The MV FAINA Piracy Crisis Chronicle – V
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
December 07, 2008
in four previous articles of this series, I provided with a recapitulative record of the insightful press releases of the leading NGO Ecoterra; more specifically, I republished Press Release updates no 43 to 56. In the present article, I republish Ecoterra Press Release updates no 57, 58 and 59.
57th Update 2008-11-20 20:01:13 UTC
Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !
Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates.
We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!
New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868
Day 57 - 1350 hours into the FAINA Crisis - Update Summary
Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now seven week long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is still not yet solved, though intensive negotiations have continued and both sides are striving to finalize the modalities of the safe release of crew and vessel.
A right-wing Ukrainian nationalist party on Thursday accused the Kremlin of complicity in the recent hijacking by Somali pirates of a Kiev-sponsored arms shipment. According to statement by UNA-UNSO, Ukraine's top nationalist political party, Russian secret services ordered and financed the September intercept of the MV FAINA, loaded with 33 T-72 tanks and other Ukrainian weapons en route to Kenya. Mogadishu's October recognition of the independence of the Georgian provinces South Ossetia and Abkhazia - making Somalia the only country in the world besides Russia to do so - is proof of close links between the Somali regime and Moscow, the declaration claimed. Two Russian warships currently operating off the Somali coast were intentionally avoiding intercepting pirates, and possibly passing on to pirates information about the locations of NATO warships also in the vicinity, the statement alleged. The UNA-UNSO declaration speculated that the Russian government's unwillingness to use its links with the Somali government to combat piracy was, in part, grounded in a desire to undermine Ukrainian weapons exports. Somali pirates grabbed the Ukrainian cargo vessel loaded with combat tanks, vehicles and munitions on September 25. The ship's crew remains in pirate custody, among them 17 Ukrainian nationals, 3 Russian, and one Latvian citizen. Relations between Russia and Ukraine are at a historic low, with contacts near frozen on an official level, and nationalists on both sides hurling abuse at each other through the media. Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, an outspoken critic of Ukrainian independence, last month called for a return of Russian sovereignty to Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, and accused Ukraine's government of attempting to eliminate the use of Russian by banning it in media. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry countered Luzhkov's remarks with claims the Kremlin represses ethnic minorities in Russia, and accused the Russian government of denying a 1930s Moscow-sponsored genocide by starvation that killed millions of ethnic Ukrainians ever took place.
News from other abducted ships ---
After first no contact was established, reports indicate that the abductors of the Hong Kong flagged MV DELIGHT have made a ransom call but the amount is not known right now. The ill-fated vessel was sized by pirates off-the Somali coast on 18th November 2008 while under way to Bandar Abbas from Argentina laden with 38,000 tons of wheat. Crew members on board are 2 Pakistani, 2 Ghanaen, 7 Iranians, 7 Filipinos and 7 Indians. Her onwers are the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. The Indians on board the ship have been identified as Rajeeb Behera, Abdul Jabbar, Clive Fernandes, Mahmood Aslam, Kamlajeet Singh, Raque Tapazzal and Shamsul Hassan Israr. All the Indians were sent by a Mumbai based company.
Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi oil supertanker VCLL SIRIUS STAR are demanding $US 25 million (CDN$ 39 million) in ransom. The scuttling of the supertanker could cause an environmental catastrophe when its cargo of 2m barrels of Saudi crude oil starts to leak, Ecoterra Intl. warned. One of the pirates on the ship, Mohamed Said, told news agencies: "We do not want long-term discussions to resolve the matter. The Saudis have 10 days to comply, otherwise we will take action that could be disastrous".
"What we want for this ship is only $25 million because we always charge according to the quality of the ship and the value of the product,'' a man who identified himself as Abdi Salan, a member of the hijacking gang, said in a telephone interview from Harardhere. Foreign Secretary David Miliband indicated that Britain would not pay any of the US$ 25 million (£17 million) ransom demanded for the safe return of the supertanker Sirius Star and its crew, which includes two Britons.
Muse Gelle Yusuf, governor of Puntland's Bari region, said officials would stage a rescue attempt if the Saudi Arabian government agreed. Sirius Star ``is a difficult boat to storm and the risk would be very high,'' Roger Middleton, an analyst at Chatham House, said. The Puntland administration has carried out at least two successful rescue attempts in the past ``but in those instances there were links between the administration and the cargo on the ship so there was a financial incentive.'' Ecoterra Intl. warned all sides not to play with the imminent danger of a catastrophic oil-spill of a magnitude the whole East African coast would have never seen or experienced and urged the all sides to come to a peaceful solution for the release. Saudi Arabian authorities are currently not considering using force to free a supertanker being held by Somali pirates, but have refused to rule out the option, a Saudi daily said on Thursday.
With the latest capture and release still at least 18 foreign vessels with a total of around 401 crew members have been seized and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed.
Other related news ------
Officials from Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen were holding an emergency meeting in Cairo last night to discuss the piracy problem, with Egypt saying all options were on the table to deal with the growing crisis. The Cairo meeting was called amid concerns that pirates were disrupting sea lanes and creating panic that might force shipping companies to avoid sailing the Red Sea region. Such a scenario would hurt the Egyptian economy, which relies heavily on fees vessels pay to pass through the Suez Canal. In October alone, noted the respect the group has for the sovereignty, unity and independence of Somalia.
Somalia's Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein told a news conference in Mogadishu that he disagreed with a request by President Abdullahi Yusuf to shift peace talks to Libya from Djibouti, saying it would undermine the U.N.-brokered process. In an interview with Reuters this week, Hussein said Yusuf was an "obstacle" to progress. Hussein also said he was prepared to include the hardline Islamist group al Shabaab, which controls most of south Somalia, in talks "if they give up their deeds and attitude." While Washington is wary of including Islamists in any power-sharing government, some analysts say appealing to moderates -- and isolating a rump of hardliners who are imposing a strict form of Islamic law -- could be a way forward.
