Status of Vessels Held off the Somali Coast – Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

Status of Vessels Held off the Somali Coast – Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

The 38th Ecoterra press release makes available the latest news and comments, analyses and republications about the piracy around Horn of Africa. I therefore republish it integrally.

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

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

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

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

2009-05-16 17h12:18 UTC

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

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: SMS to +254-738-497979 or call +254-733-633-733

"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream!"

Capt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y TANIT - killed by attack of French commandos - 10. April 2009

Non A La Guerre - Yes To Peace

(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT shot down on day one of the French assault)

Clearing-house

Somali Piracy Coasts - see attached map

It is obvious that the coastal regions from where attacks against merchant ships are launched and where pirated vessels are held are concentrated along the coasts of the Hawiye and Darood clans, while Somaliland and the South can be called already piracy free. This might not be liked by some who see in the hard line Islamists all the evil of the world, but it is true that the al-Shabab-controlled areas are free from piracy cases. In 2006, when the Union of Islamic Courts briefly ruled the country piracy dropped to an all time low. The most worrying development could be now an establishment of a new piracy den at the coast of the Warsangeli people, who strongly oppose all piracy if the present cases of two Egyptian vessels rightly held for illegal fishing and one Italian tugboat with mysterious barges - held for alleged dumping - are not solved quickly. That such - maybe in the case of the tug pretended - defense action can quickly turn into full fledged piracy can be seen in the fact that sea-jacked MV MARATHON is now also been taken there.

Status of Vessels held in Somalia:
Copyright: Ecoterra Intl.

(IO = Indian Ocean / GoA = Gulf of Aden)

over 9 month:
T/B YENEGOA OCEAN: Taken back from a brief move to Alula and held at Xawo (GoA). The Nigerian government has now stepped in to help in solving the case of this tugboat with 10 desperate Nigerian crew members. After many months, during which already humanitarian assistance had to be provided, the owner - Nigerian ESL Integrated Services - had then provided for some support but not achieved the release.

over 7 month:
MV JAIKUR-I: All international crew-members were evacuated and are back home. The general cargo ship itself is still detained due to a dispute with the owners over damaged cargo - case closed for us.

over 5 month:
T/B MASINDRA 7: The Malaysian-owned tugboat with Indonesian owned barge ADM 1 is presently held 30 nm off Hafun. The 11 Indonesian crew are in very bad condition, while the mastermind of the piracy case went to Yemen, where he is wanted and hunted by the Yemeni authorities. An attempt by the owner to solve the case from Yemen apparently failed so far. After the Malaysian warship Indera Sekti had a go at the earlier stand-off site at the Gulf of Aden coast the vessel went to the Indian Ocean side. Several shoot-outs between the now two pirate groups holding the vessel. 2nd engineer got hit in the crossfire but is ok now, given the circumstances. Malaysian government apparently still not keen yet to supervise the continuously failing negotiations by the owner. The freeing of this vessel should now receive much higher priorities.

over 2.5 month:
S/Y SERENITY: The catamaran sailing for Madagascar from the Seychelles with three Seychellois crew aboard is held around 12 nm off Garacad (IO). Negotiations have been complicated so far.

over 1.5 month:
MS INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: The former oceanographic research vessel with 7 Seychellois crew, held off Handule near Harardheere. Some crew-members are back on board. Interfering brokers pushed the ransom demands higher.

6 weeks:
MV HANSA STAVANGER: A German commando operation to free the five Germans (incl. captain), three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvaluans was terminated due to the dangers for the crew. Vessel is moored near Harardheere and some crew is still held on land. Negotiations ongoing.

5 weeks:
FV WIN FAR 161: The Taiwanese tuna boat with 30 crew is held 8 nm off Garacad. The fate of 17 Filipinos, six Indonesians, five Chinese and two Taiwanese.is neglegted by the owner of the vessel.

FV MOMTAZ 1: Egyptian fishing vessel is still detained for illegal fishing at Gacaan (GoA) with 18 Egyptian crew. Egyptian government sees no possibility to bail the vessel and crew out, because the directive of the Egyptian government not to operate in Somali waters was not observed.

FV SAMARA AHMED: Egyptian fishing vessel is still detained for illegal fishing at Gacaan (GoA) with 16 Egyptian crew. Egyptian government sees no possibility to bail the vessel and crew out, because the directive of the Egyptian government not to operate in Somali waters was not observed.

T/B BUCCANEER: The Italian tugboat with two huge barges of presently and formerly unknown content - owned by Micoperi Marine Contractors - was carrying 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croatian, and was seized towing two barges while traveling westbound through the Gulf of Aden. Governmental mediation and intervention failed so far. Italian warship Maestrale is standby at a distance of about 45 nm.

4 weeks:
MV IRENE E.M.: The St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Greek-owned bulk carrier with 22 Filipino crew is held near Harardheere (IO). Negotiations ongoing.

MV POMPEI: The Belgian dredger and its 10 crew with two Belgian, four Croatian, one Dutch and three Filipino crew on board is held between Garcad and Harardheere. Negotiations ongoing.

3 weeks:
MV PATRIOT: The German owned, but Maltese-flagged bulk-carrier with 17 crew of which 15 are Filipino is held near Eyl (IO). Negotiations ongoing.

2 weeks:
MV ARIANA: The British owner-managed and Greek operated, but Antigua and Barbuda-flagged freighter with 24-men crew (all of Ukrainian nationality) is held near Harardheere (IO). Negotiations started.

11 days:
MV VICTORIA: The German owned, but Antigua and Barbuda- flagged cargo vessel was sea-jacked by eight pirates on May 5, 2009 in the Gulf of Aden. The 11 Romania crew with one woman are all-right, given the circumstances. Negotiations started.

9 days:
MV MARATHON: Seized on May 7, 2009. The small coke fuel carrier, with 8 all-Ukrainian crew is owned by the Netherlands but Netherlands-Antilles flagged. The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provinciën as well as a Spanish warship have the vessel boxed in at 29 nm off Laasmacaan on the Gulf of Aden coast. Situation on board extremely tense.

Still missing:
Since 28th April 2009: Akio Yonago's 36-foot sailboat, the S/Y EMU II and another yacht it was sailing together with from the Seychelles.

