Ecoterra Press Release 232 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 44
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 15, 2010
ECOTERRA Intl.
SMCM
Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE
2009-08-22 SAT 12h36:14 UTC
Issue No. 232
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 elsewhere, 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 or 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[at]ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme EMERGENCY HELPLINE : SMS to +254-738-497979 or sms/call +254-733-633-733
"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !"
Cpt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y Tanit - killed by French commandos - 10. April 2009 / Ras Hafun
NON A LA GUERRE - YES FOR PEACE
(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT - shot down on day one of the French assault)
We have the obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and believe that anybody who is degrading other people and peoples has to be fought against with whatever appropriate tools people have available.
Clearing-House: Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !
(If you find this compilation too large or if you can't grasp the multitude and magnitude of important, inter-related and complex issues influencing the Horn of Africa - you better do not deal with Somalia or other man-made "conflict zones". We try to make it as easy and condensed as possibly.)
Still no proper negotiations are forthcoming for MV IRENE E.M.as well as MV ARIANA, where it must be clearly stated that administering some antibiotic pills is not sufficient to address the medical case on board, which requires evacuation. Both vessels are linked to neglecting Greek companies and no official help is coming forward.
News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress
Tanzanian Authorities complain about Philippines
Many months after the crew of an unclarified Taiwanes fishing vessel was captured by maritime officials from Kenya, Tanzania and Sout-Africa in a joint coastal patrol operation for illegal fishing, the Pinoy seafarers of the crew still languish in jail unattended.
Though the Seafarers' Assistance Programme visited the whole crew in the Tanzanian jail, so far Manila has not even been able to instruct the embassy of the Republic of the Phillipines in Kenya to attend to the case and travel to Tanzania.
The Philippines do not have a diplomatic mission in Tanzania and Tanzanian authorities already complained earlier that the Philippines could not even send an official translator to the court sessions.
The country earns billions from Pinoy overseas workers, but extends very little help to them when they are in distress, be it regularly sexually misused maids in the Middle East, hostages on vessels in Somalia, crews jailed for being part of fish-poaching ventures or all the cheap labour rented out wordwide by unscrupulous manpower-brokers, who supply even Philippiono men and women to the U.S. Navy in camp Le Monier in Djibouti.
"They talk a lot and pretend to pray, but actually only prey and do little to nothing to help us when we have problems!" a seafarer - recently freed from a sea-jacked vessel - disqualified the Philippine officials.
And concerning the presently longest pending case of a captured vessel in Somalia - the WIN FAR 161 with 17 Filipinos among the 30 crew, the Philippine government obviously even doesn't know or wants to cover the manning agent.
With the hyprocracy of the navies and the merchant mariners:
UN shock at migrant boat deaths
The UN Refugee Agency has expressed shock at reports that other vessels passed by and did not help as a boat sank carrying illegal immigrants.
About 75 illegal immigrants from Africa died while travelling on a crowded rubber dinghy between Libya and Italy.
It is thought many succumbed to hunger or thirst. Five Eritreans survived the journey and said no-one offered help.
The UN said the failure of other ships to stop and help represented a betrayal of maritime tradition.
Earlier this year, Italy and Libya began joint naval patrols in the Mediterranean to try to prevent the passage of illegal migrants.
Italian coastguards picked up the five survivors from the 12ft vessel, found drifting in Italian waters between Malta and the tiny island of Lampedusa.
The five - a woman, a child and three men - told rescuers that they had set out from the Libyan coast three weeks ago but had run out of food, water and fuel.
They said many people had died after drinking sea water and their bodies had been thrown overboard.
Shocking tragedy'
A spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency - the UNHCR - said the survivors had told them that a fishing boat which came across their stranded vessel offered them some bread and water, but then left them.
Other vessels simply passed by, the survivors reported.
"Apart from the shocking tragedy this represents it gives the UNHCR cause for concern that these people report being passed by many vessels without any assistance being offered.
"This is contrary to the long-standing maritime tradition of rescue at sea which has been under threat and is increasingly being eroded.
"UNHCR would be very concerned if the hardening of government policies towards boat people has the effect of discouraging ship masters from continuing to honour their international maritime obligations."
Many African migrants from across the continent gather in Libya to make the crossing to Europe, with hundreds of arriving every month on the island of Lampedusa.
>From there they are taken by officials to detention centres on the Italian mainland, for identification and eventual expulsion.
Italy has recently introduced new legislation making it a crime to enter the country illegally, punishable by imprisonment and fines.
However, this doesn't appear to have created any great deterrent.
Hundreds of thousands still wait on the shores of north Africa for the chance to cross over to Europe, despite the serious risk to their lives.
With the latest captures and releases now still at least 6 foreign vessels with a total of not less than 123 crew members are accounted for (of which 42 are confirmed to be Filipinos) and are held in Somali waters. They 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. MV JAIKUR 1 remains in Mogadishu harbor, but is an insurance and not a piracy case - all foreign crew was evacuated. MV INDIAN EXPLORER and S/Y SERENITY are allegedly dead ships. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had 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 156 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 47 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least six wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces. More than 116 Somalis are held in foreign prisons under charges of piracy. 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: GoA: YELLOW IO: BLUE (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly still/again two groups from Puntland alone are out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean, where also groups from Harardheere have set out again, despite the heavy seas and the rough weather.
Directly piracy or naval upsurge related reports
EU, Kenya Somali-Pirate Treaty ´Violates Rights´, Lawyers Say
By Sarah McGregor
A treaty allowing the European Union to transfer suspected Somali pirates to Kenya for trial is violating human rights, a French legal aid network said.
Paris-based Lawyers of the World has written to the United Nations, the EU´s anti-piracy force and Kenya´s Foreign Ministry to demand they form a joint committee to monitor performance of the five-month-old agreement and ensure piracy suspects are cared for in custody and get a credible trial.
"Without such implementation, the trials will be without legitimacy and a gross violation of the rights of the accused," according to a copy of the letter dated Aug. 11 and e-mailed to Bloomberg News today.
Kenya, which borders Somalia, became a venue for piracy trials after signing prisoner transfer accords this year with the U.S., the U.K. and the EU in exchange for legal and logistical support. Denmark said on Aug. 18 it had also signed a piracy extradition agreement with Kenya.
Somalia is unable to host the trials because its legal system is in tatters following 18 years of civil war.
At sea, suspects have been captured with no ability to access legal advice and in the absence of an interpreter so they are unable to communicate in their Somali language or understand the evidence, Lawyers of the World said.
Onshore, the detainees are denied adequate medical treatment and lack basic amenities such as soap. In most cases, they have not been able to contact their families.
There are also questions over whether Kenya has jurisdiction to try hijackings on the high seas, it added.
On a mission to Kenya earlier this month, Lawyers of the World received permission to represent about 43 detained Somali men captured by European navies off eastern Africa and handed over to Kenya for prosecution.
Kenyan law carries a maximum life sentence for those convicted of piracy.
Somali pirates urged to release hostages in honor of Ramadan
By Alinoor Moulid Bosh – AfricaNews
A non-governmental organization that monitors piracy activities along the Somali waters is appealing to Somali pirates to release all the foreign crews and vessels before the start of Holy Ramadan.
In a statement, ECOTERRA Intl. said the activities are against the teaching of Quran, urging Somali pirates, who are Muslims to cease from the activities.
"Somali Piracy is Haram, strictly forbidden by the Holy Qur´an and must be punished under Shari´a law. Attacks on innocent merchant ships outside the 200nm zone of the Somali waters can never ever even be justified as self-defence," stated Dr. Abdulkadir S. Elmi, the spokesman of the Somali office of the international human rights and nature protection advocacy ECOTERRA.
He said the pirates are enemies of Somalis and humanity, adding that piracy is bad example for youngsters and would only play future of Somalia and all Somali people directly into the hands of Somalia´s enemies.
"Pirates of innocent merchant vessels are an enemy to mankind and Somali pirates first and foremost are the enemy of Somalia and all Somalis," he noted, terming piracy as a "loose-loose game!".
The sea gangs made away with millions of dollars for ransom payment after seizing more than a dozen ships this year alone. Unnumbered ships and some hundred crewmembers are still held hostage by ransom-hunting Somali pirates.
The piracy scourge along the Gulf of Aden, one of the world´s busiest shipping routes has prompted international community to deployed dozens of multinational warships, which patrol and deter pirates from hijacking merchant ships.
Somalia braces for surge in piracy during Ramadan
By Jean-Marc Mojon (AFP)
The number of hijacked vessels off the coast of Somalia is at a one-year low but both pirates and anti-piracy leaders are bracing for an inter-monsoon season that could herald a new flurry of attacks.
Following the release of two Egyptian fishing boats, a German container ship and an Italian tugboat this month, the number of ships in pirate hands stands at no more than six, dipping to levels unseen since August 2008.
The ransoms raked in by pirates last year totalled around 40 million dollars, or barely a third of Christiano Ronaldo's transfer fee to Real Madrid, but high-profile attacks have made piracy the focus of much attention.
The calm August seas last year led to a series of hijackings -- including that of a behemoth Saudi oil tanker -- that spread fears of major disruptions to world shipping and spurred foreign naval powers into sneding warships.
"The weather conditions have been the main reason" for the recent dip in attacks, Hans Tino Hansen, managing director of Denmark-based Risk Intelligence, told AFP.
"Another reason but of less importance is the success of the naval forces in repelling the few attacks that have been conducted in the Gulf of Aden," he added.
The pirates themselves had the bit between their teeth, with sea conditions already more propicious to boarding their prey from small skiffs in the Gulf of Aden and storms starting to recede in the Indian Ocean.
"We are definitely set on capturing more ships and gaining more cash. I only made 9,000 dollars last year and I was banking on more," Ahmed Mohamed Abdi, a pirate from the central town of Harardhere, told AFP.
"Foreign countries are still fishing illegally and no-one is blaming them, but when we try to recover something for the losses in marine wealth, we are accused of being bad boys," he lamented.
Ismail Haji Noor, head of anti-piracy for Somalia's transitional federal government, argued that some measures had succeeded in countering the thriving piracy business and that popular support for the pirates was dwindling.
"People in coastal areas now have noticed that the pirates are not heroes and have brought nothing but inflation, prostitutes and alcohol," he told AFP.
Anti-piracy efforts by Somali authorities have included the involvement of local elders and religious leaders to turn unemployed Somalis away from one of the only profitable sectors in the war-ravaged country.
Sheikh Abdulkader Farah Nur Gaamey, an influential one-armed cleric based in the Puntland city of Garowe, was instrumental in getting hundreds of pirates to officially renounce piracy but admitted the risk some would revert to sea banditry in August was real.
"I cannot say that our efforts have been fully successful but retired pirates are reaching out to the youth and general awareness has grown," he told AFP in a recent interview.
Noor argued that the latest developments on the ground in Somalia could also harm the unity that had been one of the main strengths of the five or six major pirate groups dotting Africa's longest coastline.
"There are acute clanic rivalries among the different pirate groups now and I think they are less likely to work together as well as they did before."
The pirates themselves are aware of the increased risks involved in their activity, with more than 100 pirates captured by foreign navies over the past year and facing trial abroad. Dozens were also killed.
While foreign navies have refined their tactics against the marauding sea-jackers, so too have the pirates, and Puntland's top anti-piracy official, deputy fisheries minister Abdulwahed Abdi Hirsi, feared the coming days could witness a dramatic surge in attacks.
"Around the middle of Ramadan (expected to start within days), I think the pirates will reach to the sea because they had not been able to go out lately. I am afraid we will see a lot of attacks," he told AFP.
Warlords at sea
Piracy continues to be a threat to global trade, argues Attia Essawi
Despite the recent adventure of the 34 Egyptian sailors who managed to escape from Somali pirates' captivity, piracy will remain a threat to global trade, the lives of multinational crew, and oil tankers. Unless a solution is found to this problem these threats will remain and intensify. Somalia, the country that controls these vital sea lanes, has been in political turmoil and chaos since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991. All efforts to create a centralised ruling system to control the Somali domestic situation and its 3,700km long coast have failed. Thus any attempts to prevent pirates from creating hideouts on the coast have proved unsuccessful. Pirates are said to have gained at least $100 million from ransom payments. They currently have 10 ships in their possession, with their cabin crews, awaiting ransom payment.
The Somali pirates are posing a serious threat to global trade. More than 25 per cent of global oil exports passes through Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Also according to the International Navigation Authority (INA), 10 per cent of international trade moves through that region. The authority also warned that this naval route has become one of the most dangerous. Between December 2007 and September 2008, 63 of the 199 piracy incidents occurred in the Indian Ocean. Foreign warships helped reduce the number of incidents off the Somali coast, but in April 2009 a new wave of hijacking ships began. In less than two weeks, pirates managed to capture 11 vessels -- two of them were American.
In the light of these circumstances, in which 22,000 vessels are threatened yearly, the UN Security Council announced that this naval route has become the most dangerous in the world. It also authorised countries to send warships into Somali waters, combat Somali pirates, and protect commercial vessels. The year 2008 witnessed one of the most prominent of vessel captures, the Saudi oil tanker carrying two million oil barrels, nearly a quarter of Saudi daily output, was taken by Somali pirates. The vessel was captured 860km off the Kenyan coast and was not released until a $3 million were paid as ransom. Another prominent incident was the capture of a Ukrainian ship cargo carrying military hardware, including grenade launchers and 33 Russian-made tanks, which was on its way to Mombasa, Kenya as part of an arms deal between Ukraine and Kenya. The cargo ship was released upon the payment of a hefty ransom.
Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that these episodes will end with the further militarisation of Somali waters. The main impetus for these activities has not been addressed, which is the Somali domestic crisis. The political chaos, high unemployment rates and increased poverty all push Somali youth into taking up this illegal job. These youth have little alternative, as the country lacks any police force or naval vessels. Interestingly, most of these pirates are experienced former naval soldiers from the dissembled Somali army of the Barre regime.
To combat piracy, the Obama administration announced a comprehensive plan focussed on increasing job opportunities, enhancing political stability in Somalia, alongside pursuing pirates by bringing them to justice and freezing their bank accounts. He also outlined the importance of enhancing vessel defences, making their capture more difficult.
Somali pirates have increased in strength in the last few months. They have increased in number too. They also now possess advanced weaponry, and have the capabilities to detect vessels from their take off from the Arab Gulf. The next few months could witness a new rise in attacks. Only last week Somali pirates attempted to capture a Turkish commercial vessel, only to be stopped by a German warship.
On the Arab front, a number of Red Sea and Gulf countries met to "coordinate thinking and ideas". They agreed to set up a joint manoeuvres, piracy monitoring system and warning system. These activities would focus on the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean to secure trade routes and ensure safety of passing commercial vessels. Participating countries include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Jordan, Sudan, Yemen and Djibouti. Ending piracy attacks will not come by military means only. What is needed is systematic support for the re-establishment of Somali police, armed forces, navy, and intelligence agency. This can be achieved through international funding and training. It is also important to empower tribal chiefs to influence armed groups to stop their war against government forces. Furthermore, serious efforts should be made to resolve the Eritrean-Ethiopian conflict.
The piracy problem and Somali political turmoil has repercussions on neighbouring Arab and African countries and major powers alike. The turmoil has risks globally. For the United States, the risk is having Somalia as the new haven for Al-Qaeda and a base for attacks on Western targets. There are also fears of the establishment of an extremist Islamic state in Mogadishu that could be a threat to neighbouring countries. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the numbers of Al-Qaeda fighters alongside opposition armed groups is on the increase and is estimated to be around 250-300 fighters. It also stated that recent bombings that led to the killing of the Somali interior minister, ambassador to Ethiopia, Mogadishu's chief of police, a member of Somali parliament, and several other military leaders, all had clear Al-Qaeda imprints on them. It also seems that some extremist groups such as the Somali Youth (Al-Shabab) Movement, have a global dimension that transcends Somali land. This movement for instance, recently announced that they will continue to fight the government until the overthrow of Somali government, the establishment of an Islamic state in the world and the liberations of Jerusalem in Palestine. These are all indication of a serious global threat coming from Somali land.
It is for that reason that the United States has acted decisively to supply the Sheikh Sharif government with 40 tonnes of weaponry and promised a similar size. It also decided to train dozens of officers and soldiers from the government forces in its Djibouti military bases. It also made further funds available to support and strengthen Somali government forces. The United States also encouraged neighbouring countries to support and assist Sharif's government in face of Al Shabab's continued attack on government forces. On the other hand, France also followed US footsteps in training members of Somali government forces in its military in Djibouti. Alongside training, Ethiopia supplied further weaponry to Sharif's security agencies. The support from both neighbouring and Western countries has had its impact on the ground. This support was shown in the forces' ability to face the insurgents' attack on the presidential palace in January 2009. The insurgents had to withdraw despite being only 1km away from the palace. Furthermore, Burundi's decision to send a further 850 soldiers to compliment the already 4,800 troops there will hopefully entice other African countries to follow suit.
Despite these efforts, it is only predictable that the guerrilla warfare of hit and run against government forces will continue without any side coming out victorious. On the other hand, the armed guerrillas receive continued support from Eritrea and trained personnel by Al-Qaeda. Somali violence caused the death of 500,000 people. What is required is a political solution that is acceptable to all parties. This will not occur without a suitable international climate that brings Somalis together on the negotiation table using a strategy of compensation and retribution to ensure agreement. The United States involvement is also conditional to any conflict resolution. It has to ensure that the conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia is resolved with annexing the disputed upon Badme town to Eritrea.
Russian warships escort another convoy in the Gulf of Aden
By Vitaliy Ankov - RIA Novosti
A Russian Pacific Fleet task force is escorting its third convoy of commercial ships in the Gulf of Aden since its arrival in the area in late July, a fleet spokesman said on Friday.
The task force - comprising the Admiral Tributs destroyer with two helicopters, a salvage tug, a tanker, and a naval infantry unit - escorts commercial ships, conducts aerial reconnaissance, and searches suspected pirate vessels.
"A third convoy of commercial ships was formed on Thursday and is moving along the Gulf of Aden under the escort of the Russian warships," the spokesman said.
The Russian Navy joined international anti-piracy efforts off Somali coast in October 2008.
Three Russian warships have so far participated in the mission - the Baltic Fleet's Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate, and the Pacific Fleet's Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Panteleyev destroyers.
"The warships from the Pacific Fleet have successfully escorted over 100 Russian and foreign commercial ships since January 2009. They have thwarted several attacks by pirates," the official said.
Around 35 warships from the navies of 16 countries are currently deployed off Somalia's coast to counter frequent pirate attacks on key trade routes.
Pirate attacks on commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia have amounted to 130 since the beginning of the year, with 44 ships captured and at least 270 people held as hostages.
Chinese naval flotilla for escort mission in waters off Somalia, Gulf of Aden, returns home
China's naval convoy on duty off the Somalia coast and in the Gulf of Aden has successfully accomplished its missions and returned to the naval port in Zhanjiang city in Guangdong Province at 9 a.m. Friday, said a PLA Navy source.
The convoy amassed 85,000 sea miles in 142 days' voyaging. During that time it escorted 308 merchant ships, conducted regional cover for 85 more and went to the assistance of four being attacked, the source said.
