Ecoterra Press Release 243 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 56

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

ECOTERRA Intl.

SMCM

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

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

2009-09-14 MON 08h26:12 UTC

Issue No. 243

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: Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !

(If you find this compilation too large or if you can't grasp the multitude and magnitude of important, inter-related and complex issues influencing the Horn of Africa - you better do not deal with Somalia or other man-made "conflict zones". We try to make it as easy and condensed as necessary.)

Breaking:

Press Release (request original from pressoffice@govgalmudug.com)

Cabinet of Central Somali State Protests

"We are not a free-for-all or shooting range for foreigners!"

Officials of the autonomous Government of Galmudug State - a huge region in central Somalia, which had received hardly any international humanitarian assistance during the last eighteen years - declared their unalienable right to protect their territorial waters, air space and territorial delineations with neighboring regions and other states according to international and national laws.

Due to unexpected attacks by foreign forces at its Indian Ocean coast as well as in the hinterland, where the border with Ethiopia runs, officials of Galmudug state are very concerned and stated today that the governance and population of Galmudug are ready to defend the freedom and sovereignty of the country and its people by all means. "Nationalist forces with strong weapons have been positioned along the coast of its territorial waters and on land, and international security forces will not be permitted to advance into Galmudug under any circumstances, the regional Minister of Defense Ali Diriye Awale manifested.

"Strong actions will be taken against any foreign vessel fishing illegally in our waters, polluting our sea or engaging in any unauthorized activity" president Mohamed Ahmed Alin (Caalin) said. "And we will pursue all those who have killed Somalis, since we can no longer stand to witness the corpses of our people found floating at the coast," Caalin vowed.

We are proud that Galmudug is now a piracy-free State and no Al-Sabab forces have reached the territory," announced Ismail Haji Noor, the Special Envoy of the Galmudug governance, tasked with Anti-Piracy. 800 jobs have been created and fish factories are being opened. "What we need is not military training by foreign forces or security companies being involved in our own affairs, since our armed men have been trained and exposed more than enough. What we need is civilian training and highly qualified education for our people in different sectors of the economy in order to bring the country as a whole back on its feet and thereby stamp out civil strife and banditry deriving from a marginalized, extremely poor and starving population."

The life and security as well as the self-determination and livelihoods of the people of Galmudug must be respected and guaranteed, the officials declared unanimously.

"We need all the true and honest international help we can get, but we choose our friends very carefully to avoid being sold out", they emphasized.

Mohamed Ahmed Alin – President of Galmudug: pressoffice@govgalmudug.com

Ali Diriye Awale – Regional Minister of Defense

Ismail Haji Noor – Special envoy – Anti-piracy – tel.: +44(0)790-8474495

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

Freed Seychelles sailors home after Somali ordeal by George Thande & David Clarke (Reuters)

Pirates closer to Seychelles than believed

U.S. brings in surveillance equipment

Three sailors from the Seychelles seized by Somali pirates in March arrived home on Sunday but declined to comment on their ordeal.

The sailors were freed this month only to be arrested by the authorities in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland and accused of being part of an illegal prisoner swap.

Puntland accused Seychelles of exchanging 23 suspect pirates caught in the Indian Ocean archipelago's waters for its three citizens -- a charge the government denied. Puntland finally said on Wednesday it planned to release the sailors.

The three, Conrad Andre, Gilbert Victor and Robin Samson, looked tired and frightened when they were met at the airport by Transport Minister Joel Morgan, who heads the Seychelles' anti-piracy task force.

The sailors declined to comment on the hijacking or their seven months in captivity. They said they would prefer to talk to the authorities for security reasons, because the pirates were closer to the Seychelles than previously thought.

Maritime security groups warned in May of a surge in the number of pirate "mother ships" operating in the Seychelles archipelago's expansive territorial waters.

The U.S. military said last month it would be deploying unmanned reconnaissance aircraft in the skies above the Seychelles to bolster anti-piracy efforts.

"We know a lot of what (the sailors) are saying but I would like to say that we have stepped up surveillance together with our international partners," said Morgan.

"The U.S. air force cargo plane behind you, for example, has just off-loaded a lot of equipment to be used in ensuring our waters are safe," he told reporters at the airport.

Pirate attacks worldwide more than doubled to 240 during the first half of 2009, driven by a surge in hijackings in the waters off the Horn of Africa, according to an International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre report in July.

While there has been a relative lull in Indian Ocean waters in the past few months because of monsoon rains, analysts fear the number of pirate attacks will mount again soon.

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

Piracy scourge

Pecunia no olet !, says the UN, while Somali Nationalists stem themselves against the outsourcing of their sovereignty.

