Ecoterra Press Release 233 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 45
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 16, 2010
ECOTERRA Intl.
SMCM
Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE
2009-08-25 TUE 18h46:12 UTC
Issue No. 233
A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or elsewhere, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell
EA ILLEGAL FISHING AND DUMPING HOTLINE: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia[at]ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme EMERGENCY HELPLINE : SMS to +254-738-497979 or sms/call +254-733-633-733
"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !"
Cpt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y Tanit - killed by French commandos - 10. April 2009 / Ras Hafun
NON A LA GUERRE - YES FOR PEACE
(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT - shot down on day one of the French assault)
We have the obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and believe that anybody who is degrading other people and peoples has to be fought against with whatever appropriate tools people have available.
Clearing-House: Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !
(If you find this compilation too large or if you can't grasp the multitude and magnitude of important, inter-related and complex issues influencing the Horn of Africa - you better do not deal with Somalia or other man-made "conflict zones". We try to make it as easy and condensed as possibly.)
Breaking:
Merchant ship sinks off Yemen, one Indian sailor missing, international navies didn't help
Presently Moldova-flagged MV SARAH HANEM (formerly Isle of Man- flagged MV PACHECO-1) was en-route from UAE to Somalia with 4,800 tonnes of cargo,, when it went under on Sunday. The ownership of the 300 teu boxship, built 1978, is not really clear. When it was named MV PACHECO-1 it was owned by KINNOUL a clandestine company registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, while the shipmanager was KNK SHIP MANAGEMENT from Mumbai, India. The present LloydsList hasn't been updated, since its classification status with Lloyds registry was withdrawn on April 16, 2008. The present fronting owner is said to Marshall Island registered, while the real owner still could be the Indian or a Lebanese group. The reasons why the ship went under are not clear yet.
Yemen rescues 12 men from sinking ship, one missing
Yemeni coastguards have rescued 12 men from the trade vessel that sank off the coast of Yemen, and one Indian sailor is missing, a government website reported on Monday. The exact crew-list , however, is not known yet.
The men rescued were Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Indian, "September 26" said, citing government sources. The ship was heading from the United Arab Emirates to Somalia.
The vessel was recently classified as being a Substandard Ship offering Substandard Food to the crew, which is not covered by an ITF agreement.
The Gulf of Aden is an ocean stretch with the highest naval density anywhere in the world, but none of the navy ships helped exept the Yemeni coastguard.
News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress
Official information that appropriate medicine was delivered to MV ARIANA could not be confirmed. Though it was confirmed that a medical doctor had called the ship and gave some medical advice when the medical problems with one of the seafarers developed, the supply of important medical supplies - if ever sent - never did reach the vessel so far, local sources close to the scene stated. Another humanitarian effort is underway, but the major problem seems to be the Greek company fronting for the real owners of the vessel, because there is said to be no direct communication between the pirates and the responsible company, while all the brokerage-lines have broken down. The vessel has an all-Ukrainian crew of 24, incl. two women.
The three hostages from S/Y Serenity
Gilbert Victor, Andre Conrad and John Hoareau alias Samson the three ill-fated sailors from the Seychelles are still held hostage near Garcad at the Central Somalia coast in the vicinity where also the 30 men crew of WIN FAR 161 - the Taiwanese fishing vessel - is held.
Gilbert Victor recently confirmed in a phone communication to his sister in the Seychelles what we had reported earlier: The catamaran SY SERENITY had been burned and then was sunk by the pirates, who had captured the vessel and crew from the Seychelles.
The three men are apparently in good condition but not much has developed to rescue and repatriate them to their homeland.
After the high-profile repatriation of the crew on MS INDIAN-OCEAN EXPLORER, the officials in the Seychelles seem to have gone into hibernation and more or less have forgotten the plan to also help the three remaining Seychelle citizen.
The easiest way to get them home would be that they accompany the crew of WIN FAR 161, which also was captured from the waters of the Seychelles, but unfortunately this case has been dragging on now for many month now with neither the Taiwanese nor the government of the Philippines taking their duties as guarantors for live, health, safety and property of their nationals serious in any way.
Too many times governments forget about these duties as long there is a ship-owner, whom they can place in front and blame for not solving the situation.
It is high time that all governments who have their nationals on the Taiwanese vessel as well as the government of the Seychelles step up their efforts to get a fast resolution and to free all these 33 sailors.
Naval Patrol Seizes Weapons From Pirate Suspects
Norway nabs, then releases suspected pirates in Gulf of Aden
Naval patrols fired warning shots to stop suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden at the weekend, later seizing ladders, rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
The European Union Naval Force for Somalia said in a news release that a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft spotted a skiff on Saturday which was carrying seven people, a ladder and large amounts of fuel. The skiff was about 80 nautical miles east of Aden and five nautical miles from merchant shipping.
A Norwegian warship gave chase and a Dutch warship sent a helicopter to follow the skiff. When the occupants of the skiff tried to get away, the helicopter crew fired warning shots.
Norwegian sailors using fast, rigid-hulled inflatable boats boarded the skiff and seized and disposed of the weapons. But, according to the EU force's news release, "due to the lack of positive evidence of a pirate attack, the skiff and its crew were finally released." Norway's navy arrested seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden at the weekend on a boat carrying weapons, boarding equipment and fuel but released them due to lack of evidence, the military said Monday.
"The burden of proof is enormous," a spokesman for the Norwegian military, Erling Boe, told AFP.
"You practically have to catch them red-handed" in order to bring them to justice, he said.
The incident took place on Saturday when the frigate Fridtjof Nansen, part of the European Union's anti-piracy operation off Somalia dubbed Atalanta, boarded a suspicious small boat that had been detected by a maritime surveillance plane.
A Norwegian television crew on board the frigate filmed the arsenal of weapons, which included a rocket launcher, four Kalashnikov assault rifles and several handguns.
The weapons and boarding equipment were seized, but after consultations with the Atalanta military command the seven suspects were released due to insufficient evidence, Boe said.
Somali pirates demand $2.8 million for release of ship with Pinoy crewmembers by Pia Lee-Brago - philstar.com
Somali pirates who hijacked the Greek/British-owned M/V Irene are demanding $2.8 million in exchange for the release of the ship and the Filipino crewmembers but the ship owner is having difficulty raising the money.
Gemma Casas, a Filipino journalist based in the Northern Marianas, said HMES Winnipeg of Canada sent a helicopter to the Irene´s location when it was attacked but the pirates were too quick and succeeded in capturing the ship.
Casas´s brother Joven is one of the Filipino crewmembers.
The Canadian ship was scheduled to return to Winnipeg this week.
The Casas family and the families of the other victims, including American human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, appealed to the Philippine government, the United Nations, the African Union, and other international organizations to intervene for the immediate release of the hostages.
The victim´s families learned that the pirates were demanding $2.8 million.
"I hope my son comes out of this hostage situation alive. This is a tragic incident and no family should suffer the same," said Erlinda Casas, a 68-year-old retired government employee.
Her husband, Benito, 73, appealed to the Philippine government to speed up the negotiation process for the release of the crew.
Doromal said the international community should unite to fight international sea piracy.
"The international community needs to unite to end the piracy of the coast of Somalia to ensure that the world´s seafarers are protected. This is not merely an economic issue, but more importantly it is a human rights issue," he said.
Doromal and other cause-oriented sympathizers of the hostages have set-up a page on Facebook – Liberate Somali Pirate Hostages – dedicated to the plight of M/V Irene and the growing problem of terror at sea.
"I appeal to the public to join our grassroots effort in signing the petition and contacting officials to demand the release of the hostages of the M/V Irene, E.M. and other pirated vessels," he added.
The online petition to free the crew of the Irene can be accessed at hhttp://www.petitiononline.com/mvirene/petition.html.
The family of ship captain Necitas Garcia is also appealing for the international community´s intervention. Garcia´s 21-year-old nephew was also among the hostages.
The Garcia family of Tanauan, Batangas said the captain, already in his mid-50s, was supposed to be married for the first time had the ship sailed home as scheduled last month.
The other crewmembers are from the provinces of Iloilo, Lucena, Cebu, and Metro Manila.
M/V Irene´s hostage crisis is one of the longest in Somalia´s history [Not correct, but it is the longest pending at the moment].
Casas said the US military assured them that the 22 Filipino seamen aboard the captured ship remain alive but the exact health condition of the crew, whose captain complained last week that they have no more food and water, could not be ascertained.
She said intelligence sources sent word that the Irene crew are "still alive and safe," allaying their families´ fears that some of them may have already perished.
History of the case: HMCS Winnipeg on April 14, 2009 received a distress call from the MV Irene E.M. that the vessel was being attacked by pirates off Somalia in the Gulf of Aden - not far from Bosaaso port. At the time, the warship was escorting another vessel 185 kilometres away and was unable to respond immediately.The ship gradually drew closer to the threatened vessel and, five hours after the initial call, dispatched its Sea King helicopter to contact the vessel which, by then, had been taken over by Somali pirates. "Our helicopter was able to find her and hailed the vessel and had a short conversation with the pirates and established she was under pirate control," said Cmdr. Craig Baines, who heads the Vancouver Island-based warship currently engaged in the NATO-led counter-piracy mission known as Operation Allied Protector.
The St Vincent and Grenadines flagged MV IRENE E.M. has as registered owner VENETICO MARINE SA from Liberia and is managed by CHIAN SPIRIT MARITIME ENT INC at 126, Kolokotroni Street, Piraeus Greece. The true beneficial owner of the 1980 built bulk carrier is not known, while BRIGHT MARITIME CORP. is the Philippine manning agency based in Manila , which sent the crew onto the ill-fated vessel.
With very little food and water supplies, the families of the Filipino crew of MV Irene EM appealed to the Philippine government to step up its pressure on the shipping firm. They likewise urged authorities to negotiate for the immediate release of their kin and for the international community to assist in securing the safe release of the kidnapped crew.]
MV IRENE EM Petition
To: Bright Maritime Corp.; President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Republic of the Philippines; President Barack Obama, United States of America; President Sharif Ahmed, Republic of Somalia; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; International Maritime Bureau; African Union; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Amnesty International; Human Rights Watch
Joven "Bob" Casas was one of 23 Filipino crewmen aboard the bulk carrier ship MV Irene when it was seized by Somali pirates off the Gulf of Aden on April 14, 2009. We urge each of the addressees and anyone else in a position to help to do everything in their power to enable Bob and his crewmates to be reunited with their families as soon as possible. We also call on the international community to work together to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Please support the call with your signature: http://www.petitiononline.com/mvirene/petition.html
DFA: Kidnapped Pinoy seamen 'safe'
Talks are reportedly ongoing for the release of 22 Filipino seamen whose ship, MV Irene E.M., was seized by armed Somali pirates five months ago in the Gulf of Aden.
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs Esteban Conejos told ANC's On the Scene on Monday, "All I can say is the talks are on-going, the seamen are all in good physical condition."
In addition to the 22, there are 20 other Filipino seamen held captive by Somali pirates. Thus, there are a total of 42 Filipino seamen on board 3 ships who have yet to be released.
"My appeal to the families...I know it's difficult at this time, give us more time. Government is working double time on these cases. Hopefully, the results that we were able to obtain in the previous cases will also be the same in these 3 remaining cases," Conejos said.
Asked about the health condition of the seamen, Conejos said he can assure the family members "that they are in touch with the crew, and we have been assured that they are in good physical condition."
"There is no point in negotiation if we are not able to demonstrate that the crew is safe," he added. "We have that assurance, we are able to confirm that. Yes, that's why we are going on with the negotiations."
Conejos said that since the spike of piracy in Somalia started in March 2006, a total of 389 Filipino seamen have been held hostage, and 347 have been released.
MV Irene crew safe
Gemma Q. Casas, a Filipino journalist based in the Northern Marianas, said US military intelligence sources sent word that the crew of MV Irene crew are "still alive and safe," allaying their families´ fears that some of them may have died. The ship´s captain had complained last week that food and water provisions had run out.
Her only brother, Joven Q. Casas, is a master electrician on the ship.
Ms. Casas said the U.S. military took a satellite image of the crew. The US, however, has no jurisdiction to intervene in the hostage situation because all crew of the Greek-owned bulk carrier MV Irene EM are Filipinos.
Somali pirates attacked and held the ship hostage on or about April 13, the US military said. Information reaching the also Athens-based MV Irene´s mother company, Bright Maritime Corp., shows it was hijacked on the April 14.
HMES Winnipeg of Canada sent a helicopter to the MV Irene´s location when it was attacked, but the pirates were quick in capturing the ship.
The Canadian ship is scheduled to return this week to Winnipeg, where Casas´ younger sister, Divrose, is based.
International campaign
The Casas family and the families of the other victims, including American human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, are appealing to the Philippine government, the United Nations, the African Union, and other international organizations, to intervene for the immediate release of the hostages.
The pirates are demanding US$2.8 million, but the shipping firm is having difficulty raising the money.
"I hope my son comes out alive of this hostage situation," said Mrs. Erlinda Casas, a 68-year-old retired government employee. "This is a tragic incident and no family should suffer the same. The Philippine government should lead the fight against international sea piracy. After all, one-third of merchant sailors around the world are from the country. These men and women need the protection of their government especially in times of adversity."
Doromal said the international community should unite to fight international sea piracy.
"The international community needs to unite to end the piracy off the coast of Somalia to ensure that the world's seafarers are protected. This is not merely an economic issue, but more importantly, it is a human rights issue," said Doromal.
Facebook page
Doromal and other cause-oriented sympathizers of the hostages of the Somali pirates have set-up a page on Facebook—Liberate Somali Pirate Hostages—dedicated to the plight of MV Irene and the growing problem on terror at sea.
"I appeal to the public to join our grassroots effort in signing the petition and contacting officials to demand the release of the hostages of the MV Irene, E.M. and other pirated vessels," said Doromal.
The family of MV Irene´s captain, Necitas Garcia, is also appealing for the international community´s intervention. Garcia´s 21-year-old nephew is also among the hostages.
The Necitas family of Tanauan, Batangas, about 55-km. south of Manila, said the captain, who is already in his mid-50s, was supposed to be married for the first time had MV Irene arrived home as scheduled last month.
The other crew members are from the provinces of Iloilo, Quezon, and Cebu. Some are also from Metro Manila.
One of longest crises
MV Irene´s hostage crisis is one of the longest in Somalia´s history.
Somalia spiraled to chaos after its last known government was overthrown in 1991. The country gained independence from Britain in 1960. About 700 Somalis attempt to cross Kenya every day to seek refuge in the Dadaab Refugee Camp.
In 1992, the U.S. sent USS Lummus to the country to feed hundreds of Somalis who were stricken by severe famine due to drought.
Different rebel groups now run most of Somalia even though a transitional federal government was recently recognized by the United Nations.
The International Maritime Bureau, a non-profit organization helping fight sea piracy, said the number of ships attacked this year has doubled.
According to its latest report, a total of 78 vessels were boarded by pirates worldwide, 75 vessels fired upon, and 31 vessels hijacked. A total of 561 crew were taken hostage, 19 injured, seven kidnapped, six killed, and eight missing.
Hostage Filipino seamen´s condition unknown - US MILITARY TELLS KIN - Inquirer.net
The United States military has assured the family of the 22 Filipino seamen being held by Somali pirates for the past five months are still alive but the exact health condition of the crew could not be ascertained.
Gemma Casas, a Filipino journalist for Marianas Variety whose eldest brother Joven is the ship´s master electrician and among the hostages, said intelligence sources sent a word the MV Irene crew are "still alive and safe" allaying their families´ fears that some of them may have already perished.
Last week, Casas also told Philippine media that the ship captain complained last week they have no more food and water, causing the families to worry.
The Casas family and the families of the other victims, including American human rights advocate Wendy Doromal, are appealing to the Philippine government, the United Nations, the African Union, and other international organizations, to intervene for the immediate release of the hostages.
The pirates are demanding $2.8 million and the shipping firm appears having difficulty raising the money.
Casas said the US military took a satellite image of the crew. The country, however, has no jurisdiction to intervene on the hostage situation because all crew members of the Greek-owned bulk carrier MV Irene EM are Filipinos.
Families´ common request
"I hope my son comes out alive of this hostage situation," said Erlinda Casas, a 68-year-old retired government employee. "The Philippine government should lead the fight against international sea piracy, after all, one third of merchant sailors around the world are from the country. These men and women need the protection of their government especially in times of adversity."
Her husband, Benito, 73, echoed her sentiments and appealed to the Philippine government to speed up the negotiation process for the release of the MV Irene crew. The couple retired from government service in 2002.