The convoy, the second from China to patrol the pirate-infested area, was sent to the region on April 2 this year. It was made up of guided missile destroyer "Shenzhen", missile frigate "Huangshan" and a supply ship.
Ecosystems, marine environment, IUU fishing and dumping, ecology
The UN Secretary General´s (SG) report on the implementation of the high seas bottom fishing provisions of the 2006 UN General Assembly is now on the UN website at:
http://www.un. org/Depts/ los/general_ assembly/ documents/ fisheriesreport6 4sessionadvanceunedited.pdf
The title of the report is: "Actions taken by States and regional fisheries management organizations and arrangements to give effect to paragraphs 83 to 90 of General Assembly resolution 61/105 of 8 December 2006 on Sustainable fisheries, including through the 1995 Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, and related instruments Report of the Secretary-General"
The UN SG report merely reports the information sent by governments and RFMOs. It does not provide a critical review of the shortcomings or failures in the implementation of the UN General Assembly resolution. In fact, it creates a false impression that States and RFMOs have implemented the resolution well. Amongst other things, there are serious omissions in the SG report. Nonetheless, a concluding paragraph does state that much more needs to be done. We will prepare a critique of the report over the next week but, in the meantime we´ve issued a press release/web piece (attached) as follows:
For Immediate Release
21 August 2009
Response to: UN Secretary General Review of UN resolution 61/105
Responding to the UN Secretary General Review of UN resolution 61/105 published today, Matthew Gianni of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition said "This report shows that fishing States and international organisations must urgently do much more to protect deep-sea ecosystems, or else stop fishing. We will be urging the United Nations to close the loopholes and call for sanctions to halt deep-sea fishing which doesn't comply with the UN resolution all countries agreed to implement in 2006. The destruction of deep-sea biodiversity on the high seas must be brought to an end."
The report, requested by the UN General Assembly, outlines the measures taken by high seas fishing nations to implement a 2006 UN General Assembly resolution designed to protect deep-ocean biodiversity from the harmful impact of deep-sea bottom trawling and other methods of bottom fishing. The report concludes that despite progress, "implementation of the resolution has been uneven and further efforts are needed in this regard, including through the adoption and implementation of conservation and management measures to address the impacts of bottom fishing activities on vulnerable marine ecosystems."
The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (DSCC) has been campaigning for over 5 years to put a stop to damage done by high seas bottom trawling to protect deep sea habitats. In 2006, in response to the concerns raised by the DSCC, scientists and a number of governments, the United Nations General Assembly (UN GA) adopted a resolution committing all countries whose vessels engage in deep-water fisheries on the high seas to establish regulations to effectively protect seamounts, cold-water corals and other vulnerable deep-sea ecosystems from the harmful impacts of deep-sea bottom fishing. UN GA resolution 61/105, adopted in December 2006, called on flag states and Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) to take action immediately to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) from the destructive impact of bottom fisheries on the high seas through conducting impact assessments, closing areas of the high seas to bottom fishing where VMEs are known or likely to occur unless fisheries in these areas can be managed to prevent significant adverse impacts, and ensuring the long-term sustainability of deep-sea fish stocks. The Resolution called on States and RFMOs to implement these measures by 31 December 2008 or else prohibit their vessels from engaging in bottom fishing on the high seas.
Unfortunately more than two years later, countries have done far too little to properly implement the UN General Assembly Resolution. The DSCC, in May 2009, submitted a report to the UN Secretary General outlining the shortcomings in the regulation of high seas bottom fisheries. Most high seas bottom fisheries have not been subject to impact assessments; where assessments have been conducted, none have been conclusive as to whether significant adverse impacts would or would not occur. Although some area closures have been adopted by RFMOs, most high seas areas at fishable depths where VMES are known or are likely to occur remain open to bottom fisheries with few or no constraints. The long-term sustainability of few, if any, deep-sea fish stocks has been ensured - in most high seas bottom fisheries, basic information on the catch and biological characteristics of target and non-target deep-sea fish stocks is insufficient to even determine long-term sustainable levels of fishing; in those fisheries where such information exists, most of the fish stocks are recognized to be overexploited or depleted and, in some cases, threatened with extinction (i.e. several species of deep-sea sharks in the Northeast Atlantic).
For further Information please contact:
Deep Sea Conservation Coaliton: Matthew Gianni Email: matthewgianni@ netscape. net Tel: +31 6 46 16 88 99
ECOTERRA Intl.: ECOP-node Email: marine@ecop.info Tel: +254-733-633-733
Greenpeace International: Farah Obaidullah Oceans Campaigner t +31 20 7182084 (direct) m +31 6 46177538
UN report shows much more needed to protect the deep seas - Greenpeace
Greenpeace is calling on the United Nations to put an immediate end to destructive high seas bottom fishing at this year´s general assembly meeting, following today´s release of the UN Secretary General´s own review (1) of the implementation of a resolution designed to protect deep sea life.
The report concluded that States are still falling short of their commitments. "It is outrageous that nearly three years after the UN agreed to put measures in place to protect our deep seas from destructive fishing practices, countries have still done very little - if anything - to actually stop unregulated bottom fishing on the high seas," said Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace International oceans campaigner.
The 2006 UNGA resolution (2) called on member states to implement specific measures to protect deep sea life in international waters by 31^ December 2008 or to stop destructive bottom fishing altogether. Requirements included conducting environmental impact assessments, identifying vulnerable deep sea habitats, and ensuring that no bottom fishing takes place where these are known to exist or are likely to occur.
In June 2009, the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition published its own review, which concluded that across all oceans, member States and regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) have fallen far short of living up to the commitments agreed to in 2006 (3). Even in the few places where impact assessments have been conducted, they have only been partially completed and have been inconclusive at best. Many areas where vulnerable marine ecosystems are known or likely to occur remain open to bottom fishing with few or no constraints. Finally, where measures have been taken, these are often weak and provide little, if any, protection to deep sea life.
For years the scientific community, as well as environmental organisations around the world, has warned governments about the long-term devastating impacts of destructive high seas bottom fishing. Bottom trawling lays waste to vast expanses of deep sea life, including fragile deep sea ecosystems and corals that can live for thousands of years (4).
"If bottom fishing continues at the current rate of destruction, in just a few decades our planet´s deepest and most mysterious habitats will disappear forever. If fishing States can't or won't comply they simply must stop fishing" concluded Obaidullah. Greenpeace is calling on the United Nations General Assembly due to meet in November to call for an immediate end to destructive bottom fishing by fleets whose flag States have failed to fully implement the very clear criteria adopted by the UNGA in 2006.
(1) United Nations Secretary General´s review of implementation of the resolution 61/105 of 8 December 2006 on Sustainable fisheries, released on 21 August 2009: http://www.un.org/Depts/los/general_assembly/documents/fisheriesreport64sessionadvanceunedited.pdf
(2) United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 61/105: http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/500/73/PDF/N0650073.pdf?OpenElement
(3) The Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (comprising about 60 environmental NGOs, including Greenpeace} review of the implementation of the provisions of UN GA resolution 61/105 related to the management of high seas bottom fisheries: http://www.savethehighseas.org/publicdocs/DSCC_report_12June09_web.pdf
(4) Bottom trawling is laying waste to the precious ecosystems of the deep sea. Sigourney Weaver calls on delegates of the UN to take immediate action to stop this destruction in the High Seas. The Bottom Line, presented by Sigourney Weaver, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0616msQC_M
Anti-piracy measures
Somali president calls for Ramadan ceasefire
By Abdiaziz Hassan and Sahra Abdi(Reuters)
President Sharif says move meant to allow people to pray
Shabaab attacks government-held checkpoint in Mogadishu
Somalia's government has called on warring parties in the conflict-torn horn of Africa nation to stop fighting during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a spokesman for the presidency said on Saturday.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a former Islamist rebel, said the ceasefire call was motivated by the need for peace during the religiously significant month.
"The president made this call since it is necessary to not stop people going to Islamic centres, worship Allah any time without fear, and we hope the opposition will accept it without condition," Abdulkadir Osman told Reuters by telephone.
Opposition groups said they would discuss the ceasefire call.
The President's U.N. -backed government has been facing a stubborn insurgency from the al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam rebels, dashing hopes of an end to 18 years of instability.
Western intelligence says the fighting and chaos is exploited by al Qaeda linked groups, exposing the entire region.
On Saturday clashes continued, as insurgents attacked a government-controlled Mogadishu checkpoint in the early hours.
"Al Shabaab men have attacked our positions in Ex-Control Afgoye (checkpoint). We repulsed the attackers and killed more than 10 men," Abdifatah Shaweye, deputy mayor of Banadir, told Reuters by telephone
Al Shabaab's information office denied the claim and said they took control of the base and killed nearly 10 soldiers from the government side.
Al Shabaab also said they had agreed to work together with Hizbul Islam fighters in the South Western region of Gedo.
"We had agreed to join all our forces and take orders from one command. The number of Hizbul Islam fighters (who) joined us are in the hundreds," Commander Bare Adan Khooje told Reuters.
About 100 people died last week in different parts of the country as pro-government militias and insurgents engaged in various battles.
US admiral: Pirates facing tougher merchant ships
By Brian Murphy (AP)
Merchant vessels have been increasingly able to thwart attacks from Somali pirates by boosting their own security and following a special sea corridor watched by international warships, the new U.S. commander of an anti-piracy task force said Friday.
Despite a sharp increase in reported pirate assaults this year, the stronger countermeasures by merchant crews — including special armed units — has cut into the ability of pirates to storm the ships, said Rear Adm. Scott Sanders, who took charge of the multinational flotilla last week.
Sanders said 80 percent of foiled pirate attacks are now accomplished by merchant crews without help from military vessels. Dozens of warships patrol the busy shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden — including a special sea route designed to keep ships in closer proximity and less vulnerable to being waylaid.
"This just shows what the merchant community can do," Sanders told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the USS Anzio, part of the task force that began patrols in January.
He said merchant captains were being urged to take simple precautions such as adding barbed wire to decks and rolling up ladders, but naval commanders in the region "do not discourage" use of weapons to fight back against the well-armed pirates.
The owner of an Egyptian fishing vessel held by pirates described this week how he used hired Somali gunmen to free the ship and crew after persuading the pirates to allow him on board with a portion of the demanded $800,000 ransom. Eight of the pirates were taken captive and could face trial in Egypt.
In April, the crew of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama battled pirates on the deck until the captain, Richard Phillips, offered himself as hostage. Phillips was freed after five days held hostage in a lifeboat when U.S. Navy SEAL snipers killed three of his captors.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment in June that would require armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, including off the Horn of Africa. The proposal now goes to the Senate.
A separate bill would grant immunity from prosecution in American courts for use of force to defend a U.S.-flagged vessel "against an act of piracy."
More than 135 pirate attacks have been reported so far this year off the coast of lawless Somalia — more than the total for all last year — but just 28 ships have been commandeered, Sanders said. Last year, 44 ships fell into pirate hands.
"This has to do with the action of the maritime community themselves and not to do with law enforcement or the military," said Sanders, who took command from Rear Adm. Caner Bener of the Turkish navy.
The anti-pirate task force is part of an international naval deployment to battle piracy off the Horn of Africa, including vessels from NATO, China and India.
40K Pinoy seafarers to benefit from Japan's anti-piracy law
At least 40,000 Filipino seafarers stand to benefit from a new Japanese anti-piracy law protecting ships and its crew off Somalia, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Saturday.
The DOLE said this new law dovetails with the wider efforts of the United Nations (UN) to ensure safe passage in maritime trading areas.
"(The Japanese anti-piracy law), while aimed at protecting Japan-flagged vessels, would reinforce the safety and well-being of the more than 40,000 overseas Filipino seafarers currently manning the majority of Japan´s global merchant marine fleet," the DOLE said.
Before the law was passed, DOLE Secretary Marianito Roque visited Tokyo earlier this year to represent the Philippines at the Philippine-Japan Seafarer Policy Forum.
He pushed for the preservation of the jobs of the numerous overseas Filipino seafarers employed in Japanese vessels.
The Philippines supplies a third of the world's seafarers and has been tagged as one of the most vulnerable nationalities to pirate attacks.
Accompanying him in the forum were partners from the Associated Marine Officers´ and Seamen´s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP), and the Philippine-Japan Consultative Council.
The new law will allow Japan to "discharge its responsibility as a member of the international community," by actively contributing to the global efforts against piracy.
Japan reaffirmed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which provides that all states shall cooperate to the fullest possible extent in the repression of piracy on the high seas or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State.
Forged in 1982, the Law of the Sea defined piracy as illegal acts committed on the high seas for private ends, adding all countries have a right to seize and prosecute those committing such acts.
Japan had contributed proactively to the anti-piracy efforts in tandem with the protecting naval vessels of the United States (US), European countries, China, and other states patrolling the waters off Somalia.
Its measures included the dispatch of two destroyers from the Japan Coast Guard and the Maritime Self Defense Forces for the conduct of maritime police operations in the Gulf of Aden.
Specifically, the vessels had already escorted some 87 Japan-flagged vessels in 28 operations since early 2009.
India To Install Radars in Maldives
By Vivek Raghuvanshi
India will help the Republic of Maldives build a maritime surveillance system, among other defense-cooperative measures agreed to during the Aug. 20-22 visit of India Defence Minister A.K. Antony to the Indian Ocean island nation.
The system's radars will be linked to the Indian Navy and Coastal Guard headquarters, a senior Indian Navy official said.
India is also likely to give Maldives two Coast Guard helicopters in coming months, the Navy official said.
Indian Defence Ministry sources said Maldives is emerging as an important logistics and intelligence base for India.
Antony and his delegation met with Maldives President Mohammed Nasheed and Defence Minister Ameen Faisal, who told reporters Aug. 21 that the security concerns of both countries are intertwined.
Analysts said the move was part of India's efforts to counter growing Chinese influence in the region.
"If China is building a port in Hambantota, India outflanks the same by a strong presence in Male and so on. What could even be termed as a great game in the Indian Ocean will be seen in the years ahead," said defense analyst Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Army brigadier.
But Zach Mathews, a retired Indian Navy commodore, said India is more worried about countering Pakistan's influence on the island chain, which is 400 nautical miles from the Indian coast.
"Maldives is a Muslim country, and having an independent nation close to the Indian subcontinent and under control of forces inimical to India would be a disaster," Mathews said.
In 1988, India sent forces to Maldives at the request of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom during a coup attempt. When the Indian troops arrived in Maldives by air, the terrorists and rebels escaped from Male but were overpowered by Indian Navy warships.
Maldives has an India-First policy, says Vijay Sakhuja, a director at the Indian Council of World Affairs here.
"Maldives has emphatically denied that there are Chinese naval facilities on any of its island territories and assured [us] that it has no plans [to allow any] in the future. Instead, it seeks an exclusive security arrangement with India and does not wish to approach regional and extraregional powers for such agreements," said Sakhuja.
Analysts said Maldives needs help securing its littorals from piracy, terrorism, contraband trade, drug smuggling and human smuggling by local and foreign actors.
"There is a need not just for Indian interests, but also [for] overall global interests, given the large quantum of trade passing through this region, which is likely to grow exponentially once the present financial crisis recedes. Unless these sea lanes are secured, there would be many more Somalia-like situations happening in the region," said Bhonsle. "I would not view it as an Indian security net but a global trade security net for which other South Asian countries of Sri Lanka and Maldives and those on the East African coast would remain critical. This global trade safety net through the Indian Ocean will be led by India, given the strategic location and large naval presence."
The Indian delegation also included Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar, DG Armed Forces Medical Services Lt. Gen. N.K. Parmar, DG Coast Guard Vice Adm. Anil Chopra and Deputy Chief of Navy Staff Vice Adm. D.K. Joshi, according to an Indian Defence Ministry press release.
President Michel Hails Strengthening of Surveillance Cooperation with the United States
The President of the Republic has hailed the discussions with General William E. Ward, Commander of U.S Africa Command as "extremely warm and fruitful."
President James Michel has welcomed the announcement by the United States of their intention to operate surveillance assets, to include P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in Seychelles.
The announcement follows in depth high level discussions between the two countries on means of strengthening the security situation in the region and builds on provisions of the Status of Forces Agreement recently ratified by the Seychelles National Assembly.
Following the incidents of piracy around the Seychelles EEZ earlier this year which also resulted in the capture of several Seychellois nationals, President Michel made a call for international support from all partners to counter the scourge of piracy.
The strengthening of US surveillance in collaboration with the Seychelles government will be a key component in the fight against piracy in the region.
"This new venture is both a concrete step in the fight against piracy and a symbol of the trust and understanding which exists between the governments of the Republic of Seychelles and the United States of America. We look forward to continually strengthening this partnership based on our mutual desire for peace and stability in the region," the President stated following this morning´s meeting.
The President met with Mrs. Virginia Blaser, U.S Chargée d´Affaires, and General William E. Ward, Commander U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) as well as other high ranking U.S military personnel.
It is not known yet, if the US will also encounter in an anti-drug-smuggling initiative concerning the Seychelles, which has become a major hub for illicit drugs and illegally caught fish, the majority of which is exported to Japan and Europe.
On 21. Aug.1980 - exactly 29 years ago - the United States and Somalia signed an agreement giving U.S. naval and air forces access to military facilities in the East African country in return for American military aid, which only pushed the country into civil war.
No real peace in sight yet
Insurgents launch attack on key checkpoint
The Islamist rebels fighting against the Somalia government have launched a pre-dawn attack on Ex-Control Afgoye, a key checkpoint manned by government soldiers 15 km from Mogadishu on Saturday.
The fighting started early on Saturday and the rebels launched a big offensive against the government soldiers stationed at the checkpoint.
No casualties have been reported so far, but Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Siad better known as Indho Ade, the state minister for defence said the government killed many rebel fighters and added that they attackers left their dead bodies behind.
There is no word from the other side about the fighting.
Ex-Control Afgoye is a key checkpoint on the road that connects Mogadishu and Afgoye.
It is the second time that the Islamist rebels launched an attack at this checkpoint since Sheik Sharif was elected as president and they lost last time more than 10 fighters.
At least 25 people were killed and 40 others have been injured in Mogadishu when Islamists attacked bases of African Union troops in Mogadishu on Friday.
55 killed in Somalia as govt. attempt to regain town fails
Clashes between Somali gunmen and government soldiers has left over 55 people dead and over 60 others injured in the Horn of Africa country.
The heavy exchange of fire broke out in Mogadishu's northern districts of Hawlwadag, Hodan and Wardhigley on Thursday.
Mogadishu medics said they assisted more than 30 wounded civilians in the battlefield, where some 15 people were killed, a Press TV correspondent reported.
At the same time, fierce fighting erupted in the central town of Bulabarde in the Hiran region, about 210 km (130 miles) north of the capital, where government soldiers attacked the town, controlled by al-Shabaab fighters.
About 40 people, most of them fighters from both sides, were killed in Bulabarde while scores of others were injured.
A resident told Press TV that government forces retreated hours after the gun battle erupted.
"The government forces attacked the town on Thursday but met with strong resistance from al-Shabaab fighters who battled out with attackers until they returned the control of the town," said Muhumed Ahmed, a Bulabarde resident.
