Somali Piracy After the End of the MV FAINA Crisis. Part III

In an earlier article entitled 'Somali Piracy After the End of the MV FAINA Crisis. Parts I & II' (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93169), I published the first two press releases issued by the leading environmental NGO Ecoterra after the peaceful happy end of the MV FAINA crisis. In the present article, I go on with the next Ecoterra press release, which offers across-the-board information about the Horn of Africa region.

Ecoterra Intl. - SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) Part III

Ecoterra International - Update & Media Release

2009-02-17 19h55:26 UTC

EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia@ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships --------

The release of MT CHEMSTAR VENUS, which we reported on 13th February with five South Korean and 18 Filipino sailors, was first denied by IINO Shipping, the Japanese owner and manager of the vessel. Only later the South Korea's foreign ministry confirmed on 15th February, and thereafter Bayani Mangibin, spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, backdated the confirmation from his side to the media, which only reported on February 16th. Maritime officials question the motives behind the late confirmations and believe many times insurance negotiators, who are paid a per diem during the time they are assigned to a case are trying to always extend their paid-for time by not immediately confirming the release. The Chemstar Venus is expected in Dubai latest by Feb.19, 2009 and the new crew is said to be there at the same time for an exchange. Capt. Mirande of Chemstar Venus' manning agency, POBAR Maritime Shipping Corp., renowned for placing company interests above the plight of its seafarers, will hopefully see at least then for the speedy repatriation of the seafarers.

The foreign nationals of the crew of MV JAIKUR I, a UAE merchant vessel detained in Mogadishu harbour in connection with an insurance claim concerning damaged cargo, will hopefully be flown out soon of the dangerous place, after a humanitarian organization intervened against the detention of the crew. The owner of the vessel has already made provisions to fly the non-Somali crew members, 14 Indians among them, out of Mogadishu. Meanwhile, Mohamed Osman "Dhagahtur", Mogadishu's city mayor and the committee's chairman, told reporters that President Sheikh Sharif appointed two separate committees to steer a new security policy. "The President appointed me to chair the Banadir regional security committee, which has a total of nine members", Mr. Dhagahtur said. He indicated that the committee issued a declaration calling for the removal of police and military units from the capital "within 48 hours". Mogadishu and its harbour have seen over the last days several attacks including one against an AU supply vessel in which 3 dock-workers were killed and 7 others got injured by mortar fire.

A Russian daily claims Somali pirates hijacked Israeli-owned Ukrainian vessel MV FAINA after a tip-off about its destination and cargo. A Georgian cell operator directed the call from the port city of Odessa, Kommersant quoted Ukrainian security sources as saying. Pirates captured the arms-laden MV FAINA along with its 21 crewmembers in the Indian Ocean on September 25, 2008, sparking international concern over the possible sales of its sophisticated military cargo. The ship was released after 20 weeks on February 5, when pirates received a $3.2 million ransom. MV FAINA's Israeli owner Vadim Alperin was accused of delaying the release by refusing to directly negotiate with pirates. The seizure by Somali pirates of the MV FAINA vessel carrying tanks and other military equipment was not a special operation instigated by Ukraine's competitors on the weapons market, said Mykola Malomuzh, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service. Meanwhile the MV FAINA cargo has been fully loaded on rail wagons in Mombassa - ready for onward transfer to the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi, KBC reports. Sources say the cargo is awaiting an official flag off to start the trip anytime later Tuesday or early Wednesday. The consignment aboard the Ukrainian ship included 33 T-72 battle tanks (MBT), several ZPU-4 quad-barreled 14.5 mm towed anti-aircraft guns mounted on four-wheel carriages, rocket propelled grenades, an armored truck and spare parts as well as a huge amount of ammunition. Military officials, led by Colonel George Kabugi, Deputy Commander of the Kenya Army Armored Brigade, told journalists that they were happy to receive the cargo. When the vessel arrived in Kenya, Defence Assistant Minister David Musila said the equipment would be transported to Kahawa Garrison and then to Isiolo and Lanet Army barracks.

The exercise was interrupted several times - as KBC puts it due to tidal waves on the ocean and other logistic hiccups. Media outlets also raised questions over the real destination of the cargo, citing sources in Somalia who claimed the shipment was purchased by Kenya to arm Sudanese rebels in the Darfur region. The Kenyan government has denied the allegations. Jane's Information Group, who publishes Jane's Defence Weekly, stated, however, that though Kenya has repeatedly issued claims to be the end user of the weapons, Jane's sources state that this consignment is, in fact, the third and final batch of MBTs and heavy weapons ordered for use in southern Sudan. The MV FAINA had a crew of 21, including 17 Ukrainians, three Russians and one Latvian. The Russian captain, Vladimir Kolobkov, died of a heart attack soon after the vessel was seized and his body had been brought after a post-mortem had been carried out in Kenya in the presence of Russian medics - which didn't reveal any foul play according to Russian diplomats - to Nairobi in order to be flown back to Russia. Armen Popov, the Russian Consul in Kenya informed, that the body of the ship's Russian captain first had to remain in Kenya, because "We have to obtain necessary documents and fulfill necessary procedures". Meanwhile the body has been brought from Nairobi to Zurich and then to St. Petersburg. The captain will be buried at the city's Serafimovskoye cemetery on February 19, Chairman of the Russian Sailors� Trade Union Baltic territorial organization Alexander Bodnya told Itar-Tass.

