Ecoterra Press Release 231 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 43
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 15, 2010
ECOTERRA Intl.
SMCM
Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE
2009-08-20 THU 21h19:43 UTC
Issue No. 231
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 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 condensed as possibly.)
News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress --------
Puntland requests the return of alleged Pirates
By Hussein Farah
The Interior Minister of Puntland Gen.Abdullahi Ahmed Jama (Ilkajiir), said in an interview with BBC Somali Service on Thursday, that Puntland was requesting from Egypt the return of 8 alleged pirates.
Gen.Abdullahi said, Puntland is against piracy in their region, however the minister requested the pirates to be handed back to them, in order to investigate the event.
Last week, fourty Egyptian fishermen seized four months ago near the Gulf of Aden overpowered their captors and are now sailing home with eight pirates.
The fishermen sailed for Egypt with their captives so that they could be tried by an Egyptian court. They are expected to arrive in Egpyt, on Saturday.
When asked why the Puntland administration was requesting the return of these eight pirates, while similar captured pirates are held in other countries all around the world, the minister said they need to investigate, if the eight Somalis are guilty of any crime!
"….if they are found guilty they will be put in jail, if not they will be set free…" says the interior Minister, who admitted that there were doubts and said some believe the alleged pirates were in fact innocent followers of the pirates.
The interior minister rebuffed the accusations against the Puntland administration, that they were speaking on behalf of the pirates, saying his government´s stands against the pirates very clearly.
Gen. Abdullahi Jama Ilkajiir, says they have contacted the Interior minister and the Security minister of Egypt on the matter. But gave no further details on the discussions with the Egyptian officials.
It is the first time, that Puntland openly confirms a request of captured pirates to be returned to Puntland, though the interior minister said, that there had been similar requests previously been made by his administration, without elaborating on these prior requests by the Puntland State of Somalia.
N.B.: Regional analysts maintain that an arrangement had been made between the Egyptian owner of one of the vessels and the Puntland governance to return the alleged pirates, because he wants to avoid a public trial in Egypt, where the truth also concerning his illegal fishing voyage and the operation, which set the two illegal fishing vessels free, and financial arrangements with a former adviser to Ex-President Abdullahi Yussuf as well as a Yemeni group would come out.]
22 Filipinos languishing in the hands of Somali pirates (in parts corrected or annotated piece from IntDesk)
Families of victims appeal for Philippine government´s help.
22 Pinoy seamen have been languishing for five months now in the hands of Somali pirates aboard their hijacked ship, MV IRENE E.M., held near Eyl in Somalia, Africa, with very little food and water supplies.
The families of the victims are appealing to the Philippine government to step up the pressure on the shipping firm and authorities to negotiate for the immediate release of the seamen or secure help from the international community to rescue the kidnapped crew of the MV IRENE E.M..
MV IRENE E.M. is a 35,000-ton oil tanker owned by Bright Maritime Corp., a major Greek shipping firm. The Somali pirates hijacked the ship on April 14, 2009 off the Gulf of Aden, a treacherous area for foreign vessels.
The hijacking took place two days after the U.S. military successfully rescued Richard Phillips, the captain of the U.S-flagged Maersk Alabama container ship.
Three Somali pirates were killed in that daring rescue mission.
NATO received a distress call from the St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged merchant about the MV Irene hijack incident on April 14. A Canadian warship sent a helicopter to investigate what was happening but it was too late. After MV Irene was hijacked, four more ships were captured in the Gulf of Aden that week.
Gemma Q. Casas, a Filipino journalist based in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, said she last saw her 43-year-old brother, Joven, in January when she went home for vacation. Her brother, a master electrician at the ship, left for Singapore on the same day she arrived.
MV Irene picked up its crew in Singapore and headed to China and then to Pakistan before going to the Middle East. Kenya is the final stop of the ship´s six-month tour of duty.
She said her brother last spoke to her sister-in-law, Yolly Casas, when the ship made a brief stop-over in Amman, Jordan—that was a week before the pirates staged the hijacking.
"I hope the Philippine government does something about the case of the MV IRENE E. M. crew. Their ordeal has been dragging for five long months now. We don´t know how long these victims can still sustain the mental and physical stress they are suffering from the hands of the Somali pirates," she said. "Must we wait for them to be dead before we do something?"
The ship´s captain, Necitas Garcia, who was allowed by the pirates to call his family via a satellite phone, said they have no more food and water.
He told his family many of the crew members are sick or in state of desperation. He said they even have to collect water dripping from the ship´s air-con just so they could have something to drink.
The pirates, who are armed with AK-47 and other sophisticated weapons, have kept the crew aboard the ship. The ship´s food and water supplies ran out as early as last month, according to Garcia.
Gemma Casas said the Philippine government, which calls the overseas Filipino workers "new heroes," for keeping the country´s economy afloat with the billions of dollars they remit every year, should help the kidnapped seamen just like what the Indian government did, or at least negotiate for their immediate release.
In July, the Indian Navy, with the help of the French government, "rescued" 12 Indian sailors from the Somali pirates. The rescue mission came within days after their captivity because the pirates had abandoned the small vessel due to the constant presence of the naval warship, which hindered them to use the boat to hi-jack a larger ship.
"Piracy in Somalia and that of the MV IRENE E.M. case isn´t just about the kidnapped seamen and their families´ crisis. This is about global maritime security that the international community should address to protect people, their livelihood, access to food and oil, and the right to live in a peaceful world," said Gemma Casas.
"Anarchy and poverty prevails in many countries in Africa like Somalia. They have become perfect breeding grounds for crimes and terrorists who are just waiting for an opportunity to attack the rest of us and their own, no matter our distance," she added.
Mary Ann Entrampas, wife of the ship´s chief engineer, Leo Entrampas Sr., said she last spoke to her husband on April 12. She too is appealing to the Philippine government to help the crew of the MV Irene.
"We are really getting worried. It´s been five months since they were captured. We hope the Philippine government does something about this hostage situation," said Mrs. Entrampas who is based in Cebu City. The couple have four children—three girls and a boy.
Reports indicate piracy has become a lucrative source of livelihood among many Somalis since the 1990s when Somalia experienced political and social unrest. Chaos and anarchy rule in the country which inspired the movie "Black Hawk."
Authorities said about 50 percent of the ransom paid by the shipping companies goes to the Somali government, 25 percent goes to the pirates and the rest is used to buy weapons and ammunitions, mostly from Russia. [N.B.: This info is disputed, the author maybe wanted to refer to the Puntland government.]
In January, Somali pirates hijacked the VLCC SIRIUS STAR, a giant Saudi oil tanker. The ship´s owner reportedly paid $20 million for its release—the pirates' single biggest loot so far. [N.B.: Not correct!]
Analysts estimate the Somali pirates earn as much as $150 million a year for hijacking foreign vessels. [N.B. Not correct!]
About a third of merchant sailors around the world are Filipinos. In 2007, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said shipping companies deployed 389,607 Filipino seamen worldwide, accounting for over $2.6 billion of remittances to the country.
Over time, hundreds of Filipino seamen have been kidnapped by the Somali pirates with their ships.
The MV IRENE E.M.'s case is one of the longest hostage situations recorded in Somalia´s history. [Not correct!]
(N.B.: Despite some factual statements in this article by an unknown author being not correct, the main fact that the vessel and crew are held hostage in a case of pure piracy, that the crew suffers because of little food and water and that the negotiations for her release are not going well is correct and the case is deplorable, because the shipowners as well as the governments involved as well as the pirates just let them suffer.]
Sweden Warns of Baltic Piracy Danger After Hijacking
By Niklas Magnusson (Bloomberg)
Swedish shipping companies were told to exercise the same vigilance in the Baltic Sea as they would off the coast of Somalia after the Maltese-flagged freighter Arctic Sea was hijacked off Sweden last month.
The Swedish Shipowners´ Association told its members that while the July 24 hijacking was probably an isolated incident, such events could create an "epidemic effect" by inspiring copycat attacks, Tryggve Ahlman, head of security at the Gothenburg, Sweden-based association, said by telephone today.
"We´ve talked with the companies that are active in these waters," Ahlman said. "They´ve come to us with questions and it´s only natural that they increase their readiness. The procedures they have in the Gulf of Aden should be observed everywhere."
Pirates have seized 28 ships in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia so far this year, and 136 piracy events have occurred, according to the U.S. Navy. After the release of the Italian-owned Buccaneer earlier this month and two Egyptian fishing vessels, pirates were holding six ships and at least 123 seamen, according to Ecoterra, an environmental group that monitors Somali piracy.
Sweden has provided warships and soldiers to the European Union´s anti-piracy operation, Atalanta, in the Gulf of Aden.
The Russian navy located the Arctic Sea, operated by Helsinki-based Oy Solchart Management AB, on Aug. 17 near the Cape Verde islands off west Africa, detaining eight suspected hijackers.
Ransom Demand
The armed group had boarded the freighter off Sweden on July 24, then forced the crew to change course toward Africa and turn off the navigational equipment, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said. The ship, with a crew of 15 Russian sailors, had been en route from Finland to Algeria.
The hijackers demanded a ransom of $1.5 million from the ship´s insurer, Renaissance Insurance, Vladimir Dushin, the company´s vice president for security, said yesterday. Renaissance received a call on Aug. 3 from a person speaking English and claiming to be an intermediary for the hijackers, Dushin said.
Russia´s Defense Ministry today confirmed that a ransom demand had been made, and that the hijackers threatened to blow up the boat if it wasn´t paid, Interfax reported.
The Arctic Sea´s 25-day odyssey sparked a wave of international speculation about its fate, including a reported sighting at the Spanish port of San Sebastian and a possible second attack off Portugal.
Swedish Hijackings
Swedes were shocked by the attack in their waters, since hijackings had been unknown off the country´s coast since the 17th and 18th centuries, Ahlman said.
Some Swedish shippers said that while they were monitoring the security situation, their fleets were safe.
"We´re following developments with interest, but we see no threats against any of our ships," Haakan Thorell, chief executive officer of Karlstad-based Ahlmark Lines AB, said by telephone.
Ahlmark ships wood and petroleum products, steel, salt and coal between Sweden and the U.K, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government´s newspaper of record, reported yesterday that the 98-meter (322-foot) Arctic Sea was steered to the Cape Verde area because the waters there are difficult for submarines to navigate. Russia initially planned to involve its submarine fleet, the newspaper said. Radio contact was lost when the freighter was off the coast of Portugal.
Delayed Notification
Swedish police didn´t learn about the hijacking until several days after it occurred, because Solchart sent the information through intermediaries, including the Russian embassies in Helsinki and Stockholm and the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Ahlman said.
If they had been alerted earlier, Swedish authorities might have been able to apprehend the freighter in the Baltic Sea, he said.
Wiggling and giggling: Interview with Italian Minister Frattini
Mr. Minister, you have stated that Italy did not pay any ransom for the release of the Buccaneer in Somalia. But one of the kidnappers told Reuters that 4 million dollars was paid.