The Necitas family of Tanauan, Batangas, a province about 55-km. south of Manila, said the captain, who is already in his mid-50s, was scheduled to get married for the first time had MV Irene not been hijacked.
The other crew members are from the provinces of Iloilo, Lucena, and Cebu. Some are also from Metro Manila.
MV Irene´s hostage crisis is one of the longest in Somalia´s history.
Doromal said the international community should unite to fight international sea piracy.
"The international community needs to unite to end the piracy off the coast of Somalia to ensure that the world's seafarers are protected. This is not merely an economic issue, but more importantly it is a human rights issue," said Doromal.
Doromal and other cause-oriented sympathizers of the hostages of the Somali pirates have set-up a page on Facebook—Liberate Somali Pirate Hostages—dedicated to the plight of MV Irene and the growing problem on terror at sea.
"I appeal to the public to join our grassroots effort in signing the petition and contacting officials to demand the release of the hostages of the MV Irene and other pirated vessels," said Doromal.
There is an online petition to free the crew of the MV Irene.
The family of MV Irene´s captain, Necitas Garcia, is also appealing for the international community´s intervention. Garcia´s 21-year-old nephew is also among the hostages.
Earlier hostage-switch attempt
Somali pirates attacked and held the ship hostage on or about April 13, the US military said. Information reaching the Athens-based MV Irene´s mother company, Bright Maritime Corp., shows it was hijacked on the 14th.
US Navy seals rescued and freed from the Somali pirates Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips on Easter Sunday, April 12. Phillips volunteered as a hostage in exchange for the freedom of his crew.
The rescue operation on Phillips led to the death of at least three Somali pirates and the voluntary surrender of one of them who was brought to New York for a possible trial on international sea piracy.
HMES Winnipeg of Canada sent a helicopter on the MV Irene´s location when it was attacked but the pirates were too quick in capturing the ship.
The Canadian ship is scheduled to return to Winnipeg this week.
A failed state
Somalia spiraled to chaos after its last known government was overthrown in 1991. The country gained independence from Britain in 1960. About 700 Somalis attempt to cross Kenya every day to seek refuge in the Dadaab Refugee Camp.
Different rebel groups now run most of Somalia even though a transitional federal government was recently recognized by the United Nations.
The International Maritime Bureau, a nonprofit organization helping fight sea piracy, said the number of ships attacked this year doubled.
According to its latest report, a total of 78 vessels were boarded by pirates worldwide, 75 vessels fired upon and 31 vessels hijacked with some 561 crew taken hostage, 19 injured, seven kidnapped, six killed and eight missing.
"As in the last quarterly report, the rise in overall numbers is due almost entirely to increased Somali pirate activity off the Gulf of Aden and east coast of Somalia, with 86 and 44 incidents reported respectively," the report said.
"The attackers were heavily armed with guns and knives in the majority of incidents. Violence against crew members continues to increase," it added.
If you are on Facebook, please sign on to become a fan of the Liberate Pirate Hostages Facebook page (though they note some rather confusing information).
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The two illegally fishing vessels from Egypt finally arrived back at the port of Ataka, but questions remain
FV MOMTAZ 1 and FV AHMAD-SAMARA, captured in April in the Gulf of Aden for illegal fishing, arrived at Ataka, a fishing port located in front of the mountains of Sinai, not far from Suez (eastern Cairo).
But families and friends of the 40 sailors had to wait first, while 6 Egyptian minors as well as 8 pirates were secretly off-loaded by the Egyptian secret service before the the rusted hulls of both vessels came in sight at the harbour - with the official crew of 34 seamen onboard.
On a huge banner, was written: "Welcome to the son of Egypt, the fishermen heroes" and this is how the owners of the ill-fated vessels had wanted to sell the story.
"The pirates treated us badly during the five months as they fed us with rotten rice and hot water," local Nile TV quoted one of the fishermen as saying.
Surely the suffering crew and their families had reason to be happy to be safely home. "This is the happiest day of my life," said an emotional father of one of the sailors, Ismaïl Abdessalam, while a young fisherman of 20, Sayyed Sobhi, said he is "happy to be back in country after months of misery and abuse."
Lies, lies and lies
But if the joy and relief is palpable, grey areas remain regarding the circumstances of the voyage, doings and the liberation of the Egyptians.
According to official media, a "secret" plan was developed by the Egyptian authorities in collaboration with the Somali government, which was then implemented by the fishermen.
Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said earlier this month that one of the country's main security agencies played a key role in the operation to free the fishermen.
Agents convinced the pirates that a ransom payment was about to be made when in fact the money was being used to pay Somali clansmen to use force to free the fishermen, the paper said.
The owner of one of the boats, Hassan Khalil, reportedly travelled to the breakaway Somali province of Puntland with the so-called ransom but actually used it to pay clansmen to turn on the pirates.
Khalil refused to say if he had paid a ransom. "It's none of your business. It is between God and us," he told AFP.
However, according to the sailors, no external assistance was forthcoming, if not the owner of Momtaz I, Hassan Khalil. But he remains himself evasive.Well, he might seek forgiveness for the plunder and murders he at least instigated.
Also one of the sailors of Momtaz I, Ibrahim Mohammed Naim, 30, denied any external intervention.
"We have succeeded in seizing their weapons. Some slept, and each of us has fought for his life. We were not afraid to die," he said in a hesitant voice, visibly exhausted. But "there was nothing on the part of Egypt," he says.
The sailors said that during their captivity and after the illegally caught tuna had gone bad and was thrown overboard - they had been often locked in the refrigeration compartments of the ships when naval vessels were nearby and treated badly.
Nobody believes what an owner of one of the ships had told reporters, when he claimed that he helped intelligence services to carry out what was code-named "Operation Egyptian Dignity".
"What is certain," adds Hamadein Sabbahi, MP from Borg el-Borollos (Nile Delta), from which many fishermen stem, "is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done nothing. What is likely is that the intelligence services have provided logistical support. But the fishermen could escape by themselves."
All sailors confirmed that they brought eight captured Somalis with them. According to a fisherman, they were taken by the Egyptian authorities to an unknown destination before the vessels arrive in port Ataka. Two Somalis were killed in the operation to escape while eight have been taken to Egypt for trial also other sources confirmed.
Justice
"Eight of the pirates were captured and have been returned to Egypt where they are expected to stand trial," the BBC reported from Cairo and "The Egyptian authorities said they would be treated "in accordance with international law", the AFP news agency revealed. Also the Chinese news agency Xhinua stated that they were told officially: "The eight Somali pirates caught by the Egyptian fishermen will be tried in Egypt according to the International Law."
But - though Egypt had boasted itself as a regional hub to co-ordinate other countries in the legal fight against piracy and following international law, there are persistent rumours that the Egyptian government could bow under the pressure of the two obviously criminal ship-owners as well as some officials from Puntland and give in to a demand to just let the Somalis go back to Northern Somalia. An extradition to Puntland, since this is a region hostile to the clan from which the 8 Somalis hail, is seen as an extradition to face unjust treatment, forbidden under international humanitarian conventions.
Imagine the crew of the illegal fishing vessel presently held in a Tanzania prison would kill two warders and escape with their vessel from Tanzania, would the world then also celebrate their "heroe"-return? What the Somali authority in Laskooray clearly failed to do is to put the crews and their ship-owners on a proper trial and so the case developed into a situation close to a hostage-taking, but this doe not mean that the Egyptians did right.
The best the Egyptian Government can do is to put the two ship-owners as well as the 8 held Somalis on internationally observed legal trials, where the whole truth can be examined and Egypt at least can demonstrate that it plays by the books and itself respects human rights.
With the latest captures and releases now still at least 6 foreign vessels with a total of not less than 123 crew members are accounted for (of which 42 are confirmed to be Filipinos) and are held in Somali waters. They are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. MV JAIKUR 1 remains in Mogadishu harbor, but is an insurance and not a piracy case - all foreign crew was evacuated. MV INDIAN EXPLORER and S/Y SERENITY are allegedly dead ships. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 156 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 47 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least six wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces. More than 116 Somalis are held in foreign prisons under charges of piracy. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures. Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season in winter and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon season starting from mid February and early April every year.
Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: YELLOW IO: BLUE (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly still/again two groups from Puntland alone are out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean, where also groups from Harardheere have set out again, despite the heavy seas and the rough weather.
Directly piracy or naval upsurge related reports
Pirate´s Mother advises other pirates
Maryan Duale Weyrah the mother of a Somali prates whose son Ibrahim Mohammed was among a team of Somali pirates who hijacked an Egyptian vessel, has advised other Somali pirates who are haunting for foreign vessels off the coast of Somalia.
"My son has never been to school, but was very industrious helping me in looking after the animals in the rural, but one of the fine days some youngsters from the next village who were by then right back from the sea and had enough money with them have instantly changed the brain of my son, and coaxed him to join them in piracy activity, and without hesitation my son joined them without informing me, quickly my son and his fellow pirates have hijacked an Egyptian vessel, and detained it for 4 months in order to be paid handsome amount of ransom by the Egyptian vessel owner, but eventually the crew and the staff of the vessel tricked the pirates and in a battle between the captives and the captors the pirates were overpowered, some have thrown themselves into the sea and their bodies were seen on the shore days after, and some including my son were among a group of pirates who were defeated and taken towards the Suez Canal and the Egyptian vessel has already safely, reached at Egypt, my son is an orphan, and it was me who brought him up, and I am sure he was mentally deceived by some of his age mates" said Maryan Duale the mother of a Somali pirates speaking to Somaliweyn radio over the wire while she was in Lasqoraay town in Sanaag region.
Mother Maryan has also added that she doesn´t know the whereabouts of her son, but only knows that he was among a group of Somali pirates who are now in Cairo, and requested from the Egyptian government to pardon her son since he was betrayed some of his other friends.
Somali pirates have been making lucrative ransom in hijacking foreign vessels voyaging off the coast of Somalia for the past years, and this is not the first time for a Somali pirate to be taking to other countries after overpowering them.
It was sometimes mid April when Somali pirates have hijacked a US ship, but have not succeeded in been paid ransom, the Americans have used might to free the ship, but the captain was held in a lifeboat, and 3 Somali pirates were kept to guard the captain, but ultimately two of the Pirates were killed by American Snipers while the other one was live apprehend and he is now in New York.
Kenya piracy trials at risk of breaching human rights laws
By David Osler - LloydsList
A barrister specialising in controversial cases has stepped forward to provide pro bono services to over 40 suspected Somali pirates on trial in Kenya, arguing that their human rights could be breached on account of inadequacies in the Kenyan justice system.
US-Indian dual national Avi Singh is best known for working on the legal team that defended Liberian dictator Charles Taylor against charges of war crimes before an international court in The Hague.
Mr Singh represents a little-known Paris-based non-governmental organisation called Lawyers of the World, which has written to the United Nations, the European Union´s anti-piracy naval force and Kenya´s foreign ministry, expressing concern that the accused may be mistreated in custody and may not get a fair trial.
He defended his actions in a recent interview with Bloomberg, telling the news agency: "Foreign navies are dumping pirate suspects in Kenya. They are the governments telling Kenya to get the judicial system right, then using it for a quick and dirty solution to piracy."
The issue of which jurisdiction should try Somalis arrested as a result of piracy incidents has long been controversial. Somalia itself has not had a stable government since 1991, and thus does not have a functioning court system.
International law gives flag states of an attacked ship the right to bring those captured as a result to trial, and the US availed itself of this provision after the Maersk Alabama shoot-out earlier this year.
Nevertheless, the US, the UK and the EU have all signed prisoner transfer accords with Kenya, which borders Somalia, in exchange for legal and logistical support.
Denmark said earlier this month that it had also signed a piracy extradition agreement with Kenya. The former British colony´s law carries a maximum life sentence for those convicted of piracy.
Lawyers of the World said in its letter that it feared that "trials will be without legitimacy and a gross violation of the rights of the accused".
Suspects captured at sea have no opportunity to access legal advice, and in the absence of an interpreter, are unable to understand the evidence against them. Once on shore, the detainees are said to be denied adequate medical treatment and basic amenities such as soap. In most cases, they have not been able to contact their families.
There are legitimate concerns over the state of Kenya´s legal system. UN human rights investigator Philip Alston earlier this year published a report which alleged widespread judicial corruption. The country´s courts are reportedly struggling to process a backlog of more than 80,000 cases.
Amnesty International declined to comment on whether the pirates would be tried fairly, but a spokeswoman said: "[We urge] all states who transfer pirates to Kenya for prosecution to ensure that their human rights will be respected in any judicial process."
Shipping industry players unanimously backed fair treatment for the suspects. The UK Chamber of Shipping commented: "In the main, the Somali pirates have treated the seafarers on the ships they have captured well. Captured pirates should not be treated any less well, particularly as this might threaten the wellbeing of seafarers currently being held."
Anglo-Dutch seafarer union Nautilus International added: "It took a long time before governments managed to get an agreement to bring pirates to justice, and Nautilus is deeply concerned that this could be called into question.
"While everyone deserves a fair trial, seafarers also deserve the right to be able to work free from the sort of appalling violence and intimidation that we have witnessed in recent years."
BIMCO security chief Giles Noakes said his organisation supported the efforts of the international community to arrest and try pirates, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is important that guilty parties are seen going to trial and going to prison, as a visible deterrent to others, he maintained.
Piracy suspects call for UN intervention
By Alison Bevege for LloydsList
Nine accused in Maria K Gulf of Aden attack case want trial on home soil
Somalis on trial for piracy used a court appearance last Thursday to call for United Nations intervention, saying they were attacked by an Italian warship and forced to go to Kenya for trial when they should have been taken to Somalia.
"All of the problems were caused by the European Union and the Americans, of which they say they have arrested so many pirates," said Said Abdalah Haji at a court hearing with eight other Somalis accused of attacking the Maria K in the Gulf of Aden in May.
"We are requesting the UN and the human rights organisations to see to our welfare. Our problem is that we are being detained here forcibly. They said they´d take us to Somalia but they brought us to Kenya."
The outburst pinpointed an international legal dilemma arousing interest around the world: who should have the right to try more than a hundred piracy suspects detained on the high seas and awaiting court hearings in the east African nation.
The accused, who have pleaded not guilty, were told they would have their chance to be heard at their trial, scheduled for September 7-8.
The world´s naval forces and the European Union are watching the trials closely after a wave of pirate activity this year prompted more than 15 countries to send their navies to defend international shipping lanes around Somalia.
Meanwhile, the Kenyan courts are grappling with the issue as defence lawyers in case after case ask for referral to the High Court to argue the constitutional point of whether it is legal for the cases to be tried here.
The European Union and several independent nations have made agreements with the Kenyan Government to try the suspects in the east African nation.
It is understood to be a world first in international law, as legal experts say suspects are usually tried in either their home country,
the country of the victim or the country of those who caught them — none of which is Kenya.
"Even Saddam Hussein was tried in Iraq," said Francis Kadima, a lawyer who has represented some of the Somalis on trial.
Prosecutors have said there is no problem as piracy is a universal offence under international law which can be tried in any country that is part of the UN.
EU Naval Force spokesman Peter Benn has said that Kenya was simply doing its duty as a leading nation in the region.
Chief magistrate Rosemelle Mutoka said there were 123 suspects awaiting trial in more than 10 separate cases, the bulk of which will be heard next month.
All are believed to be Somalis, but Somalia´s Transitional Federal Government was not a signatory to the agreement to try its nationals in the east African nation.
Mutoka said the question of who has the right to try the Somalis was interesting as it was a new area of law.
"It´s the first time it´s happening, and it gives Kenya a lot of accolades," she said. "When we go to the UN meetings in Geneva they start mentioning Kenya and hold us as a shining example."
Pirate attacks off Somalia increase
By Mazen Mahdi
Piracy off the Somali coast is on the rise despite the naval presence of three coalition task forces and an armada from independent participants including Russia, China and India, all of whom have come together to protect vessels in the critical waterway that links Europe and Asia.
According to figures from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), piracy attacks around the world more than doubled in the first six months of 2009 to 240 reported cases, up from 114 in the same period last year.
The IMB report last month attributed the rise mainly to piracy off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, southern Red Sea, the east coast of Oman and the Arabian Sea, where 148 out the 240 attacks took place.
"The ultimate solution to the problem of piracy is ashore – in Somalia. We made the decision to focus coalition maritime efforts on security and stability at sea in order to create a lawful maritime order and deter acts of piracy on the high seas," Vice Adm William Gortney, commander of the US Navy 5th Fleet, said last week during a change of command ceremony for the anti-piracy task force at Mina Salman Port in Manama.
"These efforts were aimed at giving the international community time to address the long-term solution of piracy."
