Ecoterra Press Release 240 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 52

Following the Somalia Spring 2009 Chronicles, I herewith republish the Ecoterra press releases issued in the second half of 2009. I reproduce the integral version of all Ecoterra press releases in a recapitulative effort to provide the global readership with the most comprehensive collection of texts published worldwide about the most abominable Western postcolonial involvement in Africa, namely the systematic effort of extermination of the Somali Nation. The vast documentation provided serves as basic point of reference to students, researchers, analysts and intellectuals.

ECOTERRA Intl.

SMCM

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE

2009-09-09 WED 10h59:38 UTC

Issue No. 240

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 necessary.)

Breaking:

Two aircraft and crews released after blotched swap of captives

Two planes, which had been impounded on Sunday in Galkay for being involved in an ill-conceived operation by the Seychelles Government, have been released this morning and are on their way back to Kenya.

Seafarers arrested after pirates free them

Three Seychellois seafarers held by Somali pirates since February were freed on Sunday, only to be immediately arrested by the authorities in the breakaway state of Puntland and accused of being part of an illegal prisoner swap. Also two security advisers contracted by the Seychelles government are at present still held by the Puntland.

Somalia pirates released three men held since February

Somali pirates have freed three Seychellois who had been held hostage since their catamaran was hijacked in the Indian Ocean in February, the island nation´s government said in a statement.

However the three men were being held at an airport in Somalia by the authorities of Puntland, who accused the Seychelles of swapping them for 23 suspected pirates repatriated over the weekend.

"Conrad Andre, Gilbert Victor and Robin Samson are expected to be transferred from Somalia, and are awaiting a flight from Somalia to Seychelles," the Seychelles said in a statement.

Joel Morgan, the Seychelles minister for the environment, natural resources and transport, denied allegations that a swap took place.

"The release of the Seychellois hostages is not related to the repatriation of the 23 Somali men this weekend. An exchange of Seychellois and Somalis did not take place," Morgan said in the statement.

"No money has been paid to the pirates by the government of the Seychelles," Morgan also said by telephone, refusing to comment on whether any money had been paid by any other party.

He said that 23 suspected Somali pirates intercepted in the Indian Ocean in recent months had been repatriated over the weekend because lack of evidence did not allow for prosecution in the Seychelles.

The pirates were dropped off and the hostages picked up in Garaad, a coastal village in southern Puntland, which is also one of the pirates´ main hubs.

Puntland, a semi-autonomous Somali state from which most of the piracy attacks over the past two years have originated, charged that the two aircraft chartered by the Seychelles for the operation landed there illegally.

"The two planes were carrying 23 pirates who are believed to have been exchanged for three sailors from the Seychelles Islands," the Puntland government said in a statement.

The statement alleged that Puntland Minister of Civil Aviation Ahmed Elmi Osman had been informed that the two planes were "transporting a cargo of humanitarian aid supplies."

Puntland also lashed out at Kenya, through which the 23 transited, and accused officials at Nairobi airport of condoning "pirate smuggling and ransom transfers."

The Seychelles denied any wrongdoing and insisted that it "followed all the proper procedures in informing and liaising with the relevant authorities."

However, the obviously blotched planning of the exchange saw the trio held again for three days and this time by the Puntland authorities during a technical stopover of the planes at Galkayo, concerning which the Chief of Cabinet, Office of the President, released the following statement from the Government of Puntland State yesterday:

Puntland Response to Seychelles-Kenya Pirate Smuggling

On Sunday, 6 September 2009, two light aircraft landed illegally at an abandoned airstrip about 12km south of a small village called Gara´ad located on the Indian Ocean coastline, particularly Puntland State territory near the southern boundary with central Somalia. The two planes were carrying 23 pirates who are believed to have been exchanged for three sailors from the Seychelles Islands. The Seychelles natives were taken hostage by pirates in Feb. 2009 in Somalia territorial waters. The 23 pirates were previously captured by international naval forces and imprisoned in Seychelles allegedly for acts of piracy and were transported from captivity in the Seychelles Islands by an airplane to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi, where the transaction was facilitated by elements involved in pirate smuggling and ransom transfers.

The facilitators, who were on board the planes along with the pirates, have revealed to Puntland investigators that the 23 pirates boarded the two light aircraft at JKIA after getting off the Seychelles airplane in plain sight of Kenya Police in complete uniform. The Puntland Minister of Civil Aviation, Hon. Ahmed Elmi Osman, was informed that the two aircraft were transporting a cargo of humanitarian aid supplies to the people of Puntland. However, the two light aircraft landed without permission at the abandoned airstrip in Gara´ad where a group of pirates were waiting to welcome their friends and to exchange them with the three hostages from Seychelles.

Information about the true nature of the operation was leaked to Puntland authorities. After leaving Gara´ad, the two light aircraft landed at Galkayo Airport at approximately 5:30pm local time to refuel ahead of a planned return trip to Nairobi. However, Puntland police and immigration officials at the Galkayo Airport arrested 10 persons with different nationalities who were on board the two planes. These persons, who were involved in pirate smuggling and ransom transfer, had no legal clearance to land in Puntland and are now under criminal investigation.

Unlike the U.S., French and Egyptian governments, who used proper and legal channels to deliver alleged pirates to Puntland, it seems that the governments of Seychelles Islands and Kenya consented to smuggle pirates across international airports and to drop them off in Puntland illegally. Furthermore, notorious ransom facilitators were used in this illegal operation which underscores the international dimensions of piracy today.

The two light aircraft are currently grounded at Galkayo Airport and Puntland police are conducting a thorough investigation. The 10 crew and passengers, who are under police custody at a guesthouse in Galkayo, will be brought in front of a Puntland court of law after the conclusion of the ongoing police investigation. Puntland Government remains unwavering in its opposition to ransom payments and its commitment in the fight against piracy.

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

Somali govt detains hostages freed by pirates

By Mohamed Olad Hassan (AP)

A deal to swap three hostages held by Somali pirates with 23 prisoners accused of piracy was halted by Somali authorities who say they were not informed of the plan, officials said Monday.

It appeared to be the first attempt to exchange hostages for prisoners in Somalia's multimillion-dollar pirate industry. Hostages are usually only released after a ransom payment.

The 23 suspected Somali pirates had been held in the Seychelles after being detained by international warships on anti-piracy missions. On Monday, the Seychelles government issued a statement saying the suspects were released because the government lacks evidence needed to prosecute them.

"We do not have sufficient evidence for a trial to take place, and based on that we have respected international laws and repatriated them to their homeland," said Minister Joel Morgan, who was mandated by Seychelles' president to work on the country's piracy portfolio. The Seychelles is an island nation located southeast of Somalia's coastline.

But Somali authorities say the 23 were released and flown to Somalia aboard two private planes as part of a deal to free three sailors from the Seychelles who had been held since their yacht was seized in February. The yacht later sank in bad weather.

The governor of Somalia's Mudug region, Ahmed Ali Salad, said the planes' crews misinformed authorities about the nature of their mission, claiming they were carrying humanitarian supplies.

Ahmed Elmi Karash, the aviation minister in Somalia's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, said the 23 suspects disembarked from the two planes there late Sunday and that the three former hostages boarded the planes, which were then detained by Somali officials while refueling. The seven crew members flying the two planes also were held.

Pirates captured more than 100 ships last year, and attacks off Somalia's pirate-infested coastline are expected to increase dramatically in coming months as the monsoon season ends.

The plague of pirates has attracted warships from nations as diverse as Japan, America, Germany and Portugal. When the warships capture suspected pirates, the prisoners are often delivered to nearby Kenya or the Seychelles for trial.

Somali pirates 'demand $20 mln' for Turkish ship (AFP)

Somali pirates holding a Turkish bulk carrier for nearly two months have demanded 20 million dollars (14 million euros) for the release of the vessel and its 23-man Turkish crew, a company lawyer said Monday.

"The ransom they asked for is 20 million dollars, but negotiations on kidnappings such as these usually end with agreement on 10 to 20 percent of the amount asked," Nilgun Yamaner, who represents the owner of the ship, told AFP.

"In our case, that amounts to a figure between two to four million dollars," she added.

Yamaner said she believed they were close to a deal with the pirates, but refused to say the figure her client, the Istanbul-based Horizon Shipping, was negotiating for the ship.

The bulk carrier Horizon 1 was seized on July 8 as it was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan with 33,000 cubic metres of sulphide.

Pirates directed the ship to the port of Eyl in northern Somalia's breakaway Puntland region, where it has been anchored since.

The crew were in good condition and had regular telephone contact with their families, Yamaner said.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 5 foreign vessels with a total of not less than 120 crew members are accounted for (of which 42 are confirmed to be Filipinos) and are held in Somali waters. Three former hostages are held by the local ad ministration. The cases 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 too. 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 161 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 150 Somalis are held in foreign prisons (Kenya, Yemen, Seychelles, France, Netherlands) under charges of piracy. Not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures. Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season in winter and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon season starting from mid February and early April every year.

Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: YELLOW IO: YELLOW (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely).

Directly piracy or naval upsurge related reports

The Morale Authority to Fight Piracy

By Kalekristos Zerisenay

Pretexts have always been in use to justify interventions in alien countries. In the name of rescuing the world from fascists, Marxists, dictators, terrorists and others, interventions have always been part of world history at least since the aftermath of the Second World War. But all this is hypocrisy as the ways these Marxists and the like have been deposed and peoples and territories under these leaderships are governed in a new system is more or less similar.

Let me glance at Eritrea's experience. The British force that prided itself for winning over Mussolini's fascist forces in Eritrea seemed to imitate many of the deeds of fascists whom bitterly fought against in the mounts of Tinkulhas. In its 11-12 years of stay in Eritrea, the British Administration conspired with the then major powers to dissolve Eritrea by rewarding its parts to Sudan and Ethiopia, steal and sell properties including those that were unique to Eritrea in the African continent, and finally leave the territory with a bleak future. If fascists were racists what should the British who worked for the elimination of Eritrean identity be named?

These are just introductions to my points on Somalia. Every one of us must have registered that the rise of piracy off the coast of Somalia is being used as a new pretext for intervention. Piracy might be rampant off the coast of Somalia, and international maritime transport and trade could be at risk but the prescribed medicine does not seem healing the illness. As a fashion of the day, almost every nation capable of dispatching and maintaining fleets has stationed its marine force in the Gulf of Aden "to guard" the coast of Somalia. Perhaps some of the involved countries do not seem to have the interest to end the piracy problem as they are using the opportunity to cover illegal activities of their companies and show off their military might.

Reports reveal that European companies are damping toxic wastes including nuclear wastes in the waters of Somalia while at the same time illegally fishing in the exclusive economic zone of Somalia. The media broadcasts about vessels and crews took hostage and ransom paid but the issue of waste dumping and illegal fishing is mentioned rarely. How can the world afford to accept the growing concern of piracy probably by Somalis who claim they are guarding their coast, and ignore wastes dumped and marine resources taken by European companies?