With all due respect for the foreign press reporting these rumours, I certainly hope that no one on earth would think of taking the word of a criminal pirate against that of a member of the Italian government». It would also be strange for a government to admit having paid a ransom, and it´s true that the secret service usually deals with these un-confessable things. «Surely, but there are often demands for payment in these cases, by ship-owners for example; instead we sent them two frigates». And what was the key to the release? «That we helped supply the Somali government with instruments for stamping out the piracy problem at its roots: cooperation programmes, policing instruments, we will be training Somali patrols in Genoa; we offered the government a contribution to resolving the problem, and did not negotiate with the pirates».
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: YELLOW (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
Piracy problem persists in Gulf of Aden says LloydsList
N.B.: Would be too bad for Lloyds and the navies, if this agenda and moneymaking core would be lost - wouldn't it?]
The piracy problem hasn't gone away
Recent reports of a ship being hijacked in the Baltic Sea briefly drew attention from the real piracy hotspot—Somalia. But the problem there hasn´t gone away.
Piracy attacks around the world more than doubled to 240 from 114 during the first six months of this year compared with the same period in 2008, according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau´s Piracy Reporting Centre.
The rise in overall numbers was due almost entirely to increased Somali pirate activity in the Gulf of Aden and off the east coast of Somalia, with 86 and 44 incidents reported respectively, the report said.
The year´s second quarter saw 136 reports of piracy compared with 104 in the first three months of 2009, an increase of almost a third.
A total of 78 vessels were boarded worldwide, 75 vessels fired upon and 31 vessels hijacked with some 561 crew taken hostage, 19 injured, seven kidnapped, six killed and eight missing.
The attackers were heavily armed with guns and knives in the majority of incidents. "Violence against crew members continues to increase," the report concluded.
Patrolling the Gulf
The presence of navies from several countries patrolling the Gulf of Aden has made it more difficult for Somali pirates to hijack vessels leading them to seek new areas of operation such as the southern Red Sea and the east coast of Oman.
The IMB report said that attacks off the eastern coast of Somalia had decreased in recent months after peaking in March and April, with no attacks reported in June.
But the Piracy Reporting Centre attributed the decline to heavy weather associated with the monsoons that continue into August.
Roger Middleton, consultant researcher (Africa programme) at the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House agrees that pirate activity has been temporarily interrupted by bad weather.
"Their success rate has also been cut by merchant ships taking measures to protect themselves and by altering their routes," he says. "Advice from Navies and trade organisations is beginning to get through to owners and operators in terms of risk management."
Curbing piracy
The EU´s NAVFOR task force is helping to curb piracy, according to Clive Stoddart, executive director of Aon´s kidnap & ransom team, but with limited success.
"Pirates have responded by picking their targets more carefully and/or abandoning their efforts when the navy appears," he says. "But this is a vast area of sea and evidently very difficult to police effectively."
Most experts agree that the only sustainable long term solution to piracy in the region is a fully functioning government in Somalia.
"That government needs to be well resourced and respected if it is to be effective at prosecuting and incarcerating pirates," Roger Middleton believes. "It must also be more effective at providing alternative economic incentives to piracy."
Governmental limitation
The political situation is complicated because Somalia´s Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu doesn´t control Puntland, the part of Somalia which is the focus of pirate activity.
The northern provinces of Puntland and Somaliland have their own governments, neither of which is recognised by other countries, although there is some international engagement with both on a non-official level.
Middleton thinks that more international effort should be focused on Puntland, aimed at supporting law enforcement in the area.
"After all, the Puntland administration is in control of more of Somalia than the TFG," he points out. "That said, some progress is being made to address practical concerns to do with the arrest, detention and prosecution of pirates within international law."
Resumption of pirate activity
The anticipated resumption of pirate activity will concentrate shipowners minds on their insurance arrangements, according to Aon´s Stoddart.
"The marine market continues to cover traditional marine risks and is now charging for the increased war exposure in the region," he says.
But the scale of the piracy problem is testing traditional market practices, especially the so called ´general average´ process, whereby a shipowner whose vessel has been hijacked seeks compensation from different parties, including insurers.
A shipowner and a Chinese cargo shipper are currently in dispute over how a $1.8m ransom and substantial related costs should be repaid.
"Even though forms of piracy have been in existence for ever, the cost and complexity of the negotiation and delivery of ransoms to Somalia is new to the traditional marine insurance market," Stoddart says.
"The Lloyd´s kidnap & ransom market is responding to the situation by offering cover and access to advice not offered by the marine market. This has already helped to avoid waiting for the outcome of general average which can be costly in terms of both time and money."
Iranian Warship Finds Dead Body at Sea
A spokesman of the Yemeni Coast Guard responsible for the sector in the Gulf of Aden said that his sector received a distress call from an Iranian military ship while it was sailing 40 mile off Aden Port, pointing out that the Iranian ship found a dead body floating on the water. "The Iranian ship requested Yemeni authorities to send a helicopter to take the corpse," the source said.
Many attacks on Somalis from the navies as well as rough illegal fishing vessels in the waters around the Horn of Africa go unreported. It could not be confirmed yet if the Iranian warship had an encounter or if that might be the missing Somali from the Egytian vessels, whose crew killed two but have reportedly only 8 Somalis in custody of a group of 11.
French Navy extradites four Somalis to Yemen – confirmed
As reported earlier, the Yemeni Interior Ministry confirmed Wednesday that a French Frigate handed four Somali alleged pirates over to the Yemeni Coast Guard Forces after it captured them in the international waters close to Rodom coast in Shabwa governorate and confiscated their boat. Since neither the French navy nor other observers had reported an attack, the capture was most likely again just a kind of preventive strike fetch armed Somalis off the waters.
In December, the Indian and Danish navies handed 30 pirates over to Yemeni authorities from similar incidences.
"I'll be a pirate until I die. We are not animals," one of the Somalis who goes by the name Abshir was cited as saying by a Yemeni website. It could not be independently confirmed if the arrested man truly said this in terms of calling himself a pirate. Other sources state that he said "a free man!"
"We understand what we're doing is wrong. But hunger is more important than any other thing," he also was quoted as saying.
While the Yemeni Government laments that the country has costs and lost opportunity of fishing on the level of many hundred million dollars due to piracy and blasts these statements - though it never proofs them - through governmental websites, analysts are saying that Yemen tries to step into the footsteps of Djibouti, which already sold itself out to the navies and armies from France, Germany, the United States, Japan and other states.
Pirate attacks came despite international patrols, including U.S., European, Chinese, Russian and Indian ships, international watchdogs said, adding that the higher attacks worldwide were due mainly to increased Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden.
Bundeswehr ship thwarts Somalian pirates
by thelocal.de
The German naval frigate "Bremen" has captured a pirate boat in the dangerous waters off the coast of Somalia, the Bundeswehr said on Thursday.
Officers found AK-47 assault rifles, explosives, and anti-tank weapons on the boat in the Gulf of Aden, where they were sent as part of the European Union´s Atalanta mission to fight piracy in the region.
Because the Bundeswehr could not prove the six-occupants of the boat had committed an act of piracy, their boat was returned to them with just enough fuel to return to shore.
Christian Schmidt, Germany's parliamentary liaison on defence issues, told the daily Passauer Neue Presse on Thursday that the Bundeswehr will likely continue their service in the region for at least two more years, or "as long as international ships are endangered by pirates around the Horn of Africa."
But efforts to stop attacks won´t be sufficient to solve the problem, he said.
"The ills need to be stopped at their roots, and they are on land," Schmidt told the paper, adding that Somalia´s lack of state authority needed to be addressed with development help and police training.
PAWW Latest Piracy reports and warnings for the Gulf of Aden
By Daniel Conway
The Piracy Cell of the Nimitz Operational Intelligence (OIC) within the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) produces the Piracy Analysis and Warning Weekly (PAWW) report. The report reviews the incidents, assessment and outlook on the threat to merchant shipping in or near the Gulf of Aden and off the East coast of Somalia from piracy and associated maritime crime.
In relation to pirating in this area the Maritime Security Centre - Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) recently reported that two Egyptian fishing vessels and their crews captured in April have now escaped from their Somali captors in the Gulf of Aden on August 13. The ships; FV Momtaz 1 and FV Samara Ahmed, were being held in Laasqooray in Northern Somalia, along with their 40-man crews. The ships were described as being held for illegally fishing in Somali waters. The crews of the vessels are reported to have overpowered their guards and taken 11 of the pirates captive. Two pirates were reportedly killed by the Egyptian crew.
In addition, five Somali pirates have appeared in a Dutch court charged with attempting to board the Dutch Antilles-flagged Samanvolu, according to reports published last Wednesday. The five men, aged between 24 and 44, were apprehended by a Danish frigate in the Gulf Aden on January 2, with the Netherlands issuing EU arrest warrants on January 21. The trial is expected to begin before the end of 2009 and the gang reportedly face nine years each in prison, and its leader 12 years, if found guilty.
According to the ONI, vessels targeted off the coast of Somalia are not chosen specifically but rather are selected randomly depending on how easily the vessel can be boarded. Boats with low hook points travelling below 15 knots are classified as high risk vessels. The ONI goes on to report that pirates in these areas have shown a new capability to operate in waters off the Omani coast (in the southern Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea). There have also been incidents reported in the southern Red Sea of aggressive small boat activity.
The PAWW report states that, in the last month there have been four reported instances of vessels being fired upon, and two instances of vessels hijacked. A further three instances of vessels being fired upon have been recorded since and Somali pirates are currently holding seven merchant vessels for ransom.
In an effort to promote consistent use of terms of reference, the ONI have adopted the following to describe the range of criminal anti-shipping activity and impediments to safe navigation:
Boarding - Unauthorised presence on the sip whether in port or underway.
Robbery - Theft from a vessel or from persons aboard the vessel.
Kidnap - Unauthorised forcible removal of persons belonging to the vessels from it.
Hijack - Unauthorised forcible removal of persons belonging to the vessel from it.
Firing Upon - Weapons discharged at or toward a vessel.
Attempted boarding - Close approach or hull-to-hull contact with report that boarding paraphernalia were employed or visible in the approaching boat.
Suspicious approach - All other unexplained close proximity of an unknown vessel.
Blocking - Hampering safe navigation, docking, or undocking, of a vessels as a means of protest.
The ONI recommends that vessels transiting near the Gulf of Aden and off the East coast of Somalia take such counter-piracy measures as: continuous anti-piracy shipboard drills, fixed barbed wire in high densities around the main deck rail and any low hook points, fixed fire hoses along the outside of the vessel especially near potential boarding points, and consideration of employment of a pirate security team. The Gulf of Aden remains a prime operating area for Somali pirates.