He said that in the eight months since the task force was established, the battleships in its command and ships from other cooperating naval forces had encountered 496 pirates; 251 of whom were disarmed and released, 235 disarmed and turned over for prosecution, and 10 killed.
Vice Adm Gortney said 40 pirate vessels were destroyed and many "tools of the trade" were confiscated, including small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, phones and GPS devices.
He emphasised that the international presence in the area helped provide much-needed security for the stability of world commerce and economies, something the IMB also attributed to deterring piracy in the area in its report last month.
The outgoing commander of Combined Task Force-151, Turkish Rear Adm Caner Bener, said, however, that military efforts alone cannot guarantee full safety of the region´s waterways without a concurrent political strategy in Somalia.
Rear Adm Bener said the task forces had secured the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC), a maritime route stretching across the Gulf of Aden to the east coast of Oman. It is continually patrolled by coalition ships and is recommended for all shipping vessels to use.
"If you cover 70 per cent of IRTC then you can generally prevent piracy attacks against the merchant liners," he said.
Turkey, which over the past few years began to play a bigger role in attempting to bring peace to the region, assumed command of CTF-151 in May, marking the first time a Middle Eastern country has led anti-piracy efforts off Somalia.
The incoming coalition commander, US Navy Rear Adm Scott Sanders, praised Turkish efforts to prosecute piracy by reaching out to the navies and defence ministries of such countries as Kenya and the Seychelles, strengthening partnerships that he said would make it increasingly difficult for pirates to operate unchecked or go unpunished.
"We have been able to check the number of successful piracy attacks. However, what has not happened is the number of attempts have not gone down," he said.
Last week, Bahrain hosted a meeting of Shared Awareness and Deconfliction, which brings together military and shipping industry experts to share information and counter-piracy efforts. Twenty-three countries, including China, Russia, India and Egypt, participated.
Monsoon rains have caused a lull in attacks recently, but pirates are expected to step up attacks on ships off Somalia´s coast as the weather improves in coming months.
Rear Adm Sanders said the coalition was there to support the maritime industry. He said suggestions, including having armed guards aboard vessels travelling through the area, were left up to the industry to decide.
"There are simple things that ships can do to avoid piracy and we recommend they use," he said.
Cyrus Mody, the manager of the IMB, said in an interview that it does not advocate the use of armed private security.
"It is up to the owner of the ship if they want armed security guards onboard to enhance their security procedures, however there has been sufficient guidance given to owners and masters to harden their vessels," he said.
Mr Mody added that the use of armed guards was not the most appropriate solution to the problem.
"It would lead to an escalation of the problem. The biggest limitation is on the legal side of when, where and how the rules of engagement are going to be laid down and who will have the ultimate responsibility of blame in the event of an incident [where] someone gets shot," he said.
According to the IMB report, which noted continued increase in violence against crew members, attackers were heavily armed with guns and knives in the majority of incidents. More firearms were used in attacks in the first six months of this year, when 151 guns had been used against vessels during piracy acts, up from the 39 used in the first half of 2008.
Germany largest contributor to the UN Maritime Task Force off the coast of Lebanon
The German government is still coming to terms with the defence and security policies of the new administration in Washington. Although there is apparent relief in Berlin at the demise of the Bush administration and emphasis placed on multilateralism by President Barack Obama, the new American policy in Afghanistan is far from popular with all elements of the German government.
At the NATO summit in Strasbourg and Kehl in April, Chancellor Angela Merkel resisted US attempts to pressure the German government to allow German troops to participate in high intensity combat operations in Afghanistan. The commitment of German ground troops to combat operations is still highly sensitive with public opinion so it is very unlikely that Merkel will ever sanction an active combat role for German forces.
Germany remains actively involved with UN and European Union peacekeeping missions around the world, providing financial support and troop contributions. The most high profile missions are in the Lebanon and off the Somalia coast. Germany set up and now remains the largest contributor to the UN Maritime Task Force off the coast of Lebanon. Sensitivities about German troops having to confront Israeli troops along the Lebanon-Israel border prevented Berlin from contributing troops to the land component of the upgraded UN mission in Lebanon, so the Germans were keen to make a big naval contribution. This complex mission involves enhancing security in the south of Lebanon and assisting the training of Lebanese naval forces.
Similarly, the German Navy has been in the forefront of the European Union naval mission off the Somali coast and its ships have been in engaged in several incidents with pirates. Germany has sent two frigates and support vessel to participate in the EU-led anti-piracy mission off Somalia. Lockheed P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft have also been deployed to Djibouti to provide airborne surveillance to international naval forces in the region.
The global economic crisis has yet to impact in a major way to date on German defence policies and budget but it is expected that later in the year Berlin will begin to reflect the economic realities in its planning cycle for the 2010 budget. Procurement delays or cancellations seem likely, along with more rationalisations of the Bundeswehr´s force structure.
No UK Royal Navy Vessel on Somali Anti-Piracy Patrol – GMN
The UK's Royal Navy currently has no vessels engaged in anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia, an EU Naval Force spokesman has confirmed. He told Anderimar Shipping news that the composition of the task force by nationality was not important. What was important was that the task force had enough vessels to carry its mission "and it does" he said. Speaking from EU NAVFOR's UK-based headquarters he stressed that the country was strongly involved in the mission even though it was not contributing a warship at present.
The current composition of EU NAVFOR by country was included in a press release issued over the weekend It reported a combined action including EU NAVFOR ships, fast RIBs, a helicopter and a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft to stop and disarm a suspected pirate skiff.
According to the press release a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft detected and reported a suspect skiff in the Gulf of Aden, some 80 nm east off Aden, on Saturday morning, 22 August. The aircraft observed seven people on board, a ladder and large amounts of fuel. The skiff was about five miles away from passing merchant vessels. The Norwegian EU NAVFOR warship HNOMS Fridtjof Nansen reacted immediately and set course to the suspect skiff, launching her two fast RIBs to prepare for boarding. The Netherlands EUNAVFOR warship HNLMS Evertsen immediately launched her helicopter to close and follow the skiff until arrival of the Norwegian fast RIBs.
The Evertsen´s helicopter fired warning shots to stop the skiff which was then boarded by a team from the Fridtjof Nansen. The statement says: "Due to lack of positive evidence of a pirate attack the skiff and its crew were finally released. The discovered ladders, rifles and rocket propelled grenades were seized and disposed of."
The press release says: "EU NAVFOR Operation Atalanta consists of units from Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Sweden. Ships from Norway and Belgium will be joining the Force in the next few weeks."
Ecosystems, marine environment, IUU fishing and dumping, ecology
Illegal fishing evades UN crackdown: Study (Reuters)
Illegal fishing is depleting the seas and robbing poor nations in Africa and Asia of resources, but a lack of global co-operation is undermining efforts to track rogue vessels, an environmental group said on Tuesday.
The Pew Environment Group, a Washington-based think-tank, has found that a United Nations scheme to oblige ports to crack down on illegal fishing boats is handicapped by a lack of accurate information, implementation and participation.
In the five years from 2004, of 176 vessels blacklisted by regional fishing authorities, only 55 turned up on port records, Pew said in a report it presented to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome.
In some cases, ports were not checking ships' identity, using the unique vessel number on their hulls. In others, ships had found ways of avoiding detection, such as changing their names, sometimes doing so mid-voyage before entering a region where enforcement was stricter.
Blacklisted vessels are, in theory, banned from landing fish at ports in the regions signed up to the scheme.
"We need to expand from a regional approach to a global approach so all ports are acting against villains, otherwise they just move to another part of the world," said Stefano Flothmann, head of International Ocean Governance at Pew.
Pew estimates that a fifth of all fish landed come from illegal, unregulated or unreported vessels — and this figure rises to around half for valuable species like blue fin tuna.
In some areas like West Africa and Southeast Asia, countries simply lack the resources to patrol their waters.
"For some countries, this represents a major loss of income . . . and is having a direct impact on the development of these countries," Flothmann said. "In Somalia, a country which is totally incapable of enforcing anything in its waters, coastal fisheries have been devastated, turning fishermen into recruits for pirate gangs."
Part of the problem that Asian countries which consume large quantities of fish — such as China, South Korea and Taiwan — are not too scrupulous about where the catch comes from, Flothmann said.
Europe, however, was also not exempt from criticism: much of the fishing fleet from countries like Spain and Norway use flags of convenience to dodge fishing quotas, he said.
Livelihoods - and lives - at risk in Puntland (IRIN)
Fishermen in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, are losing their livelihoods and sometimes their lives due to foreign vessels invading their waters, says a minister.
"More and more fishermen in Puntland are coming to us to complain about foreign vessels destroying their nets and denying them access to fishing grounds," Mohamed Farah Aden, Puntland Minister of Fisheries, told IRIN.
He said these foreign vessels were destroying livelihoods. "I have a number of reports of Somali fishermen killed. These people are not only killing their livelihoods but they are killing them as well."
The minister said his office was compiling figures of how many had died in attacks by foreign vessels.
He said Puntland authorities had raised the issue with the international forces patrolling the Somali coast to fight pirates. NATO forces, as well as those from other countries, such as Russia and India, were policing the area.
Illegal fishing
Puntland has requested that the foreign navies should also deal with the influx of foreign vessels fishing illegally. "Illegal fishing off our waters is what started the whole piracy thing," he said.
According to Ecoterra, an NGO that monitors Somali waters, there is an indirect link between piracy and illegal fishing. Many of the pirates have their roots in self-help groups that wanted to defend "Somali waters and marine resources in the absence of a navy and coastguard".
Later, however, the groups became involved in business disputes and were used as mercenaries and eventually evolved into criminal gangs, said Ecoterra.
Mohamed Abshir Waldo, an independent analyst and Somalia expert, goes even further, saying the root cause of the piracy "was massive illegal fishing that has been going on for the last 19 years.
"It is because of the illegal foreign fishing that the first conflict with Somali fishermen started, when the foreign poachers came to fish within the 12-mile territorial waters."
Waldo said he knew fishermen in a small fishing boat that was run over and crushed "with all the seven-member crew killed. There were many other incidents like that one. Many were shot and others burned with boiling water poured on them."
A Nairobi-based regional analyst, however, says that even though illegal fishing occurs in Somali waters "on a serious and damaging scale", the origins of piracy lie not with impoverished fishermen, "but with prominent businessmen and political leaders who initially introduced the 'licensing' of foreign fishing vessels as a kind of extortion racket".
Figures compiled by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) show that in 2008, pirates attacked 135 ships off the coast of Somalia, "resulting in 44 ships having been seized by pirates and more than 600 seafarers having been kidnapped and held for ransom". Most of these were off the coast of Puntland.
Foreign threat
Jama Isse, a member of a fishing cooperative in the port city of Bosasso, told IRIN that many members were idle due to attacks by foreign ships. "People are afraid to go out there. Sometimes we are mistaken for pirates and sometimes these big fishing ships ram our boats or cut our nets.
"If the situation does not improve, many of us will be forced to join the pirates," he said. "We have no other means of making a living."
Ahmed Ali Abdalla, who owns several fishing boats, said the number of foreign ships had increased since the foreign navies arrived.
He said the foreign ships were using the naval forces as protection and denying locals the opportunity to fish. "They even take our nets with everything in them. It is like taking food from our mouths."
Local fishermen were caught between the pirates and the foreign forces, "but the worst are those fishing illegally", he said. "Some of them are armed and have even fired on us or taken our boats."
According to the analyst, to end insecurity in Somali waters what is needed is a comprehensive and integrated approach that addresses "not only piracy, but also the problem of illegal fishing, which pirates routinely cite to justify their actions".
Somalia has a 200nm Exclusive Economic Zone along its 3,330km coastline, with major landing sites in Kismayo, Mogadishu, Merka and Brava in the south, and Eil, Bargal, Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera, and Bosasso in the north. It also has large species, including tuna and mackerel; smaller stocks, such as sardines; sharks and lobster.
Humanitarian situation in Somalia "worst in 18 years"
Somalia is facing the worst humanitarian crisis of the past 18 years, with an estimated 3.76 million people - half the population - needing aid as security deteriorates, officials say.
"The recent post-Gu [long rains] analysis by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit [FSNAU of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization] indicates that this is the worst humanitarian crisis in Somalia in the last 18 years, since the collapse of the previous government," Graham Farmer, head of the FAO and acting UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia, told IRIN on 25 August.
He said the number now needing humanitarian aid had increased due to heightened conflict in some areas and drought in others.
"Thus, despite the extraordinary efforts of humanitarian workers, the crisis factors are intensifying," Farmer said.
"I call upon all those who control territory in Somalia to recognize and respect humanitarian agencies and to support their unhindered access to populations in need."
Cindy Holleman, chief technical adviser at FSNAU in Somalia, [www.fsausomali.org] said the current situation "signals a serious deterioration in the emergency food security and nutrition situation from earlier this year.
"More worrying is that the escalating fighting and conflict [are] occurring in the same areas where we are now recording the greatest problems of food access and malnutrition," she said. "This will not only place additional burdens on the people already in crisis, but will also make it difficult for humanitarian relief to reach the vulnerable populations most in need of humanitarian and life-saving interventions."
On 24 August, FSNAU issued a statement saying most of the people in need, or 75 percent of the 3.76 million, were concentrated in south and central Somalia - where the fighting is greatest and the areas most inaccessible to humanitarian operations.
"Death sentence"
Abdullahi Shirwa, a civil society activist, told IRIN the worst-affected were displaced people and children.
He said the spread of fighting had led to many people being displaced from their homes in small towns in south and central Somalia.
"The displaced around Mogadishu get some help, however little, but those in the smaller towns away from Mogadishu have no access to help," Shirwa said.
He called on humanitarian agencies "to be creative" and do all they can to reach these people.
"Saying we cannot reach you now is a death sentence on those people [rural and small-town displaced]."
FSNAU said the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) had increased significantly since January, from one million to more than 1.42 million people now, a 40 percent increase in six months.
The agency said: "One in five children are acutely malnourished, while one in 20 are severely malnourished. Earlier this year the numbers were one in six children. These national rates of acute malnutrition are amongst the highest in the world.
"An estimated 285,000 children under five are acutely malnourished, of whom 70,000 are severely malnourished and at an increased risk of death if they do not receive the appropriate specialist care."
The food security and nutrition situation of the pastoral and agro-pastoral communities in the north is deteriorating after two to three consecutive seasons of below-normal rainfall, FSNAU warned.
FSNAU said humanitarian access to these regions was good, unlike south and central Somalia; "therefore it is critical that these areas receive appropriate levels of emergency livelihood support and nutrition response, to prevent a further deterioration into humanitarian emergency".
ECOTERRA Intl. calls on all the many independent NGOs, who served the situation in Somalia in 1991-1994, to come back and make a joint effort to break the chains of political isolation, warmongering by outside forces, NGO-streamlining, religious masterminding from any side and make a truly humanitarian difference to the ongoing quagmire caused by political factions, the UN-recognized and puppeteered government, criminal gangs and strategic interests of foreign players.
The Skeletal Face Of Persistent Hunger In Somalia
By Amiin D. Caynaanshe
The Widespread Panic Over Up Coming Election Somaliland Has Obscured A Far Larger, And Far More Far-reaching Threat: That Of Hunger And Chronic Malnutrition
Hunger is a man-made disease. It is political will – or lack of it – which outlines the contours of what idiot has called the geography of hunger. It is the political decisions that we as a supposed democracy make that determine who goes hungry, when and why. These decisions – or non-decisions, which is the same thing – include the fixing of basic procurement prices for farm output, implementing (or non-implementing) irrigation programmes, ensuring (or not ensuring) adequate supplies of subsidised fertiliser and other inputs to farmers, monitoring the transport, trade, storage and distribution of foodgrains on an equitable basis.
The skeletal face of persistent hunger -All Somalia,today has nutritional levels as low as those of starving Somaliland – shows only too painfully that we collectively have failed to make and implement the necessary decisions. Hunger remains the most damning indictment of our deeply flawed democracy. And when the monsoon fails – or falters, as it has done this year – our signal failure to win the war against hunger becomes even more disastrously obvious.
Chronic malnutrition, suffered over generations, results in progressive physical and mental debilitation. Hungry people, who breed hungry children, will over time become weaker and weaker in body and brain. What price our much-vaunted democracy when a quarter of the electorate is crippled physically and mentally by lack of basic sustenance?
So why does our media play up Elections and power anger, or terrorist attacks, or Tribilesm (which actually is an inevitable offshoot of rural deprivation) instead of the far greater menace of mass hunger, with all its ramifications (which includes all )? The short answer to that question is that – apart from the catchy slogan for a political party chain, ´Hungry?´ – hunger is not seen to be ´fun´ enough in attracting public attention – and enhancing TV ratings and newspaper circulations. Hunger is a poor man´s disease. It doesn´t directly affect those who can afford to watch television and read newspapers.