The UN says continuing piracy-related incidents off Somalia coast and increasing sophistication illustrates weaknesses of an entirely sea-based approach to combating the scourge.

A senior UN official said the situation showed the need for the international community to deal with the issue of piracy in a comprehensive, cohesive and broad-based manner.

João Honwana, Director of the Africa I Division of Department of Political Affairs (DPA) said the continued increase in the number of incidents underscores limits of an exclusively sea-based approach.

He said the UN has been strengthening the capacities of individual member states to ensure that suspected pirates are prosecuted through harmonising national laws with the international legal regime.

He said UN through its Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) and UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is also assisting in encouraging more States to share the burden of prosecuting and imprisoning pirates, which has largely fallen to Kenya.

UNODC has helped countries review their counter-piracy laws, provided training for prosecutors, developed court facilities in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, delivered witnesses to trial and improved prison conditions and reduced overcrowding.

He said UNODC and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are working on improvement of prison conditions in Puntland and Somaliland to allow transfer of convicted pirates back to Somalia.

"In this regard, international support towards rebuilding Somali institutions is crucial to combat piracy, while also creating livelihood opportunities for the local communities," he said.

Honwana reiterated UN´s request to Contact Group to set up working group focused on land-based initiatives to tackle the root causes of piracy, while an international trust fund is also being created to channel resources to projects and activities that deal with piracy.

On Saturday, dozens of countries signed up at UN Headquarters to a declaration that commits them to taking greater steps to prevent or delay further pirate attacks.

The so-called New York Declaration, which is non-binding, calls on signatories to make widely known "best management practices" for ships and other vessels to protect themselves against possible attacks on pirates.

The declaration was first proposed in May by four of the countries with the world´s largest ship registries – Panama, the Bahamas, Liberia and the Marshall Islands. Yesterday´s signatories included the United States, China, France and the United Kingdom.

Maritime Imperatives of Indian Foreign Policy

C. Uday Bhaskar, the strategic analyst talks about India's security issues, and what the country can do to protect its borders and coast line.

Since its establishment, your Foundation has done remarkable work to raise awareness and promote a discussion of India's maritime destiny. This has not been easy in a country which has developed continental fixations, despite having longer maritime boundaries than those on land. It is an honour and a privilege to speak to you on this subject. I will not try to tell you what you know better than me, namely, how important the ocean is to India's future. Our maritime policies will be one of the major determinants of success or failure in our attempt to transform India into a modern, plural, open, advanced country that is both secure and prosperous. What I would like to do here is to dwell on what our maritime imperatives are, and how they are reflected in our foreign policy. In the process, we might look at some relevant issues and developments, suggest elements for a suitable strategy, and attempt a brief prognosis for the immediate future.

History

History shows that India was most prosperous and secure when she was most connected to the world, and that this connection was mainly by sea. It is well known that we are an ancient sea-faring nation, as the four thousand year old port at Lothal and other Indus Valley finds show. What is less well documented or taught is the extent to which the sea was the major means of our links with the world to the west and the east. "Periplus of the Erythrean Sea" predicts the winds, currents and the monsoons for those sailing to the west well before the time of Christ. While Buddhism's spread overland in the second half of the first millennium is known, the earliest travel and trade with China was by the sea route, and this was how Buddhism first came to China and East Asia.

Satavahana, Chola, Pallava, Chera and Pandyan prosperity and security were based on a maritime strategy that included South East Asia. Jawaharlal Nehru's conclusion from our history was that: "We cannot afford to be weak at sea. History has shown that whoever controls the Indian Ocean has, in the first instance, India's sea-borne trade at her mercy and, in the second, India's very independence itself."

Then why did we develop what can only be called a continental mindset in our grand strategy? One reason may have been the closing of the Indian mind after the fourteenth century, particularly in the northern Gangetic plain. In the rest of India the middle centuries of the last millennium saw considerable maritime activity. The construction of spectacular marine forts along both coasts in this period deserves much more study than they have received so far. The continental mindset really set in later, during the centuries of colonial rule.

Recognising the significance of the oceans to its control of India, this area of strategic significance was relinquished last even to the British government in India and then to Indians. Curzon was the first (and possibly the last) Viceroy of India to write to London about the importance to India of control of key choke points from the Horn of Africa to the Cape of Good Hope to the Malacca Straits, and of the need to prevent an inimical power from making an entry into the Indian Ocean. He was promptly asked to mind his own business and to leave the Royal Navy and their affairs to the authorities in London. The result was that the government of free India inherited a limited maritime vision reinforced by severe resource constraints. There were significant objective capacity limitations in the decades just after independence. These included technology denial and lack of indigenous technological capacity, and US arms embargoes in 1965, 1974 and 1998. These constraints meant that even when Indian intent or thought was present, there was a strategy-policy mismatch. (The Army and Air Force generally received allocations twice the percentage allocated to the Indian Navy.)