Let us leave the answer to those it may concern and focus on the solution. Would the different naval forces stationed in the Gulf of Aden bring piracy to an end? Unquestionably the answer is no because the root cause of piracy lies in hinterland Somalia not off the sea. If Somalis are fated to fight each other in the main land with no government to halt lawlessness, how will waters of Somalia be calm and secure? Piracy off the coast of Somalia can fade as global concern only when the source of pirates in the main land is dried not by force but by an all inclusive political solution, which results in the constitution of a strong and respected government.

The very fact that piracy off the coast of Somalia happened after the fall of Siad Barre's government confirms that the problem is directly connected with the lawlessness in the country. And this means that if legitimate government is established in Mogadishu, it would have the strength to administer every square of Somalia's territory, and piracy will undoubtedly be thing of the past. This was proved during the brief rule of Islamic Court Union of Islaic Courts (UIC) where despite lack of international community's recognition and support, the country was enjoying peace, boosting business and halting lawlessness. The United Nations Security Council proved this in its 2007 report by saying "piracy was on its rise after the removal of the UIC."

The issue of piracy need not also be seen from a legal point of view. Piracy, regardless of its illegality is a reflection of Somalia's political turmoil in the main land. For a legal question to be raised, first there must be a legally instituted all inclusive government in Somalia, and the international community especially those who indulge in illicit waste dumping and fishing activities should clean their hands. But current situation of Somalia and its waters reminds me Thomas Hobbes' State of Nature, though this time the war is both every man against every man and all men against one. Taking advantage of the anarchy in the main land, foreign forces are waging an exploitative war against Somalia's resources while at the same time Somalis are busy in a kind of all against all war amongst themselves.

In a nutshell, piracy in East Africa is part and parcel of the prevailing lawlessness in Somalia, and any effort that separately treats piracy from Somalia's political situation would only be time and resource consuming. Therefore, a strong government that has the consent of majority of the Somali people is urgently needed not to look after the few streets in Mogadishu but the whole country and its territorial waters. It is only then, as was during Siad Barre's and UIC's rule, piracy would come to an end. Otherwise, if powerful countries continue to intervene in Somalia's politics on one side, and illegally fish and dump wastes on the other side, how would piracy come to an end? After all nations that have violated international law by intervening in internal affairs of a sovereign state, undermined territorial integrity of a UN member state, and finally exploited resources and dumped wastes on waters of sovereign nation can not have the morale authority to fight piracy.

5 human trafficking boats captured in Puntland

The marine forces in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in eastern Somalia, have seized five illegal human trafficking boats on the shores of Bosaaso.

"Our navy forces do carry out regular routine patrols in the Somali waters along the coastline, and during our operation on late Monday we have caught 5 boats which were prepared for transporting illegal migrants across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen. Most of the illegal migrants have fled into the hinterland, but we have caught the boats and apprehended some of the owners of these boats" said an officer from Puntland to Somaliweyn radio on condition of anonymity.

The officer added that the administration of the autonomous region of Puntland will not allow Somalis or any other illegal migrant, to goon such dangerous trips between Somalia and Yemen.

It was just last month when again illegal migrants have died during such smuggling operations.

Since the collapse of the last central government in Somalia in the year 1991, thousands of Somalis have perished in the waters between Somalia and Yemen fleeing from the inferno back home, while others have died in the desert between Sudan and Libya.

UN role in Somalia comes under fire

By Saeed Shabazz (FinalCall.com)

The UN Secretary-General's special representative to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah has not answered reporters' questions concerning his involvement in the crafting of a 15-page "Memorandum of Understanding" that would give Kenya rights to drill for oil off the Somali continental shelf, extending for 200 miles.

Some analysts claim that Nairobi applied to the UN for an extension of its maritime border, by claiming larger sectors of the continental shelf which would impact on drilling rights for the region's mineral potential.

The press asked Mr. Ould-Abdallah if it was a conflict of interest for the UN to involve itself in assisting the Somalis in engaging the Norwegian government to pay its fees for the filing of the MOA; and if his role in the matter constituted a conflict of interest.

Mr. Ould-Abdallah said that all questions should be posed to the officials in the UN Development Program. To date no one from UNDP has responded to reporters questions; nor have any other high-level officials. The spokesperson for Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon explained to The Final Call that the special envoy had indeed given a sufficient answer.

The government of Norway, through its UN Mission was the only one to answer, saying helping Somalia file its paperwork was something they have done to help several African nations, but refused to say what other African nations they have helped. Norway is the world's seventh largest oil exporting nation in the world.

Gerald Lemelle, executive director of the Washington-based think tank, Africa Action tells The Final Call that what we are witnessing at the UN is the "historic" Western concept on how to have a relationship with Africa after colonialism.

"Nations such as Norway had to figure out a way to maintain control over African resources, so they use Security Council resolutions, and African proxies such as Kenya (reportedly Norway paid $200m to Kenya for the MOA)," he said. "At the heart of Western intervention in Somalia, which has been a geo-political football, is the battle for its oil," Mr. Lemelle said.

He said that in today's climate of transparency, Western powers are using the UN-created Transitional Federal Government, "a government with no legitimacy" in Somalia to do the bidding of the oil corporations.

The interim government announced back in 2005 it would start offering concessions for oil, gas and mineral rights, not just for exploration but also for marketing. However, the leadership of that government was replaced by the U.S. and UN in 2007.

And the new administration of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed wasted no time in getting down to business by signing a partnership agreement with Kuwait and Indonesia, with Somalia getting a 51 percent interest in the corporation, according to International Oil and Gas News.

Analysts and activists such as Sadia Aden, a Virginia-based human rights advocate and Prof. Abdi Ismail Samitar, a Somali advocate at the Univ. of Minn., say the UN has engaged in leading Western nations in an attempt to control Somali resources. The foreign navies that patrol Somali seas against pirates are really there to exploit the resources of Somalia, mainly its oil reserves and natural gas; and have been given permission to do so by the UN Security Council, Ms. Aden told The Final Call.

"Somalis know that these navies did not come to hunt and prosecute pirates but to divide the Somali seas, and to protect their interests as they hope to divide up our resources—not just in the ocean, but also on land," Ms. Aden added.

Prof. Samitar told The Final Call that the MOA caused an uproar in Mogadishu; and that the 245-member Somali Parliament voted unanimously against it. "This is not a real government, so they lack the authority to implement or enter into agreements," the professor insisted.

Prof. Samitar said that the TFG was beholding to Kenya and its Western backers because of a lack of financial resources; and therefore, the interim government lacks the ability to protect the interests of the Somali people.

Oil industry analysts were saying back in the early 1980s there was evidence of a natural trough of oil that extended across the Red Sea from Yemen into Somalia. Before the over-throw of Somali Pres. Siad Barre in 1991, tens of millions had been sunk into oil wells in Somalia, the largest investment by a Texas-based company, CONOCO.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that while Somalia is considered by many experts in the oil industry as being the last frontier for the "Black Gold" in Eastern Africa; there is no creditable evidence of large reserves of oil; however, there is a sizable reserve of natural gas.

A 2004 report by HAN DATA & Information Background: "Strategic Mining & Oil in Somalia" stated there were precious metals such as copper, gold, zinc and silver, including iron ore, bauxite and gypsum in the Horn of Africa nation.

The UN has been hearing from pro-African activist organizations such as Africa Action, according to Mr. Lemelle, on their role in giving away large tracks of land in Africa to the multi-national corporations; and their backing of dubious contracts that give away African resources. "We want to know who authorizes these contracts," he said.

Related links:

U.S. foreign policy fuels blowback in Somalia (FCN, 09-22-2008)

The Oil Factor In Somalia (LA Times, 01-18-1993)

Ecosystems, marine environment, IUU fishing and dumping, UNCLOS, ecology

Two Basque Fishing Boats Flee From Somalis

As we reported earlier already, two Basque fishing boats managed to flee from Somali attackers, who allegedly tried to capture them in two separate occasions in the Indian Ocean while following schools of Tuna between the coast of Somalia and the Seychelles.

The two fishing boats are the FV CAMPO LIBRE ALAI and the FV ALAKRANA´, both based in the Basque Country. They were allegedly attacked twice - last Thursday and Sunday.

In April 2008 another fishing boat from Spain, the ´FV PLAYA DE BAKIO´, was captured for illegally fishing in Somali waters and held with the crew for almost a week before being released against a fine. Five months later FV PLAYA DE ANZORAS was seized, which also has its base in Bermeo, Biscay province of Spain.

Pilar Unzalu, spokesperson for the Department of Fishing for the government of the autonomous region of the Basque Country in Spain, meanwhile is requesting central authorities in Madrid to take action by adopting more effective measures to protect the Spanish fishing fleet in international waters. The area of open ocean where the assault took place is testimony that the pirates now have the necessary technology and logistical sophistication to allow them to operate at a great distance from land and there bases on the Horn of Africa.

Both vessel, sailing under the Spanish Flag and with a base in Basque Country, managed to elude a pirate boat attack reportedly 495 miles off the coast of Somalia. The exact position of the vessels at the time so far has not been independently verified and they could have actually been much closer to the Somali shore.

According to the owner of the tuna vessel FV ALAKRANA, Ricardo Blach, "luck" played a role, as bad weather and the fact that their nets had been collected conspired in their being able to escape the pirates.

The Alakrana carries 40 crewmembers on board, six of whom are Galician – including its principal patron – with others from Senegal, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Madagascar and Indonesia.

When the Somali boat approached the Alakrana, it was located at 0450 North-5453 East, the owner stated.

To verify that they were in fact the object of a pirate attack, the vessel initiated several maneuvers, such as changing course, which were then matched by the boat from Somalia, Blach commented.

As of that moment, the Spaniards decided to move at full speed to leave their aggressors behind, Europa Press reports.

"They sailed at 7 knots while we were at more than 19, and we managed to escape because of bad weather, for if there had been calm, they would have caught up to us," Blanch clarified.

In addition, the crew had just finished collecting the nets, which facilitated maneuvers, since they weigh 100 tonnes and the vessel would not have been able to act quickly had they been in the water.

The Alakrana initiated the fishing season on 31 August this year, which is its fourth year working in the Indian Ocean.

Usually the fleet of fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean from at least 15 nations never reveal their presence publicly - even if attacked. This time it is different and analysts believe that the media hype about these alleged attacks has only one goal: To push the Spanish government to allow for armed personnel on board, like with the French, who have deployed armed soldiers to escort the fishing vessels with links to France. With this a new chapter in the history of fisheries wars is being written.

The presence of a Spanish Navy frigate and a patrol plane is not sufficient to guarantee the safety of fishing ships, claims the owner of Alakrana and demanded that the Spanish government should copy the French initiative, which has installed four armed military personnel on board each vessel flying the national flag.

It appears all is in done in preparation for the 9th of September, when the shipowners of Spain will meet in Madrid to pronounce protection measures for the high seas.

Millions face starvation in East African drought

By Otto Bakano, AFP

A sweeping drought across East Africa has left millions of people at risk of starvation, in a region plagued by increasingly erratic rainfall, humanitarian organisations and officials warn.

Huge food shortages and loss of livelihood have left 6.2 million Ethiopians needing relief aid, while about 3.8 million in Kenya's arid areas, where livestock is being decimated, have also been affected, UN agencies say.