The sources of Kommersant-Ukraina newspaper state that MV FAINA's owner Vadim Alperin allocated only a half of money out of now allegedly spent US $4 million. The rest of fundraising was reportedly guided by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. Unknown businessmen from Ukraine appropriated the rest of funds. The editor-in-chief of the Maritime Bulletin-Sovfracht Mikhail Voitenko, who was taking part in the negotiations with the pirates, confirmed the data. According to him, Alperin assigned even less than a half of funds that were sent to the pirates. "MV FAINA would be remaining in the captivity of the pirates for a long time without assistance of Ukraine's authorities", Mikhail Voitenko said. He also confirmed the data whereby a great amount of funds (US $800,000) were spent for "other charges". "For example, delivery of food and water was necessary for the sailors at the ship. By the way, Ukraine paid the British who were serving like negotiators till January" [after which the real negotiations started]. Governmental internal oversight however is urged by observers to scrutinize the ransom paid and the bill of "other charges", since earlier reports claimed that only 19,000 USD were paid to the vessel for food, fuel and water.

In a further scandal surrounding the MV FAINA it was revealed that the information about possible compensation worth 1,3 million grivna (about $180.00) to the sailors of the Ukrainian weapons-ship is wrong. This was declared today by Stepan Havrych, National Security and Defense Council First Deputy Secretary. Seafarers had been expecting the compensation, but "This information is a misuse of materials, prepared in National Security and Defense Council. It has nothing to do with reality. I apologize to the sailors and their relatives", - said Havrych.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 11 foreign vessels with a total of 173 crew members accounted for (of which 34 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 (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 32 averted or abandoned attacks and 6 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 ------

While the cargo of MV FAINA has now been offloaded nobody has yet counter-checked on the 812 tonnes of 125 mm battle-tank ammunition said to contain 3BM-32 warheads with penetrators made from depleted uranium (DU). Non of the three international organizations tasked with such duties (WHO, UNEP and IAEA) nor the New York based global arms transparency instrument - the UN Register of Conventional Arms, which even does not cover ammunition transfers - have reacted so far.

In this context it must be known that:

(1) The use of DU weapons goes against established principles of humanitarian law, notably principles of the Geneva Conventions and some UN guidelines relative to:

- the protection of civilian populations (See Articles 48 and 51.4 above)

- the limitation of unnecessary human suffering (Art.35.2)

- the limitation of damage to the environment (Art. 35.3 and 55.1)

Art. 35.2: It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.

Art. 35.3: It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long- term and severe damage to the natural environment.

Art. 55.1: Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population.

More and more scientific studies, as in the case of an Italian Soldier awarded compensation for having been exposed to DU in Somalia, establish the precise health impact of DU on the human body and armed forces should refrain from using DU weapons on the battlefield, though so far no specific convention banns its outright production and use yet. In addition the effects of depleted uranium are often indiscriminate and even when used on military targets, DU weapons leave a chemical and radioactive toxic residue which can spread over large areas.

As for the environmental damage, several studies by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) highlight the negative environmental effects of DU. The report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, published in March 2003, while confirming low levels of ground contamination, found proof of groundwater contamination (seven years after the conflict) and recommended the use of alternative water sources. Also, UNEP scientists detected air contamination in some of the sites studied and recommended a decontamination of the buildings in use on these sites. If damage to the environment is thus proved, the use of DU should be contrary to article 35.3 of Protocol I.

(2) after NATO's use of DU weapons in the Kosovo campaign in 1999, the Council of Europe parliamentarians called for a world ban on the production, testing, use and sale of DU weapons, asserting that NATO's use of DU would have "long term effects on health and quality of life in South-East Europe, affecting future generations" (Council of Europe 24.1.01).

(3) the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities issued two Resolutions (United Nations 1996a; United Nations 1997) on the need to stop the production and use of weapons of mass destruction, including DU weapons:

"The Sub-Commission [-] urges all States to be guided in their national policies by the need to curb the production and the spread of weapons of mass destruction or with indiscriminate effect, in particular nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, fuel-air bombs, napalm, cluster bombs, biological weaponry and weaponry containing depleted uranium" (United Nations 1996b).

Although DU weapons are not illegal, their use goes against basic principles of international humanitarian law as (1) they have the potential to contaminate groundwater reserves and pollute the air (2) they have the potential to cause cancer and have other long- term negative health effects on combatants and civilians. Moreover, the use of anti-tank DU weapons and bunker buster DU-tipped bombs on above ground civilian targets in the centre of Baghdad during the war increased urban populations- exposure to DU, which can only exacerbate the potential negative effects of DU on civilians.

Kenya had declared itself a nuclear-weapons free zone after it signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Mayor Lisa Barrett, a tall slim blonde and young mother from Bowen Island [B.C. / Canada], firmly contested already in 2005 the use of DU ammunition by the US Navy. Back then she said: "We can learn from each other by implementing and sharing our ideas on issues such as energy choices, divesting pension funds from weapons manufacturers, stopping the U.S. Navy from shooting depleted uranium weaponry in U.S. and Canadian coastal waters, and sharing information about the spider web relationships between U.S. and Canadian corporations". She told us that the U.S. Navy is shooting depleted uranium weapons into the waters around Nanaimo, poisoning their fisheries just as they did around Seattle and in California, while U.S. weapons producer Lockheed Martin Marietta has bought a controlling interest in the ferry systems of B.C., privatizing an essential public transportation system - and raising the cost of the services. The extent of Canadian government pension fund investments in U.S. weapons manufacturers and the Carlyle Group, linked closely with the Bushes and Bin Ladens, is unbelievable. But Gail Davidson, co-founder of Lawyers Against War, exposed B.C. pension fund, the British Columbia Investment Management Corp., or BCIMC, and local Vancouver city pension fund investments and involvement in U.S. corporations and weapons manufacturers. Why nobody answers questions, which ask to what extent the US Navy is firing depleted uranium ammo into Somali waters - for "training" or while going after alleged pirates?

