The MV FAINA Piracy Crisis Chronicle - X

As the ongoing piracy crisis off the Somali coast at the Horn of Africa region risks triggering the world’s first major military enterprise after Iraq, in nine previous articles of this series, I provided with a recapitulative record of the insightful press releases of the leading NGO Ecoterra; more specifically, I republished Press Release updates no 43 to 68. In the present article, I republish Ecoterra Press Release updates no 69 and 70.

69th Update 2008-12-03 23:48:25 UTC

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

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

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

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

Day 70 - 1662 hours into the FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over two months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued and local reports state that the financial agreement part has been concluded.

The final preparations for the release are under way. 70 days in captivity today !

Ecoterra Intl. renewed it's call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen to try an attempt of a military solution must be held responsible for the surely resulting disaster.

News from other abducted ships ----

Somali pirates released the Yemeni cargo ship MV ADINA (wrongly called also Amani or Erina), without ransom, Puntland officials stated. The Yemini-owned cargo ship, MV Amani, with its eight crew members -- three Yemeni, three Somali and two Tanzanians, was released after negotiations with the pirates holding it, State Minister of the Presidency for International Relations and Social Affairs Ali Abdi Aware, confirmed from the Somali region of Puntland. "Elders from the pirates' clan have been negotiating with them for the past days and have been successful in persuading their boys to let the Yemeni ship go without the need for a ransom payment", Aware said. "It left Eyl and is heading to Yemen. The crew is safe and no ransom was paid", Aware added. The vessel laden with building material and machinery was sea-jacked as it traveled from the Yemeni port of Mukalla towards the Island of Socotra. The ship was moored of the Somali port of Eyl, the pirate strong-hold in Puntland, since it was abducted. The Yemeni ambassador to Somalia traveled to the region together with Somali president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed to push for the release of the ship, which is partly owned by Somali businessmen. So far only vessels with links to Somali businessmen were freed without ransom or by force.

With the latest captures and releases still at least 16 foreign vessels with a total of around 354 crew members (of which 108 are Filipinos) are held and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which are observed off the coast of Somalia, have been reported or reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 110 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded to far for 2008 with until today 51 factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held 16).

Other related news -------

The Greek vessel MV Centauri docked in Mombassa / Kenya on Tuesday night and was immediately surrounded by Kenyan security agents who took over investigations. On Wednesday, police, led by port detective John Nyanzwii spent two hours talking to crew members and dusting for finger prints. All 26 crew members from the Philippines appeared to be in good health. Briefing journalists after police completed investigations, Mr Nyanzwii said the captain did not disclose whether a ransom was paid. He said the pirates had not terrorised the crew much, and would even share with them food rations. The vessel was attacked on 18th September by 14 pirates who used two boats and fired at the ship. They took turns in holding hostage the members for the entire period. It was sailing to Mombassa from Asmara in Eritrea when it was hijacked about 200 nautical miles off Somali waters, and has been held captive for 71 days. It was released last Friday, November 28. The vessel registered in Malta, has a dead weight tonnage of 19,555 tons and is carrying 15,500 metric tons of salt.

The UN Security Council unanimously passed the U.S.-drafted Resolution 1846, a renewal of the international mandate that authorizes states and regional organizations, in cooperation with the Somali government, to enter Somalia's territorial waters and use "all necessary means" to combat piracy at sea off the Somali coast. Such "means" include the use of force, deploying naval vessels and military aircraft, seizing and disposing of boats, vessels, arms and related equipment used by pirates to commit robbery on the high seas. But so far the Somali Parliament has not ratified as single permission, though the President of the TFG, the nation's Prime Minister and several other representatives have expressed their support. Resolution 1846 extends the mandate by 12 months and includes a proviso for nations to submit progress reports in nine months. NATO has four ships - from Britain, Greece, Italy and Turkey - on patrol off Somalia, with two protecting UN food aid convoys to the country.

Urging delegates not to lose sight of the root causes behind piracy, the Chinese ambassador, Zhang Yesui said that reconciliation was necessary in order to resolve hostilities between the factions in Somalia and promote economic development. He implored the international community recognize the appeal of Somali and African Union officials for a deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force. Council members said they still need to work out a mechanism for prosecuting suspected pirates once they arrest them. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said it is a difficult issue that must be resolved. "We have noted in our resolution the SUA convention - the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Maritime Security - that we believe allows for prosecuting pirates. It provides the jurisdiction for states party to the convention -there are almost 150 countries now that have signed on - we are urging those who are states parties to use the authorities in that convention to deal with this issue", she said.