Hunger doesn´t affect you and me. Or doesn´t it? Let´s throw away our election masks. And let´s not eat for a day. Then perhaps we´ll know what hunger is. And why we have to get rid of it. Before it gets rid of us.There is no denying of the fact that today it is extremely difficult to survive for a general person in India. Projections can be made any way but everything is becoming out of reach from common person. Whether we talk of food or water or electricity or housing or health or education. Everything is becoming scarce and every care is being taken to protect and flourish those in power and it is true for every one whether in politics or in bureaucracy or media or business and so on.
I hope other will also be inspired from this issue. Unless hunger becomes a national issue no political formation will give any weightage for the eradication of hunger while framing the policy decision.Those who could influence the govt. policy decisions on economy and business should shoulder their responsibility for the deaths due to hunger and chronic malnutrition.
Lack of Political will has created hunger. Casual approach of our Ministers created this crisis for food and political crisis.. All the subsidies seems to be created for the middle men and political brokers. Media always looks for some instantaneous "breaking news" rather than throwing light on the long standing issues which can bring money and increase their ratings. Had all the issues of hunger had been highlighted and brought to notice of the government.
Meat of Somali Goats Safe, say Scientists - khaleejtimes.com
The pink colouration of bones and teeth of goats imported from Somalia that is scaring away meat consumers in Oman is not harmful to human health, tests here have confirmed.
Scientists at Sultan Qaboos University´s College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences said the colouration is caused by goats feeding on the leaves of the plant Cordeauxia edulis that produces a pigment called cordeauxiaquinone.
This leads to the formation of a compound which gets deposited in the bones pigmenting them, a spokesman for the college said on Tuesday, adding: "The team determined the effect of this pigment on bones´ mineral composition, structure and function in Somali goats browsing Cordeauxia edulis."
"Despite the variation in bone mineral composition in pink and non pink bones, the bone tissue and structure of animals with pink bones was not damaged. The animals were physically vigorous, healthy and did not show any physiological abnormality," the spokesman said.
"Moreover, neither their meat nor their internal organs showed notable pathological signs or changes in flavour, colour or odour. Other studies have shown that the coloured bone does not contain toxic ingredients," the spokesman for the college added. The researchers involved in the study were Dr Mohammed Tageldin, Mohammed Al Abri and Mohamed A. Mansour.
Anti-piracy measures
New S. Korean anti-piracy unit starts operations in Somali waters
A fresh contingent of 300 South Korean troops has begun operating off the Somali coast, replacing an anti-piracy unit that had been deployed there since April, officials said Monday.
The Dae Jo Yeong destroyer took over on Saturday from the 4,500-ton Munmu the Great, which has escorted a total of 300 boats and is due to return to South Korea by mid-October, Joint Chiefs of Staff officials here said.
The 300-crew Munmu the Great, the first South Korean warship sent to operate under the U.S.-led anti-piracy drive, rescued seven commercial vessels, including a North Korean one, during its deployment.
Approximately 500 South Korean ships ply the Gulf of Aden each year. About 150 of them are vulnerable to pirate attacks because of their low speed, according to the defense ministry.
Somalia has not had a functional government since its dictator was overthrown by warlords in 1991. Poverty has driven a large number of locals to piracy, and black market sales of weapons run rampant.
The Dae Jo Yeong, which also weighs 4,500 tons, was commissioned in 2003 and can travel at a maximum speed of 29 knots.
Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations and South-Korean by birth, who since weeks is embattled in a nepotism and non-performance scandal, has so far not come out to declare that his home-nation would do anything against the rampant illegal fishing of South-Korean fish-poaching vessels in the Indian Ocean. Many of the local observers believe the South-Korean naval presence has besides a hidden agenda an open task to protect the illegal fishing ventures in Somali waters.
High-sea outlaws to walk the plank
By Bobby Jordan
New system to prevent pirates from seizing ships bound for 2010 World Cup
South Africa is moving to secure its territorial waters amid rising lawlessness on the high seas and fears that pirates will target ships heading to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority has set up a regional long-range vessel monitoring system — due to go live next month — to track all big ships in SA waters.
The head of the authority, Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, said the new system, required by international maritime law, would also aid neighbouring states, including Mozambique, which last month formally requested help in monitoring its troubled coastline.
The implementation of the system follows a worrying surge in pirate attacks along the East African coast, including in the Mozambique Channel. Several ships heading to and from South African ports have been victims, including product tanker MV Bow Asir in March as it headed for Durban, and the cruise liner MSC Melody after it left South Africa bound for Italy.
Bow Asir´s crew was held for ransom, while MSC Melody managed to escape the pirates.
The fear is that similar incidents may soon occur in SA´s 27-million square kilometres of territorial water — almost 25 times the country´s land area.
Mokhele said that SA urgently needed to step up its monitoring of ships in SA waters, both to comply with international law and to prepare for the 2010 World Cup.
Massive cruise liners are expected to dock in Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth to provide extra luxury accommodation during the tournament.
There might also be "mass carriers" offering cheap transport from other African ports , Mokhele said.
"There is this assumption of flying people in. But our landing strips have limitations and aircraft have a limit. There could be some coastal traffic that takes place that is a bit cheaper. The porousness of our coast will be a big concern.
"We definitely have to be on top of our game," Mokhele said, adding that Samsa was already in discussions with defence and intelligence officials regarding preparations for the World Cup.
Tracking
"From a Samsa perspective we will track what is happening out at sea, account for every vessel that is there and guide the authorities who can physically intervene, like the navy and the police wing."
Captain Karl Otto, executive head of the Samsa Centre for Sea Watch and Response, said that while the monitoring of South Africa´s land borders was being increased, "the sea side also needs to be gearing up".
He said the new tracking system, which was supposed to have been in place at the end of last year, would be managed by a specialist British company in conjunction with the newly established South African National Data System. The information on the ships would be transmitted to neighbouring states.
Shipping sources this week said it was generally agreed that piracy was moving beyond Somalia.
Said Terry Hutson, who runs a maritime news service: " The international navies have started taking an interest in what they have been doing — so the pirates have moved further afield."
There´s been mounting pressure on the South African National Defence Force to commit to peace-keeping efforts off the coast of Somalia, but the navy´s senior liaison officer, Commander Prince Tshabalala, said military intervention would require cabinet approval. "We have taken note that the pirate activity is moving south. We are monitoring the situation very closely," he said.
But Mokhele said piracy could also be sparked within South Africa, thanks to the destruction of fishing stocks by unregulated ocean dumping and intensive poaching. This could lead embittered fishing communities to follow the example of Somalia´s pirates.
"The Somali piracy is a product of poor governance of the seaside. Had there been strong governance or had compliance levels been higher by the shipping communities, we would not be paying the price we are paying now," Mokhele said.
"If we don´t look after our waters ... we don´t know what those dynamics might do to the fishing communities who are dependent on the sea for their livelihood."
How the long-range identification and tracking of ships works
Conceived by the International Maritime Organisation, the new system requires ships to automatically transmit radio signals that reveal their identity, the date and time, and their position.
The signal is security coded and sent via satellite to an application service provider. The service provider in turn forwards the information to the data centre of the ship´s country of registration and to the International LRIT Data Exchange (managed by the IMO). This system is compulsory and cannot be switched off, meaning any ship can be monitored by its own national data centre anywhere in the world — and also by the coastal state in whose waters the vessel is operating. In the past, ships were only detected by shore-based radar systems up to 30 nautical miles (54km) offshore, primarily by port control centres.
Not trusting the public eye and independent journalists anymore, the navies develop their own media spin
European Union Counter Piracy Commodore Visits CTF 151
By Lt.Cmdr. Corey Barker - U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs
The European Union counter-piracy task group commander, Dutch Navy Commodore Pieter Bindt, visited the Combined Task Force 151 flagship USS Anzio at sea to discuss counter piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.
There are approximately 30 ships conducting counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia from 17 different nations as part of CTF 151, EU, NATO or as independent deployers. These naval forces have a common mission: to actively deter, disrupt and suppress acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia.
"Piracy is a threat to the security of all nations," said Rear Adm. Scott Sanders, commander, CTF 151. "We are committed to continuing operations with our naval counterparts to create a lawful maritime order and deter acts of piracy activity here."
The outbreak of piracy and its threat to commerce, regional security, and perhaps most importantly, freedom of navigation is something naval leaders are concerned about.
"All the naval forces here are fighting piracy because it affects global trade, energy transportation and stability in the entire region," said Bindt.
Coalition leaders find it key to coordinate and de-conflict with other navies in order to conduct successful counter-piracy operations in the region.
"Cooperation is paramount in restoring international confidence and safety of the sea-lanes off the coast of Somalia," said Sanders.
"What is amazing is a Japanese patrol aircraft detecting a suspect skiff, then a Dutch helicopter doing an interception and Norwegian fast boats conducting the actual boarding," said Bindt. "You can read about this, but when you see it actually happening, the level of cooperation is remarkable."
No real peace in sight yet
Aweys Urges War, Army Commander Threatens Opposition
Somalia's top army commander has threatened that the war will continue if the opposition does not stop fighting, while rebel leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys urged his supporters to continue fighting, Radio Garowe reports.
Sheikh Aweys, chairman of the Hizbul Islam rebel faction, told a Sunday press conference in the capital Mogadishu that Islamist fighters will continue to attack the bases of Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces and African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
He rejected media speculation that Hizbul Islam was in negotiations with TFG officials, saying: "I have never dreamed of joining [the TFG]...but there are direct talks between us [Hizbul Islam] and our brothers, Al Shabaab."
Sheikh Aweys, who is on the U.S. list of wanted terrorists, publicly stated for the first time that Hizbul Islam fighters are in engaged in talks to join the ranks of Al Shabaab and to use Al Shabaab as the common name. The U.S. government lists Al Shabaab as an international terror organization.
He spoke about the ongoing fighting in Mogadishu, saying that Somalis have "fled the war by sea or to countries where they get no respect."
"It is better to stay home [in Somalia] and to fight against your enemies," Sheikh Aweys said.
Asked what can bring peace to Somalia, he replied: "Peace will come under conditions: the withdrawal of AMISOM enemy troops; the dissolution of the current so-called government [TFG] and the hosting of a new national conference inside Somalia."
Separately, he criticized Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a as "un-Islamic," suggesting that the militia faction "works for the enemy."
Ahlu Sunnah is an Ethiopian-backed militia group active in Somalia's central regions, where they have waged a successful campaign since late 2008 to expel Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam fighters from key towns.
Meanwhile, Somalia's national army commander, Gen. Yusuf Hussein Dhumal, told a Monday press conference in Mogadishu that the TFG is "ready for peace" and appealed to opposition factions to respect a ceasefire call from TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
"Fighting during Ramadan makes no sense. If you [opposition] continue fighting, then we [TFG] will continue fighting," Gen. Dhumal vowed, while suggesting that it is better to stop fighting altogether and to save the lives of Somali civilians.
He noted that Somalia's newly restructured government, under the leadership of President Sheikh Sharif, aims to implement Shari'ah [Islamic] law across the war-torn Horn of Africa country.
"Our decision is to implement Shari'ah...we call [on everyone] to respect the blood, property and reputation of all Somali people," the army commander said.
He spoke directly to the people of south-central Somalia, urging them towards securing peace in these regions "like the peace in Puntland and Somaliland" regions.
Somalia's interim government, established in 2004, has been fighting to restore national order in Mogadishu in the face of an Islamist-led insurgency.
Upwards of 18,000 people have died in the conflict since early 2007, according to estimates.
Fresh Fighting With Heavy Shelling Starts in Mogadishu
Fresh fighting with heavy shelling between government soldiers backing by AMISOM and Islamist forces has started in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Tuesday.
The clashes started early on Tuesday morning at around Makka al-Mukarama Street, a key road that connects between the presidential palace and Km4 intersection, a large base for the African Union troops (AMISOM) as both sides used heavy gunfire during the clashes.
The real casualties of the fighting are unclear so far as the few residents in the area of the war started fleeing from their houses in parts of Hodan district in Mogadishu.
The movement of the traffic, business and people in parts of Hodan district and Makka Al-mukarama Street was halted due to the heavy gunfire with the shelling that continued in the capital this morning as I, Hassan Osman Fantastic, Shabelle's web writer of the English section was among the passengers traveling on Makka al-Mukarama Street when the fighting started.
There is no comment about Tuesday's fighting in Mogadishu from both the warring sides the Islamist fighters and government soldiers.
Al-Shabab scribe allegedly nearly killed
Dahir Abdulle Alasow Chairman of the Associated Somali Journalists ASOJ reports that the health situation of the head of the information department of the Al-Shabab, journalists Hassan Hanafi Haji is seriously wounded after a mortar has hit a house which he was in.Reportedly there were several other officers of the militant Islamist group, who were together with Hassan and perished in the house where the mortar struck.
Mr. Hassan who is widely believed to be the mastermind behind the killing of Somali journalists, and the uprooting of the rest is in bad condition after his relatives have confirmed his injury.
Hassan Hanafi who was a journalist who has been working with an independent radio station in Mogadishu called (IQK) has changed his real name and is using Moalim Barre as nom de plume.
Somali journalists have done great research of who is behind the killing of the innocent journalists who are working under hard circumstances, and have ultimately have came to understand, that Hassan Hanafi was the silent killer of the Somali Journalists since 11th of August 2007.
In fact the so-called Al-Shababs had great faith on Hassan Hanafi, and whoever he says that should be killed the easily did.
Once Hassan Hanafi has said that he doesn´t hate the Somali journalists, but there is a marvelous contract between him, and a man who gains wealth when a journalist is killed or journalist flee from the country.
Despite Hassan´s life been in danger he used to get a lot of money from the local remittances in the country sent by his friend whom they have agreed upon dealing with the journalist with bad attitude such as killing, threatening or torturing.
The Somali journalists have now understood who was behind the killing of their colleagues and are planning ways to throw a monkey wrench in the works.
The newly appoint Minister for information is also planning to create jobs for the journalists who have recently stopped working when their colleague the Director of radio Shabelle was killed.
Puntland and Federal leaders deadlocked over foreign agreements
By Hussein Farah - Horseed Media
The Prime Minister of Somalia, Dr.Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke traveled to Galmudug state, after fruitless talks with Puntland leader in Galkaio city, on Friday.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister of Somalia met with politicians from Galmudug administration in southern Galkaio, for a second day meetings.
Mr.Sharmarke is mediating Galmudug officials, who are in a bitter dispute over Presidential elections, earlier this month.
Mr.Sharmarke left the talks with Puntland leaders, on Friday, after a disagreement emerged during the talks on foreign policy and future agreements with foreign investors.
Puntland wants to be totally independent in signing agreements with foreign investors and Oil companies, without the involvement of the Federal Somali government.
According to sources close to the Puntland´s President Dr.Abdirahman Farole, the leader of the semi-autonomous region, also requested to allow Puntland State delegation to accompany the Federal government officials in all of their trips to abroad.
Prime minister Sharmarke is reluctant to sign such agreements which in the future, could undermine the legitimacy of his government, says Sources close to the talks in Galkaio.
In return, Puntland leaders declined to sign an agreement with the Federland government over sharing percentages of the International donations to Somalia.
Both sides already agreed on several crucial points regarding the sharing quota of the Federal income and the government resources, but still failed to sign the official agreement due to the deadlock on the two remaining issues.
N.B.: The squabble must be seen in direct connection with the illegal visits of naval officers under disguise of EUNAVFOR and NATO discussing politics in Puntland and giving the impression that they would have to decide, who gets the 230 million USD pledged by the EU-lead donor conference for Somalia, which have not materialized so far for any Somali. There are no bilateral agreements, whatsoever, between the people of the EU or any of its members states with the regional governances of Somalia and none with the TFG. Why Javier Solana, the hidden EU-forces commander, believes to be allowed to play such games all European observers wonder, which split Somalis, create envy and war. The old "Divide-et-Impera" at best.]
Meanwhile Hussein Farah of Horseed Media reports that Puntland and the TFG actually signed a historic agreement.
On Saturday, the leader of the semi autonomous administration of Puntland State has signed a collaboration agreement with the Transitional Federal government of Somalia.
After days of talks in Galkaio, the Prime Minister of Somalia, Dr.Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, told Horseed Media that they have reached important agreement with the Puntland administration.
The agreement consisted of the following points:
1-The TFG and Puntland will collaborate in safeguarding the unity and the statehood of Somalia. The TFG recognizes Puntland as a stable and self governing part of Somalia, it also considers it as a model for the Federal system in Somalia.