Pirate Trap: Canadian sailors´ first person accounts of drama at sea off Somalia
By Sub-Lieutenant Michael McWhinnie
From the waters off Somalia – A day of piracy ended poorly for seven men who unwisely attacked a Norwegian oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden, near coalition and NATO warships conducting counter-piracy operations.
On 18 April, 2009 at about 3:00 p.m. local time, the MV Front Ardenne and the British fast fleet tanker RFA Wave Knight were transiting the main shipping channel between Somalia and Yemen when seven pirates in a blue skiff raced up to the merchant vessel.
Pirates in this area usually seek opportunities in waters free of naval patrols, so the men in the blue skiff probably mistook Wave Knight for another merchant vessel. In fact, she is an armed Royal Fleet Auxiliary crewed by trained naval personnel, who immediately fired warning shots at the pirates attacking Front Ardenne.
Radio communications from Wave Knight elicited a quick response from the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) task force that eventually developed into a co-ordinated effort by five ships and two helicopters.
The SNMG1 watch team in the flagship NRP Corte Real orchestrated the operation, maintaining continual visual and radar tracking for seven hours as the pirate skiff fled south toward the Somali coast and the promise of safety.
Meanwhile, HMCS Winnipeg was escorting the World Food Program freighter Abdul Raman to Bosasso, Somalia. Closely paralleling the coastline, Winnipeg´s route put the frigate right between the pirate skiff and its destination.
As Winnipeg´s air detachment scrambled to launch the ship´s CH-124 Sea King helicopter, Palomino16, arrangements were made to stop the skiff for an eventual boarding. Palomino16 rapidly covered the 60 miles between the Canadian frigate and the skiff, and immediately began tracking it.
"From the moment we began to react to the unscheduled order to flying stations, we could sense that something interesting was about to happen," said Master Corporal David Tillotson, Palomino16´s sensor operator. "We quickly got airborne and bustered [flew at top speed] to the scene. The fleeing speedboat being chased by a 30,000-ton auxiliary vessel was an impressive sight."
Orders were passed to the helicopter´s crew commander to stop the pirates.
"You could feel the adrenaline flowing inside the aircraft, but everyone followed their training and moved smartly. We could see the pirates and their equipment clearly. We knew they were armed and, as they refused to stop despite our warnings, it became clear that they were also desperate or reckless – or both. We continued collecting imagery and I readied myself at my position behind the C6 machine-gun," said MCpl Tillotson.
As repeated warnings by radio were producing no result, the helicopter crew was ordered to fire warning shots ahead of the skiff.
"I felt as though I was in a heightened state of alertness and focussed on the task at hand and the careful application of fire. I saw the rounds from our gun rip through the water ahead of the skiff. After the fourth set of warning shots, it became clear that these guys were desperate to reach the Somali coast and had decided to just put their heads down and run," said MCpl Tillotson.
Palomino16 was eventually relieved of tracking duty by Smart Guy, a helicopter from the guided missile frigate USS Halyburton. The sun set, and the pirates continued on in darkness toward the Somali coast, and the waiting Winnipeg.
>From his position in Winnipeg´s Operations Room, Lieutenant (Navy) Christopher Nucci played a central role in organizing the action. "From a tactical perspective, there were a lot of balls in the air. As we tracked the skiff and Wave Knight on their southbound course, co-coordinating instructions were coming across the radio to pass our escort duties to the USS Halyburton. The air picture was very fluid as we co-ordinated refuelling the two helicopters, who alternated between supporting the chase and covering the Abdul Raman," he said.
Winnipeg was on course to intercept the action and, as she approached visual range, her commanding officer, Commander Craig Baines, ordered all the lights extinguished. As Winnipeg prepared to pounce, Wave Knight and Smart Guy drove the skiff towards her.
Eyes on the bridge boring into the blackness were soon rewarded by the appearance on the horizon of two white pinpricks – the masthead steaming lights on Wave Knight - and, above them, Smart Guy´s blinking red warning lights. As the lights grew stronger, staying fine on the starboard bow, the bridge was so quiet everyone could hear the planned maneuver. "Green to green at 1,000 yards. Once we pass, we will both turn hard to starboard," said Cdr Baines, directing the naval communicators to pass the signal to the quickly closing Wave Knight.
"You could hear a pin drop as the ships approached at a relative closing speed of over 40 knots. The plan was to get in close unnoticed, a difficult trick for a 450-foot frigate. We kept ranging down on our displays as the distance between us diminished and, as we passed our closest point of approach, everyone held onto their chairs as the ship heeled hard to port during the starboard turn. I hurried to the bridge in anticipation of close action," said combat officer Lt(N) Al Compton.
Achieving complete surprise, Winnipeg was within several hundred yards of the skiff when her high-powered Xenon search-light captured the pirates in its solid white beam.
"When I got to the bridge, I expected pandemonium but was surprised by the calm. There must have been 20 people there but all was strangely quiet. The CO issued a stream of commands to manoeuvre the ship and keep the skiff on the port beam," said Lt(N) Compton. "The entire scenario was surreal. The search-light operator struggled to keep the altering skiff illuminated as pre-recorded Somali commands were transmitted to the pirates over a loudspeaker. The occasional para-flare lit the area like day for brief periods before being swallowed back into darkness. But the feature of the engagement was definitely the .50-calibre warning shots."
Orders were passed, and five sets of warning shots were eventually delivered before the pirates complied. All the while, they were jettisoning their weapons and the ladder they used in their attack on Front Ardenne.
"With the bridge doors open, our ears rang each time the heavy machine-guns thundered away. Each burst sent streams of light into the night and we all watched fixated as tracers pierced the black water astern of the skiff," recalled Lt(N) Compton.
Some of the skiff´s occupants made gestures of surrender, but a few minutes passed before the driver stopped the boat. The pirates lifted their arms and the boarding party was ordered over the side.
As the boarding party´s rescue diver, Leading Seaman Joseph Csiki was responsible for covering the approach with his C8 rifle. "There was an added sense of intensity among the boarding team as we approached the skiff, due partly to the night-time setting, but mostly because we knew what these guys had gone through before finally relenting," he said. "The smell of gas was very strong and I was shocked and concerned that some of the pirates were preparing to light cigarettes while ankle-deep in gas."
The two boats came together. The boarding team took control of the skiff and its occupants, and began their search.
"We knew what they were but, like most criminals, their first act was to profess innocence. They were quite adamant in their denials but their expressions changed when we showed them the aerial photos we had of them with their hooked ladder and assault rifles, all of which they had discarded during the chase. When one of our guys discovered an overlooked rifle grenade you could see the resignation in their eyes. They sat impassively from that point on," said LS Csiki.
As well as the rifle grenade, the search yielded knives, a GPS device, some cellular telephones, and a small quantity of drugs. Once it was determined that the pirates had been disarmed and no longer possessed the means to threaten shipping, they were released.
"It was very gratifying to board, search and seize materiel from a vessel that we knew categorically had been involved in piracy. We train and prepare for the worst-case scenario, but our job is certainly made easier by their habit of tossing their weapons in the ocean whenever we get close," LS Csiki pointed out.
It is said that a warship is no ordinary office. By the same token, a Canadian sailor has no ordinary job – on this day, especially.
Canada Goes Pirate Hunting
By Peter Worthington
When the Canadian frigate, HMCS Winnipeg, intercepted Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden last April, some were puzzled that instead of blasting the pirate boat out of the water, the Winnipeg´s helicopter displayed a "stop" sign to dissuade the hijacking.
"The stop sign was mounted beside a machine gun, and the pirates got the message – stop or else," recalls the skipper of the Winnipeg at the time, Commander Craig Baines, now ashore and due to take a French course before assuming staff duties in Ottawa.
Cdr. Baines feels the term "pirate" is a bit misleading. "They´re more like a Los Angeles street gang," he says. "Young, hopped up on khat, armed and dangerous, but not thugs – kids mostly, in a high-risk business."
He was asked if sinking their boats and stringing them up wouldn´t be a more persuasive deterrent than stop signs?
"If we were to catch pirates in the process of attacking or boarding a ship, we´d take such action as necessary," says Cdr. Baines. "Remember, we are the good guys. We follow rules. Rather than pirates in the popular sense, these people are criminals."
Each country with ships in NATO´s anti-pirate mission to keep the sea lanes open around Somalia, has its own rules about piracy. The French have been aggressive, and on occasion hostages have been killed.
Somalia is anarchy these days. Pirates have more power than the government. In 2008 five main pirate gangs (totaling 1,000 bodies) staged 100 sea attacks and 40 hostage-takings, netting an estimated $80 million in ransom. This year attacks have increased.
Eleven NATO countries and ships from China, Japan, Russia and India are on the lookout for pirates.
When the 134 meter-long, 5,000 ton Canadian warship comes along side a 25 to 40-foot pirate boat, powered by 40 to 60 horsepower engines, the pirates try to dump their weapons and incriminating evidence overboard.
"Instantly they are no longer combatants," quips Cdr. Baines. "They are seven guys just sitting in a boat, sometimes fishing and all proclaiming innocence."
Even though it can be frustrating to capture pirates and then have to release them, there is satisfaction in the mission. Cdr. Baines, whose 22 years in the navy have been spent mostly at sea on nine different ships, figures the Winnipeg stopped six pirate attacks on his watch, and other NATO ships thwarted 15 piracies.
Still, one gets the feeling that keeping the sea lanes open in the Gulf of Aden with limited NATO ships, is a losing cause. Catching pirates doesn´t deter the ones financing the piracy.
Those in the pirate boats don´t get much money. Similarly, Afghan poppy growers get little for their efforts. The big money goes to those who employ the little guys.
Just as Canada´s army is a good fit with U.S. and NATO forces, so our navy integrates well with the U.S. and allied navies. As Cdr. Baines puts it: "We´re a small navy, but we´re world class, and we integrate well."
He´s not enthusiastic about shore duty. "If anyone had told me as a kid that I´d someday be the captain of a ship fighting pirates, I´d have thought them crazy."
Canadian morale in pirate waters is high. During six months chasing pirates, there were no complaints among the Winnipeg´s crew of 250 – even though none of the pirates they encountered wore eye patches, had peg legs, or wore the skull and crossbones.
On the other hand, no captured pirate walked the plank or was hanged from the yard arm. Pity.
Puntland to become home to Somalia navy': sources
Officials from Somalia's UN-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Government of Puntland State in northeastern Somalia have agreed on a number of key issues, Radio Garowe (owned by the Puntland President's son) reports.
On Wednesday, three joint committees were established to advance closer cooperation between the two entities.
Inside reports say the new law and security committee has already reached a number of decisions regarding the anti-piracy campaign and the federal constitution, according to our sources.
Puntland was recognized as being home to most of Somalia's pirates and the TFG officials have agreed to make Puntland home to the country's new naval force, whose main tasks include combating piracy and illegal fishing.
New recruits for the Somali navy will receive training inside Puntland regions under a security arrangement between the TFG and Puntland.