The European Union, meanwhile, says its anti-piracy armada - dubbed Atalanta - will start operations off the Somali coast next week with six warships and three maritime patrol aircraft. EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana told the AFP that the ships will have very robust rules of engagement. It is not yet clear if the EU mission will replace or complement a NATO task force stationed in the region since the end of October. The United Nations' Security Council gave its formal green-light to the EU mission, which is to last for one year at an extra cost of 8.3 million Euros (US$ 10.5 million) in addition to the billions in basic costs of the armada. Solana conceded Wednesday that there were still a number of legal issues that needed to be resolved. One concerns the different rules which EU member states apply on the detention of pirates. "We need to coordinate that, but every country has a position -- and that position is that they will not allow pirates to play around", Solana said. The European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) is what amounts to the EU’s military wing, which has difficulties to get the different nations under one command. Perhaps in response to British concerns, Operation Atalanta will be commanded by a vice admiral from the Royal Navy, Philip Jones. Although the EU’s anti-piracy efforts could ultimately fail, Operation Atalanta helps put the EU in the useful habit of contributing to international order outside the structure of NATO, which is US led.

A NATO warship reportedly prevented a swarm of more than a dozen pirate boats from hijacking five merchant shipping vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the alliance said in a statement. Alerted by a distress call, the Italian destroyer put itself between the the pirate "fast boats", with all vessels using water hoses to repel the pirates. The Italian warship Luigi Durand de la Penne also used its helicopter against the pirates, dispersing their attack, a NATO official said on Tuesday. "This is probably the biggest multiple co-ordinated attack we've seen", the official said. Between 12 and 20 pirate boats were involved. "There were so many of them, it was more important to protect the motor vessels than to go after these dispersing boats", the official said, on the sidelines of talks between NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. The Hong Kong flagged merchant ship MV Overseas Hercules used fire hoses as a countermeasure against the possible pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden on December 2, 2008. According to NATO headquarters in Naples, the Italian naval destroyer ITS Luigi Durand de la Penne arrived following a distress call and instructed the vessel to use its fire hoses to thwart an attack. No direct attack was made on the ship and no pictures of the alleged approach were released. PR pictures released to show the use of water-canons on MV OVERSEAS HERCULES didn't show a single Somali skiff.

Egyptian cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi said Wednesday that Egypt is ready to take part in an international force under the United Nations to fight against piracy, the state MENA news agency reported. He said the government opposed "unilateral action by any power to confront piracy off Somalia's coast". Egypt, which co-hosted with Yemen a meeting for Red Sea states on piracy last month, has said anti-piracy missions must respect the sovereignty of Somalia and the territorial waters of neighboring states. Egypt's judicial affairs minister, Mufid Shihab, said Cairo's support for anti-piracy efforts was "conditional on not including the Red Sea within the scope of cooperation", government newspaper Al-Ahram reported. Egypt has blamed political turmoil in Somalia for the phenomenon.

Passengers on the luxury cruise liner MS NAUTICA are talking about their experience with the pirate attack. Some say the attackers' boldness surprised them -- but the failed assault on the M/S Nautica on Sunday was no big deal. A man from Oregon, Clyde Thornberg, says he heard several pops from the pirates' rifles. He says the captain ordered passengers off the decks and was "pouring on the coals" to speed away from the pirates' small boats.One woman calls the incident "very minor". She says the attack lasted about five minutes.

Somali Jihadists call on American and European Muslims to Join Jihad in Somalia And Warn the West: "We're Gonna Exterminate You All, Inshallah". In a 30 minute video posted recently on Islamist websites, the Somali jihad group Shabab Al-Mujahideen called on Muslims living in the U.S. and Europe to come to Somalia and join the jihad there. The video is in Arabic, Somali and English.

A soldier serving with African Union forces in Somalia was killed in fighting with insurgents in the war-torn capital Mogadishu, a military spokesman said Wednesday. The Burundi soldier died of injuries sustained in the clash late Tuesday near his contingent's southern Mogadishu base, Burundi army spokesman Clement Cinen said. "The fighting in the former military academy last night, where our forces are based, left one of our soldiers injured but unfortunately he died later in hospital", Cinen said. "There were no other casualties in that fighting".