Wanted:
Crew (6 Syrians and 6 Indians) of MT AGIA BARBARA Wanted for Murder: The crew still at large ! Vessel was observed in Dubai after it fled from Mogadishu and vessel position later indicated that it was loading again at the Al Basra Oil Terminal, Iraq

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships

The Nigerian Senate met with the Minister of Defense, Shettima Mustapha, over the continued detention of a 10-member Nigerian crew in Somalia. Reports say the minister briefed the Senate on efforts being made by the federal government to secure their release. The Senate had in a motion sponsored by Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP-Cross River) on April 29, resolved to invite the minister and others over the continued detention of the crew members in Somalia. The crew members, working with ESL Integrated Services, were sailing back to Nigeria from India on August 5, 2008 when they were intercepted and captured by Somali militants and pirates. Their captors demanded $1million (about N145 million) ransom from them. The Senate had noted in the motion that the federal government had not done enough to secure the release of the crew members.

FV SAMARA AHMED, used earlier by Somali sea-shifta to capture other vessels, arrived in Yemen. The crew is said to be all right.

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 79 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

A union representing the Philippines' 350,000 merchant seamen on Saturday demanded better protection for the sailors in Africa and warned freed victims of pirates may sue their employers for damages. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines wants Manila to put pressure on the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) to follow the example of the United States, which it said has ordered all US-flagged vessels sailing through the Gulf of Aden to post guards to ward off pirate attacks. "The Philippines should be the one pushing the IMB hard for superior safety since we are the biggest supplier of sailors, with more than 350,000 Filipinos on international shipping vessels at any given time", said union secretary general Ernesto Herrera. The London-based IMB, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, has a Kuala Lumpur-based monitoring centre dedicated to suppressing piracy and armed robbery against ships. The Philippine labour group, which includes the Philippine Seafarers Union, said 242 Filipino sailors on foreign vessels had been seized in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia since 2006, with 59 from five ships still being held hostage.

The figure excludes Filipino sailors taken hostage by separatists in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta. The Nigerian army announced in Lagos on Saturday that six Filipinos and four Nigerians held hostage by militants aboard a ship in the volatile area were rescued overnight by Nigerian security forces. "The possibility of taking legal action against their employers is always there, particularly if the shipping firms failed to provide adequate protective measures for the crew, or disregarded prior requests for extra security", Herrera said. He said the labour federation was closely following the case of an American chief cook of the US-flagged Maersk ALABAMA who has sued Maersk Line Ltd. and the manning agency Waterman Steamship Corp. for 75,000 dollars in damages after surviving a pirate hijacking in the Horn of Africa. Pirates have carried out more than 100 attacks in the key shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year.

Spain handed over to Kenyan authorities Saturday 13 alleged Somali pirates its navy had been holding in the Indian Ocean, the defense ministry said, putting an end to a judicial row. The Spanish naval supply ship Marques de la Ensenada delivered the men in the Kenyan port of Mombassa at 0800 GMT, a spokesman said as the war against piracy took a new twist with pirates allegedly now targeting European Union naval ships deployed in the Indian Ocean off Somali coast. The spokesman said the 14th had been wounded and was in hospital in Djibouti, reported AFP. The fourteen suspected pirates were captured by the Spanish navy in two separate incidents last week. National Court Judge Fernando Andreu Andreu had ordered the defense ministry to send them to Spain so they could be questioned under a piracy law adopted last year after a Spanish trawler and its crew were seized by Somalis. He argued that sending them to Kenya to be prosecuted would violate their rights since an inquiry was already under way in Spain.

The judge then first ordered them freed. But after an inquiry from the Defense Ministry, the judge said his ruling did not prevent the pirates from being handed to Kenya and finally agreed to the demand by Spain's military chief to hand them over to Kenya under an accord between Nairobi and the European Union. The suspects who allegedly attacked the Marques De La Ensenada will now be tried in Kenyan courts. Speaking to journalists during the handover at the coastal city of Mombasa, Coast Criminal Investigation Department Officer Nyagah Reche said when the suspects attacked the naval ship they knew it was a military vessel, according to Xinhua. "They did not mistake the vessel for a commercial ship. They attacked it with rocket launchers and shot at it, shattering one of the window panes",Reche told journalists in Mombassa. "On May 7, seven pirates attacked the ship and were arrested while the following day six also attacked the same ship and were captured", he added, omitting that they were seven and on was wounded. Two AK 47 rifles, two pistols, several rounds of ammunition, two boats and a rocket launcher were confiscated and would be produced in court as evidence, Reche said. The arrival of the 13 brings to 77 the number of suspects under trial in Mombassa while 10 whose appeal was struck off by a Mombassa court this week are serving a seven-year jail term.

Anti-piracy measures

Malaysia will also be hosting the International Conference on Piracy on 18 May 2009 as part of the country's contribution to the international efforts to address and eradicate the threat of piracy globally. Though Malaysia had and still has her own piracy problem at her doorstep in the Malacca Strait, the Malaysian navy ventured into Somali waters to join the international armada, while the only Malaysian owned vessel held by Somali sea-shifta still is not released after over five month.

Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay Discovers Somali Piracy Backed by Legitimate Business with Western and Middle Eastern Investments

An investigation by Fairplay Shipping News has found that rampant growth in Somali piracy is supported by legitimate business, law enforcement and the judiciary. This discovery presents daunting obstacles for international authorities.

The investigation by Fairplay Shipping News, a Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay publication, also uncovered that these businesses that are backing Somali piracy hold Western and Middle Eastern investments.

Fairplay Middle East Correspondent Jim Wilson explained, "thanks to increased funds and successful attacks, pirates have wider access to information and can hire a broader range of informants to help them complete their hijackings. The International Maritime Bureau links slicker operations and their gaining bigger boats to the spike in attacks in recent months. The improved operations have been funded by the Somali businessmen who, together with some law enforcement, hide behind the pirates. The pirates have lots of money to protect themselves and are even known to hire body guards. Ransoms are spread widely", added Wilson. "For example, only part of a $2 million ransom would be transferred to a bank account. One-third would be paid to the pirates on board the vessel and 10 percent paid to local authorities. Fairplay are currently investigating where the rest of the money is moved to".

The financiers of the piracy are key players in the operation and raise funds for raids and to equip boats, and have many investments in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Fairplay discovered.