Secondly, the capital of Puntland, Garowe, will become the headquarters of the constitutional committee composed of TFG and Puntland representatives, with Puntland "acting on behalf of all federal states in Somalia," the sources added.
The constitutional committee's working expenses will be paid for by the Puntland government, on conditions that the 2004 Federal Charter be used as the basis of the final federal constitution and that work on the new constitution be started immediately.
Further, Puntland's government has the legal authority to sign agreements with international donors and foreign companies, "until other Somali federal states like Puntland are established."
Finally, Somalia's new passport, which was introduced during ex-President Abdullahi Yusuf's term, will be changed from the "Republic of Somalia" insignia on the frontpage to the "Federal Republic of Somalia."
Puntland's leaders have vowed to uphold federalism as the only political settlement for Somalia. Currently, the war-torn Horn of Africa country does not have a naval force and its long coastline is hunting ground for local pirates.
Anti-piracy measures
Puntland wants to take a leading role in combating piracy
By Hussein Farah
On Wednesday, the Puntland government requested to take the leading role in combating piracy off the coat of Somalia, during discussions with Federal government leaders in Galkayo city.
The key talks in Galkaio entered the third day, as Puntland leaders engaged in long private meetings with a high level delegation from the Federal Transitional government, led by the Prime Minister Dr.Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke.
Source close to the meeting told Horseed Media, that Puntland officially requested to take over all activities of combating pirates in the country and therefore should receive the international donations to eradicate Somali pirates.
Puntland argues that it should be the central command of combating piracy in Somalia, because most Somali Pirate groups operate in small villages on the coast of the Puntland regional state.
Still there is no official word from both sides, as more ministers arrive in Galkayo to join the talks.
In April, international donors pledged over $250 million for Somalia which included provisions to increase the African Union peacekeeping mission and to support the Somali security forces, including combating Somali Pirates.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates at a donors´ conference sponsored by the U.N. that "Piracy is a symptom of anarchy and insecurity on the ground," and that "More security on the ground will make less piracy on the seas."
Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed pledged at the conference that he would fight piracy and to loud applause said that "It is our duty to pursue these criminals not only on the high seas, but also on the coast,".
In June, the Somali Transitional Federal government announced that it was training new recruits for the first Somali navy since the collapse of the Somali State in 1991.
N.B.: The move seems to be pushed by EUNAVFOR also because European countries hope to get fishing licences for their companies from Puntland, which would be illegal licences if the TFG would not consent.]
Piracy and private enterprise
Splashing, and clashing, in murky waters - From The Economist
Private security firms are increasingly involved in the fight against pirates. The allocation of tasks between them and navies needs some thought.
Of the dozens of ships recently captured by pirates off east Africa, few stirred so much interest in their home country as a German freighter, the Hansa Stavanger, seized by Somalis in April. As its captivity wore on, the crew of 24 was reported in Germany´s media to be ailing and in need of medicine and water.
At one point, German police commandos were training on board an American navy ship, hoping to storm the vessel, until America´s national security adviser, James Jones, said it was too dangerous. At last, on August 3rd, the saga ended after negotiations between the ship´s Hamburg-based owners and the pirates, who boasted that they had netted $2.75m in ransom.
Parleying with pirates, and then paying the ransom (often by airdrops), are jobs that shipowners regularly contract out to private firms or "risk consultancies". Other maritime security services are less controversial: fitting ships with kit, such as barbed or electric wires, to make it hard for pirates to clamber aboard. Increasingly, security firms also put armed guards on ships, or offer their own craft as escorts.
Business protecting ships off east Africa has tripled in the past year, says Eos Risk Management, a London firm that says it has fended off at least 15 attacks from Somali pirates since January. Eos usually uses non-lethal defences, but David Johnson, its boss, says new players are rushing into maritime security, taking advantage of the ample supply of weapons in Africa.
Armed escort ships, offering protection for a price, are becoming a lot more common off east Africa. Local coastguards, where they exist, have got used to private-security vessels plying their waters, says Stan Ayscue of Securewest International, a firm based in Singapore and Virginia.
But for strategists grappling with the diminished safety of the world´s seas—off east Africa and in other perilous spots such as South-East Asia and the waters of Nigeria—figuring out a sensible and workable division of labour between navies and private firms is not easy.
In at least one way, the activities of private firms clash with the concerns of navies and their masters. The payment of ransoms is a menace for law and order. As Robert Gates, America´s defence secretary, lamented in April, the fight against piracy would be going better if shipowners stopped paying to regain their vessels.
But of course, when private security companies, often employing veterans of national armed forces, work well to prevent piracy, they and the world´s navies are broadly on the same side. America in particular says countering piracy requires a joint effort by states, shipowners and other private interests, including security firms. "In appropriate circumstances, onboard armed security, private or military, can provide an effective deterrent to pirates in the Horn of Africa region for certain vessels deemed to be at high risk," the State Department has said.
It is clearly true that no single agency in the war against piracy is likely to succeed. About 15 countries conduct anti-piracy naval patrols in the Indian Ocean under various hats. That might sound a lot; but 30 warships are operating in an area almost as big as the United States. Achim Winkler, a spokesman for the European Union naval force, says hundreds of ships would be needed to secure the area.
And for navies, almost as much as for private security providers, the surge in piracy has affected their institutional interests in confusing ways. As cynics note, the fight against piracy has certainly given navies a noble new mission, a claim on budgets and an area for cross-border work to which nobody objects.
NATO´s new secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, recently agreed with Russia´s envoy to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, that piracy was a field where they could work together. However, Russia, which has sent a series of naval ships to the Horn of Africa, says it will not serve under NATO or EU command.
Meanwhile, the Russian navy has in recent days been engaged in what it has presented as a dramatic anti-piracy mission: apprehending, off the Cape Verde islands, eight people on board a Russian-owned cargo ship called the Arctic Sea, whose crew claimed to have been hijacked, at least briefly, in the Baltic in late July. Other countries were sceptical of that story.
Apart from biggish powers like Russia, the war on piracy is attracting small countries. For example, Croatia recently said it was joining an EU-led force, after vowing to respect the "human rights" of pirates.
John Pike, of GlobalSecurity.org, an American consultancy, offers a hard-boiled view of all this. "A lot of navies are looking for something to do—and there are many ships in the world prepared for big naval war, which isn´t going to happen."
But some naval types say tackling barefoot Somalis with bazookas is not the best use of large warships. "They feel that tackling a skiff is an odd thing to do with a ship costing hundreds of millions," says Jason Alderwick, an analyst with the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Nor are warships always ideal for the job. A naval craft may take 20 minutes to send a helicopter to a nearby merchant vessel in danger. That is easily enough time for pirates to seize a ship; once that happens, there is no easy way to regain control.
Deterrence, or at least stopping attacks at the earliest stage, is always best. These are areas in which the private sector (both shipowners and their security advisers) must play a role. America has also encouraged small countries with large shipping registries such as Liberia, Panama, the Marshall Islands and the Bahamas to mandate prudent self-protection by vessels.
Already, the line between peaceful merchant ships and naval ones is blurring a little. These days, maritime-security providers operating off east Africa almost always make some use of weapons, says Didier Berra, a French army veteran who has worked for Secopex, a naval-security firm based in Carcassonne in France.
Draconian force is seldom necessary, adds Mr Berra. Attackers often give up when 12.7mm machineguns are fired into the water, creating a big splash. The head of another European security firm says many outfits sidestep bans on weapons in port by tossing them overboard. Yet a show of firepower is increasingly necessary because pirates are getting blasé about "non-lethal" defences like water hoses and sonic blasts, says David Schewitz, whose California-based company, RSB International, helps protect ships.
Navies are also starting to deploy seamen on merchant ships, something hitherto rare unless the cargo was military. The French navy, for example, has been sending sailors to protect the country´s tuna-fishing ships in waters around the Seychelles. Such assertiveness at least marginally reduces the opportunities for private firms; a few games really are zero sum.
In any case, private security firms can´t do more than tackle the symptoms of piracy. More needs to be done onshore. Tracking where the ransoms are stashed, reportedly in banks in the Gulf, would be one way to start. Another idea would be to find new ways for young Somali boat-owners to survive. Somalis who once fished say they were pushed out by foreign trawlers.
Ultimately piracy in Somalia is unlikely to stop until chronic instability, caused by rival warlords and Islamist fighters, is tackled. Yet no outsider has a convincing panacea. American forces have bombed Islamist fighters in southern Somalia, and Russia favours knocking out pirate coastal bases; neither action promises stability.
The absence of an effective state in Somalia means there is no local ability to police national waters. Last year the "transitional federal government" signed a deal with Secopex under which the firm would have set up a small national navy. Secopex estimated it would need two dozen fast gunships. But the deal failed. The government was too broke and disorganized.
Across Africa, in Nigeria, lies another danger zone for ships. According to GEOS, a French firm, the insurgents who make pirate-like attacks on shipping in Nigeria´s Delta region are very well armed and informed about targets, through contacts in the oil and shipping worlds. Yet Nigeria´s semi-functioning state helps keep piracy within bounds. GEOS typically protects its clients´ ships with help from a Nigerian police boat or small navy gunship.
The UN Security Council has authorised naval ships to enter Somali waters in pursuit of pirates. But the high seas are simply getting more perilous than they were, and neither governments nor private interests seem to have the capacity to make them safe.
and in the above context:
Blackwater 'hired for CIA plan' (BBC)
The CIA hired contractors from the US private security firm Blackwater as part of a secret programme to track and kill top al-Qaeda figures, reports say.
The New York Times quotes current and ex-government officials as saying Blackwater helped the CIA with planning, training and surveillance.
Several million dollars were spent on the programme but no militants were caught or captured, the report says.
Blackwater staff were used to guard US government personnel in Iraq from 2003.
But they were accused of using excessive force on a number of occasions, including the killing of 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007.
The North Carolina-based firm has not had its licence to operate in Iraq renewed.
The company, which was founded by Erik Prince, has since been re-named Xe.
Lethal authority'
The New York Times reports that the CIA did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for the programme to locate and kill senior members of al-Qaeda. Instead, they had individual agreements with top officials in the firm, the paper goes on to say.
It is not clear whether the US spy agency planned to use Blackwater contractors to actually capture and kill the militants, or just help with the training and surveillance of the programme, the report says.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reports that the assassination programme was initially launched in 2001 as a CIA-led effort to kill or capture top al-Qaeda figures using the agency's paramilitary forces.
But in 2004, after briefly terminating the programme, the CIA decided to revive it using outside contractors, the Post quotes officials as saying.
Leon Panetta - who became director of the CIA under President Obama's administration - is said to have learnt about the secret programme in June.
The next day he called an emergency meeting with congressional intelligence committees to tell them about its existence, and to say that it was being cancelled.
The New York Times quotes officials as saying the fact that the CIA used an outside company for the programme was a major reason Mr Panetta became alarmed and called the meeting.
