Hypocrite Sheikh Sharif Rejects Somalia´s Foreign Defenders but Welcomes Somalia´s Foreign Enemies

Sheikh Sharif must either go now or get eliminated by any means. Pretending to pacify and reunify the Somali Nation, he closed deals and signed agreements, interpreting his signature as a means to empower him and his group with the necessary political tools that would help them to sort out a solution for the beleaguered Horn of Africa nation.

As it came out, for many months, Sheikh Sharif enjoyed the chair of President of nothing, precisely because TFG is nothing, and the liar Sheikh Sharif did not do anything. It thus became clear that all he desired was money, position and glory, a cursed trilogy of shame for any sound Somali.

While Northern Somalia is plunged into socioeconomic, environmental and political chaos, because of the Somaliland Mafia rule, Sheikh Sharif has nothing to say.

While Central Somalia risks triggering an international military intervention of large scale because of the piracy epiphenomenon, Sheikh Sharif seldom speaks about it, and when he does so, he idiotically repeats sentences, suggestions and ideas of Somalia´s Western enemies.

For the rest, well, the ambitious sheikh Sharif has no plan. All he wants is to cash international aid and funding only to ensure his tenure as long as possible.

The Somalis have understood that they have nothing to wait from the liar Sheikh Sharif, simply because he has nothing to deliver.

More recently, another development took place; realizing that Sheikh Sharif is indeed an internationally imposed, besotted puppet of Somalia´s worst enemies, all the Somalis decided that anything that would eliminate him is preferable for them than the present unbearable and dramatic situation that conforms with the outrageous sheikh´s dreams of personal power and Mafia-style rule of thugs and traitors.

That is why all the Somalis side with the three patriotic sheikhs of the opposition, Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Turki, and Mukhtar Robow, against the national shame of the TFG. It matters little whether you agree with the Shabaab version of Islam, interpretation of the Quran or implementation of Sunna (the Islamic tradition).

All that matters is that the national shame Sheikh Sharif and the TFG traitors get eliminated in any possible way. Today, the majority of the followers and the supporters of the Shabaab disagree with the Islamic Organization leadership´s view of Islam; but they passionately support them because the top priority is Somalia´s liberation.

If, in a free Somalia, the National Unity Hizb ul Islam and Shabaab government pursues a policy that is rejected by the majority of the Somalis, they will be removed one way or another; this will not be a major issue. But the Islamic Organization leadership´s view of Islam cannot by definition be an issue today.

The radicalization of the Somali public opinion is a phenomenon that will last as long as TFG and the disreputable traitor Sheikh Sharif are left in power – due to the support of Somalia´s worst enemies, the AMISOM gangsters.

The radicalization reached a top point recently when the shameless Sheikh Sharif spoke against, and dared denounce, the foreign fighters in Somalia who are currently contributing to the liberation effort deployed by the Hizb ul Islam and the Shabaab.

All the Somalis shouted angrily to the outrageous sheikh Sharif:

Shut up, criminal! You brought in the first place infidel foreigners who want to impose pestilence and disaster on Somalia; how come!

Are you now concerned with the foreigners who fight to support and liberate Somalia, bringing peace and freedom to the country?

What is this paranoia of yours, miserable Sheikh Sharif?

You dare rely on the AMISOM foreigners who are infidels and desire Somalia´s destruction, and at the same time you reject foreign Muslim volunteers who came to fight for Somalia´s dignity?

Who is the Satan whom you agreed to serve, Sheikh Sharif?

Key details about the latest developments around the Horn of Africa, along with related documents, comments and analyses, are made available in the Ecoterra Press Release Issue No. 182 that I herewith republish.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) – 2009-05-26 Tuesday 21h32:56 UTC

Issue No. 182

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:

The Somali government has announced an immediate blockade on airstrips and seaports in the rebel controlled center and south of the war-torn Horn of Africa nation. "Beginning today [May 25] sea ports and airports not under the government's control will be closed to any flights or shipments except for humanitarian purposes", Information Minister Farhan Ali Mohamud stated. The announcement comes on the heels of a proposal put forward by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) calling for the imposition of an embargo on south-central Somali airports and seaports run by extremist al-Shabaab militias. Speaking after a closed-door cabinet meeting in the capital Mogadishu, Mohamoud said the sanctions were aimed at curbing the flow of arms and foreign fighters into the country and would not extend to humanitarian flights or shipments. The minister further called on the United Nations to adopt a similar measure to the one taken by the six-nation regional bloc -- comprising of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Somalia.

Earlier on Monday, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who has been facing the Herculean task of patching together the country's divided factions, called for international assistance in dealing with the fresh wave of insurgency. He also blamed Iraqi and Afghan fighters for backing rebel forces in their latest tug-of-war with government forces over the control of Mogadishu. The militant group al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the recent round of car bomb attacks which killed at least 10 people, including seven government forces, and has confirmed that the group has foreign fighters within its ranks. The armed rebels control most of south-central Somalia where a number of airstrips and the two essential ports of Kismayu and Merka are located.

Somalia has been subject to an UN arms embargo for many years. However, weapons are still freely available in the Mogadishu weapons market, which shows clearly that just imposing blockades only makes the clandestine dealers rich, while it is now important to support the Somali people in getting their own controls and the implementation of law and order into place.

News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress --------

It has been confirmed that a Fiji citizen is among the crew being held hostage by Somali pirates on board of MV HANSA STAVANGER. 31 year old Wayne Suliana from Suva left onboard the German registered cargo vessel from Tuvalu. Wayne's mother, Va Mausio said her son was allowed to contact the family in Fiji. According to Mausio, her son said he is safe and his company is negotiating his release.

Local reports concerning a serious incidence involving a crew member on MV MARATHON were not confirmed by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, while local observers insist that their information is correct. Likewise Dutch media reported that negotiation concerning the release had commenced, while according to local elders negotiations with the captors directly are not developing. The vessel is in the moment 24nm from the shore. But because one warship (said to be Spanish) is only 8nm away and blocks any supply skiff, which also could bring a translator on board, while the Dutch vessel is reported to be around 20 nm from the scene - and because communication is still very difficult - the pirates on board the vessel are extremely nervous, which could cause a second incident.

The reported and confirmed shoot-out between an armed Korean fishing vessel - said to be named IDKA - and a militia of coastguards from Puntland operating from a separate vessel was so close to the present location of sea-jacked Malaysian tug MASINDRA 7 near Bandar-Beyla that coastal observers feared MASINDRA 7 with her 11 Indonesian crew was attacked. Though satellite-phone communication with MASINDRA 7 still could not be re-established and the vessel is out of reach for local mobile-phones, radio communications reported that the crew is all right, though the situation on board is said to be extremely tense because the Malaysian owner did not fulfill his promises and the captors are preparing for a fight with that militia, which attacked the fishing vessel. Meanwhile the stand-off between the Korean fish-poacher and the coastguard militia continued. Both sides are apparently heavily armed.

The second group of Bulgarian sailors who were kidnapped by Somali pirates returned to Bulgaria late Monday. The group of 9 sailors included the Captain of the MALASPINA CASTLE, Darin Mateev Drumev. All of the Bulgarian sailors who were on board have now returned home, Bulgarian National Television reported. Relatives and colleagues met them in the coastal town of Varna as they returned on a flight from Singapore. Captain Drumev suggested that all boats traveling in the area around Somalia should be fitted with weapons; "It is obligatory to move close to Somalia coast now, which is dangerous. In my opinion it is about time ships to be equipped with weapons", Mateev said.