Fairplay learned from Tholo Kaime, head of Africa at Exclusive Analysis, that the Somali businessmen have normal businesses through trading routes to the UAE and Western banks. Kaime explained, "Piracy on the side is a way of funding the Somali businessmen’s own legitimate businesses because the returns are so high".

Pirates see it as a business that enables them to earn sky-high ransoms paid in cash which are on average between $1.2-$2 million.

Fairplay further discovered that pirates netted an estimated $80 million in 2008. An equal amount was also paid by owners of captured ships to lawyers, underwriters and to kidnap and ransom specialists to ensure safe return of crews and vessels.

"Ending piracy is unlikely to be a major priority of the Somali clan government, as piracy earnings are bolstering Somalia’s battered economy. Essentially the problem is a lack of effective government", Wilson concluded.

Germany and Japan on global militarization and exploitation course. Both countries as well as classical neutral countries like Switzerland or Sweden and non-aligned states like India are since years pushed by the military-industrial complex of the so called "free world" - led by the US-American as well as British hegemonic interests - into deeper and deeper entanglement of a global militarization and into ever new conflicts under the disguise of joint conflict resolution exercises.

Somalia was for Germany already in 1992 a turning point - luring German armed forces onto foreign soil - despite that the founding fathers of post-war Germany had established the basic law of 23th May 1949 - 60 Years ago - on the tall sentence: "Never again shall there be waged war from German soil!" Allegedly based on the coercing demands by allied governments (mainly from the U.S. of America) the German governmental coalition of Conservatives and Liberals (CDU/CSU and FDP) ordered the engagement of a German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) contingent in Somalia. The German Bundeswehr units of mainly logistic and medical personnel within the UNOSOM-II-Mission were stationed in Beletweyne and had to be watched over by an Italian battalion, because the German soldiers had back then no permission to engage themselves in any armed conflict situation.

The Social Democrats (SPD) challenged this Somalia engagement as well as actions of the Bundeswehr and its air force in former Yugoslavia in front of Germany's highest court, who ruled on 12th July 1994 that such missions would not violate the provisions of Germany's Basic Law (which is not the constitution the German people still will have to give themselves, though many want to make the world believe Germany would have a constitution already). That ruling, which since then allows for armed engagement of German Forces on foreign soil as long as the German parliament agrees, was the turning point in the history of post-WWII German foreign policy as well as for the Bundeswehr.

When in October 1998 SPD and the German Greens (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) took over, both - who had opposed formerly - became turncoats in every respect and ordered the first fighting engagement of the Bundeswehr - in Kosovo and without even a UN mandate. Joseph Martin Fischer (aka "Joschka" Fischer) then Foreign Minister led the red-green ideals ad absurdum. In 60 years the pacifist Basic Law of Germany was changed exactly 60 times in order to accommodate New World Order and militaristic rules. Not much to celebrate for the Germans these days.

And again it is Somalia - this time based on the pirates and Interior Minister Schäuble - which gives the hawks the arguments to change the Basic Law in order now to also allow the military forces engage in police activities abroad. Schäuble wants to amend Art. 87a GG with a new section 5, which shall read: "Outside the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany the armed forces can in accordance with the provisions of international law also be used to support the relevant Federal Authorities. The details will be regulated by a Federal law".

Hans Frank, retired Rear-Admiral of the German Navy, feels such is not necessary, because the German parliament has the option - based on a specific law (Parlamentsbeteiligungsgesetz) and in any case where imminent danger for the live of people is given - to sanction the military action of German Armed Forces abroad also afterwards and permit it post-incidentally, though e.g. the rescue of hostages is strictly police-work and does not fall under the duties of the armed forces. But Schäuble and his conservative friends like to grab the opportunity of three German ships held for ransom in Somalia to again enlarge the possibilities of German forces, who are strictly bound by the Basic Law to engage only in defense, with the options to get engaged in fighting crime, which so far is the sole responsibility of the police. A first step to then also use the armed forces against civilian inside Germany.

Japan, immediately following the end of World War II, legislated in 1946 Article 9 - renouncing war and the maintenance of war potential. Article 9 is an active response to preventing further atrocities. It is Japan's pledge to the people of Asia, the Pacific, and the world, to never again repeat the mistakes it made during World War II. The pacifist principles set out in Article 9 disallow Japan from arms export, as well as prohibit the possession, production, and introduction of nuclear arms. The standard set forth by Article 9 is a proactive instrument of peace.

"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes....In order to accomplish [this] ... land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained".

But now we see Japanese destroyers plying the Somali waters and today Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada issued the order to send two P-3C patrol airplanes to the Gulf of Aden, expanding the ongoing anti-piracy mission of two Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers off Somalia. The MSDF antisubmarine aircraft are scheduled to depart May 28 and join the 4,650-ton Sazanami and 4,550-ton Samidare, which were dispatched in March. As the first mission to be held overseas under the maritime police-action provision of the Self-Defense Forces Law, the MSDF sent the two destroyers, each with a crew of 200, two helicopters and small high-speed boats. Four Japan Coast Guard officers with the authority to make arrests are also aboard each ship. While the MSDF is not eligible to provide protection to non-Japan-related vessels and is allowed use of weapons only for self-defense and emergency evacuations, the Defense Ministry said the incidents were "within the limits of what was allowed" for humanitarian rescue missions.

The current maritime police-action provision is to be replaced by a new anti-piracy bill being deliberated in the Diet, which will enhance the rules of engagement and allow the MSDF to protect ships from various nations.

"Protection of Japanese lives and assets will be carried out more efficiently" with the airplanes, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters, adding the P-3Cs will monitor seaways and gather information for better protection. A Defense Ministry official said the expanded mission will result in approximately 150 more service members being sent to the area, with Ground Self-Defense Force personnel guarding an airport in Djibouti where the P-3Cs will base. The Air Self-Defense Force will take part in transporting the personnel and supplies to the airport.

Asked if deploying armed GSDF troops under the maritime police-action provision was prudent, Hamada said it is vital for the Self-Defense Forces to "work as one". The ministry official said the United States and Germany have also deployed P-3Cs to search for pirates off Somalia, and there were high expectations that Tokyo would also join the patrols. The P-3Cs, on their first mission overseas, will use radar and infrared from the air to spot possible pirates. The planes are capable of night-time watch and will become "the eyes and ears" of the MSDF, the official said, while many observers fear that these Japanese planes, like the P3s from Spain could be misused to launch the final and deadly attack on the Indian Ocean tuna population, which despite dwindling stocks is hunted by an ever increasing armada of vessels with sophisticated equipment, which then can follow the airplane-spotted shoals by satellite-based tracking technologies.