Although some controversial work, including the interrogation of prisoners, has been outsourced in recent years, the fact that outsiders were used in a programme with "lethal authority" raised concerns about accountability in covert operations, officials were quoted as saying.
The House of Representatives' intelligence committee is investigating whether the CIA broke the law by not informing Congress about the programme for eight years.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, said last month that Mr Panetta told Congress former Vice-President Dick Cheney was behind the secrecy.
But some Republicans accuse the Democrats of trying to make political capital from the situation.
"I think there was a little more drama and intrigue than was warranted," Representative Peter Hoekstra, the most senior Republican on the House intelligence committee, told the Times.
No real peace in sight yet
Somali Parliament Approves to Impose Martial Law
The parliamentarians of the transitional federal government (TFG) approved to impose martial law to the country, officials said on Wednesday after a parliamentary session in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
The legislators' decision after the second day reading of the bill and intense discussion on the act based on a introduction by TFG president Sharif Sheik Ahmed's to impose martial law to the country for three months.
Sheik Aden Mohamed Nor (aka Sheikh Madobe), the speaker of the transitional parliament lead the 480 present legislators through the process.
Numerous Somali MPs had different ideas concerning the issue and some of them refused to agree with the emergency situation saying that it opens ways to take and confiscate the property of people.
Mohamed Qanyare Afrah, supported the motion to allow martial law to be imposed.
Prof. Abdirahman Ibrahim Ibbi, Deputy-Prime Minister and minister for fisheries and marine resources - acting as prime minister of the transitional federal government - had seconded the move to impose martial law to the country, pointing out that the government forces had captured Luq district in Gedo region and planning to relieve other parts of the Somali regions from the insurgents.
After long discussions and with 23 law makers opposing the bill, the issue was finally decided by a vote of 451 parliamentarians for the immediate enactment of martial law to the country. Only four lawmakers abstained.
It is, however, unclear to what extent this decision by the parliament will change anything concerning the actual situation of the country, since several factions in Somalia are engaged in outright civil war battles already since March.
Meanwhile the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) warned today the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) not to stifle media freedom and the right of citizens to free flow of information following the declaration of martial law.
"Despite the fact that we support and welcome efforts to restore peace and the rule of law to stabilize the country and to ensure safety of citizens, we warn the TFG not to use the martial law to curtail media rights. We witnessed several abuses of detention of journalists, torture of reporters, arbitrary arrests, closure of media houses and censorship, committed by TFG forces and officials when martial law was imposed in 2007," said Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General.
NUSOJ has, however, recorded lesser violations of press freedom by the TFG since the election of President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the formation of a Government of National Unity in comparison to other sides in the conflict.
Somali Federal govt and Puntland to form joint committees
Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Government of Puntland State have agreed to form joint committees to advance cooperation on many levels, Radio Garowe (the voice of the son of the Puntland President) reports.
The federal government delegation, led by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, is in the Puntland city of Galkayo for talks with the State's president, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole," and other government officials.
Three committees will appointed, according to government sources, who identified them as: a political committee, an economic cooperation and social affairs committee, and finally, a law and security committee.
The two-way talks, being held at Galkayo's Taar City Hotel, are the first between the Puntland Government and the TFG, ever since Sheikh Sharif Ahmed became Somalia's interim president after the conclusion of the Djibouti peace talks last January.
Meanwhile, security is tight in Galkayo, an important trade town that links Puntland with the central regions of Somalia, where insurgents have been fighting to topple the TFG since early 2007.
Puntland is located in northeastern Somalia and has a functioning government, which is the first state in Somalia to adopt federalism, the founding principle of the UN-recognized TFG in Mogadishu.
Ethiopian troops back in central Somalia
By Alinoor Moulid Bosh for AfricaNews
Ethiopian military forces on Thursday crossed the border into Somali near the central Somali town of Beledweyne, some 206 miles (332 km) north of the capital Mogadishu, witnesses said. The heavily armed troops with armoured vehicles got into the town early in the day and set up bases in the centre of the town.
Pro-government forces from the Union of Islamic Courts currently control the town, which connects the capital to central towns and it is not clear whether or not the Ethiopian troops are back under the invitation of the local administration, an AfricaNews reporter said.
The reported return of the Ethiopian forces comes as Islamist militants and pro-government forces continue to battle for the control of central and southern towns. Heavy fighting erupted on Thursday in the nearby town of Bulabarde between the militant group Al-Shabaab and government forces, who invaded the town in a bid to seize it.
This month alone, several central and southern Somali towns have changed hands between insurgents groups and forces loyal to the fragile UN-backed transition government.
Ethiopian troops completely withdrew from the Horn of African nation early this year after two years of military occupation. However, Addis Ababa amassed its troops at the border where they frequently crossed the border in what Ethiopia says are "small reconnaissance missions".
N.B.: The move to invade Somalia again comes only two days after the new defence minister of the TFG, Abdallah Boos Ahmed from the HabrJunis of the Isaaq clan, and the new foreign minister, Ali Jama Ahmed Jengeli, from the Dulbahante clan, who aided the Ethiopian troops under ex-president Abdullahi Yussuf, were sworn in.]
Renewed fighting in Hiiraan Region
By Abshir Said
In a renewed fighting in Hiiraan region, central-west of Somalia, government forces have seized the town of Buulo Burte, says government officials, on Thursday.
The fighting erupted in the early hours on Thursday morning, hunders of government troops launched a new assualt on the town, which was controlled by Al Shabaab militants.
According to reports from the Presidential Palace in Mogadishu, government forces took the control of district in Hiiraan, forcing the militants to flee the region. There are no independent sources, who can verify the government claims.
Reports from the region confirm the death of at least 12 people in the fighting, many civilians have started to flee their homes in order to escape the violence.
More fighting in Hiiraan
More fighting is reported in Beledweyn city, the regional capital of Hiiraan, government forces clashed with insurgent groups in the town.
The renewed fighting in Beledweyn is linked with today´s government assault on other rebel held territories in Hiiraan region.
The clashed in Beledweyn began just hours after Ethiopian troops entered the region. The Ethiopian forces set up camps near the airport, west of Beledweyn.
Still there is no word from the Somali government on the latest clashes in Beledweyn and the incursion by the Ethiopian forces.
Over 20 people killed in Somalia by pro-government forces
At least 21 people, mostly militants, were killed as heavily armed pro-government troops attacked the central Somali town of Bulobarde on Thursday, AFP reported, quoting locals.
The town, 200 km (120 miles) north of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, was a home to insurgents of the Shebab, an Al Qaeda-inspired organization.
"The fighting has stopped for now but the warring sides are still facing off in one neighborhood," local resident Abdurahman Ali told the agency, adding that he had personally seen the bodies of 18 fighters.
Colonel Adan Yusuf Mohamed, Somali government military leader in the region, said "the terrorists have suffered great losses in the battle," with 21 dead counted.
The latest attack came amid a vast counter-offensive against Shebab strongholds in central and southern Somalia. Residents said the fighting was the heaviest they had seen in years, and that both sides used heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft weapons.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the Revolutionary Socialist Party was overthrown in 1991. The internationally recognized federal government controls only the capital city of Mogadishu and part of central Somalia. Other Somali areas are self-governing or controlled by unrecognised state formations.
Somalia fighting kills at least 45: residents
By Sahra Abdi for Reuters
Fighting between Somali insurgents and pro-government troops killed at least 45 people and wounded 30 others in separates battles in the south of the country Thursday, witnesses said.
Western security agencies say Somalia, which has been torn by civil war for the past 18 years, has become a haven for militants plotting attacks in the Horn of Africa and beyond.
Militiamen supporting President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's fragile administration attacked al Shabaab insurgents in the Bula Burde in the southern Hiran region and the ensuing fight killed at least 33 and wounded 22 others.
"I have counted 20 dead bodies around the bridge where the two groups have been fighting since morning," local elder Farah Ali told Reuters by phone.
Another resident said 13 civilians were also killed.
In a separate battle, al Shabaab fighters seized back the southern Bulahawa town from pro-government militiamen after fighting that killed at least 12 people, witnesses said.
Earlier this week, militiamen backing Ahmed's government chased al Shabaab fighters out of Bulahawa without any fire.
Thursday, al Shabaab returned with reinforcements.
Local nurse Abdiraxman Ali said 12 people were killed and eight wounded: "The dead are from both sides, and civilians."
The United States accuses al Shabaab of being al Qaeda's proxy in the chaotic nation.
Al Shabaab spokesman in Bulahawa, Sheikh Osman, told Reuters the group had retaken control.
"We have defeated the Ethiopian-backed militia," he said.
Meanwhile another rebel group, Hizbul Islam, retook control of Luuq town, which is also in Gedo region. They had abandoned it Wednesday to a pro-government militia.
State of Emergency
The international community is trying to bolster Ahmed's U.N.-backed government, which controls only parts of the central region and small pockets of the coastal capital Mogadishu.
The Islamist rebels say Ethiopian soldiers are fighting alongside the pro-government militiamen, but a senior official in Addis Ababa denied that repeatedly.
Wednesday, Somali lawmakers declared a state of emergency while the government battles the rebels. The move means Ahmed can make major decisions without having to consult parliament.
Violence in Somalia has killed more than 18,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and uprooted another 1 million.
An independent group of Somali elders led by former president Abdiqassim Salad Hassan is attempting to broker a ceasefire deal between the warring parties.
"This is a purely Somali initiative ... the opposition groups have not yet accepted a ceasefire, but we are hopeful they will do," Hassan, who was Somalia's president between 2001 and 2004, told Reuters from Cairo.
"In the end, we will come up with our recommendation of who is an obstacle to peace in Somalia, and fight against them together with our people."
Harassment of journalists continues in Somaliland with two arrested and one beaten
Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of two journalists employed by Radio Horyaal, an independent station based in Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway northwestern territory of Somaliland. They are Fowsi Suleyman Awbindi, held since 30 July, and Yasin Jama Ali, a website editor and Radio Horyaal stringer, who has been held since 13 August.
The press freedom organisation is also worried about the condition of freelance journalist Ali Adan Dahir, who was attacked and badly beaten in Somaliland on 17 August.
"Within three days of the release of Radio Horyaal journalists Ahmed Saleyman Dhuhul and Sayid Osman Mire, two other journalists working for the same station were in detention," Reporters Without Borders said. "We urge the Somaliland authorities to put a stop to this harassment by freeing them and by recognising the legality of independent radio stations."
The press freedom organisation added: "Meanwhile, the release of Ali Adan Dahir´s four assailants is a real bonus for impunity."
Yasin Jama Ali was arrested on 13 August in the port city of Berbera, 125 km northeast of Hargeisa, because of comments about Somaliland´s coming elections that readers posted on Berberanews.com, the website he edits. The Berbera authorities accused him of spreading "scandals against the nation."
Awbindi was arrested in Buro, 155 km east of Hargeisa, on 30 July for sending a "false report" to Radio Horyaal. He is still being held in the Buro police station.
