Ecoterra Press Release 242 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 55
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 18, 2010
ECOTERRA Intl.
SMCM
Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE
2009-09-12 SAT 23h54:45 UTC
Issue No. 242
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.)
News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress
as reported yesterday, the 3 Sechellois sailors have arrived safely in Kenya and will proceed tomorrow, Sunday, to their home.
Here a few background reports and an official press release.
Seychellois men arrive in Kenya - Republic of Seychelles / Office of the President
Three Seychellois citizens have arrived in Kenya, following their release from the protective custody of the Puntland authorities in Somalia. Conrad Andre, Gilbert Victor and Robin Samson arrived on a flight from Garowe, Somalia.
The three Seychellois men were released by the Somali pirates who captured them onboard the Serenity in February.
The Head of the Hostage Negotiation Team, Minister Joel Morgan has thanked the Government of Puntland, in particular the Chief of Cabinet, for their assistance in transferring the 3 men from Galkyao to Garowe, where they were handed over to an international agency. The agency then made arrangements for their safe transfer to Kenya.
"We are grateful to the Government of Puntland and to the international agency in Garowe, for the protection they gave to our Seychellois citizens, in ensuring the security of their departure from Somalia. It is a great relief to see the situation resolved," said Minister Joel Morgan.
Minister Morgan also stated that securing the release of the three Seychellois was a highly difficult and complex matter and reiterated that no ransom was paid by the Government of Seychelles.
"It has been a very hard to be able to secure the release of the three Seychellois. It took a huge amount of effort and dedication by the whole team to achieve this. We are pleased with the grace of God and the invaluable support of President Michel that we were able to successfully negotiate their freedom. I wish to thank all the members of my team, here and overseas for their support, dedication and perseverance. It could not have been done without them."
The three Seychellois citizen will be taking a flight from Kenya to Seychelles on Sunday.
Seychelles hostages freed
By Wolfgang H. Thome, eTN
Puntland Authorities Release Piracy Victims
Information was received by eTN from Nairobi that the three Seychelles citizens captured by pirates in February have finally been freed and have already arrived in Nairobi. They are expected to fly home to Seychelles after being checked over by doctors to ascertain their medical status.
It appears that the Puntland authorities had finally decided to let the innocent victims of piracy go after half a year, but have held on to the facilitators who came with the 23 pirates from Nairobi during the apparent exchange deal.
Earlier in the week, the Seychelles had deported the Somali pirates without charges, who were then flown from the Seychelles to Kenya and briefly detained in Nairobi upon arrival before being flown back to Somalia on two aircraft.
The remaining two facilitators are now facing trial in Puntland, a breakaway Somali region, but efforts are underway to free them too.
Three Seychelles hostages released from Puntland
Three hostages from the Seychelles, who were freed by Somali pirates and arrested again by the authorities of Puntland, have been released and landed safely in Kenya, the Indian Ocean nation said Friday.
"Three Seychellois citizens have arrived in Kenya, following their release from the protective custody of the Puntland authorities in Somalia," said a statement from the Seychelles president's office.
"Conrad Andre, Gilbert Victor and Robin Samson arrived on a flight from Garowe," in the northern Somali semi-autonomous state of Puntland, it said.
The three were sailing on the Indian Ocean in February when Somali pirates hijacked their small yacht, the Serenity.
The pirates released them on Saturday in the Puntland piracy hub of Garaad but the hostages, the crews of two planes flying them back, and two facilitators were detained by Puntland during a re-fueling stop in Galkayo.
The release by the pirates came after the Seychelles repatriated 23 suspected Somali pirates it had been holding, arguing that lack of evidence did not allow for prosecution.
The sequence sparked accusations by Puntland that the Seychelles was undermining anti-piracy efforts by swapping pirates for its own hostages, allegations the tiny Indian Ocean state has denied.
Briton linked to hostage deal with Somali pirates is arrested
By Daniel Howden in Nairobi
A Briton is facing trial in Somalia after being caught up in an exchange of hostages and pirates between the Horn of Africa and the Seychelles.
The Briton, whose name has not been released, has been described by authorities in Puntland region as a "facilitator" in a plan to hand a party of arrested Somali pirates back to their gang in return for the release of three sailors from the Seychelles.
The arrested man and a Kenyan citizen are believed to be security contractors who had accompanied 23 suspected pirates who had been handed over to Seychelles authorities earlier this year.
With Somalia gripped by a civil war and pirate gangs demanding million-dollar ransoms, an increasing number of private security firms are working in the region.
The pirates were transported to Somalia on a clandestine flight on board two planes last Sunday.
Ahmed Ali Salad, governor of Mudug region in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, said the pilots told authorities they were carrying humanitarian goods.
This is disputed by authorities in the Seychelles, who have denied any involvement in illegal prisoner swaps. Joel Morgan, the small nation's minister in charge of piracy, denied any deal was struck, saying the men were released due to a lack of evidence.
Governor Salad painted a different picture. "We sent the police force but by the time they arrived the planes were already in the air, so you can imagine how well-organised the plan was," he said.
The police caught up with the planes at a refuelling stop on Sunday, arresting everyone on board.
The fate of the Briton and Kenyan will be decided by a Puntland court in the coming days.
The Seychelles, which relies on international fishing licences to support its economy, would be seriously compromised if it emerged that it was releasing pirates arrested on the archipelago for trial by international patrols.
At present it is one of only two countries, along with Kenya, where the international armada policing the Indian Ocean near Somalia can take suspected pirates for trial.
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 163 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
ICS "New Thinking on Piracy Needed"
International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) chairman Spyros M Polemis has called for new thinking on piracy. At a meeting of the ICS Executive Committee Tuesday (8 September) Piracy ICS members "expressed their continuing appreciation of the determination shown by naval forces providing protection to merchant ships that continue to be attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean", a statement said.
"However", warned Mr Polemis "while the current levels of military protection must be sustained, or better still increased, there is a danger that the current arrangements may become ´institutionalised´. We agreed that some serious new strategic thinking is needed if governments are to suppress piracy in the near future. While we support efforts to establish a stable government in Somalia, this could well take years if not decades. The unacceptable situation prevailing now, where the lives of seafarers are threatened on a daily basis, and many pirates still operate more or less with impunity, cannot be allowed to continue."
In the run up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Copenhagen in December, the Committee expressed satisfaction with "the real progress" already made by governments, at the IMO, in developing a package of measures to reduce shipping´s CO2 emissions, with an agreed timetable for adoption.
ICS "confirmed the industry belief that the achievement of meaningful CO2 emissions reductions will best be achieved if nations agree that the development of detailed measures for the international merchant fleet are directed by governments at IMO, but in line with the outcomes on global CO2 reduction that will hopefully be agreed by the UN in Copenhagen".
"All the ingredients are there, we just need UNFCCC to provide IMO with a continuing mandate to complete its important work." said ICS Chairman Spyros M Polemis.
"Most governments recognise that emissions from international shipping cannot be attributed to any particular national economy," added Mr Polemis. "The delivery of significant emissions reductions will therefore require that any measures adopted for shipping are applied on a global and uniform basis in order to avoid any ´carbon leakage´. Such measures can only be realistically delivered by IMO, which has a successful track record in producing international rules for shipping that are enforced worldwide." The Executive Committee agreed that ICS member national associations would, between now and December, liaise with their government negotiators attending the UN Copenhagen Conference to ensure that they fully understand the characteristics of the shipping industry and the substantial measures already being taken, by the industry and IMO, to reduce carbon emissions from ships.
Piracy to increase (tankeroperator)
Piracy is likely to increase again in the Gulf of Aden/off Somalia, once the current Monsoon season is over, warned a leading naval officer.
Capt Georges van Aalst of EUNAVFOR told the ICS conference that the pirates were building up their technical expertise.
He also said that as many as 30 warships were patrolling the Gulf of Aden/Somalia areas at any one time and warned that this situation could last for another five or six years.
He urged companies and vessels to register with MSCHOA (www.mschoa.org) before transiting either area.
In the Gulf of Aden, a Group Transit Theory project has been set up whereby ships gather in convoys at set speeds relating to different ship types, depending on the number of naval units available.
Kim Hall of the Center for Naval Analysis warned that thus far, there were too few countries willing to prosecute the pirates and that many navies had different rules of engagement, which caused problems.
She called for an improved security and defensive efforts by the shipping industry, a continued naval presence albeit in a large area and the continued development of an international framework for resolving piracy cases.
As for tracking the ´mother ships´, the conference was told that many dhows had been taken and used as ´mother ships´, which made this task almost impossible.
Cash ransoms paid were also proving to be almost impossible to trace and the general consensus of opinion was that the Yemen could soon be a pirate base.
ICS' Spyros Polemis said along with other conference delegates that this was just skirting the problem as the answer was political. "We are treating the symptoms, but not the cause," the conference was told.
Polemis said that some ICS members were using armed guards and would not go back to not using them.
Fallback to refueling mission a must: Nye - The Japan Times
"The Indian Ocean refueling, I think, it's a symbolic Japanese support. . . . Finding a substitute for refueling is important if they decide to stop refueling," he said in a recent interview, calling for a more "civilian-based contribution."
Japan should find an alternative way to help stabilize Afghanistan if the incoming administration ends the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean refueling mission in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around the war-torn country, renowned U.S. scholar Joseph Nye said.
"Japan has talked about a more equal alliance. That includes the ability of Japan to help the United States. So that's part of equality," he said. "I think Americans are saying, 'If not refueling, then what?' "
Yukio Hatoyama, the Democratic Party of Japan president slated to be voted in by the Diet as prime minister next week, suggested Thursday there is no change in his policy to end the MSDF refueling mission, which has been ongoing since 2001. The MSDF is also involved in anti piracy patrols off Somalia.
Nye, a Harvard University professor emeritus of international political science and a former assistant secretary of defense, said last December he told DPJ leaders at the time, including Hatoyama, in a meeting in Tokyo that they should exercise caution when discussing Japan-U.S. relations.
"I said that as a matter of friendly advice, they ought to be very careful on how they made certain statements . . . for example on the refueling," so the U.S. Congress would not interpret them as suggesting any pullback from the bilateral alliance, he said.
Nye was upbeat on the future course of the alliance.
"I'm optimistic that the U.S.-Japan alliance will stay as strong as ever because it's based on the self-interests of both countries and I think it's also based on 50 years of experience," he said. "The underlying importance of the alliance remains as important as ever."
But Nye said many Americans were "surprised" by Hatoyama's recent essay carried by U.S. media that seemed to be against U.S.-led globalization and in favor of a greater Japanese focus on Asia.
"The feeling was that the criticism of globalization seemed odd since Japan has benefited so much from globalization," he said, adding the essay "had more to do with campaign rhetoric than it did as a real blueprint for Japanese foreign policy under the Hatoyama administration."
Nye expressed concern about the Hatoyama administration's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma outside Okinawa, despite a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord on the transfer of the facility within the prefecture.
"What worries me is that it took us so long to get the agreement we have that I would hate to see us trying to perfect it and waste as much time in the future as we've wasted in the past," he said.
"If you are going to improve the agreement without delaying the agreement, that's fine. But that would turn out to be hard to do," the professor emeritus said.
The relocation of the Futenma base by 2014 is a key item of the 2006 agreement. Japan and the United States also agreed that 8,000 marines and their dependents, who numbered some 9,000 at the time the 2006 pact was struck, will be moved to Guam from Okinawa when the Futenma relocation base is operational.
Asked for his advice to Hatoyama, Nye said that with the Japan-U.S. alliance being "one of the most important relationships in the world," it is vital "to be careful to maintain it and not to let small issues disrupt it."
Nye served as assistant secretary of state in the Jimmy Carter administration and as assistant secretary of defense in the Bill Clinton administration.
He is known as the author of a major post-Cold War U.S. defense strategy for East Asia in 1995 and as a pioneer of the theory of "soft power," which comes from diplomatic and cultural means.
Ecosystems, marine environment, IUU fishing and dumping, UNCLOS, ecology
37 men crew of illegal fishing vessel TAWARIQ-1 receives bail terms
First ruling in the case an of illegal Taiwanese fishing vessel arrested in Tanzania waters.
The Tanzania court of law in Dar-es-Salaam has ruled that the crew-members could be released from jail against a bail of one mio Tz Shilling per seafarer (around 770 USD per head or 28,500 USD for the crew) and to regularly report to Tanzania police.
The crew of FV TAWARIQ-1, arrested by the Tanzanian Authorities in early March 2009 for illegal fishing in the Indian Ocean (allegedly taking 300 tonnes of tuna, while being licenced for only 70 tonnes), comprises of 15 Chinese, 8 Filipinos, 5 Vietnamese, 6 Indonesians and 3 Kenyans.
Capt. Chin Tai Hsu, the first accused who is the ship's master, had no comment.
Lawyers for the Tawariq-1 crew are appealing further.