Marine ecosystem and IUU fishing

Worldwide Protest Against WWF's Plans to Launch Aquaculture Stewardship Council

Over 70 human rights and environmental groups from around the world have today expressed outrage at the planned launch of the World Wildlife Fund's Aquaculture Stewardship Council.

In a letter sent today to leading members of WWF, campaigners claim that the organisation's plans to certify the industrial production of shrimp and salmon are influenced by the vested interests of the aquaculture industry, and do not reflect or take into account the wishes of local communities and indigenous peoples who live alongside shrimp and salmon farms. They say that WWF continues to reject invitations to meet with representatives of affected communities in six different aquaculture regions across the world.

Campaigners also argue that the planned certification process is inherently flawed in favour of the aquaculture industry. They point to the fact that the certification body run by WWF is part-funded by the food industry, and that the individual employed by WWF to run the process, was previously employed as a regional vice-president for a controversial aquaculture multinational, that has been widely accused of labour violations and environmental destruction.

"WWF needs to explain why they are happy to engage with industry, but have repeatedly rejected calls for meetings from over 70 groups, representing tens of thousands of marginalised people from around the world?" asks Juan Jose Lopez, Coordinator of RedMangar in Latin America.

"How can any process be regarded as legitimate when a large Western Ngo and it's financial backers in the food industry are able to dictate what is best for the livelihoods of people in other countries around the world?" asks Alfredo Quarto, of Mangrove Action Project.

"The proposed certification by WWF promises to legitimise environmentally and socially damaging forms of aquaculture in the name of cheap prawns and salmon. It's high time that WWF stops 'Pandering' to the interests of big business, and instead begins to listen to the voices of real people that rely on the oceans and forests to survive" says Natasha Ahmad, ASIA secretariat.

Regional Contacts:

Asia: Natasha Ahmad: Asia Solidarity Against Industrial Aquaculture (ASIA), secretariat@asia-solidarity.org 00913322840767

Latin America: Juan Jose Lopez of RedManglar (Latin American Mangrove Network), Colombia redmanglar@redmanglar.org

West-Africa: Abdoulaye Diamé of the African Mangrove Network, Senegal abdoulayediame@yahoo.com

East-Africa: Christopher Cheseny, Ecoterra Intl., Nairobi Node, africanode@ecoterra.net

UK: Jim Wickens of Forest Peoples Program jim@forestpeoples.org +44 7736070379

USA Alfredo Quarto of Mangrove Action Network, mangroveap@olympus.net. Tel. (360) 452-5844

Notes to Editor:

The rapid rise in global demand for cheap shrimp and farmed salmon has caused extensive degradation of mangrove wetlands and other coastal ecosystems and subsequent losses in biodiversity. These losses have also destroyed livelihoods among local communities and indigenous peoples in many nations across the global South.

Shrimp: At a time when shrimp is the most popular seafood in the U.S., and growing in popularity in Europe and Japan, most consumers don't realize the extensive problems their appetite for shrimp engenders. 90% of shrimp consumed in the U.S. are imported from countries where mangrove ecosystems have been recently cleared to establish vast stretches of shrimp ponds dug into once productive wetland soils. This causes serious declines in biodiversity and related wild fisheries, shoreline erosion, increased susceptibility to hurricanes and tsunamis, and releases massive quantities of carbon, which had previously been safely stored beneath mangrove roots, thus contributing to climate change. There are also many health issues raised by eating farmed shrimp grown in chemical soups of antibiotics, pesticides and other contaminants. For more information log onto http://www.mangroveactionproject.org/issues/shrimp-farming/shrimp-farming.

Salmon: Similar issues pervade the fin-fish aquaculture industries. Salmon farming is one such industry leading to massive escapes of non-native Atlantic salmon into Pacific Ocean waters, while endangering native Pacific salmon and other marine life because of disease and parasite outbreaks, pollution and overuse/misuse of antibiotics potentially causing dangerous pathogens to develop antibiotic resistance. http://www.puresalmon.org/fact_sheets.html

Feed: salmon and shrimp are carnivores, and for every kilo of the product on the supermarket shelf, several kilos of wild caught fish and frequently GMO-sourced soya, are used to feed the farmed salmon and shrimp. The sheer amount of food needed to feed shrimp and salmon on an industrial scale is destroying ecosystems and livelihoods on land and at sea in Latin America, where much of these feedstuffs are sourced from. See: http://www.theecologist.org/pages/ecologist_media.asp?podcast_id=105

Certification: Scientific research carried out in Indonesia to assess the effectiveness of certification schemes on farmed shrimp in the region, found a catalogue of systemic problems associated with certification, and concluded that, "these systems may never fulfill any of their overarching objectives such as long term sustainability or reduced consumption of non-certified shrimps". http://www.naturskyddsforeningen.se/upload/Foreningsdokument/Rapporter/rap-inter-shrimp-naturland.pdf

Letter to WWF from over 70 International NGO Networks, Organizations and Individuals

Opposing the Formation of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council

We the undersigned non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and concerned individuals from around the world are deeply troubled by the intentions of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to form the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). Strong opposition to this latest among many such recent certification initiatives is based upon our years of collective experience in working to counter the negative effects of the industrial aquaculture of shrimp, salmon and other carnivorous marine fin-fish species. We see the ASC as yet another attempt by a Big International NGO to formulate some ill-conceived plan to remedy the problems of unsustainable industrial aquaculture. These kinds of flawed remedies do not involve the local communities and grassroots movements in the process of defining steps to be taken, thereby excluding those peoples most affected by these industries' ongoing assaults on ocean health and coastal integrity.

Current attempts by WWF and other intended certifiers are not supported by local communities and indigenous peoples, the global network of NGOs, academics and citizens who are still demanding a moratorium on further expansion of these socially disruptive and ecologically destructive industries.