War-ravaged Somalia, meanwhile, is witnessing its worst humanitarian crisis since civil unrest erupted there two decades ago, with a third of its 10 million people in need of food assistance and one in every five children acutely malnourished.

For Kenya, "this is the worst (drought) in nearly a decade. One in ten Kenyans are in need of food assistance," said Marcus Prior, a World Food Programme spokesman in Nairobi.

"The situation is extremely serious. Rains have failed across many areas," said Prior, whose organisation recently appealed for $230 million to help drought victims.

In a region where small-scale subsistence farming is the mainstay of a majority of the population, the impact of climate change on rainy seasons can often have dramatic consequences.

Responses to drought disasters have similarly been erratic and appeals for donor aid, emergency food distributions and medical assistance frequently dry up when the first drops of rain fall.

And in the absence of permanent solutions, many of those affected by drought find no respite even when the rains come as floods sweep their homes, destroy crops and cause water-borne diseases.

Tanzania recently sent 40,000 tonnes of cereals to its northern regions affected by drought, and where Agriculture Minister Stephen Wasira said famine has been reported.

"There are pockets of famine in northern regions... 'Short' rains failed and 'long' rains were inadequate," Mr Wasira said, referring to the two main rainy seasons.

The WFP is also feeding more than one million Ugandans, mainly in the northern and eastern regions, as a prolonged drought weighs heavily on the people.

"If the rains do not (increase) in the next few days we are headed for trouble," said Ugandan Information Minister Kabakumba Masiko.

"Daily, we get reports of food shortage from some regions and the government has been intervening by delivering relief (food)."

Rather than suffer food and water shortages sparked by recurring droughts, East African states can take a cue from desert countries like Egypt or Sudan and use irrigation to turn around their plight, experts argue.

"We wait for harsh events to occur and then run in panic," said Kenyan soil scientist Peter Okoth. "Irrigation would certainly overcome the perennial drought."

"It's a shame that we are actually begging for food yet we have a lot of water and we have enough land that is lying idle."

Food shortages also spark an increase in commodity prices, feeding a vicious cycle that drives millions closer to starvation.

According to official figures, food prices in Uganda increased by six per cent in the last month, while the cost of electricity in neighbouring Kenya rose by 6.5 per cent after two key hydroelectric dams shut down due to low water levels.

However, forecasters are predicting above-average rainfall in the coming months to last up to early 2010 due to an El Niño phenomenon expected to ease the harsh drought.

EC offers further aid to drought victims in Africa (Xinhua)

The European Commission (EC) said Tuesday it has earmarked a further 53.475 million euros (about 77 million U.S. dollars) for people suffering from drought in some African countries.

Countries to receive the aid include Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Mauritania, the EC said in a press release.

Among the countries, Somalia will receive 20 million euros (28.8 million dollars), the biggest share.

The funds are channeled through the EC's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) under the responsibility of Karel De Gucht, Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid.

De Gucht said: "An enormous area stretching from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa has been affected by extreme weather hazards in recent months and indeed years."

"Lasting severe drought with in some cases brutal flooding have had devastating effect on harvests and livestock, and increased the vulnerability of millions of people," he said.

"Such humanitarian crises which require immediate relief are a stark reminder of the crucial importance of getting an agreement in Copenhagen in order to address the root causes of climate change," the commissioner stressed.

Humanitarian projects funded by the EC are implemented by non-governmental relief organizations, specialized UN agencies and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement. Field experts from ECHO will monitor the use of the EC's relief funds.

Try nature, not tech, to fix economic woes -UNEP

By Alister Doyle, Reuters - Environment Correspondent

World turning to greener, natural fixes -UN's Steiner

Value of trees underestimated

The world is waking up to huge economic benefits of investing in nature, from forests to coral reefs, after one of the "great oversights" of the 20th century, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme said on Friday.

Achim Steiner told Reuters that governments had long placed too much faith in technology to fix problems such as global warming, water pollution or erosion, instead of looking to natural solutions.

"At the beginning of the 21st century we are being thrown back onto nature because you can't fix all these problems with technology," he said.

"The disproportion of investments in technological fixes versus investing in nature's ready-made solutions, tried and tested over millions of years, is one of the great oversights of the 20th century," he said.

A U.N.-backed study this week, for instance, indicated that tropical forests provide services worth an estimated $6,120 per hectare (2.47 acres) a year such as food, building materials, water purification or opportunities for tourism. [ID:nL434790]

A new U.N. climate pact due for agreement in December in Copenhagen is set to encourage measures to safeguard tropical forests that soak up greenhouse gases when they grow.

Steiner said that governments should take an even wider view of the value of forests since storing heat-trapping carbon dioxide was only one aspect of a tree's worth.

Cost Benefits

He said his advice to governments and investors was: "Don't just look at a forest as a watershed, or a carbon sink, or as helping biodiversity, or a tourism attraction. Put them all together and then make a cost-benefit analysis."

"The cumulative set of benefits you get from talking about a tree ... has to get economically captured," he said.

Among other natural systems, coral reefs provide services as nurseries for fish, protecting coasts from storms, or as scuba-diving holiday destinations. Or insects provide services, for instance, in pollinating crops.

"These services are not new. The problem was that we did not capture their value," Steiner said.

Among examples, he said that Kenya planned to raise its forest cover to 10 percent from 1 percent by planting 7 billion trees to help restore an environment degraded by erosion and dwindling water supplies.

Steiner also said a call by UNEP last year for a "Green New Deal" of investments in clean economic growth to revive struggling economies had helped but that it was too soon to judge if it marked a permanent greener shift.

"This concept struck a chord," he said of the idea, inspired by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" that helped end the Depression of the 1930s.

"Given that it was born out of a crisis I think it's had significant impact," he said, saying that economies such as China had given a high proportion of spending to green jobs.

He said it was "too early to predict" if the "Green New Deal" had become a "universal concept that will survive the calming down after the crisis."

"A lot will depend on Copenhagen. The greatest stimulus package could be a deal in Copenhagen," he said of the new U.N: climate pact.

Anti-piracy measures

Somalia, neighboring Seychelles clash over pirates

By Mohamed Olad Hassan (AP)

A dispute erupted between authorities in Somalia and the Seychelles Monday after the island nation released 23 suspected Somali pirates in what appeared to be a trade for hostages from the Seychelles.

Officials say a deal to swap three hostages for 23 suspected Somali pirates has been halted.

The aviation minister in Somalia's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland said Monday that the 23 suspected pirates were released by the Seychelles government Saturday. They were flown to Somalia and freed Sunday in exchange for three hostages from the Seychelles who had been held since pirates captured their ship in February.

But Somali authorities were apparently not informed of the deal, which appeared to be the first prisoners-for-hostages exchange attempted in Somalia's multimillion-dollar pirate industry.

Puntland Aviation Minister Ahmed Elmi Karash says the crew on the two private planes delivering the suspected pirates to Somalia claimed they were carrying humanitarian cargo and that prompted officials to detain the planes and former hostages pending an investigation.

Authorities in the Seychelles denied that they had agreed to swap the captured pirates for the three freed hostages.

Somali officials nonetheless stopped the former hostages from returning to the Seychelles Monday, saying Somalia had been deceived by Seychelles authorities.

The 23 prisoners had been captured by international warships and held on piracy charges in the Seychelles, which sits southeast of Somalia's coastline.

The Seychelles government said it was releasing the 23 suspects because it lacked evidence needed to prosecute them.

Ahmed Elmi Karash, the aviation minister in Somalia's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland, said the 23 suspects disembarked from two planes late Sunday and the three former hostages boarded. The planes were detained by Somali officials while refueling. The planes' seven crew members also were held.

The governor of Somalia's Mudug region, Ahmed Ali Salad, said the planes' crews misinformed Somali authorities, claiming they were carrying humanitarian supplies.

The Seychelles authorities said the simultaneous repatriation of their three citizens — held hostage since their yacht Serenity was seized in February — was simply a cost-effective way to use the planes and did not imply a swap. The hostages' yacht sank in poor weather after their capture.

"The release of the Seychellois hostages is not related to the repatriation of the 23 Somali men this weekend," said Minister Joel Morgan, who leads Seychelles government efforts on piracy. "An exchange of Seychellois and Somalis did not take place."

He added that no ransom was paid.

It is almost unheard-of for pirates to release sailors without a cash payment.

Morgan said the two governments were in contact and the situation would soon be resolved.

Pirates captured more than 100 ships last year and attacks off Somalia are expected to increase dramatically in coming months as the monsoon season ends.

Warships from Japan, America, Germany, Portugal and other nations are patrolling the water off Somalia to combat piracy. When the warships capture suspected pirates, the prisoners are often delivered to nearby Kenya or the Seychelles for trial.

EU fishermen seek more protection from Somali pirates (AFP)

European fishermen who work off the Horn of Africa are asking for an extended protection zone as Somali pirates launch operations further from their bases, an European Union (EU) official said Wednesday.

"There are (European) ships that fish in the Indian Ocean and close to Somali waters but I think they have moved away from that area because of the piracy," Cesar Deben, policy director at the EU's maritime affairs directorate, told reporters.

"They have asked for an extension of the protection zone," he added.

"The pirates themselves have extended their activities and in fact they are interfering with legal fishing well beyond Somali waters near Kenya and Tanzania."

The EU launched its first-ever naval operation last December with warships and surveillance planes patrolling the pirate-infested seas in the Gulf of Aden.

The EU vessels are already facing the daunting task of covering an area of around one million square kilometres, while the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other warships are also operating in the area.

The pirates have begun using larger ships which allow them to launch attacks up to 200 miles (320 kilometres) from their coast, an expert said.

Some 50 tuna fishing boats from EU nations, mainly Spain, are still operating in the Indian Ocean region.

The threats are being faced especially by bluefin tuna fishermen off the Seychelles and northeast of Madagascar.

The subject will be discussed, at Spain's request, at a meeting of EU fisheries ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday.

"We will see what can be done to assure security and protection to fishermen in those waters," said EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg, as he presented a new consultation paper on European fisheries.

"We have no fishing accords with Somalia or its neighbours," he stressed.

Earlier Wednesday the EU urged merchant ships planning to cross piracy-hit waters off Somalia to sign up to a register to enable the EU naval taskforce to track their voyage.

Deben strongly denied reports that European fishing boats were still operating off the Somali coast, dismissing them as "facile and stupid rumours".

"From satellite readings we have found that there was no European ship in Somali waters," he told reporters in Brussels.

"No one has given me any name of any ship," doing so, he asserted.

"There may be Europeans fishing near the Horn of Africa but this is in shared waters."

The activities of the Somali pirates will also be discussed in Brussels on Thursday at an international donors meeting.

Swiss upper house votes to send anti-piracy forces to Somalia – DPA

Switzerland's upper house voted Tuesday to send troops to the Gulf of Aden to help combat piracy, as the move passed its first hurdle in parliament. The legislature took up the matter of Somalia's piracy after the collective government, the seven-member Federal Council, already gave the nod for deploying soldiers. It is expected that if the proposition passes the full political battle, the Alpine land would dispatch some 30 troops to aid the European Union's Atalanta anti-piracy mission. The vote in the Council of States, which passed with 33 in favour to 7 against, was, opposed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) and, at the other end, the Green Party. Luc Recordon, a Green member of the house, said about his fellow countrymen that "we are better jurists than sailors," and suggested the Swiss should engage in diplomacy or legal affairs rather than naval activity.