The crew of the San Diego-based guided-missile cruiser Lake Champlain rescued 52 people who had been adrift in the Gulf of Aden for about seven days, the U.S.-American Navy said. The ship's SH-60B helicopter was on a routine flight when crew members spotted a skiff in distress in the gulf, which lies between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa. The aircraft crew relayed the information to the cruiser, which was about 30 miles away, and it sped to the skiff's location last Saturday. When the ship arrived, crew members provided medical care to those aboard the skiff. Seventeen people were transferred to the Lake Champlain immediately and treated for severe dehydration and other medical issues. The others were given food and water, then brought aboard the cruiser later. "It's fortunate that our helicopter was flying over the right place at the right time", Capt. Kevin P. Campbell, the cruiser's commanding officer, said in a Navy news release yesterday. He said the ship's chief hospital corpsman reported that a pregnant woman on the skiff might not have survived if help had not arrived. The skiff had engine trouble and was unable to operate, the Navy said. The cruiser is part of the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, which is providing maritime security in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.

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 44 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 121 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 likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly four groups from Puntland alone are still out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Directly piracy related reports

The Swedish navy arrested seven pirates early Tuesday as they tried to hijack a Greek merchant vessel in the waters off Somalia, Sweden's military said. "Seven pirates were detained by personnel on board the Swedish corvette HMS MALMOE overnight. The pirates were caught when they tried to board a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden", a statement said as reported by AFP. The Swedish navy had responded to a distress call from the Greek bulk carrier M/V ANTONIS, which said it was under attack from pirates using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. The ship was still under attack when HMS MALMOE arrived as part of the EU NAVFOR anti-piracy taskforce at the scene. "The Swedish vessel fired warning shots into the air with cannons, machine guns and snipers and shot flares at the skiff to try to get the pirates to stop their attack", the statement said. "At the same time, special forces went out under cover of darkness and boarded the fishing boat. Seven pirates were seized, as well as two pistols, a GPS navigator, grappling hooks and a ladder", it said. The pirates were to be taken to Djibouti on board the HMS MALMOE, where further instructions would be issued by the European Union's NAVFOR-Atalanta mission command. Sweden has had three corvettes and 152 personnel patrolling the Gulf of Aden since May 15 as part of the EU force. The Swedish frigate HMS MALMOE joined Operation EU NAVFOR ATALANTA, the EU task force patrolling the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin, in mid May. Twelve ships and two Maritime Patrol Air Surveillance aircraft are currently taking part in the Operation. The Swedish corvettes HMS MALMOE and HMS STOCKHOLM are part of international efforts to fight piracy in the gulf.

However, the Navy response was later criticized by the Greek ship-owner whose bulk carrier came under attack in the Gulf of Aden early today and he has launched an impassioned plea for more navy protection in the area. Swedish warship HMS MALMOE took 45 minutes to reach the 45,000 dwt ANTONIS, which was in a convoy of ships being escorted through the narrow stretch of water where piracy has become an every-day occurrence, he said according to Lloyds List. The 21-strong Greek and Filipino crew and two cadets, led by the master George Behlivanis, managed to fight off the pirates who fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades in their failed attempt to board the vessel, which was about 60 miles off the coast of Yemen at the time of the attack. Angelos Loudaros, director of Adelfia Shipping which owns ANTONIS, said barbed wire around the ship and the use of water hoses had prevented the pirates from boarding. However, he was highly critical of the time taken for the nearest warship to reach the scene, while a helicopter did not arrive until daylight, an hour after the attack was reported. "We need more warships", said Capt Loudaris, who is now considering whether it is possible to avoid the area altogether and trade the company´s five ships in other parts of the world rather that take the risk of sailing through-pirate-infested waters. Under orders from the Navy patrol, the bulk carrier, which was heading from Odessa to Oman with a cargo of steel products, had its automatic identification system switched on, and was traveling at 12 knots. While acknowledging that Navy protection could not be guaranteed in the vastness of the Indian Ocean, Capt Loudaros expressed anger at the failure to properly guard such a vital shipping thoroughfare as the Gulf of Aden.

Marine ecosystem, IUU fishing and dumping

The World Health Organisation says the growing dangers posed by chemical use in developing countries are putting worsening strain on health professionals. This includes increased risk assessment needs... and dealing with the impact of chemical incidents on human health. Among recent chemical incidents it lists are an outbreak of mass sodium bromide poisoning in Angola in March 2008, which affected 467 people. In February 2009, 18 Senegalese children died when a district in Thiaroye sur Mer, Dakar, was contaminated by lead from recycled batteries. The dumping of toxic waste in Ivory Coast in 2006 resulted in eight deaths, and about 85,000 health-related consultations. The WHO paper said: "Such events are believed to represent just the tip of the iceberg". In December 2005, the WHO Bulletin listed what it called "acute chemical incidents of potential international concern" which had occurred between August 2002 and December 2003. There were 35 such incidents, from 26 countries. Examples—all occurring in 2003—included an unusual number of cases of unexplained spastic paralysis in a Tanzanian village; the contamination of water and soil with pesticides from an abandoned storage depot in Somalia; and a leak of natural gas and hydrogen sulfide that killed 233 people in China.

Anti-piracy measures

What to do with a captured pirate?

Analysis by Sophie Hardach for Reuters

Captured Somali pirates pose legal snag for Western governments

Lawyers say pirates could sue governments, claim asylum

Problem likely to grow as anti-piracy mission expands

As navies from around the world confront Somali gangs off the Horn of Africa, a small legal issue is turning into a major problem for the mission and the governments involved: what to do with the captured pirates?

Faced with escalating pirate attacks in one of the world's busiest shipping routes, European Union forces rushed to the Indian Ocean in December -- only to find that after chasing and detaining the suspects, the next step was unclear.

Many Western governments are reluctant to bring suspects into their own countries, lacking the jurisdiction to do so or fearing the Somalis might try to claim asylum. Lawless Somalia is unlikely to give them a free and fair trial.

Some forces simply set them free again.

Trying to solve the problem, the European Union, the United States and a growing number of other pirate hunters have started outsourcing trial and prosecution to Somalia's neighbour, Kenya.

But Kenya, with an eye on its volatile neighbour, has made clear it cannot take all Somali suspects.

There is already one German lawsuit challenging the Kenyan arrangement. Some lawyers say governments have thrown themselves into a legal experiment that lays them open to compensation claims and raises questions about the maritime operation itself.

"Has it been given a lot of thought? I don't think so. If it had, the legal aspect would have been considered more thoroughly", said Timothee Phelizon, a lawyer whose Somali client, Ismael, is held in a French jail.

Pirates in the Dock

Ismael and five other Somali men are accused of attacking a French yacht and holding its crew hostage in April 2008. Phelizon said four of them had nothing to do with the hijacking, and would have to be released without charge.

"It's a very political case. Because if in the end there are only two people who will be put on trial, then there are four who will have spent a year in France behind bars. And they can demand compensation and a parliamentary inquiry into why four innocent people spent 12 months behind bars", he told Reuters.

France holds 15 Somali pirates who were caught during or after attacks on French crews. Phelizon argues they cannot be sent back as other pirates will suspect them of having divulged secrets to the French. He expects them to claim asylum here.

Others have been shipped to Mombassa. The EU struck a deal with Kenya in March over suspects seized by its "Operation Atalanta", and has since then transferred more than 50 men.

The United States in January expanded an older deal with Kenya. Like France, it still decided to tackle the issue itself when its national interests were at stake -- a Somali teenager, the sole surviving accused pirate from an attack on U.S. container ship MAERSK ALABAMA in April, was indicted in the United States on ten counts in May.

NATO, which is also operating in the area, is scrambling to hammer out a deal after it was publicly rebuked by the United States for freeing captives.

Military sources told Reuters that the initial confusion was frustrating for them. Officials have cheered the Kenya deal.

"For us, it's a blessing that we have this rule, that we have a place where we can drop them off," an Atalanta spokesman said.

But despite everyone from Russia to India to the United States patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Somalia's east coast, pirates continue to do their business.