Reports say that the al-Shabaab fighters have also captured the western wing of Beledweyne town, the capital of the Hiran region, some 332 km (206 miles) north of the capital Mogadishu.
The strategic town connects the capital to the central region and neighboring Ethiopia.
Militants recapture key Somali town - Press-TV
Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam fighters have recaptured the central Somali town of Wabho from Ahlu Sunna forces, say eyewitnesses.
During the recent offensive, they also captured various Ahlu Sunna military bases, killing several dozen Ahlu Sunna fighters, A Press TV correspondent reported.
Al-Shabaab has regained increasing numbers of districts and towns in Somalia's Hiiran region, including 70 percent of the town of Baletweyne.
The poverty-stricken Horn of Africa nation has been grappling with the ongoing civil war which has crippled the 'lawless' state for around two decades.
Over 17,000 people have been killed and an estimated 250,000 others have been internally displaced over the past few months alone.
Somali Islamist groups merge
The Hizbul Islam insurgent group in Luq town has reportedly merged with al-Shabab, who are fighting for to topple the Somali government and impose its version of Islamic Sharia in the country.
The merger comes days after Hizbul Islam group recaptured the town of Luq from pro government soldiers.
Ahmed Mohamud Salad, the leader of the group in Luq district in Gedo region told reporters that they agreed to be part of al Shabaab fighters, but he did not disclose the reason behind their merger.
Officials from the two groups met in Luq on Friday afternoon and agreed issues including uniting their force to fight the government soldiers in Somalia´s Gedo region, reported mareeg.com.
The force of the group Hizbul Islam is weakening these days after more fighters with military trucks were defecting to the government recently.
Unrest prevails in Hiran region
Unrest continues in Somalia's central Hiran region as government forces and insurgent factions seek to outmaneuver each other for control of the region, Radio Garowe reports.
On Friday, there were reports of fighting in Mahas district between the pro-government Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a militia and Al Shabaab insurgents.
There were no reports of casualties available and conflicting reports are emerging from the district, according to the Radio Garowe correspondent in Beletwein, the provincial capital of Hiran region.
Some reports say Ahlu Sunnah fighters attacked Mahas district and kicked out Al Shabaab. But other reports say Ahlu Sunnah's attack was repulsed and Al Shabaab remain in control of Mahas.
All communications to Mahas are currently cut off, making it difficult to confirm facts.
Meanwhile, Somali government forces who launched an offensive yesterday to take control of Bulo Burte district from the insurgent's control have returned to Beletwein. At least six people were killed during yesterday's battle.
It is not clear why the government forces returned, but insurgent fighters seized control of west Beletwein yesterday as fighting erupted in Bulo Burte.
Also Friday, Ethiopian soldiers briefly entered Beletwein but withdrew to the outskirts of town after staying only a few hours.
Locals said the insurgents who seized west Beletwein fled away and now all of Beletwein is under the control of government forces, but there were reports of skirmishes on the western outskirts of town.
Separately, six gunmen used pistols to target and kill four civilians inside Beletwein today. Among the dead was a local trader who tried to stop the killers from taking the life of a religious man. Both men were shot and killed.
It is not clear why the four civilians were targeted. Last night, a well-known Islamic preacher was killed in Beletwein by two gunmen, who escaped.
Somalia's UN-recognized transitional federal government is struggling to end an insurgency that began in early 2007.
Going Chechenian On Somalia
Puntland, one of the two breakaway statelets from Somalia, is currently headquarters for most of the pirate activity in the country (and the largest concentration of pirates on the planet.) It wasn't always that way.
In 1998, when Puntland was formed, this portion of northeast Somalia, suddenly became peaceful and began to prosper. The cause of this seeming miracle was all about tribal politics. The Darood clan (as the tribes are called here) managed to settle, for the moment, many feuds and rivalries, and set up a new country; Puntland (after the ancient name for this part of the world; "Punt"). But as the years went by, two things happened. First, some of the old clan feuds revived.
But worst of all, many of the gangster factions among the Darood found that the truce caused their criminal activities to be generally ignored, as long as the victims were not fellow Darood. But as Puntland became a den of thieves (and kidnappers, smugglers and, pirates), their neighbors began to notice. While many Puntland residents would like the gangsters to go away, that won't happen. The bad guys are Darood, and this is their home too. So the government says one thing to foreigners ("we're going to clean up this mess") and something else (nothing) to their fellow Darood. There's no solution in sight for this mess.
The Puntland situation is not unique, it is happening, or recently took place, in other parts of the world. There is a cure, but it may not be applicable to Puntland. One of the more notable other "Puntlands" is Chechnya, long a restive region in southern Russia. Chechnya's problems arose from attempts to become an independent nation.
When Chechnya first tried to separate itself from Russia (after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991), Russia responded with an inept military operation (1994-6) that killed over 35,000 people, and failed. Russia withdrew and left the Chechens to their own devices. In effect, the Chechens could pretend they were independent, while the Russians pretended they weren't. Problem was, the Chechens could not agree on how to form a unified government, and stumbled into a perpetual civil war. Along the way, some factions adopted Islamic radicalism, and began moving into adjacent areas, that were still very much under Russian control. Other, less religious, factions, used Chechnya as a safe haven for smuggling and kidnapping operations throughout southern Russia.
In 1999, the Russians came back in, and the second pacification campaign made greater use of Special Forces and better trained and led troops in general. This campaign killed about 5,000 people, but succeeded. The main reason for the success was the use of an ancient Russian technique. Basically, the Russians sought out Chechens who would be willing to run Chechnya, under Russian supervision, as long as they could keep the crime and terrorism under control. The Russians didn't care how "their Chechens" did it, as long as there was not a return to the 1994-9 era of rampant criminal activity. And no Islamic terrorism either. Over the last few years, the violence, and Islamic terrorism inside Chechnya, and Russia, greatly declined.
The problem with Puntland is that there's no large neighbor willing to play the role that Russia took in Chechnya. The industrialized nations that are suffering the most from the Puntland based piracy, are reluctant to intervene. Somalis have been known, for centuries, as ungovernable. The reputation is well earned, and no one wants to get involved. Meanwhile, Somalis are quite willing to get involved, via criminal activities, with their neighbors. Eventually, the pain to the neighbors will become too much. How long it will take for that to happen, is uncertain. Just like everything else in Somalia.
OCHA Somalia Humanitarian Access Analysis, January to June 2009
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
This paper aims at analysing the humanitarian situation in Somalia during the first half of 2009, and the effect that access constraints have had on the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the protection of beneficiaries.
In the first six months of 2009 access constraints remained significant. These constraints resulted in instances of humanitarian organisations withdrawing, temporary suspensions of programmes in certain areas, or delays in the delivery of humanitarian assistance.
Access in Somalia is organic, meaning that access can change rapidly, and that there are significant differences in access depending on the region in question. Broadly stated, access in the North and North/East (Somaliland and Puntland respectively) generally is better than any region in South/Central Somalia. While there are a number of factors that can explain this difference, a dominant factor is that the North and North/East are governed and controlled by a single political entity, with no serious challenger to that authority. South/Central has significant and on-going power struggles, which directly or indirectly impact humanitarian workers and activities.
Full_Report http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=EDIS-7V5QNK&file=Full_Report.pdf
Hunger hotspots: Somalia
MV Marwan and MV Semlow are expected to reach Mogadishu: MV Marwan H being loaded with 8,000 mt of food and MV Semlow carrying 850 mt mostly Inter-Agency NFIs was expected to arrive in Mogadishu on 14 August. Meanwhile a fleet of tugboats, barges, crane and dredging machine under a separate EU naval escort were expected to arrive in Mogadishu from Mombasa last weekend. The machines and facilities are for the Special Operation project aimed at port rehabilitation.
Bulgarian Kidnap Victim Back Home from Somalia
The Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Rumiana Jeleva welcomed today the Bulgarian citizen Danka Panchova who was held hostage in Somalia for nine months
Dr. Jeleva and Ms. Panchova made statements for the media during the welcoming ceremony at the government VIP lounge at Sofia Airport.
Minister Dr. Rumiana Jeleva said: "I am extremely happy that we can mark today, 19 August – the World Humanitarian Day, with a marvellous event: the return of our compatriot Ms. Danka Panchova. It is my extreme pleasure to welcome her, safe and sound. Her mother is also with us. Welcome!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire institutional mechanism of the EU for their efforts. I would also like to thank all our European partners, our missions in Paris and Belgium, all Bulgarian diplomats who took part in the actions to free the hostages, the colleagues from the other services, and the entire institutional mechanism of the Bulgarian State, of the previous leading figures in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the members of that mission. You know that Ms. Panchova, together with her colleagues, was in the terrible situation of a hostage since last November.
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank her for her work, for joining humanitarian missions and for working for the humanitarian network "Action against Hunger" for the past five years, which was extremely helpful in the freeing of Ms. Panchova and her colleagues. I must say also that this is a day on which we need to pay tribute to the UN efforts and to the efforts of all people who join humanitarian missions, and to remember those who have given their lives for such missions. This is an extremely important initiative and I think that we are going to mark this day every year in the future.
I would also like to take this opportunity to tell you that as EU Member State Bulgaria has its commitments to the development policy, and this falls to a great extent within the scope of my ministry, being also an expression of the solidarity demonstrated by our European partners to us in this concrete case as well. Therefore, I would like to assure you – on the occasion of the safe return home of our compatriot and on this special day, 19 August – that we shall do our best at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to draft the legal framework for the development policy and to create the necessary resource unit for its practical implementation. We must be fully aware that it is precisely the development policy and our humanitarian activities as EU Member State that constitute a part of our obligations and responsibilities, and this must be a source of self-confidence for the citizens of Bulgaria. Moreover, it is an important symptom that we must stop feeling like a state which is still in its accession phase and we would rather acquire the self-confidence of a full member of the European Union.
Thank you once again for sharing this beautiful moment with us and with Danka. She is very emotional indeed and I´ll appeal for your indulgence for her patience and for her readiness to make a statement for you."
To which Mrs. Danka Panchova responded: "I am extremely happy to be back in Bulgaria after these difficult nine months, which were a period of great trial in my life. I was released on 11 August and at this moment I am feeling very well. You can see for yourselves, too, that I am in good shape. The most important thing for me now is to be able to express my great happiness to be with my family again, and I hope to see my friends in Bulgaria as soon as possible.
I would like to thank first and foremost my organisation Action against Hunger, my friends and colleagues who worked day and night for my release. I would also like to thank the Bulgarian authorities for the enormous support rendered to my parents and to my family here. I know that during all that time many people were concerned about me; I learned it from the Internet, from all my friends who wrote to me and from people whom I don´t know. I would also like to thank you for the commitment and empathy of all of you at that moment.
I am in good shape and in good health, I need an enormous rest and I shall be extremely happy if you respect my intention to have a real rest in Bulgaria.
Minister Dr. Rumiana Jeleva closed by stating: "I just want to say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is ready to offer you one week of rest and recreation in our recreation facilities, if you would accept this gesture, which is the least we can do for you. Thank you very much, colleagues, for being here to share with us Danka´s return and to mark together World Humanitarian Day."
Mrs. Danka Panchova, who was released on August 11 after being held captive by Somali militants for nine months met earlier with her parents and a representative of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry in France last week and underwent a medical check-up in Paris at the expense of "Action against Hunger", the humanitarian organization that she works for.
Mrs. Panchova, who spent nine months in captivity in Somalia, has declined to talk to the media over a ban by "Action against Hunger". She was kidnapped together with five other colleagues in November 2008.
Last week the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry thanked France, Oman, and Egypt for helping with her release.
Sad anniversary for hostages' families
Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout Still Trapped in Somalia
This is the joint Lindhout/Brennan family's statement to the media. No other statement will be made at this time.
"Together , the two families continue to work tirelessly to secure Nigel's and Amanda's safe release.
With little outside support, the families, who have been united as one throughout this horrendous ordeal, continue to do everything and anything to gain the earliest possible release for their loved ones, Amanda and Nigel. Our thoughts and all our love are with Amanda and Nigel, today, just as they have been for the past 365 days, and just as they will be until they are safely home with us.
In issuing this brief joint statement the families hope that the media respect their wishes to be left alone during this particularly emotional time"-end
Families of kidnapped pair in Somalia commemorate anniversary (AAP)
The families of kidnapped Brisbane photographer Nigel Brennan and freelance Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout say they will continue doing everything possible to secure their earliest release.
Mr Brennan and Ms Lindhout were abducted on August 23 last year in Somalia on the outskirts of the capital Mogadishu.
On the eve of the anniversary of the kidnapping, the Brennan and Lindhout families issued a joint statement on Saturday saying they continued to work together tirelessly for the safe release of the pair.
"With little outside support, the families, who have been united as one throughout this horrendous ordeal, continue to do everything and anything to gain the earliest possible release for their loved ones, Amanda and Nigel," the statement said.
Last month the Brennan family appealed to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to go public with their loved one's hostage ordeal in Somalia.
The government has asked the media to be cautious in its reporting of Mr Brennan's situation, worried that it might harm his chances of release or jeopardise his life.
Amanda Lindhout's family speaks out
By Stephane Massinon, Calgary Herald
Amanda Lindhout was abducted at gun point on August 23, 2008 in Somalia, Africa.
The family of a Canadian journalist being held hostage in Somalia have broken their silence just before the one-year anniversary of her abduction — suggesting in a joint statement they have received little support in their efforts to gain her release.
For 12 months come Sunday, Amanda Lindhout, 28, of Sylvan Lake, Alta., has survived in captivity somewhere in the African country. There have been death threats, fluctuating ransom demands, lurid speculation about her situation and heart-wrenching pleas to television stations for help from the abducted woman.
Through it all, her family have not spoken for fear they might make her situation worse.
In their first statement since the ordeal began, the Lindhout family issued a joint statement with relatives of Nigel Brennan, the Australian photographer who was captured with Lindhout.
How long the ordeal might continue remains unknown, like much about the case.
Few people, particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, have spoken at length about the situation.
Mary Agnes Welch, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister's Office on Friday, urging renewed efforts to secure the journalists' freedom. She's also awaiting an update on what is happening on the ground, since so little has been said publicly.
"It's extremely unusual for a Canadian journalist to be held, frankly, anywhere in the world — and then to be held this long," said Welch.
She believes the fact the ordeal has gone on for 12 months reflects the difficult political and security situation in Somalia, as well as the fact Lindhout was a freelance reporter.
"She's basically on her own, from what we can tell. She doesn't have a big (broadcasting) network behind her or a big newspaper chain behind her, or even a whole bunch of colleagues on the ground in Somalia who know her and can gather some intelligence and do what they can," said Welch.
"In many ways, it's the worst of the worst."
Foreign Affairs did not return requests for comment Friday.
Daniel Clayton, CEO of Calgary-based Diligence Ltd., a "risk management" firm that does kidnap and ransom support and teaches businesspeople who travel to volatile places how to be aware of kidnapping risks, has been following the case.
In his experience with kidnappings, he said hostage-takers want to make their efforts worthwhile and will keep hostages as long as necessary.
"They could literally hold her forever. There's hostages around the world that have been held hostage for 10 years. No one knows their location, their country, where they are," said Clayton.
"The group sees it as: If they keep them, then they're not losing anything. If they kill them, they've got no chance whatsoever at that ransom money."
Reporters Without Borders, based in Paris, has said it never expected the kidnapping to drag on this long.
"It's true that we feel weak. It's one year now; it's a completely chaotic situation," said Benoit Hervieu.
Anniversary of abduction of Canadian and Australian journalists (Rporter Sans Frontier)
Two foreign freelance journalists are about to complete a year in captivity. Canadian reporter Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan were taken hostage by an armed group as they were returning to Mogadishu from Afgoye refugee camp, 20 km west of the Somali capital, on 23 August 2008.
"We are very worried about these two hostages, given the length of their ordeal and the extreme dangers prevailing in Somalia," Reporters Without Borders said. "We reiterate our support for their families and we hope they will be released without delay."
At the time of their abduction, Lindhout and Brennan were being accompanied by Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, a Somali freelance journalist who was their fixer and interpreter, and two Somali drivers, Mahad Isse and Marwali.
Elmi and the two drivers were released on the night of 15 January, after being held for 177 days. Elmi said he was separated from Lindhout and Brennan immediately after their capture.
A woman claiming to be Lindhout called CTV headquarters in Toronto on 10 June and appealed to the Canadian government to do everything possible to obtain her release. In tears, she said she was being held in appalling conditions.
"I´m being kept in a dark, windowless room in chains without any clean drinking water and very little food or no food," the caller said. "I´ve been very sick for months without any medicine." A similar call was made to OMNI Television, another Canadian TV station, at the end of July.
The kidnappers have been demanding a ransom, the size of which has changed over the months. Rumours have circulated about the hostages but Reporters Without Borders has been unable to confirm any of them. According to one rumour, Lindhout was pregnant and several Somali sources have said in the past two months that she gave birth to a boy.
Journalist still captive one year later
By Victoria Handysides for METRO Edmonton
One year after she was snatched off a Somalian roadside at gunpoint, Alberta-born journalist Amanda Lindhout remains held by her captors.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions — it´s not the conventional kidnap and ransom case whatsoever," said Calgary-based anti-terrorism expert Daniel Clayton.
Clayton met Lindhout two years ago in Afghanistan. The tall, attractive, white woman represented the ideal target for kidnappers, he said.
"I remember telling someone ´she better be careful,´" Clayton said.
In the year she´s been held captive, conflicting reports on her condition have surfaced, and the ransom has been raised and lowered significantly.
Sources in Somalia tell Clayton the 28-year-old woman now could be released for as little as $250,000. Though the government does not negotiate with terrorists, a visit from a political figure to the Somalian government could mean a chance for freedom, Clayton said.
Impacting reports from the global village
Al-Shabab listed as terrorist group by Australia
The Rudd government has listed Somali-based Al-Shabab as a terrorist organisation.
In a Commonwealth Gazette statement dated August 21, 2009, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith listed the group under subsection 15 (1) of the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945.
No comment was immediately available from Attorney-General Robert McClelland's or Mr Smith's offices.
The government has been under pressure to proscribe the group, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation in the United States since February 2008.
Earlier in August, Australian police arrested several men with suspected links to al-Shabab.
It's alleged the men intended to launch a suicide attack on the Holsworthy army barracks in Sydney.
According to the United States National Counter-Terrorism Centre website, senior members of the al-Shabab leadership are affiliated with al-Qaeda and are believed to have fought with them in Afghanistan.
It says al-Shabab is the militant wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council that took over most of southern Somalia in late 2006.
"In December 2006 and January 2007, Somali government and Ethiopian forces routed it in a two-week war," the NCTC says.
"Since the end of 2006 it has led a violent insurgency, using guerrilla warfare and terrorist tactics against the continued Ethiopian presence in Somalia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and non-governmental aid organisations."
Australia lists Somalia's Shebab as terror group
By Amy Coopes (AFP)
Australia on Friday listed Somalia's Shebab extremists as a terror organisation after five men allegedly linked to the group were charged with planning a suicide assault on a Sydney army barracks.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith issued a notice in the official gazette outlawing the Al-Qaeda-inspired group that Australian police say was linked to a plot uncovered earlier this month.