2-The TFG would work on finalizing the Federal constitution, and will establish a constitution commission, Puntland will support the TFG with the consitution.
3-In order to accomplish, the Federal constitution and the creation of Federal states in Somalia, The commission will be based in Garowe, the capital of Puntland. In retrun Puntland will support the commission in fulfilling their tasks.
4-In accordance with the Federal Charter, The Federal government will form more autonomous states in Somalia, and the TFG will also encourage the only existing State in Somalia, which is Puntland
5-Puntland is allowed to participate as an administration, in all meetings regarding the State´s interests.
6-The TFG together with Puntland, will lobby for the return of Italian development projects of FIA and re-energizing the development projects in the region, that were terminated after the collapse of the Somali government in 1991.
7-Both parties agreed on setting up military camps in Puntland.
8-Both parties agreed on establishing the command of anti piracy forces in Puntland
9-The TFG and Puntland will collabarte on fighting the piracy.
10-All education funds and Scholarships to Somalia, Puntland will receive it´s share of 25%.
11-The Education ministers of Puntland and the Federal government will work together on training the teachers and establishing a new curriculum.
12-The TFG and Puntland agreed on, calling for all International agency working in Somalia, to move their main offices in to stable regions in Somalia, such as Puntland.
13-Both parties will work together on protecting Historic sites in the country, safeguarding the cultural heritage and the religion.
14-Both parties agreed to support and Encourage the Somali Diaspora, to take part in rebuilding their country.
15-Both administration´s ministers will also work together
The agreement was signed by the Prime minister of Somalia Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and Puntland´s President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.
Official confirmation, however, could not yet be obtained.
Is it a pure envy or a deep-rooted enmity against Puntland?
By Omar Mohamud Dholawaa
Well before the establishment of the Puntland State, the Puntlanders were always determined to create an environment that is conducive to peace, stability, and development and had been at all times giving welcoming to anyone who sought sanctuary in Puntland regardless of their clan or sub-clan.
Despite the recent history of Somalia where many people had been victimized in the South, Puntlanders and Puntland´s successive governments have shown a social and cultural maturity based on forgiveness and forget-ness of the past, and they created successfully a comforting environment where everyone is welcome.
Many people including laborers, business people, politicians, and very recently reporters have temporarily stayed or permanently settled in Puntland where they felt protected. Today, the businesses of some towns in Puntland are dominated by a people who originally came from distant territories particularly Bay and Bakol.
Consequently, this situation has resulted the younger generations of these areas to become bilingual. Surely, these people could not prosper and settle vividly without the open hands of the locals.
After the creation of Puntland State of Somalia in 1998, Puntland´s successive governments have been politically engaged to restore the Somali dignity and bring back Somali´s legitimate role of the international community. Recently, the current president of Puntland Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud have lobbied vigorously, in his speech to the American congress July this year, for Somalia to be saved from the present turmoil.
Moreover, Puntlanders were always happy to support their brothers in the other parts of the Somali territories so they can emerge from the chaos and the calamity that falls on them. In the past, many high profile individuals, many armed men and their military machines were dispatched to the South to save its inhabitants. This effort was pure and legitimate gesture. Unfortunately, the saviors have been seen as treacherous alien from another planet and their energy and efforts were wasted in favor of the continuation of the anarchy and the human catastrophe.
Unfortunately, instead of rewarding Puntland for its international, national and local efforts to support every Somalian in anyway possible, some minority but tenacious individuals have shown restlessness and become insane about Puntland´s social and political progress in the national and world stage. Others have even questioned the God given rights of Puntland´s Federal system policy (Federalism system is constitutional). Most of these ill-fated efforts have been made after Puntland´s delegations were candidly and cordially welcomed both by the leaders of the countries they visited and the Somali Diasporas in these countries. Now, the question that I would like to leave for the reader to answer is: is it a pure envy, or a deep-rooted enmity against Puntland and Puntlanders? Or just ´tall poppy syndrome´.
Deputy Speaker urges Arab League to help the Somali people
The deputy Somali parliament speaker Professor Mohammed Omar Dalha speaking to one of the local radio stations overnight has urged the Arab League, to help the desperate and needy Somali people and as well to repatriate the Somalis detained at jails in their countries.
The speaker has also urged the Arab countries to help the Somalis who fled to their countries, as much as they can assist. "We can see that the Arab world is not at great length involved in the matters of Somalia especially on the humanitarian and reconciliation sides, so hence we are urging the Arab world to play its role towards helping the Somali people and to partake in the reconciliation of Somalia" said the deputy speaker of the Somali house.
Professor Dalha also appealed to the international community to help the Somalis who are living harsh situation in the countries such as, Kenya, Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
The statement from the deputy Somali parliament speaker Dalha comes at a time, when most of the Somali people are helplessly suffering locally and internationally.
2 Ugandan peacekeepers have on Monday morning died in an Explosion along Mecca Al-Mukarama Street in Mogadishu.
"A small number of the Ugandan troops stationed along Mecca Al-Mukarama Street conduct daily security checkups along the Street, and today was not exceptional, in fact the explosion was a landmine and has occurred at around 6:00am in the morning, and was so powerful that it was heard in the entire vicinity, and instantly after the explosion there was huge smoke which has engulfed in the whole area, and after the smoke fade away I witnessed 2 of the soldiers who have died though I am not sure of the wounded number" said Musa.
Khalif a resident in the area where the incident occurred speaking to Somaliweyn radio.
The Ugandan peacekeepers based in the area have cordoned off the entirearea for sometime, and have frozen the activities which were taking the place along the Street, but have later reopened. Yet there are no comments coming from the African Mission in Somalia regarding the explosion in which two of their boys were killed.
The Ugandan troops were the first to arrive in Somalia instantaneously after the government of Somalia led by President Abdullah Yussuf was formed in Kenya in the year 2005, and so far have lost more than 18 soldiers who most of them have died in explosions.
There are more than 4,000 troops on the ground, and mainly keeping guard at government institutions and important places such as the seaport and the airport.
War fears in Bakool region
There are fears that fighting could erupt in parts of southwestern Somalia after reports surfaced that government forces have entered rebel-held areas, Radio Garowe reports.
Residents in Rabdhure district, in Bakool region adjacent to the Ethiopian border, have reported the arrival of Somali government forces ahead of a possible military offensive against towns under the control of Al Shabaab insurgents.
A witness said the government soldiers entered small towns near the Ethiopian border, conducted brief search operations, but later withdrew.
"The Islamists have responded by threatening to attack…this has created fear in Rabdhure," said the witness, who lives in the district that saw fierce fighting in March when government forces lost control and fled into Ethiopia.
Local elder Aden Ali Yarow, who spoke for clan elders in Bakool region, told Somali media on Monday that local elders have asked government forces and the insurgents "not to attack" the town.
There are growing fears of clashes in Bakool region. Last week, pro-government forces and insurgent fighters exchanged control of border towns in Gedo region, but there were limited skirmishes.
Somalia's rebel groups, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, control many of the country's southern and central regions, including the key towns of Kismayo, Baidoa and Marka.
Harakat Al-Shabab Mujahideen Forgives Government And Ahlu Sunna Officials standing Against Them in Dolow Town
Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen administration in Dolow town Gedo region has forgiven government and Ahlu Sunna Waljam'a officials who were against them in the region, officials told Shabelle radio on Monday.
The Islamic administration of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen in Balad Hawo town and also controls whole the region had issued a statement saying that they completely forgave some of the TFG and Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a members in the region.
Mo'alin Osman Mohamed Abdi, a deputy chairman of the Islamic administration in Gedo region told Shabelle radio that they announced the forgiveness of their rivals who are against their policy in the region
"We are saying that we allowed them to be free from us and forget those who are Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a and also transitional government and we are saying to that it's so important to for them take advantage the forgiveness," Mo'allin Osman Mohamed said.
The statement of the Islamic organization of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen comes as their fighters retook over the control of Beled Hawo and Luq towns in the region after fighting between both sides recently.
Islamist insurgents in Somalia disregarding Islamic teachings?
By Konye Obaji Ori
The Ramadan season has failed to bring a cease fire in Somalia as government forces, African Union peacekeepers and Islamist insurgents continue to battle over Somalia. Over 50 civilians and Islamist fighters were killed in the weekend clashes.
While Somali Muslims ask forgiveness for past sins, pray for guidance and help in refraining from everyday evils and try to purify themselves through self-restraint and good deeds, al-Shabab, the radical Islamist insurgent group, viewed by some as al-Qaeda´s proxy in the Horn of Africa, would rather attack government forces, African Union forces and civilians in a bid to overthrow the UN backed Somalia government of president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad.
President Ahmad called on the Islamist rebels to respect the Ramadan season, reminding them that the fasting is meant to teach the Muslim patience, modesty and spirituality. Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of Allah, and to offer more prayer than usual. The government´s military position was weakened in May 2009, following series of attacks from Islamist radical militia prompting President Ahmad to appeal for help from abroad.
In the weekend, the rebels attacked government forces close to a refugee camp where tens of thousands of displaced people are living. There was also fighting around the presidential palace, however, it is unclear which side began the attacks. Nonetheless, the average Somalian Muslim amidst the fighting is refraining from eating, drinking, smoking and indulging in anything that is in excess, unclean, or unholy.
The horn of Africa country has been without a functioning central government since 1991. Years of fighting between rival groups, famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people according to human rights watch. Relations with neighbors have been soured by its territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti. Somalia is Africa´s worst case of humanitarian crisis: a third of the population is dependent on food aid.
Muslim observers claim Ramadan is a time of reflecting and worshiping God when believers are expected to put more effort into following the teachings of Islam and to avoid obscene and irreligious sights and sounds. The act of fasting is said to redirect the heart away from worldly activities, its purpose being to cleanse the inner soul and free it from harm. It also allows Muslims to practice self-discipline, self-control, sacrifice and empathy for those who are less fortunate, thus encouraging actions of generosity and charity. But such is not the case in the predominantly Muslim nation of Somalia.
Murderers of Muslim preachers not apprehended
Though the Government of Pakistan and officials at the Pakistan High Commission in neighboring Kenya, which is also responsible for taking care of Somali affairs, intervened and the Somali TFG Government promised to track downthe culprits, the three gunmen, who stormed a mosque in Galkayo and killed five foreign Islamic preachers, have not been caught.
Eye witness Ismail Mohamud Hassan said the gunmen stormed the mosque last Wednesday in the Somali town, which serves as headquarters for officials from the Puntland as well as from Galmudug regional states. The assailants had reportedly forced six Pakistani preachers and a Somali man out before shooting them. Witnesses, including one Abdullahi Ali Nur, said five of the Pakistanis were killed while one Pakistani and the Somali were injured.
Midnight Forever
By Dr. Abdishakur Jowhar
On July 11, 2009 four prominent Somaliland citizens were kidnapped from a public highway and later on massacred in a tribal ritual. On August 6, 2009 Ali (Marshall) Gulaid died in a car accident on his way to Berbera. Ali Marshall was an economist, journalist, and leading opposition politician, in short a renaissance man who moved from USA back to his country of origin (Somaliland) to help bring about democracy, freedom, peace and stability to his people. This ugly massacre and this untimely death have brought the nation of Somaliland to its knees.
This article explores the reasons behind the massacre of 7/11. It articulates the hopes, dreams and also the nightmares of the people of Somaliland. Neither Ali Marshal nor Somaliland´s 7/11 victims will die in vain. Their blood will feed the tree of liberty and democracy. Freedom will win in spite of the forces of the extreme right of dictatorship, darkness and extremism.
I dedicate this article to the loving memory of the 4 victims of the Somaliland´s 7/11 whose murder will unite a nation to defeat lawlessness
Cali Maxamuud Nuur AKA Cali Bagaashle (Businessman), Daauud Xaashi Jaamac (Engineer), Mawliid Xasan Omar (Businessman), Cali Aw Omar Barre(Educator). And in loving Memory of Ali Gulaid (Marshal)
His untimely sacrifice will teach the nation about sacrifice, decisiveness, discipline and commitment to the people´s cause of justice, transparency and honesty.
Midnight Forever Part I: Grief
July 12, of 2007: The words are blurry. I focus. The letters move on their own. I feel wetness on my face and on my shirt. Arrows of sorrow and pain pierce through my heart. My breathing misses a step then another. Things around me look different. Darkness closes in.
Ali Aw Omar. I remember his last words to me at the Ambassador Hotel in Hargaysa, Somaliland. "This book, my present to you, delivered me from a state of utter ignorance. I pray it does the same for you. Look here for example, read this aloud if you have not forgotten your Arabic". He challenged in the way only an old friend can. I noticed he was talking a bit louder. I made a mental note to check his hearing later. I accepted the book with the gravity it was offered. It is a book of Hadith (oral traditions relating to the words and deeds of the prophet Mohammed, upon him be peace and blessings ). playfully I declared: It is an old book, old man. And it was. Yellow with age, over used, lovingly kept. I read the passage in Arabic taking up his challenge.
Narrated Anas: Allah´s Apostle said, "Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is an oppressed one. People asked, "O Allah´s Apostle! It is all right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?" The Prophet said, "By preventing him from oppressing others."
July 12, 2009. Sheikh Abdullahi Sh. Ali Jowhar walked into the make shift morgue in Borama. The body parts of four men viciously murdered the day before were laid out for identification. This was no ordinary serial murder. The brutalized bodies spoke aloud of a dark tribal ritual murder ceremony only one step removed from frank cannibalism. The dead bore silent witness to the brutality of man to his brother.
There was something familiar about the head among reassembled body parts. The nose broken and twisted around before death looked both grotesque and familiar. The mouth was frozen in horror. The high forehead was serene as ever; shinning dark spot in the middle; the sign of prostration and submission to Allah (SWT) in Salaat (prayers). The marks on the torso left behind by a blunt knife stabbed and twisted around in the innards of the still living victim left no doubt about a tribal ritual signature intended for the living. The Sheikh moved on to the next body. But there was a foreboding sense, a subconscious alarm. The Sheikh looked back again. A face; a name, a pattern recognized! Ali Aw Omer. He is Ali Aw Omar; the Sheikh confirmed "Ina Lilahi wa inaa elayhi Rajucuun" (Verily, unto God do we belong and, unto Him we shall return Quran "The Lion 2:156)
2:155 (Asad) And most certainly shall We try you by means of danger, and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of [labour's] fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity 2:156 who, when calamity befalls them, say, "Verily, unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return." Quran "the Lion"
7/11, 2009 was a day like any other. Ali woke up fresh and immediately made a decision that will cost him his life that very night. He decided to delay his trip to Borama and to go shopping for that particular dress his daughter wanted now that he has few dollars to spare. That is all it took. But then again no one who knew Ali will be surprised that this was his last decision in this world.
I still can see in my mind´s eye Ali Aw Omar, a single father at the time, riding by me on his motorcycle with his daughter holding onto his back in the streets of Djibouti. She was the jewel of his eyes. In a world where childcare is traditionally left to women Ali will be remembered as the prototype of the emerging role of the new caring father; definitely a welcome evolution in this ultra conservative patriarchal society. He remarried and became the doting father of 7 more children. He ensured that all of his children (sons and daughters) attended school and excelled in it in spite of the modesty of his means. His oldest daughter has just joined nursing school. He inherited this deep capacity to nurture from his mother Mumina (of the Bahgobo tribe of the Jibri-Abokor people of the Isaak tribe). And he inherited the hands on attitude to parenting from his father Aw Omer Barre (of Bahabar Abdalle of the Makaahil people of the Samoroon tribe.) This was Ali Aw Omar and it is important to remember his tribal lineage because the end of his life is so intractably tied up with this prehistoric curiosity.
The delay in travel timing from Hargaysa to Borama to the evening of July 11, 2009; meant Ali Aw Omar entered the vortex of a chain of events that will lead him to the devil´s den and that will end in his torture and death that shook his nation and that may lead to its death as well.
On the road that Ali traveled later that day and unbeknownst to him, Tribal Murder Warriors gathered under dying trees surrounding by dying animals, having come from homes where the monsters of hunger and starvation hunted the weak, the young and the old. It is a particularly dry season in this semi dessert but among the warriors gathered on this particular road on this particular day there was thirst only for one thing; human blood.
"Shaitiin" (Demons) set loose from their chains in fires of hell stirred the bitterness of collective clan memory in the cold hearts of these men, as they schemed the murder of any one from the "other group" who travelled that route on that fateful day. Yes, yes there was some dispute over a parcel of land between few neighboring families. But that was nothing more than a pretext, and a flimsy one at that. It sure was not the cause of the horror that was to unfold. It could have been anything; a dispute between a student and a teacher over grades in school, an ordinary traffic violation, a mundane crime, anything at all. The real cause is that injustice and corruption has so weakened the newly born state of Somaliland and a budding dictator has chosen solidifying his hold on power on the basis of tribal allegiances, and at the expense of law and order and good governance. In these dire circumstances the tribal monster is rearing its ugly head and getting ready to consume the nation in a frenzy of primitive tribal blood orgies of mutual self annihilation.