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin Egypt collected US$ 467.5 million in shipping fees from the canal. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted by the state news agency as saying: "All options are open." He added that the country´s national security agencies will decide "whether a diplomatic and political solution would be preferred." The communique emphasized the importance of strengthening Arab and African cooperation to fight piracy and, said the view of Russian experts was that naval action alone, even involving the large fleet from powerful nations, would not be enough to defeat the pirates, given Somalia's strategic position. "So it is up to NATO, the EU and other major stakeholders to conduct not a sea operation, but in fact a land coastal operation to eradicate the bases of pirates on the ground," he said. "Of course those actions should be coordinated with Russia." He did not make clear whether he envisaged Russian involvement in any operation.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Thursday the transatlantic alliance would continue to patrol the seas, but rejected calls from Moscow for international forces to attack the pirates' land bases.
By quoting Russia's navy chief, Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian media were saying Thursday that other ships will be dispatched to the region after a warship currently deployed there leaves. The guided-missile frigate Neustrashimy has been patrolling the waters off Somalia for several weeks now. Russian officials said it already helped in repelling two pirate attacks on Danish and Saudi ships. The Interfax news agency on Thursday also quotes Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko as saying that Russia and the European Union have generally agreed to pool their efforts in fighting piracy.
Germany Thursday said that challenges of this century will not be solved without the presence of India on the international high table. This was stated by the German foreign minister and vice-chancellor Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the first day of official engagements during his three-day visit to India. In the light of the latest crisis of pirates hijacking merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden, the minister indicated to the accompanying media Thursday that Germany was ready to take a more pro-active step in the matter. India has already sent a warship, INS Tabar, to the region, which Tuesday night had sunk a pirate ´mother vessel´ off the Omani coast.
Germany, however, first has to decide if it would join the European Union´s mission against Somali pirates that will begin Dec 8. The German government stated that it is bound by a treaty it signed in 1994 that strictly defines the scope of military encounters on the high seas and announced an agreement between several of her federal ministries -- justice, defense, interior and foreign -- dictating the issuance of arrest warrants for captured pirates. If the bandits are charged with having violated Germany's "vital national interest," a representative from the federal police will be flown to the region to clear the way for an eventual trial in Germany; otherwise, the pirates will eventually be handed over to the local jurisdiction, namely the Somali justice system. The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung writes:
"Piracy can only be challenged from land. It's only when Somalia has a fully functioning government that the pirate dens will be cleared out. It's only when there are jobs to be had that the pirate recruiting will slow down. It's only when Somali has a competent coast guard that one of Africa's longest coastal stretches will be brought under control. But instead of that, the world is only talking about defending the attacks from the sea. The West is exclusively defending itself and its economic interests".
Eight alleged Somali pirates appeared before the Mombasa chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi. The charges are that between 8th and 9th of this month they jointly attacked and detained a machine sailing vessel namely ´Waadi Omar 2'. Their case will be mentioned next week on Monday.
They are:
Said Muhamed Ahmed
Abdinasir Mohamed Said
Amin Osman Said
Ahmed Mohamed Omar
Feysal Ahmed Farah
Farah Said Yusuf
Hussein Mohamud Asmail
Abdi Hamud Kassim
The United Kingdom tries to use the mostly unchanged Penal Code it had as colonial power implanted in Kenya, human rights lawyers stated yesterday, and pointed out that though there are provisions for hijackings at high seas, this could only be used for Kenyan High Seas and not those off Yemen or elsewhere. Asked why the British Royal Navy decided to hand them over to Kenya for prosecution instead of trying them in London, British Foreign Secretary Ainsworth said: "I don't see the reason of transferring them around the world when we have a regional country that is prepared to prosecute them." The eight alleged Somali pirates were charged and denied bail the same day when a leaked video from one of the high-security prisons, "Kamiti" near Nairobi, enraged the nation over the warder brutally beating naked inmates on concrete floors with wooden clubs - an incident in which one inmate died. Human rights groups see the dumping in Mombasa of eight alleged pirates, arrested off the coast of Yemen, as an attempt by the British Royal Navy to entangle Kenya in an affair outside its sphere. In another spin-off raising food prices in Kenya are now also blamed on the pirates, though locally staple foods like Ugali (maize-meal), whose prize has risen more than 200% since the political unrest at the beginning of the year, have certainly nothing to do with the sea-jackings at the Horn of Africa. Even the world oil prize further downed, despite of the sea-jacking of one of the largest Saudi oil-tankers of the world. Mr Ainsworth said he was in the country to advance the close defence relationship between London and Nairobi, while members of the legal fraternity in Britain asked what is the legal authority under which the UK has held these captives and could this be a little UK Guantanamo Bay?
South Korea plans to dispatch special forces to the region in addition to a 4,500-ton destroyer loaded with SM-2 Block IIIA missiles and other cutting-edge weaponry.
Somali prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein said naval patrols would not stop piracy and appealed for help to fight criminal networks in his country.
Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group currently controlling much of southern Somalia, has announced that it will start "a big war" against pirates in the country´s southern waters. Information secretary for the group´s regional lower Juba administration, sheik Hassan Yaqub Ali, on Wednesday told reporters in the port city of Kismanyo, that his administration is committed to fighting against buccaneers so that southern Somali waters can be safer. "We are saying it loud that we will combat pirates along the southern coasts of Somalia, we warn the buccaneers not to try to come in the territorial waters under our control" Sheik Hassan Yaqub insisted during a press conference in Kismayo about 500 kilometers south of the capital Mogadishu. "As soon as possible we will form our own naval forces to protect the ships coming here and crewmembers on board" the Sheik added.