Insurgents often target Ethiopian backed government forces. Burundi has a total of 1,700 soldiers in Somalia with the 3,400-strong AU force, which is expected to eventually number 8,000. Former African leaders in the AU's Panel of the Wise urged the United Nations to form a stabilisation force for Somalia after Ethiopia announced last week it would withdraw its troops by the end of the year. The Ethiopian army invaded Somalia in late 2006 to rescue Somalia's embattled transitional government and oust the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which controlled of much of the country's central and southern regions. The ICU had ruled much of Somalia with relative peace and prosperity until the Ethiopian involvement. Since then, ICU fighters have waged a deadly insurgency against the Ethiopian and the transitional government forces. But Ethiopian troops’ retaliations have caused many casualties among Somali civilians. Since the Ethiopian invasion, about one million Somalis have fled their homes. An estimated 6,500 civilians have been killed. Aid workers estimate 2.6 million Somalis need assistance. That number is expected to reach 3.5 million by the end of the year if the humanitarian situation does not improve, according to the UN. In May 2008, Amnesty International accused the Ethiopian troops in Somalia of increasingly resorting to throat-slitting executions, highlighting an "increasing incidence" of gruesome methods by Ethiopian forces that include rape and torture. Since the ousting of the ICU, Somalia had plunged into unprecedented chaos, where warlords and pirates have returned to the scene. Many in Somalia see the departure of Ethiopian troops as a precondition to peace negotiations.

Yemen's Interior Ministry says that strong winds and high waves have washed up 24 bodies of Somali migrants including two children and a number of women on the shore. A ministry statement says the bodies surfaced Tuesday and Wednesday along the coast near the town of al-Qasha'a. It says another 184 Somalis involved in the same incident at sea survived and managed to swim ashore. UNHCR said the boat was carrying around 115 passengers, mostly Ethiopians. "The new arrivals received first aid, food and water on the shore and were then transferred to the reception centre to receive a complete medical examination by Médecins Sans Frontières and other assistance", the agency said. Hundreds of Africans die every year trying to reach Yemen, with many drowning or being attacked by pirates and smugglers in the dangerous waters separating Somalia and the Arabian peninsula. The United Nations refugee agency says more than 43,500 migrants — Somali and Ethiopian refugees — have arrived in smuggling boats in Yemen this year. At least 380 people have died and some 360 are missing so far this year. In 2007, some 29,500 people made the voyage to Yemen and the overall number of dead and missing reached 1,400.

Numerous meetings between the Dishishe and Majeteen clans were held today with governmental officials of the breakaway region of Puntland to secure the release of the abducted two journalists.

70th Update 2008-12-04 18:25:13 UTC

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

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

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

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

Day 71 - 1684 hours into the FAINA Crisis - Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over two months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued and local reports state that the financial agreement part has been concluded.

A U.S. destroyer tracking a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship loaded with tanks has backed off and ransom talks look to be nearing a conclusion, a Somali official said on Thursday. Aweys Ali Said, chairman of Somalia's Galkayo town, said negotiations to free both ships were going well. "The pirates have regained hope of getting a ransom (for the Faina). Ukrainian and Somali men from abroad are involved in the bargaining", he told Reuters by telephone. "I'm sure America is also playing a role because the warship has moved some kms (miles) further away". The U.S. Navy sent a destroyer and other vessels to track the Faina after it was seized by Somali gunmen in September. Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesmen for the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, said several U.S. vessels remained within sight of the cargo ship -- which is carrying 33 Soviet-era T-72 tanks and other heavy weapons.

TIME magazine was told this week by a man named Ahmed Gel-Qonaf, 29, who claimed to be among the pirates aboard the Faina that one reason the negotiations have taken more than 10 weeks, Gel-Qonaf said, is the large number of people involved who expect to get a cut from any hijacking, ranging from pirate commanders to leaders of the embattled U.S.-backed transitional government of Somalia as well as its nemesis, the Islamist Shabab militia. Lowest in the pecking order, it seems, are the gunmen who actually captured the ships. What he forgot to mention was the amount of money those get who work on these cases from the outside - while hardly any support comes forward to assist the captured seafarers during and after the nightmare, those who negotiate, handle and deliver the ransom earn themselves often more than the actual payment to the pirates, surely there are expenses, but there also also golden income generation possibilities created by the acts of piracy.

Ecoterra Intl. renewed it's call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen to try an attempt of a military solution must be held responsible for the surely resulting disaster.

Clearinghouse

News from other abducted ships ----

With the latest captures and releases still at least 16 foreign vessels with a total of around 354 crew members (of which 108 are Filipinos) are held and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which are observed off the coast of Somalia, have been reported or reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 115 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded to far for 2008 with until today 51 factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held 16). Several other vessels with unclear fate, who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on the watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail.