Having gained a better understanding of the proposed mechanism for developing global standards for industrial aquaculture, we NGOs and representatives of regional NGO networks and organizations from Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe and North America must continue to take a strong stance against these various certification schemes. We believe that these attempts at certification are funded and industry driven, and do not allow the voice of the majority of affected stakeholders - local communities and indigenous peoples - to have meaningful input into this so-called "dialogue" and standard-setting process.

The proposed standards that will define the Aquaculture Stewardship Council appear to be largely based upon supporting unsustainable, open throughput systems of aquaculture production, whether for shrimp, salmon or other fin-fish species, and not upon more sustainable closed production approaches, indicating that the proposed ASC's process is aimed in an inappropriate and environmentally dangerous direction.

We demand that WWF halt this initiative to form the ASC and immediately initiate real and meaningful dialogues with affected communities, not just with industry and a few NGOs and academics. There still is a great need for strict social and rights-based standards, not just environmental and technical fixes initiated at the aquaculture farm level. That vital component of the dialogues with the local communities and indigenous peoples is still missing, and their voices are still not heard within those elite circles that are now attempting to form the ASC. We the undersigned now join hands to strongly state our opposition to the ASC process.

No real peace yet

At least 16 people were killed in armed clashes since yesterday between Islamist rivals in central Somalia, Radio Garowe reports. The battle erupted around 5am local time in the central Galgadud region, where Al Shabaab hardliners and the Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a faction battled for control over a town in El Bur district. More than 22 people were wounded during the clashes, with reports indicating that the wounded persons were transported to Istarlin Hospital in Guri El, a small trading town in Galgadud. "Wabho [town in El Bur district] is a military center where Islamists are fighting…civilians are fleeing", said a businessman who fled the fighting. Sheikh Abdirisak Ashari, who spoke for the Ahlu Sunnah militias, told Mogadishu-based media that Ahlu Sunnah militias control Wabho town, but noted that Al Shabaab guerrillas attacked the town Saturday morning. Al Shabaab members in Mogadishu have refused to speak about the ongoing fighting in Galgadud region. The clan-based Ahlu Sunnah militias have repeatedly battled against Al Shabaab in Galgadud since late 2008.

Earsplitting explosion rocked Beletweyn town, the headquarters of Hiran region in central Somalia, on Saturday. "The explosion was targeted at Ibrahim Maow the district commissioner of Beletweyn while traveling in the mid of the town, but fortunately he was secure and 4 people were wounded of which 3 out of the 4 were students who were by then coming out from the compound of their school after having completed their last examination paper" stated Hussein Hassan Dakane, Somaliweyn correspondent in the region. "The tension in town is at a climax point and the Islamic Courts Union which administers the town has imposed a night-time curfew in the town. Whoever is wandering after 8:00pm local time will be shot on sight, no matter who the person is", he reported.
U.S. military forces will not deploy to Somalia despite reports Eritrea is supplying arms to opponents of the Somali government, a top U.S. diplomat said. "This is an internal Somali matter", Johnnie Carson, the Obama administration's top official on Africa, told the BBC in a story aired Saturday. Carson said he is seriously concerned by reports Eritrea is giving weapons to foreign fighters and Islamic hardliners who are trying to collapse Somalia's government. The United States, however, has ruled out deploying 2,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in nearby Djibouti, Carson said. Eritrea this week denied any involvement after more than 100 people were killed during eight days of fighting in Mogadishu and another 30,000 fled the capital, the British network reported. As of Friday, the Somali government controlled just one major road in Mogadishu, with the aid of an estimated 4,350 African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi.

The U.N. Security Council does not think conditions are yet right to send a peacekeeping force to Somalia but will step up support for African Union (AU) troops there, a senior Western envoy said on Saturday. The Council, which has long been urged by African states to send blue-helmets to the turbulent Horn of Africa country, promised early this year to decide by June 1 whether to do so. But ahead of an annual meeting between the Council and the AU, Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said: "We are still taking a staged approach towards U.N. peacekeeping. The conditions on the ground don't exist at the moment".

Battles between al Shabaab militants and pro-government fighters have killed at least 139 people and sent some 27,000 fleeing the Somali capital Mogadishu in the past week or so. Some Western intelligence agencies fear Somalia, with its weak central government struggling against the Islamist insurgents, could become a beach-head in Africa for al Qaeda-style militants. The U.N. special envoy to Somalia said on Friday up to 300 foreign fighters had joined the insurgents, and the Security Council voiced concern over reports that Eritrea has been arming the militants. Eritrea called this 'totally false'.

‘Underpinning’ the AU

Sawers told reporters a resolution to be considered in New York later this month would extend an existing support package for the AU force, known as AMISOM, for eight months. "This is an unprecedented arrangement whereby through U.N. assessed contributions, we give the sort of underpinning to the African Union peacekeeping force to ensure its support arrangements are up to U.N. standards", he said. Diplomats said the support package would include substantial funding. There are currently more than 4,000 Ugandan and Burundian troops in AMISOM, but the force has been growing only slowly towards its planned strength of 8,000. But the presence of foreign soldiers backing Somalia's government has been a sticking point for opposition figures since Ethiopian troops intervened in 2006. The Ethiopians left earlier this year.

Hard line opposition leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys says he will not enter into talks with the government until the AU peacekeepers leave. In an interview with Reuters this week he accused the U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, of "destroying" the country by supporting the government. The AU and Security Council later began talks in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa that were due to focus on Somalia and Sudan, including the Darfur conflict. A team of ambassadors and senior diplomats from the 15-member Council will next week visit Rwanda, Congo and Liberia.

The African Union says if the situation gets further out of control, it may ask assistance from NATO forces stationed in Somalia's pirate-prone waters. As insurgency is escalating in the Horn of Africa, AU special envoy to Somalia, Nicolas Bwakira, addressing reporters in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi said the African body may ask for help from outside the continent if it feels that the crisis is out of hand. "We will go all the way to provide support for the Somalia Transitional Federal Government. We will use AU forces for the time being. But if it becomes necessary, we will ask for help from forces outside Africa", Bwakira said while suggesting NATO forces when asked to clarify which forces outside Africa. He reiterated that the AU peacekeepers will not violate their mandate of peacekeeping, adding that the suggestion for mandate expansion that would include peace enforcing is underway in order to fully defend the citizens caught in the fighting, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday from Nairobi.