The United Nations should send peacekeepers to Somalia urgently to stop the strife that is fuelling piracy and is being aggravated by feuding politicians, the African Union's top diplomat said on Thursday. Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, said the increasing piracy was "a clear indication of the further deterioration of the situation with far-reaching consequences for this country, the region and ... international community". He called in an e-mailed statement for "more sustained and coordinated efforts by the international community to support the peace efforts in Somalia, including the early deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces''.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement on Wednesday, expressing concern over 'new acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia in recent days' and reiterated 'his condemnation of all acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea wherever they occur'. The statement adds that the UN welcomes the deployment of a maritime mission in the region and supports efforts to send patrol vessels to the dangerous waters.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed to impose new sanctions against Somalia aimed at stopping its booming pirate trade and lawlessness. The 15-nation council voted on the British plan for added sanctions Thursday morning. It calls for a panel of the Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body, to recommend people and entities whose financial assets would be frozen by nations. Council members say the added sanctions, which exclude money intended for basic expenses like food and medicine, are intended to strengthen Somalia's weak U.N.-backed government. The resolution also reaffirms the U.N.'s arms embargo against Somalia under resolutions since 1992.
Range Resources Ltd has categorically denied it has any ties to Somali oil pirates, as stated in an article in Australian broadsheet The Age, saying it will be pursuing all legal options with regards to the article. In a report headed ´Mining Firm tied to Somali Oil Pirates´, The Age claimed that Range Resources "has paid millions of dollars in controversial fees to Somali rebels responsible for a surge in international piracy, including the hijacking this week of a supertanker off the Kenyan coast. "Further, the Puntland Government is involved in a number of joint initiatives with foreign countries (including France, Germany and the USA) to assist with combating the piracy problem". Range also said it does not have a ´mysterious joint venture partner´ as the article suggests: Africa Oil Corporation is the company's joint venture partner on its two onshore oil concessions in Puntland.
Norway's Frontline, one of the world's biggest oil tanker owners, said on Thursday it was "definitely considering" avoiding the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal because of piracy.
Shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk said it was re-routing some of its huge merchant fleet to avoid the Gulf of Aden and sail round southern Africa to avoid the risk of attack by pirates. It said the decision would mainly affect its oil tanker fleet.
58th Update 2008-11-21 17:44:32 UTC
Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !
Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates.
We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!
New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868
Day 58 - 1371 hours into the FAINA Crisis - Update Summary
Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now seven week long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is still not yet solved, though intensive negotiations have continued and both sides are striving to finalize the modalities of the safe release of crew and vessel.
The shipowner says the negotiations with the pirates are continuing, and, with the additional capture of the Sirius Star supertanker now anchored nearby, "there is a feeling that the pirates may soon take the ransom offered to them".
News from other abducted ships ----------
The Greek tanker MT GENIOUS has been released for a ransom payment, local sources confirmed on Friday. The tanker, owned by a Greek company and flying the Liberian flag, had 19 Romanian crewmembers aboard when it was seized on its way from Romania to the United Arab Emirates on September 27. No harm has been reported for the crew. A spokesman for the Greek Ministry of Merchant Marine and Island Policy has failed to either confirm or to deny the news. "We know nothing about it", the spokesman said by telephone.
A spokeswoman for Sinotrans Shipping confirmed our report, saying its vessel Great Creation had left the Gulf of Aden on Thursday afternoon after it was released by a group of Somali pirates on Wednesday night. A ransom was paid. The vessel has left the Somali area safely and is in international waters heading back to Hong Kong, she said. No one was hurt, she added. The crew, which had been held hostage since September, consists of a Sri Lankan captain, a technical officer from Hong Kong and 23 mainland Chinese sailors. The vessel is carrying a large quantity of chemical fertilisers. Ambrose Lee, Hong Kong's Secretary for Security, said: "Every time when incidents like this happened, we would always be in close contact with the ship owner. Lots of times though, the ship owner told us they could resolve the problem themselves".
All crew members of a hijacked Hong Kong-registered cargo ship MV DELIGHT operated by Iran are safe. The Urgent Reaction Committee of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines said in a statement on Thursday that the first contact was made with the Delight and 'all its crew members are safe and sound,' IRNA reported. The statement added that Iranian officials will concentrate efforts to secure the release of the ship and its crew members. The vessel is anchored further south off the coast of the Eyl area.
An official investigation was opened yesterday in Poland by the National Prosecutor's Office, which entrusted it to its Szczecin branch. 'One of the two Polish citizens aboard the hijacked vessel (VLCC SIRIUS STAR) lives in our area [the captain of Sirius Star, a resident of Gryfino near Szczecin]', explains Renata Pietrzak, head of the National Prosecutor's Office branch in Szczecin. 'According to the Article 110 of the Penal Code, Polish criminal law applies also to persons who have committed a crime against a Polish citizen abroad'. Formally, Ms Pietrzak admits, the goal of the inquiry is to bring the Somali pirates to trial. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, who met Mr Miliband yesterday, said: "We do not support negotiating with hijackers or terrorists. They cannot be seen to gain from their activities and criminality. The best solution would be for the hijackers to free the tanker." Meanwhile Somali pirates built up their defences around a captured Saudi Arabian super-tanker today. "Some of them are inside the town and others are taking shelter in a nearby village and can be called if need be," local resident Mohamed Awale told AFP. He said the fighters had come from neighbouring Gulgudud and Mudug regions. Two speedboats with pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-launchers seized the Saudi tanker in 16 minutes on Saturday, according to a military report obtained by AFP. Meanwhile Somali fighters opposed to the country's interim government have entered the port town of Haradheere in a search for the pirates who seized the Saudi Arabian-owned oil tanker, a local elder has said. A Haradheere elder told Reuters news agency: "The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship".
