Ecoterra Intl. – Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

Herewith, I publish an overview of recent events, comments and analyses that is made available in the 2009-05-21 23h53:48 UTC UTC Ecoterra press release.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) – 2009-05-21 23h53:48 UTC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Non A La Guerre - Yes To Peace

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

Clearing-house

Breaking:

Somalia's neighbours have called on the United Nations to set up an air, sea and land blockade on the Horn of Africa nation and also impose sanctions on Eritrea for arming Islamist insurgents pushing to topple the Somali government. The Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) - a grouping which includes the countries Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia - said that Eritrea must he held accountable. Eritrea suspended its membership in IGAD already 2007. The 33rd Extra-Ordinary Session of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Council of Ministers stated: 'The council ... condemns the government of Eritrea and its financiers, who continue to instigate, recruit, train, fund and supply the criminal elements in ... Somalia', the body said in a statement after a council of ministers met in Addis Ababa on Wednesday. 'The council ... calls upon the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on the government of Eritrea without any delay', it added. IGAD also called on the UN to block all flights to Somali airports except for those bringing humanitarian aid and to blockade sea ports particularly Kismayo and Merka in order to stop not only more weapons coming in, but also foreign fighters who diplomats say are streaming into Somalia to join the fight. The Council, however, noted that the UNSC arms embargo does not apply to the TFG while analysts say that weapons also reach Somalia from Yemen.

The Council received briefs from the Somali Delegation and IGAD Facilitator for Somalia Peace and National Reconciliation. In attendance at the session presided over by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin were Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Djibouti, Kenya (Wetangu´la), Uganda, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG), the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Sudan and Executive Secretary of IGAD. The African Union commission Chief Jean Ping, who also attended this IGAD council meeting, once again called for a UN peacekeeping force in Somalia to respond to the threat to international security. "I wish to once again call on the UN Security Council to authorize the deployment of a fully-fledged peacekeeping mission in Somalia and respond to the threat to the international peace and security", he said. Ping's call comes only days after a UN delegation visiting the region said conditions for deploying peacekeepers were not appropriate yet.

While the six-nation East African body - rather then implementing it by it's members but passing the buck to the United Nations - has urged the UN to impose an aerial and maritime blockade on Somalia, regional analysts warn of such a move, because it never could be implemented properly and only would create options for criminal networks to earn more money by providing blockade-breaking services and deals, like it had to be observed in the former Yugoslavia or the oil-for-food scheme concerning Iraq, which even lured the son of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan into controversial deals. Though Kofi was later cleared of charges, the investigation gave a sharply critical account of efforts by Annan's son, Kojo Annan, to deceive investigators and his father about his financial relationship with his former employer, Geneva-based Cotecna Inspection Services SA. "Our assignment has been to look for mis- or mal-administration in the oil-for-food program, and for evidence of corruption within the U.N. organization and by contractors. Unhappily, we found both", chief investigator and former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul A. Volcker, the head of the Independent Inquiry Committee, had to tell the UN security council.

Eritrea sees CIA behind Somalia arms accusations, reports Andrew Cawthorne for Reuters

President says CIA agents spreading lies

Opposes indictment against Sudan's president

Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki said renewed accusations that Asmara is arming Somalia's Islamist rebels was the work of CIA agents in the region bent on blackening his government's name. "We don't interfere (in Somalia) and we don't want to see any terrorism prevail in Somalia", Isaias told Reuters. Somalia's government has accused Eritrea of supporting al Shabaab insurgents with planeloads of AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. To the anger of Asmara -- which says there is no evidence in accusations that have been around for several years -- the U.N. has ordered a probe and east African bloc IGAD wants sanctions on Eritrea including a no-fly zone. "It's CIA operatives ... these people are liars", Isaias, a former rebel commander in power since 1991, said during an interview at Asmara's colonial-era presidential palace. "This is a continuation of the old story. I know for sure, even the individuals behind these things. I don't want to talk about that because it would poison the whole mood".

Former U.S. president George W. Bush's government had threatened to put Eritrea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, and Isaias said old interest groups were still jostling for influence with President Barack Obama. He said Asmara would wait to see the impact of the Bush-Obama transition, and what he termed a bigger historical transition of U.S. economic ties and international attitudes. "It is too early to judge", Isaias said, acknowledging that Washington had bigger priorities than his country. "Eritrea is not a big deal. I don't expect the United States and officials in Washington will be sitting there and talking about how they formulate their policies with Eritrea. This is a transition, a very difficult transition. We need to be patient. It may take a long time". Isaias said the new government of Somalia -- the 15th attempt to restore central rule in the last 18 years -- looked doomed to fail because it was imposed from outside. "Leave this for the Somalis", he said. President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate Islamist, became Somalia's latest president earlier this year in a peace process in Djibouti brokered by the United Nations. "This is the mentality of a gambler", Isaias said of the repeated attempts to set up a transitional Somali government with Western backing. "This so-called government is not a government in terms of legitimacy. It cannot even influence one very small neighbourhood in Mogadishu, let alone Somalia".

"No Relaxation" on Ethiopia Border

Risking further criticism from the West, Eritrea was in March the first country to receive Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir after the International Criminal Court indicted him on accusations of war crimes in Darfur. Isaias, like other African leaders, said the case was politically motivated and risked further destabilising Sudan. "Whether he is guilty until proven innocent, or innocent until proven guilty, is another matter. It is a legal matter. That is an issue for extensive discussion", he said. "It is purely a political case, it has no legality at all ... It doesn't serve any purpose for the people of Darfur". Isaias said the West was not showing the same clamour for justice in other places, such as Sri Lanka. "The government did not allow journalists to go there, they did not allow relief agencies to even operate freely in that very small area", he said of recent events in Sri Lanka where the army wiped out Tamil Tiger rebels. "The casualties on civilians were huge. No one intervened". Eritrea's long-running border dispute with Ethiopia, where the two lost tens of thousands of men in a 1998-2000 war, has taken a back seat in the headlines of late, with no reports of clashes and rhetoric quieter on both sides. Asked if that meant Eritrea could scale down its army and use resources elsewhere, Isaias shook his head and shot back: "Never relax I will never take any risk ... We retain the allocation of our resources in spite of the bitterness we have about it. We have no other option, unless we fully guarantee and see things have changed for good".

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships

Pirates in the Seychelles - The Curious Case of Akio Yonago

by Brad Hampton exclusively for YachtPals.com

Akio Yonago's story began for YachtPals on May 9th, when we received an email from one of our contacts in Africa, Andrew Mwangura of the SAP (who will be portrayed by none other than Samuel L. Jackson in an upcoming Hollywood film). We often work with Andrew to separate fact from fiction in regard to the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden, and he asked if we had any information about a yacht named Emu II, which had reportedly been captured by Somali pirates. We fairly quickly traced the story to a newspaper called the Santa Cruz Sentinel, which had recently reported that the yacht Emu II may have been taken by pirates near the Seychelles. YachtPals contacted the editor of the newspaper, who said he was unaware of the small story which had been published just a few days prior, and could give us no more details. Thus began our investigation into the Emu II, her skipper Akio Yonago, and his very interesting story.

Referring to this solo sailor as a singlehander is particularly appropriate. Yonago was the victim of a commercial fishing accident several years ago, when his slicker caught in a winch and pulled his arm in with it. A series of surgeries followed, each taking more of his arm while infection threatened to take his life. By the end, Akio had lost his entire left arm, but not his will. In 1995, Yonago bought a little sailboat, named it Emu, and started figuring out how he could sail solo by using his one arm, teeth, and legs. He then decided that he wanted to sail alone from France to Japan, and show everyone what a real singlehanded sailor could accomplish. Akio didn't just wish to prove something to himself, but to the Japanese government, who had refused to issue him a sailing licence. He made it, but even after sailing solo all the way home to Japan, the Japanese government wouldn't even allow Akio to apply for a license due to his disability.

Yonago challenged this in court, arguing he had already proven that he could out sail most "able hands", and in 2000 he was granted an official sailing license.

Continuing his adventure in 2003, Akio began a circumnavigation that would be ended prematurely by a series of problems. Undaunted, he set out across the Pacific a few years later to try again, and landed in California in 2006, where a local newspaper (the very same Santa Cruz Sentinel) wrote a story about his adventures. Yonago then sailed down the California coast and beyond, eventually making his way to the Seychelles, where he obviously earned quite a few friends despite the fact that he speaks only very broken English and no French - a fact that will become important as this story continues. Akio left the Seychelles a few weeks ago, continuing toward Japan, and has not been heard from since.

Yachties on the docks in the Seychelles began to be concerned. Yonago had set out in the wake of two pirate attacks, in the midst of warnings being issued on VHF 16 by the French Navy. This is where the fact that Akio speaks neither English nor French becomes critical, since these are the only two languages in which the warning was issued. His friends were concerned that Yonago had sailed obliviously into the hands of pirates, and that the sailboat Emu II had been captured. Rumors began to circulate and build, and one local took it upon herself to check into the issue personally. Searching the Internet, Jacqui Felton found the Santa Cruz Sentinel story from 2006, and contacted the reporter asking for additional information which might either dispel the rumors or begin a search. This email, which described the situation as "rumor" and asked for assistance, is what spurred the most recent Sentinel story that is now being repeated around the net.

Based on this story, and following the "better to be safe than sorry" philosophy, the SAP issued a report to all vessels in the area regarding the Emu II, and Ecoterra risked sending a team out to a particularly primitive area along the coast of Somalia, out of cell-phone contact, to see if it had landed. Both organizations asked YachtPals to get to the bottom of the story, and to try to figure out if this is rumor, or fact - something very difficult to do in this part of the world. However, we have some resources unavailable to others, not the least of which being a network of sailors around the world who take the issue of a mariner in distress very seriously.

We were eventually able to track down and contact Jacqui Felton in the Seychelles, who provided us with the original email she sent to the Sentinel, as well as more information from the local marina, local cruisers, and Yonago's son. The first priority being locating the Emu II, YachtPals contacted Sue Corenman of SailMail regarding an old email address we were provided.

Corenman checked immediately, and informed us that Akio had cancelled the account two years ago. Thinking he may have moved from SSB to HAM, we contacted WinLink and were told that there had never been a user under the callsign we had been provided. Officials in the Japanese government then looked into the matter at our request, and told us that the only information they had received were Japanese reprints of the Sentinel story.

As it stands now, we have no idea of the location of Emu II, which has now been missing for three weeks, and that's not a bad thing. Akio is obviously the type of solo sailor who likes to go off the grid, and he's unlikely to answer local hails if he even hears them, due to the fact that they're usually in English or French.

With this in mind, YachtPals contacted the gigantic Japanese shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, who asked us to provide information so that their ships in the area might attempt to hail Emu II in Japanese on VHF and HF frequencies. Japanese amateur radio (JARL International) has also offered assistance in contacting Yonago over HAM, however without knowing what frequencies he might be monitoring, it's a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.

The fact that the Emu II hasn't yet turned up in the hands of pirates bodes well. It's everyone's hope that Emu II is either in passage or sitting at anchor, and her skipper oblivious to the fact that he is the subject of both the search and so much speculation. It's assumed that Yonago's sailing route would have brought him to Mayotte, Chagos or Thailand, but until we hear a report of a one-armed Japanese solo sailor making shore in the area, all agree that we need to keep an eye on the situation. Thus, if you know or hear any information about Akio Yonago or the sailboat Emu II, we ask that you contact YachtPals immediately so we can either notify the appropriate parties of the need for rescue operations, or, hopefully, notify all involved that this inspirational sailor is safe, sound, and getting ready to tie the knot on what will truly be a single-handed circumnavigation.