Those supporting the bill said Switzerland also used the open seas and should participate in protecting ships for its own economic interests and as a sign of international solidarity. Claude Heche, a Socialist member of the house and supporter of the bill, said the Swiss sailors should first make efforts to protect deliveries of basic humanitarian supplies to Somalia and other famine affected areas along the Horn of Africa. Pirates have attacked ships used by the UN's World Food Programme going between a sea port in Kenya and Somalia. Sending the troops to the gulf will still require further steps by parliament, including deciding on how long it would commit the soldiers and whether the matter should go up for a public referendum in Switzerland's "direct democracy" process. The landlocked country, which has been recognized as a neutral state since 1815, has in recent years started to participate as observers in international peacekeeping missions, such as the one in Kosovo, and earlier this decade joined the United Nations, which has its European headquarters in Geneva.

No real peace in sight yet

Mission impossible: Peacekeeping in Somalia

By Edmund Sanders Tribune Newspapers

When a mystery illness swept through the African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu, killing six soldiers and sickening dozens, doctors were stumped.

With help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they ruled out swine flu, tropical infection, rat-borne bacteria and even deliberate poisoning, as claimed by Somalia's insurgents.

But the culprit, doctors fear, is just as alarming: beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disorder typically only seen in famines. Simply put, African Union soldiers appear to have died of a form of malnutrition.

It's the starkest example yet of how the mission in Somalia, which is authorized by the United Nations and largely funded by Washington, has become one of the most dangerous, yet least supported, peacekeeping operations in the world.

More than two years after the AU launched its effort to try to turn around this Horn of Africa nation, only 5,000 of the pledged 8,000 troops are on the ground, nearly all from Uganda and Burundi. Experts said even the full contingent of 8,000 would be half of what's really needed.

Though the new commander said he is intent on taking a tougher stance against insurgents who have growing ties to al-Qaida, his force only covers about 8 square miles -- roughly one-third of Mogadishu.

The mission's projected $800 million-a-year budget has never been fully funded, with the U.S. contributing about $200 million this year. Funding shortfalls have forced commanders to depend on donations, such as the new hospital building paid for by Britain and food rations from the U.N.

And even though Somalia is the only operation in Africa where peacekeepers are routinely targeted by insurgents with mortars, roadside bombs and suicide attackers, there is no cease-fire agreement or U.N.-brokered treaty to enforce.

"How do you do a peacekeeping mission in a place that has no peace?" asked Maj. Anthony Lukwago, an AU Ugandan commander.

On the campus of Mogadishu University, now serving as headquarters for Burundi's contingent, soldiers face roadside bombs nearly every time they leave the base. Nevertheless, they can't get basic bomb-detection devices to sweep the streets or equipment to defuse the bombs.

Their solution? Drive fast and travel at irregular hours, said Brig. Gen. Prime Niyongabo, commander of the Burundian contingent.

"There is so much we need," he said.

Somali Security Minister says enough is enough – somaliweyn

The national security Minister for the Somali Federal Government honorable Mohammed Ali Sanbaloshe, has made the announcement that the AU peacekeepers in Mogadishu can use all means and ways to eliminate the Islamists who are fighting against the government. "This is the time to say enough is enough we cannot just over-look what is happening in Somalia, and the current government led by his Excellency Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed has called upon all his rivals to come to a better solution than sticking to arms, unfortunately they have all turned down his appeal, so hence the world will do anything to overcome this inferno in Somalia" said Sanbaloshe the Somali security Minister speaking to Somaliweyn radio.

The Minister has also added that in a fight a son is lost but is not gained, and in every combat the majority of the victims are the civilians rather than the warring sides.

"I think these so called rivals are people who are working on the interest of some other foreign nations, and are not truely Somali because if they are really Somalis they would have felt sympathy for their people, and would have stopped the day-to-day clashes in the city, and they would have stopped digging up gigantic ditches on the tarmac streets in the city which are very important for the daily life of Somalis in Mogadishu; with the will and the might of Allah we shall bring them into an absolute stop and there will be no more hit and run attacks" added the Minister.

The Minister has also briefly remarked about the former Hiran regional commissioner who has recently declared that he is no longer with the TFG government, and said that he is a man and he can just air his view, and that will not have the slightest effect on the Somali government.

Somali Ex-Premier Noor Presents credentials to Italian President - by somaliweyne

The Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has received the credentials from the newly appointed Somali ambassador to Italy honorable Noor Hassan Hussein (Noor Ade).

"There is a long-time cordial relationship between the Italian government and that of Somalia, and in fact I was highly amicably received by the Italian government, and the Italian government has sent me car whose bonnet had a Somali and Italian flags, to pick me from my office, and took me to the Italian parliament, where I was received warmly, before I presented my credentials to the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano; I have received salutation from a parade of guards of honor" said the new Somali ambassador Noor Hassan Hussein speaking to Somaliweyn radio while in his office in Rome.

The new ambassador has also added that his very much contented of been the Somali ambassador to Italy.

Ambassador Noor will be holding two posts those are he will be the Somali ambassador to Italy and the Somali representative officer in the European Union.

Instantly after his credentials were proved to be legitimate once, the ambassador had meeting with the Somali community in Italy inside the Somali embassy compound in Rome, and pledged them that he will help them all that is possible with him.

The Italian government which is the former colony of Somalia is among the nations in the world which are tirelessly involved in settling the burning fire in Somalia, and has recently announced that it will resume the work of the Italian embassy in Mogadishu.

The new ambassador to Italy Honorable Noor is a man with total reputation among the Somali communities in and out of the country he is a moderate chap who adores the unity of Somalia and assisting the Somali people wherever they are in the world.

Somali Government says Somali prisoners freed from Libyan jails

The a spokesman of Somalia´s Prime Minister Abdukadir Walayo said Monday Somali prisoners have been freed from various jails in Libya.

Mr. Walayo told reporters in Mogadishu that the Somalis in the jails of Libya got their freedom as a high level delegation led by Prime Minister Sharma´arke returned home on Sunday saying that the PM had attended the AU summit in Libya.

The spokesman said that the delegation of the prime minister had met with the Libyan president Moammer Gaddafi and discussed also about the situation of the Somali immigrants jailed in Libya.

Abdukadir Walayo told the reporters that a good number of the detained Somalis were already released from some of the jails in the Libya adding that they were returned back to their home country. But he did not disclose their number or names nor the jails from which they have been released.

Libyan soldiers last month killed about 20 Somali prisoners in Banghazi town in Libya after they have tried to escape from the jail.

Back Into Somalia – strategypage

Ethiopia and Eritrea are waging a proxy war in Somalia, but the town of Badme on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border continues to be the biggest point of conflict. The Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission (EEBC) gave the town to Eritrea. The Algiers Peace Agreement that both countries signed stated that the EEBC's decision would be final. Ethiopia, however, refused to accept it.

Those facts are in Eritrea's favor. Eritrea's subsequent trouble-making, however, cannot be excused by Ethiopia's reneging on the deal. Eritrea has become "the hometown" of rebel, exile, and terrorist groups from around the world. Eritrea arms Somali Islamist militias and has fought a border war with Djibouti.

August 29, 2009: Ethiopian armored units reportedly took control of the Somali town of Baladwayne (central Somalia). The al Shabaab Islamist militia occupies positions near Baladwayne. Another Islamist militia, the Hizbul Islam, also has fighters in the area. Interestingly enough, the sources for the reports are residents of Baladwayne who phoned in information to news agencies. That indicates that cell phone communications are up and running even in central Somalia. The Ethiopian government, however, denied that it has troops in Somalia.

August 24, 2009: The government of Sri Lanka announced that it may open an embassy in Eritrea. The Sri Lankan government was very open about the reason: Eritrea has been a "safe haven" for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the rebel and terrorist group that the Sri Lankan government finally defeated earlier this year. At least the Sri Lankan government defeated the LTTE in Sri Lanka. LTTE "outposts" still function. Since fundraising in impoverished Eritrea is likely very tough, the Eritrean LTTE "office" was likely in the business of procuring weapons and ammunition. Eritrea serves as a source of weapons and is also a well-known "trans-shipment port" in the black market arms business. Intelligence agencies have theorized that the LTTE shared information with Islamist terrorist groups (including Al Qaeda). Eritrea, with its "safe haven" reputation, is one likely place for these contacts. So the new Sri Lankan embassy will provide a window on all this nasty business.

August 20, 2009: The Ethiopian government, in a rare moment of candor, said that Somali pro-government militias have used Ethiopian territory as "a base." The militias support the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Somalia. The Ethiopians basically see their support for the Somali TNG militias as tit for Eritrean tat, since Eritrea supports the al Shabaab Islamists. The Ethiopian statement added that Ethiopia has helped train the pro-TNG units.

August 19, 2009: The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (EECC, which operates out of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands), awarded Ethiopia $174 million and Eritrea $161 million in damages that occurred in the 1998-2000 Ethiopia-Eritrea War. Basically, Eritrea owes Ethiopia about $12.5 million. The EECC evaluated property loss claims, lost income, and "human suffering." Eritrea said it would "abide" by the decision. Ethiopia said that it was not awarded enough money.

Zanzibaris seek safety in Somalia

By Mohammed Olad Hassan (BBC )

Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous places in the world. It is hard to understand why anyone would want to travel 600 miles to seek refuge in Somalia, one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Especially if you come from the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, best known for its tropical beaches lined with coconut-laden palm trees.

But although Somalia has been in almost constant conflict since its central government collapsed in 1991, the capital, Mogadishu, has become a haven for hundreds of refugees from the Zanzibari island of Pemba.

The refugees originally left the semi-autonomous Tanzanian islands in 2001 when political riots began between the Tanzanian ruling party and the opposition, the Civic United Front.

Several people, including policemen, were killed.

"We first stayed in Kenya," says Salim Ahmed Khadib, the leader of the Zanzibari community in Mogadishu.

"But because of the relationship between Kenya and Tanzania we feared repatriation and decided to go to Somalia, regardless of the risks."

Making a new life

The Zanzibari residents in Mogadishu say that out of the 192 families living in Somalia, 85 of them are still living in Mogadishu.

The rest have gone further north to Puntland or Somaliland, areas which are relatively more peaceful.

Most of them work as barbers, while others became carpenters, teachers or fishermen.

But the Zanzibaris living in Mogadishu say that after eight years there, they are still struggling to survive.

Unable to find somewhere decent to live, those families remaining in the capital made a disused water purification plant their home.

The building is in south Mogadishu in a government-controlled area just one kilometre away from where government soldiers and insurgents are fighting.

This is where the Zanzibaris eat, sleep and sometimes try to make money by selling chocolate, sweets or camel milk.

Rooms are overcrowded, there is no clean water or sanitation and the smell of rotting vegetables and waste is stifling.