Part Two: The Murder
"Face Mecca and profess Islam, before I kill you"
The murderers conspiring on this desolate road carried within them the virus of Africa´s most potent evil; the Tribal Murderer. They were indeed the physical embodiment of this ugliest, most base and most inhumane manifestation of a tribal society. It is essential to elucidate here the role of tribal murderer.
The Tribal Murderer kills on behalf of his tribe. His action is both sanctioned and despised by the tribe. The contradiction inherent in this role gives it a massive destructive potency. It is essential to differentiate the role of the tribal murderer from that of the tribal warrior for there is hope in this distinction. The tribal warrior travels in the day time; he fights his wars in the battle field. He gains stature by his gallantry, his strict observation of the rules of war, his temperance and even his kindness towards non combatants. He is revered in public and loved in private by the members of his tribe. On the other hand the tribal murderer is by definition a psychopath and a vulture. He is the embodiment of cowardice. He never confronts an armed enemy. He sneaks behind the unarmed, the traveler, and the one peacefully tilling his land. Death and dismemberment is a trade he perfects and prefers. He is revered in secret, feared in secret and denounced in public by the members of his tribe. He and his progeny often become outcasts of society for which they played this dirty role as the tribal murderer succeeds in disgusting his own tribe´s men and everyone else. This is because there is something intrinsically offensive about the murder of innocent men in all human societies and the tribe even though a most primitive social organization shares in this disgust. And there is even more revulsion about torturing a human being or any sentient being to death. Yet these are the trademarks and the essential tools of the tribal murderer.
For the warriors who sat under the shade-less trees the names, the nature, the history, the personality, the holiness or lack of it of those who were to be murdered did not matter in the least. There were only few essential criteria that the victims-to-be had to satisfy 1) they should be warm blooded male homo sapiens 2) they should belong to the neighboring tribe "the other"3) They should be unarmed, unaware and vulnerable. The tribal murder warrior does not discriminate. He would accept any unarmed victim.
The act of tribal murder has to be specific, in stark contrast to the randomness of how its victim is selected. The method and mechanism of death of these random victims were meticulously and carefully planned by the tribal murderer. The death of the victim must be slow and gruesome. The body must show publicly demonstrable evidence of pain and dehumanization to teach the living "other" a lesson that "you must not mess with us"- the lions in this jungle. This explains why the body of Ali Aw Omar´s body was found in such a state of gruesome mutilation. The killing process has to showcase the "manliness" of the warrior´s tribe. In the strange world of the tribal feuds this dictum dictates the harvesting of the testicles of the victim. It is reported to me that Ali´s testicles were "taken" as he watched.
The tribal murder is the most primitive version of psych-ops. It could aptly be described as a form of psychological terrorism in a backward tribal setting. The death of "the other" in this most gruesome manner unleashes the vilest of the hidden demons in the psyche of the collective and it triggers a catastrophic chain of events that leads to genocide of a group against the other. In the dirty tribal wars that ensue there are no winners. From the times of posterity tribal wars has always been a lose-lose proposition. That is why tribal society everywhere is in decline, or has become extinct or is about to become extinct.
One must understand clearly and with no ambiguity that this whole shocking process is not personal at all. The warriors, who hunted, captured and tortured Ali Aw Omar to death had nothing against him in person. Their roads never crossed. Strangely enough the warrior appeared willing to help Ali achieve Janna (heaven) in the next world; One of the murderers is reported to have asked Ali "Face Mecca and profess Islam, before I kill you". In the irrational and schizophrenic mind of the tribal warrior, there is no contradiction between torturing Ali Aw Omar, murdering him and "taking away his testicles" and the warrior´s firm belief that he has nothing against Ali Aw Omar the person.
This is how genocide starts and works. The human, the person, is taken out of the equation and replaced with a mental image of the horribly caricatured "other". Later on the virus of violence spreads with hyper-inflated waves of hatred with the power of many tsunamis. Killing and torturing the dehumanized "other" become as easy as walking and talking. This is how Auschwitz and Rwanda came about. This is the explanation of the mass graves (the legacy of Siyaad Barre) that keep cropping up in Hargaysa every now and then.
And so on that fateful shocking and ugly day Ali Aw Omar and 3 of his fellow citizens were caught up in the dragnet of the tribal vengeful murdering warriors. We remember. We will not forgot.
They are:
Cali Maxamuud Nuur aka Cali bagaashle (Businessman), Daauud Xaashi Jaamac (Engineer), Mawliid Xasan cumar (Businessman), Cali Aw Cuamar Barre(Educator). They died a painful, horrifying death. I will spare you the details of their horrible death but one small fact needs to be mentioned. One man escaped the mayhem and reported on the manner of their death. In an interview with the BBC Somali services he reported of one particular exchange that he overheard and that could summarize the horror of that day. The man who escaped reported that he heard one of the victims beg for mercy "Men of Islam, my religion; kill me but shoot me with a bullet; are we not Moslems all?" The heartless leader responded with "cut out that tongue that dares to speak" and the tongue was cut off.
And there he was; butchered by evil. The light of death shining from his black eyes, a stone´s throw from Kalabaydh the small town where he grew up working in his brother tea shop. I mourn for Ali Aw Omar and I mourn for my people.
"tribal war is not about politics….. tribal warfare is about revenge.
Tribes don´t fight for principles. They fight to get even." "Tribal wars are therefore particularly and intentionally full of atrocities. Victims of tribal wars may be skinned or burned alive. Their dead bodies maybe mutilated and displayed. The aim of tribal revenge is not to achieve balance, but to attain vindication and total submission or extermination of the other. A tribe that fails the bloody test of revenge takes the risk of finding its resources, land and homes plundered, women carried off and men bullied." July 2005 Abdishakur Jowhar´s "Essentials of Tribal Psychology
I wrote these words four year ago. I did not know then that I will witness them so vividly, so personally.
Ali Aw Omar: Memories of my Generation
July 12, 2009. I hold on to the book of Hadith. I opened the same passage again that I read with Ali Aw Omar two years before. This time my head hung low in grief, I read the passage again with eyes unseeing flooded with the gravity of the loss.
Narrated Anas: Allah´s Apostle said, "Help your brother…
I knew immediately why Ali selected the particular Hadith for my attention. Lifelong bonds of friendship ensured shared experiences and shared memories. Now that he has gone, in these memories, shared no more, I exist. I must remember to pass them on, to those who will come, for to bear witness is a responsibility.
Ali and I have been together in the social justice movement in Somalia since the early seventies when we both joined forces with other members of our generation to confront the military dictator of our time Mohamed Siyad Barre. We were on the side of the progressive left of the political spectrum. Che Chevera of Cuba, Franz Fanon of Algeria, Amílcar Lopes Cabral of Guinea Bissau and Joe Slovo of South Africa were our heroes. We were the post independence generation of Africa. We were fed up with tin pot military dictators and military coup d´états that devastated the continent of Africa like pestilence and plague.
That was the turbulent seventies for my generation. We came to maturity in that decade and were immediately confronted with a nation in a crisis. We met head on a military dictatorship that was systematically destroying a nation. Ours was a political revolt, student movement, popular campaigns. We were determined to stand up to be counted. But we were crushed by the regime. To be brutally honest we failed miserably in the task we set up for ourselves. Our defeat and the victory of the short sighted selfish right set the stage for Somalia to become the prototypal land of statelessness , starving masses, well fed pirates, warlords and of course their social counterpart marauding ferocious machete wielding tribes.
Many of us ended as refugees in the four corners of the world. Few of the more dedicated, hardy, heroic types remained in the country and refused to go. Ali Aw Omar was one of the latter. He stayed with the people. He shared their lot, their wars, their peace, their hunger, their pain and their prosperity. I envied him then for his bravery. I think he knew of my envy, it was never mentioned. He was just too refined.
I sought refuge in the west and quickly got lost in its decadent capitalistic ways. I conformed to the locally prevalent creed of democracy, equality and free fair elections as the gentlest means of human progress. Ali Aw Omar having stayed home was caught up in the wave of Islamism that has swept over the new generations in Somalia. He also conformed to the locally prevailing political mood of a resurgent Islamic exuberance. He found safety in the Quran and sustenance in Hadith and Sunnah.
Ali and I witnessed the death of the ideology that dominated our childhood days as well as the death of the nation in whose bosom we grew. Like orphans in a ruthless world we had to evolve, adapt and improvise with all haste to survive. Like a football on the playground of fate, we were kicked around, cast, molded and ripened by the force of circumstances and times. At the end of it all here we were Ali, a Sheikh, and a pious man in Somaliland preaching to save my soul for the next world, I a Psychiatrist from Canada trying to understand my old friend in this present world.
By sharing with me this particular Hadith, with its beautifully written message of justice and our role in bringing it about, Ali Aw Omar peeled away the residue of time and space to reveal that we both remained true to our commitment to the timeless cause of human equality, fraternity and peace despite the differences in languages and terminologies we acquired over our lifetimes.
It is important that we draw the right conclusions from this national tragedy. What we are witnessing is not merely the murder of Ali Aw Omar, it is much broader and much deeper; it is nothing less than the last gasp of the Somaliland state which will surely collapse and die unless its heroic masses comes to its aid.
The central pillar of any society is law and order. The state has the obligation of protecting its citizens. The current administration failed the people of Somaliland. What has killed Ali Aw Omar is lawlessness, injustice, corruption, weakened judiciary and the mother of them all the muzzling of the free press. These have, unfortunately, all become the official trademark of those in power in Somaliland today.
Even worse it is clear that those who committed this most heinous act remain free and at large because the current administration of Rayaale has reached a cynical calculation that allowing the murderers to remain free is in the regime´s best political and electoral interest. What the leadership has not yet grasped is this: every single day these criminals remain free, rubbing their dirty nose on the face of the national psyche, bears witness to the moral bankruptcy and practical impotence of the regime. Every single day the murderers so openly challenge the state and get away with it constitutes one more nail in the coffin of Rayaale´s administration. It is time to change course, time to dismantle the politics of divide and rule, time to come together and find justice for Ali Aw Omar and for Somaliland.
But there is urgency in the matter, in these most dreadful of times. And I must now address those in my tribe who has become possessed by the demons of vengeance, who dream of basking in its blooded glory, I say to you give me few moments of your precious time, for I too belong to the tribe and I too feel the pain.
Part III: the conclusion is coming
Election ruling rings alarm bells in Somaliland (IRIN)
A ruling that Somaliland will hold its oft-postponed presidential election without a voters' list has prompted demonstrations, a boycott threat and warnings that the secessionist state's relative stability is in jeopardy.
Somaliland, which unilaterally broke away from the rest of Somalia in 1991, is due to go to the polls on 27 September. The poll was originally scheduled for April 2008.
In late July, President Dahir Riyale Kahin announced that he and the National Election Commission (NEC) had decided to discard a hi-tech biometric voters' register that had recently been completed after two years of work, claiming that computer server problems had generated an unreliable list. A representative of Interpeace, a Geneva-based organisation that developed the new system and disputes the extent of the problem, was abruptly deported.
The two main opposition candidates, Faisal Ali Warabe of the Justice and Welfare Party and Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud of the Development and Solidarity Party, have threatened to boycott the election and refused to even meet Riyale unless he reconsiders his decision.
For his part, Riyale has ignored a parliamentary order to reinstate the voters' list, whose suspension the assembly deemed illegal.
The suspension led to demonstrations by opposition supporters, the latest on 19 August in Hargeisa, the capital, with thousands of people.
"We want to show the president that we are fully committed to holding the election using the voter registration lists," Mustafe Abdi, one of the protesters, said.
According to reports from Lasanod, at least 37 individuals have been arrested since the demonstrations began, including regional officials of the two opposition parties.
Credibility questions
Yusuf Abdi Gabobe, leader of the Union of Somaliland Journalists, said: "Everybody in Somaliland is worried about the country's current situation. If we continue without mediation the situation could worsen and conflict could arise."
Meanwhile, concern is mounting outside the country. The African Union's envoy, Nicholas Bwakira, arrived in Hargeisa on 25 August and was scheduled to meet leaders of all major political parties. His visit follows that of Ethiopian Deputy Foreign Minister, Tekede Alemu.
Earlier in August, the US government expressed "profound dismay" over the registration issue. "We believe the list forms a sound basis for use in the elections scheduled for 27 September. We have directly urged President Riyale to reconsider his decision," according to a press statement released in Nairobi.
Timothy Othieno, a regional analyst with the Overseas Development Institute, a British think-tank, told IRIN that if the minority ruling United Peoples' Democratic Party (UDUB) went ahead with the election without the opposition, "they will have no credibility domestically and internationally and this may lead to instability. The lack of credibility may lead to pressures within Somaliland for change, which may not be attractive for Riyale both domestically and internationally."
But he warned even under current circumstances, the election date should be maintained. "Any further delays will have denied Somalilanders an opportunity to express themselves through the ballot box. There will never be a perfect election and a consistent tradition of elections will sort out these intricacies over time. The point being that Somaliland needs to get into the habit of having regular elections even if they are not perfect."
Three UK-based organisations invited to coordinate international observers during the elections have also sounded the alarm. In a statement released on 20 August, Progressio, the Development Planning Unit at University College London, and Somaliland Focus (UK) expressed "deep concern" at recent developments and hinted they would pull out.
"We feel that under the current circumstances, the only possible outcome [of the election] would be seen by a significant proportion of Somalilanders as lacking legitimacy. We are therefore concerned about whether we are able to provide the coordination and observation role to which we have been committed to date, unless the situation changes markedly," they said.
Somaliland cracks down on independent media - CPJ
The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for an end to an ongoing government crackdown on independent journalists in Somaliland .
On Sunday, the Sahil regional court in the costal city of Berbera sentenced the editor-in-chief of the online publication Berberanews, Mohamed Said, in absentia to three years in jail on defamation charges, according to local journalists. Said has been in hiding since mid-August.
Judge Osman Ibrahim read a letter that claimed Berberanews published articles that "spread scandals" against local officials, the National Union of Somali Journalists reported. The verdict banned the Web site from operating in Somaliland for an indefinite period. Local journalists told CPJ that Said plans to appeal the verdict.
The regional court ruling also banned Yasin Jama, a contributor to Berberanews, from practicing journalism until further notice from the court. Local police arrested Jama and detained him for 10 days with no official charges, local journalists told CPJ. Police accused Jama of defamation after he posted two opinion pieces, not written by him, that accused local officials of misusing public funds to support a local political party.
" Somaliland authorities must end this crackdown on independent reporting," said CPJ's Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes . "We call on the authorities to drop the charges against Yasin Jama immediately and on the court of appeals to overturn the verdict against Mohamed Said."
Police in the northwestern town of Burao have been holding private Radio Horyaal journalist Fowsi Suleiman since August 3 for a story that accused local Governor Jama Abdillahi of embezzlement, local journalists told CPJ. Fowsi has been detained without charge or brought to court for 21 days despite the 48-hour limit for detentions without charge permitted under Somaliland law. Repeated calls to Abdillahi went unanswered.
On August 17, four relatives of the chairman of the ruling party beat Ali Adan, a reporter for Horn Cable TV and Radio Horyaal, with sticks in Erigabo, a city in northeastern Somalia . According to Horn Cable TV Director Abdu Hakim, the chairman of the ruling party in Erigayo had threatened him three days earlier for covering recent political rallies. Adan told CPJ he has been released from the hospital but was still recovering from injuries. Police reportedly arrested the four relatives but the governor released them the next day.
The semi-autonomous republic is preparing for presidential elections on September 27.
Impacting reports from the global village
Somali-Canadian Man trapped in Kenya, mother still waiting
By Kenneth Jackson - Sun Media
An Ottawa mother's hopes of quickly getting a passport for her autistic son so he could come home from Kenya were dashed after an inconclusive meeting with consular officials yesterday.
Abdihakim Mohamed, 25, was scheduled to have a meeting at the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi when it was abruptly switched to a location off Canadian territory.
"I was expecting everything to be finished. Now they say something else. I don't understand," said Anab Issa, who works as a cleaner at Carleton University and has been fighting for her son's return to Ottawa for the last three years.
During the meeting with a consular officer, which lasted about an hour, the Canadian official asked Mohamed where he was from, how long he's been in Kenya and other personal identification questions.
