MV FAINA Piracy Crisis – The Weapons Saga – An Insightful by Ecoterra
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
October 25, 2008
The Weapons Saga
MV FAINA, which was registered at IMMARBE (the International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize) on April 25, 2003 and specifically it's cargo are now already under investigation by IMMARBE as well as the Ukrainian Parliament, which will most likely also trigger a parliamentary investigation in Kenya. To whom the battle tanks actually belong to will also be a nut to crack for the newly established AFRICOM, but first things first: Focus on the peaceful resolution of the explosive crisis-situation near Hobyo in Somalia.
Though the Kenyan Government spokesman, Dr. Alfred Mutua, persistently claims that the cargo, consisting allegedly of 33 refurbished T-72M1 and T72-M1K combat tanks and around 1,000 tonnes of ammunition and spares, 150 rocket propelled grenade-launchers (RPG-7), six ZU-23 anti-aircraft defence systems (multiple-launch rocket systems with its ballistic missiles) and assault rifles plus all their ammunition as well as armoured personnel carrier and other military hardware parts. Moreover, the freight document provided by the pirates and published on a Sudanese website lists six "BM-21 on Ural wheelbase"—a type of heavy truck mounted with a multiple-launch rocket system, which was once used by Sudanese Armed Forces and by the SPLA during the siege of Juba.
The listed cargo contained 33 T-72 tanks weighing 1,355,000 kg and 73 packages of spare tank parts weighing 11,900 kg. The contract number was dated February 15, 2007 and labeled "CONTRACT No. GOSS/T-72/06-07-5/8-1K. Another order, labeled "CONTRACT No. GOSS/ARMS/08-07-3/87- K," lists 36 packages of RPG-7V, a type of shoulder-launched rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and spare parts, all weighing 2,818 kg. The order also includes what appear to be another six ZPU-4 weapons and packages of spare parts or ammunition. The ZPU-4 is a Soviet-built anti-aircraft gun composed of four KPV 14.5mm heavy machine guns mounted on a four-wheel carriage.
The load which many do not want to see falling into the wrong hands, was - according to the Kenya Government spokesman - supposed to be delivered to the Government of Kenya, but senior members of Kenya's Department of Defence denied that any supplies are to be received from Ukraine and explained the improbability also with the non-existence of any such procurement process, that no training has been done for any of their soldiers on the Russian tanks or these weapons systems and that the consignment would not fit into the present arsenal. While the Southern Sudan governance of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and Army (SPLM/A) denies, despite the fact that three earlier deliveries of similar tanks and hardware for South Sudan have been credibly reported with video evidence, that the shipment would be for them, Khartoum also presumes that the shipment was supposedly to be delivered to Southern Sudan.
Likewise Lt. Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, finally came out on Monday afternoon saying the shipment of 33 Russian-designed tanks along with rifles and ammunition was headed for Sudan, not Kenya as previously claimed by Kenyan officials.
Christensen, however, did not specify whether the arms were intended for the Khartoum-based Sudanese government, or southern Sudan, which was granted a degree of autonomy under a 2005 peace deal that also guaranteed the oil-rich region a referendum on full independence in 2011. If destined for Khartoum, these military equipment certainly would have been shipped to Port Sudan and not to Mombasa. The UN has imposed an arms embargo on weapons headed to Sudan's Darfur conflict zone, but the ban does not cover weapons sales to the Khartoum government or southern Sudan's autonomous government, though the latter would have to do such under an UN controlled process. But the terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ban both the north and the south from building up arms without the approval of a north-south Joint Military Board. Shipping documents stamped by Belize and presented by the Kenya Government to prove its ownership were presented to the Press on Monday evening, but already have been disputed by several sides as hastily issued and backdated cover-ups. Especially the conflict in the war-torn Darfur region in Southern Sudan, classified by the US-American government as a case of genocide, is placed under an UN arms embargo and therefore the wiggling of the players could be explained. The US-American government has also not yet come clear if they didn't actually provided the funds for this shipment and their Navy commander only declared on Wednesday that they want to ensure the dangerous weapons would not end up in the hands of Islamist fighters.