Ali Ja'far, a 42-year-old Zanzibari who stays in one of the rooms with four children and a Somali wife, says he is jobless and cannot afford to feed his family.

"There are six of us but we only have one mattress to sleep on, so we put our upper bodies on the mattress and our legs on the ground," Mr Ja'far says.

"This is our fate. This is the way we live," he says, adding that he wants to return home once there is stability.

Forgotten community'

The Zanzibaris say that unlike internally displaced Somalis, they do not receive any help from the aid agencies.

"Once we went and asked for their help," says Rashid Sa'id, one of the Zanzibaris.

"They told us to go home but we don't want to. We are a forgotten community in a lawless country," he says.

Roberta Russo, the spokesperson for the UN refugee agency in Somalia says while the UNHCR does provide support to refugees living in Somalia, it is difficult helping refugees in the capital since there is no functioning government there.

The escalation in fighting in recent months has also made most of south and central Somalia inaccessible to aid agencies.

She says the UNHCR does support the local government in Puntland and Somaliland where they provide basic help for refugees.

But the authorities have limited capacity for dealing with the huge number of refugees in the country.

The UNHCR say there are 1,800 refugees in Somalia and that interviews still have to be done to determine the status of the 18,000 asylum seekers.

So the Zanzibaris in Mogadishu, like Mohamed Aden Suleyman, who now runs a public toilet, have had to fend for themselves.

"Sometimes we are ok, and sometimes we suffer," he says.

Beyond the worry of food and money, they also face the threat of violence every time they leave their homes.

According to UNHCR figures, in the past three months, a quarter of a million Somalis have fled Mogadishu, to try to escape a city thronging with the sound of gunfire, mortar, bullets, bombs, shells and shrapnel.

"While we are not particularly targeted, we are still affected by the fighting just as ordinary Somalis are," says Mr Khadib.

"Two of us were caught in the cross fire and injured. One lost his leg after being hit by a shell and the other is ok now."

Mr Sa'id says they are afraid to go out because of the violence.

"But no-one can live with out food. So we have to go out and if fighting breaks out, we take cover with Somalis and go home once the fighting is over," he says.

Integrating with Somalis

While daily violence makes life difficult, when it comes to integrating, the Zanzibaris say they have never felt discriminated against.

They say the residents of Mogadishu treat them well.

Thirteen of the Zanzibaris are married to Somali women and have children.

Mr Khadib's wife is 27-year-old Ilmiyo Osman.

Standing in front of her home she says she is happy that she married a Zanzibari man.

"The only problem is that we do not always have enough to eat. But everything about our cultural differences is ok and we understand each other," she says.

Life in Mogadishu is clearly difficult, but when asked about returning to Zanzibar, Mr Khadib says he thinks nothing has changed.

"The same problem that I ran away from is still there," he says.

"We came to Somalia because the police were torturing and killing some of our people and sending others to jail. This was because we supported the opposition party, the Civic United Front."

So while the bullets continue to fly in Mogadishu, these Zanzibari refugees will not be leaving their mini haven in one of the world's most terrifying cities any time soon.

Impacting reports from the global village

Dane linked to terror plot in Kenya against Clinton - KR News

Police sources in Kenya have indicated that one of their suspects in a planned terror attack against Hillary Clinton was travelling on Danish papers.

Kenyan police have arrested five suspects in a terror plot against US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. One suspect was reportedly carrying a Danish passport.

According to Kenyan newspaper Sunday Nation, Clinton was to be the target of three bomb attacks when she visited the capital Nairobi last month.

Police sources told the paper that the suspects are Somalis connected to the militant Islamist terror organisation Al Shabab.

One of those arrested was a woman with a forged Kenyan passport while another was said to have been travelling on Danish identity papers.

The Danish ambassador in Nairobi, Bo Jensen, said that he had not been informed of any Danes being arrested for a plot against Clinton, but said he would look further into the case today.

Nicolas Kamwende, head of the Kenyan anti-terror police, said he could not comment on current investigations, and an official police spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Clinton was in Nairobi for the Agoa African development summit from 4 to 7 August.

According to the paper, terrorists planned to bomb the Hotel Inter Continental where Clinton was staying, as well as another Hilton hotel and a central bus terminal.

Police sources told the paper that the plan had been foiled after authorities intercepted electronic communication between the plotters in Somalia and the Nairobi terror cell.

´The threat was neutralised one week before the meeting with cooperation between the military and other security services,´ said the anonymous source.

Toronto18 conviction should be an awakening call about extremism

By Abubakar N. Kasim -Toronto

In light of the recent conviction of the so-called the Toronto 18, I have written the following article which I was hoping you would consider for publication.

I don't think we should celebrate this conviction as much as we should discuss the root causes of why a young boy would be attracted to such a trend and what should we as a society do about it.

The conviction of the member of the so-called Toronto 18 should be an awakening call about the danger of extremism and what it could do to a person.

Muslims ought not to shy away in discussing this unhealthy phenomenon that exists in all other societies.

In spite of media's portrayal of this disease as exclusive to Muslims, no one is immune from this disease.

The responsibility of tackling extremism is not only on the shoulders of Muslims but everyone else irrespective of creed, nationality or country.

Muslims do indeed have a major responsibility to deal with this illness that is affecting many of its youth.

They ought to understand that the threat is real and is not part of the media's conspiracy against them as some choose to believe.

The New York Times had featured an article about a group of young Somali students in Minneapolis who were influenced with extremism.

They were transformed into hardcore fanatics who returned to their country of origin to join the battlefield.

The teenagers fled their war torn country and immigrated to the United States to pursue their American dreams.

They had assimilated into the American culture - embracing basketball and the prom, hip-hop and the mall of America as outlined in the article entitled A Call to Jihad, Answered in America, published July 11.

Their lives had taken a dramatic turn last year. They had dropped out from school and returned to Somalia to join the extremist Al-Shabab group which has been accused of human right violation against anyone who don't agree with their narrow minded views.

As the article explained, the students are among more than 20 young Somalis who are the focus of what may be the most significant domestic terrorism investigation since Sept. 11.

One of the students blew himself up last Oct. becoming the first American suicide bomber in the war torn country.

Their friends told the reporter, "While religious devotion may have predisposed them to sympathize with the Islamic cause in Somalia, it took a major geopolitical event - the Ethiopian invasion of their homeland in 2006 to spur them to join what they saw as a legitimate resistance movement.

As the report continues, the case represents the largest group of American citizens suspected of joining an extremist movement affiliated with Al Qaeda.

Although friends say the men have never thought of carrying out attacks in the United States, F.B.I. officials worry that with their training, ideology and American passports, there is a real danger that they could commit sinister acts in the land.

I personally used to dismiss the issue of extremism within the community as something that has been designed to smear the name of Islam and make Muslims look evil.

I was naïve until recently when hardcore fanatics called Alshabbab had occupied a large portion of the southern part of Somalia.

They have been waging a ruthless war against their fellow Muslims who don't agree with their narrow interpretation of Islam.

They had demolished graveyards of scholars; exhumed their remaining claiming that they were worshipped by Somalis. They had also closed mosques that are surrounded or adjacent to graveyards.

They are forgetting or choosing to ignore the fact that the main mosque in Medina contains graves of Prophet Mohammad and his close companions.

They are spreading terror in the land in the name of Islam. They are currently extracting molar teeth that are made of silver and gold from people and forcing Muslim women to wear burqas.

They are also accused of marrying young girls by force.

Muslims need to tackle this phenomenon and try to find the solution that would bring the youth back to the basics of the teachings of the religion that is based on balance and respect.

The society at large also has a greater responsibility of tackling the problem of extremism.

It is sad and depressing at the same time not to see any politician including President Obama taking a constructive approach in trying to tackle the root causes of this trend.

Extremism will always exist. It will always find disciples in all religious and secular movements.

Avoiding it however is part of the problem.

Only when we are honest about this issue and discuss it openly and objectively will we ever see a real difference in our effort to win the battle against terrorism.

Sending troops to Afghanistan and invading other countries will only fuel more extremism rather than curbing it.

If we have managed to dismantle and arrest the Toronto 18, tomorrow another group might surface.

Without going to the root causes of the problem, we will only be lying to ourselves and we will be going into cycles of madness and frustration without achieving anything at the end.

CIA used Blackwater-linked mercenaries as journalists

By Wayne Madsen (*)

The CIA used credentialed journalists to engage in counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism operations from 2003 to 2005.

WMR has learned that two individuals working as subcontractors to the CIA had significant links to Blackwater"s CIA-approved and sanctioned operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Iran. Both traveled with credentials issued by United Press International (UPI), the wire service owned by News World Communications, owned by South Korean cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

One of the contractor fake UPI journalists obtained a journalist visa from the Iranian Interests Section, which operates under the Pakistan embassy in Washington, to visit Tehran in 2003 and engaged in "target analysis and spotting" for a planned U.S. attack on Iran. The fake journalist also maintained close liaison with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's office and officers of the Israeli Defense Force. The "reporter" also engaged in counter-intelligence/terrorism operations in the Pakistani northwest tribal border region with Afghanistan, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another journalist covert agent operated in Afghanistan with not only a UPI credential but also a UPI tri-band international cell phone, which the individual used to run up a huge phone bill making phone calls from Afghanistan and other locations to the United States.

One of the CIA journalist agents also swept up intelligence on the knowledge possessed by various overseas officials about what they knew about the 9/11 attacks. These included Taliban, Northern Alliance, and Pashtun officials in Afghanistan, Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) officers and mujaheddin elements once allied to the CIA during the Afghan war with the Soviet Union, Saudi government officials, and members of the neocon-linked Iraqi National Congress, including its leader Ahmad Chalabi.

Both faux journalists were also in Uzbekistan in the months following 9/11, ostensibly to cover the regional news from that country. However, the country was also a focal point for U.S. military activities in the region and, in 2005, Uzbek forces launched an attack against protesters in Andijan, killing up to 1,500 people. The government claimed the protesters were Islamic radicals but later admitted they were protesting poor economic conditions.

The CIA has long stressed that it does not use journalists as agents. However, the use of UPI-credentialed journalists in private military contractor covert operations puts to rest that stated policy.

Both journalists in question were veterans of the U.S. Special Forces and had close links to the headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Blackwater/Xe maintains a training facility at Moyock, North Carolina.

Over the past few days, the Associated Press has reported that the CIA used Blackwater contract assassins in other countries and there have been other reports that the firm used foreign mercenaries to carry out covert operations. The AP also quoted one former high-level CIA official as stating that the agency used Blackwater for hit teams because "you wouldn't want to have American fingerprints on it."

WMR has also learned that a Blackwater security operative infiltrated the presidential campaigns of former Democratic Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska and Representative Ron Paul (R-TX). The operative, who was permitted to carry loaded weapons at televised presidential debates featuring other candidates, including Secret Service-protected candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, as well as Senators John McCain, Joe Biden, and Chris Dodd, Representative Dennis Kucinich, and former Governors Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, also served in Iraq and had close ties with the Israeli Defense Force. The Secret Service refused to interfere with the Blackwater employee's access to the presidential candidates of both parties, claiming that whom presidential candidates chose to have as their personal security members was their business.