The governor of Erigabo, 250 km east of Hargeisa, yesterday ordered the release of the four armed men who had given Dahir a severe beating the day before for unknown reasons.
The Somaliland authorities adopted a law in June 2002 that outlaws independent radio stations. The region, which unilaterally declared independence in 1991, is preparing to hold a presidential election on 27 September.
Ethiopian Official Says Somali Militias Use Ethiopia to Attack Rebels
By Peter Heinlein for VOA
Ethiopia has confirmed that pro-government militias from neighbouring Somalia are using Ethiopian territory as a base to launch attacks on rebel forces. An Ethiopian spokesman lashed out at Horn of Africa rival Eritrea for its role in the Somalia conflict.
Spokesman Bereket Simon says Ethiopia has not and will not stop its military support to Somalia's Transitional Federal Government, or TFG, in its fight against a foreign-backed insurgency.
Bereket told reporters, pro-government Somali militias have permission to use Ethiopia as a base of operations in attacking al-Shabab rebels, who control large sections of southern Somalia.
"When the forces of the TFG attack al-Shabab and score victories, we don't care from which geographical positions they start the attack," he said. "But I assure you this is a Somali operation."
Bereket categorically denied persistent reports that Ethiopian troops are actively engaged in Somalia's civil war.
Ethiopia's army entered Somalia in 2006 to drive out an al-Shabab backed administration in Mogadishu, but encountered stiff opposition and withdrew earlier this year.
Bereket says Ethiopia's military support mostly involves training forces loyal to the UN-backed transitional government.
"We have been training, not only now, even when we had been in Somalia, we have been training forces of the TFG, and we always train and we will continue to train forces of the TFG because we believe these are forces of peace and stability in Somalia," he continued.
Bereket had harsh words for Ethiopia's Horn of Africa rival Eritrea, which the United States accuses of backing al-Shabab in Somalia. Eritrea denies the charge, but Bereket described Eritrea as a regional troublemaker.
"The reality is that Eritrea currently is creating havoc around the Horn. We all know this country is supplying arms to al-Shabab," he said. "We all know this country is bent on weakening and destroying the TFG, which is the legitimate government recognized by the United Nations."
Bereket also expressed satisfaction with this week's verdict of an international commission settling claims arising from the war Ethiopia and Eritrea fought from 1998 to 2000. Ethiopia had asked for $14 billion in reparations, Eritrea had asked for $6 billion. The ruling handed down in The Hague awarded Ethiopia $174 million, and Eritrea roughly $164 million.
In a statement, the commission said it was aware the awards were only a small fraction of what each side had demanded of the other. But the commissioners noted what they called 'the harsh fact that these countries are among the poorest on earth, and that the full claims would have been impossible for either side to pay.
Eritrea earlier said it would abide by the commission's decision.
The awards were the result of a complex arbitration that was part of a peace agreement that ended the conflict. An estimated 80,000 people died in the fighting, many in World War I-style trench warfare.
Puntland leaders still in secret negotiations with Oil companies
By Columnist Rukia Abdi
On 20th of July, the President of Puntland Abdirahman Farole met with executives from oil companies in Dubai, UAE. The talks were held behind closed doors, at Millennium Hotel in Dubai, where the Puntland delegation were staying.The delegation was headed by President Farole himself and the Interior Minister Gen. Abdullahi Jama Ilkajiir. The Director of Puntland´s Petroleum and Minerals agency, Isse Mohamud Dholowa was also part of Farole´s delegation in Dubai.
After two days of talks, Puntland President´s office released a short statement, saying that President Farole and members of his delegation met with executives from Range Resources Ltd and Africa Oil Corp. The statement added that the new Puntland administration will re-examine, past oil exploration agreements signed by the former Puntland government.
The statement from Farole´s office, was an attempt to show the people, the new administration´s willingness to share important information with the public.
However it failed miserably to deliver the right message. Even though the meeting was publicized days later when it was concluded. But the statement, did not give any information about the respective agreements.
It did not also, mention the current deadlock between President Farole and oil companies, on how to carry on with the oil production phase, in Dharor and Nugal valley in Puntland.
The secrecy surrounding oil explorations in Puntland, is not new to the public.
The previous government of Gen.Adde Muse, was similarly secretive about the dealings with enigmatic foreign oil companies.
In 2006, President Abdirahman Farole, then a minister, became an opposition leader, when a political dispute related with the Oil explorations, erupted between him and then-President Adde Muse.
Farole, who was at the time Puntland´s minister of Planning and international relations, was against any dealings with foreign companies including, Range Resources Ltd, which currently sold half of it´s mineral and oil explorations rights in Puntland, to the Canadian owned, Africa Oil Corp.
Gen.Adde Muse, former Puntland leader, was invited in to the Dubai talks. Some consider him as the backbone of the oil exploration program in Puntland.
The top secrecy surrounding the talks in Dubai, is a testament to the hidden agendas of Puntland rulers, when it comes to the oil and mineral explorations in Puntland.
Without a doubt, Farole´s and Adde´s administrations, are evermore looking identical in many ways, when we talk about hidden personal gains, combined in lucrative agreements with foreign oil companies.
To come back to my point; actually, the only things that I have for President Farole are questions and more questions:
Why was the meeting so secretive, if the current government is not genuine about their promises of transparency and good governance?
Why is such an important meeting was held in behind closed doors, at luxurious hotels in Dubai, thousands of miles away from Garowe?
Perhaps President Farole, was not so sure about the security in Puntland, so they had to meet some where else? If that is the case, how would they start with oil production in Puntland, if they can´t even meet in Garowe?
Or was there something else, that we don´t know about?
Why are the cabinet and Parliament, so clueless about the oil agreements?
It is strange, yesterday, President Farole used to call Range Resources a sham company, and today he is meet with executives from the same company, in a secret meeting far away from Puntland.
The President´s office keeps reminding us, that they will re-examine previous agreements, yet none of these documents are public, not even to the cabinet and Puntland Parliament!
Before they could re-examine anything, they should publicize all agreements, so the public could take a glance on, what the whole fuss is all about.
One thing that all Somalis could agree on, is that nothing stays secret forever, because in a Somali society, the word gets around pretty quickly.
Even before the president is back in Puntland, the people are already debating, in cafes in Bosaso and Garowe, about the alleged stalemate between President Farole and Oil comapanies, they say the Presidents is persistent on starting oil productions only in Nugal valley, while the oil Companies want to start their oil production in Dharor valley, in Bari region.
Others openly debate about, new Chinese oil companies, that are lining up for new oil exploration agreements with Farole´s government, with the help of the son of Puntland´s President.
The President should act on his word, and conduct these delicate matters with utmost transparency, that is if he is not involved with, the old back door dealing, that is so typical of the shady African leaders.
Lets hope, that President Farole will take his own advice of good governance into account and be transparent to his own people.
Farm-in, Farm-out - The Oil Wars Continue
Africa Oil Signs Farmout Agreement With Raytec Over Somalia and Kenya Blocks
On behalf of the board of Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: AOI) President Rick Schmitt In Puntland, Somalia, Africa Oil will transfer a 15% (fifteen percent) license interest to Raytec in the Nogal and Dharoor Petroleum Production Sharing Agreements.
In Kenya, Africa Oil will transfer a 10% (ten percent) interest in the Block 9 Production Sharing Agreement, a 25% (twenty-five percent) license interest in the Block 10A Production Sharing Contract and a 20% (twenty percent) interest in the Block 10BB Production Sharing Contract, which was recently acquired by the Company pursuant to its acquisition of Turkana Energy Inc. announced that it has entered into a farm out agreement (the "Agreement") with Raytec Metals Corp. ("Raytec"), previously announced on May 28, 2009. The Agreement relates to production sharing contracts in which Africa Oil has an interest in both the State of Puntland, Somalia and the Republic of Kenya.
Raytec will pay a disproportionate share of costs associated with the planned work programs to be carried out, in both areas, in 2009 and 2010. Raytec has also agreed that it will, within 30 days of the execution of the Agreement, deposit USD 4 million into escrow as security for its payment obligations under the Agreement.
Africa Oil Corp. is a Canadian oil and gas company with assets in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Africa Oil's East African holdings are in what is considered a truly world-class exploration play fairway. The Company's total gross land package in this prolific region is in excess of 200,000 square kilometers - an area roughly the size of Great Britain. The East African Rift Basin system is one of the last of the great rift basins to be explored. New discoveries have been announced on all sides of Africa Oil's virtually unexplored land position including the major Heritage/Tullow Albert Graben oil discovery in neighbouring Uganda. Similar to the Albert Graben play model, Africa Oil's concessions have older wells, a legacy database, and host numerous oil seeps indicating a proven petroleum system. Good quality existing seismic show robust leads and prospects throughout Africa Oil's project areas. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AOI".
Raytec finalizes farm-in with Africa Oil and acquires additional block
Further to an earlier release, President and CEO Brian Thurston on behalf of the Board of Raytec Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "Raytec") (TSX.V - RAY) announced today that it has finalized a farm-in agreement (the "Agreement") with Africa Oil Corp. ("Africa Oil"), a member of the Lundin Group of Companies. The Agreement relates to production sharing contracts in which Africa Oil has interests in the Republic of Kenya and the State of Puntland, Somalia.
Kenya
Africa Oil will transfer to Raytec a 10% interest in the Block 9 Production Sharing Agreement, a 25% license interest in the Block 10A Production Sharing Contract and a previously unannounced 20% interest in Block 10BB Production Sharing Contract.
Block 10BB, recently acquired by Africa Oil from Turkana Energy Inc., is a large block encompassing approximately 13,000 square kilometres in the Rift Valley of northwestern Kenya.
The block is within the Tertiary rift trend of East Africa, which has recently yielded major oil discoveries by operators such as Heritage Oil Corp. and Tullow Oil plc, both active in the Lake Albert region of Uganda. Block 10BB is located immediately west of Blocks 9 and 10A.
Puntland, Somalia
Africa Oil will transfer a 15% license interest to Raytec in the Nogal and Dharoor Petroleum Production Sharing Agreements.
"The alliance with Africa Oil is a unique opportunity to partner with the Lundin Group, one of the most respected names in the energy resource industry," said Brian Thurston, President and CEO of Raytec. "Our participation in the Kenya Block 10BB reinforces Raytec's commitment to create opportunities for our shareholders to participate in world-class exploration plays in East Africa".
This farm-in transaction is subject to TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") acceptance, as well as approvals of the appropriate regulatory authorities from the Republic of Kenya and the government of Puntland, Somalia. A finders fee will be payable in accordance with Exchange policies.
About Raytec:
Raytec Metals Corp. says it is a well-financed, Canadian exploration company with recently signed agreements with Africa Oil Corp. and Encanto Potash Corp. The Company holds an approximately 20% interest in Sulphur Solutions Inc., an emerging fertilizer company developing state-of-the-art patented technology for the production of micronized sulphur fertilizer. The Company is further diversified with a uranium joint venture project in the Athabasca Basin of Saskatchewan and an iron ore project in Ontario.