Questions, however, still remain to the whereabouts of the EMU II and what happened to the second yacht allegedly implicated.

MV MARATHON is still cornered by a Dutch and a Spanish naval at the Gulf of Aden coast of Somalia. Widespread rumours that the chief engineer of the captured vessel under Netherlands-Antilles flag was

Reportedly the captain of MV HANSA STAVANGER was brought briefly back to the ship but before nightfall taken again to the location near Harardheere, where he and his four other German crew members are held hostage on land. While the majority of the crew (three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvaluans) is held on the ship, the Germans were taken inland after a operation by a German commando unit with the help of USS BOXER, which was called off in the last minute. While interventions to keep all crew safely on the ship were successful when most of the crew had been brought on land after an earlier mock naval attack, this time all the pleads by elders and a humanitarian group fell so far on deaf ears. Negotiations have apparently not yet reached a conclusion.

"According to information from our consul in Nairobi, I can confirm that German ship "MV PATRIOT" was set free on the 15th of May" – said Piotr Paszkowski from Poland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to journalists almost a week after the vessel with a polish captain, one Ukrainian and fifteen Filipinos was freed near Eyl in Somalia. Maybe Polands officials hadn't realized the speedy release of the grain-carrier after only 21 days.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 15 foreign vessels (16 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore) with a total of not less than 210 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 116 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 36 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least two wrongful attacks (incl. friendly fire) on the side of the naval forces.

Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures. Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season in winter and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon season starting from mid February and early April every year. Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: Yellow (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but still likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly six groups from Puntland alone are still out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Directly piracy related reports -

Soviet Empire Strikes From Beyond the Grave

Via David Axe and the United States Naval Institute blog, Fairplay Shipping News reports that a retired Soviet admiral has claimed that many of the chief Somali pirates were trained in Soviet naval schools.

Sergey Bliznyuk told the Ukrainian newspaper Gazeta Po-Kievskiy that he had personally come across some men he now believes are behind many hijackings. "There are many former military men among the Somalis who have perfected the tactics of sea combat", he said. "The majority of these 40-50-year-olds were trained in the former Soviet Union. I myself taught at one point at a school in Baku [Azerbaijan], where we had 70-80 Somalis a year studying". Bliznyuk told the newspaper that Soviet officers had trained naval personnel from the government of President Siad Barre, who ruled Somalia in 1969-91 after a military coup. Further, Bliznyuk told the newspaper: "The USSR taught not only Somali natives but also those of Yemen, Ethiopia and others. Who would have assumed then that they would turn against us?"

Yes, the idea that former proxies might turn against their patron is shocking. About 2,400 Somali soldiers trained in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and the Soviets had a substantial advisory mission in Somalia. That said, I'm less than 100% convinced by the suggestion that Soviet training is particular important to the success of the Somali pirate venture.

Soviet training and assistance to Somalia dropped substantially after 1978, when the United States replaced the USSR as Somalia's patron. From 1978 until 1991, Somali military personnel participated in U.S. military exercises and trained in the United States, although the scale of the relationship was much smaller than that with the Soviet Union. While I don't doubt that some of the pirate lords and "capos" date from the Soviet period, I strongly suspect that you could find at least a few pirates with U.S. training. Moreover, Somali piracy (like piracy elsewhere) has complex, multifaceted causes. To the extent that U.S. or Soviet training matters, it's probably to identify an individual as an important player, rather than in the provision of a specific set of skills that are useful in piracy.

If the new commander of Somalia's navy Admiral Farah Ahmed Omar also comes out of Soviet training is not known.

Who Are the Pirates in Somalia ?

hear it at: http://www.mycow.eu/pics/radio/3451.mp3

In the 1960´s the expression, "Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?" was frequently used when debating the answers to global problems not from too dissimilar to today´s turmoil. Der Spiegel´s Julian Isherwood writes, "The Danish Institute for Military Studies (DIMS) has concluded in a new report that the best way to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia would be to introduce a regional coast guard that would operate Egypt in the north to Tanzania in the south". But that is not "the best way to stop piracy". The military experts have not, to use another popular 1960s expression, "separated the people from problem." In situations like the piracy off the coast of Somalia it´s much easier to blame the people, call them "pirates" and avoid looking at the bigger issues. For instance asking the question, "What has led these people to a life of piracy?"

we are calling "pirates" have criminals are those who dump toxic waste Johann Hari´s blog at huffingtonpost.com writes, "You Are Being Lied to About Pirates". Johann explains, "This is the context in which the men emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somali fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why".

In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish or dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas". Someone should tell the Danes, the DIMS and every other person in the world where the heart of the problem is located. May be the real off the coast and illegally fish in the fishing grounds which are of vital importance to survival of the people of Somalia.

Johann Hari asks the reader, "Did we expect starving Somalis to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil".

from In the movie "Born on the Fourth of July" Ron Kovic, the injured Vietnam veteran, was given this advice, "…if you are not part of the solution, man, then you're part of the problem". The problem with the thinking of the DIMS and their kind is that they are "part of the problem" and are a long way helping to find a solution to the problem.

Somali Leader Partly Blames US Policy For Chaos

Omar Jamal, the director of the nonprofit Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said the parents of Abdiweli Abdulkadir Muse, the Somali teen facing piracy and hostage-taking charges, asked Jamal for help. Jamal said Wednesday he's not weighing in on the guilt or innocence of the teen, but his role is to help the family understand the legal system.

Jamal said also that in recent years the United States has only engaged Somalia when it needs or wants something, reports AP.

Years of bungled policy by the United States and other western countries has led to the current chaos in Somalia, the leader of a Minnesota Somali advocacy organization said Wednesday.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, said that in recent years the United States had only engaged Somalia when it wanted or needed something.

One example, he said, was tracking down terrorism suspects in east Africa. The U.S. erred in the 1990s, when it reached out to some warlords by offering them money to help track people down, Jamal said.

Because the U.S. reached out to ruthless warlords, Jamal said, disparate groups who opposed the warlords control came together under the banner of radical Islam.

"They would give money to the warlords. They would say 'I need this guy"', Jamal said. "Then out of fear ... people unified. That was a turning point. Now we have much more powerful Islamists".

Islamic insurgent groups have whittled away at the power of the Western-backed central government, which now only directly controls pockets of the capital. In recent weeks, the insurgents have ramped up their campaign, forcing tens of thousands to flee Mogadishu.

Jamal spoke at the press club after suggesting to organizers he would be a good speaker on two pressing issues involving Somalia and the United States: the menace and cause of pirate gangs and the rise of Islamic militants inside Somalia.

Both problems are a function of failed policies from western countries, he said. "We could have seen progress by engaging and partnering with the Somali community, but rather (western involvement) has worsened the situation", he said.

Jamal said that's led to distrust in the Somalia and in the Somali expatriate community. As the FBI investigates reports of young Somali men being recruited in Minneapolis and other U.S. cities for terror campaigns inside Somalia, Jamal said he sees resistance in his community to cooperate that is rooted in a lack of trust.

Jamal is a high-profile leader in the Somali expatriate community in Minnesota, considered to be the largest in the United States. In 2006, the U.S. Census estimated it at more than 24,000 people.

He said that could change if the United States and other countries worked more closely with the Somali people.

"They can help by empowering the Somali people, by working with the Somali people", Jamal said.

Jamal says the United States and other countries need to help facilitate a grass roots movement for stability in the country.

Meanwhile alleged teenager-pirate Abdiweli Abdulkadir Muse, the oldest of 12 children, who grew up poor in Somalia, pleaded not guilty Thursday to piracy charges. The suspect stands charged in a grand jury indictment with "piracy as defined by the law of nations" in international waters off Somalia. "We plead not guilty on all counts", his attorney, Phil Weinstein, told the court presided over by federal judge Loretta Preska. Abdiweli also has been charged with offenses including armed hijacking and holding hostage for ransom. Before the deadly rescue operation, which freed the captain unharmed, Abdiweli had gone aboard the naval ship USS Bainbridge, apparently to negotiate. While in court, his lawyers also argued that since being in custody, Muse has been treated unfairly: He was allowed only one one-minute phone call to his mother back in Somalia, with whom he wanted to discuss his injured hand, and he's being kept practically in solitary confinement — even when he's around people, he can't talk to them, they said, because (unsurprisingly) there's a dearth of Somali translators in prison. His lawyers said they had difficulty communicating with him, and that he was "confused" about the situation. Abdiweli's mother has said he is only 16 years old but prosecutors argue he is over 18 and a judge last month ruled he should be tried as an adult. Defence lawyer Phil Weinstein also said "they are giving him medications that he doesn't understand", AFP news agency reported. It was unclear what the medication was for. "He´s confused. He´s terrified", one of his other lawyers, Deirdre von Dornum, said. "As you can imagine, he´s a boy who fishes, and now he´s ended up in solitary confinement here". She added, "He´s having a very difficult time." His next hearing is set for September 17.

Marine ecosystem and IUU fishing

Overfishing, a major threat to the global marine ecology (UNEP Alert bulletin)

Technology

Today´s fishing technology is highly elaborate. Fishing lines can reach as much as 120 km, furnished with thousands of hooks. Some trawlers reach 170 metres in length and can take on board the volume equivalent of 12 jumbo jets, and drift-nets can exceed 60 km in length. Fishing vessels cover large distances at high speed, from coastal zone to high seas. They fish at great depth, stay at sea for several months, while fish are often prepared for the markets on board. Destructive sea-bed habitat bottom trawling involves powerful boats dragging heavy, metal weighed nets across the ocean floor to catch the maximum possible amount of bottom-dwelling life. Each year, bottom trawlers drag an area twice the size of the continental United –States! Sonars, air monitoring systems and satellite platforms help to locate fish schools and follow them with greater ease. Navigation apparatuses, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and radar allow boat to constantly reconsider the best fishing spot, with very high precision. Fresh fish is a highly perishable product and its consumption was traditionally limited to coastal areas. With modern transport and food preservation technologies, one can offer fresh fish during all seasons, anywhere in the world.

Open access and over-capacity

Over- capacity is the presence of too many vessels in a growing number of fisheries. Fish stocks have generally been considered common property, open to the exploitation by anyone with a boat and gear as long as they were used outside a country´s 200 Mile Exclusive Economic Zone. If enough fish are caught to cover operating costs, there is little economic incentive to stop fishing once a vessel is built. As more fishermen enter the system, greater effort is required to catch a dwindling supply and revenues fall. In time, fish stocks can be severely depleted. Excessive fishing capacity leads to overfishing and therefore to the degradation of fishery resources. Such unsustainable practices, creating a conflict between short-term and long-term gains, lead to serious impact on biodiversity and diminish vital food production potential for a number of developing countries.

Bycatch

The word "bycatch" refers to the portion of marine life caught that was not targeted. It may include low-value species but also vast tonnage of young or undersized fish of valuable commercial species. Almost 25% of all the fish pulled from the sea never make it to the market. An average of 27 million tonnes of unwanted fish are thrown back each year, and a large portion does not survive. Sometimes bycatch fish are thrown back dead, because they may be the wrong species, the wrong size, of inferior quality, or surplus to the fishing operations quotas. The potential effects on bycatch are not just for commercial fish stocks but the entire diversity of species in marine ecosystems and essential food chain components. Bottom trawling nets are indiscriminate and tend to pick up everything in their path with an extremely high bycatch rate. For example, up to 95% of the take in halibut trawling can be bycatch, which include a variety of endangered or overfished species.