Meanwhile Medics have found traces of depleted uranium in victims of Israel's brutal attack on Gaza, according to a Press TV report, meaning the ultimate death toll could be far higher as future generations are plagued by cancers and birth defects. "Norwegian medics told Press TV correspondent Akram al-Sattari that some of the victims who have been wounded since Israel began its attacks on the Gaza Strip on December 27 have traces of depleted uranium in their bodies", states the article. Following the conclusion of the first Gulf War in 1991, in which depleted uranium was used by U.S. forces, cancers and birth defects in Iraq soared and many veterans organizations agree that the weapon was responsible for the emergence of Gulf War Syndrome that has plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans. Depleted uranium shell holes at the infamous Highway of Death in Iraq showed measurements 1,000 times more radioactive than background radiation. The residue of a DU weapon can be spread by the wind and infect humans not in the immediate area as well as the entire food chain. In 1999, the UN called for the use of depleted uranium to be banned worldwide but efforts to downplay its effects led by the Pentagon have blocked such a ban. Former head of the Pentagon's 1994 U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project Maj. Doug Rokke has faced constant harassment, including murder attempts, after going public in 1997 to expose the health effects from depleted uranium that the U.S. government and the World Health Organization have consistently dismissed. Israel's use of depleted uranium against victims of the Gaza bombing campaign provides further evidence that war crimes are being committed with the tacit approval of both the current administration as well as president elect Barack Obama.

Stout seafarer's defender Andrew Mwangura was granted by the High Court in Mombasa a bail with a personal bond of 100,000 Ksh against any pending (re) arrest by the Kenyan authorities. His case is on for another hearing tomorrow, 18th February 2009 at the Magistrate Court chambers of Mombassa.

Farid Omar from Vancouver writes in the American Chronicle: Col. Gaddafi, the newly-minted African Union (AU)chairman, recently told Kenya's Daily Nation that he doesn't believe that Somalia's piracy was a crime. "It is a response to greedy western nations, who invade and exploit Somalia's water resources illegally". Said the Libyan President. "It is not piracy, it is self-defence. It is defending Somalia children's food". Col. Gaddafi argued. After the collapse of the Somali state, there were no patrols along the shoreline and Somalia's tuna-rich waters were soon plundered by commercial fishing fleets from around the world.

Somali fishermen armed themselves and turned into vigilantes by confronting illegal fishing boats and demanding that they pay a tax. However, things later got out of hand as the vigilantes in the high seas quickly transformed themselves into pirates hijacking any vessels they could catch. But unknown to most in the rest of the world, Somali pirates are not the only ones benefiting from this high stakes industry. Last month, the BBC reported that the hijacking of ships off the coast of Somalia has created a mini-industry for a business entity based in the UK. An investigation by Simon Cox, a BBC reporter, on how ransom is paid ,has revealed that money trails lead to one destination: London. According to Cox, securing the release of hijacked ships and crew members is "the responsibility of a hidden mini-industry of lawyers, negotiators and security teams based nearly 7,000km away, in London, UK, the business capital of the world's maritime industry". Simon Beale, a marine underwriter, says that all these specialist services don't come cheap in the UK. He adds that by factoring in the cost of lawyers, risk consultants, security advisers, as well as the fixed overheads, and delivering the money to the pirates, all these "can lead to doubling the ransom amount". Cox adds that this hidden mini-industry thrives because paying a ransom is not illegal under British law unless it is paid to terrorists. It has long been established that piracy in Somalia does not constitute a politically motivated act as pirates simply hold vessels for ransom. As such, they are treated as criminal gangs in the high seas, not terrorists. Cox notes that last year, Somali pirates pocketed an estimated $50m. "Not all of this is going to British lawyers, negotiators and security teams but a fair chunk of it will be", says Cox. "This has led to some criticism, particularly in Spain, that London is profiting from crime".

No doubt, piracy of commercial ships in the high seas is a serious crime and coordinated international efforts are required to stamp it out. At the same time, the international community must put to an end the illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters as well as reign in on the mini industry in UK that is profiting from this criminal enterprise. More importantly, piracy can only be rooted out if the international community supports the creation of a peaceful and stable state in Somalia. This would entail the promotion of an inter-Somali dialogue that would bring together all parties in the Somali conflict in direct negotiations on the way to finding a lasting solution to the political crisis in Somalia.

There is a need to set up an international commission to address killings carried out by Somalis against their fellow countrymen, says a UN special representative for Somalia, as reported by the Kenyan Daily Nation. Such an initiative, says Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, would overcome the conspiracy of silence currently evident over a country that has known no peace for close to two decades. "The Security Council needs to adopt a resolution allowing the International Criminal Court (ICC) to handle impunity or war crimes committed by Somalis against Somalis. The conspiracy of silence over Somalia must end, you cannot just main, kill and torture and get away with it'.' Speaking at his office in Nairobi, Mr. Abdallah wondered why the Somali conflict was not being treated like other conflicts such as Congo, where suspects have been sent to the Hague for trial. He said the international community ''is treating the Somali conflict as if it is tired of it''. "Somalia is defying logic and the international community is defying the conflict and conducting studies instead of looking for a solution'', he added.