There were 111 attacks in 2008; so far, 2009 has already seen 114, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

"Playing Police"

Maritime experts believe that successful prosecution will somewhat deter pirates, who pay attention to legal developments.

But human rights activists question Kenya's suitability.

German lawyer Oliver Wallasch, whose links with human rights groups led him to represent a Somali caught by German forces and shipped to Kenya, said he should be tried in Germany.

"When I hear, oh but then they'll ask for asylum -- so what! If Germany takes on the task of playing police down there, then it should also be able to cope with asylum requests from five Somalis", he told Reuters in a phone interview.

Arguing Kenya does not meet EU justice standards, Wallasch is suing Germany's government on behalf of his client.

Germany says it cannot prosecute the men, accused of attacking a German ship with a non-German crew and flag.

An exchange of letters between the EU and Kenya, the legal basis of the deal, includes several human rights provisions. An EU official, who did not wish to be named, told Reuters lawyers are monitoring the Kenyan trials.

"What happens if my client is sentenced to eight, nine years in jail -- once the media loses interest, who will continue to monitor his jail conditions after eight years?" Wallasch said.

Meanwhile, Western governments are seeking out other suitable partners in the region, such as the Seychelles.

Whatever the result of the talks and legal tussles, lawyers, military officials and maritime experts agree that ultimately, none of this will solve the piracy problem.

As Cyrus Mody, a piracy expert for the International Maritime Bureau, puts it: "At the end we all know that the problem lies with Somalia and its lack of a rule of law".

What to Do About Piracy?

By Mackubin Thomas Owens, Foreign Policy Research Institute Senior Fellow, Reviewed by James L. Abrahamson, Contributing Editor

According to the International Maritime Bureau, 293 incidents of piracy or armed robbery occurred in 2008, almost half of them along the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts of Somalia. Writing for Orbis, which he edits, Naval War College Associate Dean of Academics Mackubin Thomas Owens assesses the threat of that Somali piracy, describes possible responses, and from a review of international law´s history draws insight into that issue as well as modern terrorism.

With but three exceptions, the world´s principal response and that of its shipping companies has been to gain the release of crews and ships by paying million dollar ransoms to pirates and larger fees to insurers, which drives up the cost of global seaborne commerce. As Somali pirates succeeded in only 50 of their attempts last year, as compared to 21,000 passages through Somalia´s seas, many regard those as costs worth paying. With 1300 miles of Somali coast line and a sea area four times the size of Texas to patrol, no mélange of a few dozen ships from the United States, the EU, NATO, Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia can hope to overcome the pirates at sea. Even arming the merchant ships, training their crews in weapons, or protecting them with armed detachments onboard seem costly and ineffective.

Turning to history, Owens argues that piracy – like African slavery – has only been wiped out when the world´s sea powers attacked the bases from which the pirates – and the slavers – operated. From the seventeenth through the nineteenth century, international law facilitated such armed action. Not so today. As modern international law began to emerge in the sixteenth century, it borrowed from Roman law distinguishing between bellum (war with legitimate enemies) and guerra (war against pirates, brigands, outlaws, and other common enemies of mankind). The former conflicts defined the standard for interstate conflict, its rules, and protections for participants and civil populations alike. None of those applied to the guerra, all those using illegitimate or informal violence in a predatory manner and without lawful (state) authority. As Grotius wrote in Mare Librum, "all peoples or their princes in common can punish pirates".

Reviving that distinction and its remedy suggests a twenty-first century means to defeat and deter piracy – and perhaps terrorism as well. As the United States in the early nineteenth century dealt with the Barbary pirates and the brigands who raided its territory from Spanish Florida, every government should be free to strike the bases and territory of any nation that fails to control pirates and other predators operating out its territory. Only modern "legalism and moralism" have twisted the rule of law in ways that preclude meaningful and rightful self defense against those who operate outside the law and with no regard for its limitations on the use of violence. Americans, Owen urges, must develop a new "mindset" and energetically attack "´the common enemies of mankind,´ which include not only pirates but also terrorists".

No real peace in sight yet

Somali insurgents fired mortar shells at the presidential palace in Mogadishu killing ten people and wounding a dozen others on Tuesday, residents said. "Mortar shells that were targeted at the palace killed nine civilians and injured 10 others around the former national theatre, behind the palace", resident Abdifatah Ismael told Reuters. Villa Somalia - as the presidential palace is known - reportedly is also used as stores for essential food and military equipment of the TFG Government as well as a latest delivery of medical supplies from the Italian government, which so far are said to have not yet reached the hospitals, where they are urgently required.

A River Called Somalia - Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden´s Plan Proposal for Peace in the Horn of Africa

by Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

A few days ago, a Somali Intellectual sent me a mail with a poetical political analysis that captivated all my imagination. The striking images, the salient metaphors, the didactic approach to Somalia´s adventures, and the clear cut overview of the trouble caused to the Horn of Africa by the interfering colonial powers are the text´s strongest points.

One may consider Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden´s plan as eventually idealistic and actually unrealistic. This does not make it lose its importance and value in any sense. More than being a road map with well studied details, Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden´s plan for Somalia´s pacification contains all the steps, all the demarches and all the actions that, if undertaken by people of good intentions, would certainly lead the Somalis to everlasting peace.

More than a pragmatic agenda´s list of bullets, Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden´s plan forces the global community to stand with our back against the wall and answer to the following questions:

Are you personally integral and morally strong enough to carry out what you know you have to? Where is your promise of Humanity? Where are the days when everything looked innocent and sparkling like a spring?

Like this, in our theoretical promenade, we will finally encounter the entire Mankind sitting silent at the banks of the river Somalia and there recounting the value of the years that went lost. And as the entire world is plunged into fratricidal discord equal to, if not worse than, that of Somalia, we will realize that, instead of merely stating that the Somali are humans, we can conclusively specify that all the humans are Somalis.

That´s why a failure in Somalia will herald a breakdown for the entire Mankind. I herewith publish Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden´s text integrally, after having slightly edited it for clarity. To my ears, it sounds as a warning of a great Somali thinker, who having experienced his country´s past Drama, speaks to us of our world´s forthcoming Tragedy.

Letter from Harm's Way River in No Man's Land Somalia

By Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden Had

A Somali Principal

Somalia is a country under complex condition for over 20 years. Somalia has no relation with the world's superpower or diabolic government. In addition, Somalia has no intellectual politicians and no patriotic leaders.

But Somalia is now a river into which are being poured three sewage pipes that can only discharge toxic substances from outside. Those substances are mixed up with the fertile elements that are inherent to the river, and thus form a dangerous waste to further deteriorate the matters of Somalia.

These sewage pipes are identified as the three clans, namely the Hawiye, the Darood and the Isaaq; the toxic substance they disgorge into the river is the idea of interference from the outer, diabolic world. This concept that turns a clan automatically to a pipe of sewage involves the notion that every one cannot have other target than defeating the rest, and in the process demand support for their tribalism from outside.

As we heard, there have been 16 Somali reconciliation conferences held outside the Somali soil and each of them ended fruitlessly, due to evil agendas involved. After all these developments, the acquisition of foreign support brought disaster to Somalia and the foreign involvement brought forth the present chaos.

Every participant in the so-called Somali peace process is truly generating the emotional motion of eliminating the Somali hopes, and in doing so, they nominate a person to carry out the task, a person who either has only vested interests or becomes the medium of exertion of foreign involvement.

Ideology

As we heard, and as we noticed in the media, the several rival groups have been driven to ideological impasses with the adoption of various –isms, such as secessionism, terrorism, and tribalism, that all derive from foreign interference and evil support accorded to the Somalis who disastrously ask for it.