Sheikh Abdirahim Isse Adow, an opposition spokesman, added: "Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country and hijacking its ship is a bigger crime than other ships". The U.S. Navy and operators of the Saudi oil supertanker would not confirm reports that the hijackers had demanded a $25 million ransom.
With the latest captures and releases still at least 17 foreign vessels with a total of around 382 crew members are held and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed.
Other related news ------
Sailors caught up in recent hijacking attacks by Somali pirates are painting a strangely positive picture of their captors who shared with them the same meal and gave them satellite phones to send messages to their loved ones. "They said 'don't be frightened, you are just poor people like us, we won't kill anyone unless you disobey us'," Kenyan mariner James Sambi, not his real name, told Reuters on Thursday, November 20. Sambi was on board a UN-contracted ship when captured by young Somalis armed with pistols, machineguns and rocket-launchers in February last year. On the first day, they brought a live goat on board and slaughtered it and shared the meat with the terrified 12-man crew. The pirates allowed each sailor to send a text message from a satellite telephone to relatives on the second day. "We are captured but I am ok. I will be back," read Sambi´s message to his parents. He recalls that the pirates had tried to calm him and other hostages down when they used them as a human shield after authorities sent a boat to retake the ship. "They told the coastguard they would kill us, but whispered to us not to worry and to keep our heads down", Sambi said. The 42-day saga ended and he was set free after the owner of the ship paid a hefty ransom. Somalia's well-organized pirates prey on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes connecting Europe to Asia and the Middle East via the Suez Canal. They use high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.
Piracy in this region war almost wiped out in mid-2006 when the Islamic Courts controlled the center and south of Somalia. But pirates quickly resumed their lucrative activities after the ouster of the Courts at the end of December 2006 by Ethiopian troops. Lost behind the headlines about ransom negotiations, increased insurance premiums and valuable cargoes are the tales of seamen, most from developing countries and some earning as little as $100 a month, caught up in the hijackings. Kenyan sailors interviewed by Reuters painted a picture of initially loud, gun-wielding, threatening pirates, who very quickly treated their captives with relative decency. Sailor Athuman Said Mangore recalled how the pirates went through the crew's personal belongings when they captured his ship in 2005 and held it for four months. "They took 4,000 shillings ($55) out of my wallet, and took my engagement ring," he said. But relations soon improved. "After about two or three months, we were friendly. They would ask about Mombasa. They would joke about wanting a wife." This year, Somali pirates have attacked 90 ships, more than double the number in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Pirates are still holding 16 ships and more than 250 sailors. The Sirius Star, the size of three football fields and three times the weight of a US aircraft carrier, is the largest ship ever seized by pirates. The pirates are now demanding a 25 million dollar ransom amid calls for tougher action to end threats to one of the world's key maritime routes. But former hostages agree with international experts that navy patrols cannot stop piracy in such a vast area. "Force is not the answer," said Sambi, the Kenyan seaman. "If they blow up the Sirius Star, Somalia won't have a single fish left".
The Bush administration imposed financial sanctions Thursday on three alleged leaders of an extremist Islamic militia in Somalia. The three targeted by the Treasury Department are suspected leaders of al-Shabaab, which the United States claims is linked to the al-Qaida terrorist group. Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence to undermine the Somali government and threaten activists working for peace, the Treasury alleged.
Any banks accounts or other financial assets belonging to the alleged leaders found in the United States must be frozen. Americans also are forbidden from conducting business transactions with them. One of those targeted, Mukhtar Robow, is spokesman for al-Shabaab and a military commander with the group. His forces are accused of launching attacks last year on Somali government military bases as well as African Union peacekeeper in Mogadishu, the department said. He also is accused of playing a role in a deadly 2006 attack in Baidoa, Somalia. Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, the alleged founder and leader of al-Shabaab, also was targeted.
The department said he claims his group was responsible for assassination of a judge in Beledweyne, Somalia, last year. The department also alleges that he coordinated attacks on Ethiopian troops in Somalia last year. Issa Osman Issa has served as a commander in al-Shabaab. The government said he led an assault last year against Mogadishu's Basil Hotel, often frequented by Ugandan peacekeepers. "These terrorist commanders have had direct involvement in the kidnapping and cold-blooded murders of numerous Somali officials and civilians and they should be cut off form the world's financial system", said Adam Szubin, director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The UN Security Council is planning to set up a committee to establish a list of people who will face sanctions, and has voted to impose economic sanctions on Somalis who contribute to violence and instability in the troubled Horn of Africa nation in addition to the three persons named by the Bush administration already. The council unanimously had adopted the British-sponsored resolution, which calls for an assets freeze and a foreign travel ban on Somalis who threaten peace talks, violate an arms embargo or interfere with aid deliveries. "The prime goal of this is to provide a framework to stem the flow of arms into Somalia, which is causing such mayhem there," said John Sawers, the British ambassador to the UN, on Thursday.
The Kenyan government will impose sanctions on Somali leaders and their families as long as the conflict in war torn country continues. Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula said Kenya would bar Somali leaders from entering the country in line with a decision by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in a bid to force the leaders to speed up the peace process. Wetang'ula who was addressing a consultative meeting on piracy with all envoys resident in Kenya accused Somali leaders of abandoning efforts to find peace in their country while holidaying in peaceful neighbouring countries and in the process derailing the peace efforts. Kenya's President Kibaki is set to host an international conference in Nairobi to discuss the escalating incidences of piracy along the East African coastline. Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang´ula has said that the president has instructed him to convene the meeting at the earliest opportunity. "The President has directed me to organise an international conference where he will take the leading role on the issue of piracy along the Indian Ocean waters." Clearly exaggerating Moses Wetangula stated to AP: "We are advised that in the last 12 months, ransom to the excess of $150 million has been paid to these criminals and that is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their activities".