It is still hoped by marine protection as well as human rights organizations that the the criminal owner-manager of the illegal fleet comprising of 4 vessels can be apprehended by Interpol and that the majority of the crew, which are just mere slaves forced on such illegal voyages, can be released on a lower bail, while the captain is jailed for a long time. 3 vessel could flee the area.
MV Gulser Ana - Cleanup operation continues - operator statement via australia to Mardeniz Denizcilik, operators of MV Gulser Ana, report that the cleanup operation following the vessel´s grounding on 26th August, continues.
The protection of the local environment remains the priority. The owners, with the assistance of pollution control experts, continue to organise beach cleanup operations following the release of fuel oil from the vessel. We are happy to report that the impact on the beaches is significantly less than first thought and reports of large loss of fish stocks have not been substantiated. However, any pollution must be treated as serious, and we will continue the clean as long as necessary.
Working with government officials and the managers of the Cap Ste Marie Marine Reserve, a number of over-flights of the area have taken place. We are pleased to report that there have been no sightings of injured whales or other marine mammals. We understand from officials that there have been no reports of any whales in distress.
The vessel remains partially submerged where she grounded. The situation is being carefully monitored by world leading salvors Svitzer BV. They confirm that there has been no further leakage of oil or other pollutants.
MV Gulser Ana is a Turkish flagged bulk carrier of 23,602 gt. The vessel was fully classed and certified at the time of the incident.
a picture of the sunken ship:
http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14147:mv-gulser-ana-cleanup-operation-continues&catid=80:news-1&Itemid=288
Anti-piracy measures
Naval Operations in Somali Operations in Somali Territorial Waters Illegal ?
Crackdown on Somali Pirates, Based On Letter to UN by Ex-Prez Yussuf, Questioned
By Matthew Russell Lee
Somali pirates have been the topic at the UN for the past two days. Thursday outside the Fourth Meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, Japanese diplomat Masafumi Ishii, who chaired the meeting, told the Press that money will be raised to fight the pirates, and to implement a "comprehensive" strategy against them, including on land.
Inner City Press asked if the underlying issues of toxic waste dumping and illegal fishing had been discussed at all in the meeting. No, Ambassador Ishii said, that did not come up. Inner City Press asked about a recent incident in which Germany shot and killed a pirate, seemingly in violation of rules procedures as in Afghanistan. No, that incident was not discussed, Ishii said.
The UN Security Council resolution under which pirates are being hunted, Resolution 1851, is based on the purportedly still valid consent of Somalia, on a December 9, 2008 letter to the Council from then-President Abdullahi Yussuf, who was out of power soon after signing the letter. People and even parliamentarians in Somalia have told Inner City Press they have not found it easy to get and see a copy of this letter, which is referred to in Paragraph 10 of Resolution 1851:
"10. Affirms that the authorization provided in this resolution apply only with respect to the situation in Somalia and shall not affect the rights or obligations or responsibilities of Member States under international law, including any rights or obligations under UNCLOS, with respect to any other situation, and underscores in particular that this resolution shall not be considered as establishing customary international law, and affirms further that such authorizations have been provided only following the receipt of the 9 December 2008 letter conveying the consent of the TFG."
On September 9, Inner City Press asked U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Thomas Countryman about the letter. He said he was not aware of it. Also on September 9, Inner City Press asked UN Security Council Affairs staff how to get a copy of the letter. You'd have to ask the Somali mission, was the answer.
And so on September 10, while Ambassador Ishii spoke, Inner City Press asked an omnipresent Somali deputy ambassador for a copy of the letter. No, he said. You have to ask the Council. This is called the run around.
This has the embarrassing potential of being similar to the Somali parliament's rejection of the Law of the Sea Continental Shelf filing done in the name of the Somali people by UN envoy Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, using Norwegian money, co-written and filed by Kenya.
Somali Pirates as Guinea Pigs for the Weapons Industry
Giant Laser Guns to Foil Hijacks by Dazzling Pirates
By David Parsley and John Ingham
Similar to the laser pens used by schoolboys to disorientate pilots coming into land, the Laser Dazzle System can disable pirates from 1,000 yards.
The laser will allegedly not harm the pirates but is designed to confuse them when shone on to their boat as they prepare to board tankers and cruise ships.
It is part of a range of James Bond-style devices for shipowners unveiled today by BAE Systems at a defence exhibition in London´s Docklands.
Others include a radar that can spot a dinghy from 15 miles and a device that can even turn off the pirates´ engines remotely.
The technology is designed to counter the threat posed by Somali pirates off East Africa. Nato and the EU have deployed naval forces across the Indian Ocean to keep the shipping lanes to the Suez Canal open. But the area is so vast that shipowners need new ways to beat the pirates. BAE Systems says the radar can detect the pirate dinghy 15 miles away, further than any other commercial radar, giving captains time to escape and alert naval ships.
BAE System´s chairman Dick Olver said: "We can put radar on the ships which looks over the horizon and can see a rubber boat. When it gets a bit nearer we can turn the engine off."
Normally reserved for military use, BAE Systems has adapted the devices for the commercial sector.
Its director of solutions development, Nick Stoppard, said: "Piracy is on the rise. Attacks in 2008 were double those of the previous year. There is a clear need for better methods to help ships identify and evade the pirates before an attack occurs."
Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (US State Dept.)
The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia met at United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 10, 2009, and agreed upon the following statement.
Begin Text:
The Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (Contact Group) held its fourth meeting in New York City on 10 September 2009, under the Chairmanship of Japan.
The Contact Group welcomes the significant reduction in the rate of successful attacks by pirates off the coast of Somalia, especially among shipping following agreed Best Management Practices (BMPs), despite the worrying rise in the number of overall pirate attacks (the number of incidents this year has reached 156 already, compared to 111 incidents in last year). It notes with satisfaction, however, that tangible progress in the fight against piracy off the Coast of Somalia has been made since the establishment of the Contact Group. Despite the increasing number of attacks, the rate of successful attacks has decreased significantly. Seventeen countries have newly participated in this meeting, raising the number of participating countries from 28 to 45. This increased participation indicates that more concerted efforts are being made toward cooperation in anti-piracy activities.
The Contact Group heard statements from the Somali TFG. Ambassador Duale thanked the Contact Group and its participants for their efforts, especially the deployment of naval assets, in fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia. He stressed the need for a comprehensive approach by the international community to fight the scourge of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the area. The Contact Group noted with satisfaction the efforts made by Somalia to fight piracy, including the development of its Coast Guard and recognized that stability in Somalia is the ultimate solution to the issue of piracy and reaffirms the importance of exerting further efforts to bring about a more stable Somalia.
The United Nations reported on its activities to address the problem of piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia, including system-wide coordination mechanism. It also briefed the Contact Group on the updated proposals on projects land-based initiatives to combat root causes of piracy. The Contact Group took note with appreciation of the efforts made by the UN, and asked the UN to continue with its activities, through close coordination with other countries and its agencies, to deal with the issues of piracy in a comprehensive, cohesive and broad-based manner.
The Contact Group requests the Somali TFG and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, who is the Chair of the International Contact Group for Somalia, to concretely address land based initiatives to combat piracy through the agenda of the International Contact Group in its forthcoming meetings, in parallel with the activities of the Contact Group.
The United Kingdom reported on the Working Group 1 meetings of 10 July and 9 September, held in London and New York City respectively. The Contact Group welcomes the success of the ongoing multinational military co-ordination, which is at an unprecedented level, in contributing to lowering the rate of successful pirate attacks in the critical Gulf of Aden international trade route.
It welcomed the agreement to the Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor Co-ordination Guide for International Naval Forces by Combined Maritime Forces, the EU Naval Force ATALANTA and NATO, as well as the acknowledgement of the guide by the other military operations active in the region with the caveat that they would continue their national escort system, co-operating where possible with other navies. The Contact Group also welcomed the Working Group 1-led regional capability development needs assessment mission underway at the time of its meeting, linked closely to ongoing work to implement the Djibouti Code of Conduct. The Contact Group looked forward to the report from this mission and its recommendations, and agreed on the need for early action to deliver increased counter-piracy capability throughout the region, including within Somalia, as the sustainable means to combat piracy and address its root causes in the longer term.
The Contact Group welcomes the establishment of the IMO Djibouti Code Trust Fund (Multi-donor Trust fund-Japan initiated) and expresses its expectation that the vigilance against pirates off the Coast of Somalia will be further strengthened when the anti-piracy information sharing centres in Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen, and the training centre in Djibouti start their operations. It encourages other participants to contribute financial support to this fund.
Denmark reported on the Working Group 2 meeting of 26-27 August held in Copenhagen.
Referring to the distributed Chairman´s Conclusions, the Chair of the Working Group 2 highlighted a number of specific results from the meeting, noting that the task of the Working Group 2 is to provide advice to the Contact Group on relevant legal issues and to provide a full set of practical tools ("a legal tool-box") providing support to States and relevant organisations. In this regard, the Working Group 2 produced a number of important compilations, templates and other documents which are annexed to the Chair´s Conclusion from the Working Group meeting. On the issue of an international, regional or other mechanism for the prosecution of suspected pirates as a possible addition to national prosecution, the Working Group 2 asked for further guidance from the Contact Group based on a discussion-paper. Finally, the Working Group 2 worked intensively on the draft terms of reference for the establishment of an International Trust Fund to help defray the expenses associated with prosecution and detention of suspected pirates and imprisonment of pirates as well as other activities related to implementing the Contact Group´s objectives regarding combating piracy in all its aspects. The Contact Group took note of the extensive work undertaken by the Working Group 2 and encouraged all countries and organizations to use the produced advice in order to ensure an even more effective and legally sound basis for fighting piracy. The Contact Group asked the Working Group 2 to continue its work based on the future actions described in the conclusions from the Chair of the Working Group 2 and the guidance given by the Contact Group. On the issue of an international, regional or other mechanism for the prosecution of suspected pirates, the Contact Group asked the Working Group 2 to continue its discussions on the basis of the discussion-paper, the Chair´s consultation with the African Union Commission and states in the region and input from interested participants, noting the invitation from the Netherlands to an Expert Meeting on this issue on 20-21 October.
The Contact Group approved the Terms of Reference for the International Trust Fund supporting initiatives of the Contact Group off the Coast of Somalia. The Contact Group requested the Secretary-General to engage in the process leading to the implementation, at the earliest opportunity, of the Terms of Reference of the International Trust Fund supporting initiatives of the Contact Group off the Coast of Somalia agreed at this plenary meeting. The Contact Group encourages all interested parties to contribute to the Fund.
The United States reported on the deliberations of Working Group 3. The Chair of the Working Group 3 reported that twelve industry organizations, including labor, representing the vast majority of ship owners and operators in the region, followed-up on their previous commitment to update the BMPs, previously submitted to IMO on 26 February 2009. He added that due to the efforts of industry and governments the vast majority of world shipping has received these industry produced BMPs. The Chair further reported that IMO hosted a meeting to discuss seafarer protection and welfare issues, related to attacks by pirates, in subsequent hostage situations and the post hostage period. He noted, with Contact Group support, that Egypt in collaboration with EUNAVFOR is planning to provide advice to vessels transiting the Suez Canal with charts and training videos, and to distribute questionnaires to gain feedback. The Working Group 3 recently distributed questions to participants seeking further information to improve communication between industry, labor, and government. The information will be shared and discussed through correspondence with the Working Group 3 participants. The Contact Group notes the recent updates/revisions on the industry and labour BMPs. It recognizes the importance of protecting the fishing industry and seafarers. The Contact Group asked Working Group 3 to continue in its present work.
On 9 September 2009, Cyprus, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States, and on 10 September, the Republic of Korea, joined Panama, Liberia, the Bahamas, and the Marshall Islands in signing the New York Declaration, in which they state that they will promulgate internationally recognized best management practices for the protection of ships against piracy attacks. Together, these countries account for more than fifty percent of the world´s shipping by gross tonnage. The Contact Group welcomed this Declaration along with International Maritime Organization efforts and encouraged other nations to adopt and implement piracy counter-measure guidance.
Egypt, the Chair of the Working Group 4, expressed its readiness to convene another meeting in the coming months, if so instructed by the Contact Group, with the purpose of seeking ways and means of further implementing the Communications Strategy. The task will require coordination and consultation with a large number of actors and stakeholders within Somalia and the international community on operational as well as financial components to bring this Strategy to light. The Contact Group requested the Chair to liaise with the UN on next steps and report back to the Contact Group on its conclusions.
The Contact Group agreed to remain seized with understanding informal financial systems as well as the formal systems that are funding and facilitating piracy off the coast of Somalia. It discussed a proposal to hold an informal meeting of subject matter experts to address the proceeds and financing of piracy.
The proposal by the United States to use a common logo for the Contact Group was discussed. The Contact Group decided to adopt the attached as its Logo and encouraged participants to use the Logo whenever practicable.
The Contact Group agreed to remain vigilant regarding the situation on the sea and to continue its cooperation with all of the countries concerned to confront the expected increase in pirate attacks. Since all countries bear the burden of piracy, the Contact Group encourages all countries to participate through material contributions in any way that they can. It plans to meet again in January 2010 in New York to review the progress and direction of the four working groups and other developments. Norway will Chair the next meeting.