Other related news ---------

Somalia is in danger of descending into famine while the world's attention is focused on the problem of piracy off its coast, the Red Cross has warned. The ICRC's Alexandre Liebeskind said the violence had made it almost impossible for aid agencies to operate. About half of Somalia's population is dependent on food aid, he stated to the BBC. Drought, floods and nearly two decades of conflict have driven many into destitution. Alexandre Liebeskind, head of the ICRC in East Africa, says families are now eating their most prized possessions: the camels and goats of reproductive age. It is a sign of increasing desperation, he says. He compared the situation to the last great famine of 1992 when hundreds of thousands died. Yet the fighting between insurgents, the government and the Ethiopian forces in the country mean aid agencies are finding it all but impossible to work on the ground. Most international humanitarian staff have had to leave and even Somali staff are finding it difficult to operate, at a time when the situation is increasingly critical, Mr Liebeskind says. The Red Cross is calling for the country's borders to be opened, and for people to be allowed to cross and escape what appears to be a looming disaster.

Hussein Hajji Ahmed, who serves as the Somali consul in Aden spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat about the treatment of Somali migrants at the hands of Somali human traffickers. "They are treated so badly. They are squeezed into small areas on boats, they cannot move and it’s hard for them to breathe. Some of them suffocate to death and others are thrown into the sea by traffickers in order to make the boat lighter. Anyone who tries to move from his place so that he can breathe properly is beaten and anyone who doesn’t follow orders is shot and thrown into the sea".

Although the situation of Somalis in Yemen is extremely difficult both inside and outside of the refugee camps, they continue to follow the political situation in their native country. Many Somalis agree that the golden age of government in Somalia was between the 1970s and 1990 under the reign of former President Siad Barre. They believe this in spite of the corruption that existed in this government before its collapse. The Somalis in Yemen believe that what is happening today is much worse than any other stage of Somalia’s history. Despite their praise of the Somali government, they find fault with it for its severity, and confirm that they have family members who were killed by Ethiopian troops in Somalia. The "Somalis of Yemen" consider the acts of piracy carried out by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden as "a legitimate right" and a revolutionary act against foreign invaders who exploit the Somali coastal region, which is estimated at approximately 3000 kilometres long and where foreign countries and companies attempt to plunder Somali fishing resources and export and sell them without having any legitimate right to do so. The Somalis of Yemen turn their attention to the political situation in Yemen every day even as it deteriorates. Somalis are scattered all over the earth, and they suffer in Yemen as refugees, just as they suffer in other regions all over the world.

A piracy attack story circulated among NATO officials during a crucial meeting on piracy was actually a hoax. Unbiased journalists from the AAP, the Australian Press Agency could report that a luxury cruise line says there is no substance to reports that one of its ships, with nearly 400 Australian tourists aboard, was the target of a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia. About 30 pirate boats were reported to have surrounded the MV Athena, which is carrying 389 Australians, as it passed through the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday night local time. But a spokeswoman for Classic International Cruises Australia, which owns the Athena, said the boats had turned out to be local fishing vessels whose crew were "very friendly". "Precautions were taken when the boats were sighted but there was never any suggestion that the boat was going to be attacked", Classic Cruises sales and marketing manager Ann Hope said. She said water cannons were dropped from the side of the ship as a standard measure, but were not used at any stage. Ms Hope said the company had exchanged emails with the Department of Foreign Affairs and had sent a message to all its travel partners to inform them there was no piracy attempt. "We would like to advise you that Athena has not in any way been under attack by pirates or even under direct threat and the current situation on board is as it was at the beginning of the cruise", the email said. "Athena was passing the Gulf of Aden, where piracy attacks have occurred in the past.

The captain followed all security measures as far as readiness on board for any eventuality by placing fire hoses around the decks and continually liaised with all authorities. It has been confirmed that the approaching small ships were a tuna fishing fleet". Ms Hope said a naval vessel had been accompanying the Athena as another standard precaution but had not been called on to act once the flotilla of small boats was confirmed to have been a fishing fleet. Ms Hope said security personnel were also deployed aboard the ship in case of piracy attempts. She was unable to say whether they were armed. Athena was on schedule for the Seychelles and will arrive in Fremantle on December 20, she said. On Sunday another luxury cruise liner, the Oceania Nautica – which was carrying 50 Australians and some New Zealanders – had allegedly an incident where some Somali fishermen were "talking" with 8 shots of their guns to the vessel as it passed through the area.