Meanwhile, the United Nations special envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah on Friday said he was ready to lobby for the removal of the names of Somali individuals who are on the US terror suspects list if they are willing to pursue dialogue instead of conflict. "No one who is named on the UN Security Council list of terrorists can become a president or a prime minister. He cannot sit in an office nor even travel as a simple citizen because you may be in trouble. But those who are on the US terrorist list, I am ready to lobby for them, I put it in writing. I will help remove the names of Somalis to open political dialogue for them. It is not killing their own compatriots that will solve this problem", Ould-Abdallah said. The UN envoy restated that the dialogue window is still open for any peace loving party to end the bloodshed. Many consider the present Transitional National Government (TNG), which controls pockets of the capital and little else, as just one of the many, mostly clan-based, armed groups vying for power and control across the country.

Residents fled Mogadishu on Friday as pro-government forces scrambled to contain an insurgent onslaught that has left more than 140 dead and displaced tens of thousands over the past week. The embattled government, entrenched in an ever-shrinking tract of the city, vowed Friday to "eliminate" the Islamist extremists. "The government's decision is clear", Abdurahman Abdi Sahakur, Somali government's Planning and Foreign Relations Minister told reporters. "We need to eliminate the violent groups in the capital within the coming days. We will fight them to death", he added, according AFP. Aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) said Friday it had been forced to close an out-patient clinic in northern Mogadishu "for fear its staff could be caught in crossfire". Residents had deserted the area to overcrowded camps while some were camped along roadsides, the agency added. Earlier Friday, Somali Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamoud said the new military chief Yusuf Osman Dhumal would command military operations in the capital. The rebels meanwhile maintained their positions in the seaside capital, in trenches along streets near the presidential palace, where President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was holed up under the protection of a 4,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force.

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mr. Mark Bowden, spoke out on Friday regarding the plight of Somali civilians in Mogadishu, hundreds and thousands of whom have been killed, wounded and displaced in the past week of fighting. "I am deeply concerned about the civilians who are caught in the midst of a situation where they face the choice of displacement or death", said Mr. Bowden, speaking from Geneva. "Many of them have only recently returned to Mogadishu from camps all over the country, which was a heartening expression of hope and faith in the peace process. Now, caught in the crossfire of the conflict, they are being victimized again". In the first three months of the year, some 70,000 Somali displaced people were estimated as having returned to Mogadishu. In the past week of fighting, about one-third of them, or 34,000, have been forced to flee areas of conflict in the capital city.

Reports from hospitals confirm some 500 civilians wounded and as many as 180 civilians have been killed in the conflict. Civilian casualties outnumber military casualties. "All parties must respect the international laws of conflict. The fact that civilians are suffering casualties indicates that the combatants are not discriminating between armed fighters and unarmed civilians", stated Mr. Bowden "This is a gross violation of the laws of war. The killing and wounding of civilians is never justifiable for any military objective. I call on all parties involved to protect the unarmed citizens caught in the midst of this conflict".

The UN Security Council is meeting behind closed doors on the situation in Somalia and is expected to adopt a non-binding presidential statement on Somalia on Friday, a UN spokesperson said. Michele Montas, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told a news briefing that the 15-nation Council is expected to hold an open meeting after their closed consultations to adopt the statement. However, Montas did not give further details on the statement, reported Xinhua. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday voiced deep concern over the mounting death toll in Somalia amid some of the fiercest armed clashes the Horn of Africa country has experienced this year, sparking a new wave of displacement. Rebel attacks in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, have killed at least 135 people and wounded more than 400, sending more than 34,000 more fleeing the heavy fighting that erupted last week between forces loyal to the embattled Transitional Federal Government (TFT)and opposition groups, according to UNHCR. The Security Council has been long under pressure from African states to send a UN force to Somalia, but it has repeatedly delayed deciding and is due to consider the matter again by June 1. Somalia has been a byword for anarchy since a dictatorship was overthrown in 1991. Currently, large parts of south and central Somalia are under the control of hard line al Shabaab insurgents and allied armed fighters. 　

The International Crisis Group (ICG) in a memorandum on the UNSC Mission to Africa, 14-21 May 2009 to the members of the United Nations Security Council warmly welcomed mission and stated that the NGO supports the Council’s determination to provide leadership and strong support to the resolution of the most pressing African crises, which represent dangerous threats to international peace and security and are characterized by dramatic levels of human suffering. In the memo the group offered the following analysis and recommendations on the situations in Somalia:

The situation in Somalia has yet again worsened over the last week with a considerable upsurge in fighting between extremist and government troops in Mogadishu. After months of preparation, the radicals that contest the government of President Sheikh Sharif launched an assault on 7 May which has resulted in the death of over 100 civilians and the displacement of thousands, who had only recently returned to the city. The exodus of Somali refugees to Kenya continues, putting severe strains on overcrowded camps in northeastern Kenya. In view of these developments the AU called for an emergency meeting on 13 May to discuss the deteriorating situation.

The election of the moderate Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as president of the Government of National Unity and the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops earlier this year gave a new impetus to the peace and reconciliation process and the efforts to reach out to the militants. Sharif’s Islamist credentials give him clear advantage over the secularists, but there has been little to indicate his efforts have paid off.

Militant groups opposed to Sharif are deeply fragmented and a political consensus on the way forward is difficult to achieve. An umbrella grouping of four militant factions opposed to Sharif, formed in Mogadishu two months ago, under the name Hizb al-Islam, has since broken up into two splinter factions.
Hizb al-Islam’s spiritual father and militant Islamist leader Hasan Dahir Aweys returned to Mogadishu in late April, a move many hoped would boost the reconciliation process. The terms of his return are unclear, although Arab mediators were believed to have been instrumental, principally Qatar and Sudan.
Subsequent hardline statements by Aweys increased speculation he may be coming back as a spoiler rather than a peacemaker. He has refused to engage in negotiations until AMISOM leaves, calling the AU peacekeeping force a "bacteria".

The intra-factional splits also comes against the backdrop of what many regard as an ideological and sectarian rift within Islamist and non-Islamist groups. There is now a battle shaping up between reportedly moderate Muslims and the extremists, such as Al-Shabaab. The anti-Shabaab Islamic groups – under the umbrella name Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama’a – have been spearheading a campaign of military resistance against Al-Shabaab and now control two districts in central Somalia.