The Imperatives

But whatever the mindset, the facts of India's geography and history are inescapable. What was true in history is equally or even more true today. In the midst of the third largest ocean in the world, India's location is in many ways her destiny. The seas, especially the Indian Ocean, are vital to India's interests.

Transport by water remains the cheapest form available. And even when we speak of cyberspace, 95% of internet traffic is at some stage carried under the sea by underwater cables. Maritime trade and energy supplies are critical to India's transformation. Consider some statistics. Today 90% of global commerce and 65% of all oil travels by sea. Of this half the world's container traffic and 70% of the total traffic of petroleum products is accounted for by the Indian Ocean.Energy: India depends on oil for over 33% of her energy needs, and imports almost 70% of that. We import coal from ten countries, (including Mozambique, South Africa, Indonesia and Australia), many of which are Indian Ocean littorals. This is also true of our LNG imports (from Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Africa). The IEA estimates that global energy demand will grow by at least 45% between 2006 and 2030, and that half that increase will come from India and China. We are both at an energy intensive phase of our development. Between 1990 and 2003, oil consumption in India and China grew by 7% on average, against 0.8% in the rest of the world. By 2050 India could be the largest importer of oil in the world. Thus both India and China face a "Hormuz dilemma". For China this is compounded by a "Malacca dilemma" as well. Given the need for energy security, it is therefore natural that Indian companies would operate oil tank farms in Trincomalee and seek a role in oilfields from Sakhalin to Myanmar to Central Asia to Egypt, Sudan, Angola and elsewhere. Add to this our other maritime interests: almost 5 million Indians work in the Gulf and West Asia and the significance of the remittances they send home cannot be underestimated. Populations of Indian origin are scattered through the littoral states of the Indian Ocean. India also has a mineral rich EEZ which is well over 2 million square km in area. And then there is security, even in the limited classical military sense of the word. As the events in Mumbai last November 26 showed, the same Indian Ocean that carries our energy and goods is also used by our enemies to attack us. The threats from terrorism, smuggling, piracy, transnational crimes, and proliferation that the Indian Navy's 2004 Maritime Doctrine warned about have all come true in the last few years. The geostrategic significance of the Indian Ocean is clear from the fact that about 60,000 ships transit through it each year.

Let us look a little more closely at the phenomenon of piracy off the Horn of Africa from the Somali coast. Through ad hoc arrangements, the navies of several Indian Ocean countries, NATO and China and Japan are cooperating in fighting this menace. This experience shows what international cooperation can do to keep the sea lanes open, but also suggests the limitations of military responses to such complex threat phenomena. There are about 20,000 ship transits through the affected area every year. As against this so far this year there have been about 135 pirate attacks from the Somali coast and 28 vessels have been successfully commandeered. My point is simple. One must re-examine the cost effectiveness of conventional military force in dealing with these new threats. This is no longer just a case of dealing with the pirates on the Spanish Main or off the Barbary Coast.Given the stakes involved, and the nature of piracy today, a broader set of comprehensive measures with much wider international participation is essential to deal with this problem. I will return to this aspect later.

Foreign Policy

How do these three major imperatives, of trade, energy and security (even in the limited traditional sense) impact on our foreign policy? The Indian Ocean is already centre-stage in international politics. When you think of issues that have concerned India in the recent past - the attacks on Mumbai, the end of the Sri Lankan civil war, piracy off the Horn of Africa, the rise of China, energy security and trade, and instability in our periphery-each of them has involved the Indian Ocean or its littoral countries in one way or the other. Clearly India sits astride key and crucial sea lines of communication for energy security and trade and for the world economy, and especially for China and Japan. Over the last few years we have worked with friendly foreign governments in the Asia-Pacific to enhance our naval cooperation, agreeing OTRs (for operational turn around), conducting joint naval exercises and working with others on issues of maritime security. We, along with other countries, are learning as we go. There is a natural tendency, at this initial stage of this effort, to confuse the formal declaratory parts of such activity, (defence agreements, formal visits and talks and the words of communiqués, for instance,) with the actual substance of these relations. In terms of intensity and content, these exchanges in Asia are still far less than those in the Atlantic or Mediterranean. Because they occur in a regional and global context that is changing so rapidly, and when the relative balance of power in the area is shifting and evolving, we need to be careful of the effect of these formal and informal demonstrations of intent on others.