Making the Goat the Gardener?
Norway to lead fight against pirates
Norway has taken over the leadership of the UN contact group which coordinates the measures to be taken in the fight against the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.
Norway takes over from Japan, and will lead the group until the contact group's next meeting in January.
The group is considering setting up a special international court which will be able to try persons accused of piracy.
In August Norway sent the frigate "Fridtjof Nansen" to join the EU naval force which patrols the waters off Somalia and the Bay of Aden.
Norway has massive interests in off-shore oil-field along the African coasts and recently has been criticized for being helpful to African nations only where oil-prospects are given. The Somali parliament just rejected a memorandum of understanding between Somalia and Kenya concerning the continental shelf, which was facilitated by Norway. Norway says it only wanted to help the countries to meet a deadline set by the International Seabed Authority.
An International Plan to Protect Ships and Thwart Piracy Off The Coast of Somalia
By Merle David Kellerhals Jr.
The United States joined four other nations in signing an international plan to protect ships and thwart piracy off the coast of Somalia.
"We realize that the fight against piracy in the Horn of Africa region cannot be solved entirely at sea. Other measures that must be taken include having affected states adopt legal measures to prosecute suspected pirates," U.S. Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo said September 9 at the signing ceremony. Britain, Cyprus, Japan and Singapore joined in signing the declaration.
While the plan, known as the "New York Declaration," is not legally binding, it commits nations that hold ship registries to adopt "best management practices" for enhanced ship security to protect them from piracy attacks. Some of those practices include increasing lookouts, ensuring that ladders are raised and readying fire pumps to repel boarders.
DiCarlo said that so far this year there have been 138 pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa, and 33 were successful. And according to the International Maritime Organization, in 2008 there were 135 attacks and 44 resulted in hijackings. Pirates have largely enjoyed free reign over Somalia's east coast and the Gulf of Aden, where approximately 20,000 cargo ships a year sail to and from Egypt's Suez Canal, carrying a tenth of world trade.
The declaration was first proposed in May by Panama, the Bahamas, Liberia and the Marshall Islands, which represent four of the biggest ship registries, at the third international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia conference in New York. They have already signed the declaration. The group of almost 40 nations and international organizations met September 10 at U.N. headquarters.
The Contact Group was expected to discuss coordinating international naval patrols, shipping self-protection measures and efforts to discourage the payment of millions of dollars in ransom to pirates.
Assistant Secretary of State Andrew Shapiro said in Washington September 9 that the New York Declaration represents, in part, what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has called "a 21st-century solution to the 17th-century problem" of piracy on the high seas.
(CAVEAT LECTOR: The above article is not independent journalism but a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)
Nations pledge funds toward Somali piracy fight
By John Heilprin (AP)
An informal band of nations and organizations fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia have agreed to set up two new international funds to help pay the cost of prosecutions and beefed-up security.
Japan is contributing $14 million to create "regional centers" in Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia and other places for information-sharing and pooling of other pirate-fighting resources.
The hope is that other countries, too, will add money to the new donor fund set up through the International Maritime Organization, a British-based U.N. agency with 168 member nations that oversees shipping safety and security.
A new U.N.-administered international trust fund also is being set up, with Germany and Norway becoming the first to pledge hundreds of thousands of dollars to it to help pay for transporting witnesses, collecting evidence and other costs of prosecuting pirates that the IMO is prohibited from covering.
"This is not a magic bullet. It does not solve all the problems of piracy, but it's an important step forward in the comprehensive approach that we're trying to get," Thomas Countryman, a U.S. State Department principal deputy assistant secretary leading the effort, said Thursday night.
Informally organized by the United States, the so-called "Contact Group" on Somali piracy met all day in a closed chamber at U.N.headquarters to discuss financing for prosecutions, coordination of international naval patrols and how to prevent money-laundering and discourage governments and shipping companies from paying ransoms to pirates.
So far this year there have been more than 150 pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa, a 50 percent increase over last year's total, said Masafumi Ishii, a Japanese Foreign Ministry ambassador who oversaw Thursday's meeting.
"As the monsoon season is about to end, we expect even a sharper increase of the pirate attacks," Ishii predicted.
Sailors are typically released from captured ships along Somalia's lawless coastline only after payment of a multimillion dollar ransom.
Since its creation early this year the group has expanded to include 45 nations and nine other organizations and shipping representatives, up from 28 less than four months ago. It next meets in January.
Sharp divisions have emerged within the group over whether to set up an international criminal tribunal for the Somali pirates, mainly ex-fishermen coping with the chaos wrought by Somalia's 18-year civil war who have stumbled into vastly more lucrative work.
Germany and Russia proposed the idea, arguing that a tribunal should have a regional focus and be closely coordinated with the African Union. The U.S. opposes the idea, because it wants legal control over pirates who attack American vessels.
In April, the crew of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama battled pirates on the deck until the captain, Richard Phillips, offered himself as hostage. Phillips was freed after five days held hostage in a lifeboat when U.S. Navy SEAL snipers killed three of his captors.
A Somali teenager, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, who was the only pirate to survive the siege, was indicted in May in a U.S. federal court on multiple piracy charges and has been jailed in New York.
Somalia also opposes the idea of a new tribunal, because it wants to host the prosecutions. "At the end of the day if we do not establish law and order in the country ... pirates will continue," said Somalia's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Idd Beddel Mohamed.
In reality, though, Kenya is the only place set up to handle most of the cases for the time being. Countryman said the U.S. is helping Kenya bolster its ability to prosecute pirates in its national courts and that the new trust fund "perhaps would most immediately help Kenya, but it is in no way limited to helping Kenya. It should help other countries."
N.B.: Why Ethiopia, which does not have any marine coast, shall get a maritime centre remains to be answered and why the UN continues to interfere into the internal affairs of a sovereign state by allegedly already paying US40 mio to Puntland directly out of this fund is mysterious.]
South-Korean Anti-Piracy Navy Unit to Return Home Next Week
By Na Jeong-ju
The country's first naval unit to join international anti-piracy efforts off the Somali coast will return home early next week after a six-month-long operation that rescued six commercial boats, the Navy said Friday.
The 300-crew Munmu the Great destroyer was deployed to the Gulf of Aden in April.
Its operation was taken over by another Korean destroyer, the Dae Jo Yeong, under a mandate extended by the National Assembly last month.
The Munmu the Great will arrive at the southern port city of Busan Monday and receive a welcoming ceremony with the attendance of Navy Chief of Staff Jung Ok-keun, the Navy said.
The deployment marked the first time that South Korea had ever sent a naval unit to assist an international military operation.
The country has sent ground troops to Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries under peacekeeping or U.S.-led operations.
Approximately 500 South Korean ships ply the Gulf of Aden each year. About 150 of them are vulnerable to pirate attacks, according to the defense ministry.
Somalia has not had a functional government since its dictator was overthrown by warlords in 1991. Poverty has driven a large number of locals to piracy, and black market sales of weapons run rampant.
Counter-piracy First for Toowoomba Somalia
HMAS Toowoomba will be the first Royal Australian Navy ship to join the US-led Combined Task Force combating piracy off the Horn of Africa.
The Australian warship HMAS Toowoomba will patrol the waters of the Gulf of Aden, the Somalia Basin and the Horn of Africa - a new mission for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) operating in the Middle East.
Chief of Joint Operations Command, Lieutenant General Mark Evans, said HMAS Toowoomba´s involvement in the operation was an important contribution towards countering piracy.
"As an ANZAC class frigate, HMAS Toowoomba will provide a major deterrent presence. Other tasks will include escorting merchant shipping in the maritime corridors of the Gulf of Aden, as well as tracking and reporting on any piracy situations," Lieutenant-General Evans said.
"The ship´s crew have trained for these taskings and I have no doubt they will excel in this important operation."
The RAN counter-piracy activities are conducted according to the International Law of the Sea and support and safeguard merchant vessels and other legitimate maritime traffic underway in the region.
The Commanding Officer of HMAS Toowoomba, Commander Ivan Ingham, said he and his crew were eager to provide support and assistance in providing security to the merchant vessels in the region.
"HMAS Toowoomba is looking forward to contributing to the important task of thwarting piracy and assisting Seafarers to pass safely through this hazardous area," Commander Ingham said.
The ADF´s involvement in counter-piracy will help protect Australian and international maritime trade and is a positive contribution to global maritime security supporting UNSC Resolutions 1846 and 1851, which call on states to take an active role in the fight against piracy off the coast of Somalia.
Two RAN ships came to the aid of a merchant vessel under attack from pirates earlier this year as they passed through the Horn of Africa. These ships were not officially part of the international task force but were fulfilling their obligation under the International Law of the Sea.
Portuguese Navy could return to NATO anti-piracy patrols off Somali coast
NATO´s military committee, comprising military chief´s from the organisation´s 28 member states, meets in Lisbon from September 18-20 and could decide to redeploy the alliance´s Horn of Africa naval patrols, including a Portuguese Navy frigate, a military source has said.
The return of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), including Portuguese frigate Alvares Cabral, to the Somali coast is on the agenda of the upcoming NATO meeting, the same source told the Lusa News Agency.
Portugal heads this NATO force until January 2010 and has proposed a new anti-piracy mission around Somalia.
NATO launched a Somali piracy mission last month that is being undertaken by SNMG2.
No real peace in sight yet
Can Somalia be saved?
By Alexander Noyes and Richard Bennet for CSR
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Somalian President Shaikh Sharif Shaikh Ahmad, in August and promised expanded US support for the war-torn country's struggling Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
Her meeting with Ahmad - a first for such a high-ranking US official - signals the importance of Somalia to US President Barack Obama's Africa policy. Regrettably, the current US approach may make things worse.
Despite 14 attempts to form a functioning government since 1991, Somalia remains the quintessential failed state. Its potential to serve as a haven for international terrorists and as a launching pad for piracy in the Gulf of Aden are but two reasons a stable Somalia remains a strategic national security interest to the US and the international community.
Renewed US focus on the region could not come at a more pressing time. Any scant authority the embattled TFG ever had over the south and central areas of the country has largely been lost to extremist groups such as Al Shabab and Hizbul Islam - both of which have documented ties to Al Qaida. And nearly a quarter of a million Somalis have been forced to leave their homes since fighting reignited in early May.
Further intervention will play directly into the hands of the extremists. US military strikes aimed at suspected terrorists in Somalia in the past several years have only galvanised popular support for the insurgents, while the US-supported Ethiopian invasion in 2006 is widely seen as a strategic disaster that led to the current conflagration. Still, without external support, the TFG would almost certainly be overrun. So it is crucial that the Obama administration craft a policy that helps the Somali people while addressing US interests in regional stability and counterterrorism, without making things worse.
While a circumspect middle ground is needed, the current approach is misguided. The US and the international community have lent enough support to the TFG to taint the government's public relations campaign, but not enough to help it effectively govern.
Secretary Clinton pledged to double the military support given last month, when the US sent 40 tons of munitions to the TFG. Such support, however, may contribute to the rise of the extremism it seeks to prevent.
By publicly handing military aid to the TFG, the US is delegitimising the moderate voices it seeks to embolden, as extremists are able to paint the government as a US puppet and play on historical grievances over foreign meddling.
In order to secure the region and protect US interests, Somalia needs a quieter, broader approach. Washington's ability to effect change on the ground there is limited. Yet its ability to unwittingly cause harm is great. So it must walk a fine line.
The US should end direct military aid to the TFG but increase multilateral assistance through the African Union mission and regional organisations.
The US can ramp up assistance to neighbouring countries in securing their borders with Somalia, offering technical assistance and measured amounts of financial aid.
As the US has near unanimous regional support, it should act more aggressively in ending the arms shipments from Eritrea that currently feed the insurgency.
More effort must be made to encourage the TFG to negotiate with moderate factions in Al Shabab and other groups, exploiting emerging fissures within the Islamist insurgency.
The Islamist threat in Somalia is not monolithic, but insensitive and direct US involvement runs the risk of uniting the disparate factions and lending legitimacy to the anti-government movements.
The Obama administration must recalibrate and move forward with extreme caution as it begins to develop a coherent policy in the Horn of Africa. Anything less could spell disaster for US interests in the region.
Christian Science Monitor
Alexander Noyes and Richard Bennet are research associates at the Council on Foreign Relations. They recently returned from a research trip to the Horn of Africa.
Nothing but war' for children
By Edmund Sanders for Tribune Newspapers
As violence flares in Somalia, the nation's young increasingly are caught in the crossfire Even in a country that has endured so much suffering, few images could more tragically convey the senseless violence gripping Somalia today than the expressionless stare of a 5-year-old boy named Omar.
As he slept next to his mother one recent morning, a stray bullet from a nearby gun battle struck him in the back of the head. He made no movement or sound, so his family members didn't even notice at first. Later they saw blood oozing from a small hole in his head and thought it was a snakebite.