Questions emerged about whether the U.S. Navy can continue to hold a group of suspected pirates captured on the high seas and kept for now in floating jail cells ringed with barbed wire. At issue are nine men, probably Somalis, seized off a small skiff in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday. A Navy ship fired warnings shots and sailors boarded the skiff and arrested the men after a distress call from an Indian-flagged merchant ship. Although defense officials would not be specific, several acknowledged that there may not be enough evidence to hold the men for trial and that some or all might be returned to Somalia. If a case can be brought, it will be among the first under a new arrangement with Kenya to take on prosecution of suspected Somali pirates. Somalia has no effective government or recognized court system, and until now foreign navies have been reluctant to detain suspects because of legal uncertainties over where they would face trial.

"They obviously had some strong suspicions about these individuals and are right now mulling through the evidence they have to determine whether or not they can be prosecuted", Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Friday. "If there is insufficient evidence to do so, they'll have to make another determination, and that could well be repatriating them". Morrell said the men would not be allowed to keep weapons including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher seized from their boat. For now the group is being held aboard the Lewis and Clark, a U.S. Navy ship equipped with bare-bones holding cells. Pentagon video footage showed thin black pallets and pillows spread on the floor and surrounded by coils of barbed wire. The nine suspected pirates are the second of two groups seized by the U.S. Navy this week off the coast of Somalia. Defense officials said there are not the same concerns about the strength of evidence against the first group seized by the United States. Those seven suspected pirates were detained Wednesday after they allegedly tried to board a merchant ship flagged in the Marshall Islands. The Pentagon said there is no deadline by which a new U.S.-led anti-piracy consortium must decide what to do with the men, who in the meantime were being treated "humanely". Increasingly drone aircrafts that have been used by the US military in Afghanistan and against insurgents in Iraq are now being used to combat pirates off the Somali coast. The US Navy revealed over the weekend that the destroyer Mahan has been using the unmanned aircraft to keep an eye on small vessels that are suspected of carrying pirates. Sources told the Associated Press that the spy flights played a role in last Thursday's capture of nine suspected pirates. Newly created Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151) created under US command to fight piracy around the Horn of Africa has meanwhile been joined by Britain, Denmark, Turkey and Singapore, U.S. officials said.

Meanwhile also Ben Rawlence of the New York-based Human Rights Watch told VOA that his group is concerned that in its eagerness to bring pirates to justice, the United States may be overlooking a critical problem in Kenya, which is likely to affect the way pirates are detained and prosecuted. "There are major, major problems with the Kenyan justice system", he said. "No one really is guaranteed the right to a fair trial in that system. The police have a terrible record of long periods of detention without trial, terrible conditions in the prisons, very poor record of access to legal representation, interminable delays in the court process. The Kenyan justice system is in a terrible state". In 2007, after the fall of the Islamic Courts Union in Somalia, Muslim and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, sharply criticized Kenya for what they said was the arbitrarily detention of at least 150 people suspected of being terrorists. Human Rights Watch said that as many as 85 people were secretly deported from Kenya to Somalia at the request of U.S., Somali, and Ethiopian governments. Rawlence says charges of mistreatment or abuse of suspected Somali pirates brought to Kenya under a vague, little publicized agreement could again stir up anger and resentment among Muslims in Somalia and the region. "There is a very real risk that this agreement might be perceived as an attack on Muslims. Anything that the United States does is subject to a high degree of suspicion", he said. "Any kind of secret agreement is bound to spawn all sorts of speculation about what sort of nefarious practices are going on. So, it is in the interest of the U.S. and Kenya to be as open and as transparent as possible about this".

Separately, the Russian navy said Friday it detained 10 suspected pirates closing in on an Iranian-flagged fishing trawler. Russian military prosecutors were questioning the men, who were caught on Thursday with rifles, grenade-launchers, illegal narcotics and a large sum of money, the navy said. The crew of the Russian warship Pyotr Veliky has detained three pirate ships off the Somali coast, a Russian navy spokesman said. Capt. Igor Gygalo said weapons, including assault rifles and grenade launchers, drugs and a large amount of cash were discovered on board the pirate vessels, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. The incident occurred Thursday near Yemen's Sokotra Island when a helicopter based on the missile cruiser spotted two speedboats moving toward a fishing boat under the Iranian flag. When they spotted the helicopter, the people aboard the speedboats began throwing items overboard, the news agency said. Gygalo said two speedboats and a parent ship were detained with 10 Somali pirates. "The detainees were in a state of narcotic intoxication", he told RIA Novosti. He said investigators were questioning the detainees. Russia eyes Sokotra island as a future base for its navy.