Mohamed was accompanied by his uncle and a representative from Ecoterra International, an organization that helped Suaad Hagi Mohamud, 31, of Toronto return to Canada after she was trapped in Kenya for three months because Canadian officials said she was an imposter. She's now suing the government.
The consular officer who met with Mohamed said he was there only to ask questions and anything involving a passport would be "handled by Ottawa," Issa was told yesterday.
A spokesman from foreign affairs said the government will issue travel documents once it receives an application.
Anab said she filed and paid for an application two years ago and has continually updated the file since. She doesn't have a birth certificate or similar documents needed for a passport.
Issa's ordeal began in 2006, two years after she took her son to Somalia to be with his grandmother.
When Issa returned to Canada she accidentally had Mohamed's passport in her purse and it was confiscated by border guards in Toronto.
When his grandmother got sick in 2006 Issa decided to bring him home.
She applied for a new passport for Mohamed but was denied.
She even went to Nairobi to seek a passport with her son.
Canadian officials still wouldn't give her one.
"They told me he's not my son. I told him he's my son," she said.
The consular officer also wouldn't issue Mohamed a protection letter, which would save him from being arrested by Kenyan police.
He did, however, provide him with phone numbers in case of an emergency.
Canadian Feds must clarify overseas protections
By Richy Leong
What is that? It costs less than $100 and takes as long as a month to be delivered.
Whatever its cost or the wait time for delivery, your passport could be among the most precious objects you own.
It is one of those few documents that can prove you are, well, you.
Things should be a breeze once you have it, but for Suaad Hagi Mohamud, that would be far from the truth.
Mohamud travelled to Kenya to visit her mother. After two weeks there, she attempted to return to Canada in May, only to be told by Kenyan authorities her lips didn't match those in her passport photo.
She sought help from Canadian consular officials, who also doubted her identity.
Her passport was voided and she was charged with multiple offences as a result and thrown in jail for days.
Until her identity was confirmed by genetic testing last week, she languished in Kenya without official documents and fell ill as she waited to be rescued from her Kafka-esque nightmare.
Canada's eyes and ears abroad are doing their job when they weed out those who shouldn't come to our country.
Apart from the fact every official was wrong to think Mohamud was lying about her Canadian citizenship, the system worked perfectly.
If Mohamud had been a liar or a threat to our nation, it would have been a victory for Canadian national security.
But she wasn't.
If all it takes is a perceived mismatch between our passport photo and our face to cause trouble at customs, all Canadians travelling abroad should be wary.
Very few of us actually look the way we do in our passport photo.
If you wear glasses, you must remove them.
If you wear a smile, you have to remove that, too.
Passports are valid for five years -- long enough for you to tire of your hair style or hair colour and have it redone.
Mohamud is the latest in a long list of Canadians getting into trouble abroad, only to receive varying degrees of help.
At one extreme, Canadian Brenda Martin was found guilty by Mexican authorities of being involved in some kind of money-laundering case and was jailed.
After making many emotional appeals through the media, the federal government repatriated her by flying her home to Canada on a private jet.
Then there are cases of Canadians kidnapped abroad, including Amanda Lindhout of Sylvan Lake.
Videotaped appeals have surfaced since her disappearance in Somalia last year and we can only hope our bureaucracy is working behind the scenes to secure her freedom.
At the other extreme, Canadian Maher Arar was taken into custody by U.S. officials in New York and put on a plane to Syria, where he was imprisoned without charge and tortured for about a year before being suddenly returned to Canada.
There were accusations Arar was a terrorist threat but a federal commission struck after his return found Arar had no links to terrorism.
In these cases and more, the lack of standards is appalling.
Although you are advised to seek help from the nearest Canadian consular office if you get into legal trouble abroad, there is no obligation for the Canadian government to help you.
Canada needs a clear policy stating the circumstances under which the full weight of our bureaucracy will stand with you if you get into trouble overseas -- and when it will not. Only then will horror stories of travel gone wrong, such as that of Suaad Mohamud, be prevented.
Anti Terrorist Unit Called in Kenya As 11 Seamen Dock
By George Kikami
Anti-terrorist police had to be summoned to Kilifi in Kenya after a boat with 11 seamen docked without any warning at the Kilifi creek on Monday the evening.
The seamen seven of whom have Kenyan passports have been held for interrogation for the last three days now after they allegedly docked for re-fuelling at the Mnarani club in Kilifi creek on their way to Mombasa.
Anti terrorist police units were immediately called from Mombasa, to combine forces with the tourist police unit and the regular police from Kilifi to investigate the sailors. The seamen, four of whom held Tanzanian passports, shocked the police when they said were from Mogadishu in Somalia. The boat was carrying dried mawele (finger-millet) and sim-sim (sesame seeds).
Mr Bernard Sichambo, the security supervisor Mnarani club said that he had interrogated the seamen after they docked near the hotel and they had assured him that they would leave after a while.
"They had assured me that immediately after three of their members come back from Mombasa where they had gone to purchase more diesel, they would leave but to my surprise three hours have elapsed but they are still there," said Sichambo.
Confirming the incident, the OCPD Kilifi Ms Grace Kakai said that he received a call from the DC Kilifi Mr Katee Mwanza asking her to investigate the ship after the DC spotted it near the Mnarani club across the Kilifi Bridge.
The OCPD took her officers and rushed to the hotel where they met the security personnel. She later carried out a search of the Ship and found bundles of dried whale tied in nets and several sacks of sim-sim covered beneath and on top of the vessel.
Mr Juma Ulimbo, one of the ship's captain, told the police boss that they have been travelling between Moshi and Mogadishu for sometime now and that this was the first time to they had ran out of diesel.
While the Kenyan Government (and the EU and UN) spent 9 billion Kenya Shilling on a questionable census, WFP already appeals for 3.8 million dollars it says it needs for food.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed for at least US$230 million to provide emergency food assistance in the next six months to 3.8 million Kenyans affected by drought and subsequent high food prices.
"[At least] 260,000MT of food are required to feed the affected population," WFP Kenya country director, Burkard Oberle, said.
WFP, which has been providing about 32,000MT of food per month, is already distributing general food rations to 2.6 million people.
The agency also intends to expand its school-feeding programme by 100,000 to reach 1.2 million children in affected areas.
"School meals are very important, especially now when schools are about to re-open," Oberle said, adding that it was necessary to maintain and extend the programme.
More than a million schoolchildren have been receiving food during the August school holidays.
Oberle said: "We hope that through concerted efforts we can avoid people dying."
Government moves
The government is also trucking water to drought-affected communities and buying livestock at a cost of KSh8,000 (about $105) per live cow, significantly above prevailing market prices.
A 2009 long rains assessment found that "3.8 million pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and marginal agricultural farm households require urgent humanitarian food assistance".
The assessment, conducted by the Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) in May and July, covered 30 districts, including 27 drought-prone ones and three affected by the 2008 post-election violence.
Failure of the long rains in the marginal agricultural lowlands and some pastoral and agro-pastoral areas have caused a substantial decline in both crop and livestock production, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net).
High cereal prices have further accentuated food insecurity. The average price of the main staple, maize, has doubled over the last year.
Expected long-rains maize production will be about 28 percent below normal because of insufficient rains - further tightening supply.
Worsening food security
"The current food security situation remains highly precarious," FEWS Net noted in its outlook, which points to worsening food insecurity in the southeastern and coastal lowlands as well as in many pastoral areas up to September.
The KFSSG assessment identified poor land use, low agricultural diversification and over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture as major factors contributing to food insecurity.
Widespread environmental degradation was also cited "as an underlying cause of food insecurity in most agriculture-based livelihoods".
The KFSSG assessment estimates that "over 242,000 children under five years are moderately malnourished and 39,000 are severely malnourished and consequently, have three and nine times more chances of dying [respectively] if appropriate interventions are not implemented".
According to Oberle, the current drought is worse than the one in 2006 and could compare to the one in 2000 - the worst in 37 years - if the situation does not improve.
By June 2000, an estimated 1.7 million people needed food assistance, reaching four million by December 2000.
Kenya begins contentious census (BBC)
Kenya has begun holding its first national census for 10 years, amid controversy over a question which asks which ethnic group people belong to.
Many Kenyans believe the question is insensitive, coming 18 months after more than 1,000 people were killed in ethnic violence after an election.
Ministers say the question is needed to help the authorities plan better.
Critics say the census will be misused by politicians and could damage efforts to heal rifts between communities.
Many Kenyans displaced in the fighting are still in refugee camps
The BBC's Will Ross in Nairobi says ethnic divisions are deeply rooted in Kenyan society and many people are proud of their tribe.
Many Kenyans vote along ethnic lines, which meant that a dispute over allegations of fraud after the December 2007 election led to people being attacked and killed because they were from the same group as either the president or his main challenger.
Our correspondent says some people say they intend to answer "I am a Kenyan", when asked which group they belong to.
Collins Opiyo, from the National Bureau of Statistics, said it would have been "an exhibition of professional recklessness" to leave out questions about tribes.
"If we do not have the official position and people come up with figures and numbers we cannot be able to dispute them," he told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
The census is intended to shed light on a range of issues including education, fertility and mortality levels as well as migration patterns.
Security has been beefed up for the census, which will last all week.
Tuesday has been declared a public holiday as officials encourage people to answer the questions.
Swedish Presidency EU - Speech by Carl Bildt, Foreign Minister of Sweden, in Rimini regarding European-African cooperation
Let me just start by saying how much I appreciate this initiative to focus on the challenges of Africa in the years to come. Much too often, Africa is on the sidelines of the debates about global challenges. But Africa is important – and will become even more so the coming years.
This applies in particular from the European perspective. We are immediate neighbours, and we have seen how events in Africa influence our countries. The European Union is a major partner for Africa, and we are seeking to develop this relationship further in a number of areas, building on what was achieved at the summit meeting between Africa and the European Union in Lisbon last year.
We are the by far Africa´s biggest trading partner. We are even more dominant when it comes to official development aid. And together with the United Nations we have been and are engaged in peace and security operations in different parts of the continent.
And bonds of history are stronger between Europe and Africa than between Africa and any other part of the world.
This century was – until recently – a fairly good one for the continent.
In spite of the tragedies of eastern DRC, of Somalia and of Darfur we did see a distinct reduction in violent conflicts and the number of people affected by them.
Globalization started to lift also important part of Africa onto a new path of growth and development. Economic growth in sub-Saharan African averaged 6 per cent during the first path of this decade.
We should also note that cooperation between the countries of Africa advanced during this period.
We are seeing the African Union emerge as an increasingly important actor and partner in a wide variety of areas.
And there was progress also in the critically important field of governance. Today more than half of the countries of the continent are on a democratic path of development.
But much remains to be done – and must be done in the years to come. Africa´s possible evolution will depend on Africans ability to play on two major levels: democratic style government and economic transformation.
By 2025 there will be a further 350 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa with a total population of approximately a billion people.
At the same time there is a severe risk that climate change will start to negatively affect the already problematic prospects for food production in large parts of the continent.
In fact, sub-Saharan Africa is the part of the world most in danger if there is not a halt to the increase in the temperatures that we now witness. The IPCC estimates that climate change could leave more than 200 million additional Africans short of water, and farmers in Africa that rely on rain-fed agriculture could see declines in their yields by 50 per cent in 2030.
The Copenhagen meeting in December should thus be of particular importance from the African point of view, and I can assure everyone that the intensifying green diplomacy of the European Union will do its utmost to achieve a result that will start to lessen the strain that otherwise climate change will impose on Africa.
And we naturally look forward to constructive contributions from Africa itself in this work.
Related to this is the need for a Second Green Revolution that will increase the yields of farming in Africa. This will require better policies but also investments in new techniques as well as infrastructure to facilitate a move towards more efficient agriculture in large parts of the continent.
The EU has committed to provide increased resources for food security, primarily by way of a large allocation of 1 billion euro for the coming three years.
These funds are expected to benefit a range of developing countries directly, as well as via NGOs and international organizations involved in food and agricultural development.
Agricultural development has often been neglected – but in view of the long-term food crisis – we must increase global food production by approx. 50 per cent in the next few decades – it must be given a far higher priority in the years to come.
We must also address the economic and trade issues that are so important to revive that process of globalization that can lift the countries of Africa in the decades ahead.
That Africa has been hard hit by the unprecedented slump that we are now seeing in the global economy is obvious. Growth in sub- Saharan Africa is likely to slow to approx. 1,5 per cent this year – although there is the hope that there could be a substantial recovery already next year.
Also in these areas the European Union will be at the forefront of the global efforts.
But very important work must also be done by the countries of Africa themselves.
Although it is a sad fact that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the on the average least friendly conditions for doing business in the world, the World Bank in its latest report on Doing Business noted that three African countries – Senegal, Burkina Faso and Botswana – were among the ten best reformers.
And we should also not that three post-crisis countries – Liberia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone – are among those making fast progress in creating a better environment for economic development.
The fact that the average is still so bad means that the potential for improvement is huge.
It is for example striking that African countries have only very limited trade with each other – while inter-regional trade has been enormously important for the development of Europe and now is the same in the rise of Asia we are witnessing.
To achieve all of this – fighting global warming, paving the way for a Second Green Revolution, reigniting globalization and making a leap forward in economic reforms and regional integration in Africa – is by no means impossible.
It will require global as well as African leadership. The European Union stands ready to do its part.
If this is achieved, I believe we can see Africa move forward on the positive tracks that we saw in the beginning of this decade – and hopefully even see the continent accelerating along this path.
But for important parts of the continent this will not be enough.
We see a process of state erosion in parts of West Africa that has most worrying long-term implications. We are all aware of the acute challenges of the entire region of the Horn of Africa. We must recognize that the very future of Sudan – the largest country of the continent – is at stake in the next few years. We know that the Great Lakes region remains fragile. And we must not forget the terrible humanitarian tragedies imposed on once so promising Zimbabwe by the profoundly failed policies of the Mugabe regime.
If we do not address these issues, there is a risk that these areas fall further behind even if the rest of Africa improves – and eventually of course a risk that these conflicts negatively affect the prospects for the continent as a whole.
This must not be allowed to happen.
The international community does not sit idle. Huge UN operations in the DRC and in Sudan are part of the efforts of the efforts. The European Union undertook an important operation in Chad and the Central African Republic in order also to prevent a further spread of the conflict in Darfur. We are now engaged in a naval operation off the coast of Somalia and discussing ways in which we can make additional contributions to a more stable development of that country.
We have learnt again that without a functioning state there can be neither peace nor economic development.
We are cooperating with the African Union, for it to push the agenda of democracy, human rights, gender equality, peace and security, to the benefit of the continent.
We – the EU - are ready to support and cooperate. Nevertheless in the end, Africa´s future – with its vast human and natural potential - lies in African hands.
and in between all these sad news - a joke was circulated in Rimini / Italy:
quote// The other day, the pope and berlusconi were talking about football (soccer) and, of course, each one of them was bragging for his team, the pope for Bayern and berlusconi for Milano.
The argument became more and more heated and the voices louder and louder, when at a certain moment, the pope said:
"How do you dare to talk in such tone to God's representative on earth?"
To which berlusconi answered: "God's representative...? What do you mean... I don't remember ever signing your pay slip!"
NOTE: the small initial b is not a typing mistake, but a moral judgement] //endquote
Minister Frattini meets with African representatives at the Rimini Meeting
This weekend´s Rimini Meeting, whose theme was knowledge as an event, devoted special attention to Africa. Minister for Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini met with representatives of several African governments, who included Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Vice President of Sierra Leone Samuel Sam Sumana, National Security Minister of Uganda Amama Mbabazi and Foreign Minister of Tanzania Bernard Kamilius Membe.
These meetings fell within the context of the Italian government´s special foreign policy focus on Africa. Minister Frattini visited various African countries (Angola, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal) in February of this year; Africa was the central focus of the G8 summit in L´Aquila in which many African countries were invited to fully participate (South Africa, Egypt, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, Libya); additionally the Italian government is carrying out a series of initiatives aimed at reviving economic/trade relations between Italy and African countries (including the "Africa Plan" and a variety of Country Presentations). In today´s meetings, Minister Frattini reiterated that Africa represents an opportunity for our country and is a key political player on the global scenario of the 21st century. He touched on the themes of bilateral and multilateral cooperation and, among these, discussed in particular depth were UN Security Council reform and the initiative that Italy is poised to launch in the UN General Assembly banning on female genital mutilation as a crime.
Frattini agreed with the prime minister of Kenya on common concerns regarding the situation in Somalia and the need to support policies leading to institutional stability in that country. On the bilateral plane, they discussed possible Italian initiatives for environmental protection and food crisis relief.