The Blackwater employee also was permitted to fly on regularly-scheduled commercial flights with the loaded weapons.

The employee's affiliations were not much of a secret as one source reported that he had a "huge Star of David" tattooed on his chest.

(*) Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).

Taking down a nation: Money, murder and national sovereignty

By Nikki Alexander

If you wanted to destroy the infrastructure that holds our constitutional republic in place, how would you go about that? As with a controlled demolition you would need to dislodge the foundation from the bedrock where it is anchored and weaken the framework that holds the structure together. In practice, you would demolish the laws that support the legal and financial structure. Our constitutional republic would then collapse into its own footprint, meeting no resistance.

Billionaire George Soros claimed the world financial system has disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis. [1] If this were true, it would be a blessing. It is more likely a pretext for consolidating world financial control through an illegitimate global oligarchy that supersedes national sovereignty. Media propagandists are spinning the "new" idea of one world currency issued by a global monetary authority. Herding the fearful into a blind alley with soothing promises of international cooperation, the same criminals who engineered global financial destruction are promoting the International Monetary Fund as the savior of choice to issue one world currency. The IMF's synthetic currency, Special Drawing Rights (SDR), is determined by the fluctuating value of fiat currencies generated by four privately owned central banks. SDR are fabricated debt owed to a private banking cartel.

Would a universal token of debt, fabricated by the same private banking cartel that engineered our staggering debt, be a remedy for national insolvency? Would global indebtedness to this cartel restore the productive economy? Whose social priorities would be financed by a global banking oligarchy? Would this oligarchy continue the practice of withholding credit from cities and states, farmers, small businesses, homeowners and entrepreneurs while fabricating credit for weapons, war, gambling and fraud? Would consolidating a global debt monopoly counteract or amplify the risk of global systemic collapse? Transnational institutions that infect every aspect of the global financial system have just demonstrated the dangers of being too interconnected to quarantine and too well-connected to prosecute.

Why would a sovereign people who are fully capable of issuing their own money and credit surrender that authority to a supranational oligarchy that issues fiat debt? Abolishing national currencies essentially dissolves national sovereignty.

While media ventriloquists would have us believe rampant and random greed provoked a spontaneous "global financial crisis," the historical record indicates deliberate and carefully planned destruction of national sovereignty, worldwide. The plans for consolidating private control of global wealth have been in motion for over a century, accelerating exponentially with the frenzy of neoliberal deregulation that enabled financial fraud to metastasize globally. Carroll Quigley, a Georgetown University historian and Bill Clinton's mentor, was privy to documents and meetings held by the international powers of financial capitalism. He was not speculating on their motives but rather reporting as a trusted insider, an eyewitness who described their intent:

Following World War I . . ."the powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basle, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks, which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank, in the hands of men like Montagu Norman of the Bank of England, Benjamin Strong of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Charles Rist of the Bank of France, and Hjalmar Schacht of the Reichsbank, sought to dominate its government by its ability to control treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence co-operative politicians by subsequent rewards in the business world." --Carroll Quigley, 1966 [2]

Founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Trilateral Commission's stated goal is to foster a "New International Economic Order" that would supplant the historical economic order. Paul Volcker -- past Federal Reserve chairman, Rockefeller trust fund administrator and chairman of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board -- is the North American chairman. Speaking to that group in 1991 David Rockefeller stated:

"We are grateful to The Washington Post, The New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto determination practiced in past centuries." --David Rockefeller, 1991 [3]

A plan for the world that "marches" humanity towards a world government could only have been developed in the shadows, although constitutional scholars would hardly share Rockefeller"s gratitude to the Washington Post, New York Times, Time magazine and other great publications for half a century of media complicity with treason. A "supranational sovereignty" of self-appointed feudal lords violates the right of sovereign nations to auto determination, the right of nation states to protect their financial sovereignty from "world bankers" and the right of sovereign individuals to form governments that derive their powers from the consent of the governed. In this royal cabal's worldview, these rights do not exist. The earth is for selfish plundering and human beings are merely expendable serfs to be exploited. National currencies, government regulations, international law, civil liberties, environmental and worker protections are seen as obstacles to self-gratification that must be demolished. Their vision of utopia is a global dictatorship of world bankers and self-appointed elites.

Delusional as such subversive ambitions may sound, the World Trade Organization has already usurped illegitimate authority to supersede the regulations of sovereign nations, overriding international human rights law and the rights of regional governments to protect their populations.

The North American Union, masterminded by Richard Gardner, promoted by Robert Pastor and engineered by this cabal will dissolve the borders between the US, Canada and Mexico and superimpose a legislative body that supersedes the authority of Congress with a continental NAFTA parliament of free trade pirates, unrestrained by regulations that protect the public and the earth. [4] It should come as no surprise that media directors complicit with treason have failed to alert the public to this covert destruction of national sovereignty.

The Bank for International Settlements is consolidating world financial control by herding nation states into five Regional Currency Areas that will ultimately be merged into one. [5] The European Union, with a supranational parliament and constitution that were forced on European citizens despite their veto, overrides the sovereignty of individual European nation states.

Fred Bergsten, a US Treasury official and founding member of the Trilateral Commission and subversive Peterson Institute, accurately conveyed the ramifications of abandoning national currencies:

"The adoption of a common currency is by far the boldest chapter of European integration. Money traditionally has been an integral element of national sovereignty . . . and the decision by Germany and France to give up their mark and franc . . . represents the most dramatic voluntary surrender of sovereignty in recorded history. The European Central Bank that will manage the euro is a truly supranational institution." --C. Fred Bergsten, 1999 [6]

Bergsten rightly acknowledges that, "money is an integral element of national sovereignty." Therefore, the private ownership of one global currency strips all countries of their national sovereignty in one broad stroke and what better way to shorten the process than to engineer the "disintegration of the world financial system," with a global derivatives Ponzi scheme.

Bergsten"s euphoria over European loss of national sovereignty is an expression of victory, the triumph of subversion. European nation states did not voluntarily surrender their national sovereignty. They were forced to surrender, just as Americans are being stripped of their national sovereignty, piece by piece.

In 1974, international banker, Trilateralist and CFR member, Richard N. Gardner outlined a comprehensive strategy for the new world order in an influential article in Foreign Affairs, entitled "The Hard Road to World Order." He stated:

"In short, the "house of world order" would have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. It will look like a great confusion, but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault." [7]

Gardner's strategy for demolishing national sovereignty lays out a sweeping program for successfully setting up world government: strengthening the International Monetary Fund with leverage to wreck the economies of entire countries, as it did to Argentina in 2001; rewriting the ground rules for international trade through GATT (forerunner of the WTO), that "will subject countries to an unprecedented degree of international surveillance over, up to now, sacrosanct "domestic" policies;" creating transnational trade regimes as pretexts for world control, such as the EU, NAFTA and a Free Trade Area of the Americas that would create a massive outflux of jobs and factories from the US and lead, over time, to a complete subordination of American government to a continental corporate authority; giving the United Nations ultimate jurisdiction over the oceans, atmosphere, electromagnetic spectrum, and outer space; disarming all nations to such an extent that, eventually, "no state would have the military power to challenge the progressively strengthened UN Peace Force" -- under whose authority the first Gulf War, and its 12-year aftermath of bombing raids and crippling sanctions, was carried out. From Somalia to the Balkans to Sierra Leone to Afghanistan, United Nations "peacekeepers" have become nearly ubiquitous enforcers of world order out of the barrel of a gun.

Steve Bonta"s analysis of Gardner"s strategy concludes:

"If the insiders could have accomplished overtly and instantly what they are now piecing together through stealth and patient gradualism, they surely would have done so. They"ve had to proceed slowly and cautiously on their "Hard Road to World Order," and their slowness and caution shows that they fear awakening the American people if they try to do too much too fast." [8]

Evidently, the "old-fashioned frontal assault" became more desirable than "an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece." The explosion that dislodged the US Constitution from its bedrock was delivered with a Shock and Awe attack on Americans on September 11, 2001. The plan for totalitarian world order that was not "subject to the bright lights of publicity for forty years," was rapidly completed in the aftermath of 9/11 when the constitutional relationship between US citizens and their government was radically altered, without their consent.

The legal framework protecting citizens from government abuse was detonated, piece by piece, in a demolition wave that collapsed the US constitutional infrastructure: Office of Legal Counsel justifications for kidnapping, torture, unlawful detention, military tribunals and secret prisons, overturning habeas corpus; militarizing domestic control in violation of Posse Comitatus; White House assumption of dictatorial powers with executive orders and presidential signing statements; Patriot Act destruction of civil liberties; domestic surveillance and personal data mining; control of media and journalism; Internet censorship; nationwide detention camps; unconstitutional pretexts for declaring martial law; domestic mercenary hit squads and intelligence gathering outsourced to private "security" companies; union-busting, ICE raids and deportation executed by the Homeland Security Gestapo.

The demolition wave that took down the global financial system and crashed the US economy was ignited with well placed financial explosives by top officials within the Federal Reserve, Treasury, White House, Congress and key financial institutions. Laws were dismantled and financial derivatives were deregulated to clear a path for the subprime demolition wave. On September 11, 2001, an estimated $240 billion dollars was covertly added to the M2/M3 money supply with the "settlement" of off-balance sheet, illegal bonds created in 1991 by George H.W. Bush and Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. The banking institutions that funded the subprime operation opened nationwide mortgage retail outlets to bankroll predatory loans that were fanned into speculative equities, hedge funds, and derivative markets -- HSBC, UBS, Credit Suisse First Boston, Triad Guaranty Trust Insurance Corp, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, Carlyle Group and Goldman Sachs. [9]

In the four months after 9/11, the total money supply increased by $650 billion, the single greatest burst of monetary increase in modern times. After pumping $3 trillion in excess liquidity into the economy, a 32 percent expansion of the money supply since 1994, the financial managers of this operation created comparable monetary "demand" for this capital with Ten-Year Treasury Notes in a highly coordinated strategy to channel this excess liquidity into the high risk subprime market. A broad array of tactics was used to dismantle financial regulations and block actions that would have prevented systemic collapse, including a White House lawsuit to prevent state regulators from enforcing their predatory lending laws. [10]

Prior to 9/11, the individuals and institutions that collapsed the Soviet economy and robbed the treasury were under investigation by multiple federal agencies for evidence of financial fraud -- potentially related to 280,000 metric tons of stolen gold. These investigations were permanently aborted by the complete destruction of all case evidence -- stored in the 9/11 targets: World Trade Centers 1 and 2 were pulverized within 10 seconds each; WTC 7 was collapsed within 7 seconds; WTC 6 housing $240 billion in illegal bond certificates was exploded and the Office of Naval Intelligence at the Pentagon was demolished -- thereby destroying all evidence against the same individuals who subsequently funded and executed the controlled demolition of the United States. [11]

These are the architects of "regime change" -- the psychopathic assertion that criminals are free to overthrow governments, murder civilians and steal the assets of sovereign nations -- "because we can," as Richard Cheney declared. In a sovereign nation governed by the rule of law, these subversives would have good reason to fear prosecution for treason and war crimes. Hence, the demolition of the US Constitution and re-engineering of law to provide themselves with immunity and crush political dissent.