Subsidies and job

Large economic losses have plagued the global fisheries sector for more than a decade. However, national governments have traditionally heavily subsidised the fishing industry, since it is an important source of employment, food and export earnings. Such subsidies have often been used with little consideration for their long-term damage to natural resources. Global subsidies, which reach about US$ 13 billion per year, encourage fishermen to remain in a depleted fishery even though it may no longer be profitable, thus further depleting marine resources. About 50 million people( including 35 million fishermen) worldwide depend directly on fishing for their living. According to the FAO, reducing the large -and medium- scale fishing industry by half might eliminate several hundreds of thousands jobs. Reducing the small scale, artisan-fishing sector by half would eliminate several million jobs.

Vulnerability and human well-being (with excerpts from Global Environmental Outlook - UNEP)

Marine living resources provide a significant proportion of protein in the human diet. Two-thirds of the total food fish supply is from capture fisheries in marine and inland waters. However, fisheries are declining, formerly abundant species are now rare, food webs are being altered, and coastal ecosystems are being polluted and degraded. In some cases, fisheries have collapsed, and the livelihoods of entire communities have been destroyed. A well-known example is the collapse of much of the Canadian cod fishery. In the early 1980s, the Canadian catches of Atlantic groundfish peaked, and then declined rapidly. At the international level, conflict can occur between states acting on behalf of vulnerable local users and the states of large industrial users of the global commons. One example occurred in 1995 between Canada and Spain on the Grand Banks, a rich fishing zone just off Canada´s east coast. Industrial foreign trawlers were fishing for turbot, a resource also used by local fishermen in Newfoundland, a Canadian province. The Canadian government was under great domestic political pressure from the local fishers, who claimed their way of life was threatened because fishers from countries fishing the Grand Banks, including Spain, did not respect catch quotas. Canada forcibly boarded a Spanish fishing trawler in international waters and arrested its crew after the Canadians alleged repeated incursions into Canada´s 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone. The Spanish referred to this incident as an act of piracy, touching off a series of high seas encounters and diplomatic clashes referred to as the "Turbot War".

The Mediterranean Sea is currently part of the global commons, since many surrounding countries have not exercised their right to establish 200-mile exclusive economic zones. As a result of over-fishing and pollution in the Mediterranean, catches of the high-value bluefin tuna reached a high of 39,000 tonnes in 1994, but had dropped by nearly half that amount by 2002.

More recently, after the decline of traditional stocks, such as cod, attention has turned to deep-sea fishing (deeper than about 400 m), where fish are particularly vulnerable to over-fishing because of their slow ability to reproduce. Several deep-sea stocks are now heavily exploited, and, in some cases, severely depleted. A very small number of countries land most of the fish catch from the high seas.

Many coastal communities have no capacity to fish in the global commons of the high seas, and are thus deprived of the food and revenue the resource provides. The disruption of small-scale fisheries by high-technology competition often leads to a vicious cycle of fisheries depletion, poverty, and loss of cultural identity.

It can also lead to conflict

While Canada could defend itself against Spain, neither the United Nations nor other players came to the help of Somalia, the country with the longest coastline in Africa, when its former government was toppled - the opposite: Since 20 years the Somali seas have been systematically depleted by illegal fishing ventures from many foreign nations until today when finally the world's navies gathered to curb piracy around the Horn of Africa, which was a direct response to the plundering of the Somali Seas. But still not a single illegal fishing vessel has been stopped by these navies, any of them who have profited from the stolen fish.

Somalia fisheries sector looses every year an estimated $300-500million (an Australian expert speaks of 800 million) in export-earnings because the Somali waters are without a functioning Somali navy or governmental coastguard and not protected enough against foreign fish-poachers. Local coastguards are frustrated that they didn't and still do not receive support and some could therefore successfully be infiltrated by organized crime to take merchant vessels hostage, which bring them multimillion dollar ransoms.

Anti-piracy measures

Former colonial power Italy to host meeting on Somali piracy and conflict

Somalia's government and opposition leaders will meet in Italy on June 10 to discuss ways of stabilising the country and tackling piracy off the Horn of Africa, Italy's foreign minister said on Wednesday. Franco Frattini said the meeting was aimed at helping Somalia consolidate its fragile U.N.-backed government, which is battling Islamist insurgents. Forces loyal to President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Somalia's first Islamist president, control only parts of the coastal capital and Somalia's central region. "The problem (of piracy) can only be comprehensively tackled by addressing the issue of the desperate fragility of this country", Frattini said at a maritime conference - the European Sea Day - in Rome.

To this aim, he continued, ''Italy has made a political decision'' to organise a summit in Rome dedicated entirely to Somalia with representatives of the Somali government ''and all groups and factions which are part of the Somali government and opposition''. Pirate attacks off the eastern African coast have escalated in recent weeks despite the presence of foreign warships in the region, including an EU force of 13 vessels. ''The June 10 meeting will also see the participation of all organizations which can help indicate how Somalia can be bolstered to be able to defeat piracy'', he added according to ANSA. In this way, Frattini explained, ''we can get to the root of piracy and defeat a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly aggressive''. Somalia's President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a Libyan-trained lawyer and former opposition leader, has said Muammar Gaddafi's government was involved in a peace process to end 18 years of war and violence in Somalia. Gaddafi, currently chairman of the African Union, is due to visit Italy from June 10-12, although it was not immediately clear whether he would attend the conference.

The Islamic Courts Union, led by Ahmed, controlled Mogadishu in 2006 before Ethiopian troops, wary of having an Islamist state next door, invaded and ousted them from power. The Ethiopians pulled out at the start of this year, but hard line Islamists have carried on attacking the new government and an African Union protection force in the capital. Since Ethiopia has intervened fighting has killed at least 17,700 civilians, driven 1 million from their homes and left over 3 million reliant on food aid. Critics, however, say that Italy could never have a lead function in Somalia peacemaking efforts and that it was the most unfortunate decision to make Italy the lead-country for the interventions of the European Union in the Somali questions since 1992. "Italy is not free of its colonial past, still has vested own interests in Somalia and Eritrea and Italian Mafia businesses have Somalia and neighbouring Kenya still in a very strong grip", says Muse Ali Idiris, a Somali scholar, and an Italian analyst with 30 years own experience in Somalia added: "The present involvement of Margherita Boniver is a strong indication that the shadowy deals of the Craxi government still persist with the present Italian governance under Berlusconi and Frattini and toxic dumping run by the Italian mob around Africa also continues in Somalia".

Meanwhile Silvio Berlusconi's Freedom Party is keen to compete for the xenophobic vote, writes Paddy Agnew in the Irish Times. Defending Italy´s new policy of halting would-be illegal immigrants in the Mediterranean - many of them from Somalia - and then towing them back to North Africa, the Italian prime minister seemed to suggest that he was opposed to the vision of a multi-ethnic Italy: "The left´s idea is of a multi-ethnic Italy, but that´s not our idea. Ours is to welcome only those who meet the conditions for political asylum". Thereby is obvious that Italy´s premier is not going to leave the anti-immigrant card to the Northern League.

At least that is one possible explanation for the remarkable statement last weekend from defence minister Ignazio La Russa, who chose to attack both the UNHCR and its spokesperson in Italy, Laura Boldrini. Replying to criticism of the maritime blockade policy of sending back immigrants without first screening them for asylum purposes, La Russa said: "She (Laura Boldrini) is either inhuman or a criminal. She is inhuman because she wants us to lock up the migrants for months before sending them back. Or she is a criminal because she wants to evade the law, so that the migrants escape in Italy and move all over the national territory". Clearly, as even La Russa himself pointed out, his remarks were made in an electoral climate. When it comes to the European ballot box next month, the minister´s Freedom Party (PDL) will face a serious challenge in northern Italy from its allies, the federalist Northern League. To some extent, the minister may well have been flexing his muscles just to show that he can be every bit as "anti-immigrant" as the Northern League. Nonetheless, the comments come against the background not only of the boat people "blockade" but also at a time when a bill is going through Italian parliament that is intended to combat illegal immigration by imposing fines on the immigrants and by jailing those who house them. While opposition leader Dario Franceschini likened the Berlusconi government measure to the infamous Mussolini racial laws of 1938, even President Giorgio Napolitano was moved to intervene, saying: "A public rhetoric is becoming more and more established in Italy that does not hesitate to adopt tones of intolerance and xenophobia". Not a good base to host Somali peace talks.

Foreign warship patrols and dramatic shoot-outs will never eliminate piracy off Somalia, according to experts meeting in Kuala Lumpur who said the crisis needed a long-term political solution, reports AFP. They also called for foreign intervention to halt illegal fishing and dumping of toxic chemicals in Somalia's territorial waters, saying the incursions were among the factors fuelling piracy. Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB), an NGO of the International Chamber of Commerce, which monitors piracy worldwide, said the multinational naval task force currently patrolling the troubled region was only a temporary measure. "The naval presence will not completely bring piracy under control. It will help contain it until there is a political solution", he said after an international conference in the Malaysian capital which ended Tuesday. "The ultimate answer is actually to have a political solution onshore and an accountable government". Somali pirates have claimed that illegal fishing has deprived coastal communities of their livelihoods, and forced them to resort to hijacking ships and collecting increasingly large ransoms.

"The international community, with its warships, should catch fishermen from Europe and Asia who commit illegal fishing off Somalia", said Roger Middleton from the London-based think tank Chatham House. Mukundan said that illegal fishing was likely an early trigger for pirates who claimed to be collecting informal "taxes". "But now it has a dynamic of its own. The people involved are not necessarily deprived of their livelihood. Taxes are not collected by criminals. That is absolute nonsense", he said. Today's pirates have morphed into a sophisticated criminal ring with international ramifications, that have forced naval operations operating under US, European Union and NATO commands to patrol the region. "Until people have other forms of work, piracy will continue to happen", said Middleton. "You cannot stop piracy with 30 international warships. You will need hundreds of warships". The average income in Somalia is 667 dollars a year, while a pirate can expect to earn at least 10,000 dollars, he said.

"I don't see an immediate end to piracy unless there is a government that works on land in Somalia", he said. Alem Tsehaye, Eritrea's ambassador in New Delhi, said the key would be a strong government in Somalia, where the current transitional administration is facing a serious challenge from Islamist insurgents. "So far, no success has been achieved. The reason can be attributed to the simple fact that all attempts have failed to address the core issue of a united Somalia", he said. Tsehaye also appealed for action to end infringements on Somali territory and resources. "The dumping of toxic chemicals and continous illegal fishing on their coastal waters is a matter of great concern that urges them to take the law in their own hands in order to establish control of their waters", he said. "One cannot conceive an isolated solution to piracy on the Somali coastlands".

Military authorities in South Korea have confirmed reports that classified information on the possibility of Somali pirates' acquisition of U.S. surface-to-air guided missiles was recently reported to the Ministry of National Defense. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) belatedly promised Wednesday to come up with countermeasures. Earlier, the JCS public affairs office denied the information. According to an informed military source, the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command (CFC) in Seoul delivered a memo to the defense ministry's information bureau on April 5. Carrying a picture of the U.S. Stinger missile system, the memo said intelligence was collected that Somalia's pirates were presumed to have obtained the shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missile from al-Qaeda, so South Korea's military should be on alert and come up with proper countermeasures, the source said. The information was subsequently distributed to the Cheonghae unit operating off the coast of Somalia and other related naval units here, he said.