Experts from different Anti-Piracy Centres have summed up a total amount of around US $ 30 m for ransom payments this year. The fact that the issue is now blown up and exaggerated by politicians could be explained with the competition for the security market with many governmental and private sectors competing for a share.
Australia Police's secret intelligence unit in Victoria is investigating possible links between Somali pirates and Melbourne's 10,000-strong Somali community. Community members are being quizzed about their knowledge of pirate groups in Somalia and have been asked to provide any information that may assist negotiations to release some of the 250 crew members currently held hostage in that country. The investigation, by the police Security Intelligence Group, began in September and has been stepped up this week following the brazen hijacking of the oil supertanker Sirius Star -- the largest ship ever captured by pirates.
The United Nations is reportedly planning blitzkrieg-type military action against east African pirates. A source close to the UN Security Council told Russian investigate journalists, who published it on Russia Today (RT), it´s considering authorising a raid on bases along the Somali coast. If this happens, armed strikes could target land bases of known pirates threatening boats in the Gulf of Aden.
Addressing the Security Council, IMO Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos says more needs to be done: "We have to act and act fast and with firm determination to rid the world of this modern scourge. A coordinated and cohesive response at the international and national level is therefore necessary for the safety and well-being of seafarers".
The Permanent Observer for the African Union called for support to the Secretary-General's proposal for a multinational force and called on the Security Council to take the necessary steps to authorize the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation in Somalia, as a matter of urgency. The Union was making all possible efforts to strengthen AMISOM as it continued to carry out its work on the ground; its member States were called on to contribute additional troops to reach its authorized capacity of 8,000, from the current level of about 3,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi. Piracy, armed robbery, violence, trafficking, abuse of women and children, despair and the threat of terrorism remained symptoms of the decades-long situation.
Ex-Somali Army Colonel Mohamed Nureh Abdulle lives in Harardhere - the town closest to where the hijacked Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star is moored. He told the BBC, via phone from his home, that the town's residents are more concerned about the apparent dumping of toxic waste than piracy. Col. Mohamed reported that a few nights ago, some tanks came out from the high sea and they cracked it seems and now they are leaking into the water lane of Somalia, we now have this permission. It will go a long way in checking piracy" he said, the Hindustan Times reported.
According to the U.d into the air. The first people fell ill yesterday afternoon. People are reporting mysterious illnesses; they are talking about it as though it were chicken pox - but it is not exactly like that either. Their skin is bad. They are sneezing, coughing and vomiting. This is the first time it has been like this; that people have such very, very bad sickness. Our community used to rely on fishing. But now no-one fishes. You see, a lot of foreign ships were coming and they were fishing heavily - their big nets would wipe out everything, even the fishermen's equipment. They could not compete.
India today (Nov 21) dispatched a larger warship to the Gulf in an attempt to combat Somalian pirates. Delhi Class destroyer INS Mysore will replace INS Tabar, which has been patrolling in the Gulf of Aden. The guided-missile destroyer left Mumbai and is heading to the Gulf of Aden to join the fight against piracy. An official said the navy had been given the permission by the Defence Ministry of India to chase Somali pirates across the country's maritime boundary under certain circumstances. "Different laws apply when it comes to chasing pirates in territorial waters of another country. In the case UN Security Council Resolution 1816, it only states cooperating with Somalia's transitional government. In recognition of India´s proactive role in combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden, the Transitional Federation Government (TFG) of Somalia has given the nod to the Indian Navy entering its territorial waters to "suppress" the scourge of piracy as mandated under international law, a naval official said here Friday. The letter from the Somali TFG government intimating its decision reached the Indian defence ministry Nov 19, a day after Indian Navy´s stealth frigate INS Tabar checkmated Somali pirates and sank one of their vessels and forced abandonment of another in the piracy infested Gulf of Aden. The official denied reports that the Indian Navy had been given the mandate for "hot pursuit" of pirates in Somali waters as it poses a threat to the vital energy supply route for India. However, it is not known that the Somali parliament of the TFG would have ratified any resolution or permission allowing Indian, Russian or U.S. naval forces into its territorial waters or its territory. This is also why India has actively stepped up diplomatic efforts to seek an UN mandate to fight sea piracy and is stressing for a UN peace-enforcing mission. "Way back in November 1999, India created maritime history when its Coast Guard apprehended the pirated Japanese vessel, Alondra Rainbow, in the Arabian sea. That was the first instance of piracy in modern times and brought the issue into focus,'' pointed out Commandant S Paramesh, chief staff officer (operations), Coast Guard's East region and programme coordinator. Fourteen countries, including India, are members of the Singapore-based ReeCAP (regional centre for anti-piracy), an information sharing centre focussing on anti-piracy co-operation in Asia. The real problem why naval forces haven't had a great success so far to curb piracy off Somalia, according to Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, an Indian expert, is that there is no international coordination among the naval powers that are patrolling the area.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) is expressing frustration with the government of Puntland in Somalia after its lead investigator was thrown out of the country Thursday. Customs officials at the Somali airport repatriated ICG official Rashid Abdi, claiming previous reports on Somalia by the Crisis Group have always been negative. Abdi was in the country to ascertain the current situation after an escalation of piracy in the region.