The listing, which makes it a criminal offence to be a member or an associate of Shebab in any way, was made on the advice of Australia's security organisations, Smith said.
"Elements of al-Shabaab (Shebab) are linked to Al-Qaeda through leadership contacts and training, both recent and historical, and by Al-Qaeda senior leadership endorsement of its activities," a statement explaining the move said.
Shebab has denied any connection to the alleged Australian suicide plot or to the men charged, at least three of whom are of Somali origin. Another is accused of having travelled to the African country to fight and train there.
But the government had been under pressure to ban the group, which has been listed as a terror organisation in the United States since February 2008, following the August 4 arrests of the men in Melbourne.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said at the time Australia was considering listing Shebab as a terrorist organisation but had delayed acting for fear of compromising the police operation, which had been running since January.
Police say the men planned to storm Sydney's Holsworthy army base, home to thousands of troops including a major anti-extremist unit, with firearms in what would have been Australia's worst militant attack.
Prosecutors claim the men wanted to become "martyrs" and sought a fatwa, or religious ruling, to justify their actions.
"The alleged offenders were prepared to inflict a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed," said Tony Negus, acting chief commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, following the arrests.
"The men's intention was to go into these army barracks and to kill as many people as possible... This would have been, if it had been able to be carried out, the most serious attack on Australian soil."
The outlawing of Shebab as a terrorist group means it is an offence to be a member of, associate with, train with, provide training for, receive funds from, make funds available to, direct or recruit for the organisation.
Under the United Nations Act charter, it is a crime to use or deal with the assets of, or to make assets available to, a listed person or group.
The government will also freeze the assets of anyone involved in the commission of terrorist act under its UN obligations, it said.
The hardline Shebab group is engaged in a deadly military offensive against Somalia's internationally-backed government.
In recent months, the Shebab group has increasingly resorted to recruiting foreign jihadi fighters and members of the Somali diaspora but is not known to have actively taken part in terrorist attacks on foreign soil.
Many of its members nevertheless proclaim their allegiance to Al-Qaeda, whose leaders have repeatedly urged fighters there to take the jihad (holy war) beyond the borders of Somalia, a country with a large diaspora.
Important: UAE lifts ban on cattle imports from Somalia
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has lifted a ban on cattle imports from Somalia, the WAM news agency reported Friday citing the environment ministry.
Cattle imports from the two Somali cities of Bosaso and Barabara will now be allowed in the country, UAE Environment and Water Minister Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad said Thursday.
As per the latest government directive, the importers must obtain certificates from laboratories stating that the animals were not vaccinated for bovine plague.
In the UAE, all imported animals are subject to the veterinary and animal care regulations and legislations.
Somali Woman stranded in Kenya sues Ottawa for $2.5-million
ByTu Thanh Ha from Saturday's Globe and Mail
The lawyer for Suaad Hagi Mohamud, the Toronto woman trapped in Kenya because federal officials didn't believe she was Canadian, says an independent probe is needed to find whether she was treated that way because of her Somali ethnicity.
Six days after she got home thanks to genetic tests proving her identity, Ms. Mohamud is suing Ottawa for $2.5-million, saying she wants to get to the bottom of the bureaucratic screw-ups that left her stranded overseas for three months.
"The question that needs to be posed and answered is whether the colour of her skin and her cultural background as a Somali had anything to do with her treatment," her new lawyer, well-known Toronto barrister Julian Falconer, said in an interview.
"The question has to be asked whether a Caucasian in the same circumstances would have been treated the same way."
The Canada Border Services Agency and Foreign Affairs Canada have opened internal investigations into the handling of Ms. Mohamud's case.
However, she and her lawyers are calling for an independent inquiry and a public apology.
"I was alone when my government let me down," Ms. Mohamud told reporters Friday.
"I don't care about money. I live [simply]. … I only go to court so this never happens to another Canadian citizen."
Her comments came as a second Canadian of Somali origin, Abdihakim Mohamed, a 25-year-old autistic man, is getting a travel document to return to this country after being marooned in Kenya for three years.
Ms. Mohamud's notice of action in Ontario Superior Court details a series of blunders that began in May when Kenyan authorities questioned the validity of her passport as she tried to board a flight to Canada.
The notice says that rather than help her, Liliane Khadour, who was then vice-consul at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, wrote "a false and defamatory letter" that told Kenyan officials that a consular investigation confirmed that Ms. Mohamud wasn't the rightful holder of the passport.
The consular officer also handed Ms. Mohamud's passport to the Kenyans, resulting in the Toronto woman being charged, jailed for nine days until she got bail, and facing deportation to Somalia.
"Ms. Mohamud was robbed of her identity, denied her rights as a Canadian citizen and abandoned to the whims of Kenyan authorities for three months," the notice said.
The notice, a summary filing preceding a more substantive statement of claim, says she is seeking damages because the government defamed her and acted in a negligent, malicious fashion.
The lawsuit names as defendants Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, and three of his department's diplomats, including Ms. Khadour.
The notice also cites as defendants Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, who is responsible for the CBSA.
Mr. Kenney and Mr. Cannon knew of Ms. Mohamud's predicament as early as June, the notice says. It also notes that, as late as July 23, the Foreign Affairs Minister was expressing doubts to reporters about whether she was a genuine Canadian.
After appearing at a press conference Friday, Ms. Mohamud, who is in poor health, will no longer speak to the media because "she needs some healing time," Mr. Falconer said.
Gov't. to issue docs to another stranded Canadian
By The Canadian Press
Travel documents will be issued to a Canadian stranded in Kenya, after he applies for a passport, federal officials said Thursday.
Abdihakim Mohammed, an autistic 25-year-old Somali-Canadian, has been unable to leave Kenya for three years.
He was taken to Somalia five years ago by his mother because doctors thought being near extended family could help him.
But when Anab Issa tried to bring Mohammed back to Canada through Kenya three years ago, she was told the person with her was not her son because he didn't look like his passport photo.
The case has remained unresolved until now, despite offers from Mohammed's mother to undergo DNA testing.
But the government will issue documents to Mohammed as soon as it receives an application from him, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Thursday.
"Passport Canada stands ready to process an application as soon as it is received," Natalie Sarafian said in an email to The Canadian Press.
"Once an application is submitted the Government of Canada will proceed with issuing a travel document.
Kenyan NGO officials on the run over terror probe
By NATION Correspondent
Kenyan Police have launched a manhunt for officials of NGOs linked to Somalia´s al-Shabaab terror group. The officials of the Nairobi-based NGOs eluded arrest in a botched raid on a Eastleigh hotel last Friday. The NGOs´ agents have been recruiting unsuspecting young Kenyans into the ranks of the terror group. The raid, set up by intelligence officials, was bungled when police moved in prematurely after nine young men drove up to the hotel, resulting in the NGO officials keeping away.
Launched raid
The youths were released after being interrogated at Buruburu police station. Acting on intelligence reports, police had hoped to net the NGO officials and 25 youths, but some of youngsters escaped while others had not arrived when the raid was launched. Al-Shabaab, linked to the al-Qaeda terrorism network, has been fighting the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu. The group was planning to recruit 1,500 youths with the help of the NGOs, police investigations revealed. As a cover, the NGOs are registered as humanitarian agencies and recruits only realise they have been enlisted for combat duty once they get to Somalia. The NGOs´ agents lured unsuspecting young Kenyans with promises of jobs, offering salaries as high as US$2,500 (Sh190,000). They were told they were being employed as store managers and drivers to distribute relief food and medicines in Somalia. A source familiar with the operations, but who cannot be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, told the Nation how a 15-year-old Kenyan boy was killed when explosives strapped to his body blew up as he was undergoing suicide bombing training at Ras Kamboni in 2007.
The NGO officials would distribute cash to the recruits to pay hotel bills and other expenses. The recruits, who are not required to have any form of advanced training or education, would get as much as US$150 (Sh11,400) weekly.
Bogus NGOs lure Nairobi youth to join Somali al-Shabaab militia
By Fred Mukinda
NGOs based in Nairobi are being used by Somalia´s al-Shabaab militia group to recruit young Kenyans. The al-Shabaab militia, which is linked to the al-Qaeda terrorism network, has been fighting the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu and imposed Sharia law in areas under its control. Agents for the NGOs with offices in Westlands and the city centre have been luring unsuspecting Kenyans with promises of jobs, offering salaries as high as Sh190,000 ($2,500). The agents, usually flush with US dollars, have been operating for more than a year in North Eastern Province and recently moved to Nairobi. Police struck Intelligence officers and undercover police raided a hotel in the city´s Eastleigh area yesterday and arrested 10 young men being prepared for missions in Somalia. The NGO bosses and their agents escaped the 4 pm raid and a manhunt has been launched. Maalim Hassan, 24, is one of 20 recent recruits who was waiting to be taken to Mogadishu when the police struck. He was approached by a man he barely knew who he had met in Mombasa last year. "He kept calling me saying he would help me get a job in Somalia. Initially, I ignored him but after a while, I agreed as the pay offer was good," Hassan told the Nation. A year later, he met the man in Eastleigh and he was introduced to an agent supposedly contracted by one of the NGOs. Two NGOs have been identified as recruiting youths for al-Shabaab. As a cover, they are registered as humanitarian organisations which supply relief food and medicines to citizens trapped in Somalia. "I met the chief agent a few metres from his office building and he told me he was contracted by an NGO to recruit drivers and store managers for its humanitarian operations in Mogadishu," Hassan said. But a source familiar with the NGOs´ operations told the Nation that recruits only got to know they had been recruited for war after they cross the border and start training. Others are used as suicide bombers, according to the source, who has worked in Somalia for a long time but who could not be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. Hassan has no education beyond Form Four but was told he had qualified for the well-paying job because he is a Muslim, is young and has Caucasian hair. The agent asked him to help recruit others and gave him US$150 (Sh11,400) for his personal upkeep, including payment for food and hotel bills for a week. Hassan was also warned of the secrecy of the mission and urged to divulge the information only to young men willing to take up the jobs. The agent also told him that his target was to recruit 1,500 young men and that 600 had already left for Somalia. "I was introduced to 10 other young men at Eastleigh but the number had since increased to 25," Hassan told Nation. Ten of these were arrested in Friday´s raid but the rest escaped. More than 10 plainclothes officers, together with intelligence officials backed by two dozen uniformed officers, all armed with rifles took part in the raid. Hassan said the group was under instructions not to spend more than one night at the same hotel. "For the last five weeks, we have stayed in almost all the hotels and lodges in Eastleigh. We book in for the night and check out the following morning. At times the agents visit us but mostly they contact us by phone," said Hassan. The recruitment raised suspicion because of the secretive and odd manner in which it is done. Recruits are not required to have any form of professional training and their educational background does not matter. Young Muslims aged between 15 and 25 years are targeted and those from other parts of Kenya who got wind of the job offers and tried to enlist were turned away, Hassan said. Among the recruits awaiting transportation to Somalia were six youngsters of Arab origin, one Indian while the rest were Somalis, the Nation found out.
Hassan said they are all Kenyans. "Every Friday, we meet the agents at a petrol station and they give us our weekly allowance. One time I got US$400 (Sh30,400)," he said. "We do nothing the whole day. We just sit in hotels chewing miraa and at night we drink alcohol and take prostitutes to our rooms. We just wait for the agent or his associates to call and give instructions," he added. When the call comes, they tell the agents where the group is booked and are instructed to move to another hotel in the morning. "There is no way we can reach them because they conceal their mobile phone numbers," said Hassan.
Names have been changed to protect the identities of those who spoke to the Saturday Nation.
US policy on Somalia unchanged: If we can not have it - nobody else shall!
US Africa Command Chief Vows Support for Somali Government
By Alan Boswell (VOA)
The top general from the U.S. military's Africa Command, known as AFRICOM, said on Friday that the rise of radical Islamist militant group al-Shabab in Somalia makes East Africa a central focus of the U.S. military on the continent.
General William Ward has pledged continued support to Somalia's transitional federal government and the African Union forces operating there. He made his remarks during a visit to Nairobi, Kenya, which is a key U.S. ally in region.
The general said that al-Shabab's alleged link to international terrorist group al-Qaida means that the region is a priority for AFRICOM on the continent. The commander thanked Kenya for its ongoing partnership with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.
General Ward highlighted the U.S. military's support of the African Union troops in Somalia and said that the United States would continue to offer logistical assistance.
"The work being done by the African Union through its African Mission there, AMISOM, is work we all support," he said. "It's work we will continue to support. We have had roles in helping to train some of those AMISOM forces. We have had roles in helping provide logistical support to the AMISOM forces. And we would certainly look forward to continuing to do that as the number of AMISOM forces continues to rise."
The commander predicted that the "stalemate" in Somalia between the pro-government forces and rebel Islamic militant groups would be broken as the number of AMISOM forces rises.
AMISOM is technically neutral in the conflicts between pro-government forces and the rebel groups but has been accused of fighting with the anti-government militias. AMISOM forces protect key sites in Mogadishu including the airport, the presidential palace, and the seaport.
When asked about U.S. warnings to Eritrea against its alleged support of al-Shabab, the U.S. general condemned any outside support for the Somali rebels.
"Any time a nation or a state is purposely doing things that incite, contribute to instability, insecurity - that is something that none of us would agree with. And we would hope that any legitimate government, any legitimate nation would in fact be doing otherwise," he said.
AFRICOM was created in late 2007 and formally activated a year later. The new command structure oversees military relationships with all African countries except Egypt.
The military command is based in Germany. Reports that AFRICOM headquarters could eventually be based within the African continent have generated controversy and some open hostility from African leaders. Liberia is the only African nation to have publicly announced its willingness to host the U.S. military African Command.
AFRICOM's official website describes its base in Germany as an "interim" headquarters.
General Ward also used the visit to praise Kenya for accepting captured Somali pirates that have plagued the waters off of Africa.
He said AFRICOM's role in the continent is to help friendly African countries build their security capacities through mutual partnerships.
N.B.: AFRICOM is still holed up in Germany - against the will of many Germans -, because no African country wants it.]
Kenya falls short of goals set by Hillary Clinton
By Martyn Drakard (*)
The land is parched in Kenya, while it deals with smoldering political violence. Kenyans appear helpless to change despite Secretary Clinton's entreaties in the country that gave birth to President Obama's forefathers.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's whirlwind safari of sub-Saharan Africa, to deliver messages from President Barack Obama, has fallen on helpless ears.
The population here is helpless to improve its condition in the face of widespread corruption and elitism. Water rationing in is the norm. Water sources have been drying up, and huge forested areas given out for settlement, for political reasons. Ten million people are at risk of starvation, one third of the population.
As all know, Obama traces his roots to this nation, but he deliberately by-passed it on his lightning trip to the continent, choosing Ghana instead.
So he sent his Secretary of State to give the Kenyan authorities a piece of his mind. Namely that in the wake of the post-election violence last year, reforms are dragging on too long, and the culture of corruption and impunity is not being tackled with anywhere near enough determination.
In more developed democracies like the United States it is unthinkable that anyone should consider himself above the law; in democracies that are still finding their way around, such as those of most of sub-Saharan Africa, it is almost taken for granted that the kind of justice you receive is in proportion to your wealth and power. For example, a couple of days before Mrs. Clinton arrived two youths were sentenced to death in the coastal town of Malindi for stealing forty shillings (half a dollar) from a fisherman. The magistrate issuing the sentence said she was convinced that the robbery had been carried out by violent means. Robbery with violence is a capital offence in Kenya.
While Secretary Clinton was "overwhelmed" by what she saw in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she said that it is ultimately up to the locals to sort out the violence committed against women and children.
President Obama deliberately avoided visiting the land of his forefathers but instead chose Secretary Clinton to deliver a stern message on political violence there.
These two youths may still be lucky. As Mrs. Clinton was arriving in the country, the President commuted the sentence of hanging to that of life imprisonment for four thousand inmates on death row. The President has invited his countrymen to initiate the debate on the death penalty, which they have eagerly taken up, and which may be one way of saying that its days are numbered. The last person was hanged in Kenya in 1987.
Although she was invited to Kenya to attend the 8th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Conference, the main item on her agenda was human rights. And among ordinary Kenyans there has been hardly a murmur about "American interference." According to Dr. Boni Khalwale, chair of the Parliamentary Accounts Committee, who attended one of the closed-door meetings with Mrs. Clinton, she was concerned about the lack of reforms aimed at ending impunity and promised to name, shame and ban the violence and corruption suspects from visiting the United States.
Economic sanctions against the country would not be a solution as it would mean that only the poor would suffer. She was also unhappy that the government had retained key figures in the fight against corruption and extra-judicial killings by police, such as the Attorney-General and the Police Commissioner, as well as the head of the Judiciary and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.
In another forum, she said President Obama had asked her to deliver a very tough message, which she did, word for word, on the lack of accountability and failure to prosecute those responsible for last year´s violence; not to humiliate anyone or interfere, but because of his connection with the country. If this forceful stance works, it will be ironic and a sign of the times. It will be a case of a Kenyan "emigrant" bringing about much-needed change in the country of his roots but from his position as the world´s most powerful politician.
For obvious reasons, Mrs. Clinton did not visit Somalia. Instead top Somali government officials met with her in Nairobi. The United States has good reason to be worried about what is going on in that country, both ashore and off the coast-line patrolled by pirates. The Somali government is beleaguered by al-Shabab, an extremist group, supported by extremist groups elsewhere and linked with al-Qaeda. This group is intent on imposing the sharia law in Somalia and northern Kenya where Kenyan Somalis live. Needless to say, they are heavily armed and ruthless in achieving what they want.
Fittingly, the Secretary of State laid a wreath at the memorial site in Nairobi where over two thousand Kenyan and American citizens died when the U.S. Embassy was bombed eleven years ago this August. The threat of terrorism has not left the region yet, and the extensive coast-line and vast wilderness in the semi-desert frontier area dividing the two countries doesn´t make it any easier to confront it and wipe it out. Kenya does not have oil or mineral wealth, like some of the other countries on her itinerary: South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola, but Kenyans do have strategic importance for this part of the continent.
Kenya´s many other problems must have passed over Mrs. Clinton on her three-day trip, busy as she was in the corridors of power, addressing the students at Nairobi´s public university, and meeting whatever ordinary Kenyans she managed to fit in. The last five rainy seasons have been below expectations, and the dams that supply electric power are drying up. The country is on daylight power rationing three days every week, starting the day she flew in. The rapid expansion of the capital city, with hundreds of migrants moving in every day, cannot keep up with the dwindling water supplies.
Kenyans hope that Mrs. Clinton´s visit will have shaken up their government´s complacency and persuaded it to put its act together. Eighteen months on from what nearly ended in a civil war and the fragmentation of the country, yet most of what Kenyans have got since then is hot air.