Ethical minds do not conceive covert schemes to "march" humanity toward world dictatorship, nor plot the destruction of national sovereignty to rule the world. Human beings with a functioning conscience do not orchestrate mass murder, stage terrorist attacks, bankrupt economies and overthrow governments. These crimes against humanity are manifestations of criminal insanity. Delusions of grandeur, subversion, compulsive lying, larceny, kidnapping, torture and genocide indicate clinical symptoms of psychopathy and severe antisocial character disorders. [12]

The greatest danger of any centrally controlled system is the ease with which it can be hijacked by tyrants. That alone, is good reason to decentralize the global financial system, diversify national currencies and establish public control of money and credit within every nation state. International commitment to strengthening constitutional protection of civil liberties in every country must begin with repealing totalitarian "anti-terrorism" laws and dismantling the architecture of illegitimate "supranational sovereignty."

This article is an excerpt from a more detailed work on the history of organized crime syndicates masquerading as the US government: nikkialexander.wordpress.com

Endnotes

1] Reuters (owned by Rothschild since 1800s), "Soros Sees No Bottom for World Financial Collapse," February 21, 2009.

2] Carroll Quigley, "Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time," MacMillan, 1966, p. 324.

3] David Rockefeller, founder of the Trilateral Commission, in an address before that organization in June of 1991.

4] Patrick Wood, "Toward a North American Union," August Review; Trilateral Commission

5] BIS Paper No 17, "Regional Currency Areas and the Use of Foreign Currencies."

6] C. Fred Bergsten, (Trilateral Commission; Peterson Institute), "The Euro Could Be Good for Trans-Atlantic Relations," Washington Post, January 3, 1999

7] Richard Gardner, "The Hard Road to World Order," (Foreign Affairs, 1974) p. 558

8] Steve Bonta, "New world order strategist: thirty years ago Richard N. Gardner proposed a "piecemeal" approach to world government. The internationalist insiders have followed his blueprint ever since," The New American, May 3, 2004.

9] Figure 3, page 14, E.P. Heidner, Part II, "Collateral Damage: The Subprime Crisis and the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001," December 25, 2008.

10] E.P. Heidner, Part II, "Collateral Damage: The Subprime Crisis and the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001," December 25, 2008. http://tinyurl.com/n6069f

11] E.P. Heidner, Part I, "Collateral Damage: US Covert Operations and the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001," June 28, 2008.

12] In contrast to Hollywood"s inaccurate portrayal of psychopaths as blue-collar misfits who stalk young women and rob convenience stores, most psychopaths come from well-to-do families and are white-collar criminals who, because of their wealth and position, seldom face consequences. Psychopaths are devoid of conscience, incapable of compassion, accountability or remorse, lie routinely, manipulate and deceive, operate in secrecy, control and suppress information. They view themselves with grandiose self-importance and are flagrantly contemptuous of the law. Their craving for dominance over others propels them into the centers of power where they are overrepresented in the top ranks of corporations, politics, law enforcement, law firms and the media. Psychopathology research: http://www.ponerology.com.

CIA collusion with "Al Qaeda" financiers and attack planners

By Wayne Madsen (*)

WMR has learned from an intelligence source from a NATO country that elements of the CIA have coordinated their activities with top Gulf state officials who have been connected to "Al Qaeda" networks that have planned and financed various terrorist attacks.

A number of the "Al Qaeda"-associated officials are veterans of the CIA's war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, including a top prince of the Al Thani royal family of Qatar who also serves as a government minister. The prince, who was shot twice in the back while fighting with the Afghan mujaheddin against the Soviets in Afghanistan, maintains close relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan and serves as a conduit between the CIA and both the Taliban and "Al Qaeda."

The prince maintains contact with "Al Qaeda's" financial network through contacts in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The regional security officer for the British embassy in Dubai, believed to be an MI-6 official cover, maintains contact with the Qatari prince and his "Jihadist" financial and logistics network in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. This network, allowed to operate with CIA and MI-6 knowledge and soft support, also, according to our source, involves a top official in the government of Abu Dhabi who is close to the Abu Dhabi royal family.

In 2006, Qatar's interior minister, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalid Al-Thani, rejected a civil judgment against him by a New York federal judge stating that he harbored Al Qaeda's number three man Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and tipped off Mohammed before a CIA attempt to arrest him in 1996. In fact, WMR has learned that the CIA station at the U.S. embassy in Doha, Qatar, has been a key link between the agency and the "Al Qaeda" support network in recent years, even in late 2001 when Al-Thani was accused of harboring both Mohammed and another Al Qaeda operative, Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who was later allegedly killed by U.S. forces in Iraq.

Another individual with whom the CIA in the UAE maintains close contact is Osama Bin Laden's former financial adviser, a British-Mozambican UK citizen, who once lived in Bin Laden's home in Saudi Arabia where the "Al Qaeda" leader received various diplomats from countries that included Britain and the United States. A cousin of Bin Laden"s financial adviser served at the British Consulate General in Chicago, from which financial support was given to "Al Qaeda" operatives in the United States.

Chicago FBI agents Robert Wright and John Vincent began investigating the Al Qaeda money trail links between Chicago area terrorist cells and Bin Laden after the East Africa U.S. embassy bombings in 1998. However, their investigation was spiked by FBI headquarters in Washington.

Another FBI agent who was getting close to the connections between "Al Qaeda," the Saudi government, and the CIA and MI-6 was John P. O'Neill, the top FBI agent assigned to investigate Al Qaeda. O'Neill discovered the Western intelligence and Saudi/Gulf connections to Al Qaeda but was subjected to a pre-retirement theft of his briefcase that contained classified documents on his investigation. After his stormy retirement from the FBI, O'Neill was hired by Kroll Associates as the head of security for the World Trade Center and after only a day or two on the job, died in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

According to a French DGSE highly classified intelligence document received by WMR, Bin Laden remained under the operational control of the CIA and Britain"s MI-6 until 1995. In July 2001, just weeks before the 9/11 attacks, French media reported that Bin Laden was visited at the American Hospital in Dubai by Larry Mitchell, the CIA's station chief in Dubai. Bin Laden maintained accounts at Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), associated with various CIA operations in the years of the mujaheddin war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. With the knowledge and approval of the CIA, those accounts shifted to other banks after the collapse of BCCI in 1991. Mossad and Middle East banking sources have told WMR that those banks include Citigroup, the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, and HSBC.

One place where "Al Qaeda" operatives, mostly Saudis but a few nationals of other Middle East countries like Lebanon, often rub shoulders with CIA and MI-6 "liaisons" in Thailand, particularly Bangkok and Pattaya. Ironically, Bangkok was the site of one of the CIA"s secret rendition prisons where "Al Qaeda" suspects were tortured.

Southeast Asia is a preferred place for weapons transfers from Western intelligence agents to the "Al Qaeda" and "Jemaah Islamiya" operatives. Last week, the Philippine Coast Guard intercepted the M/V Captain Ufuk as it entered Manila Bay carrying a cargo of Israeli Galil assault rifles. The Captain Ufuk has a Georgian crew, South African captain, Panamanian registry, and had began its trip in Turkey with an intermediate stop in Indonesia. The Philippines is reported by the CIA to be a center for "Al Qaeda"-affiliated "Abu Sayyaf" terrorist activity. It appears that the CIA and their Israeli friends know much more about the Abu Sayyaf activity as they did about the 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali.

Writing in the Atlantic Free Press on January 15, 2009, Tim Gatto reported: "The main attempt of the administration was to invent a huge group of militant Muslims operating in 87 countries that was led by Osama Bin Laden. The name of this Washington invention was called al Qaeda. This in Arabic means The Base. It was originally a database."

This is what Wayne Madsen wrote about al Qaeda: "Shortly before his untimely death, former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told the House of Commons [and wrote in The Guardian] that "Al Qaeda" is not really a terrorist group but a database of international mujaheddin and arms smugglers used by the CIA and Saudis to funnel guerrillas, arms, and money into Soviet-occupied Afghanistan."

"Al Qaeda" has apparently extorted large sums of money from the governments of the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait as "protection insurance" against "Al Qaeda" terrorist attacks within their nations. One such scheme involved a threat to bomb the foundations of several new high-rise skyscrapers on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. The CIA/MI-6 network in the Gulf is also reported to sanctions the Sh'ia Mahdi Army operations in Iraq that have been responsible for a number of deadly terrorist attacks against U.S. and allied troops and Iraqi military and civilian targets.

"An important liaison between the CIA and Bin Laden was Bin Laden's assistant, Ali Mohammed, an Egyptian Army veteran who was officially reported to have been rebuffed by the CIA when he tried to become an agent but was gladly hired by the Special Warfare Center in Fort Bragg, North Carolina as an instructor. Ali Mohammed trained some of those who would later serve with the CIA's Special Activities Division and Blackwater. Ali Mohammed was yet another link between the CIA and "Al Qaeda.""

WMR's intelligence source has attempted to inform U.S. military authorities about the connections of the CIA to the Qatar/Abu Dhabi/Dubai "Al Qaeda" jihadist network but was told by a U.S. Army captain at Tallil airbase in Iraq that his safety could not be ensured by the U.S. military.

WMR has learned from our intelligence source that the CIA's assassination team predates the George W. Bush administration and that it was used for special assassination "wet affairs" jobs during both the Clinton and George H. W. Bush administrations.

The CIA used a wealthy intermediary in Switzerland who manipulated the market in high-dollar art sales to provide money for special CIA accounts maintained at Bank Hofmann in Zurich, acquired by Clariden Leu AG in 2007. Bank Hofmann, a private bank that also maintained branches in Geneva and London.

Another private bank used to launder CIA hit squad operations was Trufinco of Zurich. Money laundered by the CIA from stolen artwork was reportedly handled by a CIA entity called the Boecking Trust which used various free ports around the world to hide stolen artwork. Some of the paintings stolen and sold by the CIA were to rich Saudis at Marbella in Spain and included four paintings held by the late Princess Diana at Bank Leu, one Van Dyck, two Rubens, and one Rembrandt. Bank Leu, also known as Clariden Leu, is also reportedly a front for secret CIA banking. Ironically, the bank was used by two U.S. spies for Russia, CIA agent Harold Nicholson and FBI agent Robert Hanssen, to maintain secret bank accounts to hide their payments from Russian intelligence.

The CIA assassination covert operational infrastructure also had direct links to CIA fronts in Panama, Japan, France, Italy, Monaco, and Texas. Some of the CIA wet affairs officials also had close relations to former President George H. W. Bush in Texas. There were also links between the CIA death squads and top officials of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, the party of former Pakistan dictator General Pervez Musharraf, as well as large Japanese yakuza organized crime families linked to the Liberal Democratic Party. The CIA hit teams also received funding from narcotics smuggling through the agency's joint operations with the yakuza, Golden Triangle warlords in Burma, and Colombian paramilitary narco-terrorists tied to the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Former CIA Executive Director Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard is reported to have helped cement the relationship with Blackwater USA to conduct post-9/11 assassinations for the CIA. Krongard was chairman of Alex, Brown Brothers and vice chairman of Banker's Trust after its acquisition of the Baltimore-based securities investment firm. After he left the CIA, Krongard became a member of Blackwater's advisory board. His brother, Howard "Cookie" Krongard, served as Inspector General for the State Department, and, according to four State Department IG officials, Ron Militana, Brian Rubendall, and John DeDona, ordered them to immediately cease their investigations of Blackwater's State Department contracts.