The source added the information is believed to have been gathered either from the U.S. Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain or the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) in Tampa, Florida. The Stinger missile is a personal portable infrared homing surface-to-air missile developed in the United States for service in 1981. The shoulder-launched weapon has to date been responsible for downing 270 aircraft. The missile can hit targets flying as high as 3,500 meters at a speed of Mach 2. It has a range of 8 kilometers. Except Korea's Lynx helicopter almost all other coalition forces' patrol helicopters operating off Somalia's coast are equipped with proper anti-aircraft missile protection equipment. ``Even after receiving the warning message, unfortunately, the JCS has been quite lukewarm toward coming up with proper countermeasures, citing budgetary problems or saying the intelligence has not been proved 100 percent',' the source said according to the Korean Times. "It's very regretful because we can't and shouldn't exclude even 1 percent of the possibility that our soldiers overseas would lose their lives because of insufficient equipment or lack of preparedness", he said. The Somali pirates reportedly are also known to have acquired Soviet-era anti-aircraft missiles such as the SA-7 and SA-18.

Alleged pirates seized by the Russian Navy will be transferred to a third party, the first deputy defense minister said on Tuesday. "In accordance with existing law, pirates seized by Russian naval forces during patrols will be transferred to a third party," Col. Gen. Alexander Kolmakov said, without specifying which country might accept the pirates, according to RIAN Novosti. Twenty-nine suspected pirates were taken on board a Russian warship last month after carrying out an unsuccessful hijack attempt on a Liberian-flagged and Russian-crewed tanker. Russia has found it difficult to find a country willing to take the detainees, and a deputy to the prosecutor general said last Tuesday that Somali pirates could be prosecuted under Russian laws. Alexander Zvyagintsev said that since Somalia did not have an effective government "it is senseless" to hand pirates over to Somali authorities. President Dmitry Medvedev earlier urged Russian prosecutors to discuss with their foreign colleagues the possibility of creating an international piracy court. Media reports earlier said Russia had no agreements with regional nations that would allow it to hand over the suspects. Russia has no diplomatic mission in Somalia, where most of the detainees come from. Moscow is entitled under a United Nations Security Council resolution to take the suspects to Russia for trial. The United States has already taken legal action to prosecute a suspected Somali pirate in New York. Piracy is punishable under Russian law by a prison term of between five and 15 years, and a fine of 500,000 rubles ($15,000). Experts say, however, that establishing pirates' identity and proving the attempted attack in a court of law could be difficult.

Dutch lawyer tells court Somali piracy suspect is a modern-day 'Robin Hood'

by Mike Corder, Associated Press Writer

A lawyer for one of five suspected Somali pirates being prosecuted in the Netherlands described his client Monday as a modern-day Robin Hood driven by poverty to hijack ships.

Danish Navy sailors captured the men after a Jan. 2 attack on the cargo ship Samanyulo in the Gulf of Aden. The ship's crew fended off the pirates with signal flares until the Danish naval ship came to the rescue and sank the pirates' boat.

The Netherlands agreed to prosecute them under a 17th-century law against "sea robbery" because the Samanyulo is registered in the Dutch Antilles.

Convicted pirates face a maximum sentence of nine years, while a convicted pirate ship captain can get up to 12 years. Their trial is not expected to begin until later this year.

At a pretrial hearing in a heavily guarded court in Rotterdam, lawyer Willem Jan Ausma called his client, Ahmed Yusuf, a "Robin Hood".

Speaking to reporters outside court, he said pirates "attack ships of rich countries to give the ransom to poor families".

He later told judges there were different types of pirates operating off Somalia's coast — those who gave ransom money to organized crime gangs and others "who just go to sea in the hope of getting something more than the fish that are no longer there".

Yusuf, wearing a white coat and black shirt, smiled and waved to reporters as he walked into the courtroom and sat in front of Ausma.

Haroon Raza, a lawyer for another of the suspects, applied for him to be released from custody so he could return to Somalia to provide an income for his family. Judges rejected the application and all five suspects were sent back to the five Dutch jails where they are being held apart from one another.

Prosecutor Henny Baan urged judges not to lose sight of the real victims of piracy — the crews of hijacked ships.

"It is about innocent people put in fear of their lives", she said.

The Dutch case is one of a handful of pirate prosecutions happening outside of Africa stemming from the recent rash of attacks on cargo and other ships plying the pirate-infested waters off Somalia's coast.

Other cases are under way in France and the lone survivor of the April 8 attack on the MAERSK ALABAMA is to be tried in New York.

The MAERSK's captain, Richard Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., was held captive five days until Navy sharpshooters killed three other pirates floating in a lifeboat with him.

Several other suspected pirates have been turned over to Kenyan authorities for trial.

The investigating judge compiling the case against the five suspects plans to interview crew members of the Samanyulo in coming weeks before the trial can begin.

Dutch foreign minister Verhagen wants Somali pirates to be tried by a regional UN tribunal to keep them from applying for asylum in Europe. Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen has voiced concern with the comfort alleged Somali pirates find in Dutch prison cells. At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Verhagen pleaded for a UN tribunal to try the pirates in an East African country, for example Kenya. Five Somalis are currently on trial in the Netherlands after they failed to hijack a freighter sailing under the Dutch Antilles flag in January.

The pirates have expressed their satisfaction with their prison cells, and at least one of them has said he wants to stay in the Netherlands after he is released and hopes to bring his family over. Verhagen said prosecution should deter pirates, not encourage them with the prospect of starting a new life in the country that prosecutes them. In Brussels, Verhagen proposed to establish a regional tribunal under the umbrella of the UN. Pirates convicted there should than also serve their sentence in the region. The foreign minister said another benefit of a UN tribunal is that funds would become available to build prisons to house the pirates. Dutch daily the Volkskrant reported it is unclear how much support Verhagen's idea has. The minister said Germany and Britain are in favour, and that Russia recently put forward a similar proposal.

Canada, looking to make a shift from current policy, is in negotiations to have Kenyan authorities prosecute pirates apprehended by the Canadian navy, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday. The Canadian government has maintained it cannot prosecute pirates captured by Canadian forces, as it lacks jurisdiction under international law. Pirates intercepted by Canadian forces off the coast of Somalia until now have been disarmed and then released, a policy that has sparked criticism from legal experts. But MacKay, speaking aboard the HMCS Winnipeg off the coast of Oman, stressed the importance of countering piracy. "Let's be clear — this is financial terrorism", MacKay told CBC News on Thursday. "This is not unlike acts of terrorism that we see in other parts of the world, whether it be kidnappings, whether it be issues related to fanaticism and extremism in places like Afghanistan", he said after presenting medals to navy personnel. Diplomats are now working with the Kenyan government in Nairobi to have the new agreement put into action quickly, said the CBC's David Common, reporting from the warship. Kenya has similar agreements with other countries. The HMCS Winnipeg, on two separate occasions this month, has apprehended pirates, but released them on both occasions.

Mauritius monitoring pirates off Somalia

The Mauritian Foreign Minister, Arvin Boolell, said Wednesday his country was "watching closely" activities of sea pirates operating on the Indian Ocean, more particularly off Somalia. He said the Mauritian government had strengthened its monitoring system in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by putting in place joint naval and air patrols on a daily basis. A number of police detachments are stationed on the Island of Agalega, about 200 kilometres off Seychelles, while the navy coast guards carry out daily checks to ensure that ships sail safely on the Mauritian waters. He said that sea piracy constituted a threat to the international community, particularly to the region, and vulnerable small countries like Mauritius who export goods to Europe. "Sea is the only way we can export our products", Mr. Booleli said while underscoring the fact that pirates were heavily armed and seem not undeterred by actions of the international community.

What´s the best way to avoid Somali pirates? Well, if you´re traveling in a high-speed catamaran, it helps, says INCAT.

The wave-piercing catamaran Norman Arrow, built by Australian ship manufacturer Incat, recently traveled through the pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia en route to a new homeport in the United Kingdom. And while the ship did not encounter any pirates, the crew piloting the vessel was not taking any chances.

According to a company news release, the Norman Arrow boosted its speed from cruising speed to 30 knots — high speed, but not maximum speed — for the most dangerous sections off the Somali coast; the crew also secured the crew cabin, posted extra lookouts and gave small boats a wide berth. If the crew encountered pirate attack, said Captain Guy South, the plan was this: "All the crew would go to the electronics room, the fourth engine would be run up and we´d run away".

While the crew of the Norman Arrow didn´t see any pirates, a ship sailing about four hours ahead on the same route was attacked with rocket propelled grenades, and the crew also observed about half a dozen warships in the area.

In recent years, the U.S. military has experimented with a number of high-speed ships; the HSV-X1 Joint Venture and the HSV-2 Swift, both manufactured by Incat, have already been used to support logistics operations in the Horn of Africa, the Persian Gulf and Southeast Asia.

Aluminum-hulled high-speed ships are not meant to take a beating like a traditional naval vessel and Nathan Hodge at wired.com recalled Rear Adm. Jay Cohen, former director of the Office of Naval Research, describing these experimental ships as "things that go fast and sink when you punch a hole in them", but their high speed and shallow draft make them ideal for delivering supplies to primitive ports. Their biggest problem, however, comes from extremely high fuel-costs and corrosion, which has caused that many of these high-speed ferries used along the East-African coast earlier already are on the srcap-yard.

No real peace in sight yet

Toxic developments in Somalia: Horn of Africa under threat

by Faizal Abdikarim

For the past weeks, Mogadishu has seen an intense fighting between the Interim Government and Islamist rebels mixed with tribal militias. The opposition has captured key areas formerly controlled by the ill-feted government of Somalia. The last several days, the Islamist opposition has been extending their fighting into other regions, taking over Mahadeey and Jawhar, the provincial city of Middle Shebelle. In central regions, Alshabab, the most powerful group, are engaged in sectarian fighting with Sufi group, Ahlu Sunnah Waljama´a who are allied to the government.

The reason behind the fighting is clear; the Islamist rebels want to unseat the president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed; a former colleague who turned president after joining the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG). in UN brokered peace-talks in neighbouring Djibouti.

President Ahmed split from the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), an opposition group formed in Eritrea in Sept 2007, which comprised Islamist hardliners, opposition lawmakers and nationalist Somalis from Diaspora, interlinked by their opposition to the Ethiopian intervention in Somalia, before he was elected as president in January.

His election was the outcome of power sharing talks between the government and the "moderate Islamist opposition" chaired by the United Nation´s envoy to Somalia, Ahmed Ould-Abdallah, a veteran Mauritanian diplomat. But not all Islamists supported his deal. The hardliners of his former alliance had rejected the deal leading the fragile alliance to split.

Based on the agreement between the defected group of Sheikh Sharif and Kenya-formed Transitional Government, the size of the transitional parliament was doubled to reach 550 seats, and Sheikh Sharif´s supporters have been offered the added-seats, assuring his to win the election is landslide.

He succeeded former president, Abdullahi Yusuf who had resigned due to an international pressure. Yusuf was largely considered as an obstacle to peace, after refusing to have direct talks with Islamist groups.

Certainly, for the "International community" that brokered the dialogue and backed Sharif to win the election (because he was mandated to bring half of the parliament from his party obviously to help him win against any contester) to gain the "moderates" and isolate the "radicals", his victory was a sigh of relief. But for Somalia, his election as president was yet another sign of more violence and destruction ahead.

Soon after his election, four other Islamist groups have formed an umbrella "Hizbul Islam" including his former colleagues in the ARS. This was not surprising though, because most of Islamist fighters consider the international community´s support to his government as conspiracy against their "victory".

