and extended solitary confinement of inmates on death row. This was the first time the Committee has set such a short fuse to a Japan report.
Two other new items stand out. One is the Committee’s demand that Japan "abolish" the practice of extended custody in local police jails commonly known as "daiyou kangoku". This practice facilitates coerced confessions and has been excoriated by human rights campaigners and by the Committee itself for many years. In 2008, the Committee called for abolishment for the first time. Another is the very practical recommendation that Japan’s national parliament adopt a new statute to define the term "public welfare", which appears in Articles 12 and 13 of the Constitution. Japan’s courts routinely invoke these abstract and open-ended words to justify arrests and restrictions on free speech and other individual rights. The Committee had criticized this practice in the past. In 2008, it suggested a specific remedy for the first time: legislation designed to solve the problem. We will discuss these two items in more detail as we review the Committee hearing process.
Malaysia's Hollow Democracy: Government Censors Internet Criticism of Global Rainforest for Oil Palm Land Grab
Rather than respond substantively to criticism over the Malaysian government and industry's expansion of deadly oil palm plantations into Brazil and Liberia's rainforests [1], the Malaysian government is resorting to despotic censorship to stifle dissent. References to plans by Malaysia‘s federal land agency to establish up to 100,000 hectares of oil palm plantations in the heart of Brazil's Amazon rainforest are being systematically removed from the government's Internet servers. And all emails referring to Malaysia's global rainforest for oil palm land grab flowing through Streamyx, the monopoly Internet service provider in Malaysia, are not being delivered.
"It is clear that Malaysian citizens do not enjoy freedom of information, which is tragic, because their government is leading the destruction of Earth's rainforests with their tax money", asserts Dr. Barry, Ecological Internet's President. "For decades Malaysian timber companies have behaved like timber Mafia across the Asia-Pacific, bribing and waging violence to rip out millions of year old rainforest ecosystems for timber. This once off raping of the land is now being followed by planting of oil palm, in what can only be described as south-south neo-colonialism. We demand that the Malaysian government respond to our criticism, cancel the projects, and commit to freedom of expression regarding their rainforest policies".
Sime Darby, a Malaysian palm oil producer planning to invest $800 million for 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of palm oil and rubber plantations in Liberia, described Malaysia expansionist foreign policy perfectly. "It is increasingly difficult to acquire arable plantation land in Asia and thus it is imperative that new frontiers be sought to meet increasing demand", said Ahmad Zubir Murshid, chief executive of Sime Darby. "Sime Darby will also have the first mover advantage over future entrants into Liberia in terms of securing choice land".
"This flood of land grabs by emerging nations, mostly of land under local customary land tenure, is eerily reminiscent of past and ongoing European and U.S. colonial practices", states Dr. Glen Barry, who is a practicing Political Ecologist and holds a Ph.D. in Land Resources. "We are witnessing the intensification of social turmoil caused by climate change, land and water scarcity, and over-population and inequitable consumption. Until these root causes of global ecosystem collapse are addressed, there is no chance of achieving equitable and just global ecological sustainability".
At the New York-based Seamen's Church Institute, the largest and most comprehensive of U.S. maritime ministries, the "consensus is that arming merchant ships is probably not the best solution", said Douglas Stevenson, director of the Center for Seafarers' Rights. "There are no simple answers", he said, adding that both the Episcopal Church-related Seamen's Church Institute and the International Christian Maritime Association have studied the growing peril for years. Since 2003, more than 1,660 merchant mariners have been kidnapped or taken hostage worldwide, according to industry figures. "Somalia-based pirates want to keep their captives alive [to demand ransom money], whereas in waters off Southeast Asia or Nigeria you are in an armed robbery situation", said Stevenson. Deterrence would be limited: "Many ports prohibit merchant vessels that carry weapons". Due to an upswing of pirate attacks off East Africa, Lutheran World Relief is not planning at present to send shipments to either Kenya or Somalia, said a spokesperson May 6 at the LWR headquarters in Baltimore.