(*) Martyn Drakard is a freelance writer based in Africa
Obama then Hillary: U.S. scrambles for Africa
By Brian E. Muhammad (FinalCall.com)
Following up on President Barack Obama's Africa trip in July, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton returned for a seven-nation tour. The trip was touted as the solidification of Mr. Obama's "Partner not Patron" message to Africa. But some observers are sceptical about U.S. motives, saying the trip was basically an economic-motivated move to strengthen America's position in the modern day scramble for African resources against China, France, India and the European Union.
Starting Aug. 4 in Kenya—the home of President Obama's father—Mrs. Clinton held bilateral talks with members of Kenya's government and addressed the opening session of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum, an initiative from President Bill Clinton's administration that allows tariff free and lenient trade policies for select African exports to the United States.
Sec. Clinton reiterated some of President Obama's themes from Ghana, such as "good governance attracts aid," "responsibility" and "forgetting the past to move forward."
"We believe in Africa's promise," said the top U.S. diplomat. "We are committed to Africa's future and we will be partners with Africa's people."
While in Kenya, Mrs. Clinton chided common stereotypes of Africa, such as "poverty, disease, and conflict" as "stale, outdated and wrong," while highlighting the continent's potential.
"Africa is capable, and is making economic progress. In fact, one doesn't have to look far to see that Africa is ripe with opportunities," said Mrs. Clinton. The secretary of state also announced U.S. plans to double foreign assistance to Africa by 2014.
However, while Mrs. Clinton applauded Africa in one hand, she backhanded the small country of Eritrea for its involvement in opposition politics in Somalia and promised more financial and military backing of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), led by President Sheik Sharif Ahmed.
Experts maintain U.S. military posturing in the "Horn of Africa" is wrongheaded and fears the Obama administration will increase weaponry in the region through the conflict.
"U.S. support for the TFG is nothing short of disastrous, so we've just doubled disaster," Peter Pham, an Africa specialist told Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.
According to the Daily Nation, Mr. Pham said that some American weapons intended for the TFG ended up on Mogadishu's black markets—and ultimately in the hands of al-Shabaab, an opposition militia.
The secretary of state continued on to South Africa to refresh relations with the post apartheid regime and its newly-elected President Jacob Zuma.
According to Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary,Bureau of African Affairs, the stop was to "encourage" South Africa to play a leadership role in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), to help resolve major political issues confronting the region such as Zimbabwe and Madagascar.
"South Africa has three million refugees from Zimbabwe and every one of those refugees represents a failure of the Zimbabwean government to care for its own people and a burden that South Africa has to bear," Sec. Clinton said.
But some say Mrs. Clinton is espousing the same U.S. policy of "regime change" in Zimbabwe that has existed since President Robert Mugabe took control of White-owned land for redistribution back to Black Zimbabweans, a position the former liberation fighter undertook after England and the U.S. reneged on the post independence "Lancaster agreements" where the two Western powers were to finance the transition of land from White ownership back to Black ownership.
Refuting the skeptics, a State Dept. press statement said the Clinton visit was only to underline "America's commitment to collaborate with governments" and other sectors to "build Africa's capacity."
Observers further noted that all seven countries are either oil producers or strong magnets for multi-national corporate greed for natural resources, specifically naming Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and Liberia.
In Nigeria's Delta region, tremendous oil wealth never reached the exploited masses whose environment was polluted by multi-national conglomerates like Shell Oil. It is estimated that Nigeria has reaped an estimated $280 billion from oil in the past 30 years; the Delta communities have seen almost nil of the revenue, resulting in violent resistance against the multi-nationals and the Nigerian government.
According to reports, Clinton warned Nigeria about corruption and electoral fraud—comparing it to the fraudulent U.S. election that brought George Bush to power in 2000—albeit little pressure was placed on President Umaru Yar'Adua, whose administration has been accused of widespread corruption and extra-judicial killings, as in Nigeria's Borno State recently.
In Angola, which is on line to be Africa's number one oil producer, the secretary of state witnessed the U.S. Agency for International Development sign a memorandum of understanding with the Chevron Corporation and the Cooperative League of the United States of America. Mrs. Clinton said, "We are making a down payment on the future" of Angola, which is struggling to establish itself after years of an independence war and a civil war.
America has a history with the former Portuguese colony going back to the 1960s when the U.S. was the benefactor of Jonas Savimbi and his brutal National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), who fought against the anti-colonial struggles for the liberation of Angola. Mr. Savimbi was America's tool to disrupt the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) in the wars for independence (1961–1975) and then in a vicious civil war from 1975–2002. UNITA was America's "cold war" proxy against the MPLA who were backed and financed by the then Soviet Union.
Angola's increased oil and diamond production and intensive infrastructure rebuilding following the end of the civil war offers huge business opportunities. Economists expect Angola will reach double-digit growth over the next five years. The U.S., however, has fallen behind the Chinese since the end of Angola's civil war. China is Angola's number one trading partner for oil, according to a UK Chatham House report.
The U.S. struggle to compete with China on Africa trade appears to be the real motivation for Mrs. Clinton coming so soon after President Obama, said Bahati Jacques, an analyst with the African Faith and Justice Network.
"China has made a lot of contracts with the DRC and that makes the U.S. unhappy because they want to get those contracts or be part of what's going on," said Mr. Jacques to The Final Call.
The French are involved in DRC and there is a clear scramble to get into the Congo before everything is taken. War zone resources like coltan—used in cell phones and computers—are going not only into the U.S. but into Europe and Asia, said Mr. Jacques.
The African Faith and Justice Network has called on Mrs. Clinton to retract the U.S. call for Africans to forget the past and move on in light of America's historical meddling in Congolese affairs.
"No we can't forget the past. How can we forget that six million people have died, how can we forget that (first Congo Prime Minister Patrice) Lumumba was killed under a CIA conspiracy, how can we forget that (Laurent) Kabila came to power by force sponsored by Rwanda, Uganda and the U.S.?" asked Mr. Jacques.
"We are calling Clinton to apologize" for that position, he added.
The trip took Mrs. Clinton to Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Liberia, and ended in Cape Verde.
Ghana: Is Obama shaking his head in disbelief?
By Lord Aikins Adusei
Where is President Mills in all these? Why has he maintained his silence despite the call for him to step in?
Obama decided to choose Ghana out of about 48 countries in Africa South of the Sahara for his maiden visit because of what he calls Ghana's strong democratic credentials, human rights record, rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly and economic performance.
But barely one month after his visit he must be shaking his head for praising the country and authoring those praising words. He now wished he had not visited the country at all. He has now realised that Ghana too is an African country where nothing good could come from. The question he is asking is, "Is this the country that I visited just one month ago? I thought they were peaceful democrats who respect the rights of their citizens" shaking his head in disbelief. He is now angry with his advisors for deceiving him into choosing Ghana. "Ghana is no better than my father's Kenya" he might be exclaiming. "In my father's Kenya they steal, they arrest, they detain, they kill and they engage in violence during elections. In Ghana too they steal, they arrest, detain, kill and now in Akwatia election violence is ongoing. So what is the difference he might have asked Mr. Johnnie Carson his top envoy to Africa.
Ever since Obama's visit a lot has happened in the country. Barely a day goes without an opposition member been arrested and detained by the BNI or someone been beaten to death or shot dead by the Police and the BNI.
Ghana is slowly joining the likes of Zimbabwe where the state security apparatus arrest and detain Movement of Democratic Change MPs or members at will. Like Guinea where life has become so cheap that Ghana's ambassador was attacked by the state security forces, our nation too is slowly turning into a police state with the BNI arresting and detaining people and interrogating them without their lawyers being present.
We are told that Lawyers who followed Asamoah Boateng to the BNI were pushed and heckled by operatives of the Organisation. The lawyers were also not allowed to sit in during the BNI meeting with their client even though the laws of our land dictates that a person must have his lawyer present when being interrogated. Even though the BNI claims to have secured a bench warrant for Asamoah Boateng's arrest his lawyers were not shown a copy of the warrant.
Besides, the BNI operatives did not spare the wife of Asamoah Boateng. She too was dragged and pushed into a gutter. Like all unprofessional security agencies who use brute force, threats, intimidation, harassment the BNI is increasingly showing itself as no exception. Any cultured organisation treat women with respect and dignity but the behaviour of Atta Mills' BNI leaves much to be desired. Their unprofessional behaviour at the airport where they allowed Asamoah Boateng and his family to finish going through departure formalities only for them to enter the plane and ground it is a continuation of what they did in 2001 under Kufour regime where they harassed members of then NDC opposition members. Why did the BNI allow the family to board the plane before going in to disturb everyone there?
Betty Mould Iddrissu the Attorney General who should know better is as pathetic as the BNI itself. Instead of rising to defend Mrs. Asmoah Boateng and her children she has joined the BNI wagon in mistreating them. Women are their own enemies indeed. Consider the trauma Asabee's children are going through having to watch their parents being forcefully removed from the plane.
What examples are we setting for them? Two times they have seen their parents being yelled at, being dragged, being pushed around at the airport, in the plane. How can the peace lover Mills explain to these kids what is happening to their parents? Father of all indeed!
When a court ruled that the passport of the former foreign minister be handed to him the BNI and the Attorney General say no way. We will give to him at our time and place of choice. This shows that neither the BNI nor the A-G respect the court and its ruling. Contempt of law? Well Not in Atta Mills' Ghana. The BNI says it arrested and detained Asamoah Boateng because they could not locate him. Instead of going to Asabee's house the BNI went to his in-law's house as if Asabee lives in his in-law's house. What effort did the BNI make to contact Asabee's lawyers when the BNI could not find him? There is no indication that the BNI called Asabee's lawyers to find out about his whereabouts. Did the BNI leave a note in Asabee's house to the effect that he was being sought? The only excuse the government has given concerning Asabee's arrest is that he was arrogant when he was in government. But no where in our constitution has it said that a person should be arrested if he is arrogant.
Asamoah Boateng was prevented from travelling by the BNI even though he had told the court he would be travelling for a week. He was later arrested and detained for days and when his sympathisers organised themselves to hold a candle vigil for him they were tear gassed, beaten and murdered by the BNI and their police counterpart.
"Can't the BNI go about its work professionally without the drama that it is creating? Is the BNI aware that public opinion is against it?" a panel member retorted on Joy FM's program News File on Saturday 15 August 2009.
The culture of violence and impunity seem to be growing by the day. The recent election campaign violence in Akwatia where people have been killed and several vehicles destroyed all point to growing insecurity and lawlessness in the country. NPP General Secretary Nana Ohene Ntow claims he has been assaulted by NDC supporters with NDC's Asiedu Nkatia also making similar allegations. Supporters of both NPP and NDC are causing mayhem forcing a curfew to be imposed on the town. Due to the violence the Eastern Regional Security Council has been forced to issue a directive to the effect that the election cannot go on.
When Mpiani was invited by the BNI he too was detained for more than 10 hours before finally being released.
Mr. Sammy Crabbe, NPP Regional Chairman claims he was threatened with arrest and detention when he appeared before the BNI for a "friendly conversation." He has since sued the BNI and A-G for abuse of his human rights.
Peace FM Online has reported that the Eastern Regional Women´s Organiser of the NDC, Evelyn Ama Koran, was beaten by the Akwatia NDC executives, for being a hypocrite. Source:peacefmonline.com, Friday, 14 August 2009.
Since January 2009 Ghanaians have witnessed unemployed youth, apparently from the President's own NDC party threatening and forcefully seizing toilets in Accra, Cape Coast, Kumasi and Tamale. These NDC lawless thugs have used force, threats and intimidation against employees of National Youth Employment Programme and National Health Insurance Authority at Juaso, Bibiani and some other places and demanding their sack.
"The harassment of certain individuals by the NDC government is very unfortunate especially when the head of the government is a Law Professor who should know well when it comes to human rights abuses" says a Political Activist.
Slowly a peaceful nation is becoming like a banana republic. Former President Kufour has already warned that trouble is slowly brewing in the country saying the government is behaving like there has been a coup.
The Christian Council of Ghana, a well respected body in the country has also added its voice to the ongoing mistreatment of citizens of this nation. The Council on Friday 13 August 2009 expressed regret about recent events surrounding the former Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng and the Bureau of National Investigations and called for peace.
A statement signed by the Reverend Fred Deegbe, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said it had also noted with regret the loss of life and the alleged treatment of his wife and legal counsel on Thursday."We believe that citizens should be treated with honour and dignity in accordance with the law and due process, as we seek justice and accountability," it said.
The Christian Council of Ghana noted with concern the "culture of vendetta that seems to be taking root in our country" and called on the government and various leaders "to eschew this so that we can live in peace and progress and be the truly democratic and lawful country we seek to be". Source: Ghana News Agency, 14 August 2009.
The Council has therefore petitioned the President to step in to calm the situation but he seems not bothered, even though he professes to be a peace enthusiast. Will the President listen to the Christian Council? So far there is no indication that he will. The question many Ghanaians are asking is what would have happened if Mills had said he was not a peace loving man? Definitely half of Ghanaians may have been given to his dogs.
The Statesman in an editorial critically condemned the government for failing to protect the rights of its own citizens. Part of the editorial reads, "What we find most worrying is the posture of the government, specifically the President and his Attorney General, both of whom are lawyers. They are exhibiting a very worrying contempt for the rule of law and civil rights. The editorial quoted two prominent civil society actors calling on the government to protect the rights of its citizens rather than abusing them. "The head of Legal Resources, Edward Amuzu, is calling on Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu to rather focus on defending the fundamental rights and liberties of the citizen than to fighting against it", it says. Source: myjoyonline.com, Friday, 14 August 2009. But will they listen to such a good advice? No, I don't think so.
Where is President Mills?
And where is President Mills in all these? Where is his leadership in the ongoing saga and who is advising him to keep quiet while Ghanaians are being murdered? Has he chosen not to say anything for fear of being attacked by those who placed in him in the Castle? Is he trying to please the many factions in the NDC and Rawlings in particular for promising not to attack his government again? Does his silence mean that he is aware of everything that is going on but has chosen not to do anything about it? Mr. President what could be more important issue to attend to than BNI's infringement of people's human rights? Nobody knows what is going on except you Mr. President.
There are two words that sum up Mills' poor handling of everything in the country. Weak leadership. Since he took office Mills seems to have been overwhelmed by the responsibilities of government and as a result has chosen to blame his predecessor for all his woes. He has constantly been saying that the debt incurred under Kufour's regime is preventing him from improving the economy. A very cheap excuse isn't it?
Is President Mills not worried about the spate of defeats that his government continue to suffer from the Courts? Is he not worried about the poor performance of the economy which has taken a nose dive since he took office? The Governor of Bank of Ghana has declared that he can no longer work with the Law Professor and as such he is calling it quit at the end of this August. This apparently is because of the poor handling of the economy by Mills and his agents.
The economic situation in the country seems to have moved from worse to the unthinkable and there are many indicators which point to the fact that the economy has been left to sink under the watchful eyes of the President. Since taking office, inflation has been soaring, hitting more than 20% in June. Fuel prices are higher today than they used to be 6 months ago. Unemployment is more than 20% and is still rising steadily with companies like Vodafone threatening to slash over 950 jobs. The Cedi has lost more than 30% of its value putting prices of commodities beyond the reach of the ordinary Ghanaian.
Under the watchful eye of the President fuel shortages is becoming a norm with drivers in Greater Accra, Volta, Brong Ahafo and Northern Regions being forced to queue for long hours to the detriment of their businesses. Fishermen in the country have complained bitterly that they cannot get premix fuel to go fishing despite the fact that they are in their peak season, a situation that has forced them to issue threats to government that they will hit the streets if nothing is done to salvage the situation.
In a message that sums up the failure of Mills' government and the displeasure of Ghanaians with the performance of the government someone texted to Joy News at 6pm that "Mills promised us free fuel, now we cannot get it to buy. Better Ghana indeed".
Source: Joy News at 6pm, Wednesday, 12 August 2009.
Depicting a government that is in disarray, sick and falling apart, the Spokesperson for Jerry Rawlings, Mr. Kofi Adams has even called on the President to stop sleeping behind the wheel and sack people in his government that he Adams considers to be saboteurs. "In as much as their actions are condemnable, I think that the best thing for the President to do is to quickly clear out those who are perceived to be sabotaging his administration, to satisfy party members," he said, adding "We have four years mandate from Ghanaians and they expect us to deliver. If there are some people who are sabotaging the government, they must be removed". "We want to deliver to the people of Ghana and if one's actions are clearly undermining the activities of the government, then that person must be sacked for another person to take over". Source:The Chronicle, Thursday, 06 Aug 2009.
There are reports that NDC Propagandists in the Northern and other Regions have turned against the government and is bashing it for failing the nation. One such Propagandist is Mahama Sayibu, "a regular radio panelist who until now was seen as a supporter of the party and spoke in its favour on local radio stations, seems to be moving to a different direction. He has in recent times taken an entrenched position, made a u-turn and lashing at the Mills administration, to the shock of the NDC party kingpins in the region. Source:Daily Guide, Monday, 10 August 2009.
To make matters worse the government has suffered even in the areas where it has placed much effort. Over the last couple of weeks the government has suffered defeat after defeat in Court.
The defeats and the refusal to contest Mr. Crabbe's case have further sent a shockwave to the centre of the administration, demoralizing the already dysfunctional government machinery and sucking the remaining energy of ministers and staff alike. The Attorney General and her deputy who were caught pants down, have issued pronouncements to the effect that government is not pleased with the three judgments. Why will the government be happy when Mills is sleeping behind the wheel?
The heart of the government was further shattered by the wind of deep seated corruption that has been blowing in the government and in the party. First came the confirmation by the Auditor General that its report has implicated Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni (current Foreign Minister) in financial malfeasance and wrong-doing. Then came the corrupt Muntaka khebab and pampas saga and allegation that he travelled to Germany with Ms Edith Zenayela who is believed to be his girl friend at the expense of the nation forcing him to resign as sports minister.
The Muntaka saga was quickly followed by the allegations that Mr. Mahama Ayariga, Spokesperson of the President purchased five tractors meant for poor Ghanaian farmers and paid for only one.
A black hole was created in government when it was revealed that the Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffour suggested that, "donor inflows to the country must be channeled through his bank, Unibank" forcing Dr. Duffour to vehemently deny it.
But his denials did not settle the matter for the government when news surfaced in Nigeria and Ghana that the NDC's 2008 election victories were made possible through a $3.5m illegal cash donation made to Jerry Rawlings by the Governor of Rivers State in Nigeria. While panting for breadth the government and the party were given knockout blow when the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom begun court proceedings against Mabey & Johnson for paying millions of pounds as bribe to top officials of the NDC government that ruled between 1994 and 1999.
In admitting the failure of his government Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communication speaking on Joy FM's News File programme on August 8, 2009 said "the recent premix saga was embarrassing for the government and promised it will never recur".
Also speaking to Joy News? Elvis Adjetey, a youth activist of NDC Mr. Mohammed Aboagye said the leadership has not shown interest in the welfare of those at the grassroots since the party assumed office. He said "the way and manner our leadership are behaving now, leaves the grassroots supporters with little hope." Source: myjoyonline.com, Tuesday, 11 August 2009
And he is not alone with that assessment. Mr. Gabriel Aggah founder of Atta Mills Foundation in an interview with the Chronicle descended heavily on the government and its operatives accusing them of growing horns while doing nothing to help the ordinary Ghanaian.