In April, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardliner on UN and US terror list, returned to Mogadishu after two years exiled in Eritrea. His unprecedented return had prompted speculation that he intended to reconcile with Sheikh Sharif but on contrast, he started to regroup all Islamist fighters and prepare for war.

In a bid to undermine their influence, the president has taken key steps including an endorsement of Sharia law implementation, meetings with clan elders of Hawiye and offered dialogue to the opposition but the doors were all the time closed by Islamist rebels who regard the move as cover-up.

Then, war of words broke out with both sides trading accusations of importing weaponry and engineering trouble.

Clerics´ initiative:

After Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia in Jan this year, Somali clerics and others from the Muslim World have visited Mogadishu in lobby for peace and dialogue among Islamist fighters. After a week-long meeting, they released a communiqué that called for the government to withdraw the AU peacekeepers from Somalia, implement Sharia law and urged the opposition to work with the government and accept its legitimacy. Sadly, that strategy has failed after Alshabaab declined any reconciliation with Sharif and criticized the efforts of Muslim clerics as partial. By trying to dictate Alshabaab by FATWA, Muslim clerics have made a mistake.

The group doesn´t rely on the World Muslim Clerics led by Dr.Yusuf Alqardawi, Al-azhar Clerics of Egypt or Saudi Arabian Clerics´ Senior Commission for their religious thoughts and acts but receive command from Al-Qaida leaders who similarly have no respect to scholars that don´t share their radical ideology.

In the past, the expulsion of foreign troops from Somalia, including the AU Peacekeeping Mission were the ostensible goals of all Somali insurgents, but Alshabaab´s genuine ambitions have been far beyond the "re-liberation of Somalia from an Ethiopian occupation" the rallying-cry for all insurgents and yet has not changed.

Hizbul Islam and Alshbaab:

Hisbul Islam was first formed as an umbrella of four Islamist groups excluding Alshabaab to unify their front in face of a "Unity Government" led by former Islamist colleagues. As alliances are fragile in Somalia, Hizbul-Islam split into two groups after some members defected to the government. The main group is chaired by Dr. Omar Imaan, a notorious Sharia scholar. The name seems to have changed the Al-itahad brand name of the 1990´s because the group´s leaders, like Hassan Dahir Aweys, are former influential members of Alitahad. But not all of Alitahad members today support his plot, some are supporting the Interim Government, others are neutral or simply don´t want to be drawn into Muslim infighting or "Fitna". Al-itahad Alislami fought Ethiopia in the90´s in their stronghold, Gedo region of Somalia, but some of its prominent clerics in the breakaway regions of Somaliland and Puntland do not currently support their former commander´s policy to fight the government. However, they lost their young followers to Alshabaab.

Alshabaab are certainly the only organized Islamist group in the country with obvious target; to form an Islamic Caliphate that has no borders and different nationalities. They don´t recognize Somalia´s international boundaries, which is a big concern for neighboring Ethiopia. Whether in Swat valley of Pakistan or in Mogadishu, Al-Qaida has the same agendas.

Unbound to clan affiliations that disintegrate Somalia, Alshabaab fighters are recruited from all regions of Somalia, an important factor that gave them a boost to defeat their unorganized enemy, the TFG which has never been out of controversy since its formation in 2004. Though Hisbul-Islam and Alshabaab both say want to implement the Sharia law, the former want to localize where the later have international ambition to reach out to neighboring countries and to the world.

Frankenstein´s Monster:

Even before the Ethiopian intervention, foreign fighters have been present in Somalia, giving trainings to newly recruited Islamist fighters. They enjoyed clan sanctuary during the two year conflict with Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu. Despite their existence during his reign as the chairman of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), president Sharif had denied their presence for political gains, and today he is paying the price of his past complicity with foreign Jihadists in Somalia. Even the "Hawiye Elders Committee" that gave moral and material support to Islamist uprising during the Ethiopian intervention, had never spoken out against the presence of foreign fighters but supported to bring Abdullahi Yusuf´s government into its knees. But as the common enemy is no longer in place, they have to bear the war-thirsty Frankenstein.

Eritrean intervention:

Eritrea has been accused of supporting the insurgents and shipping weapons to their stronghold, an accusation dismissed by both Eritrean government and the Islamist rebels. But for Eretria´s long history of destabilization across the region, such allegations are not worrisome.

When the Union of the Islamic courts took over Mogadishu and most of Southern regions in 2006, Eritrea emerged as the major imprudent supporter of the Islamist radicals. It shipped military aid, including arms, bombs and uniforms and allegedly sent military experts to Somalia. And when the UIC had been defeated by Ethiopian troops late in 2006, most of Islamist leaders, including the current president, and the opposition leaders that are now challenging him, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys and Dr. Omar Iimaan, were all hosted by Eritrea. Each report of the United Nation´s group of monitoring arms embargo on Somalia has the mention of Eritrea as a violating the embargo. Unfortunately, nothing has been done so far to hold Eritrea and other violators accountable for such fatal breaches while Somalia burns.

Ahlu Sunah Waljama´a:

Alshabaab´s destruction of graves for prominent and much-respected Sufi clerics has invited trouble. Anger and fury has grown among Sufi followers who traditionally desire not to take arms but rather yearn to spread their ideology through peaceful means. Today, Sufi groups are armed under the slogan of "Ahulu Sunnah Waljama´ah" and engage in fierce fighting with Alshabaab in the central regions of Somalia. Though Alshabaab usually has the upper hand in their fighting with the government or clans, they can hardly defeat the Sufi group, not because the later is so powerful, but because no group has ever won in such sectarian fighting even in such similar conflicts like Iraq.

Since the Sufi group regards Alshabaab as "Khawārij" the radical sect that emerged in 7th century AD and assassinated Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Muslim Caliphate, they are spiritually talented to engage in long fighting with Alshabaab in search for martyrdom. Most of Somalis follow the Sufiyah doctrine so do most of Muslim World. Wahabism Ideology is commonly alienated across Somalia.

On conclusion, the Transitional Federal Government or the "Unity Government" as recently called, is absolutely fragile, vulnerable and close to collapse. Most of Southern regions including the capital Mogadishu, except few strips, are under the control of Alshabaab or the Hizbul Islam. Their fast expansion is tantamount to their early rising in 2006, before they were blocked by Ethiopian troops in late 2006 in support to the Transitional Government, led by Col. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

Taking advantage from their past mistakes, the Islamists have adopted new strategy; they want to extend their domination to uncontrolled areas in the South before going into direct fighting with the African Union Peacekeepers or stepping into the breakaway regions of Puntland and Somaliland. However, when they consolidate their military control over the no-mans-land and topple the government, the peacekeepers have no other option but to fight or leave and perhaps they have no reason to fight.

The current "International Community´s efforts are not enough to save Somalia from descending into deeper crisis that could plunge the whole region into pools of blood. They need to disregard old policies, draw new road-map, and revise their politics towards Somaliland and Puntland, two peaceful regions that are constantly threatened by an ever-increasing radicalization, and are less supported in terms of development and recognition of their achievement.

Somali PM: little hope of talks with insurgents, reports Abdiaziz Hassan for Reuters

Little hope of talking to hardline Islamist rebels

Foreign fighters in Somalia must be eradicated

Evidence Eritrea supplying insurgents with weapons

Somalia's prime minister said on Wednesday there was little hope of negotiating with hardline Islamist insurgents because they had no political agenda and just wanted to use the Horn of Africa nation as a safe haven. Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke was appointed by Somalia's first Islamist president earlier this year and said in February he hoped to use dialogue to end the violence that has plagued the country for nearly two decades. But hardline Islamist groups that Washington accuses of having links to al Qaeda, along with foreign fighters, are battling government forces in some of the fiercest clashes the anarchic country has seen for months. "I do not think they have a political agenda. I believe these foreign fighters want to keep this country in chaos so they can have a safe haven and a hideout," Sharmarke said. "I don't think there is a chance to just sit with them and discuss issues with these people. The only way to deal with them that they can understand is to fight, and we are prepared to eradicate them," he told Reuters in an interview.

The United Nations says there are hundreds of foreign fighters from Africa, Asia and elsewhere in the rebel ranks. Neighbouring states and Western security forces fear the country could become a base for al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants. Somalia's nine million people have paid a heavy price for the chaos and violence. More than one million live as internal refugees and hundreds of thousands have poured across the borders into neighbours Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Piracy is rampant off Somalia with nearly 30 hijackings so far this year in some of the world's busiest sea lanes. Naval vessels from the United States, EU and other nations have been drawn into patrolling the waters off Somalia.

Weapons From Eritrea

Sharmarke said government forces were chasing some 300 foreign fighters in the ranks of hardline group al Shabaab out of Mogadishu, but there were more outside the capital. "Shabaab and its foreign fighters can never govern. They can go to a town, hit and run, destroy it and terrorise the people, but these people have no capacity, capability and moral support to govern," he said. "I still wonder how people can keep fighting with no objectives. On top of that they have failed to use religion as a tool. These guys have violated every principle in Islam, and still claim they are Islamists." Al Shabaab fighters control much of southern and central Somalia. While they have brought security to some areas, their strict interpretation of Islamic law has angered some Somalis who are traditionally more moderate.

This week, al Shabaab and allied group Hizbul Islam have been fighting the Sunni Islamst group Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, which objects to acts against Islam such as the killing of religious leaders and the desecration of graves. Sharmarke blamed Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki for supplying the insurgents with weapons. Earlier on Wednesday, the east African bloc IGAD called on the United Nations to impose immediate sanctions on Eritrea. Eritrea said earlier this month it was sick of the persistent accusations and in turn accused Western powers of interfering in Somalia and fuelling strife. "We have enough evidence that Eritrea is supplying weapons to Somali factions, so many flights have actually arrived. And that is very sad," said Sharmarke.

Somalia and the Question of Foreign Fighters

by Nasr Ibn Othmann

On this morning, I learned of the fact that the Ethiopian armed forces have been re-deployed in central Somalia. By all accounts, the Ethiopian army has taken the Kala-Beyr Junction, a strategic location in the Hiiraan province of Somalia. This news does not come as surprise to me, for I know that the so-called president Sharif—and his shameful phantom government—are prepared to do anything in order to remain inside Villa Somalia.

Having been comprehensively beaten, in military terms, during the past week of fighting inside Mogadishu, the fatally discredited TFG shamelessly depends of foreign troops—including the brutally racist soldiers of the Ethiopian federation—for its very survival. With this in mind, I would like to examine the claim that foreign fighters can be found amongst the ranks of the armed opposition inside Somalia.

There are varying estimates, with respect to the actual number of foreign fighters who are actively engaged in the battles against the perfidious TFG forces inside Somalia. Conservative estimates put the number at approximately 200 men, and extreme estimates seem to suggest that there are 350 foreign fighters currently fighting in support of the Al Shabab group and their allies. I am prepared to accept the notion that these numbers are entirely plausible. One cannot deny that it is quite possible for foreign fighters to find their way to Somalia in order to do battle against the forces of neo-colonial oppression.

What I find truly remarkable is the brazen hypocrisy of the Western world with respect to the concept of foreign fighter. Let us begin with the example of the British army, with respect to its use of foreign fighters. During the illustrious history of the British army, one is able to identify many instances of the British employing foreign fighters in order to satisfy their military objectives. One can speak of the King´ African Rifles, during the time of the British empire, and say many a dark skinned individual has carried arms in the service of the British Crown. Even in the present day, it is quite obvious that the British army cannot do without the Ghurka soldiers who famously come from the mountainous nation of Nepal.