Sharif Ahmed is the last contaminated leader of Somalia; in fact, he can't do anything to solve the present Somali mayhem. Sharif Ahmed´s interlocutor and sponsor, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, is an international broker. If he were a honest and honorable person, he would be rather concerned with his own country which is under military occupation; but of course, this is not the case. Ould, rather called Walad ("street boy" in Arabic), is an untrustworthy mercenary, and we don't know what he can do to us, the Somalis.

How Somalia can achieve pacification and reunification

If the international community wants to achieve peace in Somalia, the necessary negotiations must follow the next steps:

1. Exercise the necessary pressure to end the hostilities at Mogadishu, there achieving a cease fire

2. Enforce that rivaling parts (TFG and Islamists) withdraw their arms to their previous camps

3. Put an end to the various propaganda media

4. Stop increasing the AMISOM forces

5. Radicals must remove the foreigners (if any) from among them

6. TFG must specify the date of final departure of AMISOM forces from Somalia

7. No filibuster action should be taken either from a NATO base or navy in the US or any other country against the Islamists in Mogadishu. An all Somali intellectuals and sheikhs Summit or Conference must be convened in Bossasso or another town in Somalia to discuss all issues pertaining to the Somali Nation. The global community, without interfering, should facilitate this development.

8. The UN General Assembly must take a motion, calling for Somali Unity and Territorial and Moral Integrity of Somalia, forcing the secessionist administrations to come to the Somali reconciliation process.

9. UN, US, EU, AU, and Arab League must exercise pressure of the secessionist administrations in this regard. Indicatively, a force of 2000 soldiers should be deployed in Mogadishu to help effectively undertake and successfully complete mediations between TFG and radicals in Mogadishu under the auspices of the aforementioned international bodies.

10. The UN and the US must solemnly declare that there are no Somali groups and political figures who could possibly be blamed as "terrorist", and this more particularly with respect to Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheikh Hassan Turki, and the Shabaab. No accusations of any sort should be pronounced against and these Somali leaders must be considered as normal Somali citizens with rights – like all the rest.

11. The Shabaab charismatic activists and the Hizb ul Islam leadership must declare that they have no relationship with Al Qaeda and any other terrorist group from now on – even if they had contacts with any of them in the past.

If the international community decides to get engaged in the above mentioned steps and processes, everything in Somalia will turn better, piracy will disappear, and anarchy will be no more.

More recently, we came to hear the news about a maritime agreement signed between Somalia and Kenya. If we are Somalis we can´t and don´t recognize that Memorandum of Understanding that is void due to the fact that the UN and the global community know very well that there is no truly elected government in Somalia. The existing TFG authority can't resolve this issue because, as its name precisely suggests, it is a transitional government tasked only to lead a reconciliation process and related affairs – nothing more.

However, this has been a fluffy action that helped finally clarify the shadowy image of the TFG administration and Sheikh Sharif; to oppose it, the entire Somali nation will stand to defend their territorial integrity, thus putting an end to the TFG authority´s most scandalous act. This shameful act is actually called the "Kenya Gate Scandal", the TFG minister involved in the act (Abdurahman Abdishukuur) is currently called "Minister of National Scam and International Burglary", and the TFG is termed the "Blindness Authority".

Abdirahman Haji Ahmed Aden Had can be contacted here: haadyey@hotmail.com

Derkenley district

A military operation has started in the neighborhoods of Derkenley district in the Somali capital Mogadishu after the Somali government deployed more of its troops near the Islamist military base in south of the capital overnight, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Tuesday. Residents told Shabelle radio that the military movement came as Islamist fighters who are fighting against the Somali government withdrew from Galbeed police station in Derkenley district in south of the capital overnight which brought the government soldiers to be deployed near Galbeed police station in Medina district in south of Mogadishu. Residents in the area said they feared the tension which arose in Medina district in Mogadishu and said that fighting could erupt between the two sides.

Reports say that the movement of the people and traffic between the street that connects Hosh, Galbeed police station and Tabakayo Madow neighborhoods was halted for the fear of fresh fighting starts between the two sides. There is no word from the government about the troop movement and also from the Islamist forces, who stand against the transitional government. The presidential palace also was hit by two mortars, said presidential guard Mohamed Abdi Ali, but no one was injured there. At least 36 people were killed and some 180 wounded, medical sources say. Defense Minister Mohamed Abdi Gandi said the government offensive had been a success so far. When asked to elaborate, given that residents reported government troops had retreated to the areas they held before the push, he declined to comment. The number of Somalis fleeing the latest escalation of fighting in and around Mogadishu has surpassed 67,000, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported today, adding that worsening security has also hampered aid delivery to the capital. According to UNHCR, most of the uprooted are heading to makeshift camps along the Afgooye corridor, south-west of Mogadishu. These sites are already hosting an estimated 400,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). "Those displaced who are unable to make the 30-kilometre journey have sought refuge in south-western parts of Mogadishu that have not yet been overrun by fighting", UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday authorized the African Union peacekeeping mission to remain in Somalia until end January 2010 in order to pursue its mandate of restoring stability in the troubled nation. In a resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member council authorized U.N. member states to maintain the African Union peacekeeping mission in the capital, where it is protecting the airport, seaport and other strategic areas. The mission currently is composed of more than 4,300 military troops provided by African nations, below the ceiling of 8,000 troops allowed by the council. Both Somalia and the AU have called for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping operation, but the UN leadership said the time is not appropriate for a broader international force.

The council reiterated its intention to establish a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia but said a decision would take into account conditions set out by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a report on Somalia to the council that while the council is considering the deployment of an international force it should extend the African force's mandate. "The present political progress and opportunities for peace in Somalia are real and have been hard won", Ban said. "They deserve the international community's thoughtful, generous and sustained effort". Ban said the deployment of a UN force, if it is agreed to by the council, would be done incrementally, with clearly defined objectives and security permitting. The UN has given wide support to the current transitional government in Mogadishu headed by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who has recently survived a coup launched by military opponents who are opposed to his reconciliation and political programmes. The U.N. Security Council is condemning the recent upsurge in fighting in Somalia and calling for an end to efforts that undermine the country's Western-backed government.

Somali Journalists Shocked as Fourth Journalist Dies

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) expressed shock due to the death of veteran journalist Nur Muse Hussein (Nur Inji) who died today from injuries he sustained from a targeted shooting in Beledweyne city of Hiran region in Central Somalia on 20 April 2009. Nur Muse Hussein, 56, was wounded while he was trying to cover fighting in Beledweyn between militias loyal to Hiran Regional Administration and Hisbul Islam, an Islamic movement that operates in southern central regions of Somalia. According to fellow journalists and his widow, Nur Muse Hussein who was with three other journalists was wounded by one of the fighters after they identified themselves as journalists.

A pedestrian walking behind the journalists reportedly died on the spot due to bullets that passed Nur. Nur worked for Radio Voice of Holy Quran in Mogadishu as their correspondent for the Central regions. Bullets fractured his right leg. Nur Muse Hussein was in serious condition since the attack but his condition deteriorated in the last week, according to his widow. "Nur Muse Hussein paid greatly for his dedication to journalistic profession. Today is another unforgettable and sad day for the Somali journalists community", Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General, said. "Nur is the fourth journalist that became victim in this year for the crimes committed by the gun carrying men in Somalia. The death of Nur Muse Hussein highlights the unacceptable, continuing and deliberate violence against journalists in Somalia".

Abdirisak Warsameh Mohamed, nicknamed Gadao, of Radio Shabelle was shot dead on the morning of 22 May 2009 by forces fighting in the neighborhoods near Bakara Market in Mogadishu. He was killed as he was crossing the road near Wardhigley police station, according to the director of Radio Shabelle, Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe.

Three men with pistols assassinated the well-respected Said Tahlil Ahmed, director of Horn Afrik Radio in Mogadishu, on 4 February 2009 at around 2:45 p.m. (local time).