The other aspect where we are learning as we go is our institutional capacity to make foreign policy and to integrate maritime considerations into foreign policy decision-making. That we have been able to do so in the last few years is due to the informal coordination and understanding that MEA and the IN were able to maintain. This needs to be institutionalised and developed to include the other parts of government which also have a role in such policy formation.

There is no question that there is a much clearer recognition within the government of India of the importance of the maritime factor in our foreign policy choices. India's active quest for stronger ties with significant Indian Ocean littorals like Myanmar, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Oman and others is proof of this, as is the active "naval diplomacy" that we have undertaken over the last few years. The Indian Navy's exemplary response to the 2006 tsunami and the Indian Ocean Symposium and IONS initiative are visible examples. And these have been backed up by the issue of two Maritime Doctrine documents for public discussion. India is now beginning to discuss and act on her responsibilities in the Indian Ocean, whether humanitarian or in terms of providing public goods such as keeping the peace and freedom of navigation and trade. And this is being done in a cooperative manner with other friendly navies and states. The exercises with friendly navies, our discussions in various official and quasi or non-official forums, all reflect this new understanding. And these must continue and be intensified. This recognition is now also entering the realm of public debate in India, just as it is entering strategic discourse in the rest of theworld. Unfortunately, however, much of the debate is framed solely in terms of India-China rivalry. This is especially true of strategists in India and China themselves, though not of their governments. The terms in which the argument is presented are limited and would be self-fulfilling predictions, were governments to act upon them. Nor are they based on an examination of objective interests of the states concerned.

Let us look at the facts. There are no Chinese bases in the Indian Ocean today despite talk of the "string of pearls", (which, by the way, is a pretty ineffective murder weapon as any "Clue" aficionado will tell you). There is, however, extensive Chinese port development activity in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, and active weapons supply programmes to the same states. The question is whether and to what extent this improved access and infrastructure will translate into basing arrangements and political influence in future. There are also Chinese interests involved. For China, as for India and Japan, her energy security is intimately linked to keeping the sea lanes open in the Indian Ocean. The threats to energy flows in the Indian Ocean come not from the major powers, (such as India, the USA, China or Japan), all of whom have a shared interest in keeping these sea lanes working. The immediate threats come from local instability and problems in the choke points and certain littorals, particularly the Straits of Hormuz and the Horn of Africa. These will not be solved simply by an application of military force, just as piracy off the Horn of Africa cannot be. This is a test of wisdom and is where China and other states can choose to be part of the solution rather than of the problem. My question is therefore: if energy and trade flows and security are the issues, why not begin discussing collective security arrangements among the major powers concerned? Is it not time that we began a discussion among concerned states of a maritime system minimising the risks of interstate conflict and neutralising threats from pirates, smugglers, terrorists, and proliferators? India's concerns in the north-west Indian Ocean and China's vulnerabilities in the north-east Indian Ocean cannot be solved by military means alone. The issue isnot limited just to the Indian Ocean but indeed is one of security of these flows in areas and seas which affect the choke points.

These arrangements should deal with transnational issues such as piracy, crime and natural disasters. Now that Asian states and powers have evolved the capabilities and demonstrated the will to deal with these questions, it is time that a structured discussion among them and the major littorals took place.

What is proposed here is different from what has been suggested elsewhere, for instance by Robert Kaplan in the March-April issue of Foreign Affairs, namely, that the US act as "sea-based balancer" or "honest broker" between India and China in the Indian Ocean. Which major power would not like to play the role of balancer, given the chance? It is cheaper and easier and leaves the real work to the powers being balanced. For a superpower that is refocusing on Asia but finding the landscape considerably changed while she was preoccupied with Iraq and Afghanistan, this would naturally be an attractive option. But is it likely that two emerging states like India and China, with old traditions of state-craft, would allow themselves to remain the objects of someone else's policy, no matter how elegantly expressed? I think not. Instead, what is suggested is a real concert of Asian powers, including the USA which has a major maritime presence and interests in Asia, to deal with issues of maritime security in all of Asia's oceans. As Asia becomes more integrated from Suez to the Pacific, none of Asia's seas or oceans can be considered in isolation. This would be a major cooperative endeavour, and a test of Asian statesmanship. It will be asked whether this quest is not utopian when the global and regional balance of power is shifting so rapidly, when there is a major build-up of naval strength taking place in Asia, and when each major Asian power is convinced that the future will be better for them, or at least that their relative position will improve rather than worsen in the years to come. It is precisely when uncertainty in the international system is higher than it has been for a long time, when the stakes are greatest, that the need for such an exercise is sharpest and it has the most chance of success. In any case, we will not know until we try, discussing these ideas with others.