Let us now discuss the habits of the modern American military hierarchy, with respect to the use of foreign fighters in the service of American national interest. One only has to look at the thousands of mercenaries—currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan—who hail from far flung places such as Croatia, Sierra Leone, El Salvador, South Africa, Poland, Guatemala, and The Philippines just to name a few. Indeed, by definition an empire is an entity capable of drawing its fighters from the many nations under both its political and military influence.

Now let us return to the question of foreign fighters currently operating inside Somalia. When one puts aside the unreasonable—and frankly ridiculous assertions of the US Department of State, the UNPOS, and the AU—it is easy to see that the vast majority of the foreign fighters currently inside Somalia are there as a result of a neo-colonial scheme designed to deprive the Somali nation of its God given right to national self-determination. I state, for the benefit of all Somali people, that the foreign fighters who are most unwelcome in Somalia are the 4300 AMISOM soldiers who currently protect the illegitimate and monstrous TFG of so-called President Shariif.

The only foreign fighters—to my knowledge—causing the Somali nation a great deal for suffering are the thousands of Ethiopian soldiers who periodically make incursions inside the Somali national territory. Such military incursions are not only illegitimate but they are brazen acts of state sponsored terrorism on the part of the so-called great powers of this world. The so-called President Shariif manifestly serves the nefarious interest s of the so-called International Community—a conspiratorial fringe group in this world which is led by an Anglo-Saxon elite—and, in doing so, he seeks to eliminate the political freedom of the Somali nation.

Finally, let us say that there really are 500 foreign fighters amongst the ranks of the Somali Mujahidin who oppose the shameless puppet currently hiding inside the AMISOM tanks of Villa Somalia. Let us assume that these men have been accepted as brothers by the men who spent much of the past two years fighting the Ethiopian army inside Somalia. Let us assume that, as honoured guests, these men have come to understand the political motives of the armed opposition inside Somalia. Can any person, with a modicum of intelligence, describe such men as anything other than noble and constant friends of the Somali nation?

On the other hand, let it be remembered that the so-called President of the Somali TFG—Shariif Axmed—was enjoying the comforts of a Djiboutian hotel whilst the true defenders of Mogadishu were engaged in daily battles against the Ethiopian invaders during the past 2 years. The TFG of Somalia—a shameless entity with a rotten membership composed of former warlords—cannot be a credible judge of character, and the assertions of the TFG which state that foreign fighters are somehow bad is indeed laughable.

I urge the so-called President of the TFG, and all members of the disgraceful transitional federal parliament to resign their posts immediately. These people have brought the name of the Somali nation into disrepute, and they must be made to pay for their crimes. With the help of the Almighty, we shall overcome this awful stain upon our good name. Somalia is worth far more than what the so-called donor nations, of the International Community, is offering the TFG of Somalia for their treachery.

At least three civilians were killed and five others were wounded after Islamist rebels have launched heavy attack on two bases of African Union troops in Mogadishu overnight, witnesses said on Wednesday. The two sides have used anti aircraft machine guns, mortars, and rockets which frightened the civilians who remained in the capital. The Insurgents attacked Jalle Siad Academy and former Somali National University buildings in south Mogadishu, bases of Burundian troops from African Union peace keepers. The fighting lasted for about two hours and the sound of gun fire could be heard in many parts of the capital. The Islamist rebels who are fighting against the Somali government have vowed they will continue the fighting till the government collapses and the African Union troops leave the country.

The mayor of a key town in central Somalia resigned Wednesday night with emerging reports indicating his resignation is linked to violence among Islamist factions, Radio Garowe reports. Sheikh Aden Omar "Jilibay" told reporters in Beletwein, capital of Hiran region, that clan leaders pressured him to resign from the post of Beletwein mayor. He noted that "ongoing developments among Islamists" contributed to his resignation, but categorically denied that he was threatened or resigned due to fear. Sheikh Jilibay said he was a businessman before being appointed mayor of Beletwein by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) administration that governors the town. Pro-government ICU militias have been battling for control of parts of Hiran region in recent weeks, as anti-government Al Shabaab fighters spread their war campaign in the central regions.

The Islamist organization Al-Shabaab appointed new spokesman for the group and held a press conference in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Thursday. Sheik Moktar Robow Ali (Abu Mansor), the Spokesman of Al-Shabaab was also present where the press conference was held and told the reporters that he had handed his post to Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, known as Sheik Ali Dhere, who earlier was the Al-Shabaab representative for the central regions of Somalia and was sitting beside him during the press conference in Mogadishu today. The Islamist organization confirmed that Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage (Sheik Ali Dhere) is from today the spokesman of the Al-shabab group. "I have been the spokesman of Al-shabab for a long time. Beginning from today I am presenting to the Somali people and congratulating Sheik Ali Dhere to be the new spokesman for the Islamist movement of Al-Shabaab," Sheik Moktar said.

Eritrean President Condemns AU Troops in Mogadishu by Ahmednor Mohamed Farah

Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki who gave an exclusive interview with Shabelle television and radio condemned the African Union troops in Mogadishu and said they could not keep peace in Somalia.

Speaking with Shabelle Media Network in his office in Asmara, President Afwerki said Ugandan and Burundian troops in Mogadishu came as an umbrella of Ethiopian invasion.

"The Ugandan and Burundian troops came as an umbrella for the invasion of Ethiopia which was supported by Bush administration which is illegitimate in the first palace, the invading power can not possibly have any legitimacy from the adopted resolutions of IGAD and AU," Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki told Shabelle television and radio.

"Uganda can not send peace keepers to Somalia when it can not maintain peace and security in Uganda, it is not well equipped and it has its own domestic problems," he added.

Mr. Afwerki said foreign troops could not bring solution to Somalia and called for the AU mission in Somalia to end their presence in Mogadishu.

Afwerki said also Burundian troops could not keep security and stability in Mogadishu.

"The government in Burundi can not secure peace and stability in Bujumbura, the capital. How can we expect Burundi to send peace keepers to Somalia and claim keep peace in Mogadishu? President Afwerki said.

He denied that Eritrea has been playing proxy war in Somalia and described as baseless accusations.

Noting that the solution lies in addressing the root cause, and not the consequences, President Isaias indicated that "so-called governments" imposed on the Somali people from the outside which has no authority beyond Mogadishu and its vicinity is further aggravating the problem.

Hawiye Clan elders have accused Thursday the Somali government of being arming former warlords and ignoring the re-entering of Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Abdullahi Hassan Abukar, a politician spokesman of Hawiye dominant clan elders said it was unfortunate for the government to be silent of the Ethiopian troops. The statement of Hawiye clan elders comes as the information minister of the Somali government Farhan Ali Mohamoud, said they did not aware of any presence of Ethiopian troops in Somali soil and added that his government has a good relationship to the Ethiopian government. Mohamed Omar Habeeb better known as Mohamed Dhere, a notorious warlord has recently returned from Nairobi to Mogadishu and met with Somali president Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmake. Some reports suggest that the government started plans to arm former warlords to confront the Islamist rebels who are fighting against the fragile government.

Former governor of Banaadir Mohamed Omar Xabeeb also known as "Mohamed Dheere" has returned to Mogadishu. Mohamed Dheere left Somalia when the Ethiopian troops left Somalia a few months ago. Now the Ethipians have returned - at least along the border near Beletweyne - and Mohamed Dheere is back too. In an interview with Voice of America, he stated that there was no specific reason for his return and ruled out that he would be involved in helping the Somali government to push back Islamists from recent gains made in Mogadishu and other parts of the country. Mohamed Dheere is also an advisor to Somali president Sheikh Sharif. He claims that he is not actively in touch with the Somali government. His return, however, shows that the Somali government is keen to get as much support as possible. "We know of no Ethiopian troops on our territory and all these reports are just baseless and unfounded," Farhan Ali, Somali minister for Information told local Shabelle radio in Mogadishu. The minister, however, hinted the possibility of Ethiopian troops' movement on the other side of the border saying the neighboring country could be "concerned" about fighting between opposing groups near its border with Somalia would spill over into its territory.

A leader of Al Shabaab is reported to have been wounded and possibly killed in what appears to be an accidental explosion at a safe house outside Mogadishu. Ahmed Abdi Aw Mohamed, the reclusive spiritual leader of the radical al Qaeda-linked terror group, was seriously wounded in the explosion on May 17. He is reportedly being treated at a hospital in northern Mogadishu, according to Garowe Online. Another source, Waaga Cusub, a Toronto-based Somali website aligned with the Hawiye clan in Mogadishu, speculated that Mohamed may have been killed, although the report has not been confirmed.

Eleven Shabaab fighters and three or four "foreign fighters" were killed in the incident. One report indicated that three Pakistanis were among those killed. After the incident, Shabaab fighters immediately cordoned the home and prevented witnesses from getting near the site, making confirmation difficult.

Mohamed, who is also known as Sheikh Mukhtar Abu Zubayr and Godane, is reported to have been hosting a meeting of senior Shabaab commanders when the explosion occurred. No other senior leaders have been reported killed or wounded.

The cause of the explosion is unknown. One witness told Waaga Cusub that "missiles" struck the safe house. No US airstrike has been reported in the region. US officials contacted by The Long War Journal would not comment on the reports of a potential strike. The US has carried out several strikes against al Qaeda and Shabaab leaders since early 2007.

But the cause of the explosion appears to be a premature detonation of one or more bombs on site. A source close to Shabaab told Garowe Online that one or more car bombs detonated due to faulty wiring. Another witness told Waaga Cusub that one of the Pakistanis was training for a suicide attack against African peacekeepers and crossed the wrong wires. After the explosion on Sunday, a Shabaab spokesman stated that three car bombs built for use against African peacekeepers had accidentally detonated.

Shabaab has carried out numerous suicide attacks inside Somalia and the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland. The terror group is estimated to have between 280 and 300 foreign fighters in its ranks. Shabaab has openly lobbied to join al Qaeda, and the offer has been warmly received by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command.

Mohamed is one of the original founders of Shabaab, or the Young Mujahideen Movement in Somalia. In November 2008, Mohamed and two other senior Shabaab leaders were designated as terrorists by the US. He has taken on a more visible role since the death of Shabaab's chief military commander Aden Hashi Ayro in a May 1, 2008, airstrike.

Mohamed rarely appears in the media, but just six days ago released an audio recording in which he denounced the Somali government, led by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former ally during the rule of the Islamic Courts. Ahmed and the parliament had attempted to appease the radical Islamist groups by passing a bill imposing sharia, or Islamic law, throughout the country.

"The so-called government cannot be described as an Islamic government, because it was created to destroy Islamists in Somalia," Mohamed said. "The so-called President flew to Addis Ababa [the capital of Ethiopia] immediately after he was elected to ask for advice and troops to fight against what he calls 'extremists' in Somalia."

Shabaab and the allied Hizbul Islam are battling for control of central and southern Somalia with Islamic Courts factions that reconciled with the weak Transitional Federal Government. Despite the alliance and support from several thousand African Union troops, the Ahmed government controls only small areas of the capital of Mogadishu; nearly all of the southern and central provinces are under Shabaab and Hizbul Islam control.

Shabaab recently took control of the town of Jowhar in the central province of Hiran from the Islamic Courts. The move sparked an incursion from the Ethiopian Army, which invaded Somalia in December 2006, ousted the Islamic Courts, and occupied the country until its withdrawal in January 2009.