My advice to President Mills is that he must get serious and solve the many problems facing the nation. And to all those who wish Ghana well I want to urge them to stand up and defend the constitution and the rights of citizens of this nation. We must not forget that what is happening in Somalia, Sudan and other places did not start in a day. They are the fruits of years of harassment, detention, torture. Rwanda was not plunged into turmoil in a day. A seed was sown and was nurtured before it started bearing the fruit that resulted in 800,000 people been murdered in just under three months.
The onus is on President Mills to act. He can choose to rein in on his attack dogs or he can choose to ignore the atrocities they are committing and allow the problem to fester on before exploding into another Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Chad or Zimbabwe. As for Obama he is still disappointed but he has consoled himself knowing very well that Ghana is still part of Africa.
Blood Investments
By Ralph Peters
What Our Leaders Don´t Think Through
In Washington, politicians of all persuasions toss around the word "strategy." But it's rare to meet anyone inside the Beltway who understands what it means.
A strategy applies the necessary means to achieve a clearly defined goal. If your goal is unclear, you won't get the means right, either. So we wind up in Vietnam, Somalia, Iraq or Afghanistan with our national fingers crossed.
The clearest way to explain strategy is in terms of your personal investments. Your goal is a positive return. The more you're asked to risk, the greater the potential return has to be. And you don't pile your savings into a chronic money-loser.
The problem is that, before investing, you weigh the pros and cons more critically than our political leaders think through our wars -- in which our investment isn't only treasure, but blood.
You wouldn't invest without calculating the potential pay-off. Yet our elected officials, Democrat and Republican, are too lazy to fill out the investment-planning worksheet before piling on more troops:
What precisely do we want to achieve?
Is our goal realistic?
Does the potential return justify the risk?
Do we understand the need to cut irretrievable losses?
You wouldn't knowingly dump your 401(K) money in a fund that's lost money for every previous investor for hundreds of years. But that's what successive administrations did in Somalia and, more painfully, Afghanistan.
Consider Afghanistan as an investment proposition. Initially, we had to make a short-term outlay to shatter a cut-throat competitor's business model. But then, without even reviewing the books, we conducted a hostile takeover of a huge derelict factory (where our rival had briefly squatted) that had been a chronic money pit for every previous owner.
As we try to modernize the Afghan plant, local managers steal us blind and the workers sabotage our efforts. Even if we break the Taliban "union," the labor is unskilled and the product line is worthless. We'll have to subsidize this factory forever.
Does that make sense to you?
Really, what does the Obama administration hope to do in Afghanistan? Establish a stable democracy in a land where blood vendettas last for centuries and tribal loyalties trump all? Force a secular constitution on a society that prefers religious law? Develop a modern economy where running water is a rarity? Why?
Obama Administration Says: Hooray for Jihad
By Prof. Barry Rubin
I´m beginning to understand the Obama administration strategy, at least in its initial phase, as a "bridge too far" approach. That expression came after the heroic Allied operation at Arnheim in World War Two, when what seemed a clever idea—to capture a key bridge far ahead of the existing Allied lines—turned into a military disaster.
For example, take Obama´s Cairo speech. He didn´t just try to build good relations with Muslims but to whitewash the history and practices of Islamic polities and peoples completely. Or he doesn´t just try to engage Iran but to do so by removing all criticisms of the regime and most of his potential leverage over it. (Yes, I know that movement toward increased sanctions is supposed to be happening but the Obama administration has been taking its time and, to use another expression: Too little, too late.)
This reflection is generated by a major speech just given by John O. Brennan, Obama´s top counterterrorism advisor. He declares the "war on terrorism" is over and redefines it as a war on al-Qa´ida and its partners.
Much argumentation is adduced to justify this alteration and some of it is certainly persuasive. But there are two extraordinarily important points that go unnecessarily too far and may be extremely damaging in the future.
The first is that the United States is not at war with "terrorism" in general but only those terrorists who directly attack the United States. But what about terrorists who attack allies? While most obviously this refers to Israel—does the United States not view Hamas and Hizballah as its adversaries any more?--there are many other examples.
"Fortunately," one might be able to define terrorists in Indonesia, the Philippines, Morocco, Algeria, perhaps Somalia, and Afghanistan as linked to al-Qa´ida but what, for example, about those attacking India, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Russia, Colombia, China, or Lebanon (those shadowy Syrian-directed groups)?
In other words, this new administration position could be defined as a counterterrorist isolationist policy which sends the message: Know, thou terrorist, that you can attack anyone but the United States and we will not view you as full enemies.
So, American allies, if your people are blown up at a movie theatre or gunned down at a school or if someone explodes a bomb on an airliner full of passengers, you better hope that you can link the group responsible to al-Qa´ida or forget about getting strong U.S. support.
Second, and really shocking, is that the U.S. government has validated the concept of Jihad. Can one think of another example in history where the United States officially defined a religious concept?
Here are Brennan´s words:
"Nor does President Obama see this challenge as a fight against `jihadists.' Describing terrorists in this way--using a legitimate term, `jihad,´ meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal--risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself. And this is why President Obama has confronted this perception directly and forcefully in his speeches to Muslim audiences, declaring that America is not and never will be at war with Islam."
The U.S. government has now officially defined Jihad as a purifying act taken to achieve a moral goal. In Washington this seems brilliant—we will deny the terrorists the ability to use Islamic symbols and show they are not really properly Muslims but renegades!
Yeah, that will show them, no doubt. But, you see, there´s one problem. Hundreds of millions of Muslims are unconcerned with how the U.S. government defines their religion. The definition of Jihad in practice has been—depending on your viewpoint—either altered or applied much more vigorously during the last few decades.
For example, and this is really an innovation, suicide bombing under proper conditions--that is, killing the "right" people--has been defined by many clerics whose credentials to issue fatwas are stronger than Brennan's as a purifying act in pursuit of a moral goal. Wiping Israel off the map has been defined as a moral goal, too.
In fact, the Obama administration's fatwa used precisely the same definition employed by al-Qa´ida in attacking the World Trade Center. The United States, it argues, attacks Muslims both directly and indirectly, by supporting governments like those of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, for example. Holy struggle? Check! To obey God and smite the devil´s allies. Moral goal? Check! The defense of Islam and Muslims against ruthless aggression.
What will Muslims make of this new U.S. policy? Some, those who are least politically active, will like it. Others, the most extreme, will view it as a lying trick and ignore it. And still others, supporters of revolutionary Islamism but more "moderate"--in purely relative terms, of course, as they still back the transformation of society into an Islamist dictatorship--will consider it as a signal of support for their cause.
Almost every influential, publicly active Islamic cleric defines murdering Israelis as appropriate Jihad. A very large number, probably a majority define killing Americans in Afghanistan or Iraq as proper Jihad. Even in general, the issue in defining "proper" Jihad is not so much to avoid killing civilians but killing "innocent" civilians, and that definition can be rather problematic.
And, no, it doesn't matter if you find Muslim professors or writers in North America or Europe who give you their personal, reformist, view of Islam along with a more benign interpretation of Jihad. We are not talking here about a theoretical or academic issue but the actual interpretations used by those clerics who influence thousands of followers in the Middle East.
Does a group of amateurs with the most limited grasp of Islamic theology and law—and whose expert advisors are often not much better—really need to decide that Jihad is legitimate and always good? Do we now have official U.S. government approval for the wars of Islam in the seventh century as good and proper?
What next? A definition of the Crusade in Christianity as a purifying struggle for a moral goal? After all, they sought to free the Holy Land from the infidels, right? All those massacres were regrettable byproducts but justified at the time, just as the definition of Jihad justifies such things today.
And by the way, Brennan also said that while Hizbzllah began as a purely terrorist organization in the early 1980s it has evolved significantly over time: "I am pleased to see that a lot of Hizballah individuals are, in fact, renouncing their type of terrorism and violence and are trying to participate in the political process in a very legitimate fashion."
I can't think of a single "Hizballah individual" who has done this--not one! Yes, they participate in the political process because that is the job given them by the organization, while others carry on with their militia and terrorist activities. Do they act in "legitimate fashion"? Well, if you consider using Iranian money to buy votes and threats of mayhem to keep people from criticizing them, I don't think of this as "normal" politics in any democratic sense of that term.
But now we have the presidential advisor on counterterrorism acting as an apologist for Hizballah. Scary, right?
Like many moves of the Obama administration, in domestic policy also, this is visibly mistaken. Spotting these errors is simple and should have led to their being avoided. But so sure is it of its ideological approach; so arrogant over its class and credential privileges, so certain that criticism of media and academia is silenced or turned into praise, that warnings of, "Hey, captain, change course. You're heading right for the rocks!—aren't being heard, much less heeded.
This is the basic formula for policy disaster throughout history. Funny that all those songs about the Vietnam war have come home to roost for those who think they are doing the opposite. Here´s how the Stalinist troubadour Pete Seeger put it referring to President Lyndon Johnson:
"Well, I'm not going to point any moral;
I'll leave that for yourself
Maybe you're still walking, you're still talking
You'd like to keep your health.
But every time I read the papers
That old feeling comes on;
We're -- waist deep in the Big Muddy
And the big fool says to push on."
But it always takes two to tango: The Corruptor and the Corrupted!
Africa's problem is corruption and leaders' insatiable greed
By Jerry Okungu
An east African perspective
When did Somalis overthrow Siad Barre? It must be 20 years now or there about.
After Siad Barre, came one General Aideed. He is the Somali warlord credited with disorganising the America humanitarian marines deployed to bring food supplies, law and order into war-torn Somalia in the early days of Bill Clinton's presidency.
The encounter left the Americans with blood on their noses and a humiliating experience that saw a dead body of one marine dragged along Mogadishu streets as barefoot Somali fighters celebrated America's humiliation. These horror pictures were so devastating to the American public back home that Bill Clinton ordered the operation stopped and the rest of the marines evacuated. The only remaining super power had been badly humiliated by a wretched ragtag army in the Third World.
For close to 20 years, successive American administrations have been weary of meddling in Somali conflict. More importantly, America has thought it wise not to engage Somalis directly for whatever reason as they have done with Iraqis, Afghans, Koreans and Vietnamese in recent years. Instead, they have used neighbouring countries like Ethiopia and Uganda to contain the Osama bin Laden influence in that chaotic lawless country.
The downing of an American fighter helicopter in Mogadishu was horrific enough.
The myth of American airpower was put in doubt. This informs why for the last six years, since George Bush launched massive bombing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to rout Al Qaeda from those enclaves, it is difficult to measure credible successes compared to massive destruction of infrastructure, millions of civilian lives lost and thousands of American soldiers killed in those conflicts.
The American involvement in the current Somali conflict is something that has confused analysts on the scene. More curiously, it has not been the kind of involvement that would be considered humanitarian. It is more to do with arms supplies to one side of the conflict than anything else.
One wonders what will happen if the present good boy of Mogadishu turns against the hands that fed him just like Osama bin Laden did after the Russian Afghan conflict. It is obvious to us that when Ethiopia decided to invade Somalia in support of the ousted Abdulahi Yusuf, it was to defeat an Islamic 'terrorist' group then led by the current interim president. The Ethiopian air power scattered the Islamic courts insurgents forcing their commanders to take refuge in Yemen. Now, hardly a year later, this former Al Qaeda sympathiser has suddenly become the good boy worthy of American arms supply.
America's involvement in the Horn of Africa's conflict is not something new. It is as old as our independence. We remember that at one point when Siad Barre's regime was the darling of the Soviet Union,
Americans were the biggest supporters of Emperor Haile Selassie. However, when the brutal Mengitsu Haile Mariam overthrew the monarch and established a communist socialist regime on the model of the Kremlin with full backing from Moscow, Americans quickly filled the vacuum the USSR had left in Mogadishu.
Therefore as the Ogaden war erupted between Ethiopia and Somalia, it was really a war of influence between Moscow and Washington. No wonder no one won the war. Yet both super powers achieved their primary objectives. Their arms industries found ready-made markets in the Horn of Africa. And even after the Ogaden war, other civil wars had to continue in both countries for decades with Ethiopian one being conducted in two phases. The first phase had to do with getting rid of Mengitsu while the second phase pitted former allies against one another.
It was Eritrea's war of cessation. As Ethiopia continued to slide deeper and deeper into protracted civil wars, Somalia never rested after the Ogaden war either. More prolonged conflicts finally threw Siad Barre out in the early 1990s. One would have expected a new regime, more humane to replace Barre and restore sanity into the country. It was not to be. The era of warlords had arrived.
We all know that very few African countries are in the business of manufacturing arms of any kind save for South Africa. We are all net importers of military armaments we deploy in our conflicts. We don't even manufacture gas masks, teargas, bullet-proof vests and helmets. All we export to industrialised Europe, America and China are raw materials like oil, diamonds, gold, uranium, tea and coffee, most of which they extract themselves and pay us peanuts for! In exchange, our countries have huge and secretive military budgets that we must spend year in year out whether we are at war or not.
This state of affairs has been made worse by our selfish, unfocused and uncaring political leadership from our region for nearly half a century. At the centre of it all is deep-seated corruption and insatiable greed for individual wealth. This is the greed that has enslaved our countries to the industrialised nations with occasional belief that we can depend on them in our hour of need when hunger ravages our neighbourhoods. It is a slave-master relationship that will take time to break.
At UN, Norway's Trashing of Ban Stirs Rumors of Endgame
By Matthew Russell Lee
The indictment of the administration of the UN by Ban Ki-moon signed by Norway's deputy ambassador Mona Juul [full text below] gathered strength and supporters on Thursday. Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Marie Okabe on August 19 for Ban's view of Juul's memo and "how does it impact his planned trip to Norway at the end of this month?"
Ms. Okabe answered that "We do not know the veracity of the reports to which you refer... we have not announced the Secretary-General´s next travel plans." Transcript here.
Thursday it emerged that the plan had been to announced Ban's Norway trip on August 19, but that the announcement was pulled back in the face of news of and questions about the Juul memo. Inner City Press has interviewed two senior Ban administration officials, both of whom acknowledge that Juul's critique is devastating, even debilitating.
Norway is a big donor, one of them said, noting that Sudan, on the other end of the spectrum, has also protested Ban. "Who will stand up for him?" the other official asked rhetorically. Of the reheated rumors in the memo, including that top humanitarian John Holmes might replace Vijay Nambiar as Ban's chief of staff, as Inner City Press has previously predicted, the official said that Holmes might do a better job. But India, then, would need another post.
The Ban administration officials both said that a new communications strategy is needed. They speculated who will takeover as spokesperson in November. While one has been predicting another outsider from Newsweek, the better placed official now predicts a French speaker from within the Outreach Division of the Department of Public Information. It's been a disaster, both conceded, of recent and reduced UN noon briefings.
Things are actually worse that Juul presents them, in that her memo does not touch on the brewing nepotism and corruption scandals at the UN.
Several under-reported aspect of Juul's memo are eye catching: her description of Deputy Secretary General Migiro's limited scope of responsibility, her diplomatic dismissal of Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann as a "rather special President of the General Assembly." She hits Ban even on his signature issue, climate change. Juul describes "a culture of decision-making which is marked by information both up and down the system being filtered by the omnipresent assistant chief of cabinet Kim" Won-soo.
Self- (or Norway-) servingly, Juul wrote that "Ban has consistently chosen special representatives and leaders in the Secretariat who don´t distinguish themselves, except for the case of Afghanistan" -- the SRSG is Norwegian, Kai Eide. One wonders why Juul didn't in the memo praise her husband, USG Terje Roed Larsen.
Also ill-informed was Juul's quip that "As a woman from that part of the world, [UNDP's Helen ] Clark could quickly become a competitor for Ban´s second period." New Zealand may geographically be in Asia, but politically at the UN it is part of the WEOG (Western European and Other Group). More likely is the scenario first laid out by Inner City Press, that China in exchange for getting to head the World Bank in 2012 allows another group -- possible WEOG or an Eastern European -- to take over the UN Secretary General's post. Click here for that Inner City Press exclusive; see below for full text of Juul. Watch this site.
The Juul memo, translated by the "Group of Friend on Inner City Press," is below:
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moons fruitless visit to Burma at the beginning of July was emblematic of a Secretary-General and an organization that is struggling to show leadership. At a time where the UN and the need for multilateral solutions to global crises is more necessary than ever, Ban and the UN are conspicuous by their absence. In the last half-year, follow-up to the many crises that dominated last fall´s General Assembly should have brought the Secretary-General and the UN fully into the fray, but the opposite seems to have occurred.
In relation to the financial crisis, neither the Secretary-General nor the General Assembly – despite the major meeting on the financial crisis at the end of June – have distinguished themselves as the most important arena for discussion, and the vacuum has been filled by the G-20 and other actors. Ban's voice on behalf of the G-192 and the poor has hardly [there´s a misspelling in the original; "kapt" is not a word but "knapt" means "hardly"] registered. An at times invisible Secretary-General in combination with a rather special President of the General Assembly has gone far to sideline the UN, and the organization hasn´t realized its limits. On the environment/energy area the UN is also struggling to be relevant, despite the planned high-level meeting on climate change at the opening of the General Assembly this fall. Even though the Secretary-General to the point of boredom repeats that Copenhagen is supposed to "seal the deal," there is widespread worry that the UN-high-level meeting won´t contribute notably to the process leading up to Copenhagen.
In the many political/security crises around the world, the Secretary-General´s leadership and ability to deliver on behalf of the UN is still being sought. Burma is a shining example of this. There was no lack of warning that the Secretary-General shouldn´t go at this time. The Americans were among the most doubtful to his trip, but the British thought he should go. Special Representative Gambari was initially also doubtful, but Ban insisted. Gambari pointed to the fact that recent negative press coverage (headlines like "Whereabouts unknown in The Times and "Nowwhere Man [sic]" in Foreign Policy) had made Ban even more set on visiting Burma. After an apparently fruitless visit by the Secretary-General, the UN´s "good offices" will become even more problematic. Special Representative Gambari will have big problems continuing after "the top man" has failed and the generals in Yangoon [sic] no longer want to meet him.
Another example of weak handling from the Secretary-General´s side is the war in Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General was a powerless observer to civilians in their thousands losing their lives and being driven from their homes. The authorities in Colombo refused to receive the Secretary-General while the war was going on, but he was an honored guest -- and he accepted the invitation -- once the war had been "won." Even though the UN´s humanitarian effort had been active and honorable enough, the Secretary-General´s moral voice and authority have been absent.
Also in other "crisis areas," for example Darfur, Somalia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and not least Congo, the Secretary-General´s passive and not very committed appeals seem to fall on deaf ears. Many would also claim that the handling of the inquiry commission after the war in Gaza ended up with an unsteady and too-careful follow-up.
More surprisingly, and therefore more disappointingly, Ban Ki-moon has been almost absent on the disarmament and non-proliferation area. This was a field he himself presented as one of his priority areas before he started his post. The reorganization of the department of disarmament to an office directly answerable to the Secretary-General, led by a High Representative indicated a big stake in this area, also given the Secretary-General´s own background on the Korean peninsula. With a new nonproliferation treaty review in 2010 and an American administration which has put the team much higher on the agenda, it´s cause for concern that the Secretary-General isn´t more committed.