But an X-ray of his tiny skull revealed the terrible trajectory of the inch-long bullet: how it entered on the left, tore through his brain and wedged behind the right eye.
It's a miracle that Omar Osman Ali survived, doctors say. Recovering from surgery to remove the bullet and his right eye, he lies quietly on a thin mattress on the ground in a makeshift African Union hospital tent.
Doctors don't know the extent of brain damage because the once-garrulous boy, who loved spaghetti and enjoyed helping his mother with the wash, hasn't spoken since the surgery.
But he's awake, responsive and keenly alert. With his remaining eye, the boy silently watches everything around him: the doctors inspecting the bandages, his grandmother trying to coax a smile, even the body of a 13-year-old girl who died of malaria that morning, lying in the next bed.
Each day, his grandmother, Fatuma Ali, talks to Omar and searches his face for a sign of recognition. He rarely displays emotion. No fear or pain. But sometimes there is a trace of something else behind that stare: anger.
"He never smiles, and he used to laugh so easily before," Ali said. "Now he just watches. Just looks. Who knows what he's thinking?" Children have long been the greatest casualty of Somalia's 18-year civil war. One in five is acutely malnourished. Few attend school. Most spend their lives running from violence, drought and poverty. Boys often become child soldiers, and girls have babies as soon as they reach puberty.
"What kind of life is this for children?" Ali said. "When I was young, there was school. Children could play outside. Today there is nothing for these kids but war. What hope is there for children?" A third of the beds hold children at this facility, which provides free health care to about 2,000 people each month.
"This place is filled with kids," said Florence Mohamed, a Somali nurse at the clinic.
Malaria, tuberculosis, genital excision and fistula were once the primary problems. But as violence in Mogadishu, the capital, has soared to new highs, children are increasingly ensnared in the fighting between government troops and insurgents. Now children are showing up regularly with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, burns and other conflict-related injuries.
"This is a very violent city," said African Union doctor James Kiyengo, a surgeon from Uganda who operated on Omar. "The evidence is all around." In the next room is Abdi Rahman Sheik Nur. The 7-year-old had been arguing with a young friend on a Mogadishu street last month and had turned away in a huff to march home when he felt a sting in his back.
"I thought my friend threw a rock," he said. But he saw the blood on his stomach and collapsed. A bullet -- no one knows from where -- had struck him in the back.
Lying naked on a blanket with bandages around his midsection, the boy put on a brave face. "It didn't hurt that much," he said in barely audible whisper.
But the injuries probably will be permanent, doctors say. The bullet pierced his colon. Now waste is escaping from the wound, and they lack the capability to properly treat it.
In a nearby treatment room is Mohamed Abdirahman, 3, whose chest and right arm are encircled by a plaster cast.
"He fell off a step," his mother said sheepishly.
Not true, a doctor later explained, pointing out that he had removed mortar shrapnel from Mohamed's shoulder. "The mother is too frightened to tell the truth," the doctor said.
Surviving nearly two decades of clan-based conflict, warlords and, most recently, Islamic insurgents, Somalis have learned the defensive art of keeping their eyes down and their mouths shut.
Mohamed, however, reminded everyone of the resilience of children. He beamed and laughed, oblivious to the doctor cleaning and re-bandaging the puncture wound. Perched on an examination table, he relished the attention, playfully tossing off his sandals and watching each one drop to the floor.
Outside is a line of patients waiting to see a doctor. The worst off is Abdukhadir Hussein, 4, who lies in agony in his mother's lap. She gently fans his shirtless torso, which is badly burned. Most of the upper layer of skin is gone. He grimaces in pain and cries softly.
His mother, Bint Aweys, said he was playing in the house and knocked over a pot of boiling water. She said her husband disappeared four years ago, leaving her to raise four children alone on the $3 a day she earns hauling goods in Mogadishu's main market.
"It's all I can do to feed them," she said.
But like most parents, she clings to hope that her children will have a brighter future.
"If we can just survive, one day I know their lives will be better," she said. "We just have to get through this."
Somali health authorities seek urgent aid for children at risk of death – Pana
The humanitarian crisis in Somalia has exposed over 70,000 acutely malnourished children to the risk of death, out of 285,000 children severely hit by the continuing fighting in the Horn of Africa nation, the Somali government said on Friday.
It said the country faced its worst humanitarian crisis in decades, following months of fighting in Mogadishu and other parts of the country, which has continued to escalate the risk of disease outbreak.
The Health authorities of Somalia, with the support of the international comm unity and aid agencies, are committed to providing every Somali child with the necessary treatment and preventive measures to ensure their survival and health," a statement by the Somali government said.
Children are the most affected as Somalia faces the worst humanitarian crisis in two decades.
According to a recent report by the UN's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia, about 285,000 children under five in Somalia are acutely malnourished, or one in every five children, of whom 70,000 are severely malnourished who are at risk of death if adequate treatment and care are not provided.
During 2008, about 100,000 acutely malnourished children were provided with medical and nutritional treatment across all regions of Somalia. Currently, about 85,000 malnourished children are provided with treatment each month, in addition to over 130,000 vulnerable young children who are provided with nutritional interventions to prevent acute malnutrition.
However, with the escalation of fighting and insecurities in the country, delivering these services is becoming more challenging and expensive. We have come together to appeal to members of the international community to strengthen their support towards the humanitarian aspect of the country's ongoing crisis and to alleviate the increasing suffering of Som ali children and women," the government said.
It added: 'We also call on all communities to facilitate and ensure the safety of the delivery of crucial life-saving services to vulnerable populations.'
UIC Official - We Shall Take Over the Security of Beledweyn Town
The reformed Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Beledweyn town said on Friday that they will take over the security of the town in Hiran region.
Mo'allin Aden Abdisalan, head of the UIC department for emergency affairs. held a press conference in Beledweyn town in central Somalia and explained plans of The UIC to take over the security in the whole region.
"We have prepared forces who will safeguard the security of the region. The troops are gathered in the police station and the central prison complex (Gal shire) in Beledweyn town," Mo'allin Aden said.
He said that the forces they prepared for the security will operate in Beledweyn town and quickly also in the whole of the region.
"In the coming days we shall form an Islamic court to prosecute the criminals. We requested the people in the region to point out those who created the insecurity situations in the town," the UIC official said.
There have been meetings between the parts of the population in Beledweyn town and the officials of the UIC led by Sheik Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma'ow who announced recently he had split from the TFG (transitional federal government) administration of Hiran region in central Somalia.
Lastly the UCI officials called on the people of Hiran region to work closely with the administration of the Union of Islamic Courts .
Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama seize Ruun-Nirgud district
The warriors of of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama a moderate Islamists faction in Somalia, has on daybreak Friday peacefully taken over the control of Ruun-Nirgud district in the lower shabelle region in southern Somalia without any confrontation.
"The fighters of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama have reached the district today, and in fact they were generally warmly welcomed by the entire of the local resident, and had meeting with the local elders in the district, and we have deeply discussed about the security situation in the and many more about the interest of the district and in the region as whole" said an elder who was among the elders who had the meeting with the officials of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama on Friday, and requested his name not to be mentioned in the media speaking to Somaliweyn radio.
The fighters of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama are the controllers of Galgadud region in central Somalia, but now they seem to be escalating towards the other regions in southern Somalia.
Currently there are three Islamists factions in Somalia, two sharing one concept, and are fighting against the Somali Federal Government while Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama is an ally to the government.
This seizure of Ruun-Nirgud district comes at a time when the officials of Ahlu-Sunnah Waljama have been lately saying in the media that there are great preparations that they will take control of the southern regions in Somalia.
Hizbul Islam vows to continue attacks against AU Peacekeepers
By Ali Osman
On Friday, the islamist groups fighting in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, have vowed to continue their fight against the African Peacekeepers (AMISOM).
Sheikh Musa Abdi Arale the military commander of Hizbul Islam group told reporters, they will not change their strategy and will continue to target the government forces and African Union peacekeepers, in Mogadishu.
Sheikh Arale has dismissed the decision of the African Union to authorize AMISOM troops in Mogadishu, to target insurgents bases in order to prevent further attacks. He says this change of mandate will not prohibit them to launch their attacks against the peacekeepers.
"….we don´t care if they change their (AMISOM) mandate, however What I know for sure is,.. if the AMISOM troops leave their bases to attack us, we will capture their current bases from them…." Says Sheikh Musa Arale.
The 5,100-strong AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which began its operations in March 2007, is made up of soldiers from Burundi and Uganda and is mandated to guard strategic sites in the volatile Somali capital, Mogadishu.
The mission also provides backup to government forces fighting a violent insurgency.
Mogadishu has witnessed fierce fighting and attacks on a daily basis since May, when rebel forces launched a major offensive against President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed´s UN-backed interim government.
Insurgents groups on a PR campaign
By Hussein Farah
Somali insurgent groups fighting against the Transitional Federal government of Somalia, have intensified their media campaign to win more support from the local communities, in southern regions of Somalia.
Today, Al Shababa Mujahidiin group in Bay and Bakool regions (southwest Somalia), have announced they will increase their security patrols in major town in Somalia.
During a press conference held in Baidoa town, Sheikh Hassan Deerow, the head of Al Shabaab militants, said they have captured number of road bandits in Bay region. He says their forces will beef up the security of all the major towns and villages, to safeguard the security of the civilians.
It is not the first time, that Al Shabaab group announces they will carry out the sharia law and will hunt down any person that is involved in a criminal activity.
Yesterday, Al Shabaab militants in Dayniile District of Mogadishu executed orders to cut off the right hands of two young men, who were accused of stealing.
The militants also carried out 100 lashes on another man, for raping a woman, he was also told to pay up to $150 dollars and to be deported from Mogadishu.
Analysts in Somalia call this insurgents media campaign, a part of the wider insurgent strategy to win more hearts and at the same time to demonstrate their control over many parts of Southern Somalia.
Puntland leader returns to capital Garowe
The president of Somalia's Puntland government returned to the capital city Garowe on Thursday, after spending a month in the southern city of Galkayo, Radio Garowe reports.
President Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole," Puntland's elected leader, led a government convoy from Galkayo to Garowe, driving the four-hour trek along the country's north-south paved highway.
The Puntland leader's delegation was welcomed around the halfway point of the trip by another delegation from Garowe, led by Puntland Finance Minister Farah Ali Jama.
President Farole, Vice President Abdisamad Ali Shire and senior members of the Puntland government were in Galkayo since early August following the assassination of Puntland's former information minister, Mr. Warsame Abdi "Sefta Bananka."
Gen. Shire, the vice president of Puntland, remained behind in Galkayo to carry on government operations aimed at strengthening security in Puntland's second-largest city, which is also an important trade center connecting Puntland to southern Somalia and Ethiopia's vast Somali-inhabited region.
Puntland government officials say security in Galkayo has improved since last month's high-profile assassination of a government official and the brutal killings of Pakistani clerics visiting Galkayo.
President Farole was present as the Galkayo District Council was established and a new mayor elected to lead the city. The election had changed Galkayo's old guard with a new, younger mayor who is a businessman in Galkayo.
Also in Galkayo, Puntland leaders welcomed separate delegations led by Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake and a European Union delegation led by the EU's Horn of Africa envoy, Ms. Marika Fahlen.
Somalis complain about the mass departure of Aid Agencies
By Mohamed Abdi
On Friday, the local communities in Mandera town, Northeast of Kenya, complained about the evacuation of Aid agencies from the Somali region in Kenya.
Elders and community leaders from the border town of Mandera called for Aid Agencies to return to the region, which is now severely effected by drought and lack of humanitarian aid, reports Horseed Media.
On July 2009, armed groups kidnapped 3 aid worker supporting the NGO called Action Against Hunger.
The three foreign aid workers were kidnapped on July 18 from Mandera town on the Kenyan-Somali border. The Kidnappers took their captives into Somalia. No group has claimed responsibility, but al Shabaab rebels blamed another insurgent group, Hizbul Islam, for the attack.
Since the kidnapping in July, more Aid Agencies have vacated their offices and activities in the town of Mandera, say the local elders.
Six killed in Mogadishu hospital mortar blast (AFP)
A stray mortar shell fired by extremist insurgents struck a hospital for army veterans in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least six people and wounding 12, Somali police and witnesses said.
The mortar smashed into the hospital compound as a group of disabled veterans were chatting outside the main building before the iftar meal breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast observed during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
"There was a mortar attack by the violent groups against the seaport this afternoon and we are getting information that six people died inside Martini hospital," Mohamed Abdiazis, a Somali policeman at the nearby seaport told AFP.
"Several mortar rounds hit near the seaport and the main jail but the worst incident occurred inside the hospital where I saw disabled people in wheelchairs with severe shrapnel wounds," eyewitness Hasan Moalim Ali said.
The Shebab, an Al Qaeda-inspired group, and the more political Hezb al-Islam launched a deadly military offensive against the internationally-backed Somali government on May 7.