Clandestine arms sales are nothing new to the Ukraine - by selling Buk missiles to Georgia, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko dealt a crippling blow to his own country´s defences and according to many, including now Russia media reports, the Ukrainian ship being held by Somali pirates too contains contraband arms for South Sudan, while according to Global Research, a watchdog from Canada, many people in Kiev say that the recent blaze at an arms depot in Kharkov was actually a case of arson meant as a cover up for illegal amps sales abroad.
A pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker alleged that Kiev also sold weapons to Georgia during the Russo-Georgian conflict in August, an accusation promptly rejected by the Ukrainian government. "A series of documents show that on September 22 artillery ammunition was delivered in the (Georgian) port of Batumi from Ukrainian ports under the guise of humanitarian aid," deputy Valery Konovaliuk was quoted as saying by his Regions party's press service. Kiev also sold to Georgia anti-aircraft defence systems taken from the Ukrainian army at a low price, he said.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports: "Perhaps significantly, although Kenyan officials made it clear that the 33 T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition aboard the hijacked Ukrainian ship FAINA were part of a larger deal under which tanks, artillery and SALW were delivered by Ukraine in 2007, these weapons did not appear in Kenya´s recent submission to the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms (UNROCA). Kenya's report to UNROCA for 2007, submitted on 26 September 2008, records ´nil´ imports and ´nil´ exports of major conventional weapons and gives no information on Small and Light Weapons (SALW)". According to the latest report released by the Ukrainian government, Kenya imported 40,000 automatic rifles and sub-machine guns and 405 grenade launchers last year.
Kenya´s parliamentary select committee on security - under MP Fred Kapondi - on Monday, 29th September said that they will summon both the minister for Defense, Yussuf Haji and Internal Security minister, George Saitoti to explain the importation of military hardware aboard a Ukrainian ship MV FAINA when parliament resumes on 07. Oct. 2008. That committee's chairman, Fred Kapondi urged the government to come clear on the issue when his team will be seeking to establish the actual owner of the military cargo, details of its importation and its security implications on the country. "As the chairman of a very crucial parliamentary committee, I reiterate that there is no need of keeping this matter secret anymore as it will continue giving room to speculation', the Mount Elgon MP said. MP Adan Keynan insisted that this will have to be first business on the first day's morning when parliament reconvenes after a 2 month break. A investigation team of the committee lead by Adan Keynan was sent to Mombasa accompanied by Jeremiah Kioni (Maragwa), Wilson Litole (Sigor), Kiema Kilonzo (Mutito) and Hassan Joho (Kisauni), which found - as reported by the Standard newspaper - senior Kenyan ex-military personnel, retired politicians as we as wealthy businessmen involved.
SIPRI's Paul Holtom told VOA: "One of the things we could say is, 'Well, we know they have arrived, so please can you show us that you have those T-72 tanks?' It has been very difficult for us to find evidence that they are actually in Kenya or even in southern Sudan for that matter. He adds, "Last week, I was very willing to give Kenya the benefit of the doubt. But there are more and more questions being raised in subsequent actions in recent days and the jailing of Mwangura is certainly another red flag".
Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator of the Seafarers' Assistance Program in Kenya, and source of information for the world's seafarers, shipping industry and press during the recent build-up of piracy activity in Somali waters, had been arrested by an obviously embarrassed Kenya government. While Mwangura has been since many years the most reliable and apparently unbiased source, often warning the world not to pay ransom, which would encourage the pirates and compound the problem, he then was put in the spotlight by the Standard Media group to report what he had heard from the crew and the pirates: The hijacked ship FAINA contained weaponry, including battle tanks meant for the Sudan. But the newspaper and television crews were already since 6 month on the trail of that secret arms deals and only using him to stand as source. Mwangura was subsequently detained for several days first in police station cells without charge and then framed and jailed under trumped up charged in Kenya's infamous Shimo-la-Tewa Maximim Security Prison until Human Rights organizations could bail him out.