Why I fear for Somalia
By Nuradin Dirie for guardian.co.uk (Serious or UNICEF propaganda?)
The wave of radicalisation targeting young Somali children everywhere is threatening hopes for the country´s future stability
Over 20 years, I have watched Somalia disintegrate politically, crumble economically and fragment socially. But my hope for Somalia´s future was always entrusted in its younger generation. Our struggle was to invest in our youth inside Somalia to develop a culture of peace by continuously talking to them about the negative effect of the civil war. We also had great hope that the Somali young people growing up in the west would bring back to the country a culture of democracy, tolerance and coexistence with the rest of the world. Both of these hopes are being seriously challenged in Somalia today by a wave of radicalisation that directly targets Somali young people everywhere. The religious disintegration in Somalia is what worries me the most. I never feared for Somalia as much as I do now. My fear emanates from the fact that I am today seeing a Somalia that I do not recognise. Up until recently, we could make sense of the complex political and social dynamics. The way to gauge it was that, one way or another, most things tended to be tribal or clan motivated. But the radicalisation in the country and in Somali communities in many parts of the world today is quite bewildering, quite unprecedented and quite detrimental to us all.
Religious groups in Somalia came to the forefront of Somali politics after the fall of the last central government in 1991. Since then, they have been part of the political process – or should I say political blunders? There was no apparent suspicion from the wider society about the motives of these organised religious groups. Somalia continued to have a blend of religio-clan politics that worked with each other as long as the clan took the overriding priority. "Fiqi tolkiis kama jana galo" – which loosely translates to mean, "even in justice religious scholars will always side with their clan and will consequently burn in hell" – is a maxim that aptly explains the religio-clan relationship in Somali society. But that was in a time of certitude. At least we always knew what we were dealing with.
But what I see now is what I will call the diktat of semi-literate and semi-sane child religious scholars. Today, 15-year-olds are giving religious edicts in Somalia that decide life and death. We are talking about teenagers who never knew anything but conflict and have never seen how a stable state functions. Youth who never had the opportunity to go to school now promulgate fatwas. Certainly they never had the chance to study Islamic jurisprudence, history or politics; never examined the Somali judicial history where customary law, Islamic sharia and the Somali penal system worked in tandem. Their qualifications for such esteemed leadership have been attained by crash radicalisation courses in the form of video and radio tapes, produced outside Somalia and designed to brainwash very unsuspecting, innocent and fragile children.
Child judges, as they are locally known in Somalia, were given the responsibility to decide on beheadings, stonings and amputations. This is a punitive system that most scholars will agree is not compatible in today´s Somalia. The reign of these children is spreading fear amongst the Somali population. A group with the name al-Shabab justifies its policies by virtue of the fact that its name means "the youth". It alleges that its objective is to empower youth. The problem is that their definition of youth includes children as young as nine years old. And by their definition, empowerment does not mean providing an education so that they can learn and grow, but turning them into tools for murder and destruction.
In today´s Somalia, children are victims, perpetrators and bystanders all at the same time. They are also being systematically recruited and used in ever larger numbers for military and related purposes, including suicide bombings. It is a terrible ordeal for such vulnerable children who have not known peace and normalcy in their lives.
But most alarming of all is that Somali youngsters are coming from cities like London and Minnesota to be part of this Mogadishu madness. For me, this is destroying Somalis everywhere. This is taking away the future hopes for Somalia. This is creating instability for Somali communities in their respective countries in the west.
It is ironic that as very young children they were taken from Somalia under very traumatic circumstances in order to give them a better life, free from conflict. The fact that they are now returning to Somalia to kill and be killed is a symptom of greater failures. Somali communities in places like my adopted country, Britain, have collectively failed to protect their children.
Governments also failed to protect these children based on their unique needs. It is time to admit that. Now is the time to stand up and protect these children if we are to safeguard any future hopes for Somalia.
(*) Nuradin Dirie is an independent analyst specialising in the Horn of Africa with particular interest in Somalia. He was former presidential candidate in Somalia in 2009 Puntland Elections and also served as senior special advisor to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF
Abdi Jama commented:
I do agree with Nuradin that there is a well organized trend of radicalisation among our youth, however, I would be grateful if the writer or any other person could present a more thorough study which touches the roots of the problem and the strategies that could be adopted to contain the problem. I must say that although the article is well written, its content has been available not only among the ´educated´, but also to every Somali layman who listens to the BBC Somali Service or reads the Somali websites.
What is important now is to dissect the problem and bring some proposals pertaining how Islamic scholars, community elders, politicians and other concerned figures can collaborate in reversing this trend of radicalization without creating another glitch in the fragmented Somali society.
Islamist Militants Restrict Somali Wedding Celebration –VOA
In a typical Somali wedding, women wear brightly colored gowns, gold jewelry and elaborate hairstyles. They dance with men to the tunes of Somali love songs, performed by a vocalist and a pianist.
But in recent months, traditional wedding celebrations have been banned. Islamist groups have seized control in several parts of Somalia and say the restrictions are in line with the teachings of Islam.
Music and dancing are no longer allowed. The groups say Islam forbids the mingling of women and men. Somali Islamist militants carry their weapons as they patrol the streets of northern Mogadishu
Convoys carrying family and friends of the couple have also been banned, . The Islamists allow only three cars at a wedding and check to make sure the vehicles are carrying only the immediate families of the couple.
Islamist militant groups are adamant about imposing Islamic Sharia law in Somalia and banning any form of entertainment they deem to be un-Islamic.
No dancing, no music
Hussein Yusuf Anabore a long time wedding planner remembers how weddings used to be elaborate.
"After the bride has been picked up convoys of cars blaring Somali music would escort her to the wedding venue. Extended family members and participants would clap and cheer, with everyone dancing and mingling. These days, people just conduct prayer services, and dancing is not permitted," Anabore laments.
Some of the areas´ bachelors favor the restrictions. They say the changes will completely eliminate unnecessary expenses. Even the women admit the restrictions favor the men.
For those residing in the cities of Marka and Kismayo, where hard-line Islamist groups are in control, the change is hard to embrace. Many are disheartened, especially over no longer being allowed to film the weddings. They say they intend to be married only once, and the rules deprive them of being able to record a memorable moment in their lives.
impacting reports from the global village
Mohamed Farah reaches finals in Berlin world-championship
Somalia-born Mo Farah - starting for the UK - advanced to the finals of the 5,000m run after a late sprint ensured he finished third in 13 minutes 19.94 seconds behind 10,000m champion Kenenisa Bekele. "I was confident going into the race and ran easily, and now anything can happen in the final run," said the 26-year-old. "Last year I was really disappointed not to make the Olympic finals so I realised the importance of getting through the heats here."
Ramadan Moon Sighting (IOL)
Millions of Muslims across the globe will be on the alert on Thursday, August 20, for the sighting of the new moon to determine the starting of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
But Muslims around the world would not be united in starting the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
The Indonesian government announced on Thursday, August 20, that Saturday, August 22, will be the beginning of Ramadan, after efforts to sight the new moon failed.
The head of the Religious Ministry´s Hilal and Ru´yat Committee said he has received letters from 29 people across the country saying none of them saw the new moon.
The Nahdhlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, Indonesia´s two largest Muslim organizations, also confirmed Saturday as the start of Ramadan.
In Malaysia, the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal announced over TV1 Thursday night that Ramadan will fall Saturday.
Religious authorities in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, have called upon the public to sight the new moon on Thursday evening and report to the nearest court.
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) announced on its website that the beginning of Ramadan falls on Saturday.
The Darul Ifta in Suara Mindanao announced that Ramadan starts in the Philippines on Saturday because the crescent was not visible after sunset Thursday.
The Islamic Society in China, described as the country´s highest Muslim religious authority, announced Thursday that Ramadan will start Saturday.
For the first time, Saudis will be able to use telescopes, not just the naked eye, to sight the new crescent.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Sudan also announced that Ramadan start Saturday.
Egypt, home to Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in Sunni Islam, is also sighting the Ramadan moon on Thursday, but Mufti Ali Gomaa announced in a televised speech that Ramadan will start Saturday.
Other countries sighting the new crescent Thursday include Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Somalia and Djibouti.
Muslim minorities in Spain, Czech, Hungary, Greece, the Netherlands, Brazil and the Philippines are reportedly sighting the moon today.
In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those travelling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.
Most dedicate their time during the holy fasting month to become closer to Allah through prayer, self-restraint and good deeds.
Differences
The first day of Ramadan and moon sighting have always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and even scholars seem at odds over the issue.
Some countries, including Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Oman, Morocco and Mauritania, will be sighting the new moon on Friday, August 21.
Others have already determined the start of Ramadan according to astronomical calculations.
Libya said Ramadan starts Friday based on astronomical calculations.
Shiites in Lebanon and Iraq will start the fasting Friday. Lebanon's top Shiite scholar Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah announced that the fasting begins Friday based on calculations.
Sunni religious authorities in Iraq said the fasting starts Saturday.
Turkey had earlier declared that the holy fasting month would fall on Friday based on calculations.
The majority of Muslims in Kosovo, Macedonia, Romania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania, Slovenia, Russia and Ukraine will follow Turkey.
Germans of Turkish backgrounds, who make up the majority of the Muslim minority, also follow Turkey.
The Union of Islamic communities in Italy (UCOII) has decided that fasting will begin Friday according to astronomical calendar, but the Islamic Cultural Center, which manages the Grand Mosque of Rome, decided to follow Saudi Arabia.
Organizations representing Muslim minorities in France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland also confirmed Saturday as the start of Ramadan.
The European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) said Ramadan starts in Europe a day earlier, also based on astronomical calculations.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has announced that Ramadan will start in North America on Saturday according to astronomical calculations.
The first day of Ramadan and moon sighting have always been a controversial issue among Muslim countries, and even scholars seem at odds over the issue.
While one group of scholars sees that Muslims in other regions and countries are to follow the same moon sighting as long as these countries share one part of the night, another states that Muslims everywhere should abide by the lunar calendar of Saudi Arabia.
A third, however, disputes both views, arguing that the authority in charge of ascertaining the sighting of the moon in a given country announces the sighting of the new moon, then Muslims in the country should all abide by this.
This usually causes confusion among Muslims, particularly in the West, on observing the dawn-to-dusk fasting and celebrating the `Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of fasting.
Military chiefs in East Africa meet
By NATION
Eastern Africa military chiefs are meeting in Nairobi Kenya to seek ways of dealing with security threats in the bloc.
The fighting in Somalia, the Indian Ocean piracy, terrorism and civilian-military relations are the main issues on the agenda.
Participants are drawn from the East African Community member states, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.