Despite of not having achieved much, NATO is considering a significant extension of its anti-piracy mission off Somalia amid growing concern within the alliance at the risk pirates pose to trade and security. For the past six weeks Nato forces have deployed four ships in anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. Those are due to withdraw this month when seven vessels under European Union command are deployed in the region. However, Nato officials are considering renewing the existing mission, called Allied Provider, which would increase the total number of ships from all states operating in the region. "There's recognition that it will take more than seven ships from the EU to provide protection", said a NATO official quoted by the Financial Times.

The United States (US) expressed its satisfaction with the adoption of Security Council resolution No. 1846 unanimously and by which it set the mandate of the states signatories, which are about 150 countries, of the treaty on fighting piracy in the coasts of Somalia and illegal activities. The resolution welcomed the initiative of the European Union to send a mission to the region as well as the decision to accompany the World Food Program shipments until the arrival of the European Union mission.

Chinese naval strategists are beating the drum for Beijing to send naval forces to the Horn of Africa and raise its profile in the fight against piracy. The call from a senior Chinese policy advisor comes as the UN Security Council reaffirmed for the next 12 months the use of ‘all reasonable force’ against piracy off Somalia. The head of China’s National Defence University, Major-General Jin Yinan, said that "nobody should be shocked" if his government deployed warships to fight Somalian pirates. "I believe the Chinese navy should send naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden to carry out anti-piracy duties", he told Reuters. "Piracy doesn't just interfere in our country's navigational safety, it also impedes our development and interests", Major General Jin Yinan told state radio.

The Danish government is calling for more legal clarity after one of its warships was prevented from arresting a boatload of suspected pirates off Somalia. Personnel from the warship Absalon made contact with a boat in the Gulf of Aden, but could make no arrests as no offence had been committed. However, after keeping the vessel under surveillance, the crew said they were sure it was the same group that tried to hijack an American cruise liner last Sunday. Denmark has been in charge of a multinational naval task force separate from NATO in the Northern Indian Ocean since September. Their mandate has just been extended until April 2009.

Russia will send a Pacific Fleet detachment under missile destroyer Admiral Vinogradov to the Horn of Africa to protect the area from Somali pirates, Interfax quoted a military diplomatic source as saying. They will also help enhance security in the area. The task force comprising a tugboat and two tankers will leave for Somali waters after joint naval drills with the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean. It will leave its main base in Vladivostok for the INDRA-2009 exercises on December 9th.

American missiles to be deployed in Poland are capable of hitting Moscow in just four minutes, which makes them totally provocative weapons, says Russia’s envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin. I think that all this is just an attempt to isolate the Russian bear, to force it into its lair. There is one problem, though, and every hunter knows that. You can hunt a bear down, you can badger it, but it’s dangerous to come close to it. Therefore, NATO closing in on Russia is dangerous: any hunter can tell you that. The chances are pretty low so far. It’s due to the inertia of the Cold War mentality. In general, what Russia is suggesting is very good. We suggest principles that are really hard to object to. Who is going to deny that security should be equal, indispensable and indivisible for all? Who could be against demilitarizing the entire centre of the European continent using military force solely to defend our common borders in the Pacific area? Who could be against ruling out military planning, especially nuclear planning, against each other? These things are totally reasonable; it’s a new world outlook. It’s a new vision of collective security for everyone. Therefore, what Medvedev is offering is hardly questionable. The problem is a different matter altogether.

The problem is that employees of all international organizations think, "What’s going to happen to me personally?" I refer to employees of the NATO Secretariat, employees of the European Commission, and employees of the OSCE headquarters in Vienna - they all think this. "Will I keep getting my several-thousand-euro paycheck if that Medvedev guy realizes his concept?" They are afraid that a moment will come when people will simply sweep those lardy European bureaucrats out of their cozy seats. It’s that selfish, small-minded, paltry psychology of Euro-Atlantic bureaucrats that can ruin such a great initiative. Well, I still believe this concept will win through sooner or later. For example, what they are discussing now is the unacceptability of Russia’s plan to deploy its Iskander missile systems in the Kaliningrad Region. As for the fact that the U.S. has already began deploying its launch systems in Poland and is about to press the Czechs into approving the deployment of a radar station there, nobody in Europe seems to care about that.