Pirate assets to be frozen. There is ongoing plan to freeze the assets of Somalia pirates' chief Mohamed Abdi Hassan - also known as 'Afweyne'meaning "big mouth", according to a senior Western Intelligence official in the Horn of Africa, Mareeg reports. The scout said they are involving in an investigation on Somali businessmen linked to the pirate leaders, which will be frozen as the traders in Dubai, Uganda and India will be brought to court, according to the agent's statement. M.A. Hassan, who was the first pirate that hijacked a Japan owned ship off Somalia coast, has been living in India during 2006 to 2008 but for the past six months he was hiding in Hargeysa, the capital of the Somalia's northwest breakaway republic of Somaliland, anti-piracy officers told the Media. For the last two and half year absence from the Somalia, the work was being done by his son named as Abdukadir Afweyne. Hassan now is in the pirate dominated town of Harardhere where he received huge profits from the ransom paid by the owners of the vessels hijacked off the lawless coast in Somalia. Hassan allegedly owns 19 speed boats and 100 militiamen who daily go for piracy. Residents in the town said Hassan, the pirate chief, is now busy recruiting militiamen that can carry out more hijackings on the ships and also he was testing weapons which unloaded from the Ukrainian ship that recently released for three million dollars of ransom. In Harardhere, a local reporter met some pirate officers and they told him that they are forming as a government. "We want to set up a local administration under the control of the pirates which will govern the area from Harardhere to Hobyo town; we want to work on development in the region. We defended the region against the Islamist terror groups of Al-Shabab", said pirate chief Hassan and claims he is a patriotic man. "I went to India for two-year study and now I retuned back to my country to continue my work of keeping the sea safe against any ship that tries to steal our resources", said Hassan.

A Turkish shipowner has denied that one of its vessels was involved in a piracy incident in the Gulf of Aden, following claims that a Saudi naval frigate had helped to thwart a potential attack. The source said that the vessel had passed through the safe passage corridor agreed with naval forces patrolling the area, and had reached the Red Sea safely. "The news was totally wrong. This is not correct information. There was no ship sailing off territorial waters and there was no such incident", he insisted. It was claimed by Saudi Arabia that a Saudi Arabian ship provided protection on Monday for a commercial Turkish ship after receiving a distress call from the Turkish ship. According to Saudi Arabian state news agency SPA, the King Ship "Al Riyadh", plying the Gulf of Aden as a participant in the international force to combat piracy, provided protection for a commercial Turkish ship after receiving a distress call from the ship early morning after three small boats tried to hijack it. SPA said the pirates ran away from the area upon the arrival of the ship AlRiyadh and the Turkish ship was escorted up to the end of the danger zone. A representative of Turkey's Ya-Sa Tankercilik ve Tasimacilik told Lloyd's List that 2009-built, 50,000 dwt combination tanker Yasa Seyhan was not even in the region at the time of the alleged incident, which was reported by Reuters. Such false reports must be also seen in the light that the Turkish parliament has just approved the deployment of naval forces in the Gulf of Aden to protect cargo ships from Somali pirates. The decision came a week after the third Turkish cargo, hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia, was released. "The threat to our commercial vessels has reached a dimension where it negatively affects our country's trade and economic interests", reads the Tuesday memorandum pertaining to the decision. The Turkish military said that a frigate would be ready to be dispatched and to join the international operation within a month. However, the motion prohibits Turkish navy forces from taking part in anti-pirate land operations and only allows them to make on board inspections and use radio communication to investigate suspected ships.

The U.S. Navy finally confirmed that a sailor from the USS San Antonio was missing after he and two others fell from an inflatable boat used to transfer personnel from one ship to another during an anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden. The 5th Fleet's Bahrain headquarters said the other two sailors were rescued uninjured. The identity of the missing sailor was not disclosed. USS San Antonio. Nelson and Charity Ansong said now they are willing to accept their eldest son's death after he fell overboard from a U.S. Navy ship in the Gulf of Aden last week, but they just want to know what really happened. U.S. Navy officials said that Engineman First Class Theophilus Kwaku Ansong, 34, of Bristow, disappeared Wednesday. According to a U.S. Navy news release, Ansong and two other sailors were thrown from an inflatable boat that flipped Wednesday while being lowered from the Norfolk-based USS San Antonio in the Gulf of Aden, near Somalia, where the ship had been stationed for counter-piracy operations. The two other sailors were rescued unharmed, but Ansong was not found. Navy officials said a search-and-rescue mission for Ansong lasted more than 24 hours before being called off. But the Ansong's parents want to know more about what happened and what caused their son's death. Charity Ansong said her son left on the USS San Antonio about five months ago. He said he could not tell them where he was going, but he regularly called and e-mailed to tell his parents he was all right, she said. Then last week, on Wednesday night, two Navy officers came to the Ansong's Bristow home with bad news. "They came here and delivered a message that ... something had happened," Nelson Ansong said, resting his head in his hands as he spoke. The Navy officers said that Ansong had not been found, but his life jacket was recovered, zipped and buttoned, Nelson Ansong said. "How can somebody slip from a life vest that's zipped up? That's what we want to know. That's what we have to know", Nelson Ansong said. He said the family also hopes that the Navy will recover Ansong's body, so that they can bury him and a cause of death can be determined. "As of now, that is all we want", Nelson Ansong said. "If he's dead we need the body and the cause of his death. We need that answered".

Communication links for emergency response to pirate attacks are unreliable, a source within the counter-Somali piracy community has alleged. Distress phone calls from ships under attack to the emergency responders can sometimes fail to connect or, alternatively, go through to inappropriate contacts. Fairplay / Sea Sentinel heard from one source that the UKMTO, in Dubai, operates an emergency response through five mobile phones that don't always connect. The source also alleged that during one attack earlier this month, the emergency distress call connected first to a staff member on leave and then secondly to a staff member at a shopping mall with his daughter. "I've lost all faith in the system", the despairing source told Fairplay. We are unable to confirm these allegations as the UKMTO has a policy of not talking to the Press. However, Fairplay / Sea Sentinel can confirm that telecommunications within the Middle East are extremely unreliable. Calls often fail to connect, phones may sound like they are ringing when they are not and, once connected, the lines can be extremely bad with heavy static or complete failure for one of the parties to hear anything at all. Owing to the difficulties of telecommunications, military sources encourage the use of email. They also encourage mariners to note multiple contact channels to provide backup in the event of attack.