Also Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called for the immediate release of ex-journalist Andrew Mwangura, who is also supposed to be protected by the Kenyan Witness Protection Act. "Detaining Andrew Mwangura is completely unjustified. This dangerous precedent set by the Kenyan authorities is surprising.
It sends a very negative signal to those with information contradicting the government", the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "Moreover the detention of Andrew Mwangura only increases the doubts about the destination of the FAINA, even more so since his statements are based on serious information shared by several sources close to the case." Mwangura received a prize in 2006 from the Chamber of International Commerce – commercial crime services, for his work in defence of sailors and particularly against murder and piracy in east Africa. He has helped obtain the release of many sailors taken hostage. In a widely published statement Leonard Vincent, spokesman for Paris-based watchdog RSF, said the charges against Mwangura might stop other officials coming forward with information in a country rated as one of the most corrupt in the world. "We think it is a dangerous precedent and a signal sent to those who have information contradicting the Kenyan government", he said. "We are not used to seeing this in Kenya, that is why we are outraged and surprised."
Actually, the France-based website Sudan Tribune blew the whistle on South Sudan´s importation of weapons through Kenya in contravention of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the UN embargo for Darfur already in February and showed that 50 tanks had arrived at the port of Mombasa and more cargo, including rocket launchers, artillery and aircrafts, would be delivered in the following months to Southern Sudan.
Helmoed Heitman, Africa correspondent for Jane´s Defence Weekly, told BBC that he has reports that more than 100 T-72 and T-55 Russian tanks have already been received by the southern Sudanese in recent months.
Holtom says it is also significant that Kenya told the United Nations that it was not importing arms on the same day that the Ukrainian freighter was hijacked as it sailed toward Mombasa. In another twist of the arms-shipment saga Somali Islamist Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the Al-Shabaab movement, expressed his belief that the arms actually were supposed to be off-loaded in Mogadishu and destined for the Ethiopian troops, who fight for the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. Though he claims that his movement was not linked to the pirates, Robow called upon the pirates to destroy the cargo and the vessel if they are not paid ransom. "If they do not get the money they are demanding, we call on them to either burn down the ship and its arms or sink it," Robow told AFP and Xinhua in interviews and reasoned that hi-jacking vessels that carry arms for the enemy of Allah would be a different matter than the crime of taking commercial ships. Meanwhile the pirates maintained their demand for a 20-million-dollar ransom.
The BBC too said it had seen a copy ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/africa_enl_1223382149/html/1.stm ) of the cargo manifest of the ship and that contract numbers contained the initials GOSS, which military sources say refer to the Government of South Sudan. Contract numbers for tanks, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and anti-aircraft guns contain the initials GOSS, which military sources tell the BBC is a reference to the Government Of South Sudan.
Kenya's Foreign Minister Wetangula said: "I have been advised, and I stand properly advised, I believe, and I have no doubt that it is true, that GOSS means General Ordinance Supplies and Security, which is a code for our DoD [Department of Defense]." But military experts said this makes no sense. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior Kenyan military official told VOA that he has never heard of a code called General Ordinance Supplies and Security used in the armed forces. Investigating journalists from However, already in Kenya several other and mostly joking explanations for the abbreviation GOSS make the round, while all do not provide a substitute for the most plausible explanation as standing for Government Of South Sudan. Nearly seventy percent of Kenyans do not believe the explanations of their government, was the result of a KTN sms poll.