Discussions with the vice president of Sierra Leone centred on major bilateral economic aspects, including prospects for an investment promotion and protection agreement. It was decided that a Country Presentation would be arranged in the coming months aimed at illustrating the economic opportunities this important nation offers.
The Ugandan minister for national security expressed his appreciation for the Italian Cooperation´s healthcare assistance, and Minister Frattini also announced an upcoming visit to that country. Finally, the two ministers exchanged views on regional issues concerning the Great Lakes area.
Confirmed also were Italy´s excellent bilateral relations with Tanzania. Collaboration in various sectors, including tourism, was discussed, as well as the organization over the coming months of a Country Presentation in Italy dedicated to Tanzania, to make Italian businesses aware of the opportunities that country has to offer.
Italy assisting Somalia´s peace, security efforts: Ambassador Delutio – WIC
Italian Ambassador to Ethiopia said Italy is providing economic and other related supports to Somalia so as to bring about lasting peace and security in the country. Italy is also eyeing to reopen its embassy in Mogadishu.
Raffaelo Delutio told reporters that Italy is offering financial, humanitarian and other related supports to Somalia with a view to maintaining peace and stability in the country.
Ambassador Delutio said his country is working closely with Ethiopia, Sudan, Burundi, USA and other countries to make the ongoing peace accord successful as well as solve the humanitarian crisis in Somalia.
In addition to the economic support it is offering to Somalia through IGAD and AU, Italy provided 4 million euro to peace efforts in Somalia, he said. One million euro of the fund will be utilized to support AMISOM´s operations.
Italy recently hosted an international conference that involved Ministers drawn from various countries, Diaspora Somalis and other concerned bodies so as to help peace efforts in Somalia, he said.
According to Ambassador Delutio, the conference will have a pivotal role in assisting the efforts being made to bring about peace and security in the country.
The Ambassador said Italian Red Cross Society in collaboration with its Somali counterpart is providing various humanitarian supports to the people of Somalia. It has provided 900,000 euro to the Somalia Red Cross Society for its humanitarian activities, the Ambassador added.
Delutio further said that Italy is working with EU and UN so as ensure the peace and development benefit of the people of Somalia.
Italy took part in the peace agreement reached in Djibouti to establish internationally recognized government in Somalia, he said, adding other countries need to assist the efforts being made to maintain peace and security in Somalia.
Italy is considering to reopen its embassy in Mogadishu soon, the Ambassador said.
Italy is also assisting international efforts to stop piracy of the coast of Somalia through deploying three naval ships, he indicated.
Fatwah authorised for attack in Australia: court told
By Tim Marshall
The Melbourne Magistrates Court has been told an accused terrorist obtained a religious ruling authorising an attack in Australia.
A federal police agent testified that 22 year old Yacqub Khayre went to Somalia and trained with a terrorist organisation.
The court heard that while he was there he also obtained a Fatwah authorising an attack in Australia.
Khayre is one of five Melbourne men charged with terrorism offences after police raids earlier this month.
He and two of his co-accused are applying for bail.
Earlier, another of the accused withdrew his application for bail.
Abdirahman Ahmed's lawyer told the court his client maintained his innocence, but wanted his application for bail struck out.
In opposing the bail application, a Federal Police officer read from transcripts of recorded conversations allegedly made to prepare for an armed attack, including discussions about buying weapons.
The court heard one of the accused said "we are working on a great, monstrous thing."
Another discussed buying weapons, saying "20 minutes is enough for us to take out up to ten men."
During the conversations, some of the accused discussed pistols and heavy machine guns.
Outside court, an ABC TV News sound recordist was pushed over by a man believed to be a supporter of the defendants.
Police are investigating the incident.
Meanwhile the Australian Federal Police has come under pressure to reveal whether a covert operative was planted in a group of five Melbourne men charged with terrorism offences, reports the respected TheAge newspaper.
It was revealed yesterday that one of the men, Saney Aweys, had been recorded on telephone intercepts expressing his hatred for Australia and people who were not followers of Islam. Lawyers for the men described the prosecution case as weak.
Under questioning from Aweys' lawyer, Rob Stary, on the second day of a bail application at Melbourne Magistrates Court, federal agent David Kinton said no civilian witnesses had made statements ''at this stage''.
But when Mr Stary asked if a covert operative had been planted, Mr Kinton hesitated, before replying: ''Can I seek legal advice?''
After an adjournment, Gerard Maguire, for Chief Commissioner Simon Overland, said his instructions could only be disclosed in a closed court.
Mr Stary dropped the questioning, but said he would not relinquish the point. It is likely to be brought up again later.
He suggested that it was not an offence to travel to Somalia, to give money to a Somali or to support al-Shabab at the time of the surveillance, to which the agent agreed. ''I'm going to establish that the case against my client is a weak case because the [Crown] cannot prove [two counts] because of the complex nature of governance in Somalia,'' Mr Stary later told the court.
Mr Kinton said: ''A common theme is [Aweys'] hatred towards Australia and anyone who doesn't follow Islam. He has also indicated a willingness to lead violence against those people.''
The five men - Aweys, 26, of North Carlton, Yacqub Khayre, 22, of Meadow Heights, Nayef El Sayed, 25, of Glenroy, Abdirahman Ahmed, 25, of Preston, and Wissam Fattal, 33 - were arrested on August 4 after counter-terrorism raids across Melbourne. They have each been charged with one count of conspiring to do acts in preparation for a terrorist act.
Aweys has also been charged with one count of aiding, abetting counsel or procuring the commission of an offence by Walid Mohamed in Somalia and conducting preparations for incursions into … Somalia for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities.
Only Aweys, Khayre and El Sayed have applied for bail.
The Australian Federal Government last week listed al-Shabab as a terrorist group.
Following a series of defiant refusals to stand in court, magistrate Peter Reardon, who has presided over the men's cases during three appearances, said yesterday that anyone who refused to stand when directed would be forced to leave court.
Fattal and El Sayed refused to stand when being addressed by Mr Reardon in their filing hearings, citing religious reasons, but El Sayed complied this week. Some supporters of the bail applicants have refused to stand when Mr Reardon entered or left the court.
Mr Reardon said he received a letter from NSW Sheikh Haron, who instructed him it was not Islamic custom to refuse to stand for non-Muslims. But the sheikh said Muslims were oppressed by terrorist governments like Australia's.
It is a sin to stand up for for any person who relates to an oppressive government,'' the sheikh wrote.
There are doubts about Sheikh Haron's authenticity.
The bail application is expected to conclude today.
Somali-American professors angered over repeated searches
By Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio
Two Somali-American scholars at the University of Minnesota say they're outraged by what they consider invasive questioning and searches while traveling abroad this summer.
Abdi Samatar chairs the U's geography department. He's married to Cawo Abdi, a sociology professor. Since June, the husband and wife say they've been pulled aside a total of six times at airports for lengthy interviews that have lasted up to two and a half hours.
They believe customs officials targeted them for being Muslim and ethnic Somalis.
Earlier this month, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan -- the "Brad Pitt of India" -- made headlines around the globe when he was stopped at a New Jersey airport. Khan said, at the time, that he believed he was questioned because his Muslim name raised red flags in a post-Sept. 11 world.
But countless Somali-Americans who don't enjoy Khan's level of celebrity say they've been subjected to similar searches, called secondary inspections, upon re-entering the U.S.
"He went through every little thing that was in my wallet, one by one," Abdi Samatar said, recalling the inspection of one customs officer.
Samatar, who sports a graying beard and bookish, gold-rimmed glasses, said he has counseled the U.S State Department on Somali affairs and travels around the world for his research.
But he now believes he's of interest to the government for other reasons. Since June, Samatar has gone through four secondary searches, which he described as demeaning and humiliating. U.S customs officers, sometimes acting apologetically, have rummaged through his personal diary, his toiletries, his kid's diaper bag, and academic papers on Somali pirates.
One officer took a keen interest in the papers, Samatar said. The officer wanted to know why he was reading them. The professor said he was planning to write about the issue of Somali piracy.
When the officer asked why Samatar wanted to write such things, the professor said he responded: "We are scholars, and we write papers and books."
Samatar said the last time he was pulled aside for additional screening -- upon returning to Minnesota from Sweden for a conference --- he refused to answer the customs officer's questions and was eventually released.
Samatar believes the searches must be related to a federal investigation into about 20 Minnesotan men of Somali descent. Authorities say the men left for East Africa to fight with an extremist group. One of the travelers blew himself up last fall in Somalia, becoming the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing.
Authorities fear those fighters could come back to the U.S and inflict harm here.
Samatar said he understands those concerns, and agrees that government agencies should be on high alert.
"But they should be on high alert on an intelligent basis, rather than on a dumb basis," he said. "It seems to me there is a sort of 'Dumb Operating Procedure,' which picks up people for all kinds of nefarious reasons: You have a Muslim name, you live in Minneapolis, you are a Somali, and you travel a lot. Therefore, you become a target."
Samatar and his wife are both U.S citizens with American passports. In August, they were returning from South Africa on separate flights and were steered into a waiting room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. "We looked at each other, and we smiled, and we said, 'OK, let's see where this takes us," recalled Cawo Abdi, Samatar's wife.
But now, Abdi said, she feels indignation.
"It's a very unpleasant experience to be interrogated for two or three hours when you have never committed a crime, when you are doing your job, and you of course care about the security of every American," she said. "Being a citizen, I expect, and I have a right, for a certain level of protection, and I don't feel like I'm treated like an American."
Handling all Somali travelers with suspicion will undermine the FBI's investigation, she said. Abdi believes the government can't afford to alienate her community because it needs its help to solve the case.
The FBI wouldn't say whether the airport security measures were in connection with the investigation. The agency deferred all questions to Customs and Border Protection.
Both professors believe they're on some kind of government watch list. They also think that the birthplaces listed on their passports may have automatically triggered the extra scrutiny. She was born in Somalia. He was born in neighboring Djibouti.
Brett Sturgeon, a spokesman for the U.S Customs and Border Protection, said it's possible a traveler's home country could be of interest to customs officers. But that alone wouldn't lead to a secondary inspection, he said.
"It's a totality of the circumstances, and it's done on a case-by-case basis," Sturgeon said. "So by saying CBP is 'secondary-ing' all ethnic Somalis would not be accurate."
The department maintains that does not practice ethnic or religious profiling.
While Sturgeon couldn't speak to individual cases, he said someone who is being stopped every time he or she is re-entering the country might have a name that's popping up on a federal law-enforcement database. It could be for reasons ranging from immigration matters to criminal offenses.
Individuals who routinely experience difficulties while traveling can file requests for redress through the Department of Homeland Security.
Samatar and Abdi said they are formally seeking information from the U.S government to find out why it seems so interested in them. They say they won't rule out a lawsuit.
Their story is shared by many Somali-Americans who have traveled abroad in recent months. Some say they're worried about more airport hassles again in November while traveling to the Middle East for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.
US launches probe into CIA abuses (BBC)
A special US prosecutor has been appointed to investigate allegations of abuse of terror suspects.
The announcement of John Durham's selection came as a report was published detailing the allegations of abuse by CIA agents.
Agents threatened to kill a key terror suspect's children and sexually assault another's mother, it is claimed.
The report was made in 2004 but only a heavily censored version appeared and a judge ordered fuller disclosure.
The justice department is reported to be reopening about a dozen prisoner abuse cases.
Also on Monday, President Barack Obama approved a new elite team to question terror suspects.
Republican anger
Mr Durham, who is already investigating the destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations, was picked by US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Mr Holder said: "I fully realise that my decision to commence this preliminary review will be controversial
"In this case, given all of the information currently available, it is clear to me that this review is the only responsible course of action for me to take."
Special prosecutors in the US are independent figures appointed to investigate the possible wrongdoing of government officials or agencies.
Senior Republicans have already expressed anger at the decision.
Nine signatories of a letter to Mr Holder said they were "deeply disappointed" at a decision that "could have a chilling effect on the work of the intelligence community".
Aggressive'
The declassified document released by the justice department said that one agent told key terror suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that "we're going to kill your children" if there were further attacks on the US.Another agent allegedly told Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, that his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him. The agent has denied the allegation.
In other incidents involving Mr Nashiri, he was allegedly threatened with an unloaded gun and had a power drill held near him which was repeatedly turned on and off.
Another incident involved an agent pinching an artery in a detainee's neck. As the man was passing out, the agent shook him awake, then repeated the action twice.
Ahead of the document's release, CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote on the agency's website that the report was "in many ways an old story" and that he would make "no judgments on the accuracy of the report or the various views expressed about it".
He said it was clear that the CIA had "obtained intelligence from high-value detainees when inside information on al-Qaeda was in short supply".
Mr Panetta said the CIA had been "aggressive" in seeking regular legal advice from the department of justice on its techniques.
He said his primary concern was "to stand up for those officers who did what their country asked and who followed the legal guidance they were given. That is the president's position, too."
But Mr Panetta also said: "This agency made no excuses for behaviour, however rare, that went beyond the formal guidelines on counter-terrorism."
Earlier on Monday, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton confirmed there would be a new interrogation team for key terror suspects.
Correspondents say Mr Obama was concerned at the number of different agencies involved and he wanted to bring them together.
The new team will be called the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group.
By Kevin Connolly, BBC News, Washington
The question now that these startling depictions of the handling of those suspects are in the public domain is - what should happen next?
Barack Obama doesn't want to inflame anti-American feelings around the world but he doesn't want to alienate the professionals within America's own intelligence agencies. The problem is that below the cautious pragmatism of the White House rages a partisan political battle.
America's human rights lobby wants full disclosure, and on the left of the Democratic Party there is a real appetite for proceeding with further investigations.
Conservatives, though, will argue that the harsh interrogations came at a desperate moment in American history. The interrogators could be cast as dedicated intelligence officers, ruthless only in the cause of protecting their fellow citizens.
Reports of Nepotism for UN's Ban Off Internet After Legal Threats by Ban's Son in Law
By Matthew Russell Lee
The son in law of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Siddarth Chatterjee, had used threats of legal action to force the removal from the Internet of comments that he may have gotten his promotion with the UN Office of Project Services in Copenhagen due to nepotism, Inner City Press has learned.
In preparing its exclusive August 14 article on nepotism at the UN and Ban's position on and in it, Inner City Press ran across an article in the Indian Star online, which cited Inner City Press' previous piece on Chatterjee's promotion with the UN in Iraq. Recently, that Indian Star article and comments were taken off the Internet -- following a threat from Chatterjee and then by his India-based lawyer. Click here for the now-empty page.
Free press advocates express concern at the threats, noting that in such matters "the cover-up is always worse that the crime," and demand that Ban Ki-moon rebuke and renounce them. But will it happen?
Here for the record, and as requested by press press advocates in several continents, are comments which were on the Indian Star page which Ban's son in law, not stopped and presumably encouraged by Ban, got removed from the Internet by legal intimidation:
(Replied: Saturday, May 02, 2009, 06:05 am EST)
Interesting indeed. Some of us have, until very recently, had the misfortune of being exposed to this man, in a professional sense, in Iraq. Spineless is a very appropriate term to use in describing this individual. There are more, but few are fit for publication. He is, indeed, a discredit to India, the Indian Army, and now the UN (where, incidentally, he has recently moved on significant promotion - despite already being totally over-promoted in the opinion of all that know, and have to work with, him). The recent recruitment of this man to the United Nations Office of Project Services in Copenhagen is yet another example of the ineptitude, nepotism and corruption which is so prevalent within the UN system, even at the highest levels (in this case, within UNOPS). But those in Baghdad are delighted that UNOPS has taken him away from Iraq all the same.
It is a shame. And it would appear people are still being fooled.
and Posted: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 06:34 am EST SANDHAYA AGARWAL (India)
Siddharth Chatterjee is a spineless man .He could not even pass the staff exams in Indian Army ... IT IS A SHAME THAT United Nations... GET FOOLED
After the Indian Star article and its comments went offline, they still remained available in the cache of Google and other search engines. Ban's son in law's lawyers made more legal threats -- "this is round two of the Bans and Google," said one observer of plans by the UN to get Inner City Press removed from Google News, click here for the most recent -- to get it out of cache.
Now even that censorship of questions of nepotism within Ban's UN has been accomplished -- click here for the now empty cache page.
Siddarth Chatterjee a public figure, and thus his legal threats are spurious, even an abuse of process. He is the son in law of the UN Secretary General, he was awarded a job at the UN's D-2 level (see below. Now, after refusing to answer Inner City Press' repeated questions referred by Ban's Spokesperson's Office if Chatterjee is a D-2 or a D-1, UNOPS tells other journalists that he is a D-1, in order to forestall other media coverage. Will it work?
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
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Press Contacts:
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