The 4,200-ton destroyer Moonmu the Great - one of the South Korean Navy's three KDX-II class destroyers - has been selected as the ship the South-Koreans are sending to the Somali waters to fend off pirate attacks, officials said. "Following our latest visit to discuss cooperation with the international naval force already operating in the area, we have decided to send Moonmu the Great", said Rear Admiral Choi Soo-yong of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Navy plans to set up a base at Djibouti when Moonmu is dispatched for its mission. Observers, however, believe the move comes under the disguise of fighting piracy, while in reality it is aiming at protecting the many illegal South-Korean fishing vessels in the Somali waters of Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

Authorities in the self-declared republic of Somaliland in northwest Somalia said 81 Yemenis were fined and deported from the southern port town of Berbera to their home country for fishing illegally in Somali waters. The fishermen, captured by the local coastal guards with six fishing boats, were found guilty of illegal fishing by a regional court in the eastern Saahil Province, Abdalla Mohamed Ali, Mayor of Berbera, the provincial capital of Saahil, told Xinhua by phone from the coastal town. Ali said the court fined the men but he did not elaborate the amount, adding that the fishermen were deported to their home country of Yemen in accordance with the court's ruling. The mayor said Somaliland coastal guards did apprehend the six illegal fishing boats and their crews of 81 fishermen who were "involved in illegal fishing within the territorial waters of Somaliland, around Berbera town". Colonel Osman Jabril Hagar, Commander of the Somaliland Coastal Guards, said his forces doubled their efforts to combat illegal fishing in Somaliland waters and to fight piracy that has plagued the Gulf of Aden to the north of Somalia. A number of other foreign illegal fishing boats, mostly from Yemen, were previously apprehend by Somaliland coastal guards and were deported after being found guilty. Somaliland, which unilaterally declared its independence from rest of Somalia after the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, has not received international recognition. However, the region enjoys relative stability and has its own government, flag, police and military forces and currency.

Puntland's new president, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole", pardoned a group of 66 prisoners and attended the ceremony in the northern Somalia port city of Bossasso together with his vice president, Gen. Abdisamad Ali Shire. The prisoners who were pardoned were all nearing the end of their jail sentences, officials said and ensured that no pirates were included among the pardoned inmates. Each prisoner was given about US$28 by the Puntland government as means of facilitating a successful return to society. President Farole, who was elected last month as Puntland's fourth president since 1998, campaigned on a platform of change and strongly pushed for a comprehensive policy founded on justice, peace and development.

Yemen and the Puntland State of Somalia discussed last week the renewal of a 2007 cooperation agreement on fishery aspects and possible procedures to reduce hazards of piracy against fishermen's boats. Yemen's Minister of Wealth and Fisheries Muhammad Saleh Shamlan held talks with Puntland State Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar and Interior Minister Abdullahi Ahmed on activating the 2007 MoU. During the meeting, two technical committees were formed from the two sides to draft a cooperation protocol to contribute in protecting fishermen's boats in the Yemeni and Somali territorial waters from piracy acts. Shamlan assured the depth of bilateral ties between Yemen and Somalia, confirming the significance of activating the fishery cooperation areas between the two countries.

Hussein Abdi Gheddi, the governor of middle Jubba region in southern Somalia and a member of al Shabaab, told the World Food Programme (WFP) and World Vision to hand out their food. After a two-year Islamist insurgency and a prolonged dry spell, Somalia is wrestling with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. There are a million internal refugees and more than a third of the population depends on food aid. "We are telling them to leave the region, or else to distribute the food aid in the stores for the people in the region", Gheddi told Reuters by telephone from the town of Buale.

The dark side of free-press oppression - money. The piracy off the Somali coast revealed also another well kept secret. The U.S. law firm Seward & Kissel hired during the negotiations concerning the release of MT BISCAGLIA a media relations company, Cubitt Jacobs & Prosek Communications, to ensure that details of the negotiations didn't leak to and were kept out of the press. Thereby this approach several times not only mislead the family members but also achieved that the right of the public to be informed was seriously violated. The company, which boasts that it has serious influence and can "pitch" even papers like the Wall Street Journal, had dispatched Tom Rozycki as public-relations adviser to ship-owner Mr. Christodoulou. Rozycki admitted that he decided a new approach was needed to keep the families hopeful -- and away from the media. Thomas Rozycki, Jr., SVP with CJP Communications was hired by Christodoulou to help develop a communications strategy that focused on four main audiences: global media captured by the recent resurgence of pirate activities; government agencies in the US and abroad; the seafarer's union; and, moreover, the families of the 28 crew members who were taken hostage. Surely, sensationalism based on the piracy issues, with which some gutter-press tries sometimes to raise their sales, does not help or actually can be counter-productive or even dangerous in hostage negotiations.