On 1 January, Hassan Mayow Hassan, a reporter for Radio Shabelle, was gunned down by a member of a pro-government militia in Afgoye, 30 kilometers south of Mogadishu. Hassan was the first journalist killed in 2009 worldwide.

Nur Muse Hussein left 5 children and a widow.

Meanwhile Australian Foreign Minister Steven Smith says officials are working to secure the release of Australian freelance photographer Nigel Brennan, who has been held hostage in Somalia for the past nine months. "The Australian Government continues to do everything that it can to assist his family and to bring him home to his family", he said. Mr. Brennan and Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout were kidnapped by Somali gunmen in August of last year. They are reportedly being held near the capital Mogadishu where they spoke to a journalist from the news agency AFP. "I've been shackled for the last four months. My health is extremely poor and deteriorating rapidly due to extreme fever", Mr. Brennan, 35, said while appealing for help from the Australian Government. Family and friends of Australian Nigel Brennan, kidnapped last August in war-torn Somalia, see the latest interview with the freelance photographer as "proof of life" and a possible message from his captors that he will soon be released.

The former Bundaberg photographer, 37, and a colleague, Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout, 27, were quoted in a telephone interview with an Agence France-Presse correspondent in Mogadishu asking for a ransom to be paid and confirming the ordeal had taken a heavy toll on their health. Family friend Kate Wilson, who spoke to Brennan's mother, Heather, early yesterday, said the report from the Somali capital had buoyed their hopes. "After several months of no news, this is the strongest confirmation that he is alive", Ms Wilson said to The Australian. "Heather and the family have taken this as a good sign and that negotiations will continue and he will come home soon". Both freelancers, Brennan and Lindhout had teamed up to work on a story about the plight of internally displaced refugees from the 18-year civil war that has made Somalia one of the most dangerous countries in the world.

But on August 23, just three days after arriving in the country, the pair -- traveling with local photographer and "fixer" Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi and a driver -- were abducted by gunmen from their Toyota Land Cruiser near a checkpoint on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Ms Wilson said the Brennan family and friends had become increasingly frustrated by the failure to secure the pair's freedom after the release in January of the two Somali nationals. "There is frustration -- DFAT have been in contact with the family but it has been nine months and nothing has happened", she told The Australian. The father of David Wilson, who was kidnapped and later killed in Cambodia in 1994, said he hoped DFAT was being honest with the family. "It took me a while during the two months David was held (to realize) that DFAT was withholding information from me or misleading me", he said. "I hope the family are being honestly informed". DFAT has repeatedly refused to discuss the demands of the kidnappers with the Australian media.

More than 208 persons were killed and nearly 700 others wounded in the more than two weeks of fighting between pro-government forces and insurgents in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reports say. "We have conducted a count and 208 persons were killed so far while more than 700 have been wounded", Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Mohamoud Ibrahim Garweyne told a press conference in Mogadishu. "I can tell you that 80 per cent of the persons killed and injured are civilians who were caught in the crossfire", Garweyne said. "The clashes have also displaced 8,367 families, who have reached temporary camps outside the capital where their livelihoods are very precarious", the minister added. The latest fighting in the Somali capital erupted May 7 when hard-line Islamist groups launched a fresh offensive to remove Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the internationally-backed President.

Sharif and some of his ministers were holed up in the presidential compound for days, with little firepower of their own to repel the insurgents and African Union (A.U.) peacekeepers holding the fort. Sharif condemned what he termed as an invasion by nearly 500 foreign jihadist fighters in the troubled country, most of whom arrived over the past few months. "Somalia is being invaded by foreign fighters, whose main purpose is to turn the country into an Afghanistan or an Iraq", Sharif said at a rare news conference in his office. "We call on the international community and the Somali people to help us in fighting against them", he added. With the two main insurgent groups-the Shebab and Hezb al-Islamiya resorting to street guerrilla tactics and A.U. peacekeepers firing artillery from their fortified positions, civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.

Samir Husni, the Arab league representative for Somalia has requested from the international community on Tuesday to bolster the African Union peace keepers (AMISOM) in Somalia denying that the League was planning to withdraw its representatives from Somalia. Mr. Samir who is in Doha said that they request from the international community to give military and logistics support to the African peace keeping forces in Somalia to provide protection from the opposition groups and to continue the peace keeping mission in Somalia. The Arab League said that there are other African countries who promised to send peace keeping forces to Somalia, calling for those countries to send their soldiers quickly to Somalia. Samir Husni also said that the AU peace keepers will be less powerful than the opposition groups if they are not given military support as soon as possible, adding that the international community has been requested to support the AMISOM forces in Somalia and to protect the transitional government led by president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed. The request of the Arab League comes as the Somali president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed held a press conference in Mogadishu yesterday and requested from the international community to support his government and to protect it from those who are against his government.

The leader of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys has taken over the leadership of Hisbul Islam Insurgent group on Tuesday. Dr. Omar Iman said he handed over the chairmanship of the group to Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys and added the group had agreed on the issue. Sheik Aweys, who spoke to the reporters, said he accepted the leadership of Hisbul Islam and welcomed it. The reasons behind the decision of Dr. Omar Iman to hand over the power of the insurgent group are not known, Mareeg reported. Hisbul Islam comprises four insurgent groups and it was formed after the Somali parliament elected Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed as the president of Somalia. Hisbul Islam is allied with al-Shabaab and they are jointly fighting against Somalia's fragile government.

Jihadists target Somalia

Islamic extremists threaten fledgling government, reports The Economist

When Osama bin Laden issued a rambling audio recording of his views on Somalia earlier this year, the new authorities in the country's capital, Mogadishu, laughed hard. Bin Laden's thinking on this utterly failed state in the Horn of Africa seemed out of touch, even patronizing. Yet only a few months after Somalia's latest "transitional" government was set up amid a rare burst of albeit cautious optimism, Somali radicals linked to al-Qaida are gaining strength, while moderate Islamists, such as the country's new president, Sharif Ahmed, are losing ground.

A fresh flow of foreign fighters is said to be heading for Mogadishu. Some of them -- Americans, Britons and Italians of Somali origin, as well as Arabs, Chechens, Pakistanis and Uzbeks -- are no longer being hidden by their commanders but are being eagerly shown off to display the insurgents' global support.

When Ethiopia invaded Somalia with American encouragement in 2006, the aim was to fend off any kind of Islamist threat to Ethiopia and to catch the handful of al-Qaida people sheltering in the country. The invasion and the ensuing air raids destroyed the first incarnation of Somalia's jihadists but the second seems to be proving stronger and fiercer. Robbed of their rationale by the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops and by Ahmed's introduction of Shariah law, they are hitting back harder.

In the latest fighting in Mogadishu, hundreds more people have been shot dead or injured, and tens of thousands displaced. The insurgents have tightened a noose around the capital by capturing the nearby towns of Jowhar and Mahaday. Such advances now let the jihadists control traffic between Mogadishu and central Somalia.

The fighters and their "technicals" (pick-up trucks often laden with heavy machine-guns on the back) have also advanced on Beledweyne, a town close to the Ethiopian border. Their aim is apparently not to hold the town but to provoke Ethiopia into sending its troops back into Somalia, which could spur nationwide resentment towards the old enemy and more support for the radicals fighting against it. The Ethiopians are reported to be poised to make incursions back into Somalia.

Loosely arranged in cells of 20-30 fighters, the radicals of the Shabab ("Youth") and Hizbul Islam control much of south Somalia too. Across the country, they get a lot of cash from taxes, from the profits of pirates, from extortion and from donations by Arabs and Somalis in the Diaspora.

The attackers have also been gingered up by an old Islamist commander, Hassan Dahir Aweys, recently back from exile in Eritrea. He has stirred up his Ayr sub-clan and served as a rallying point for the radicals, who lack a unifying figure of their own. Machine-guns and ammunition, plus anti-tank weapons and plastic landmines that can be used as bombs have been flown into airstrips controlled by the insurgents across the country, including some near the capital. Intelligence sources say Eritrea has been sending the stuff, possibly with Iran's help. The Eritreans deny this.