Ethiopian forces have been spotted moving into Hiran. The incursion has placed the Ahmed government in an awkward position. The Ethiopians are disliked, but the Islamic Courts and the Somali government are incapable of defeating Shabaab and Hizbul Islam without outside help.

Somali President Sheikh Shairf Ahmed pardoned 14 prisoners on Tuesday in the capital Mogadishu, a government official told Radio Garowe. Somali prisons chief Gen. Abdullahi Mo'allim said the President pardoned the prisoners after they wrote letters asking to be forgiven. "The prisoners wrote letters and handed it to the prison commander. I gave the letters to the President and he accepted [to pardon them]," Gen. Mo'allim said. He noted that other prisoners will be pardoned as part of an ongoing judiciary process. Akram Abbas, one of the pardoned prisoners, expressed happiness to be safely released from the prison where he spent nearly one year. "I was arrested more than eight months ago and accused of being a terrorist," Mr. Abbas told reporters in Mogadishu. He indicated that he was not charged with any crime during his incarceration and was "treated badly" in prison, while calling on the Somali government to improve the prison system and to protect prisoners' legal rights. There are hundred of prisoners locked up at Mogadishu's central jail facility, with most inmates detained during the era of former President Abdullahi Yusuf, who resigned in Dec. 2008.

History Repeats Itself! by Abdul-Aziz Mohammed

Many, including myself, had at the time warned against the plain result as the only outcome of that sham Djibouti peace, which had no solid pillars to stand on or keep it. This growing, latest flare-up of armed conflict in Mogadishu was all too predictable.

The participants, especially the beneficiaries, of such peace had mistakenly focused on the removal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia as only sure ingredient for peace at last in Somalia. This is why we lately keep hearing such shock induced comments of "Ethiopians had left, why fight still?" I will tell you why!

In hasty proceedings which promoted and rewarded a small unit, out of most of the Islamist opposition groups, namely Sharif and his Djibouti wing, they formed a government in exile. A government of make-believe nationality-unity, whose main supporters—various international institutions, such as the UN and other powers—were and still are habitual ignoramus on how to solve the Somali problem.

But, one can put this whole painful fiasco, which we are witnessing in Mogadishu today, at the doorstep of then Somali prime minster Nur Ade and the Djibouti government.

Nur Ade´s power trip to dethrone his nemesis, the ex-president Abdullahi Yusuf, had led him down the road of entering peace negotiations with Sheikh Sharif. For a genuine and comprehensive peace, if Nur Ade was to deliver the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to the peace table, it should have fell on Sheikh Sharif to do the same with all his colleague Islamist groups. For some reason, there was a deliberate plan to ignore and exclude the Somali men with the biggest guns, who are now breathing with fingers on the trigger on Villa Somalia—the hideout of President Sharif this hour.

A leader´s work judges him or her, for its result. Nur Ade´s miscalculation for Somalia was his own ambition to replace Abdullahi Yusuf using the Djibouti peace deal. Otherwise, he would have insisted on a unified Islamist opposition as a partner to negotiate with for a real peace for Somalia. Sheikh Sharif was at least smart enough to put Nur Ade´s ambition to rest, as he won the top job for himself. Had Nur Ade won the presidency, this latest explosion of conflict in Mogadishu would have come even sooner! The result is the same, nevertheless.

Despite all the lip-services paid for "open door" policy to anyone for negotiations, an irreversible, terrible suspicion and mistrust took hold against the result of the Djibouti peace in the minds of many former Islamist allies of Sheikh Sharif. Many conspiracy theories, of an international scheme to divide, pin against each other and conquer the Islamist camps, had taken root. As if to confirm the fears of his detractors, the newly crown president, Sheikh Sharif, would make his first visit, outside Djibouti, to Addis Ababa. Can you imagine such stupidity?

Sheikh Sharif´s presidency, which may or may not survive its current huge difficulties, had been one of international panhandling. The beggar-in-chief would travel from one capital to another, while his office had not moved the peace-ball an inch forward at home.

As a Somali nation, one would have thought Djibouti and its Somali top leaders would have known better than to be a party to a yet half-baked Somali peace agreement. These leaders should have insisted and demanded all Somali combatants represented in any peace. Instead, they once again bought the fallacy of International community imposing its own version of peace on Somalia. That said, I do not doubt at all the sincerity of our Djiboutian brothers in their even misguided efforts.

What now? First, I call upon Sheikh Sharif to resign, so the bloodshed will stop. There is no point in prolonging the agony of Somali innocents. Upon Sharif´s resignation, the prime minster should start negotiations with the leaders of these Islamists for a peaceful transfer of power with no retributions on the current government members to follow.

Then what? To say I am troubled by religious extremists assuming power in Somalia, as this may be imminent, would-be an understatement. Undoubtedly, this would have a multiple implications for my country and people. The character of the Somali collective soul, of more than a thousand years, could be in terrible jeopardy. Such a nationwide institution of a particular brand, unfamiliar to my people, of Islam with a punishment emphasis and behavior-police would send shock waves to every Somali. If not moderated, this would most likely also directly challenge regional, historical Somali enemies with war. The last Somalia needs is for Ethiopia to have a moneymaking, distraction from her own internal problems and US supported excuse to deepen its tentacles in Somali affairs!

On the other hand, the Somali people are desperately in need for a capable administration of their own to put all the guns under its jurisdiction. They also need Mogadishu freed from narrow clan politics, which clearly had been the case for almost two decades. I must mention here that these Islamist, all be hard-liners, had put aside the clan issue, as their top leader is from, of all places, Somaliland! I found it hilarious some of the clan-worshippers in Mogadishu have lately accused these Islamic groups as carpetbaggers (kuwa Xamar ka dagaalamaya dhulkoodi oo nabad ah ayeey ka yimaadeen, si ay Xamar u gubbaan). A funny thing to say now, for when these fighters were there to battle and bleed the Ethiopians, they were heroes to them.

Anyway, a harsh government, however brutal, is better than no government at all. If Saudis can tolerate a Wahabbi government, the Somalis will for now.

However, this will want these Somali Islamists to heed the following: Do not try to export to or threaten with your ideology with neighbors or the rest of the world. Do not allow Somalia to become a safe-haven for Al-Qaeda or any other terrorist groups; if you do, you will suffer the consequences. Most importantly, such will mostly cause many more Somali innocent deaths.

As for the International community, it is important not to panic about hard-line Islamists takeover there. Patience and seeking the help of Islamic countries to have moderating sway on Somali Islamic firebrands should be the first order. If confined to Somalia, the Somalis, my people, will show their capacity to self-correct and reclaim their heritage!

Australia's Range oil shrugs off Somali pirates writes Alison Bevege for Reuters - while regional leaders object

Executive director to visit Puntland for talks

Says Canadian partner to start drilling by Q4 '09

Australian explorer Range Resources said piracy will not deter it from exploring for hydrocarbons off chaotic northern Somalia.

The independent company won a deal in 2005 giving it concession rights to all minerals and petroleum in the country's semi-autonomous Puntland region, an area that geologists say has a high chance of containing commercial oil reservoirs.

Puntland has been relatively unscathed by a two-year Islamist insurgency that has rocked Somalia's south and central regions. But it is a base for many of the pirates who have been attacking vessels in the busy shipping lanes offshore.

"Other than potential implications on insurance costs, we don't think piracy has a huge impact. A number of vessels have been attacked offshore but they haven't had escorts," Range's executive director Peter Landau told Reuters late on Tuesday.

He said that he would be visiting Puntland in the next few weeks to meet its leadership and discuss oil and gas projects.

"If you're going to do offshore seismic then you would only do it with the support of the Puntland government and the seismic vessel will have an armed escort, preferably a government vessel," Landau said by telephone from Dubai.

Onshore, he added, Range's joint venture partner Africa Oil Corp is also in talks with the Puntland authorities and hopes to begin drilling in the fourth quarter of this year.

The Canadian company had started seismic mapping in a region it believes has good prospects of holding large oil deposits. Geologically-similar formations in Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, hold nearly 4 billion barrels.

Africa Oil Corp has agreed to invest $50 million in exploration in return for an 80 percent stake in the area's Nogal and Dharoor blocks. Range holds the remaining 20 percent.

Landau said the Canadian firm had spent $22.5 million working in Dharoor. Nogal is still to be explored. Africa Oil raised $35 million through a private shares placement in April.

In January, some former staff members in Puntland criticised the Canadian company for failing to pay their salaries, but Landau said the claims were false and had come from aggrieved sub-contractors.

Africa Oil could not immediately be reached for comment.

And even more importantly, regional Somali leaders have strongly objected to any oil exploration or exploitation at the moment and until a proper peace settlement as well as a just governance has been achieved. They see in President Farole of neighbouring Puntland a turncoat, who when these clandestine oil-deals were carved out by his predecessor strongly opposed them from his Australian exile, but now seems to be in bed with the Australian and Canadian outfits, who are supported by US-American interests targeting Chinese operations in the Somali oil sector. The strongest opposition comes from the Warsangeli people, who since long have never been left in peace due to the oil in their part of the Nugal valley. Even many UN maps were intentionally drawn wrongly in the past to please Somaliland. Claimed as territory by Somaliland as well as Puntland, the Warsangeli people, the people of one of the oldest Sultanates at the Horn of Africa, stand strong in their demand to be left in peace and are against any incursions of foreign mastered oil interests into their territory.

France asks for help to train security force for Somalia, reports European Voice

Military forces would be trained in Djibouti, but EU member state concerns over loyalty.

France has proposed that EU member states join it in training Somali security forces in neighbouring Djibouti, starting this September with a battalion of around 500 men. The proposal was made on Monday (18 May) at a joint meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels. It received a broadly positive response, according to a French government spokesperson. France, which maintains a military base in Djibouti, made a commitment to train a battalion at a donors' conference for Somalia held on 23 April. It now wants this effort to become a fully-fledged mission under the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) and is looking for other member states to contribute experts, money or logistical support.

The mission would be labelled as a ´non-executive' programme for security sector reform, similar to an existing EU mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The EU's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina is also set to be changed to such a model, most likely later this year.

Militias

In a discussion document submitted to the ministers, the French estimated that training a battalion would require around 150 experts and cost around €1.5 million. The ministers charged Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, and the European Commission with looking into options for an ESDP mission. But some member states are cautious about the idea. One of the aims behind building a Somali army is to absorb and control the various militias that have ravaged the country since its central government collapsed in 1991. There is broad support that the militias need to be brought under some form of centralised control if peace and stability are to be established. But a European diplomat said that his government was still studying whether the units that are to be trained in Djibouti would be loyal to the transitional government once they return to Somalia.

Peacekeeping

The United Nations is preparing a phased build-up of a UN-led peacekeeping operation, Alain Le Roy – the UN's peacekeeping chief – told the Security Council last week (13 May). Several countries had already responded positively to a request for troop contributions, he said. The Security Council is to decide on the matter by 1 June.

Stop Also the Cruelty to Animals in Somalia

Prophet clear on the issue says scholar.

Cruelty to animals is prohibited in the Islamic Sharia according to Muslim scholars and legal consultants.