But neither can intimidation strategies be any longer tolerated, be it in the form as they were imposed by state security organs on the family members in the case of MV FAINA, or the modern-day brainwashing of family members, state-organs, unions, while media are coerced by strong PR-companies into non-reporting of serious issues. "Today, the greatest threats to freedom of the press are more insidious than a generation ago because they are intended to induce a climate of fear and self-censorship through systematic violence and emblematic arrest aimed at those who would practice real, independent journalism. Kidnappings (not just of reporters and editors, but of members of their families), murder, and torture intended to suppress the truth: These are increasingly basic strategies of criminal regimes, drug gangs, local despots, authoritarian cultures, and movements such as radical Islam that transcend national boundaries", the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) found. More Internet journalists are jailed worldwide today than journalists working in any other medium, according to the latest CPJ census of imprisoned journalists. Forty-five percent of all media workers jailed worldwide are bloggers, Web-based reporters, or online editors--making up the largest professional category in CPJ's prison census for the first time.

The New York-based international Human Rights Watch (HRW) last Friday accused the UN special envoy for Somalia Ahmedou-Ould Abdallah of making irresponsible statements against Somali media workers. The accusations followed the February 2, 2009, roadside bomb attack on a vehicle carrying Ugandan soldiers of the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in which at least one soldier was wounded. Local media and other accounts reported that the troops reacted by firing indiscriminately on civilians in the area, killing at least 13 Somalis many or all of whom were civilians. AMISOM officials and the UN special representative of the secretary-general for Somalia, Ahmedou-Ould Abdallah, denied that the African Union troops killed any civilians. In a February 3 interview with the Voice of America, Abdallah said: "What happened is to divert attention from what is going on here, and as usual to use the media to repeat Radio Mille Colline, to repeat the genocide in Rwanda". He also suggested a one-month moratorium on any kind of reporting on the conflict in Somalia. HRW said the remark essentially compared Somali journalists who reported on the incident to the infamous Radio Mille Collines, which was used to incite participation in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, was disturbing. It said many Somali journalists have risked their lives and livelihoods to report on the crisis in their country. ."The UN should be making every effort to support independent Somali media and civil society at this critical time, not comparing journalists to war criminals", said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at HRW. HRW called on Abdallah to immediately retract the statement comparing Somali journalists reporting the incident to those who incited the Rwandan genocide. Ahmedou-Ould Abdallah, however, has so far not responded and only a proxy placed on a Somali website the argument that

Meanwhile the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has condemned the recent murder of a Kenyan Journalist. The body of Kenyan Journalist Francis Nyaruri was found in the western region after his disappearance two weeks earlier. According to UNESCO his body had be beheaded. The journalist wrote mainly for the Weekly Citizen under the alias Mon'gare Mokua focusing on corruption cases. "I condemn the murder of Francis Nyaruri, I trust that this crime will be investigated and that its culprits will be brought to trial, not just for the sake of Francis Nyaruri but the sake of democracy and good governance", said Ko'chiro Matsuura, UNESCO's Director-General. "Journalists like him carry out important, albeit controversial, work that contributes to debate and democracy", he added.

Thirty-three nations in Africa, Asia and South America are highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change in fisheries, says a new study. Together the countries produce 20% of the word's fish exports by value. "From a strictly environmental perspective, countries in the higher latitudes will see the most pronounced impact from climate change on fishing", said Edward Allison, director of policy, economics and social science at WorldFish. "But economically, people in the tropics and subtropics likely will suffer most, because fish are so important in their diets and because they have limited capacity to develop other sources of income and food". Of the 33 nations deemed most vulnerable 19 were already classified by the United Nations as "least developed" because of their particularly poor socioeconomic conditions. Researchers from the WorldFish Center, the University of East Anglia, UK, Simon Fraser University, the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, the University of Bremen, Germany, and the intergovernmental Mekong River Commission looked at 132 national economies. They analysed environmental, fisheries, dietary and economic factors, reporting their work in Fish and Fisheries. The researchers say that these countries should be a priority for adaptation efforts that will allow them to endure the effects of climate change and maintain or enhance the contribution that fisheries can make to poverty reduction.

"We believe it is urgent to start identifying these vulnerable countries, because the damage will be greatly compounded unless national governments and international institutions like the World Bank act now to include the fish sector in plans for helping the poor cope with climate change", said Allison. Climate change can affect factors such as the upwelling of nutrient-rich water along coastlines, coral reef health, and water levels and temperatures in inland lakes. Inland freshwater habitats could also be damaged by intrusions of salt water as sea levels rise. "Fisheries are already under tremendous pressure from overfishing, habitat loss, pollution and a range of other factors", said Steve Hall, director general of WorldFish. "Climate adaptation measures must go hand in hand with efforts to confront other threats if these countries are to succeed in building sustainable livelihoods for fish-dependent people". Now the researchers will continue to "refine their ability to link climate change to fish productivity and to social and economic conditions". This study found a scarcity of data on the social and economic impacts of fisheries at the country level, particularly for subsistence fishing and small island states. In fact, 60 countries were excluded from the study's final listing because of insufficient data but many of these - such as Kiribati, Myanmar, Somalia and the Solomon Islands - are likely to be highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

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

The international reporting George Polk Award for 2008 - administered by Long Island University since 1949 - went to Paul F. Salopek of The Chicago Tribune for articles detailing America's antiterrorist activities, including the rendition of terrorist suspects to secret prisons, in remote and lawless regions around the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea.