As for piracy, there are pirates rampant in Somalia, and tomorrow, I think, the entire African coast will be swarming with pirates, and there will not be enough warships to keep them at bay. There is an enormous distance between Europe and the Third World. There is a new civilization emerging in the Third World that thinks that the white, northern hemisphere has always oppressed it and must therefore fall at its feet now. This is very serious. If the northern civilization wants to protect itself, it must be united: America, the European Union, and Russia. If they are not together, they will be defeated one by one. Of course, the resumption of the work of the Russia-NATO council is possible. It will surely happen, because there are too many bureaucrats in NATO who are responsible for contact with Russia. They are afraid of losing their jobs after the freezing of the Russia-NATO council, so they are among the most zealous lobbyists for resuming our good relationship. Well, kidding aside, the scope of strategic matters that unites us is so vast that we can pretend as long as we want that we don’t communicate, but we can’t help communicating. In Brussels, I have regular meetings with the leaders of the NATO secretariat, political leaders, ambassadors, and so on. It’s just that they are afraid of meeting with me in what is called the Russia-NATO council. It will happen this December at the earliest, or next March at the latest. This is my forecast, and you will see that I am right. (excerpt from Russia Today)

Gregory Viscusi compiled for Bloomberg: In 2006, militant supporters of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of Sharia tribunals, won control of Somalia and imposed religious law. "Under the Courts, there was literally no piracy", says Hans Tino Hansen, chief executive of Risk Intelligence, a maritime security consultant in Denmark. Then the U.S. helped drive out the Muslim rulers to prevent the East African country from becoming a terrorist haven, leaving behind a lawless chaos in which piracy has flourished. "It’s a bad mistake to look at Somali events through the prism of international politics", says Richard Cornwell, an Institute for Security Studies researcher in Pretoria. "The U.S. turned an internal Somali conflict into part of the global war on terror". Now, Cornwell says, the West is making the same mistake with piracy by focusing more on battling it at sea than on pushing feuding Somali factions toward a settlement. And with Islamist militiamen again poised to seize the capital, Mogadishu, there’s little chance they will be able to control the outlaws this time. "They are no longer some ragged bunch of pirates", says Cornwell. "They are increasingly well armed and organized". The pirates also are flush with cash, having extorted an estimated $100 million since the 1990s, according to Will Geddes, managing director of ICP Group, a London security company. (edit.: 30 mio for the pirates / 70 mio for the fixers in London etc.)

Moreover, today’s Islamists are unlikely to deliver a government capable of eradicating piracy because they are more divided than in 2006, says Rashid Abdi, an International Crisis Group analyst in Nairobi. Some may even form alliances with the pirates in the self-governing breakaway northern region of Puntland, the base for many brigands, he says.

The GUARDIAN newspaper broke the story that the BBC has been accused of putting the independence of the World Service at risk after agreeing to pull an episode on piracy of the series From Our Own Correspondent following a request from the Foreign Office. Angry World Service staff and union officials said the decision to withdraw the programme, about the Somalia pirate hijackings, could "seriously damage" the Foreign Office-funded operation's reputation for independent journalism. The programme, about how reporter Mary Harper was able to speak to the pirates holding the Sirius Star and its captain, had been broadcast on Radio 4 and 48 times on the World Service network before the Foreign Office intervention on Sunday. Sources said the FCO had asked for the programme to be pulled as it claimed that after each broadcast the phonelines to the Sirius Star were blocked by callers - even though the number was not aired - and that it was hampering efforts by Saudi Arabia to end the hijack. In a letter sent yesterday to the outgoing World Service director, Nigel Chapman, and seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk, the NUJ World Service news and current affairs father of the chapel, Mike Workman, asked for an investigation into the incident.

He wrote: "I was rather surprised to learn that the World Service gave in to a demand from a Foreign Office official to drop an excellent piece by Mary Harper from the latest edition of From Our Own Correspondent. It may be that there was a good reason for the World Service decision but information from my members suggests otherwise", he added. "I cannot emphasise the seriousness of the situation [enough]. This is an issue that could severely damage the World Service's reputation for independent journalism because it looks as if we have given in to government pressure for no good reason. "As far as I can tell, no lives were put at risk by Mary's report and there was no reason for our government to be directly involved in the affair - unless British officials now act as agents for the Saudi authorities".