Sheikh Mohammad Suleiman Faraj, a scholar at the UAE Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Awqaf, quoted the Prophet (PBUH) as having said: "A man saw a dog eating mud from [the severity of] thirst. So., that man took a shoe and filled it with water and kept on pouring the water for the dog till it quenched its thirst. So Allah approved of his deed and permitted him to enter Paradise." He added: "The Prophet said a woman entered Hell because of a cat, which she had tied, neither giving it food nor setting it free to eat from the vermin of the earth." Al Shaiba added that the Islamic Sharia clearly prohibits malicious torturing or killing of free roaming or pet animals and Islam does not tolerate the torture and the bad treatment meted out to animals. Many might ask why the call to stop also the cruelty to animals comes at a time when people in Somalia kill people like other humans slaughter animals. But since President Ahmed Sharif signed Sharia, which also forbids the killing and torture of innocent people into law, and it becomes more and more clear that an overall healing of Somalia is urgently required, the call comes not out of time and for good reason. (et)

Impacting reports from the global village

More attention to Somali human traffickers needed. Despite the extensive presence of international forces in the Gulf of Aden to fight Somali pirates, not enough attention is paid to the little overloaded boats involved in human trafficking that cross its waters, says Médecins Sans Frontières in Yemen. "While the international community mobilizes itself to protect commercial shipping off Somalia´s shores, little, if anything, has been done for people uprooted by the conflict," said Francisco Otero, head mission for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Yemen. The ongoing tragedy of Somalis suffering a vicious war, hunger, malnutrition, grinding poverty, disease and lawlessness has led to the massive displacement of civilians, many of whom are desperately seeking safety outside the country, said Otero. "Tens of thousands of people fleeing war or extreme poverty are placing their lives in the hands of merciless smugglers who ferry them from Somalia´s northern coast through the Gulf of Aden to Yemen," he said. Some United Nation experts have even warned that smugglers may turn out to be pirates themselves: "We don´t have sturdy evidence, but there are signs that some smugglers are involved in piracy," said Claire Bourgeois, United Nations High Commissariat for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Yemen.

She said that the smugglers use African immigrants to distract the international forces, as they collect information about marine traffic during their journey across to Yemen. They also can use the African migrants as human shields when they encounter the marine forces, she said. On March 21, a French warship came across a fully overloaded boat carrying about 100 people. The boat capsized and eight people drowned, when the refugees all moved at the same time to one side upon disembarking. Later the boat was dragged to the Yemeni port of Aden, where weapons were found, indicate that the smugglers, who had charged the immigrants a lot of money for the illegal crossing, were also pirates. For roughly USD50 to USD120 per person, a huge sum in Somalia, the smugglers accept to take passenger across the sea in small boats, which are often barely seaworthy, and it is rarely that these passengers make it. Boats regularly leave the port of Bossaso in Somalia.

Passengers say that more than 100 people are routinely packed into the 30 to 40 person vessels. Some suffocate and others are beaten to death by the armed smugglers. To avoid detection, the smugglers force passengers into the water far from the beach, often under cover of darkness. As many can´t swim and those who can become disoriented, death by drowning is routine. One 40 year-old mother described her harrowing experience in January to the Doctors Without Borders team in southern Yemen providing medical care to those who make it to the beaches alive: "It was very crowded… you feel yourself suffocating. As the boat was coming towards the shore, my husband was getting the children ready. Then suddenly the smugglers threw him into the sea. He resisted, holding on to the boat, but they stabbed him. The smugglers threw my two daughters into the sea. There was a young man who could swim very well who helped my children.

In the morning I saw the dead body of my husband." According to UHCR, more than 50,000 people -Somalis, and Ethiopians fleeing impoverishment or persecution- attempted the journey across the Mandab Strait in 2008. Up to 600 drowning deaths were recorded, and 359 people were reported missing. "The total figures are likely too low, as Yemen´s extensive coastline prohibits a complete accounting of all arrivals, dead or alive," commented the head of mission for MSF in Yemen. "Measures should be taken at the source," he said, adding that since most of the boats launch from Puntland, which has an autonomous regional government, "the UN should seek ways to expand its existing operations there to receive and protect those who are fleeing for their lives." "Safe and legal options to cross international borders and seek asylum and protection must be available, as provided for under international refugee law," he added, stressing Somalia´s neighbors´ responsibility to open their borders to refugees. "This exodus has been brought on by crisis and war. In such circumstances, people have rights, including that of safe passage," he said. So far this year, over 21,660 people have arrived in Yemen, according to the UNHCR.

Eritrea welcomes world economic re-ordering reports Andrew Cawthorne for Reuters

President Isaias Afwerki believes the financial crisis is a welcome restructuring of the global economic order and vindication of Eritrea's much-vaunted principles of self-reliance and sustainability.

"People learn things the hard way sometimes," he said.

The former Marxist guerrilla leader has ruled one of Africa's smallest economies since its 1993 formal independence from Ethiopia. His government avows resistance to foreign aid.

Isaias said Eritrea, like other nations, had of course felt some pain from higher import costs -- particularly oil and food -- and lower remittances from abroad. But in the grand scheme, "these are very small things," he said.

"The good thing about it is that the global economic situation is in the process of transformation," the 63-year-old told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"It is a wake-up call to many who have been preaching ideals about the functioning of economies in their own ways and trying to substitute real economy for finance and speculation ... what I call the speculative economy or the economy of speculation."

Eritrea's 4 million people are feeling the pinch, especially due to recent drought, but Isaias said there was no starvation and his country was better off than neighbours.

"For us, it's a moral boost, because for the last 18 years, we've been focusing on the real economy -- roads, ports, airports, electricity, water, housing, services, health, education, food security. Not a single penny has been wasted.

"It may not have accumulated the critical mass required for jump-starting the economy, but we have been investing and accumulating all along."

Few African economies were as well-prepared to weather the crisis, he said. "There may be good examples. People talk about Ghana and other economies, but out of 50-something, you can talk about a handful."

Talk of an imminent recovery by some world leaders was false prophesy, he said. "They are preoccupied with micro-managing panic ... (so) you tell people lies.

"You see every day, on TV or the Internet, that 'stock markets are reviving, stock markets are doing this and that' when the real economy is not improving, employment is higher, real estate is going down, the car industry is collapsing."

Investment Opportunities

Isaias acknowledged hardships for Eritreans, but said the government was subsidising food and oil, while some communities were simply moving from arid areas.

"In comparison to the neighbours, I can say we are better off. I don't want to exaggerate this. Yes, we have some areas that are badly hit," he said, acknowledging that a "very little" food aid was coming in, including from Japan and China.

Aid sources say child malnutrition rates are up alarmingly in Eritrea, but the president said that was not the case.

Few hard statistics are known about Eritrea's economy, which is agriculture-based and depends heavily on money sent from Eritreans abroad. It is allowing more than a dozen foreign firms into its nascent mining sector, and wants to develop untapped fisheries potential off its Red Sea coast.

Eritrea is also seeking to create free trade zones to take advantage of busy shipping lanes nearby.

Isaias said Eritrea would move slowly to draw foreign investment, without exaggerating the possibilities. He laughingly cited a TV advert for tourism in Egypt which he said showed dolphins offshore where in fact there were none.

"There is nothing there ... (though) at one point in time, I was there, to see the sea full of jelly-fish!

"We will have to create opportunities rather than create distorted images ... And we are on the right track."

Around Asmara, new residential construction projects demonstrate progress underway, while the presence of some beggars and the site of peasant farmers on the hills around underline the enormity of Eritrea's task.

Speaking anonymously, some Eritreans grumbled at worsening poverty, particularly in rural areas, while others said their leader's long-term view was the right one. "He gets a lot of criticism from abroad, but he's not emptying the budget into his pockets, like everywhere else in Africa," one man said.

Press conference by UN Under-Secretary-General for peacekeeping

During his quarterly press conference at Headquarters, Alain Le Roy, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said the United Nations managed 18 missions, far more than the two or three that were always in the news, and the smaller, more traditional operations also deserved attention.

On bolstering the strength of the African Union Mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, Mr. Le Roy said the recent Brussels donors' conference had been "quite an important success" and had led to major pledges of assistance and the actual delivery of key necessities, including telecommunications equipment, security equipment, fuel storage units, medical supplies, and airfield fire-fighting trucks, among others. Some other supplies had been acquired from both the Logistics Base in Brindisi and the now-defunct United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). He hoped AMISOM's other requirements could be provided through assessed contributions.

Responding to questions about the projected $8.2 billion in peacekeeping financing currently being discussed by the General Assembly's budget committee, he acknowledged that the cost of peacekeeping had "increased drastically" over the past decade. However, studies had shown that United Nations-led missions were more cost-effective than those that could be mounted by individual Governments.

Nevertheless, he said the Peacekeeping Department was always reviewing operational costs to ensure finances were used most efficiently. To a related question, he said he was pleased that President Barack Obama had taken an interest in addressing the United States peacekeeping arrears. President Obama had submitted an appropriation of some $860 million that was currently before Congress. As for the overall budget, the Peacekeeping Department was awaiting a decision by the General Assembly, he added.

In fact, he continued, the Department's current "New Horizon" study aimed to examine all United Nations missions and to consider such issues as how they could be made more effective, and whether they were the right tool for the specific circumstances in which they operated. That study would also look at ways to build more partnerships with regional bodies, such as the African Union and the European Union.

Responding to questions about the Organization's ongoing effort to stamp out sexual exploitation and abuse, Mr. Le Roy said fully implementing the Secretary-General's "zero tolerance" policy was a still a major priority. The number of allegations of such abuse had decreased between 2006 and 2008, he said, noting that there had been 357 allegations in 2006, 127 in 2007, and 83 in 2008. That "clear decrease" meant that staff training and other policies put in place were showing some progress. The Peacekeeping Department was not completely satisfied, however, and would continue to push for better results and more transparency regarding the handling of cases once the offenders had been transferred to their home countries.

World's Wealthiest Gather to Discuss Life at the Point of a Gun and Kevin D. Rollins comments:

The New York Times has an article about a recent meeting of Bill Gates, Oprah, Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Michael Bloomberg, among others. While an interesting story generally, this line in particular caught my attention:

Based on February estimates by Forbes, the room had a net worth of about $120 billion, or nearly as much as New York State´s annual budget.

I assume the NYT reporter meant to give the reader a sense of how much concentrated wealth was held by the participants in the meeting. It is an interesting comparison to draw. The statement seems to want to ask the question, "why do these people have so much?" All the citizens of New York State paid all they could -- their fair share -- to the public treasury, yet this handful of folks hold that money outright? It seems like these people have too much relative power. To whom are they accountable? Now we see them having a private meeting, to discuss private matters? Of course conspiracy theories about the machinations of private power get their roots here.

On the other side of this comparison, the meetings of the state legislature are perceived as commonplace, even recorded and made public. In the cultural consciousness, the words "democracy" and "representative government" give a connotation of legitimacy and even nobility to the decisions and power entrusted to this group. The public worries that even this body will become beholden to the privately powerful, so a system of "checks and balances" is constructed, with limitations on financial support to thwart the power of the wealthy.

Yet, we forget constantly that the politicians who declaim corruption are the very ones who vote for the rules that govern the structure of their power. The legislature must coerce its way to having the kind of spending money that Oprah and Bill Gates privately hold. While cloaked in the public interest, all rules of government are at least in some part rooted in a lust for power and self-enrichment. This imbalance in monetary wealth is constantly on the minds of the legislature; they know they have the power to coerce, but must tread carefully so as not to become outright enemies of the privately powerful.

The wealthy also perceive the power of government. The super wealthy stand out from the crowd and know they are being sized up. The rich know what a delicious feast "defenders of public interest" would enjoy at their expense, if the public processes were allowed to coordinate fully with the envy of the looters.

So, while much will be made about the evil plots that Gates et al are possibly concocting, we should remember that they do this at the point of a gun, which is constantly threatened by the socialist left.

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