Kenya will face increasing danger of terror attacks in the coming year as "Islamic extremists" plot to hit US targets, President Barack Obama's intelligence director warned last week. "We judge the terrorist threat to US interests in East Africa, primarily from al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremists in Somalia and Kenya, will increase in the next year", Dennis Blair, overseer of US spy agencies, told the Senate. Al-Qaeda's East Africa network is continuing to plan operations against American, European and local targets, Mr. Blair added. Of particular concern, he suggested, is the Somalia Islamist group al-Shabaab, branded by the US as a terrorist organisation. Al-Shabaab's influence is growing due to the "high-profile US role in the region" and the perception that the United States is intervening in Somalia, Mr. Blair continued. "We assess US counter-terrorism efforts will be challenged not only by the al-Qaeda operatives in the Horn, but also by Somali extremists and increasing numbers of foreign fighters supporting al-Shabaab's efforts", he told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The warnings of a growing al-Qaeda threat in Kenya stand in contrast to Mr. Blair's view that Osama bin Laden's network is generally "less capable and effective than it was a year ago", and analyst see it rather as an attempt to shovel more security dollars to Kenya, but note that a newly signed US-Kenyan rendition agreement concerning delivering Somali pirates to the Kenyan judiciary and detention facilities could very well be a trigger to spark operations against US facilities in Kenya.

More than a dozen suspected pirates captured in the Gulf of Aden this past week will become part of a test case in the new legal arrangement between the U.S. and Kenya that officials hope will result in trials, jail time and, eventually, fewer pirates. Naval officials have long said they can't stop piracy with ships alone, and maritime lawyers have said jurisdiction issues make bringing pirates to justice difficult. On Jan. 16, the U.S. and Britain have signed legal agreements with Kenya -- essentially extradition treaties for the high seas -- in which Kenya has agreed to try suspected pirates. Bogeta Ongeri, the spokesman for the Kenyan Ministry of State for Defense, said Kenya is eager to cooperate with other nations to combat piracy. But his country is wary of having its courts overwhelmed. "We have taken the lead, but that doesn't mean all pirates will be tried in the Kenyan courts", he said. Kenya has agreed to take only a limited number of cases. Mr. Ongeri said he couldn't comment on the recent arrests, but that the government would decide which cases to try in part based on where the alleged crimes took place. Kenya has provided the Navy with a checklist of evidence required to prosecute, U.S. officials said. Outgoing CIA Director Michael Hayden said: "As Al Qaeda has become more franchised -- whether it is in Yemen or Somalia or in North Africa -- you've got other people working, and if these truly are franchises, these aren't people who accept fully ... operational plans from Al Qaeda central.

And therefore you might see a greater variety of approaches, a greater variety of threats, based upon the thinking of each of these local groups," Hayden warned, while he did not place Somalia on his suggested top 10 duties list for his successor. And in Kenya, Muslim leaders, while supporting genuine efforts to combat terrorism, however read a sinister motive in "frequent alerts" of terror. Said Al-Amin Kimathi, the Executive Director of the Kenya Muslims Forum: "They (Government) will continue fighting for relevance in the counter-terrorism efforts so long as it is a pre-requisite for aid". He said Muslims and human rights advocates have learnt to take the terror alerts with a pinch of salt because they are motivated by financial ends.

The Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying humanitarian supplies from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip and towed the vessel into port last week Thursday, foiling a new attempt by international activists to break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory. It was the first time Israeli forces seized an aid ship, after the navy let some boats in, attacked and damaged several and turned others around. The interception was condemned by Lebanon and Syria, adding to regional tensions in the wake of last month's devastating Israeli offensive against the Islamic militants of Hamas who control Gaza.

The Ethiopian army on Tuesday released three Somali officials including a member of parliament detained after crossing the border into Ethiopian territory. The officials were released from Ethiopian army custody after spending two days in jail in the Dolow district near the border with Somalia, a Somalia official told APA. "The three officials were released early on Tuesday and they are now with me", said Mohamed Abdi Kaliil, the deputy governor of the Gedo region bordering Ethiopia. Member of Somali parliament Mahmoud Sayid Aden, former Mogadishu mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb (Mohamed Dhere) and police commander Col. Hassan Dhicisow were arrested on Sunday after they were accused of illegally crossing into Ethiopia. "We are condemning the brutal step by Ethiopian army and we are calling on Ethiopian government to apologize for the arrest of Somali officials including a national parliament member", Kaliil said. He said that the Somalia officials were arrested after crossing the border and were heading to Addis Ababa from where they wanted to fly to Djibouti where Somali government leaders and parliamentarians are currently based.

Ethiopian police last Wednesday announced they have in their custody a suspect in the killing of a young consular officer of the U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa. The suspect, who was not named, was arrested Tuesday in a remote village in northern Ethiopia because he was in possession of some of the personal belongings of Brian Adkins, who was found dead in his home on Feb. 2. The suspect had the 25-year-old Adkins' laptop computer, cellular phone and camera with him when arrested by local police, U.S. embassy spokesman Michael McClellan said. Police refused to give details about Adkins' death and the suspect.

Conor Foley: "The Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War". Conor Foley has been a humanitarian aid worker in over a dozen conflict zones, including Kosovo, Afghanistan and northern Uganda. His latest book traces the development of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention and how it's been used to justify the use of force by powerful states. Interview with the author see: http://i3.democracynow.org/2009/2/13/conor_foley_the_thin_blue_line

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Note
Picture: Most of the pictures of Somali pirates that have been published are generic and fake; this is a typical tactics of the militarist establishments.