Meanwhile the Kenyan Parliamentary committee on Defence and Foreign Relations tried to unravel the mystery of the military hardware in the hijacked Ukrainian ship. The delegation under MP Adan Keynan grilled numerous officials from the Kenya Ports Authority and even want to travel to Ukraine and Sudan, which is seen by a majority of Kenyans as a waist of taxpayers money, because the answers could be found in Kenya and see the committee as an attempt to distract investigations with the mere purpose to diffuse attention. Many Kenyans are now of the opinion that the unfolding saga and numerous flawed justification attempts are actually damaging the reputation of the country and its governance more than a not so clean arms deal admittance would have.
This is a very serious issue because it is affecting the country´s image abroad and having great impact on security of the region. We need answers on many unanswered questions", said the chairman of Defence and Foreign Relations Committee in Kenya's Parliament Adan Keynan. Sources close to the delegation already leaked information to press and the Standard newspaper revealed that senior former military men, top ex-politicians and shrewd businessmen seem to be involved. Sitting Defence Minister Usuf Haji and top military commanders as well as Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula, former Defence Minister Njenga Karume, PS Nancy Kirui and her predecessor Zachary Mwaura have been asked to appear before the committee to explain the destination of the weapons.
Sudan's Foreign Ministry summoned diplomats from neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya to protest their alleged involvement in passing weapons on to semi-autonomous southern Sudan. Khartoum's official news agency (SUNA) reports that the Ministry complained to the Ethiopian ambassador about an Ethiopian plane carrying light arms that arrived Friday in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba and SUNA also reported it had obtained a manifesto concerning a shipment of battle tanks from Ukraine showing the weapons were ultimately destined for southern Sudan via Kenya. The air-cargo of illegal armament was uncovered by the UN inspectors who said that an Ethiopian DC130 cargo plane, which was carrying 40 tonnes of ammunition and light armaments, was seized at the Juba Airport in Southern Sudan for illegal trade in arms.
A referendum to determine whether the South will secede from the North is scheduled to be held in 2011. But with the vast majority of Sudan's oil wealth located in southern fields, there has been growing fear that Khartoum will not allow South Sudan to become independent without a fight. For this both sides seem to gear up.
GOSS Finance Minister Kuol Athian told South Sudan's parliament it needed to cover another 2.08 billion Sudanese pounds ($980 million) of expenditures on top of the 3.4 billion Sudanese pounds already included in the 2008 budget. The money supposedly has to come from oil-revenues. The minister later told Reuters on 16th October that the biggest over-spender was South Sudan's army, which had burned through a budget of nearly 1 billion pounds (roughly 500 million USD) by June.
Channel 4 in an Interview with Sudan's Head of State: They're now saying this ship carrying tanks and other weapons hijacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia was carrying weapons for the GOSS, previously your enemies now part of your government. What's your reaction?
Omar al Bashir (President of Sudan): There were conflicting reports. Actually I met the Kenyan Foreign Minister in Accra and he assured me that this shipment of arms was for Kenya. Of course, the media says otherwise. Now we are talking to our brother in Southern Sudan to see the truth about it.
Building peace in Sudan is and has been a slow and often shaky process. Many worry that continuing war in the western region of Darfur could destabilise peace efforts elsewhere, especially with potential genocide charges looming over President Omar al-Bashir. National elections are due in 2009, followed by a 2011 referendum in the semi-autonomous south on whether it should become fully independent. Tensions remain high, especially in flashpoint border zones, and former enemy armies are watching over their neighbour's capabilities with concern, nervous of reports that the other is rearming. Sudan is planning to disarm, demobilise and re-integrate many soldiers into civilian life, but the ambitious scheme to rebuild war-shattered communities could raise false expectations, observers warn. "We are looking in total at the demobilisation and reintegration of 182,900 adults across east, north and south Sudan, not including any possible operations in Darfur", said Adriaan Verheul, chief of the UN programme supporting the government-run scheme. "This will make it the biggest DDR operation in the world". Run jointly by northern and southern government commissions, the numbers will be split equally between the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the southern ex-rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). But observers in the region where several other conflicts still remain unresolved remain skeptical. Sudan's national and southern governments are likely to maintain high levels of military spending and to avoid major demobilisation commitments. A revival of the decades-long Sudan north-south civil war would reopen one of Africa's bloodiest and most intractable wars - 2 million died in the fighting between 1972 and 2005 - and it would jeopardize hopes for a solution to the crisis in Darfur. However, in the short to medium term, their political and economic interests make a reversion to open civil war unlikely, analysts concluded.