The fighting has focused on southwestern areas and the capital Mogadishu, where clashes often occur in densely-populated areas, killing hundreds and displacing a quarter of a million in four months.
Twelve disabled veterans die in Somalia mortar attack - Africa News
As many as 12 disabled war veterans died and a dozen more were wounded on Friday evening after mortars hit a hospital housing former army officers in the Somali capital Mogadishu, officials said Saturday.
Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab and its ally Hizbul Islam have been battling to remove President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who came to power earlier this year as part of a UN-backed peace process.
Up to 12 disabled former national army officers died in last night's shelling in residential areas,' government spokesman Sheikh Abdirisak Qelow Darwishta told reporters in Mogadishu.
Islamist insurgents were aiming for the port, but instead hit the Martini Hospital, which houses veterans who lost their limbs during Somalia's conflict with Ethiopia in the 1970s.
Local Human Right group condemns killing of civilians in Mogadishu
Elman Human Rights Group condemned Saturday killing of civilians in the capital by mortars.
Shells fired towards Mogadishu's port killed at least 9 disabled people and wounded 19 on Friday evening in Martini hospital in Mogadishu.
Residents said the mortar shells were fired by the Insurgents and landed on Martini, a former hospital that houses members of Somali forces disabled during a war with Ethiopia in 1977.
Ali Sheik Yasin , the deputy chairman of Elman condemned the shelling and described as acts against humanity.
He said the killing of innocent, disabled civilians was against the humanity, the Islamic religion and the Somali culture.
Ambulance worker killed in Mogadishu
By Mohamed Abdi
On Friday, the head of ambulance services in Mogadishu, called the latest death of one of their staff, a major set up to their activity.
In an interview with Horseed Media, Mr.Ali Mussa the head of Life line Africa (ambulance services) in Mogadishu, said he was deeply shocked by the constant violence against ambulance staff.
On Thursday at least one ambulance worker was killed when a bullet struck their vehicle, in the latest fighting between government forces and insurgents in the capital of Somalia.
It is not the first time, the ambulance staff loose one of their colleagues.
Ambulance workers are the first emergency line to many civilians in Mogadishu, who cant leave their homes due to the fighting, these emergency workers are frequently targeted by armed groups in the city.
Television reporter released
Forces from Ahlu Sunna Waljama´a released a reporter working for the independent Somali Television ETN after one day of detention.
The reporter, Hassan Kaafi Halane, was arrested late on Wednesday while he was recording film from bases of Ahlu Sunna Waljama´a in Abudwaq district in Galgadud region in central Somalia.
Sheik Hussein Ahmed Elmi, the commander of Ahlu Sunna Waljama,a forces said they released the reporter after they have investigated his case.
He said they suspected the reporter and captured him while he was recording some palaces in the town.
Somali journalists face harassments from the Somali factions fighting in the country. Somalia is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists to work.
Puntland leader warns Somalia govt, urges Somaliland peace
The president of Somalia's Puntland State government has reportedly sent a clear warning to Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), while urging politicians in the breakaway region of Somaliland to uphold the peace, Radio Garowe reports.
A United Nations delegation led by the Secretary-General's special envoy for Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, landed Saturday morning at Conoco airstrip in the outskirts of Garowe, the capital of Puntland, where he was welcomed by Puntland officials.
Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole," the president of Puntland, met privately with Mr. Abdallah at the State House in Garowe where the two leaders discussed a range of issues including the campaign against piracy and human trafficking.
Speaking later at a press conference, Puntland's leader said the discussions also included development projects and improving the security sector.
"I encourage our brothers in Somaliland to safeguard the stability [in Somaliland]," said President Farole, on a day at least three civilians were killed in riots that rocked Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland.
TFG_Puntland Accord Already Broken ?
The Puntland president briefed reporters about a cooperation agreement signed on Aug. 23, 2009, in the city of Galkayo between President Farole and TFG Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake.
That agreement, which some have referred to as the "Galkayo Accord," is the basis of cooperation between the Puntland government and the TFG, which only controls pockets of Mogadishu with the backing of African Union peacekeepers.
Mr. Abdallah, who enjoys close relations with TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and some members of the TFG Cabinet, praised the relative peace and stability in Puntland.
He noted that "there are too many politicians in Somaliland" and urged them to compromise for the sake of the peace. Mr. Abdallah spent two days in Hargeisa mediating between the government and the opposition before flying to Garowe for talks with Puntland leaders.
Puntland government sources tell Garowe Online that President Farole sent a strong message to the TFG leadership, warning them against breaking the Galkayo Accord.
There is growing friction among the top TFG leaders, as President Sheikh Sharif has "sided" with Finance Minister Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden and Fisheries Minister Abdirahman Ibbi over Prime Minister Sharmake.
A TFG delegation led by President Sheikh Sharif is currently in Djibouti, where Fisheries Minister Ibbi reportedly signed an agreement with a Djiboutian government minister regarding the training of a Somali naval force on Djiboutian soil.
Puntland officials say this deal in Djibouti is a violation of the Galkayo Accord, which awarded Puntland the right to establish the headquarters of the Somali navy in Puntland territory.
Three die in Somaliland demonstrations (AFP)
At least three people died and several others were injured in the breakaway state of Somaliland when angry demonstrators clashed with riot police Saturday, officials and witnesses said.
The clashes erupted when opposition demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans tried to break into the parliament building after police tried to stop a debate scheduled on a motion to impeach the president.
"They tried to enter the parliament building by force and the riot police stopped them. There were clashes and so far three people have died," a Somaliland police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The protestors also burned three police vehicles and set fire to tires in the streets, he added.
Witnesses said the riot police opened fire onto the crowd.
"We were peacefully demonstrating this morning when the police aggressively dispersed the crowds by indiscriminately spraying them with gunfire. They killed three civilians and injured several others," witness Mohamed Salad said.
Tempers have been running high over the impeachment motion all week.
On Tuesday police swarmed into parliament after lawmakers fought among themselves and one drew a pistol.
Tension has mounted in the breakaway state after the postponement of the presidential election scheduled for September 27.
The election has already been delayed twice, notably over a disagreement concerning the voters' register.
President Dahir Riyale Kahin, in power since May 2002, is seeking re-election but faces a stiff challenge from Faisal Ali Warabe, of the Justice and Welfare Party, and Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, of the Development and Solidarity Party.
A former British protectorate, Somaliland broke away from the rump Somalia 10 months after Somali strongman Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
More stable and economically viable than central and southern Somalia in recent years, Somaliland is seeking international recognition as an independent state.
Police raid a lawmaker´s house in Somaliland
The police in the breakaway region of Somaliland raided on Saturday night the house of Ahmed Diriye known as NacNac a legislator, where over 40 Somaliland lawmakers have gathered to discuss the burning politics in Somaliland.
"Police have stormed my residential home, and I don't know why they did so; but I think it is part of the recent terror which the dictatorial regime has unlashed against the Somaliland population, and there were some of the lawmakers in Somaliland who have gathered in my house and it is not a crime against any constitution for Members of Parliament to come to my house" said Ahmed Diriye NacNac speaking to Somaliweyn correspondent in Hargaisa the capital of Somaliland.
Mr. NacNac also added that there were no casualties in the raid carried out by the police of Somaliland.
Today mass demonstrations rocked Hargeisa, the capital city of Somaliland.
"Thousands of inhabitants of Hargeisa city converged on the main streets of the town and angrily chanted slogans which were all against the current government of President Dahir Rayale. The demonstrators were burning tyres on the streets, and blocked the main street towards the Presidential Palace where hundreds of anti-riot police firing live bullets in the air were deployed" said a Somaliweyn correspondent in Hargaisa.
All commercial activity in the town subsided, and there were no means of transportation in the city available.
"We have been patient for along time and Mr. Rayale thought that we are fools. In fact we are not fools, but smart enough to drive him out of the office and from the throne he is enjoying. He thought that the Parliament is his own house, which he can lock and re-open at any time he feels like. This cannot happen" said a furious leader of the demonstration while speaking to Somaliweyn radio.
So far the authority of Somaliland and the other political parities have not commented about this demonstration.
Tough choices for Puntland, Somaliland and Sool leaders
By Liban Ahmad
Nearly two years have passed since Somaliland government forces captured Laas Caanood, the administrative capital of Sool region and brought to an end Puntland government´s five year rule.
Somaliland and Puntland administrations claim Sool on two different grounds: in the case of Somaliland, Sool was part of the former British Somaliland and "is now a part of Somaliland".
Puntland´s case rests on shared genealogy: Central government collapsed in 1991 and clans returned to traditional faith in shared cultural institutions based on territory and customary laws to elect a council of elders, a president and a vice president.
Since 2002 Somaliland has had two successive presidents- Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and Dahir Riyale Kahin -from the same party UDUB; Puntland has had four presidents (Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Mohamed Abdi Hashi, Mohamud Muse Hersi (aka Adde Muse ) and Abdirahman Mohamud Farole).
President Farole´s predecessors used policies that took the support of Sool politicians and traditional leaders for granted. When fierce political struggle between the former Puntland Vice president, Hassan Dahir Afqudhac and former Puntland interior minister Ahmed Abdi Habsade started in 2006 , the Puntland leadership did not seek ways to diffuse the tension. Only traditional leaders from Buuhoodle tried to raise the matter with the former Puntland president. The outcome did not soothe the fears of Habsade-that former Puntland president and vice president were out to sack him. The sacking of Habsade in 2007 from a cabinet post had led his supporters to throw their weight behind Somaliland administration, making Punltand political franchise lose its luster gradually : unpaid salaries, run-away inflation, and piracy conspired to undermine Adde Muse´s administration.
Somaliland opposition parties did not address the question of sharing power equitably now that Sool region´s administrative capital in under Somaliland. Habsade has clarified his position on Somaliland political impasse and voter registration. Like the ruling Udub party, he is against the use of voter registration system for Somaliland elections on the ground that registration of voters did not take place in all Harti populated areas in Somaliland. Its use would disadvantage Harti constituencies electorally, Habsade said. How does Puntland see the Sool territorial dispute with Somaliland? In a speech marking the eleventh anniversary of Puntland, president Farole vowed to retake Laas Caanood. The president did not specify what strategies his administration will use to make Laas Caanood into a Puntland city, nor did he address the role of Sool traditional leaders in resolving political problems that caused many Sool people to regard Puntland as a partial administration.
Punltand president has inherited political and social problems. Pinning the blame on his predecessors will not solve problems but will surely create new problems. It is not clear if the group of Sool traditional and political leaders who will attend an All-Dhulbahante conference in Nairobi in October have found an answer to the major question: Will Sool remain a part of Puntland?
How will they address the political realities ranging from divided loyalties; divided traditional leaders and politicians who change their loyalties whenever the political administrations they support fail to accommodate their demands? Will they be a third political force that competes for representation privileges either in Puntland or Somaliland or the Transitional Federal Government? Or will they aim to be a group that will work towards making Sool political and traditional leaders accountable to the people they represent politically and traditionally?
Some analysts believe that the Nairobi conference may add another layer of co mplexity to the Sool politics but the organizers cannot ignore the two opposing administrations that draw support from different Sool constituencies.
Puntland, Somaliland and Sool leaders have tough choices to make to prevent the three regions that enjoy relative peace from slipping into maelstrom of anarchy.
UN Envoy to Somalia visits Somaliland, election crisis unresolved
The United Nations top envoy to Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has visited the capital of the breakaway republic of Somaliland, Radio Garowe reports.
Somaliland's foreign affairs minister, Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed Du'ale, welcomed the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Somalia, Mr. Abdallah, on Thursday at Egal International Airport in Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland.
A press statement issued from President Dahir Riyale's office stated that Mr. Abdallah met with the Somaliland leader at the State House in Hargeisa, where the two officials discussed peace and elections among other issues.
President Riyale requested that the UN award Somaliland a "special status," especially with respect to development projects funded by the UN, according to the press statement.
Further, Somaliland's leader said he fully supports that the ongoing election crisis to be resolved peacefully.
Mr. Abdallah, who is expected to meet other parties in Hargeisa, reportedly praised Somaliland for ensuring local peace and stability.
According to the press statement from the Somaliland president's office, the UN Envoy said: "We will open a new UN political affairs office in Hargeisa…this office will further advance UN funding support to Somaliland in the fields of maritime security and counterterrorism."
Meanwhile, the political deadlock continues in Somaliland following the election commission's announcement to postpone September's presidential election for a third time since 2008.
The building that houses the lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives, is still shut down and under the control of security forces.
An independent source in Hargeisa warned of opposition demonstrations in the coming days, as the September 27 election date nears and the political crisis remains unresolved.
Somaliland: United Nations Political Department Free Zone by Ahmed Kheyre
Reading about the visit of the UN envoy to Somaliland and Somalia's visit to Hargeisa made me laugh. This same gentlemen wouldn't even give Somaliland the time of day in more settled days, and now he wants to wedge himself in a place where he is not wanted, respected or needed.
This typical of the UN Political department. I have lots of time for many of the other UN agencies, such as UNDP, WHO, UNESCO, FAO, UNICEF, and UNHCR, because they do sterling work across the globe.