The jihadists are hitting Ahmed's government before it has had time to rebuild its own forces. Western governments have agreed to fork out $213 million to set up a 6,000-strong army and a police force of 10,000. But the United Nations continues to reject pleas -- from its own special envoy, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, among others -- for it to send in a serious peacekeeping force, at least big enough to secure the capital and its immediate vicinity, including the airport and seaport. The 4,000 or so Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers now propping up the shaky government under the aegis of the African Union are increasingly targeted by suicide-bombers.

Some 30 lethal suicide bombs are thought to have exploded since five went off more or less simultaneously in October in Somaliland, which has managed to remain de facto independent (and fairly well-run) for several years, and in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, where various warlords, few of them jihadist, hold sway. In the quintuple bombing, an American of Somali origin blew himself up. Most bombers use suicide vests or blow up vehicles they are driving; the vest-wearers tend to be foreign. The targets are usually government buildings, ministerial convoys, the AU's base, businessmen, clerics and Somalis known to oppose the Shabab.

Aweys describes the AU peacekeepers as "bacteria" that must be eradicated; whether such xenophobic rhetoric will inspire more Somalis to join the jihadists is unclear. Some observers say Aweys is at risk of being assassinated by radicals who think him too nationalistic for the taste of bin Laden's globalists.

One Somali commander says the aim of his insurgency is to "liberate Islam from Alaska to Cape Town". As radical fervour has grown in the past three years, many young Somalis now seem to take solace from the idea of a global jihad. "Radicalization is now mainstream", says a seasoned monitor of events in Somalia. Young men, often at first lured by money, are then stirred by lectures and sermons into a desire for martyrdom. Many young Somalis in the Diaspora, feeling vulnerable in their new countries, are targeted by recruitment videos on jihadist websites.

Often persuaded that Ethiopia serves as a proxy for the United States and European countries, some such men have become suicide bombers. It is feared that attacks carried out by them in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, may be followed by similar ones on Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, and in such distant places as London. Two of the would-be suicide bombers in the second planned (but abortive) attack in July 2005 on London were Somali. While Somali pirates are a regional menace, Somali terrorists have international potential. On May 17 several local and foreign jihadists were reported to have been killed in Mogadishu when a bomb-making workshop blew up.

Towns captured by the jihadists are brought to order by what the Shabab calls wa'yigelin ("sensitization"), which has recently included the public amputation of hands for theft, public executions for "collaboration" with Western organizations and grenade attacks on shopkeepers who show Western or Bollywood films or who play pop music or sell CDs of it.

The jihadists also kill human-rights workers and journalists; almost none has returned to Mogadishu under the new regime.

Sometimes, however, the jihadists can be more pragmatic. In Baidoa, which used to host the country's parliament until it was chased away, the insurgents let the locals chew qat, a narcotic leaf that Somalis (and Yemenis) have long enjoyed, if they go from the town into the surrounding desert. But they must then return for a spell of wa'yigelin in the local mosque. If the jihadists win, they will bring in a harsh regime -- with ripples across the region.

Meanwhile some of the world's leading long-distance yacht sailors raised a substantial amount of money at the weekend for the UN refugee agency's operations to help survivors of the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. The sailors donated personal items to an auction held Saturday in the port resort of Sables D'Olonne on the sidelines of the prize-giving ceremony for the 2008-2009 Vendée Globe single-handed round-the-world yacht race, which started and ended here on France's Atlantic coast. Thirty skippers started the high seas marathon last November, but only 12 made it back to France, including two women and winner Michel Desjoyeaux, who took 84 days to circumnavigate the globe and retain his title. The French matelot donated a sailing jacket to the auction. Every competitor donated something, including Britain's Samantha Davies, who came an impressive fourth in her 60-foot vessel, Roxy. "It's a good cause and if we can help by giving objects or clothing, then we do it with pleasure".

The Italian Development Aid Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dispatched a humanitarian flight carrying 23 tones of healthcare supplies, an official said on Monday. "Responding to an appeal by the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of the Republic of Somalia, Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, Italy's Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini had provided for the dispatch of an emergency humanitarian flight carrying 23 tones of healthcare supplies, including emergency health kits, surgeon's tools and stretches as well as other materials immediately needed in the current emergency in Mogadishu affecting hundreds of civilians", said a press release from the Italian Embassy in Nairobi. The emergency aid comes from the Italian Development Aid Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The flight arrived at Nairobi airport, where it was after a week turned over to the Somali authorities, who dispatched the emergency aid into Mogadishu for distribution to the main hospitals such as Keysaney, Banadir, Madina, Al Hayat and Daiynile and every relevant Health Institution in Mogadishu. The health facilities, however, have not yet confirmed the arrivals. But though this aid-shipments might have had some difficulties and also might have a political tag attached in preparation of the Somalia conference called for by Foreign Minister Frattini in Italy, but it must be said that the Italian government at least is doing something tangible to alleviate the misery of the Somali population in these crazy days, while other states only make pledges to the multinationals in the aid-business, which hardly ever will be realized. While in the hard days of 1993 over 500 independent NGOs came from all over the world to the assistance of the Somali people, the streamlining EU, the masterminding US and the corrupt UN achieved together with greedy Somalis in the last 15 years that today only a handful organizations is still working to help Somalis and hardly any inside Somalia.

Somalia's foreign minister Mohamed Abdulahi Omaar has met with Syrian vice president Faruq As Shara in Damascus, officials said on Monday. Mohamed Abdulahi Omaar talked with the Syrian vice president about the violence in the Somali capital Mogadishu and how the Syrian government could support Somalia. Officials from the Syrian vice president's office later said the Somali foreign minister presented to the vice president a letter from Somalia's president Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed addressed to his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Asad. Mr. Omaar thanked Syria for its efforts to support Somalia, though Syria has not pledged anything for the Somali government yet, Mareeg reported.

Impacting reports from the global village

The American Academy Of Environmental Medicine Calls For Immediate Moratorium On Genetically Modified Foods

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) today released its position paper on Genetically Modified foods stating that "GM foods pose a serious health risk" and calling for a moratorium on GM foods. Citing several animal studies, the AAEM concludes "there is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects" and that "GM foods pose a serious health risk in the areas of toxicology, allergy and immune function, reproductive health, and metabolic, physiologic and genetic health". The AAEM calls for:

A moratorium on GM food, implementation of immediate long term safety testing and labeling of GM food.

Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community and the public to avoid GM foods.

Physicians to consider the role of GM foods in their patients' disease processes.

More independent long term scientific studies to begin gathering data to investigate the role of GM foods on human health.

"Multiple animal studies have shown that GM foods cause damage to various organ systems in the body. With this mounting evidence, it is imperative to have a moratorium on GM foods for the safety of our patients' and the public's health", said Dr. Amy Dean, PR chair and Board Member of AAEM. "Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions", said Dr. Jennifer Armstrong, President of AAEM. "The most common foods in North America which are consumed that are GMO are corn, soy, canola, and cottonseed oil". The AAEM's position paper on Genetically Modified foods can be found at http:aaemonline.org/gmopost.html. AAEM is an international association of physicians and other professionals dedicated to addressing the clinical aspects of environmental health. More information is available at www.aaemonline.org.

Ecoterra Intl. has already since 1994 demanded from WFP and other food-aid-deliverers to guarantee that no GM food is sent into Somalia. Official request to declare this in a binding form have until today never been adhered to. With an ongoing maize (corn) scandal in neighbouring Kenya involving illegally imported GM maize from South-Africa this demand is repeated. Somalia had before the war one of the best natural maize breeding programmes for draught-resistant varieties - all that has been destroyed by the war and unwise dumping of "corn" from surplus/aid-deliveries.