Though weakened and deeply fragmented, the Al-Shabaab movement remains a formidable military foe and a serious threat to the Sharif administration though. It controls large parts of south and central Somalia where it has imposed a strict sharia regime. Sharif’s installation as president and his government’s acceptance of sharia as the law of the land has thrown militant factions into disarray and undermined their political appeal, but their brand of radical Islam and Pan-Somali nationalism still resonates with some segments of the Somali population distrustful of Sharif’s pro-Western and pro-Ethiopian leanings.

Ironically, the biggest challenge for the Islamist government of Sharif may be dealing with its Islamic nature. Although Sharif has accepted sharia law as the law of the land, there is very little discussion of the details of his "Islamisation" project. This may be a short-term maneuver to sidestep ideological differences within his government, but in the long-term this could prove counterproductive. There is pressure now on Sharif to ensure that are not given a free hand to dictate the kind of sharia that would be adopted.

Similarly, it is still unclear how far Sharif is willing to go to reach out to more radical islamists, or what modus vivendi can be arrived at. His failed attempts in February and March to engage militant leaders like Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansur" and Yusuf Inda Adde, coupled with Aweys’s inflexibility, show the difficulties of engagement with the radicals. Bringing these powerful militant leaders into a power-sharing formula with his fragile administration is probably too dangerous, upsetting the delicate balance of power between the moderates and the radicals within the government and rendering it completely defunct.

There is no guarantee that a political settlement is achievable, but there is no good alternative to making the attempt. Key issues remain unresolved. The Djibouti process did not settle important constitutional issues or the electoral process, and only addressed the rudiments of security sector reform. Increased international support for AMISOM is important, but is not a substitute for increased engagement on the political process. UNPOS must engage more actively with the radicals. In one form or another, Islamist elements will likely play a major role in governing Somalia. Thus, the international community should use the incentive of international recognition and support for such a regime to ensure that it draws in a wide spectrum of militia elements, including Al-Shabaab elements; respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors, including Ethiopia; protects the internationally guaranteed rights of its people; and renounces any relationship with terrorists.

AMISOM’s presence in Mogadishu is now proving to be a political problem for Sharif. There is widespread Somali opposition to AMISOM, which Sharif cannot ignore. Influential clan elders and clerics want the troops out and in March gave Sharif an ultimatum to have them pulled out in 120 days. Sharif has since negotiated a more flexible timescale but some of his key allies, fearful of an Al-Shabaab offensive, are counseling caution. The matter is now divisive and a topic of heated debate within the government. A prolonged AMISOM presence may work against Sharif and embolden his critics who argue it is an extension of the Ethiopian occupation by another name. AMISOM recently got a major boost in terms of re-sourcing pledges from major donors at a conference in Brussels. The UN Security Council is meeting behind closed doors on the situation in Somalia and is expected to adopt a non-binding presidential statement on Somalia on Friday, a UN spokesperson said.

Michele Montas, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, told a news briefing that the 15-nation Council is expected to hold an open meeting after their closed consultations to adopt the statement.

However, Montas did not give further details on the statement.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday voiced deep concern over the mounting death toll in Somalia amid some of the fiercest armed clashes the Horn of Africa country has experienced this year, sparking a new wave of displacement.

Rebel attacks in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia, have killed at least 135 people and wounded more than 400, sending more than 34,000 more fleeing the heavy fighting that erupted last week between forces loyal to the embattled Transitional Federal Government (TFT)and opposition groups, according to UNHCR.

The Security Council has been long under pressure from African states to send a UN force to Somalia, but it has repeatedly delayed deciding and is due to consider the matter again by June 1.

Somalia has been a byword for anarchy since a dictatorship was overthrown in 1991. Currently, large parts of south and central Somalia are under the control of hard line al Shabaab insurgents and allied armed fighters.

The ICG recommends that the UN Security Council should:

Encourage UNPOS (the UN Political Office on Somalia) to facilitate engagement of radicals in political dialogue, set negotiation of a comprehensive ceasefire as the first step for the expanded Djibouti peace talks, and desist from pushing a power-sharing formula that freezes the current balance of forces;

Support new negotiation aimed at:

Drafting a new constitution for Somalia within its current internationally recognised boundaries and clarifying its internal state boundaries, including addressing the implications of these changes for Somaliland and Puntland;

Integration of all armed forces into a common army and regional police forces, devoted to the establishment of a secure environment for completion of the transition;

A comprehensive plan for adopting the constitution by referendum, the holding of national elections and the progressive integration of the various territories into the constitutional framework;

Transitional justice processes to address impunity and national reconciliation requirements.

Implement sanctions against individuals who are known spoilers of the peace process.

Encourage the AUPSC to change AMISOM’s mandate so that it focuses solely on training the government security forces until a more consensual role can be negotiated with Somali parties to the conflict.

Authorize a UN peacekeeping operation only when a comprehensive ceasefire has been achieved and a viable political process is in progress.

Enhance efforts to implement the Ethiopian-Eritrea border settlement, in part to reduce the "proxy war" impact of this dispute on Somalia and urge both Ethiopia and Eritrea to restrain from supporting combatants in the Somalia conflict.

Comment: Well, these kind of recommendation people did her since now 15 UN-led and failed peace-processes over the last 20 years.

Islamist offensive leaves West's Somalia strategy in tatters
By Shashank Bengali

A major offensive by Islamic rebels has brought Somalia's internationally backed government close to collapse and renewed the possibility that a militant Islamist regime that allegedly has ties to al Qaida could seize control of the East African nation.

That would be a devastating blow to U.S. counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts in East Africa, where al Qaida operatives bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. American intelligence officials accuse the rebels' spiritual leader, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, of helping to shelter suspects in those attacks, and since 2007 U.S. forces have launched air strikes at terrorist targets in Somalia.

After a week of heavy mortar and rocket attacks that have left at least 135 people dead and sent tens of thousands fleeing, the insurgents have moved to within a half-mile of the hilltop presidential palace in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, which is being guarded by African Union peacekeepers with tanks and armoured vehicles.

The Islamists, reportedly joined by hundreds of foreign fighters, didn't move on the palace Friday and almost certainly would lose a ground confrontation with the better-armed, 4,300-man peacekeeping force. Still, Aweys, a veteran hard-liner who U.S. officials charge is linked to al Qaida, vowed to topple the government and institute "the Islamic state of Somalia".