Kenyan Foreign Affairs assistant minister Richard Onyonka, who addressed the meeting yesterday, called for alternative ways of solving security threats other than militarily.
Defence chiefs from the region met in Nairobi two weeks ago to plan for the training of a joint regional force.
Nigeria will honour its pledge to contribute troops to peace keeping efforts in Somalia, once the logistical and political issues surrounding the deployment are settled.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on his Kenyan counterpart, Hon Moses Wetang'ula in his office Thursday, Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon Chief Ojo Maduekwe pointed out that the government was seeking parliamentary approval and support at home for the deployment of troops to AMISON to be successful.
The two Ministers agreed on the need to strengthen the mandate of AMISON in Somalia.
Hon Chief Ojo reiterated that Nigeria has a strong history of peace keeping in the region and will not abdicate from this responsibility.
He pointed out that the Somali problem is an international problem that needed the cooperation of the international community in addressing it as ignoring it would only aggravate the security situation in the whole region.
Canadian Government `mindset' blamed for abuse of our Muslims abroad
By Haroon Siddiqui for TorStar
You remember Liliane Khadour, don't you? She was among those at the Canadian high commission in Nairobi who caused Suaad Hagi Mohamud all that grief. Well, the diplomat's tour of duty has "concluded" – as in, terminated.
But she clearly was not alone in creating the mess. What's being done about the other officials?
And what's Ottawa doing about the chorus of complaints about the attitude of Canadian immigration officials in Nairobi toward Somalis, including visiting Somali Canadians?
And what of Stephen Harper? After refusing for weeks to tend to the case, he has been cleverly distancing his government from this shameful episode. He shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.
He began last Thursday with the innuendo that Mohamud's was "not an easy case," implying there was more to it than meets the eye. If so, let's hear it, Prime Minister.
The next day, he urged Canadians to be cautious when abroad, implying that she hadn't been. Fact: she had done nothing wrong, except to visit her sick mother.
He then made a particularly misleading statement: "We do our best to aid those in various forms of difficulty, but ultimately we're not the sovereign government once people leave our territory." Fact: it was not Kenyans, but Canadian officials who were the main culprits.
This week, Harper said: "When we became aware last week ..." Is that the royal "we"? Or is he referring to his office? In either case, it's not reassuring that the Prime Minister and/or his entourage didn't know what most Canadians did.
On Saturday, about 50 Somali Canadians waited nearly two hours at Pearson airport for Mohamud to emerge from immigration upon her return from Kenya. They were eager to talk.
Shukri Abdi lives in the same building as Mohamud and had gladly looked after the single mom's son, though she has seven children of her own. "I said, `sure,' since Suaad had to go see her mother."
Abdi said stories of Somalis being harassed by Kenyans at Nairobi airport for bribes and being ill-treated at the Canadian embassy are common. Her brother, Abdi Dirshe nodded. The last time he was there, in the spring, "I couldn't get past the security, even though I showed my Canadian passport."
Mohamed Dahir has a radio program on CHIN Radio and a TV show on OMNI. "There are lots and lots of complaints about our embassy there. They don't treat people properly. For them, there are two tiers of Canadian citizens. If you are Somali, tough luck."
His colleague Ahmed Yusif: "Many Canadian embassies have an assumption of who's a Canadian. The colour of your skin still plays a role, even when you have a Canadian passport. I was happy when Brenda Martin was brought back from Mexico in a government jet. But we should help not just those who might look like the government's idea of a Canadian but, rather, all Canadians."
Faduma Mohamed, president of the Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance, said: "We do not have two-tier citizenship in Canada, but there is in the way Harper is acting."
Mohamud's lawyer, Raoul Boulakia, has a pretty good idea of what went wrong in the Mohamud case.
Detained at Nairobi airport May 21, Mohamud had the Kenyans call the Canadian embassy. A day later, Khadour and "a white male officer" arrived. "What might have pushed the (Canadian) immigration officer was that she, having lived in Canada for some years, talked to him in a way he's not used to from the Somalis there. She said she had some rights as a Canadian. But the Canadian officers there expect Somalis to suck up to them."
When Mohamud was taken to the embassy May 25, she offered her fingerprints and urged the officials to phone her employer. "But they just wouldn't listen. Which is how they normally treat Somalis over there. People keep telling us stories that the embassy staff are dreadful. And every experience I've had with them has been dreadful."
By May 28, Khadour had sent Mohamud's passport to Kenyan officials, "telling them, `You prosecute her.'" Can you believe that?
Darryl Huard, second secretary, immigration, sent a detailed list of questions to Suaad's employer: Her date of employment? Hourly wage? Hours of work? Days absent from work? etc.
"It's clear what the purpose of such questions is," Boulakia said. "Once they get the answers, they'd ask her and see if she gives the exact same answers. The slightest deviation, and `she's lying.'
"The simplest thing would've been to put her and her employer here on Skype, and say, `Does this woman work for you? Show us her employee ID picture, her file.'"
Meanwhile, the government was fighting Boulakia in court. "Can I have her file? No. Her passport? No. Why don't you do a DNA test? No. I said the government has done it in 8,000 cases. The court agreed. Once the DNA came, they were screwed."
Boulakia's experience is that when "Canadian officials make mistakes, they never, ever admit to their mistake. They close ranks. That seems to be the same behaviour in just about every case I litigate. And what they really, really hate is a lawyer turning up to question them."
As for the Harper government, he said, "it has an attitude toward Muslims abroad, a mindset, like they are dealing with second-class citizens. With Mohamud, their attitude was similarly dismissive: `This woman, what can she expect?'"
Diplomat's recall does not clear air
The Canadian diplomat at the heart of the uproar over Ottawa's indefensible treatment of Suaad Hagi Mohamud is suddenly back home. But Liliane Khadour's recall from Kenya to Ottawa doesn't begin to clear the air. If her political masters hope to shield themselves by scapegoating her, Parliament shouldn't let them get away with it.
Khadour is the official at Canada's high commission in Nairobi who sent a letter to Kenyan authorities saying that "conclusive investigations" had confirmed – wrongly, as it turned out – that Mohamud was an imposter. The letter said the high commission was "releasing" her passport to the Kenyans so she could be prosecuted.
As Canadians have learned, Mohamud is who she claimed to be. She returned to Toronto on Saturday. Now Ottawa must explain the indefensible. It rejected Mohamud's proofs of Canadian identity, denied the Somali immigrant's Canadian citizenship, seized her passport, blocked her right to return home, and turned her over to a foreign government. Then it took months to sort out the mess with a DNA test.
Is it credible that Khadour, a mere official, wreaked such havoc without her superiors eventually knowing? Hardly. Is it credible that "conclusive investigations" didn't include consultations with Ottawa officials? No. If higher officials didn't know, they should have.
At Prime Minister Stephen Harper's demand, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon (who faulted the victim) and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan are conducting probes. Canadian High Commission to Kenya Ross Hynes, too, should shed light on this fiasco.
But it's not reassuring that Mohamud's lawyer Raoul Boulakia has had to launch proceedings in Federal Court to obtain Mohamud's disputed passport and case file. What does Ottawa have to hide?
The Harper government has just a few weeks before Parliament resumes in mid-September to explain how a Canadian traveller could be treated so shabbily after seeking consular help. Absent a credible explanation, the Liberals and other opposition parties should use their majority in Parliament to force an inquiry.
As well, they should press for legislation requiring Ottawa to go to bat for citizens who get into trouble abroad. At present, Ottawa isn't bound to help. Ministers and bureaucrats can pick and choose.
That can leave new Canadians such as Mohamud feeling the sting of official indifference. Since 9/11, Muslims especially have suffered.
The Federal Court in several cases has sharply criticized Ottawa for neglecting citizens. This is not the Canadian way. If the government won't assume its responsibility to stand up for every citizen, Parliament should take up the cause.
Autistic Somali-Canadian trapped in Kenya for three years on passport dispute
By Emily Senger, National Post
A Canadian man who has been stranded in Kenya for three years after a dispute over the legitimacy of his passport photo may finally return to Canada in coming weeks, the man's lawyer said this morning.
Abdihakim Mohamed, a 25-year-old Canadian who has autism, has been stuck in Kenya since a 2006 attempt to renew his passport was halted by Canadian officials who claimed his ears looked different in a new passport photo, said his Ottawa-based lawyer Jean Lash.
Mr. Mohamed's mother, Anab Issa, has attempted to prove her son's identity through a series of affidavits, but the process has been stalled because Mr. Mohamed, who was born in Somalia, doesn't have a birth certificate or other documents that the Canadian government requested he produce to prove his identity.
The case draws a parallel to that of Suaad Hagi Mohamud, a 31-year-old Canadian citizen who returned to Canada Saturday after she was trapped in Kenya for three months after Canadian officials said her lips did not match her four-year-old passport photo.
Critics say both cases were hampered by the Canadian High Commission in Kenya. Mohamed Dalmar, a manager at the Catholic Immigration Centre of Ottawa, believes officials are wary of the large number of Somali refugees who have fled conflict in their own country and may be looking for a way into Canada.
"Along the years, you get a mentality to be extra careful of these people," Mr. Dalmar said. "The High Commission [is] more watchful and assumes that these people want to come to Canada by fraudulent means."
Mr. Dalmar, a Somali-Canadian, has worked with Ms. Issa for the past three years as she has struggled to bring her son back to Canada.
According to Ms. Lash, in 2004 Mr. Mohamed went back to Somalia with his mother after a doctor recommended that a spending time with family members in his home country might help the young man's autism.
Ms. Issa left her son with his grandmother and aunt in Somalia and went back to Canada, taking her son's passport with her for safekeeping.
"What she did was reasonable under the circumstances," Ms. Lash said. "She thought she had authority to carry it and she knew that if she left it in Somalia with him it could get stolen."
At Pearson International Airport, Ms. Issa was stopped and her son's passport confiscated. The passport then expired and when Ms. Issa applied for a new one in 2006, Kenyan officials denied that request. In 2008, Passport Canada told her she was under investigation for applying for a passport for an imposter. It was then that Ms. Issa, an Ottawa-resident with limited means, first contacted a lawyer.
Ms. Lash said just three weeks ago, she got the good news that Mr. Mohamed would be granted a passport after one final affidavit.
"The bottom line is, I am satisfied that we can resolve it now," Ms. Lash said.
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.
Contact us for details concerning project-sponsorship or donations via e-mail: ecotrust[at]ecoterra.net
Kindly note that all the information above is distributed under and is subject to a license under the Creative Commons Attribution.
To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/
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Pls cite ECOTERRA Intl. - www.ecoterra-international.org as source for onward publications, where no other source is quoted.
Press Contacts:
ECOP-marine
East-Africa
254-714-747090
marine[at]ecop.info
www.ecop.info
ECOTERRA Intl.
Nairobi Node
africanode[at]ecoterra.net
254-733-633-733
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme
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254-722-613858
254-733-385868
sap[at]ecoterra.net
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