Two ex-Blackwater employees have submitted affidavits in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria that connects Blackwater to criminal activities, including weapons smuggling, money laundering, murders of whistleblowers, and prostitution, charges that dovetail with WMR's latest information that CIA assassination teams were involved with hiding and funding their activities through deals with criminal syndicates in Japan, Europe, Southeast Asia, Colombia, and the Middle East.

(*) Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report (subscription required).

British-Libyan relations in downturn

Middle class Libyans turning against Gaddafi's foreign spending by Damien McElroy in Tripoli

Libya´s emerging middle class is increasingly critical of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi´s lavish spending on radical foreign policies while the country struggles to embrace Western-style capitalism.

Col Gaddafi has spent Libya´s oil wealth freely on third world causes for decades but has only recently faced a backlash from his own population. Wealthy Libyans want the revenues spent on upgrading its infrastructure to ease the strains imposed by booming growth in its main cities.

Downtown Tripoli has witnessed a Dubai-style explosion of property developments, resort construction and fashionable shopping districts since the country shed its international pariah status in 2003.The bright lights of strips such as Girash Road, which boasts M&S and a Mango outlet among other high street names, shine in a haze of exhaust fumes as traffic gridlock drags into the early hours.

The smell of raw sewage competes with the fragrance of couture perfumes to the obvious disgust of well-heeled shoppers. Broken pavements and loose electric cables also fray the nerves of the new rich.

Posters bearing images of Col Gaddafi in a variety of outlandish costumes, accompanied by 1970s-style revolutionary rhetoric, are tolerated as a symbol of continuity. But his patronage of African dictators and guerilla movements has worn thin. Last week he brought the leader of Somalia´s largest pirate outfit to Tripoli to support his latest expensive diplomatic gambit – an intiative to resolve Africa´s main conflicts.

"It´s all very well having a powerful leader but using the money to support these people makes us angry now," said Haythem Ghadames, a 23-year old student. "The money should be spent at home where its needed."

In a police state such opinions are voiced quietly but there have been more open signs of unrest.The most powerful illustration of the building frustration was a riot in the eastern city of Benghazi last month when mobs smashed cars given to Egyptians born on September 1, the date of Col Gaddafi´s 1969 coup.

Libya is officially a state of the masses but reformist officials are keen to foster a middle class. Western bankers promote government-sponsored infrastructure projects as a key lure for British engineering and construction firms.

The government has outlined plans to spend more than £30 billion upgrading the country´s basic services. But an entrenched bureaucracy and rising corruption has slowed the implementation of many schemes.

"Libya doesn´t have a middle class as you or I would recognise it," said a leading British banker. "The middle class still emanates from the government but its growing fast. The Libyans educated overseas that are coming back and expats who are coming in want the place to work better."

The US-Japan Alliance

By Todd Crowell

When an alliance is not an alliance, a change of government throws up interesting possibilities

There has been considerable handwringing in the western press, especially among Americans, over the future of the U.S.-Japan military alliance under the new regime. Will Japan's new masters seek to undermine the security of Asian and American interests by steering a more independent course?

Never mind that the incoming prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has stated that the alliance is fundamental to Japan's security and that he has no intention of undermining what pundits on both sides of the Pacific persist in calling the "cornerstone" of America's position in Asia.

A cornerstone, perhaps, but not an alliance. Japan is a close friend, fellow democracy, trading partner and increasingly a collaborator on the world stage. But it is not an ally. That is strictly a courtesy title, and since the health of the "alliance" is going to come under increasing scrutiny in coming months one should have a clearer idea of what it really is.

The Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, signed with Japan in 1960 to replace an earlier treaty, is basically a deal. The US promises to defend Japan if it comes under attack, with nuclear weapons if necessary (the nuclear umbrella). In exchange, Japan provides the US with bases which it can use as it sees fit to advance its greater security interests in Asia and as far away as the Middle East.

Those bases are not necessarily designed, or at present even configured to merely defend Japan. In the past they have been staging areas for the Vietnam War and now the Afghanistan War. The largest air base near Tokyo, Yokota AFB, for example, hasn't had a permanent collection of attack aircraft or interceptors for decades.

Japan, however, is not obligated to come to the defense of the US if it is attacked. Indeed, it would be illegal for Tokyo to do so under the current liberal interpretation of its American-written constitution, which rather explicitly prohibits Japan from possessing any military force whatsoever.

This provision – Article 9 – has been interpreted broadly enough to permit Japan to build one of the largest and most sophisticated militaries on the globe. But the clause has still been interpreted in such a way as to prevent "collective defense" In other words, Japan can defend itself but not others.

Nobody worried much about collective defense during most of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was considered the main threat. But it has grown into an issue with the emergence of a bellicose nuclear-armed North Korea and to a lesser extent, the rapid modernization of China's armed forces.

North Korea's recent test of a multi-stage rocket in April, which it fired directly over Japan to land in the North Pacific, raised the interesting speculation whether Japan could legally shoot down a North Korean missile headed toward the US that came within range. A strict reading of Japan's laws would say no.

In another hypothetical but possibly more realistic scenario, North Korean naval vessels intercept and threaten to sink or capture an unarmed or lightly armed American naval surveillance ship in international waters of the Sea of Japan. A Japanese destroyer happens to be close by. Does it come to the American vessel's aid?

I would be willing to guess that Tokyo would order the destroyer to resist the North Koreans and let the legal chips fall where they may. The consequences of simply standing by and doing nothing would be politically devastating. The American public would never understand – or care about - the legal nuances of "collective defense."

(In the real USS Pueblo incident in 1968, in which North Korea captured a US spy ship and held its crew captive for 11 months, the Japanese Self Defense Forces did not figure at all, nor, to my knowledge, were they called on for help. The U.S. had more assets in the region than it does now. That they could not be successfully deployed to defend the Pueblo from humiliating capture is another story).

When I came to Yokota as a junior officer shortly after the Pueblo Incident, US forces in Japan and the Japanese Self Defense Forces might as well have existed on different plants. In all my time there I never once met a SDF officer. There was no liaison or coordination. No contact that I could see. Nothing. I never served in a NATO country, but I have to believe that there would have been much more social or professional intercourse with officers of the Royal Air force or the Belgian Air Force.

That began to change in the 1990s, the catalyst being the1991 Gulf War. Japan ponied up billions of dollars to support the coalition, but, consistent with its anti-war principles, provided no troops. Tokyo was stunned afterwards at how ungrateful Washington and others were for their generous financial support. They wanted, to use the current vernacular, boots on the ground.

That began a slow evolution in Japan's use of its military. The Diet (parliament) passed laws that allowed the Japanese to participate in international peacekeeping missions in Cambodia and elsewhere. In 1996 Washington and Tokyo inked the Joint Security Declaration in which Japan promised to provide logistical support for U.S. forces stationed in Japan. Joint research in missile defenses was authorized.

In recent years Japanese armed forces have ventured far from Japan. For some years, a naval oiler has replenished ships, including American naval vessels, supporting operations over Afghanistan. But this had nothing to do with any kind of treaty obligation but more a general sense that Japan had to do something more in the War on Terror than write checks.

The defeated Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) made changing the law to permit collective defense one of its manifesto planks. The triumphant Democratic part of Japan (DPJ) was silent on the matter. Speaking to journalists a couple months before the election, senior party leader Seiji Maehara dismissed the North Korean missile hypothetical as an "abstraction."

This year, though, the Diet passed a law to formally authorize the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (navy) to take part in anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia. As part of the legislation, Japanese warships were specifically authorized to come to the aid of non-Japanese vessels threatened by pirates. That may seem like an obvious thing, but in a sense it was revolutionary. It was the first time that Japan had taken a baby step toward collective defense.

We do not send pictures with these reports, because of the volume, but picture this emetic scene with your inner eye:

A dying Somali child in the macerated arms of her mother besides their bombed shelter with Islamic graffiti looks at a fat trader, who discusses with a local militia chief and a UN representative at a harbour while USAID provided GM food from subsidised production is off-loaded by WFP into the hands of local "distributors" and dealers - and in the background a western warship and a foreign fishing trawler ply the waters of a once sovereign, prosper and proud nation, which was a role model for honesty and development in the Horn of Africa. (If you feel that this is overdrawn - come with us into Somalia and see the even more cruel reality yourself!)

There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help

if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !

ECOTERRA Intl. maintains a register for persons missing or abducted in the Somali seas (Foreign seafarers as well as Somalis). Inquiries by family member can be sent by e-mail to office[at]ecoterra-international.org

For families of presently captive seafarers - in order to advise and console their worries - ECOTERRA Intl. can establish contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, and their wives as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will answer truthfully".

ECOTERRA - ALERTS and pending issues:

PIRATE ATTACK GULF OF ADEN: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2

NATURAL RESOURCES & ARMED FISH POACHERS: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, only now the two countries (Spain and France) to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked have come up with a declaration that they will respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia but so far not any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.

LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect, while the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is sponsoring several service-led acquisition programs, including the VLAD, Joint Integration Program, and Improved Flash Bang Grenade. Alredy in use in Somalia are so called Non-lethal optical distractors, which are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy. Somalia is also a testing ground for the further developments of the Active Denial System (ADS) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). If new developments using millimeter wave sources that will help minimize the size, weight, and system cost of an effective Active Denial System which provides "ADS-ACTD-like" repel effects, are used has not yet been revealed. Obviously not only the US is developing and using these kind of weapons as the case of MV MARATHON showed, where a Spanish naval vessel was using optical lasers - the stand-off was then broken by the killing of one of the hostage seafarers. Local observers also claim that HEMI devices, producing Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Bioeffects, have been used in the Gulf of Aden against Somalis. Exposure to HEMI devices, which can be understood as a stun-gun shot at an individual over a larger distance, causes muscle contractions that temporarily disable an individual. Research efforts are underway to develop a longer-duration of this effect than is currently available. The live tests are apparently done without that science understands yet the effects of HEMI electrical waveforms on a human body.

ECOTERRA Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.

ECOTERRA members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation. (for previous information concerning the topics please google keywords ECOTERRA (and) SOMALIA)

The network of the SEAFARERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. ECOTERRA Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.

Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and ECOTERRA Intl. Please donate to the defence fund.

Contact us for details concerning project-sponsorship or donations via e-mail: ecotrust[at]ecoterra.net

Kindly note that all the information above is distributed under and is subject to a license under the Creative Commons Attribution.

To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/

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Pls cite ECOTERRA Intl. - www.ecoterra-international.org as source for onward publications, where no other source is quoted.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine

East-Africa

254-714-747090

marine[at]ecop.info

www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.

Nairobi Node

africanode[at]ecoterra.net

254-733-633-733

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme

SAP Media Officers

254-722-613858

254-733-385868

sap[at]ecoterra.net

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