But, the UN political department is a flawed and weak office. It reminds me of one those pathetic people who desperately want to be liked and made to feel important.
Somaliland has been and will continue to overcome any internal issues, through the winning formula or dialogue, discussion and consensus. It doesn't need a toothless and discredited "diplomat" attempting to muddy the waters.
This is the same envoy that in a previous meeting with the Somaliland administration requested that the Somaliland forces be used as a proxy in the anarchy in Somalia. When this proposal was rejected, like Representative Donald Payne, he went off in a huff, like a rejected lovesick teenager.
Today, he wants to be seen as the "peacemaker" in Somaliland, when, all he wants to do is justify his staggering budget, and attempt to create the image that the current political stand-off in Somaliland is somewhat akin to the total anarchy in Somalia.
But, we Somalilanders are gracious hosts; we will welcome him, marvel at his total lack of shame, and listen to him politely, before resolving our own issues without any external interference.
Somaliland has never had a government made overseas, in hotels and cafes around Nairobi or Djibouti, in which, millions and millions of dollars were spent to grease the palms of brigands and murderers.
If the UN envoy to Somaliland and Somalia wants to be taken seriously, then perhaps he can explain where all the billions spent on Somalia went.
Thanks for coming, Mr. Envoy, enjoy your stay in Hargeisa, but we don't need you. We are fine and will remain fine. This is a family matter, and you aren't even a distant, distant, distant, cousin.
Southern neighbour puts Somaliland on Horn of a dilemma
By Charles Tannock
After almost two decades as a failed state torn by civil war, perhaps the world should begin to admit that Somalia – as currently constructed – is beyond repair.
Some of the country, however, can meet at least a basic standard of governance. The northernmost region, Somaliland, situated at the opening to the Red Sea and home to roughly 3.5 million of Somalia's ten million people, is more or less autonomous and stable.
But this stability fuels fears that Somaliland's people will activate the declaration of independence they adopted in 1991.
At the end of September, Somaliland will hold its third presidential election. Unlike many developing countries, it will welcome foreign observers to oversee the elections, though, unfortunately, most Western countries and agencies will stay away, lest their presence be seen as legitimising Somaliland's de facto government.
But Somaliland's strategic position near the world's major oil-transport routes, now plagued by piracy, and chaos in the country's south, means that independence should no longer be dismissed out of hand.
Indeed, following a fact-finding mission in 2007, a consensus is emerging within the European Union that an African Union (AU) country should be the first to recognise Somaliland's independence.
A 2005 report by Patrick Mazimhaka, a former AU deputy chairman pointed out that the union in 1960 between Somaliland and Somalia, following the withdrawal of the colonial powers (Britain and Italy), was never formally ratified.
Ethiopia is the obvious candidate to spearhead recognition, given its worries about jihadi unrest within Somalia. Moreover, landlocked Ethiopia uses Somaliland's port of Berbera extensively. Yet Ethiopia may hesitate, owing to its fears that formally recognising Somaliland's independence could undermine Somalia's fragile, western-backed transitional federal government (TFG). But, as Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, is a former head of the Islamic Courts, Ethiopia may choose the status quo in Somaliland over the dream of stabilising Somalia.
The key regional obstacle to recognition is Saudi Arabia, which not only objects to the secular, democratic model promoted by Somaliland, but is also a strong ally of Somalia, which is a member of the Arab League (despite not being Arab) and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. Saudi Arabia supports the TFG financially and politically. Saudi pressure on Somaliland has ranged from banning livestock imports to threatening to reject the Somaliland passports of Hajj pilgrims.
When Somaliland's people vote at the end of the month, they will not be deciding explicitly on secession, but their steady effort at state building does amplify their claims to independence. So it is high time for diplomats and statesmen to provide some guidelines as to when and in what circumstances secession is likely to be acceptable.
Does any self-selected group anywhere have the right to declare independence? If so, the richest parts of any country could decide to go it alone, thus impoverishing their fellow citizens. Even if greed is ruled out as an acceptable motive, in favour of traditional ethno-cultural nationalism, a profusion of tiny tribal states might make the world far more unstable.
Thus clear principles are needed, as neither self-determination nor the inviolability of national borders can be treated as sacrosanct in every case.
So let me attempt to outline some basic principles: no outside forces should either encourage or discourage secession, and the barriers for recognising secession should be set high. Secession is in itself neither good nor bad: like divorce, it may make people more or less content.
A declaration of independence should be recognised only if a clear majority (well over 50 per cent-plus-one of the voters) have freely chosen it.
The new state must guarantee that any minorities it drags along – say, Russians in the Baltic states, or Serbs in Kosovo – will be decently treated. Secessionists should have a reasonable claim to being a national group that, preferably, enjoyed stable self-government in the past on the territory they claim. Nations need not be ethnically based; few are entirely. But most nations are unified by language, a shared history of oppression, or some other force of history.
On this, admittedly subjective, measure, Somaliland qualifies as a nation. It was briefly independent (for five days) in 1960 after the British withdrawal, before throwing in its lot with the formerly Italian south, a decision its people have regretted ever since. In this brief period, 35 countries, including Egypt, Israel, and the five permanent members of the Security Council, recognised Somaliland diplomatically.
Given the interests of all the world's great powers in stabilising the Horn of Africa, there does seem to be movement toward accepting Somaliland's claims and it could be a force for stability and good governance in an otherwise hopeless region.
Kismayo dispute among Islamists deepens
A crisis over control of an important port city in southern Somalia has deepened after Islamist fighters divided along political lines, Radio Garowe reports.
Independent sources in the port city of Kismayo, 500km south of the Somali capital Mogadishu, reported that Al Shabaab hardliners have ordered that only "fighters loyal to Al Shabaab" can be armed inside Kismayo.
"Fighters for Ras Kambani Brigade and Anole have withdraw from the city [Kismayo] and there are military preparations going on in many neighboring districts," said a Kismayo resident, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons.
He noted that the withdrawn Islamist fighters are regrouping in parts of Lower Jubba region, including Afmadow and Dhobley districts.
The dispute between Al Shabaab and the other Islamist factions deepened after Al Shabaab rulers threatened to burn down a radio station rival Islamists wanted to open in Kismayo, the sources added.
Currently, Al Shabaab-owned Radio Al-Andulus is the only radio station on air in Kismayo. The Islamist faction shut down the independent radio stations HornAfrik and Jubba earlier this year.
Sheikh Hassan Yakub, spokesman for Al Shabaab rulers in Kismayo, declined to comment on new developments during brief comments to reporters on Thursday.
But he underlined that Al Shabaaab "will not tolerate" any armed group inside Kismayo, while threatening to "overrun" any group that attempts to attack the strategic port city.
Kismayo was seized in Aug. 2008 by a coalition of clan militias and Islamist groups, including Al Shabaab, Ras Kamboni Brigade and Anole.
In Feb. 2009, Ras Kamboni and Anole merged with two other Islamist factions in southern Somalia to form Hizbul Islam as a common front to fight against Somalia's UN-backed Transitional Federal Government.
Last month, Sheikh Yakub rejected media reports and local speculation that Islamist factions were entangled in a dispute over the control of Kismayo, a city with an international airport and a port facility along the Indian Ocean coastline.
President Shariff´s departure to NY enlightened
Top Somali government delegation spearheaded by the Somali President his Excellency President Shariff Sheikh Ahmed is expected, to jet off to New York, after accomplishing his official tour in Djibouti.
Abdukadir Barnamij the head of the information, in the Somali government, has enlightened the trip of the Somali delegation, and said that the president was merely to stay in Djibouti for a day and leave the following day, but due to great relations between the two country the president has stayed in Djibouti, extra days than then the scheduled days.
Mr. Abdukadir also added that during his time in Djibouti the President of Somalia met with his Djiboutian counterpart, his Excellency Ishmael Omar Gelle, and the top of their agenda was generally based on how to strengthen the bilateral relation between the two sister countries.
The two head of nations are likely to departure together to NY where they will be attending, a crucial meeting which the world wide head of states will meet. The Somali president will address the presidents who will gather in NY, and his speech will be based on how to get international support for the Somali government.
And after that the President will be officially be received in the White House, and he will be the first president Somalia to be received in the White House for than 40 years.
The President will also be meeting the Somalis in America who are eagerly waiting to see their President. America is currently involved and interested in the Somali politics, because of the lively Al-Shabab group in Somalia which they say has close links with Al-Qaida.
Arming Somalia
By Elizaabeth Dickinson
The United States sent RPGs, machine guns, mortars, and -- in the words of one U.S. official -- "cash in a brown paper bag" to Somalia last spring. Foreign Policy reports on how the shipments took place, and who's not happy about it.
Late in May, as violence consumed the streets of the infamously violent capital city of Mogadishu, Somalia, packages of ammunition, weapons, and cash began arriving from the United States as part of an attempt to help the country's flailing Transitional Federal Government (TFG) stave off collapse. At the time, the Somali government was literally about to fail, reportedly controlling no more than a neighborhood in Mogadishu thanks to a fresh assault by two Islamist insurgent groups: al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam.
The contents of those shipments, not previously reported, included 19 tons of ammunition, 48 rifle-propelled grenades, 36 PKM machine guns (a model of the Russian-made Kalashnikov), 12 DShK machine guns (Russian-made heavy artillery weapons), and 10 mortars (the firing apparatus for shells). The shipment was detailed in a letter from a U.S. official to the U.N. Security Council committee set up to oversee the 17-year-old arms embargo on Somalia. The U.S. official, Alejandro D. Wolff, deputy permanent U.S. representative to the United Nations, requested an exemption to the embargo, which was put in place in 1992 at the onset of civil conflict. In a second letter to the Security Council, Wolff explained that $2 million was also being sent to the Somali government "for the immediate procurement of equipment (weapons and ammunition) and logistics support (food, fuel, water, engineering services)."
All told, a State Department official admitted at a June 26 news briefing that it shipped "in the neighborhood of 40 tons worth of arms and munitions" to Somalia. "We have also asked the two units that are there, particularly the Ugandans, to provide weapons to the TFG, and we have backfilled the Ugandans for what they have provided to the TFG government," the official told journalists. The cost was "under $10 million." A different State Department official working on Somalia counterterrorism policy told Foreign Policy that of the total amount, the bulk was spent on ammunition, while the air freight bill was $900,000 and $1.25 million was "cash in a brown paper bag."
The letters from Wolff explain that the cash was to be transferred to Nairobi, Kenya, and then moved by air to Mogadishu. The money was intended to be spent locally to buy arms, ammunition, and other supplies. (In recent years, AK-47s have sold on the streets of Mogadishu for anywhere from $100 to $600, depending on how heavy the fighting is at the time.) Meanwhile, ammunition was to be shipped to Somalia's capital by air from Entebbe, Uganda. The transfer of the weapons is not described in the letters. However, a regional analyst, who was not authorized to speak on behalf of his affiliation, told FP that the shipments have been arriving in installments, doled out by the African Union peacekeepers who are guarding the Mogadishu airport.
The arms transfer was among the new U.S. administration's first moves toward Somalia, a country that many see as a test case for President Barack Obama's counterterrorism policy. The country has been in a state of war for nearly two decades, displacing a quarter of the country's population, with half a million refugees scattered across the region and another 1.5 million displaced internally within Somalia. But in recent months, the East African country has become a growing concern for U.S. officials as local groups, most notably an Islamist faction named al-Shabab -- some of whose leaders are thought to have been trained by al Qaeda -- have expanded their control of the country.
At the time the arms were sent, the Transitional Federal Government was under a withering assault. "Somalia is in crisis," Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 20, just days before the United States alerted the Security Council of its plan to send arms. "In the past two weeks, violent extremists, including al-Shabab and a loose coalition of forces under the banner of Hizbul al-Islam, have been attacking TFG forces and other moderates in Mogadishu in an attempt to forcefully overthrow the transitional government."
According to experts on the region, the policy's intent was both symbolic and tactical. "The symbolic [aspect] is a way of sending a message to Somalis that the United States is going to stand behind the TFG -- that the United States will not allow it to fail and sees it as the only viable solution," said Ken Menkhaus, a leading Somalia analyst, in an interview. Tactically, the intent was straightforward: to help the TFG fight back against its heavily armed opponents.
But there have been concerns about just how effective the arms shipments have been. On Aug. 11, Garowe, a Somali radio station and online news outlet, reported that arms transferred to the Somali government were being sold on the street. "When the U.S. made the decision in May, the Transitional Federal Government seemed to be hanging on by a thread. Initially, the declaration of support probably did have something to do with the TFG hanging on and pulling together," the regional analyst told FP. "We didn't see many leakages of weapons [at first] because they were too busy fighting. But what's happened is that the consequences of that decision are still being felt. It now seems that the TFG forces have reached their capacity and can't absorb much more in terms of arms and ammunition, so we're starting to see and hear reports of leakages."