Letter to THE HERALD, UK: Western fishing vessels are the real pirates - While I do not condone the activities of the pirates off the shores off Somalia, may I suggest that your readers consider what might really be happening? Could it be that this ongoing piracy emanates from a direct attempt of the coastal African villagers to feed themselves? Could it be, that with the removal of their historic fish stocks by modern trawlers, these communities are forced into offensive action to feed themselves? It would give another slant on how the mistreatment of the environment impacts directly on world politics. It might even show that western economies are the real "pirates" and not the other way round. James E Semple, St Bride's Road, Glasgow.
When it comes to piracy, Somalis are on balance the victims rather than the perpetrators. It is estimated that foreigners poach $300 million from Somali fisheries each year. Somalia's armed sailors extort about one-third that amount - $100 million - from the owners of captured ships. So, who are the real pirates? Somali pirates are sophisticated, well trained and smart, but they have only managed to regain one third of what has been stolen or vandalized. "It´s almost like a resource swap," said Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the editor of "Violence at Sea: Piracy in the Age of Global Terrorism." "Somalis collect up to $100 million a year from pirate ransoms off their coasts. And the Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million a year in fish from Somali waters."
Piracy impact might be felt elsewhere: The Suez Canal is Egypt´s third source of foreign currency revenues after tourism and remittances and earned Egypt a record $5.2bn last year (€4.2bn, £3.5bn). Even before the piracy threat, the Canal was facing a decline in traffic amid a slowdown in international trade.
Yemen presents a potent combination of problems for policy-makers confronting the prospect of state failure in this strategically important Red Sea country, says think tank Chatham House. Yemen is the poorest state in the inner Arab world, with high levels of unemployment, rapid population growth and dwindling water resources. President Saleh faces an intermittent civil war in the north, a southern separatist movement and resurgent terrorist groups. Yemen's jihadi networks appear to be growing as operating conditions in Iraq and Saudi Arabia become more difficult. The underlying drivers for future instability are economic. The state budget is heavily dependent on revenue from dwindling oil supplies. Yemen's window of opportunity to shape its own future and create a post-oil economy is narrowing. Western governments need to work towards an effective regional approach with the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in particular Saudi Arabia. Future instability in Yemen could expand a lawless zone stretching from northern Kenya, through Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, to Saudi Arabia. Piracy, organized crime and violent jihad would escalate, with implications for the security of shipping routes, the transit of oil through the Suez Canal and the internal security of Yemen's neighbours. Most present piracy attacks happen at the Yemen coast, though they are linked to Somali groups.
At least 17 Islamist insurgents have been killed in a gun battle in the Somali capital Mogadishu, a local government official said Friday. The battle came as the insurgents attacked the home of Ahmed Hassan Daa'i, the district commissioner of Wadajir, south Mogadishu, in the early hours of Friday morning. "Today we killed 17 insurgents around my home", Hassan Daa'i told reporters. "We have their dead bodies and the weapons they used to attack my home. "Witnesses said that they saw at least 11 bodies in the street but could not tell if they were combatants or civilians. "We got information before they left their hideouts and so we were able to surround them," said spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise. "Thirteen of the dead bodies lie in the street near the chairman's house." Residents said the Shabaab fighters wore black scarves round their heads with white Arabic script reading "Allah is great." Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein, who is backing a U.N.-brokered plan to bring moderate Islamists into a power-sharing government, has urged al Shabaab to join the process and "give up their deeds and attitude". "The doors are open to anybody joining the peace process."
Thousands join blue fin tuna boycott. Close to 16,000 citizens from 149 countries have signed up to join numerous restaurants, retailers and chefs in boycotting Mediterranean blue fin tuna — until stocks have recovered and the fishery is properly controlled and managed. As increasing numbers of responsible consumers say no to blue fin, the list of chefs, restaurants and retailers around the world that have stopped serving and selling blue fin is also growing. The trailblazers — Auchan in France, Carrefour in Italy, Coop in Italy and Switzerland, ICA in Norway, Moshi Moshi in the UK, and Memento in Spain — have now been joined by many others in taking blue fin off their menus and shelves. These are Benoît Delbasserue French chef; Casino French supermarket; Coop Norwegian supermarket; Deutsche See German processor; Elior French restaurant chain; Gottfried Friedrichs German processor; M&J UK seafood supplier; Migros Swiss supermarket; Relais du Parc French restaurant; Sergi Arola, Dario Barrio, Karel Bell — Spanish chefs; and over 50 restaurants in Monaco. "Blue fin tuna was one of the star items on our menu, but the critical situation of the stocks made me take it off the plates so that diners can keep enjoying it in years to come," said Sergi Arola, Spanish celebrity chef. "I believe it´s my duty to take care of the sustainability of a dish as well as its taste". 46 Contracting Parties of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) are meeting and will have to decide. "ICCAT members are under pressure from numerous countries, international institutions, scientists and even their own review to close this fishery and allow it to recover," said Dr Tudela. "Now they are also coming under pressure from more and more of their own citizens, their noted chefs, their leading restaurants and their leading marketers. "It is time for ICCAT to take note of this growing market aversion to the tuna slaughter and to finally follow its so-far hollow boast to act in accordance with the science."
59th Update 2008-11-22 16:21:02 UTC
Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !
Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates.
We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!
New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868
Day 59 - 1395 hours into the FAINA Crisis - Update Summary
Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now nearly two months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is still not yet solved, though intensive negotiations have continued and both sides are striving to finalize the modalities of the safe release of crew and vessel.
The hope that the arrival of the sea-jacked supertanker VCLL SIRIUS STAR in the area would bring a faster solution to the FAINA crisis seems not to be true. It rather contributed to further confusion and interference from side-lines. Islamic militants and other factions are pouring into the lawless region of Somalia between Hobyo (FAINA) and Haradheere (SIRIUS STAR) where the vessels are held, hoping to grab shares of ransom being demanded by seaborne pirates, observers say.