The common thread in all these cases is that an unclear Secretary-General with a lack of charisma is not compensated for by high-profile and visible colleagues. Ban has consistently chosen special representatives and leaders in the Secretariat who don´t distinguish themselves, except for the case of Afghanistan. Furthermore, he seems to prefer to be in the center himself, without competition from his colleagues, and lets it shine through pretty clearly that commenting to the media is a privilege belonging to himself. The result is that the UN becomes a less visible and relevant player in areas where it would have been natural and necessary for an active UN-engagement. A notable exception is the selection of Helen Clark as the new leader for UNDP. She has in her short time on the job shown promise. It will be interesting to follow if she is given room to distinguish the UN´s development side. As a woman from that part of the world, Clark could quickly become a competitor for Ban´s second period.
It was common knowledge that it was a conscious choice [NB! The Norwegian word "bevist" which is written here means "proven," but in this context it appears to be a misspelling of the word "bevisst" meaning "conscious."] from the then-current American administration that an activist Secretary-General was not wanted. The new American administration hasn´t yet signaled any change in their attitude to Ban, even though there are rumors that some people in Washington are now referring to Ban as "a one-term SG". It´s said that the people around both Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton are very negative to Ban, but the two are yet to speak on the matter. China is probably pretty happy with him and it´s primarily China which holds the key to whether Ban will be renewed for a second term. Russia has for a long time been dissatisfied with the Secretary-General both in terms of his handling of Kosovo and Georgia, but also because of a lack of recruitment of Russians to important positions. At the same time, Russia is well served by a Secretary-General who isn´t too interventionist.
Among the remainder of the member states one notices that the perception of Ban at the midway point is growing steadily more negative. Among the many who thought he should be given some more time, that everything would get better once he warmed up, and that the comparison to his predecessor´s charisma was unfair, the tune is now that the beginner´s goodwill [direct translation: "learning potential"] appears to be spent and that a lack of charisma is actually a problem. The Secretary-General seems to function well enough when he sticks to the script, and shows up to a lot of meetings and other events. The problem arises when he´s "on his own" where he can´t manage to set the agenda, create enthusiasm and show leadership – not internally either. Ban´s lack of engagement and lack of interest in mastering the issues means that he doesn´t become an effective player or negotiator in the many conflict situations he is expected to handle.
The mood at "the house" is still characterized as not very motivated, with a culture of decision-making which is marked by information both up and down the system being filtered by the omnipresent assistant chief of cabinet Kim. After recent negative media stories about the Secretary-General, the mood on the 38th floor is said to be pretty tense. Ban has constant temper tantrums [direct translation: outbreaks of rage] which even levelheaded [the Norwegian word "sindig" is untranslatable and describes a quality of being capable and calm as well as having common sense] and experienced colleagues have trouble handling. The relationship with next-in-command Migiro is as strained and her sphere of action appears to have shrunk even further. There are constant rumors of replacements and switch-overs. In addition to rumors that Migiro is on her way out, it´s rumored that OCHA-boss Holms [sic], who is roundly praised, is taking over as Chef de Cabinet, and that Nambiar is quitting. The same is said about the head of the political department, Pascoe, and that Holms [sic] is also a candidate to taking over his job. The British are probably still very concerned about getting that post back. These are, however, only rumors and most probably, Ban will continue with the same crew – at least ´till the end of this year. If that´s good enough for a second term only time will tell.
UN's Ban Slammed by Norway's Juul, on Burma and Sri Lanka Trips, Should Oslo Be Canceled?
By Matthew Russell Lee
As UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon returned to New York after ten days in South Korea, soon to turn around and visit Norway by the end of the month, he was confronted by an embarrassing leak in the Norwegian foreign ministry of Deputy Permanent Representative Mona Juul's unflattering assessment of his "failed" trips to Myanmar and Sri Lanka, his flying into rages and ineffective leadership.
That Ms. Juul is also the spouse of Ban's Under Secretary General Terje Roed Larsen makes the criticism all the more telling. What will Ban Ki-moon do?
While Ban was in South Korea, a month after Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe refused to allow him a meeting or photo op with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, precisely such a visit was allowed to U.S. Senator Jim Webb. When Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe was asked by Inner City Press and others if Ban had any comment on Webb's more successful visit -- he also left the country with another Suu Kyi visitor, John Yettaw, freeing him from seven years of hard labor -- Ms. Okabe tersely said no, no comment. Later her Office issued a "response to questions at the noon briefing" begrudgingly acknowledging the Webb visit.
Ban's record on Sri Lanka has gotten even worse. During his visit in late May, he smiled as Tamil children imprisoned by the government in UN funded camps at Manik Farms were forced to sing his name. Now, those camps have become flooded, including with raw sewage. The government blames the UN, and Ban's UN has said nothing.
What is the purpose of Ban's planned August 31 visit to Norway? Should it not now be called off, and Team Ban get back to their actual mending work -- including addressing the proliferating nepotism and corrupt hiring scandals -- at the UN?
Our Wish-list for Ban is Long: - here only a few in connection with Somalia:
End the puppet-games and let the Somali people freely decide, who their leaders shall be.You are not the Somali overLord and Ould-Abdallah is not the president of Somalia.
Order UNHCR to pro-actively work in solving the refugee-camp situations and not to increase "business". Refugee camps are not like open-air festivals, and their success is not measured in "as-more-as-better"! Pay and promote UNHCR staff not based on numbers of refugees in a country.
Order UNHCR to immediately reinstate special programmes and assistance for minorities among the Somali refugees.
Order WFP to never bring any GMO-contaminated food or agricultural seed into Somalia.
Tell the world honestly that the naval escorts actually are not necessary in the moment, because you deal with powerfull warlords in Somalia to handle the food global taxpayers donate and that they might only be necessary for a transitional phase when you change the present system and would push for fair and free food distribution.
Squash UN Security Resolution 1851 immediately, because it is based on an illegal letter and a violation of international law.
And last but not least: Have your own government of South-Korea impose a strict ban for S.-Korea-linked illegal fishing vessels to stay out of the Somali waters - at once and for all time.
Awww, Snap! Leaked U.N. Memo Calls Ban Ki-moon 'Spineless and Charmless'
By Katie Paul - Newsweek
If you don't have something nice to say, you probably shouldn't say it at all. And if you're a senior diplomat at the United Nations, you certainly shouldn't write it.
But write it she did. Mona Juul, Norway's No. 2 at the U.N., wrote a confidential internal memo slamming Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's leadership as weak, ineffective, lacking in charisma, and—more often than not—just plain absent. Yesterday, the memo leaked to the Norwegian press. Ms. Juul, on vacation with her husband, was unavailable to mop up the mess.
It's sure to be an unpleasant episode for all involved, but it's about time someone said it. As the memo's juiciest tidbits point out, this opinion has been the word on the street at the U.N. for some time. It's no secret that the previous U.S. administration was more than content to have an ineffective leader steering the U.N. ship. That may not be the case anymore. In the most noteworthy paragraph, Ms. Juul reveals rumors that Washington may not be keen to keep Mr. Ban on for second term. They may run into opposition from China, which is perfectly happy to maintain the organization's status quo. If President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and U.N. Ambassador Rice are serious about engaging with the U.N., this is a development to keep an eye on.
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In the meantime, read the wonky smack talk itself, reprinted here. It comes to us via Foreign Policy, which grabbed it from Norwegian paper Aftenposten:
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's fruitless visit to Burma in the beginning of July is indicative of a Secretary-General and an organization who are struggling to show leadership. In a time when the UN and the need for multilateral solutions to global crises are more needed than ever, Ban and the UN are conspicuous by their absence. During the last six months, where the follow-up to the many crises that left their imprint on the General Assembly during the fall should have brought the Secretary-General and the UN into play at full force, the opposite seems to have happened.
In relation to the financial crisis, neither the Secretary-General nor the General Assembly—despite the summit on the financial crisis during the end of June—have shown themselves to be the most important arena, and the vacuum is being filled by the G-20 and other actors. Ban's voice on behalf of the G-172 and the poor is barely being registered. And at times an invisible Secretary-General, in combination with a rather special president of the General Assembly, has to a large extent placed the UN on the sidelines and the organisation has not known when to act. In the environment/energy area the UN also struggles to be relevant, despite the planned climate summit at the opening of the General Assembly in the fall. Even though the Secretary-General repeats ad nauseam that Copenhagen must "seal the deal", there is widespread concern that the UN summit will not contribute anything worth mentioning in the process towards Copenhagen.
In the many political/security-related crises around the world the Secretary-General's leadership and ability to deliver on behalf of the international organization are also found wanting. Burma is a shining example.There was no shortage of warnings that the Secretary-General should not go at this time. The Americans were among the most skeptical of him going, while the British believed he should. Special Envoy Gambari was also skeptical at the outset, but Ban insisted. Gambari noted that recent negative press (with headlines such as "Whereabouts unknown" in The Times and "Nowhere Man" in Foreign Policy) had made Ban even more determined to visit Burma. After a seemingly fruitless visit by the Secretary-General, the UN's "good offices" will be made even more difficult. Special Envoy Gambari will have major problems during the aftermath, after "the top man" has failed and the generals in Yangoon no longer want to meet with him.
Another example of weak handling by the Secretary-General is the war in Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General was a powerless observer to thousands of civilians losing their lives and becoming displaced from their homes. The authorities in Colombo refused to see the Secretary-General while the war was ongoing, but he was heartily invited—and accepted an invitation—as soon as the war was "won". Even though the UN's humanitarian effort has been active and honest enough, the moral voice and authority of the Secretary-General has been missing.
In other "crises areas" such as Darfur, Somalia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and not least the Congo, the Secretary-General's appeals, often irresolute and lacking in dedication, seem to fall on deaf ears. Many would also claim that the handling of the investigative committee, following the war in Gaza, ended with an unstable and overly careful followup.
More surprising, and all the more disappointing, is that Ban Ki-moon has been almost absent on the issue of disarmament and non-proliferation. This was an issue he himself held forward as a principal area of focus before he took over his post. The re-organisation of the department for disarmament into an office directly under the Secretary-General, run by a High Representative, signalled a major focus on this area, also given the Secretary-General's background on the Korean peninsula. With discussions of a new non-proliferation agreement in 2010 and a U.S. administration that have put the theme much higher on the agenda, it is discouraging that the Secretary-General is not to a larger degree involved.
What all these examples have in common is that a spineless and charmless Secretary-General has not compensated this by appointing high profile and visible coworkers. Ban has systematically appointed Special Representatives and top officials in the Secretariat who have not been visibly outstanding—with the exception of Afghanistan. In addition he seems to prefer to be in the center without competition from his coworkers and has implied quite clearly that press statements are for him exclusively. The result is that the UN is a less visible and relevant actor in various areas where it would have been natural and necessary for the UN to be engaged. An honorable exception is the appointment of Helen Clark as the new leader of UNDP. She has in a short time, done good things. It will be interesting to see if she will be given space to give the UN a profile in the area of development. As a woman from this side of the world, Clark could soon turn into a candidate for Ban´s second term.
It is common knowledge that it was a deliberate choice of the former US administration not to prefer an activist Secretary-General. The current American Administration has not yet signalled any changes in its postition towards Ban, however, there are rumours that in certain quarters in Washington Ban is referred to as a "one term SG." It is understood that people in the circles of Susan Rice and Hillary Clinton are very negative to Ban, but neither of them has given any declarations. China is also quite positive to him and it is primarily China who holds the key to Ban´s second mandate. Russia has for a long time been dissatisfied with the Secretary-General´s handling of both Kosovo and Georgia but also the lack of appointments of Russians to leading position at the UN. At the same time the Russians, however, have no problems with a not too-interventionist Secretary-General.
Half way through his term, one feels that the member states are increasingly negative towards Ban. Many considered that Ban should be given time and he would improve as he gained experience and any comparison with his charismatic predecessor was unfair. Among those, however, the tone has changed, and now the argument of his learning-potential has expired and the lack of charisma has become a burden. The Secretary-General seems to function quite well when he sticks to a script and performs at larger meetings and arrangements. The problem arises when he is "on his own" and is incapable of setting the agenda, inspiring enthusiasm and showing leadership—not even internally. The consequence of Ban´s lack of engagement and interest in studying well enough the problems is that he fails to be an effective actor or negotiator in the many negotiation processes he is supposed to handle.
The atmosphere in the "house" is described as being less than motivating. The decision making structure is hampered by the fact that all information both up and down is filtered by the omni-present chef de cabinet, Kim. After the latest round of negative media coverage, it is understood that the atmosphere on the 38th floor is rather tense. Ban has constant outbreaks of rage which even the most cautious and experienced staff find hard to tackle. The relations with the Deputy-Secretary-General Migiro are also tense and her marge de manouvre seems—if possible—to have decreased. There are constant rumours of replacements and reshuffling. In addition to constant rumours about Migiro leaving, there are rumours that the overwhelmingly well liked OCHA chief John Holmes will be promoted to chef de cabinet and that Nambiar will leave. Same goes with the head of DPA, Pascoe—Holmes is also tipped as a candidate for his succession. The Brits are understood to want that position "back". These are, however, only rumours and most likely Ban will continue with the same staff—at least until the end of the year. If that is enough to secure him another term, only time can tell.
Only when the UN seeks funds you hear the news - that fighting is going on already since month!
Yemen fighting displaces 35,000 more people, UN seeks funds
By: Richard Meares
A flare-up of fighting in north Yemen has sent some 35,000 people fleeing from their homes in the last fortnight alone, the United Nations said on Friday. Trapped in a remote mountain area with no air links and access roads blocked as government forces take on Shi'ite rebels, people were taking great risks to get out, even paying smugglers to rescue them. Yemeni forces have used air strikes, tanks and artillery in an offensive this month against the rebels led by Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the latest round in an intermittent five-year-old conflict. "Today it is a real tragedy," the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR's Yemen representative Claire Bourgeois said in a statement.
"Some internally displaced people are displaced for the second or third time. They were already living in precarious situations for months or even years and now they have to go through the drama all over again." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed this week for combatants to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to trapped civilians. The UNHCR quoted people fleeing the closed-off area as saying the situation seemed critical in the main town there, Sa'ada city, and further north towards the Saudi border. UNHCR, which has been supporting some 100,000 people affected by the fighting in the north since 2007, appealed to donor governments for another $5 million for this latest emergency to help pay for camps for the next four months. The plight of the civilians caught up worsened last month when the U.N.'s food agency WFP said it had been forced to halve monthly rations for all 100,000 due to lack of funds.
The UNHCR's annual budget for Yemen is $22 million - but that also has to cover help for some 150,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have made the dangerous journey to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden, most from Somalia. It stressed its figure of 35,000 more people leaving their homes was an estimate. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), working in the area, told AlertNet it could not yet provide a reliable estimate of the number of new internally displaced people (IDPs). "The ICRC and the Yemen Red Crescent Society have by now registered a total of about 12,000 newly arrived IDPs in the Sa'ada City, and the Baqim and Sahar districts of Sa'ada Governorate. Registrations are continuing," said a spokesman in Geneva. "The two organisations have also begun distributing essential household items and some IDPs have been provided with locally bought food supplies. The overall situation remains difficult."
Secessionist Violence
The resurgence of the conflict compounds the troubles of a country already grappling with secessionist violence in the south and a growing threat from al Qaeda militancy. The rebels, adherents of the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam -- a strongly tribal minority in mostly Sunni Muslim Yemen -- oppose Yemen's close ties with the United States and say they are defending their villages against government oppression. Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi blamed the rebels on Monday for the surge in fighting, saying they had ignored the president's declaration a year ago of an end to the war and all invitations since to renew dialogue. "Over the last six months they have tried to expand their influence," he told Reuters. "In the end, things exploded and we have this war going on now." He declined to give casualty figures for the fighting in an area barred to journalists and diplomats and where the few aid agencies operating are constrained by security concerns. Last week 15 Yemeni Red Crescent workers, including doctors and nurses, were temporarily kidnapped from IDP camps in Sa'ada governorate.
NIGERIA: NLC, mass revolt and coming revolution
By Adeola Aderounmu
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), has successfully conducted several protests in major state capitals in Nigeria. The process is ongoing and it is worth commending on the leadership and commitments of the NLC.
NLC is taking a message round Nigeria and this cannot be ignored at this critical moment of our history. Nigeria is at a point when extreme hopelessness pervades the land. We live at a time when absolute dictators and heartless rulers occupy government houses across the country. We bear the problems that have arisen due to lack of accountability, lack of probity and the dominance of authoritarianism.
In Nigeria today the problems are so enormous that the masses are at their own mercy. More than 90 million Nigerians live hopelessly, dejectedly, aimlessly and miserably. It doesn´t seem that there is any silver lining behind the dark cloud and from what we know today there is still darkness at the end of the tunnel as well. I mean real darkness.
NLC has continued to sensitise the nation on the need for good governance, on the need to alleviate/eradicate poverty, on the need for transparency in politics and also on the need to empower the Nigerian worker among other demands. NLC has not failed to join in the call for the full implementation of the recommendation of the Electoral Committee.
One remarkable feature of the nationwide peaceful demonstration of the NLC is that each time they reached the Government House in PDP controlled states, the governors are never on hand to receive the message.
No one should be surprised because PDP have no regards for the people´s opinion. The PDP government at the federal and state levels are agents of destructions and for as long as they can use the power of incumbency at the federal level (and because they are in control of INEC) they think that every election for the next 60 years will be rigging business as usual.
The burden is on NLC to use this machinery of people´s power to drive home some sane points. What the NLC is doing now is taking the march/protest from one state to another. Excellent! As we approach 2011 all pro-democracy and pressure groups in Nigeria have the responsibilities to ensure that the machinery that will conduct and supervise the next elections are made transparent and that they are genuine.
That the 2011 elections have been sealed and delivered is a dilemma that must be crushed and dismantled. Those who have been guaranteed victory when we don´t even have voters´ registration in place must be told that they are joking.
This is a strong message and no one should take this lightly.
For example before 2011 political prostitutes who keep shifting from one party to another must be taught two lessons using the appropriate media/means.
First is that after dumping the party with which they rode to power (legitimately or illegitimately) they ought to relinquish the mandates so that it remains with the parties that won them whichever way. Second is the fact that it behoves on the people of the affected states to read the handwriting on the wall that men who would display consistency with flirting and carpeting crossing have their own selfish interests as paramount and the interests of the masses, if any, as secondary.
Individuals who criss-cross every now and then have no place in nation building and the message must be taken across all states where mis-governance and looting of treasury are the order of the day.
In the absence of democratic structures that will show readiness for the conduct of peaceful, fair and transparent elections in 2011 it behoves on the civil society to resist the conduct of another sham selection that will retain the corrupt practices and shameful acts perpetrated by Iwu, Obasanjo, retired pot-bellied generals and the PDP machinery in 1999, 2003 and 2007. This time around we must resist any do-or-die process.
Every major party to the next election in Nigeria must be able to express satisfaction with the level of preparedness of the (awaiting-to-be-formed) Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria (IECN). No Nigerian political party should accept the presence of Maurice Iwu or any other person of shady character in such an independent body.