To many observers, this seemed all too predictable. The small-arms trade has flourished for the 18 years that Somalia has been in conflict, with weapons proliferating dramatically despite the arms embargo. One of the most frequent channels has been through desertions; 14,000 of the TFG's 17,000 forces deserted last year, many with their guns and uniforms. Today, desertions are less common thanks to a new, more popular president, according to the regional analyst. But he estimates that government forces, including police, only number about 5,000 -- and that's just on paper. In practice, the TFG forces are less a uniform force than a series of militias that operate independently, loyal to one government official or another. "When weapons are allocated to militias who are paid irregularly or not at all, a certain percentage will sell on the open market," Menkhaus explained. "This is a common practice throughout the entire Horn of Africa."
Regardless of whose hands the weapons are ultimately in, other analysts question the wisdom of sending more small arms to a country that is already all too rife with gunfire. The most recent report of the U.N. monitoring group for Somalia, published last December, includes an entire section naming the "unintended consequences of support to the security sector." Among the concerns are the use of "heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers" by TFG police in an urban setting (where casualties are likely to be high). The report also details how captured TFG weapons, equipment, uniforms, and vehicles were "an important source of supply for armed opposition groups."
The policy also raises questions about the broader U.S. stance toward Somalia. The State Department official working on Somalia counterterrorism policy told FP that "every element of the U.S. government seems to have its own piece of the Somalia plan." There was no formal policy, he said, because of a disagreement about whether and how to support the Transitional Federal Government. "The Department of Defense thought they were just out of their minds [to send the arms shipment]," he said. "But since it was State's money, the plan went through." (Queried about this claim, Defense Department spokeswoman Almarah Belk responded via e-mail, "Policy toward Somalia is coordinated via the NSC [National Security Council]. DoD [Department of Defense] agrees and supports the DOS [Department of State] security assistance to the TFG.")
There is also some question as to how popular the shipment was within the State Department itself. The State Department official told FP that there was no support and even active opposition to the plan among his colleagues. When a reporter at the June 26 briefing insinuated that the decision "was made at the highest level," the briefing official replied that the policy was a "national decision" agreed upon by "the secretary and the NSC," meaning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the National Security Council.
During her visit to Africa last month, Clinton vowed to "continue to provide equipment and training to the TFG as well as humanitarian assistance to the Somali people," and wire service Agence France-Presse reported that the United States had plans to double its arms support from 40 tons to 80. (The doubling of arms support could not be confirmed as the State Department did not respond to queries a week after FP's first request.)
Nonetheless, some analysts who spoke to FP see a positive opening emerging in the war-wracked country. Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was inaugurated this spring, has garnered greater popular support for the Transitional Federal Government than at any time in the last two decades. And unlike the more than a dozen previously attempted government coalitions during that period, Sharif's is the first not to be actively opposed by any of Somalia's many clans. Al-Shabab, too, is losing popularity, some say. "Somalia now has at least the start of a government that is broadly representative of the Somali clan and societal landscape," Carson said in his Senate testimony in May. "These are all significant steps forward for Somalia."
Impacting reports from the global village
Joint Sudanese, Somali Committee to Hold a Reconciliation Conference on Somalia – Al-Sammani Awadallah
The Ex-Somali presidential candidate and the candidate for the post of Prime Minister in the current Somali government under the leadership of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Ahmed Osman Tayl, declared that he is seeking to form Sudanese –Somali joint committee to mediate between the different conflicting parties in Somalia so as to put an end to the bloodshed in Mogadishu.
In an interview with Sudan Vision, Tayl, said that the idea of the mediation committee was received by a wide acceptance from both Sudanese and Somali governments. He pointed out that the committee would be formed from experts, neutral parties from the both sides affirming that the committee is not having objections to add more members if that was necessary.
"The committee is going to contact the relevant Somali parties and we have already contacted the Somali government through its ambassador in Khartoum and they gave us the green light to go on with our endeavors," said Tayl.
Tayl said that the different Somali parties are only struggling for power, tribal reasons and for worldly motives. He went on saying that the Somali problem was not clear in the past but the things are different now since all parties have agreed on the application of the Islamic Laws, so the committee is much confident now on reaching a solution to the Somali problem.
If nobody helps, I will die here'
By Jeffrey Gettleman / New York Times
Donor nations, internally feuding government slow to respond as drought ravages once-robust Kenya.
The sun somehow feels closer here, more intense, more personal. As Philip Lolua waits under a tree for a scoop of food, heat waves dance up from the desert floor, blurring the dead animal carcasses sprawled before him.
So much of his green pasture land has turned to dust. His once mighty herd of goats, sheep and camels have died of thirst. He says his 3-year-old son recently died of hunger. And Lolua does not look to be far off from death himself.
"If nobody comes to help us, I will die here, right here," he said, emphatically patting the earth with a cracked, ancient-looking hand.
A devastating drought is sweeping across Kenya, killing livestock, crops and children. It is stirring up tensions in the ramshackle slums where the water taps have run dry, and spawning ethnic conflict in the hinterland as communities fight over the last remaining pieces of fertile grazing land.
The twin hearts of Kenya's economy, agriculture and tourism, are especially imperilled. The fabled game animals that safari-goers fly thousands of kilometres to see are keeling over from hunger and the picturesque savannah is now littered with an unusually large number of sun-bleached bones.
Ethiopia. Sudan. Somalia. Maybe even Niger and Chad. These countries have become almost synonymous with drought and famine. But Kenya? This nation is one of the most developed in Africa, home to a typically robust economy, countless UN offices and thousands of aid workers.
The aid community here has been predicting a disaster for months, saying the rains had failed once again and this could be the worst drought in more than a decade. But the Kenyan government, paralyzed by infighting and political manoeuvring, seemed to shrug off the warnings.
Some government officials have even been implicated in a scandal to illegally sell off thousands of tonnes of the nation's grain reserves as a famine was looming.
So far, a huge, international aid operation to avert mass hunger has not kicked in, or at least not to the degree needed. The UN World Food Program recently said that nearly 4 million Kenyans – about a tenth of the population – urgently needed food.
"Red lights are flashing across the country," the agency said.
But donor nations have been slow to respond, and a UN-led emergency appeal for $576 million is less than half financed.
Part of the reason may be the growing disappointment with Kenya's leaders. They have been poked and prodded by Western ambassadors – and their own citizens – to overhaul the justice system, the police force and the electoral commission. The outcry followed a widely discredited election in 2007 that set off a wave of violence, claiming more than 1,000 lives.
But Kenyan politicians seem more preoccupied with positioning themselves for the next election in 2012 than with cleaning up the mess from the last one. Few reforms have been accomplished and corruption continues to flourish, as the grain scandal currently being probed has made painfully clear.
The arid lands of northern Kenya have been the hardest hit. In some villages, it has not rained in years. But the drought has become a problem nationwide.
In Baringo, in the Rift Valley, people are eating cactus because corn and wheat have gotten so expensive. In Nyeri, in central Kenya, some have turned to pig feed. In Nairobi, the capital, even the fanciest neighbourhoods often go without running water for a week. And it is dark, too. Kenya relies on hydropower for electricity, so less rainfall means less power.
The Kenyan government has begun to respond, organizing some highly publicized food deliveries to famine-prone areas. But many Kenyan officials seem in denial.
Meteorologists predict rains will be coming by October, and they may even bring the other extreme from present conditions. Another El Nino cycle is forecast, which after years of drought and earth baked to a rock-hard crust could bring the opposite problem: floods.
Security committee discusses territorial row
By Cyrus Ombati and James Ratemo
The Cabinet Committee on Security and Foreign Relations met yesterday to discuss, among other issues, ongoing border disputes between Kenya and her neighbours.
The meeting chaired by President Kibaki was briefed on the security situation in the country and the expectations at large.
Top on the agenda was the border dispute between Kenya and Southern Sudan over location of immigration and other offices at the main border.
The committee met for the first time yesterday since it was formed almost three months ago.
Kenya built her Immigration and Customs offices in Lokichoggio town, about 20km from the main border, which has made Southern Sudan security officials believe the area in between belongs to them.
But the Government has since decided to relocate the offices to Nadapal border point.
Yesterday´s meeting forced the normal Cabinet meeting to be pushed to next week.
Security situation
Also present were Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, ministers George Saitoti (Internal Security), Yusuf Haji (Defence) Moses Wetang´ula (Foreign Affairs), Otieno Kajwang´ (Immigration) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Finance).
Others are Attorney General Amos Wako, Chief of General Staff Jeremiah Kianga, NSIS boss Maj-Gen Michael Gichangi, the new Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere and the Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura.
The meeting was also briefed on the security situation at the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia.
The agreement to build the offices in Nadapal was reached after a high-level diplomatic meeting in Lokichoggio on Monday, which also helped defuse tension following recent attacks by suspected Sudan People´s Liberation Army and unknown raiders in Kenyan territory.
The Kenyan delegation toured the Kenya-Sudan border and held a two-hour closed-door meeting with their Sudanese officials led by Maj-Gen Gier Chuang Aluong, who is also Southern Sudan Minister for Internal Affairs.
From Lokichoggio
Sources privy to the meeting said some top officials from Sudan had taken a hard-line position on the Nadapal issue.
Southern Sudan Government has Immigration offices at the Nadapal border crossing, which is about 25km from Lokichoggio town in Turkana West District.
Kenya, Ethiopia riled over documentary
By Christopher Vourlias
Web series threatens to unravel strained relationship
A documentary has sparked a diplomatic row between the governments of neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, threatening to unravel one of the region's most delicate relationships.
The four-part series, "Inside Rebel Territory: Rag-Tag Fighters of the Oromo Liberation Front," documents the training of fighters for a rebel group operating in the disputed Oromia region of Ethiopia.
For more than 30 years, the Oromo Liberation Front has fought a separatist struggle with Ethiopia -- what the group describes as a "national liberation struggle" but which the government in Addis Ababa brands a terrorist movement.
Ethiopian officials tried to muzzle the doc before its August broadcast on Kenyan commercial web Nation Television, owned by the Nation Media Group.
In a stiffly worded protest to the Nation Media Group, Ethiopian Ambassador Disasa Dirribsa labeled the OLF "a terrorist group whose activities have been known to be anti-democratic and anti-peace."
He accused NTV of speaking "for these terrorist elements in our sub-region," and even went so far as to "question NTV's covert or overt political agenda."
After tense negations with its Ethiopian counterpart, Kenya's foreign ministry concurred, citing the program as a threat to the country's national interests.
Nation Media Group editorial director Joe Odindo calls "Inside Rebel Territory," made by NTV reporter Yassin Juma and cameraman Eric Okoth, a "very straight program, factual and balanced."
"It's an introduction to the Oromo issue," he says. "It did not go into the complexities of the Oromo problem in Ethiopia."
The contrast between Kenya, which enjoys one of Africa's freest media environments, and Ethiopia could not be more stark.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Ethiopia is one of the most repressive regimes in sub-Saharan Africa, with heavy prison sentences common for journalists considered guilty of defamation or publishing false news.
A journalist for the Oromo service of Ethiopia's state-run ETV has been in prison since 2005, accused of being an OLF informant.
The flap over "Inside Rebel Territory" comes at a time of increasing tension and uncertainty in East Africa, with violence in Somalia threatening to destabilize the region.
Pro-Western governments in Addis Ababa and Nairobi have become important bulwarks against a rising tide of Islamic fundamentalism. And economic interests are at stake as well, as a proposed railway link between the two countries reflects the growing importance of their economic ties.
Despite the sensitivity of the doc's subject -- which was, Odindo admits, a "military security issue" for Ethiopia -- NTV refused to pull it.
It delayed airing the final two parts of the series for two days as it reviewed the content for balance and offered to interview the Ethiopian ambassador for the doc's final part, but was rebuffed.
The Kenyan government backed down.
"They wanted certain things, but when they looked at the program, they realized what they were concerned about had already [been addressed]," says Odindo.
"We aired the program, because we have a duty to do so, and we have the freedom to do so," he says.
The four-part series can now be seen on NTV's YouTube channel.
We must make famine in Africa personal
By Kevin McCort (*)
For those of us who survived the 1980s, the 1984 famine in Ethiopia is difficult to forget. Massive news coverage permanently embedded in our minds the image of the starving African child with the bloated belly. Scores of celebrities rushed to join the cause. Live Aid became one of the most watched events in TV history. Millions of dollars were raised.
On the 25th anniversary of the famine, it's not just Ethiopia facing another disaster. Kenya, Somalia, and other East African neighbours face a potential famine because of a perfect storm of crop failures, lack of rain, wars and internal political conflict. In 1984, eight million were people affected. Now it's over 20 million.
"Clear the front pages! Dispatch the media teams! Cue the celebrities"¦ or not.
How times have changed. A small handful of Canadian journalists are in East Africa getting the story, but don't expect to see it on the front page. When informed of a hunger crisis in Africa, the average news assignment editor will most often politely respond: "Yes, but what's the news?"