News from other abducted ships ----------
Somali pirates holding a huge oil-laden Saudi tanker on Saturday vowed to fight back should any assault be attempted to free the ship and urged its owners to pay up a 25 million dollars ransom. Speaking to AFP from the pirate lair of Harardhere, a member of the group holding the Sirius Star said there was no plan to destroy the super-tanker or harm its crew but warned any military bid to free it would be "disastrous." "I hope the owner of the tanker is wise enough and won't allow any military option because that would be disastrous for everybody. We are here to defend the tanker if attacked," Abdiyare Moalim said from Harardhere, north of Mogadishu.
Local residents told AFP that reinforcements of at least 10 well-armed men joined the pirates holding on the ship, which anchored off Harardhere with its 25 crew three days after being hijacked on November 15. "Early this morning, I saw at least 10 heavily armed pirates heading to the ship. Their boat returned after dropping them off," local fisherman Hassan Ahmed said. Residents said clan militias and Islamist fighters had arrived in the village and its surroundings over the past two or three days. The Islamist Shebab group which control much of Somalia has repeatedly stated it was fiercely opposed to piracy, which in Islamic law is a capital offense, and has vowed to root out pirates. But an Islamist official in Harardhere told AFP the Shebab fighters in the region had no intention of attacking the pirate group and residents said greed was the only explanation for the coastal hamlet's recent crowding. Moalim said negotiations between the owners and his colleagues on board the Sirius Star were under way but that no breakthrough had been achieved yet. "They receive phone calls from people, some of them claiming to be mediators and others agents of the owners... So far nothing has been agreed," he said. The vessel was now located 5 miles off the Somalia coast at WGS-84 ECEF Latitude 4.595 North and Longitude 48.085. The Somali opposition, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), imposed a tight deadline for the release of a giant Saudi oil tanker by the pirates. The spokesman for the opposition group, Abdi Rahim Isse Addow urged the pirates to release the vessel, VCLL Sirius Star, within the next 48 hours, a correspondent in Somalia reported for Iranian media Press TV. "We know the culprits' whereabouts. Should they miss the deadline we would take action," said the spokesman.
With a days delay a spokesman from Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry confirmed the already reported release of a Greek-owned chemical tanker that was hijacked in September and stated that the crew is safe. Spokesman Constantine Gialelis told The Associated Press the MV Genius is on its way to the United Arab Emirates and is now already about 500 miles (800 kilometers) off Somalia. Gialelis says that "Its cargo of refined oil is intact and the crew are safe." Somali pirates seized the vessel in late September in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa. Gialelis says the crew of 19 is comprised of 6 Georgian, as well as several Sri Lankan and Syrian citizens.
Gialelis said Saturday that the ship's owners will not provide any information, including whether any ransom was paid, citing safety reasons. Mare Maritime Co. SA, the vessel´s owner, paid a ransom for its release, said Cteson Coucoulas, a spokesman for the company, declining to give further details. Two other Greek-owned freighters, the MV CENTAURI and the MV Captain Stephanos, both anchored near MV FAINA, are still in pirate hands.
Though more than three weeks have passed since the first hijacking of Turkish ships in Somalia, Turkish authorities have not taken any concrete action to help rescue the crews of two ships, Turkish media say. TODAY'S ZAMA media tried to contact officials from the Turkish Undersecretariat for Maritime Affairs, but they declined to comment on the issue, saying they were not authorized to give information to the press about the hijacked ships. No comment was available from Turkish maritime organizations, either. A few maritime associations said the incidents were out of their sphere of interest and that there was nothing they could do about them. Kubilay Marangoz, a lawyer for the YDC Maritime Company, which owns the Karagöl, said the ship has 14 crew members on board, all of them Turkish. "Our hands are tied. We have nothing to do at the moment. We are in contact with the pirates. They have demanded ransom. We are negotiating with them," he explained. He would not disclose the amount the pirates had demanded. Marangoz ruled out the possibility of a rescue operation to save the crew, saying the ship is currently within the territorial waters of Somalia and that they have to respect international law. "There is no search-and-rescue operation on the horizon at the moment. We have a crew on the ship, and we cannot risk their lives. We are in close contact with the government. We hope our crew will be saved as soon as possible," he noted.
After being released last Sunday, MT STOLT VALOR today docked at Muscat and the 18 Indian crew members are all set to begin their journey directly back home, since a relief crew will take over. The sea-jacked crew will be given medical treatment in Muscat along with psychologists, to help them deal with the trauma. A 24x7 helpdesk had been set up to provide the crew's families with updates and professional counseling. All these arrangements have been provided for by the vessel´s owner, the Japanese Central Marine Company.
With the latest captures and releases still at least 17 foreign vessels with a total of around 382 crew members are held and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 100 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jacking) have been reported to far for 2008.
Other related news -------
London-based think tank Chatham House said in October that pirates had received an estimated 30 million dollars in ransoms this year. This figure is also confirmed by maritime experts monitoring the abduction cases. The reason why Kenya's Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula then put the figure as US $ 150 million can only be explained with the costs and overheads the security companies, the negotiating arms of the insurance companies, banks and transport providers rip off from these deals. So while the actual "pirates" in Somalia only get 30 million a further 120 million goes to the stakeholders including government officials. It sounds strange, but pirates actually seem to push the whole regional economy while offices in London and Dubai also get their share. If one calculates all the military expenditures of NATO, EU and other naval forces working around the Horn of Africa together and adds them to the indirect and direct piracy budgets, one would come up with a staggering sum, which could finance the whole rehabilitation of Somalia. Why is it not done that way? Taxpayers and consumers the world over have to realize that if they don't stand up, the money-making and budget -increasing games of naval groups, business people, security firms, politicians and the pirate groups just will continue, while Somalia and the majority of its extremely poor people will sink further into desperation. We will see if the upcoming UN and Kenya conferences will be true solution-providing relief & development conferences or if they will be just gatherings of stakeholders in the piracy-industry.