One source told MediaGuardian.co.uk that people at the World Service were angered by the action. "Surely the principle about independence is so important. People are very concerned," the source said. Another source called the decision to pull the show "extraordinary". "These sort of requests don't come in every five minutes. It is quite unusual and therefore extraordinary to accede to this one", the insider said. "There is the feeling that the BBC should have investigated in greater depth the argument being put forward to it". Following the request, the World Service said it had decided to axe the remaining eight broadcasts of the programme, although it was still available online. A World Service spokesman said: "We can confirm that the FCO made a request for BBC World Service to cease broadcasting some repeats of last weekend's edition of From Our Own Correspondent about how BBC World Service was able to talk to hostages held by the Somali pirates. However, the reason is not because of the journalism in the programme or the FCO attempting to infringe the BBC World Service's independence", he added. "This request followed FCO concerns that the broadcast of the programme was creating a reaction whereby people were ringing the hostages and blocking the local phone network - and thus hindering the negotiations. The safety of the hostages is paramount and the FCO is clear that this request was about saving lives and not editorial interference. We are satisfied that this is the case. This is clearly not a case of editorial interference as the programme has been broadcast many times and is still available online. We do not believe this action has any impact on BBC World Service's integrity and editorial independence".

The spokesman added that the World Service's actions were "entirely compatible" with the BBC's editorial guidelines. These state that when reporting stories relating to hijacking, kidnapping, hostage-taking or sieges, the BBC "must listen to advice from the police and other authorities about anything which, if reported, could exacerbate the situation". An FCO spokesman had not responded to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The breakaway enclave of Somaliland (similar in territory again to the former British Protectorate of Somaliland) offered on Thursday the use of ports along its long coastline for foreign naval patrols against Somali pirates. "Our coast is extremely long but we have kept our waters free of pirates. We have not had one single incident", said Abdillahi Duale, foreign minister for Somaliland which broke away from Somalia to declare itself an independent republic in 1991. "We will support the fight against pirates any way we can. Our ports are open for the coalition and all those who are fighting piracy to use as they wish", he told Reuters. Somaliland already had offered its airport to be used by the Spanish Orion plane provided for anti-piracy operations, which is flying out of Djibouti in the moment.

MUST READ ------

Washington's allies in the TFG promised to pass oil laws that would allow foreign oil companies to return to Somalia, but now all of that is uncertain, notes Mike Whitney.
Published 2008-12-04

"The Ethiopian invasion, which was sanctioned by the US government, has destroyed virtually all the life-sustaining economic systems which the population has built for the last fifteen years". Abdi Samatar, professor of Global Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Up until a month ago, no one in the Bush administration showed the least bit of interest in the incidents of piracy off the coast of Somalia. Now that's all changed and there's talk of sending in the Navy to patrol the waters off the Horn of Africa and clean up the pirates hideouts. Why the sudden about-face? Could it have something to do with the fact that the Ethiopian army is planning to withdrawal all of its troops from Mogadishu by the end of the year, thus, ending the failed two year US-backed occupation of Somalia?

The United States has lost the ground war in Somalia, but that doesn't mean its geopolitical objectives have changed one iota. The US intends to stay in the region for years to come and use its naval power to control the critical shipping lanes from the Gulf of Aden. The growing strength of the Somali national resistance is a set-back, but it doesn't change the basic game-plan. The pirates are actually a blessing in disguise. They provide an excuse for the administration to beef up it's military presence and put down roots. Every crisis is an opportunity.

There's an interesting subtext to the pirate story that hasn't appeared in the western media. According to Simon Assaf of the Socialist Worker:

"Many European, US and Asian shipping firms – notably Switzerland's Achair Partners and Italy's Progresso – signed dumping deals in the early 1990s with Somalia's politicians and militia leaders. This meant they could use the coast as a toxic dumping ground. This practice became widespread as the country descended into civil war".

Nick Nuttall of the UN Environment Programme said, "European companies found it was very cheap to get rid of the waste".

When the Asian tsunami of Christmas 2005 washed ashore on the east coast of Africa, it uncovered a great scandal. Tons of radioactive waste and toxic chemicals drifted onto the beaches after the giant wave dislodged them from the sea bed off Somalia. Tens of thousands of Somalis fell ill after coming into contact with this cocktail. They complained to the United Nations (UN), which began an investigation.

"There are reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems such as mouth bleeds, abdominal hemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties", the UN noted.

Some 300 people are believed to have died from the poisonous chemicals.

In 2006 Somali fishermen complained to the UN that foreign fishing fleets were using the breakdown of the state to plunder their fish stocks. These foreign fleets often recruited Somali militias to intimidate local fishermen. Despite repeated requests, the UN refused to act. Meanwhile the warships of global powers that patrol the strategically important Gulf of Aden did not sink or seize any vessels dumping toxic chemicals off the coast.