Observing that shipping lines are evaluating all options to protect their crews, Trevor Knoblich, LWR program associate for material resources, said in an e-mail that "piracy, terrorism and violence between tribes often stems from severe poverty" and that the people of Somalia and Kenya desperately need assistance. "While we are working to avoid risks, we cannot eliminate them entirely", Knoblich said. "We also do not want our work to be dictated by a fear of piracy— there are legitimate needs and many peaceful, deserving people in those areas". In the larger picture, threats of piracy are regionally limited—and not the only concerns for the 1.2 million merchant mariners operating 100,000 vessels that deliver the bulk of world trade, according to maritime leaders. "In my opinion", SCI's Steven son said in a telephone interview, "the biggest threat to maritime security is not coming from terrorists but from the inability of the maritime industry to recruit a sufficient number of skilled, responsible people". A shortage of qualified ship officers continues, he said, even though many vessels have been idled by the worldwide economic slump. "Very few Americans are international crew members because of the relatively low pay", he said.
Of the seafarers working out of New York-area harbors, about 60 percent are Filipino. Recruitment and retention of good workers and officers is hampered not only by the piracy peril, Stevenson said, but also by the fear of some that they might be convicted of manslaughter in the U.S. if simple negligence—a legal term—leads to a death. "Seafarers are held to a higher degree of fault than those working on planes, trains, buses and other conveyances", he said. SCI seeks to repeal or amend the Seamen's Manslaughter Act. Post-9/11 security measures at U.S. ports were recently tightened to the point where foreigners are denied shore leave unless chaplains or hired drivers escort them to banking facilities, shopping malls and hospitality centers. Marge Lindstrom, a third-generation Episcopal priest and one of several women chaplains with SCI at Newark and at its inland waterway posts, loves her vocation. For mariners, getting off a ship after nine months of monotonous, boring duty in tight confines, she said, "is of utmost importance for their psyche and spiritual well-being". Usually half of a merchant ship crew (up to two dozen seafarers) have to stay on the ship when it is in port, said Lind strom. Chaplains are allowed to board a docked vessel. "Sometimes it's just shaking someone's hand, looking them in the eye, and saying, 'Hello, how are you?"
Piracy less important than Sex to Africans. A new tool by Google reveals how Africans use the Internet. Not being a surprise, "sex" is one of the most searched words in the Internet, but it may come as an embarrassment to many Muslim countries that their citizens are the world's most frequent digital sex searchers; in particular North Africans. But also in sub-Saharan Africa, "sex" is among the most popular searches. The Google Trends tool also reveals Africa's most popular celebrities and potential markets for African products. When it comes to using the Internet to look for sex, North Africans in particular seem to have found a new outlet for societal taboos. The sex search on Google is topped by Pakistan, but closely followed by Egypt. Moroccans even reach the top-ten list both in English (6th on "sex") and in French (2nd on "sexe"). Algerians top the search for "sexe", showing twice as much interest as the French and Tunisians. A quick look inside the booming cybercafés in North Africa confirms this obsession. On a regional outlook, Mauritanians, Malians and Nigerians are the most sex-searching West Africans, followed by the Senegalese, while Ivorians and Gabonese already have found other uses for the Internet. In Southern Africa, Zambians and Malawians are searching twice as much for sex as Angolans and Mozambicans. Tanzanians however are even more interested in finding sex on the Internet, while Ethiopians and Somalis demonstrate a true obsession.
Even homosexuality, which is illegal in most Muslim and African countries, spurs much interest in Muslim Africa. While the search word "gay" is dominated by Latin Americans, it is mainly Filipinos and Saudi Arabians looking for "gay sex". The African "gay sex" list is topped by Kenyans, Tanzanians, Namibians, Zimbabweans and South Africans. In the francophone world, however, Algerians and Moroccans by far top the world's search for "la homosexualité". Algerians also by distance top the search for the "sexe gay", with the French and the Moroccans being somewhat more timid on the issue. Even when it comes to economics, Google Trends could prove a nice tool for African business analysts. If you want to offer safari holidays, Google reveals that the word "safari" is most searched by South Africans, followed by Singaporeans, Britons and Swiss - a good market indictor. The biggest non-African markets for "beads" may be found in the US, Australia and Singapore, it seems. Sweet mangos catch special interest in Lithuania, ostrich products in Iran, while there seems to be a market for khat in Viet Nam and Malaysia. The Google Trends tool was only presented earlier this week - in a basic, unfinished version - but has already been praised on the technology market for opening up new possibilities within sociology analyses and market research. Search trends can be followed to a city level in most countries. Critics however warn that making search results public in an ever more detailed manner could collide with privacy rights.
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: Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys with Sheikh Sharif and Sherif Hassan Aden when they were still allies.
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