Washington´s use of military force is killing its foreign policy

by Jeffrey Sachs, professor of economics and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

US military spending is roughly equal to the amount spent by the rest of the world combined.

US foreign policy has failed in recent years mainly because the US relied on military force to address problems that demand development assistance and diplomacy. Young men become fighters in places like Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan because they lack gainful employment. Extreme ideologies influence people when they can´t feed their families, and when lack of access to family planning leads to an unwanted population explosion. US President Barack Obama has raised hopes for a new strategy, but so far the forces of continuity in US policy are dominating the forces of change.

The first rule in assessing a government´s real strategy is to follow the money. The US vastly overspends on the military compared with other areas of government. Obama´s projected budgets do not change that. For the next fiscal year, Obama´s budget calls for US$755 billion in military spending, an amount that exceeds US budget spending in all other areas except so-called "mandatory" spending on social security, health care, interest payments on the national debt and a few other items.

Indeed, US military spending exceeds the sum of federal budgetary outlays for education, agriculture, climate change, environmental protection, ocean protection, energy systems, homeland security, low-income housing, national parks and national land management, the judicial system, international development, diplomatic operations, highways, public transport, veterans affairs, space exploration and science, civilian research and development, civil engineering for waterways, dams, bridges, sewerage and waste treatment, community development and many other areas.

This preponderance of military spending applies to all 10 years of Obama´s medium-term scenario. By 2019, total military spending is projected to be US$8.2 trillion, exceeding by US$2 trillion the budgeted outlays for all non-mandatory budget spending.

US military spending is equally remarkable when viewed from an international perspective. The Swedish International Peace Research Institute says total military spending in constant 2005 dollars reached roughly US$1.4 trillion in 2007. In other words, the US spends roughly the same amount spent by the rest of the world combined — a pattern that the Obama administration shows no signs of ending.

The policy decisions of recent months offer little more hope for a fundamental change in US foreign policy direction. While the US has signed an agreement with Iraq to leave by the end of 2011, there is talk in the Pentagon that US "non-combat" troops will remain in the country for years or decades to come.

It is easy to see how the persistence of instability in Iraq, Iranian influence, and al-Qaeda´s presence will lead US policymakers to take the "safe" route of continued military involvement. Some opponents of the Iraq War, including me, believe that a fundamental — and deeply misguided — objective of the war from the outset has been to create a long-term military base (or bases) in Iraq, ostensibly to protect oil routes and oil concessions. As the examples of Iran and Saudi Arabia show, however, such a long-term presence sooner or later creates an explosive backlash.

The worries are even worse in Afghanistan and Pakistan. NATO´s war with the Taliban in Afghanistan is going badly, so much so that the commanding US general was sacked this month. The Taliban are also extending their reach into Pakistan.

Both Afghanistan and the neighboring provinces of Pakistan are impoverished regions, with vast unemployment, bulging youth populations, prolonged droughts, widespread hunger and pervasive economic deprivation. It is easy for the Taliban and al-Qaeda to mobilize fighters under such conditions.

The problem is that a US military response is essentially useless under these conditions, and can easily inflame the situation rather than resolve it. Among other problems, the US relies heavily on drones and bombers, leading to a high civilian death toll, which is inflaming public attitudes against the US. After one recent disaster, in which more than 100 civilians died, the Pentagon immediately insisted that such bombing operations would continue. A recent survey showed overwhelming Pakistani opposition to US military incursions into their country.

Obama is doubling down in Afghanistan, by raising the number of US troops from 38,000 to 68,000, and perhaps more later. There are also risks that the US will get involved much more heavily in the fighting in Pakistan. The new US commanding general in Afghanistan is reportedly a specialist in "counter-insurgency", which could well involve surreptitious engagement by US operatives in Pakistan. If so, the results could prove catastrophic, leading to a spreading war in an unstable country of 180 million people.

What is disconcerting, however, is not only the relentless financing and spread of war, but also the lack of an alternative US strategy. Obama and his top advisers have spoken regularly about the need to address the underlying sources of conflict, including poverty and unemployment. A few billion dollars has been recommended to fund economic aid for Afghanistan and Pakistan. But this remains a small amount compared with military outlays, and an overarching framework to support economic development is missing.

Before investing hundreds of billions of dollars more in failing military operations, the Obama administration should re-think its policy and lay out a viable strategy to US citizens and the world. It´s high time for a strategy of peace through sustainable development — including investments in health, education, livelihoods, water and sanitation, and irrigation — in today´s hotspots, starting with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Such a strategy cannot simply emerge as a byproduct of US military campaigns. Rather, it will have to be developed proactively, with a sense of urgency and in close partnership with the affected countries and the communities within them. A shift in focus to economic development will save a vast number of lives and convert the unthinkably large economic costs of war into economic benefits through development. Obama must act before today´s crisis explodes into an even larger disaster.

Researchers say law and order is key to making peace by Uwe Hessler for DPA

German peace researchers say wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan won´t end unless people´s hearts and minds are won over for a new order. The Peace Report 2009 also calls for a stronger EU role in nuclear disarmament.

In their "Peace Report 2009", Germany´s five leading peace research institutes call for stronger efforts from the international community to create administrative foundations of statehood in crisis-ridden countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Congo.

The report, entitled "Winning People instead of Waging Wars", which was compiled by the INEF in Duisburg, the Heidelberg-based FEST Institute, the IFSH at Hamburg University, as well as the HSFK in Frankfurt and the BICC in Bonn, focuses primarily on strategies to end "asymmetric wars and conflicts".

Other chapters in the report are devoted to the Middle East conflict, as well as to the possibility of nuclear disarmament, following the recent announcement by US President Barack Obama that he plans to take steps to try to rid the world of atomic weapons.

Political vacuum breeds insurgency

The Western troops in, for example, Afghanistan and Pakistan are defending governments that are non-existent in large parts of these countries, says Jochen Hippler from the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF).

"Governments there are also seen as a plague because they are corrupt and repressive", he said

The "Peace Report 2009" cites Afghanistan and Pakistan as examples of states where the absence of governments that have the support of the people has created a political vacuum which has been easily filled by the Taliban insurgents.

"Military power and development assistance", the report says "are strategically unimportant in a civil war. They can only contribute to peace if they support an administrative set-up and legal order respected by the people".

The peace researchers are, therefore, calling for the international community to opt for a political rather than a military strategy to end the wars in failed states.

Combat piracy with UN coast guard

With regard to Somalia and the mounting threat posed by pirates off the Horn of Africa, the institutes argue that the problem has also been caused by illegal over-fishing and the dumping of toxic waste in the past, which reduced the opportunities for Somalis to earn a living.

The problem of pirates continues, in spite of the presence of international maritime forces, the institutes note.

"The international forces must also act as a coast guard as long as Somalia is unable to protect its waters", said Andreas Heinemann-Grüder from the Bonn Centre for Conversion (BICC).

"We also think it's necessary for the international community to speak with all groups in Somalia in efforts to establish law and order in regions where the central government doesn´t exist".

The researchers also call for more pressure to be exerted by the European Union on Israel and the Palestinians to resolve the Middle East conflict.

They say the 27-nation bloc should promote the formation of a Palestinian government of national unity and make aid dependent upon the renunciation of violence by the militant group Hamas as well as on its recognition of Israel´s right to exist.

"Israel´s ties to the EU", the report also says "should only be deepened if the country stops its settlement program in the West Bank".

Post-Bush era – hope for disarmament

US President Barack Obama has opened up "new opportunities for disarmament", the report says.

It calls on the European Union to forge a common policy on nuclear disarmament and overcome resistance on the part of France and Britain.

"The German government should actively push for the withdrawal of American nuclear warheads from Germany and work towards a revision of NATO´s first-strike nuclear option", the report says.