The average Canadian isn't much different. A story about an abused puppy that has been rescued will have us jumping for the remote to bump the volume. Twenty million starving Africans is just the 10-second news clip we have to wait through to hear more about the puppy. After 25 years of one crisis after another in this part of Africa or that, too many of us have become desensitized. Blasé. Another war"¦ another famine"¦
I believe that part of the problem is how the story is told; it's up to organizations like CARE Canada to improve how we tell the stories of those affected by such disasters. One abused puppy is easy to understand. Twenty million starving people is just too big and impersonal to comprehend. What we really need to hear about is Paninah. She is a mother of two school-age children in an urban area just outside Nairobi, Kenya. She's poor but independent, and she, like many Canadians, works multiple jobs to support her family. But it's getting harder to find work. The drought has reached into the cities, and even the crops in the small urban agricultural plots have failed. The price for both in Nairobi has literally doubled. So now Paninah struggles to buy food and water. She does not have a food bank to go to, nor employment insurance to help her get through this rough patch. This is any parent's nightmare: Paninah is completely on her own. Once self-sufficient, she does not know what tomorrow will bring her or her children.
Now that we know Paninah, this is no longer about the story of 20 million faceless people. It's the story of a real person, struggling to make ends meet just like all of us - but facing greater odds than most. Now the story is personal.
And even though the crisis sounds like the same old story, it really is news. There are new and frightening elements. This time there is a perfect storm, and it's hitting not just one country but an entire region. In recent years there has been the ongoing internal conflict in Somalia, war between Ethiopia and Somalia, and the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya. The normal ability of people to cope with environmental disaster has been significantly reduced. Many parts of the Horn of Africa are experiencing an unprecedented fifth consecutive year of drought. The drought and crop failures spreading into parts of Kenya that have until now been mostly unaffected - brought on by climate change. And for the first time the drought is reaching into the urban centres of Kenya to a degree not seen before, affecting the urban poor like Paninah. Malnutrition rates are now up around 18 per cent.
A sign of how serious the situation is: last week the Humanitarian Coalition decided the East Africa hunger crisis warranted the launch of a joint appeal. The Humanitarian Coalition is a partnership of some of Canada's leading aid agencies - CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec and Save the Children. In the most critical emergencies these four groups set aside their individual fundraising appeals and work together in order to increase efficiency and ensure an even greater percentage of Canadian donations gets to those who need it the most. The last time the Humanitarian Coalition launched a joint appeal was in May 2008, when Cyclone Nargis killed over 100,000 people in Burma.
At the end of the day, yes"¦ it's another drought in Africa. They happen. With climate change they are happening more often. This drought is complicated by conflicts. Those happen too. However while we can't prevent all droughts and we can't prevent all conflicts, we can prevent hunger. 2009 does not have to turn into 1984 redux. If we have to wait for Bob Geldof to organize another concert, though, it'll already be too late.
But first we have to stop seeing just another crisis in Africa. This time, we have to make it personal.
(*) Kevin McCort is president and CEO of CARE Canada.
Gaddafi´s single State quest doomed to fail
By Henry Owuor (*)
Early this year, as the African Union ended its summit in Addis Ababa, all signs were that come July, the main instruments of a continent-wide single government would be in place.
Ministries had been created to run affairs in various portfolios such as Foreign Policy, Education and Defence.
And as a sign of his seriousness on the issue, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current chairman of the AU stepped in and offered to host an AU summit in his home town of Sirte mid this year after Madagascar, which was the country picked to host the summit, pulled out after a coup by a populist mayor backed by army soldiers.
His one year term quickly eroding away and no fruits to show, Gaddafi even attended foreign ministers´ session that is held before the main summit, to ensure his plan was implemented besides inviting many foreign leaders among them Italy´s Silvio Berlusconi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the summit.
Rushed decisions
But, countries opposed to a quick shift to a single government, among them Nigeria, South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia stayed put. Known as the ´´graduallists´´, those opposing Gaddafi´s calls for an immediate shift to a single government want a step-by-step move and no rushed decisions.
The mid-year summit was highly anticipated. In Addis, only 21 Heads of State showed up, but in Sirte, 27 attended, a sign that the pro and anti-single government factions were massing support for a showdown.
What Gaddafi got in Sirte was an agreement to establish the African Union Authority that could replace the current Commission, based in Addis Ababa.
Besides the single government plan, the AU also passed a resolution at the summit that expressed its refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court with regard to its warrant of arrest against Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
At the same summit, the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development resolved to use force in Somalia against the forces opposed to the transitional government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and AU peace-keepers got authority to take defensive action against militants instead of just keeping the peace.
The main focus of the summit was Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security.
In line with this goal, the meeting issued a declaration that is a follow-up to the Maputo decision of 2003 where AU countries committed to allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budget to Agriculture. The summit was told that only seven countries have achieved that target, among them Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and Egypt.
Among the leaders conspicuously absent at the Sirte summit was Uganda´s Yoweri Museveni, a bitter opponent of the single government plan. Also absent was Nigeria´s Umaru Musa Yar´Adua and Egypt´s Hosni Mubarak.
Meanwhile, as Gaddafi waits for the next summit due early next year in Addis Ababa, the fact is that his single government goals have been defeated and will not see the light of day during his chairmanship of the AU.
But, the self-declared "King of Kings´´ who paraded African monarchs at the Addis summit, cannot be written off especially now that he is more freer having settled the Lockerbie bombing row, an issue that had kept him busy for many years.
(*) Henry Owuor is Daily Nation´s Diplomatic and Foreign Affairs Writer.
Israel's Lieberman used Africa trip to lay groundwork for arms deals
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman returns Friday from a visit in five African states, where in addition to discussing Africa's internal problems, he and his entourage laid the groundwork for weapons deals.
While Lieberman talked with African leaders about the hunger, water shortage, malnutrition and plagues afflicting their nations, the visit was also used to advance arms deals.
The Foreign Ministry officials on the trip were accompanied by arms dealers and weapons manufacturers. The latter included, among others, executives from Soltam, Israel Military Industries, Israel Aerospace Industries, Silver Shadow advanced security systems Ltd., Israel Shipyards and Elbit Systems.
Although Lieberman declared he would reactivate Israeli foreign policy in certain African states, past experience has shown that the Defense Ministry and arms manufacturers' lobby have hijacked Israeli foreign policy in recent decades and subordinated it to their needs, Israeli sources said.
No deals were signed on this trip. But Foreign Ministry officials estimate Africa's business potential at some $1 billion, in addition to the $3 billion of merchandise and services Israel currently exports to the continent.
Lieberman began his visit in Ethiopia, where he met the prime minister and foreign minister. They discussed ways in which Israel could help as part of the Foreign Ministry's projects in biotechnology, agriculture, water conservation and helping to contain AIDS. Ethiopia, which has long had friendly relations with Israel, is willing to allow Israeli military agents operate there.
The country holds strategic importance based on its proximity to Arab states and its position overlooking sailing routes to Eilat and the Suez Canal.
Its importance is enhanced by Iran's increasing involvement in the region and al-Qaida's growing presence, especially in Somalia, in recent years.
Officials assume that these issues were discussed in Lieberman's talks, which were not reported to the media.
Lieberman's visit in Kenya was similar. Lieberman met Kenyan Deputy President Kalonzo Musyoka, and the foreign minister there, and said Israel was ready to share its experience in halting the desertification and turning the wilderness into arable land.
Here too they discussed issues that were not reported. Kenya has assisted Israel in the past in anti-terror activity, as indicated by releasing the hijacked airplane in Operation Entebbe, in Uganda, and extraditing Germans who worked with Palestinian terrorists.
On Wednesday Lieberman visited Nigeria, one of Africa's largest, richest and most important states, which hosts a relatively large Israeli business community. Nigeria is also an important market for Israeli weapons.
Lieberman also visited Uganda and Ghana.
Area's Muslims reach out to US Somali Bantu immigrants
By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel
About 300 Bantu gathered this week for an Iftar - the nightly breaking of the fast during Ramadan - sponsored by the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.
When the local Somali Bantu community began arriving in Milwaukee in 2003, people came with little more than the clothes on their backs.
Largely illiterate, few spoke English. And little in their decade in the refugee camps of Kenya, where they'd fled Somalia's civil war, prepared them for life in the United States.
It's been a difficult adjustment for many of the Bantu, as families struggled to maintain their religious and cultural identities while navigating the complexities of American society and its laws.
Now, their fellow Muslims are working to ease that transition, offering a series of educational programs aimed at helping the Somali Bantu better assimilate.
"A Muslim must respect the law of the land and always be a good citizen," Imam Ziad Hamdan, speaking through a translator, told about 300 Bantu gathered this week for an Iftar - the nightly breaking of the fast during Ramadan - sponsored by the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Those who do so, said Hamdan, "will please Allah and live in peace in this society."
The initiative, funded in part by the Women's Fund of Greater Milwaukee and the Islamic Society, has been welcomed by Bantu leaders, who worry that their youth are being influenced by negative aspects of American culture - truancy, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse - and that their parents are ill-equipped to stop it.
"This is helpful for our community," said Abdiwahab Aden, president of the local Bantu-American Friendship Association, who estimates there are about 600 Bantu, in about 130 families, in the Milwaukee area.
The Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition began developing the program this spring after two young Bantu men, ages 25 and 23, were convicted of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl they met at a library.
"That was almost unheard of before in the local Muslim community," said coalition director Janan Najeeb, who is coordinating the program.
"We realized that unless we intervened, to help them find healthy ways of this was going to be a burden for the Muslim community," she said. . . . living
The program launched this summer with a six-week session for children at Clara Mohammed School, 317 W. Wright St., where nearly half of the 184 students are Bantu.
The sessions covered everything from health and cleanliness to how to resolve conflict without violence.
"This is a group that very much wants to learn," said Clara Mohammed's elementary school principal, Javera Bokhari.
"We need to teach them the laws before condemning them for something they're not aware of," she said.
The program is now offering monthly educational forums for the Bantu.
This week's session, which preceded the Iftar, covered a broad range of topics, including how the law looks at sexual relationships involving teenagers - in Bantu culture it is not uncommon for teenagers to marry - and physical disciplining of children.
"It is absolutely illegal for anyone under 16 years old to have relations with anyone else," attorney Othman Atta told the Bantu.
On the issue of discipline, Atta explained that, while parents are entitled to discipline their children, children can be removed from the home if a teacher or some other authority sees evidence of abuse or neglect.
That drew the attention of the Bantu mothers, all dressed in the traditional goono saako garbasaar - much like the Indian sari - and many carrying young children on their hips. One mother gestured intently at the young men on the opposite side of the room, and in Bantu urged Atta and the interpreter to admonish the children to respect their parents.
"They are getting out of hand," the mother of four, Aziza Shego, said through her grandson, Abdishakur Ali, after stepping out into the hall.
Shego, who works as a cook at Clara Mohammed, said she'd come to the session to learn how to keep her children safe.
"We want our children to be educated, and we want to make this community stronger," said Shego.
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!) - and if you need lively stills or video material on Somalia, please do contact us.
There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help
if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !
ECOTERRA Intl. maintains a register for persons missing or abducted in the Somali seas (Foreign seafarers as well as Somalis). Inquiries by family member can be sent by e-mail to office[at]ecoterra-international.org
For families of presently captive seafarers - in order to advise and console their worries - ECOTERRA Intl. can establish contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, and their wives as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will answer truthfully".
ECOTERRA - ALERTS and pending issues:
PIRATE ATTACK GULF OF ADEN: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2
NATURAL RESOURCES & ARMED FISH POACHERS: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, only now the two countries (Spain and France) to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked have come up with a declaration that they will respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia but so far not any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.
LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect, while the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is sponsoring several service-led acquisition programs, including the VLAD, Joint Integration Program, and Improved Flash Bang Grenade. Alredy in use in Somalia are so called Non-lethal optical distractors, which are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy. Somalia is also a testing ground for the further developments of the Active Denial System (ADS) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). If new developments using millimeter wave sources that will help minimize the size, weight, and system cost of an effective Active Denial System which provides "ADS-ACTD-like" repel effects, are used has not yet been revealed. Obviously not only the US is developing and using these kind of weapons as the case of MV MARATHON showed, where a Spanish naval vessel was using optical lasers - the stand-off was then broken by the killing of one of the hostage seafarers. Local observers also claim that HEMI devices, producing Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Bioeffects, have been used in the Gulf of Aden against Somalis. Exposure to HEMI devices, which can be understood as a stun-gun shot at an individual over a larger distance, causes muscle contractions that temporarily disable an individual. Research efforts are underway to develop a longer-duration of this effect than is currently available. The live tests are apparently done without that science understands yet the effects of HEMI electrical waveforms on a human body.
ECOTERRA Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.
ECOTERRA members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation. (for previous information concerning the topics please google keywords ECOTERRA (and) SOMALIA)
The network of the SEAFARERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. ECOTERRA Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.
Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and ECOTERRA Intl. Please donate to the defence fund.
Contact us for details concerning project-sponsorship or donations via e-mail: ecotrust[at]ecoterra.net
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