For this moment, Iwu should be ignored and anything that he says should be discarded. Iwu should be ignored into oblivion if his PDP mentors do not understand the simple message that Iwu cannot be in the picture come 2011.
Mr. Maurice Iwu is a man of dubious character and we need no reminder that his supervision of the conduct of the 2007 elections remains an everlasting negative stigma is the annals of human history.
He will go down in record as the worst political umpire the world has seen before and after Christ.
He must be ignored and removed and "his" INEC disbanded and thrown into the dustbin. Even recent elections in Western Nigerian depicted that Mr. Iwu is extremely incompetent.
NLC has a moral obligation to continue with his nationwide peaceful protests. But as the time approaches other organisations and individuals must not allow NLC to remain alone in the wilderness of the struggle for the emancipation of Nigeria and Nigerians.
The reign of evil must stop and it requires all the good men and women that it can garner along the way. This struggle is not for NLC alone. It is our fight for freedom, for justice and for the good of all.
As the time approaches NLC must be able to organise the demonstrations simultaneously in all the states of the federation including Abuja. The process must be sustained and it must be consistent.
This process of mass revolt when it becomes necessary must conform to the people´s power that this country lacks since independence or that has been crushed by wicked military and civilian governments in the past. The brutal killings in the aftermath of the 1993 elections come to mind. We have reached a time in our history when the voice of the people must be the overriding factor in how we move this country forward if we really want to.
Their absence on the streets when NLC demonstrated in Ibadan is probably a good indicator. They are probably tired and sick of the failed government. This struggle is a collective one and it can lead to the emancipation and eventual uprightness of all.
Regardless of the instruments of force that the dictators in Nigeria are ready to use to continue to keep us as slaves, I don´t see how they will succeed if the mass revolt is transformed to a national revolution with the ultimate goals of ushering the long awaited goals-true democracy, respect for human rights, common good, spread of prosperity and good governance.
There is time between now and 2011 to let the message get through or sink in.
The ruling government and other parties have the moral and civil obligations to let the institutions of democracy begin to function independently and put them on solid foundations before 2011. Any attempt to force ready-made election results on the Nigerian people like what we saw in 2007 will result to violence of unimaginable magnitude.
According to reports emanating from Nigeria, the violence and chaos reported from Somalia, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Congo will be child´s play if the lazy government in Nigeria continues to toy with the future and sovereignty of Nigeria. The time is now to begin to allow politics to play itself out without bitterness.
The PDP-led government has not been able to successfully prosecute any group or individuals for all the political assassinations of the last decade. I do not think that Nigerians will tolerate any further killing of such nature. Nigeria is on a precipice and further attempts to infuriate the people might result to unexpected outcomes.
Words are never going to be strong enough to qualify the volatility of the pulse of the Nigerian nation. A failed state in total blackout occupied by frustrated and angry people cannot be expected to remain resilient forever. History teaches us otherwise. This message is clear: there is a need to sustain pro-democratic struggles that will lead to the fall of dictatorship, bad governance and the tendency towards one-party state in Nigeria.
In the days ahead the NLC must ensure that it uses its strategic position as the main rallying point of the people to inculcate other pro-democracy groups (and where necessary the opposition) to sustain its demonstrations, to possibly initiate a mass revolt and probably to start the much awaited (Nigerian People Power) Revolution that will do nothing but bring positive CHANGES to Nigeria.
This type of people power must not succumb to the witchcraft, juju and sorcery that are common practices of Nigerian politics. The sustenance of the ongoing demonstrations that may metamorphose into a national revolt represent a viable option to rescue Nigeria which is already classified as a failed country and one that might disintegrate violently by 2015. The future of Nigeria is in the hands of Nigerians and whatever we decide to do or not do.
Thy Glory O´ Nigeria…!
If they at least would listen properly and learn !
US rejects wiretapping challenge (BBC)
A US judge has rejected a challenge to a law that allows intelligence services to eavesdrop on overseas conversations to gather intelligence.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act allows the US to monitor the calls and emails of non-US citizens abroad.
Human rights groups contended that their workers might be bugged for talking to people under surveillance.
But District Judge John Koeltl in New York said the mere fear of surveillance was not enough to bring a lawsuit.
Fears about the law's effect on them were "subjective", the judge added.
The judge said the organisations had not claimed that their communications had been monitored, or that the government had sought permission for such surveillance.
"The plaintiffs in this case have made no showing that they are subject to the statute they seek to challenge, and therefore have made no showing that they face a danger of being harmed," wrote Judge Koeltl.
The law was challenged by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, a group of international criminal defence lawyers and an organisation of women.
Jameel Jaffer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented them, said: "This statute allows the mass acquisition of Americans' international communications."
The ruling effectively meant that US citizens' privacy rights would be left to the mercy of politicians, he said.
Hillary Clinton Tone-Deaf during Africa Trip
By Francis Njubi Nesbitt -FPIF
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 11-day trip to Africa, which came less than a month after President Barack Obama's visit to Egypt and Ghana in July, was an attempt to emphasize Africa's importance to the United States. Clinton was supposed to reassure African leaders that the Obama administration intends to engage with the continent, despite wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and perennial problems in Israel and the Korean peninsula.
The trip, however, merely reinforced Africa's marginal position in U.S. foreign policy. Clinton did not announce any new initiatives or policy directions. Instead, she said the United States would continue to support Bush administration initiatives on "faith-based" HIV prevention and Millennium Development grants. She also pledged to extend military aid to Somalia and $17 million for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Clinton's rhetoric during the trip signaled a continuation of the Bush administration's dualism in its policies toward Africa. This dualism consists of moral condemnation of corruption and human rights abuses while facilitating economic and security ties with mineral-rich and security partners. Oil producers such as Equatorial Guinea, for instance, are exempt from U.S. sanctions. Ethiopia, one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid, also escapes sanctions for its egregious human rights record. This dualist rhetoric reinforced the image of the United States as oblivious to the rapidly changing geopolitics of the region.
During the trip, Secretary of State Clinton appeared as petulant and imperious. Her self-proclaimed "tough love" speeches sounded patronizing. She threatened Eritrea with unspecified action for supporting militants in Somalia. In the DRC, she lost her temper at skeptical questions from students. In response to a question about the motives for her trip, she replied that the United States was not obliged to aid victims of violence. She also took umbrage at another student's query about her husband's views on China's investments in Africa. In Angola, too, she struck an incongruous figure lecturing on good governance, despite the history of U.S. efforts to subvert the democratic process by financing a terrorist militia (UNITA) to destabilize the government.
Neocolonial Scold
Reading from an outdated script, Clinton insisted on giving unsolicited advice on the connection between democracy and economic growth. She called for an end to corruption and impunity in Kenya, urged South Africa to lead the campaign for political reforms in neighboring Zimbabwe, deplored sexual violence in the DRC, and called for accountability, the rule of law, and an end to corruption in Angola. In Nigeria, she blamed the "failure of leadership," incompetence, and corruption for widespread poverty in the oil-rich country.
The media in Africa immediately labeled her speeches "lectures." One day before Clinton arrived in Nairobi, her first stop on the seven-nation tour, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga told the United States: "We don't need lectures on how to govern ourselves. Lecturing us on issues that deal with governance and transparency is in bad taste." The next day, Clinton went ahead and criticized Kenya's leaders, calling on them to hold those responsible for the postelection violence accountable. In Nigeria, the ruling party and the Senate President strongly condemned Mrs. Clinton's remarks. In South Africa, the Southern Times argued in an editorial titled "Do we need these lectures from the West?" that her preaching cast her in the role of a "neo-colonial scold." An editorial in the East African, "Poor Hillary, just good enough for Africa," pointed out that Clinton has been relegated to the "sort-out-the-Africans role," while her husband and other White House envoys get the critical foreign policy assignments.
Geopolitical Shift
This outdated dualism policy is a liability in the changed circumstances engendered by Africa's growing economic ties with emerging economies such as India, Brazil, and China. According to a recent United Nations report, there is growing optimism that Africa will weather the current economic crisis by increasing trade with emerging economies instead of its traditional trading partners in Europe and the United States. The report indicates that China has increased its trade with Africa tenfold in the last decade. It has overtaken the United States to become Africa's second largest trading partner after the European Union. Its trade with Africa south of the Sahara stands at $107 billion for 2008, compared to $104 billion for the United States. China provides African countries with billions of dollars in loans for infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, railway lines, and ports in exchange for access to oil, copper, cobalt and other minerals. It is also interested in markets for its consumer goods.
Both Obama's one-day visit to Ghana and Clinton's 11-day tour in August pale beside Chinese president Hu Jintao's tour of Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, and Mauritius in February. Hu arrived in these countries with a series of aid and loan packages. At a time when Western countries are reducing their investments, China announced a $5 billion China-Africa Development Fund that has already spent $400 million and will add another $2 billion to help promote Chinese investments in Africa. The Chinese strategy is to provide resource-rich countries with loans for infrastructure development in exchange for raw materials like oil and other minerals to fuel its industries. China announced numerous trade and investment deals while in Africa, including a $3.6 billion copper mining agreement with Zambia. China buys 60% of Sudan's oil and 30% of Angola's. China recently provided Angola with $5 billion loan to rebuild roads, bridges and housing projects. The DRC also negotiated a $9 billion development loan in exchange for long-term access to copper and cobalt.
Russia's president Dimitri Medvedev visited Egypt, Namibia, Angola, and Nigeria in June. The Russians, like the Chinese, were interested in trade. The presidents of Brazil and India also visited Africa this year seeking to strengthen their relations with the continent's big oil and mineral producers.
Scramble for Africa's Resources
In this context of a new scramble for Africa's resources, one would have expected a more aggressive response from the United States. On the political front, the United States and EU no longer have the leverage to bully African countries into accepting harmful conditions on credit and trade. They no longer have the upper hand as Africa strengthens its economic ties with China, India, Malaysia, and Brazil. U.S. corporations will have to work harder to maintain their position in Africa. This will be extremely difficult with the current economic downturn meaning that the ties with China and other emerging economies will continue to strengthen. The Chinese argue that they are seeking relations based on equality and mutual respect. There are no lectures on human rights or governance and no political conditions for loans. The UN warns, however, that growing ties with emerging economies in Asia and South America will not necessarily benefit ordinary Africans. Chinese investors have been accused of dumping substandard consumer goods, promulgating corruption, hiring only Chinese workers, and contributing to the decline in African industry.
The recent tour and statements indicate that the Obama administration's policies toward Africa continue to revolve around anti-terrorism and access to natural resources. This is evident in the inclusion of Kenya, Angola and Nigeria in the Secretary of State's itinerary. In Kenya, Clinton announced that the United States would double its military aid to Somalia's fragile government led by President Sharif Ahmed. The United States has clearly thrown its lot in with the moderate Islamist government led by Ahmed. The new government also has the support of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a regional security association. This is another desperate effort to prevent the chaos in Somalia from further destabilizing the region. U.S. officials consider Somalia one of the "ungoverned" regions of the world that could become a safe haven for terrorists. The U.S. military is engaged in countering that threat through a variety of tactics that reportedly include training Somali troops, and providing logistics and equipment.
This militaristic response resembles the Bush administration's support first for clan militia, and then, when that policy failed, for Ethiopia's invasion in 2006. Both these succeeded only in destabilizing the region further and hardening resistance. The current effort to support the fragile government of Sharif Ahmed is a long shot at best. The Islamist al-Shabaab militia controls most of southern Somalia and the capital Mogadishu. Ahmed controls only a few blocks of the capital held by African Union peacekeepers. There is no military solution to the chaos in Somalia. The United States and its allies therefore should focus on the peacemaking process and encourage negotiations with all parties, including the breakaway regions of Puntland and Somaliland.
By continuing to subordinate Africa policy to the "war on terror," the Obama administration has missed an opportunity to evolve along with the ongoing geopolitical and economic shifts on the continent. Obama missed the opportunity to go beyond dualism to a more equal partnership with African countries.
A more coherent foreign policy would mean applying equal standards and sanctions for both the resource-rich and other, less endowed countries. The countries that receive the most U.S. aid (Egypt and Ethiopia) are undemocratic, mired in corruption, and have horrendous human rights records. It is not surprising, then, that U.S. lectures about democracy are met with cynicism. This does not mean that the United States should abandon the campaign for democratic reforms. Greater coherence, however, would give the campaign more legitimacy.
The United States must also recognize the diversity of political systems on the African continent. Since the 1960s, the U.S. government has tended to focus on countries that are either security threats or sources of raw materials. This perspective is extremely narrow. The United States must develop a nuanced foreign policy that recognizes that African countries are at different stages in the democratization process. They have different resource endowments and have complicated relations with other parts of the world. Building a sustainable long-term relationship with African countries would require a broader human security perspective that takes into account the basic needs of the population in addition to personal security.
The United States can start by supporting the work of multilateral institutions such as the African Union and the United Nations, and initiatives such as the AU's peer-review mechanism, which requires ongoing evaluation of efforts to improve adherence to the rule of law, governance, development, and human rights. In Somalia, it would make more sense to strengthen the regional and AU initiatives rather than duplicating their efforts. Strengthening the AU's capacity to organize peacekeeping operations and efforts to build regional economic blocks are worthwhile long-term projects. The United States must also adopt fair trade policies by dropping protectionist barriers and subsidies for its farmers – and thus open U.S. markets to African products and prevent the crowding out of local products by cheap American imports in Africa itself.
Without such serious policy changes, Africa and Africans will continue to look skeptically at U.S. speeches, however high-minded they might sound.
Only the deluded could possibly believe the west has any chance of ´winning´ the conflict in Afghanistan
By Major (Retd) Michael Hamilton, KOSB, Stichill, Kelso
I was disappointed to note that, after a fairly rigorous analysis of the current and past Afghanistan situation, your editorial ended tamely ("Afghan elections - Nato mission is vital to help ballot take place", The Herald, August 18). It is not true to state that there is "no alternative to staying the course and continuing to build the capacity of Afghan forces and institutions".
Perhaps if we placed letting the Afghanis build the "institutional capacity", as they define the concept, before introducing "democracy", and in that order, we would do better; just another self-delusion we indulge and there are far too many already.
Nobody, excepting self-delusionists, believes we are winning this war. Violence has reached unprecedented levels, especially involving civilians, and half the country is under "enemy" control. Hamid Karzai is a big-time crook and the embodiment of an old American doctrine (failed) that "he may be a bastard, but he's our bastard".
I am particularly disturbed by your conclusion that our latest ploy is about preventing al Qaeda "spreading its terror around the world". The point of terrorism in its UK form, and everywhere else for that matter, is its home-grown manifestations: the alienated youth born, raised and educated much nearer Headingley than Helmand. We appear to be applying the "Basra" formula of doing deals (failed again) with whatever gangsters are close to hand.
Are we to occupy every country such as Somalia, Yemen or Saudi Arabia that is allegedly harbouring terrorists?
But taking this government at its word, the surge in UK troop numbers is directly related to the elections. I assume, then, that numbers will be reduced when these elections are over. And pigs will fly.
One other point: whatever its imperfections, Sharia law has provided a bulwark of justice against tyrannical dictators in the Muslim world. Let us learn that, before pontificating about democracy, Westminster-style.
Chris Walker, 21/23 Main Street, West Kilbride.
Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has insisted that the UK campaign in Afghanistan is "winnable" (" Bungling Bob' caught squarely inside the cross-hairs", The Herald, August 18).
How can you get to grips with the realities of "winning" in Afghanistan? You would need to serve up-country with a good knowledge of the local language, religious beliefs and tribal customs for a year or two. This impoverished, mountainous country has no modern road infrastructure, a climate that can be intolerably hot, freezing cold and with prolonged droughts and occasional devastating floods.
Those few of us who have served long enough living among the local people in the mountains of a similar tribal Middle Eastern country (such as the Yemen) despair at the current concept of invading such a huge mountainous country as Afghanistan and thinking that one can "win" and, presumably, develop a reasonably modern state.
General Sir David Richards, the next chief of the general staff, has stated that 40 years is a realistic time frame for our involvement in Afghanistan. The Russians did not stay that long and nor will the west.
Bravo: RCMP charge man in khat case
A 29-year-old man is charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking after about 26 kilograms of khat -- an amphetamine-like substance -- was found in two suitcases at Calgary airport, Canada.
Khat is a plantlike substance typically found in African countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia and exported into Somalia.
Sean Patrick Joseph Morgan is charged with possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. He appeared in court Friday.
While some European countries like the UK and Germany still lack behind and have not yet forbidden the drug, imported often as "African Salad", the trafficking is also in Europe linked to the prostitution circles.
We do not send pictures with these reports, because of the volume, but picture this emetic scene with your inner eye:
A dying Somali child in the macerated arms of her mother besides their bombed shelter with Islamic graffiti looks at a fat trader, who discusses with a local militia chief and a UN representative at a harbour while USAID provided GM food from subsidised production is off-loaded by WFP into the hands of local "distributors" and dealers - and in the background a western warship and a foreign fishing trawler ply the waters of a once sovereign, prosper and proud nation, which was a role model for honesty and development in the Horn of Africa. (If you feel that this is overdrawn - come with us into Somalia and see the even more cruel reality yourself!)
There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help - if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !
ECOTERRA Intl. maintains a register for persons missing or abducted in the Somali seas (Foreign seafarers as well as Somalis). Inquiries by family member can be sent by e-mail to office[at]ecoterra-international.org
For families of presently captive seafarers - in order to advise and console their worries - ECOTERRA Intl. can establish contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, and their wives as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will answer truthfully".
ECOTERRA - ALERTS and pending issues:
PIRATE ATTACK GULF OF ADEN: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2
NATURAL RESOURCES & ARMED FISH POACHERS: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, only now the two countries (Spain and France) to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked have come up with a declaration that they will respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia but so far not any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.
LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect, while the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is sponsoring several service-led acquisition programs, including the VLAD, Joint Integration Program, and Improved Flash Bang Grenade. Alredy in use in Somalia are so called Non-lethal optical distractors, which are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy. Somalia is also a testing ground for the further developments of the Active Denial System (ADS) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). If new developments using millimeter wave sources that will help minimize the size, weight, and system cost of an effective Active Denial System which provides "ADS-ACTD-like" repel effects, are used has not yet been revealed. Obviously not only the US is developing and using these kind of weapons as the case of MV MARATHON showed, where a Spanish naval vessel was using optical lasers - the stand-off was then broken by the killing of one of the hostage seafarers. Local observers also claim that HEMI devices, producing Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Bioeffects, have been used in the Gulf of Aden against Somalis. Exposure to HEMI devices, which can be understood as a stun-gun shot at an individual over a larger distance, causes muscle contractions that temporarily disable an individual. Research efforts are underway to develop a longer-duration of this effect than is currently available. The live tests are apparently done without that science understands yet the effects of HEMI electrical waveforms on a human body.
ECOTERRA Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.
ECOTERRA members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation. (for previous information concerning the topics please google keywords ECOTERRA (and) SOMALIA)
The network of the SEAFARERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. ECOTERRA Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.
Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and ECOTERRA Intl. Please donate to the defence fund.
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