As for EU relations with Russia, they are "at their worst in 20 years", the researchers find.

However, in their assessment, "the political renewal in Washington gives Europe a second chance to incorporate Russia into a European security architecture".

UN to Punish Eritrea for Escalating Somali Crisis

by Michael Abraha

The question is not whether there will be UN sanctions, but how effective they will be to change the Eritrean government´s behavior.

For years, humanitarian and human rights advocates have been calling for punitive measures against the Asmara regime over persistent and widespread abuses affecting all sectors of society using unbridled terror, intimidation, torture and hunger as a means of imposing its will on a silenced population. Thousands of Eritreans have been sent to their torture chambers, many facing death, branded as traitors for standing up for liberty and democracy.

As if this has not been tragic enough deserving immediate action, Eritrea´s attempts to export tyranny and misery to Somalia should be halted swiftly and decisively. The Somalis do not need Islamist dictatorship as fathomed by Al-Qaeda-linked Sheik Hassan Aweys and the Al-Shabab Movement. Nor do they need Isayas Afewerki´s Stalinist type of secular totalitarianism.

There is nothing mysterious about these unholy alliances. More than anything else, the Al-Shababs the Afewerkis and the Aweys are interested in brandishing power and the perceived glory that goes with it. Any ideology that kills, maims and starves the common man and woman in order to achieve a political goal is small thinking and primitive at best and barbaric and anti-human at worst. The preservation of life is the only goal that matters.

Eritrea does not want a democratic Somalia at peace with Ethiopia. Afewerki would go to bed with the devil to achieve that end. There is Afewerki´s political pride and grandeur that was not enhanced by the war Eritrea fought against Ethiopia over a border dispute in 1998-2000.

Catastrophic as it was for both sides, it left a bitter after-taste for Afewerki who wants no talks with Ethiopia´s Premier Meles Zenawi to normalize relations and demarcate the border. Zenawi also has national and personal pride to uphold having sacrificed tens of thousands of his soldiers in the war.

In this equation, the US and the rest of the concerned political world have long withdrawn their sympathy for young Eritrea over the border demarcation issue as the government continues to violate international and regional rules, norms and procedures unprecedented in post independent Africa.

The Obama Administration and the UN may now feel obliged to take stern measures in the wake of reports of repeated transfer of weapons to Al-Shabab and other Islamist forces in violation of UN arms embargo on Somalia.

Sanctions would be the world body´s peaceable way of effecting change in Eritrean government attitude short of military action. Sanctions have in the past helped in taming Libya´s Muammar al-Qaddafi and in removing Apartheid leaders in South Africa. It is too early to speculate what measures the UN Security Council would deem appropriate, but travel restrictions on Eritrean government officials would probably be one measure under consideration.

Sanctions are most effective when coupled with dialogue and diplomacy. It would seem the Eritrean leader, Isayas Afewerki, would welcome any form of engagement in a manner similar to US diplomatic overtures toward nuclear-aspiring Iran.

With an army of 350,000-strong, Afewereki would want to be consulted by the US or the UN over Horn of Africa issues and be regarded as a power broker in the region. Such engagement would also give him the chance to express in person his long-simmering grievances over Ethiopia´s non-compliance with an international demarcation ruling favorable to his side.

All this is very unlikely. Whatever Afewerki´s dreams or frustrations, nothing justifies the steps he has taken to thwart UN and AU efforts to pacify Somalia, and prevent the spread of Al-Qaeda ideology in the Horn of Africa Region.

UN punitive measures with strong backing from the Obama Administration are imminent. In such eventuality, Eritrea´s expected "anti-imperialist and anti-neocolonialist" rhetoric will hardly be credible.

Four hooded gunmen kidnapped a Somali cleric seeking refuge in a Kenyan camp on Monday, the man's neighbour at the refugee camp said. Abdikadir Abdi, 60, was seized while sleeping outside his makeshift shelter at Ifo camp in north-eastern Kenya and was bundled into a vehicle that sped toward the Somalia border. "The incident has shocked the refugee community", Hodan Abdi, a neighbour of the kidnapped man, told Reuters. "It happened at about two o'clock in the morning. We fear for our lives". Abdi said the kidnapped man was an outspoken cleric who had criticized the activities of Somalia's al Shabaab insurgents in a series of sermons at a mosque in the camp. Ann Campel, an official of the UN's refugee agency at the camp, said details of the kidnap were still sketchy. Somali gunmen have crossed the remote border into Kenya and kidnapped two Italian nuns and five Kenyan government workers in separate incidents.

They have since been freed. Monday's attack is the first kidnap of a Somali national. In the aftermath of the abduction and during a military operation along the Kenyan-Somali border today a Kenyan military helicopter crashed near Hulugho (17 km from the border-village of Kolbio) with obvious engine failure. DoD Spokesman Bogita Ongeri downplayed the incident, saying it was too early to establish the cause of the crash. He, however, dismissed the militia theory as propaganda, whereby local rumours spoke of an attack by al-Shabaab. 3 injured persons from the crashed Hughes-MD500 chopper were airlifted to the Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi soon after the incident.

An air strike on a convoy in Sudan this January, which Israel is suspected of having carried out, killed 119 people taking part in a people smuggling operation, Sudan's defense minister has told parliament. Sudan's state news agency SUNA Tuesday quoted Abdul-Rahim Hussein as telling lawmakers that 56 smugglers, as well as 63 people fleeing Ethiopia and Somalia died in the attack near Sudan's border with Egypt. Unofficial casualty estimates released in March had put the number of dead at 39 people, riding in 17 trucks. In his report, Gen Hussein said there were up to 1,000 people in the convoy involved in "a smuggling process at the border with Egypt", Suna reported.

Israel refused to confirm or deny reports it was involved in the air strike, but shortly after the allegations surfaced in March, Premier Ehud Olmert said that "we hit terrorist infrastructures every place we can, near or far". While not confirming Israel's role, BBC correspondents said the remark was seen as a heavy hint that Sudan's suspicions were accurate. "Hussein said that the incident was still under investigation. According to reports, Israeli intelligence had discovered that weapons were being trucked through Sudan, heading north towards Egypt, where they were to cross the Sinai Desert and be smuggled into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The air strike came as Israel was engaged in a ferocious Gaza offensive. Sudan forms part of a route along which weapons were smuggled into Gaza via a vast network of tunnels under the strip's border with Egypt. The route begins in Iran, which supports the radical Islamist Hamas in Gaza. It is said to pass through Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt - going from the Persian Gulf around the Arabian Peninsula to the city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea, some 400 kilometers south of Egypt", DPA reports.

France has opened its first military base in the Persian Gulf, strategically placed in Abu Dhabi, between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran, DPA reports. France and the United Arab Emirates each raised flags over their naval base on Tuesday as forces from both nations stood at attention and French President Nicolas Sarkozy looked on. Around 500 French soldiers will be stationed there, part of an effort by Paris to boost its profile in the oil- and gas-rich region. It is also to serve as a stopover point en route to Afghanistan, where 2,800 French soldiers are currently fighting against Taliban militants. The base is France's first major foreign military installation since the 1960s and its first outside Africa. It is also expected to contribute to anti-piracy patrols off Somalia and guard vital Persian Gulf shipping lanes. The ceremony was part of a two-day trip for Sarkozy, who is also to visit a future site of a branch of the Louvre Museum, and discuss business deals including French sponsored nuclear power stations in the region.

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Note

Picture: How nice it is to be among important and influential people! To have some money on your account! To portray the "father" of your nation! These are the customary thoughts that prevail in the shameless Sheikh Sharif´s mind. What a misery! Here with the Kenyan Freemason and gangster Wetangula – the criminal who impersonates the Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs.

From: http://www.daylife.com/topic/Moses_Wetangula/photos