But the controversy ridden MV FAINA carrying heavy military hardware for which the Kenyan government has claimed ownership, has already sparked off a diplomatic feud between Kenya and the Khartoum government, which claims Kenya is aiding military acquisition for its southern Sudan rival thus threatening the peace deal signed between the north and the south. Well placed sources within Khartoum said an intended visit by the Sudanese energy minister had been postponed indefinitely even as Kenya still reels under high oil prices not restrained by government.
In a bizarre twist, the Yemeni Post newspaper claimed on 20th October that undisclosed sources had revealed the tanks on MV FAINA actually were destined for Yemen and were part of the military agreement signed between Russia and Yemen. Regional military observers, however, discredited that claim immediately and maritime officials actually confirmed that the MV FAINA already had passed Yemen on her voyage from Ukraine to Mombasa in Kenya, when it was hi-jacked just north of the Kenyan/Somali border.
Top Sudanese government officials will not attend an Inter-Government Authority on Development meeting slated for Kenya next week in what is seen as an escalation of the controversy on the hijacked Ukrainian ship with weapons.
Archbishop sends `Control Arms' message to every nation: Its time to end the slaughter!
On 21th October Archbishop (Em.) Desmond Tutu sent a strong message to every UN member state, calling on them to `end the slaughter' arising from the uncontrolled arms trade, by giving their backing to a global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and calling for them to vote in favor of the treaty at the crucial upcoming vote at the United Nations' Committee on Disarmament and International Security. The crucial vote will take forward development of the ATT within the United Nations. The Control Arms campaign is calling for a strong Treaty which will stop the transfer of weapons which fuel conflict, poverty and human rights abuses. Already 85 states have indicated that they will vote yes for the treaty by `co-sponsoring' the resolution. Every year, small arms alone kill more people than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. Many more people are injured, terrorised or driven from their homes by armed violence. Even as you read this, one of these human tragedies is unfolding somewhere on the planet. Already since 2006 Desmond Tutu demands: No longer should the peace business be undermined by the arms business.
Ukraine's arms export industry has been at the centre of international scandals before, most notably in 2002 when the United States accused Ukraine of selling radar systems to Iraq. In the 1990s, weapons were delivered to Liberia in defiance of a United Nations embargo. The war of words over Ukraine´s role as one of the world´s top 10 arms exporters and in supplying weapons to Georgia is heating up – at least with the Kremlin and Moscow-friendly Ukrainian lawmakers. Results of an investigation to be made public in early November will likely take a swipe at Kyiv´s pro-Western president, Victor Yushchenko. And Russia has jumped on the recent pirate-seizure of the Ukrainian ship laden with weapons to paint Ukraine as a shady arms merchant and undermine Yushchenko´s international reputation.
Kenya government spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua confirmed on 23rd October that Sudan summoned the Kenyan ambassador last week. Media reports stated that this was to protest against what were illegal shipments of arms to its semi-autonomous south.
While all these diplomatic and undiplomatic rows, political and economic hick-ups could be sorted out later, the much more explosive situation at hand is the fact that the FAINA with its cargo is pinned down at the Somali coast by now at least six US-American warships (incl. USS HOWARD, USS VELLA GULF, as well as cruisers and amphibious ships), a smaller Russian, a French and at least one further European navy vessels, including a submarine, awaiting the arrival of the Russian missile frigate Neustrashimy (= Indomitable), stuffed with latest naval warfare equipment.
Note
Picture: MV FAINA
http://www.ukranews.com/eng/article/152878.html
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