So angry Somalis, whose waters were being poisoned and whose livelihoods were threatened, took matters into their own hands. Fishermen began to arm themselves and attempted to act as unofficial coastguards". (Socialist Worker)

The origins of piracy in Somalia is considerably different than the narrative in the media which tends to perpetuate stereotypes of scary black men who are naturally inclined to criminal behavior. In reality, the pirates were the victims of a US-EU run system that still uses the developing world as a dumping ground for toxic waste regardless of the suffering it causes. (just ask Larry Summers) In fact, the dumping continues to this day, even though we have been assured that we're living in a "post racial era" following the election of Barak Obama. Unfortunately, that rule doesn't apply to the many black and brown people who still find themselves caught in the imperial cross hairs. Their lives are just as miserable as ever.

Ethiopia's Plan for Withdrawal

In 2006, the Bush administration supported an alliance of Somali warlords known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) that established a base of operations in the western city of Baidoa. With the help of the Ethiopian army, western mercenaries, US Navy warships, and AC-130 gunships; the TFG captured Mogadishu and forced the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to retreat to the south. Since then the resistance has coalesced into a tenacious guerrilla army that has recaptured most of the country.

The Bush administration invoked the war on terror to justify its involvement in Somalia, but their case was weak and full of inconsistencies. The ICU is not an Al Qaida affiliate or a terrorist organization despite the claims of the State Department. In fact, the ICU brought a high level of peace and stability to Somalia that hadn't been seen for more than sixteen years.

Political analyst James Petras summed it up like this:

"The ICU was a relatively honest administration, which ended warlord corruption and extortion. Personal safety and property were protected, ending arbitrary seizures and kidnappings by warlords and their armed thugs. The ICU is a broad multi-tendency movement that includes moderates and radical Islamists, civilian politicians and armed fighters, liberals and populists, electoralists and authoritarians. Most important, the Courts succeeded in unifying the country and creating some semblance of nationhood, overcoming clan fragmentation".

The Bush administration is mainly interested in oil and geopolitics. According to most estimates 30 per cent of America's oil will come from Africa within the next ten years. That means the Pentagon will have to extend its tentacles across the continent. Washington's allies in the TFG promised to pass oil laws that would allow foreign oil companies to return to Somalia, but now all of that is uncertain. It is impossible to know what type of government will emerge from the present conflict. Many pundits expect Somalia to descend into terrorist-breeding, failed state for years to come.

The latest round of fighting has created a humanitarian disaster. 1.3 million people have been forced from their homes with nothing more than what they can carry on their backs. Over 3.5 million people are now huddled in tent cities in the south with little food, clean water or medical supplies.

According to the UN News Center: "Nearly half the population is in crisis or need of assistance. Continuing instability, coupled with drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency have only worsened the dire humanitarian situation in recent months. The UN estimates that 40 per cent of the population, are in need of assistance. In addition, one in six children under the age of five in southern and central Somalia is currently acutely malnourished". (UN News Center)

The war between the occupying Ethiopian army and the various guerrilla factions has steadily intensified over the last two years. Fighters from the ICU, Al-Shabaab and other Islamic groups have moved from the south to the vicinity of Mogadishu where fighting could break out at any time. It's "game-over" for Bush's proxy army and the transitional federal government. They cannot win, which is why the Ethiopian leaders announced a complete withdrawal of troops by the end of the year. By January 1, 2009, the occupation will be over.

In a recent Chicago Tribune article, "US Appears to be Losing in Somalia", journalist Paul Salopek sums it up like this:

"(Somalia) is a covert war in which the CIA has recruited gangs of unsavory warlords to hunt down and kidnap Islamic militants and secretly imprison them offshore, aboard U.S. warships. The British civil-rights group Reprieve contended that as many as 17 U.S. warships may have doubled as floating prisons since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"Somalia is one of the great unrecognized U.S. policy failures since 9/11", said Ken Menkhaus, a leading Somalia scholar at Davidson College in North Carolina. "By any rational metric, what we've ended up with there today is the opposite of what we wanted" (Paul Salopek, "US Appears to be Losing in Somalia" Chicago Tribune).

The CIA has done its job well. It's created a beehive for terrorism and the potential for another catastrophe like 9-11.

Currently, negotiations are underway between the guerrilla leaders and the TFG over a power-sharing agreement. But no one expects the talks will amount to anything. The moderate ICU may regain power but the country will still be ungovernable for years to come. At best, Somalia is a decade away from restoring the fragile peace that was in place before Bush's bloody intervention.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state and can be reached at fergiewhitney@msn.com