Canada's Globe&Mail got it right: While piracy in the Gulf of Aden involves corrupt politicians, lawless warlords and heavily armed militia, it would be a mistake to forget its origins - if only to better understand the popular support these pirates enjoy in their impoverished communities (Pirates Demand $25-Million Ransom For Supertanker - Nov. 21). That support makes it virtually impossible to eliminate the problem through purely military means. When Somali fishermen cried foul over extreme overfishing by European and Far Eastern fleets in Somali waters, the international community was indifferent. Canadians can therefore appreciate what prompted some Somali fishermen to borrow a page from Brian Tobin's playbook and seize European trawlers, imposing "fines" in the form of ransom for their release. The easy money lured warlords and their political cronies, who cultivated the myth of modern-day Robin Hoods. As long as wealthy Western nations are perceived as hypocrites, pirates will enjoy the protection of their local hosts, and there will be no practical military solution. Given Canada's history as a maritime nation, this may be an opportunity for us to demonstrate global leadership, at the same time helping to broker a looming crisis and do the right thing.
Piracy threat off Somalia hikes insurance premiums and so the cost of insurance for ships is rising along with the risk, says Jennifer Quinn of
Associated Press. Underwriters and brokers said Thursday there's no question that shipping operators will face more expensive premiums as a result of the increased danger in navigating areas such as the Gulf of Aden and along the east coast of Africa. "We would have estimated that a ship that size was off limits, but now it appears that no ship is off limits," said Brendan Flood, a marine underwriter at Hiscox, an international specialist insurer with a syndicate at Lloyd's of London. "This one takes it to a new level." Exactly how much rates will go up is commercially sensitive material in a highly competitive industry, said Neil Smith, the senior manager for underwriting for Lloyd's Market Association. Still, Flood said Hiscox would be reviewing rate levels "because our perception is that the risk is enhanced. "While insurers will be revising the rates for the high-risk area, he said ships' operators are not going to find themselves in a situation where they can't obtain insurance. Large ships generally carry three separate types of insurance. Marine -- or hull -- insurance covers physical risks, like grounding or damage from heavy seas. War risk insurance covers acts of terrorism, and, increasingly, piracy. A third type of policy, protection and indemnity, covers issues with the crew. The war risk policy includes a clause that requires extra insurance charges for ships that venture into high risk areas like the Gulf of Aden, said Peter Townsend, head of marine hull insurance at London brokers Aon. "They'd still cover a vessel which visited those parts of the world," Townsend said, "but they'd charge an additional premium." The Gulf of Aden was flagged as an area of concern by Lloyd's Market Association in May, Smith said. The coast of Somalia had been problematic for several years before that, with ship captains urged to stay at least 200 miles off the coast. Ship owners can purchase separate kidnap and ransom insurance for their crew, Flood said. And delays to cargo could be covered under a separate insurance policy, Smith said. Flood said one of the reasons insurers were willing to provide insurance for ships in the Gulf of Aden was that the hijackers have behaved relatively sensibly. "Everything so far has been unfolding in an orderly fashion," Flood said. "Ransoms have been paid, and hijackers have gone out of their way not to damage ships, not to injure people".
One of the Islamic factions in Somalia has sent warnings to the pirates over their abduction of Islamic merchant vessels on Somali seas. A spokesman for the former military wing of the Islamic Courts Union of Al Shabab has said that they won´t tolerate pirates kidnapping the Islamic vessels. And another officer said that they talked with the pirates holding the Saudi merchant vessel, urged them to release it, or otherwise they will attack them. "We don´t refuse to abduct the western and other vessels those fishing illegally on our sees" said the officer, but not Islamic merchant vessels he added. Pirates have reportedly demanded a 25-million-dollar ransom for the Sirius Star. Piracy declined in 2006 during the Union of Islamic Courts brief period of control in Somalia, and the spokesman for the ICU Abdi Rahim Isse Adow said this proved the insurgents' commitment to ending piracy. "We strongly oppose all pirates", he said and "In our era there were no pirates in our waters. We will fight them when we get the chance."
Jonathan Stevensen writes: The goal in Somalia would be negotiated state-building. Perhaps U.N.-sanctioned special political status for Somaliland that could qualify it for international aid and protection, in recognition of its largely self-generated order and viability, should be on the table to create incentives for the more unruly militias in southern Somalia to reach political compromises. Even if a diplomatic foray by the Obama administration does not yield immediate success, striking a salutary keynote of multilateral diplomacy would help alleviate African worries about AFRICOM and the militarization of U.S. Africa policy. And returning to Somalia--the notorious site of U.S. military failure around fifteen years ago, which drove its sustained disengagement from Africa and emboldened Al Qaeda--would decisively signal a renewed commitment to the continent.
Reports from Sanaa suggest that the dangers in the Gulf of Aden and along the Red Sea coast are set to increase because of the build-up of foreign navies in the area to fight the pirates along the Somali coast and the Horn of Africa. According to these reports, the countries that are sending their vessels to the area, notably the European countries, Russia and India, do not take the Yemeni warnings into account. The Yemenis believe the Al-Qaeda linked extremist groups that are active between Somalia, Yemen, Bab Al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden are working on plans to involve the foreign navies, notably the European navies, into permanent clashes with the pirates. If they succeed, they will turn the region of Horn of Africa into another battleground similar to Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Malta´s involvement in the European operation Atalanta will be in form of a Maltese person working within the headquarters in Northwood, UK from where the operation is being managed. An agreement on this was reached at a meeting in London between Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Tonio Borg with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday, when they discussed a number of common issues between the two countries.