Less than four months after a new, moderate Islamic government formed in a country that's been in the grip of civil war since 1991, the latest multimillion-dollar international plan to stabilize Somalia appears to be in tatters.

Despite a beefed-up African Union peacekeeping force and a U.N.-backed reconciliation effort, the moderate president, Sheik Sharif Ahmed, has failed to win the support of hard-liners such as Aweys or the powerful insurgent group al Shabaab, which the State Department has labeled a terrorist organization.

"The prospect of (Ahmed's) government collapsing is real", said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst for the International Crisis Group, a policy research organization.
The U.N. refugee agency said that this week's clashes had sent some 30,000 people fleeing and overwhelmed hospitals with casualties. Some Mogadishu residents have been trapped in their homes for days, unable to flee street battles raging around their neighbourhoods, the agency said.

The fighting marks a dramatic reversal for Aweys and Ahmed, who were allies in 2006 when Islamist militias took over Mogadishu. The septuagenarian Aweys, the henna-bearded father of the country's modern Islamist movement, plucked Ahmed, then a little-known schoolteacher, to be the moderate face of the new regime.

When a U.S.-backed invasion by Somalia's arch-enemy Ethiopia ousted the Islamists six months later, Aweys fled into exile. Ahmed, to the hard-liners' disgust, formed an opposition group that reached out to Western officials.

Since he became president, Ahmed has tried to placate his rivals by agreeing to institute Islamic law, or Shariah. Aweys' long-awaited return to Mogadishu last month raised hopes of reconciliation, but in a speech two days later he accused Ahmed of being a U.S.-Ethiopian client and called the African Union force — the only thing standing between the government and the insurgents — "a bacteria" to be flushed out.

"We are not going to accept what the international community is forcing on us", Aweys said Friday. "We are going to make our own government".

In a country that's deeply suspicious of foreign intervention, analysts said, the United States and other Western nations underestimated how easily their support for Ahmed could taint the soft-spoken young president.

Experts said that about 100 government soldiers had defected in recent weeks, partly because army salaries hadn't been paid and partly because of fears that Ahmed would be toppled.

"The extremists see (Ahmed) as a sell-out", Abdi said. "They call him 'the man of the American Islam'. He's not practicing the harsh brand of Islam they practice, so they want his blood".

Western officials also appeared to misjudge Aweys, who, despite more than two years in exile, landed in Mogadishu and seemed swiftly to unite disparate insurgent groups in a well-organized campaign that's sealed off the capital's three arterial roads.

Somalia has grabbed world attention in recent months with the surge in pirate attacks from its lawless shores. In one way, Abdi said, the pirates could have precipitated the current crisis: After countries pledged more than $200 million last month for security in Somalia, in part to fight piracy, the insurgents may have decided to strike before the government and the African Union got the money.

Western intelligence officials think that the insurgent groups — particularly al Shabaab, which has employed al Qaida-style roadside bombings and suicide attacks — are backed with money and arms from Arab countries and from Ethiopia's blood rival, Eritrea.

The top U.N. diplomat for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said Friday that 280 to 300 foreigners were fighting alongside the insurgents. Somali government officials say the foreigners come from countries such as Afghanistan and Chechnya and have trained local fighters in explosives and tactics.

Impacting reports from the global village

Declaration of the Nobel Women’s Initiative Conference on
Women Redefining Democracy

Antigua, Guatemala, May 10-12, 2009

We call upon all states and multilateral institutions to recognize that the democratization process is incomplete, and does not end with elections. No country or society can claim to be democratic when the women who form half its citizens are denied their right to life, to their human rights and entitlements, and to safety and security. Despite this, we women have made extraordinary efforts to democratize the institutions of society that frame our lives and the well-being of all humanity – the family, the community, clan, tribe, ethnic or religious group, political, legal, economic, social and cultural structures, and the media and communications systems. But our search for justice is continually overwhelmed by the violence perpetrated upon us, by the exploitation and colonization of our bodies, our labor, and our lands; by militarization, war and civil conflict; by persistent and increasing poverty; and by environmental degradation. All of these forces affect us, and our children, far more severely and in unique ways.

We know that democracy that comes from the heart is not the rule of the majority, but safeguards dissent and difference with equal rights, and fosters a culture of peace. We are in search of democracy that transforms not just our lives, but all society – and we will not be silenced until it is achieved in every part of the world. Jody Williams, who won the prize in 1997 for her work in eradicating land mines, spoke about the danger of "othering" – seeing those who are different as "the other", which makes it easier to be afraid and avoid talking. Indigenous peoples participated for example in drafting the Guatemalan constitution, bringing their cosmo-vision to a national document. Rigoberta Menchu among others declared, that humanity, in defining nature as "the other" is providing a legal and judicial basis for its unwise exploitation. The climate crisis, water crisis, forest crisis, land crisis and food crisis and equity crisis (to name just a few) all are the result of such world view. What's needed, the women have said, is to acknowledge interdependence, and grant other species and natural systems rights, too. The impacts could be immense. So are the possibilities, for preventing ecological destruction instead of mitigating it once it's been done. It's radical in the original meaning of the word—striking at the root. Nature must have rights - also in Somalia.

British PM Gordon Brown ordered justice minister Shahid Malik to quit pending an investigation into claims that he benefited from subsidised rent on his home. It came minutes after the minister defended claims for a £2,600 home cinema and £730 massage chair as "legitimate". The inquiry into Mr. Malik will centre on claims that he failed to declare a cash benefit from subsidized rents on his constituency home in Yorkshire. Labour MP Diane Abbott said she worried about the voters' anger. "Saying sorry isn't enough. Giving money back isn't enough. There's a mood among the public, they want to see dead MPs hanging from lamp posts", she said. Mr Malik claimed £66,827 over three years — more than any other MP— on his second home in Peckham. Former independent anti-corruption MP Martin Bell today branded British MPs "pirates" and called on some to "walk the plank" for their expenses scams. In a letter to the London Evening Standard, he wrote: "I spent last week in Somalia, very impressed by the idealism of politicians in a new province who are unfortunately powerless to do anything about the piracy off their coast. "In my country, I told them, the pirates are not at sea. It is good to see contrition from some MPs".

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Note
Picture: Map of Somalia – May 2009, prepared by Ecoterra