(edited by Shiv Shankar Menon)

Puntland police seize control of human trafficking hotspots

Security forces in Somalia's self-governing State of Puntland have seized control of two locations notoriously used by human traffickers, Radio Garowe reports.

The two locations, Marero and Shimbirale, have been notorious hotspots where human traffickers have conducted their illegal business of transporting migrants across the Gulf of Aden to the shores of Yemen.

Hundreds of people die each year making this dangerous journey, with survivors telling horrific stories whereby human traffickers have thrown people overboard in the high seas to avoid detection by Yemeni naval forces.

In recent weeks, Puntland's commercial port city of Bossaso, which is located along the Gulf of Aden, has been teeming with Somali and foreign migrants, mostly from neighboring Ethiopia. It is suspected that most of these people are preparing to voluntarily pay to take the dangerous journey across the Gulf of Aden.

Col. Osman Hassan "Afdalow," the police commander in Bari region where Bossaso is located, is leading police operations against the human traffickers in Puntland and has established police checkpoints at these two locations.

Puntland security sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told Garowe Online that the order to establish police checkpoints came from the office of President Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole."

"The government [of Puntland] has succeeded in building security forces who receive regular monthly salaries since President Farole was elected in January," said the sources.

Puntland's leaders have repeatedly appealed for international help in the fight against piracy and human trafficking, which government officials say are crimes that have tarnished Puntland's reputable image in recent years.

Singapore joins international efforts to combat piracy

Singapore and four other nations, including the United States, have signed onto an international plan to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia, committing to playing a leadership role in protecting one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

The 'New York Declaration' - signed on Wednesday by Britain, Cyprus, Japan and Singapore - is an attempt to pool resources and agree on the best ways of deterring the Somali pirates who prey on vessels sailing between Europe and Asia.

Singapore's signing of the New York Declaration is part of Singapore's strong commitment, as both a responsible maritime nation and a major ship registry, to the international community's efforts to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

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

Stop Voracious Japan and Korea

Vessel with 1.5 tonnes of crab detained in Russia

A vessel carrying 1.5 tonnes of crab that was caught illegally in Russia´s economic zone has been detained, a coast guard spokeswoman said Monday as Ria Novosti reported.

The Cambodian-flagged Slava vessel, with a crew of 12 Russians, two Koreans and seven Indonesians, also had fishing equipment on board. The fishing permits provided by the ship´s crew were suspected to be forged.

"About 4,000 live crabs were released into the sea. Prevented losses stand at 1.6 million roubles ($53,500)," the spokeswoman said.

The vessel was escorted to the port of Nevelsk for further investigation.

Russia banned exports of live crab in May 2007, but large volumes are still smuggled out of the country, primarily to Japan and South Korea.

Nutrition situation in Somalia post Gu 2009 (FSNAU)

Executive Summary

An integrated analysis of the nutrition information from the Gu' 09 season indicates a varied yet alarming situation throughout the country (See Map 1). Civil insecurity in Mogadishu leading to on-going population displacement, the severe and deepening drought conditions in Central regions, parts of the South and in the northwest regions and the continuing elevated commodity prices, are the key driving factors in the current analysis. High morbidity, disease outbreaks, limited access to basic services, and poor child care practices further underpin the chronic nutrition crisis faced by the Somali populations. Generally breastfeeding starts on day five of life and children often born already low birth weight and stunted are then offered solids and fluids prematurely. Beliefs and practices of treating childhood illness often results in delayed treatment, meaning a much higher burden of morbidity and mortality than necessary. This translates into a major nutrition crisis manifested in the short term through acute malnutrition and longer term though stunting. Both of these conditions have a devastating impact on the economic potential and development of the population.

The current situation analysis estimates1 285,000 acutely malnourished children of which 70,000 are severely malnourished, representing one in five and 1 in 20 of all children, respectively, under 5 years of age in Somalia. A further 84,0002 pregnant women are also estimated to be acutely malnourished, which has a negative impact on the growth of the unborn child, leading to low birth weight, stunting and developmental delay. FSNAU and partners conducted a total of 34 representative nutrition surveys to date in 2009 (see Table 1 for timeline). Of these, and referring to the WHO Growth Standards, 6 reported rates of global acute malnutrition2 (GAM) 20%. The median rate of global acute malnutrition (GAM) for all 34 surveys was 19%, an increase from 17% from the last round of comparable surveys. Rates of severe acute malnutrition remained high in many parts, with a median rate of 4.5% for all 34 surveys. However, crude and under five years mortality rates, remained below the respective emergency thresholds of 2 and 4 deaths per 10,000 population per day, with the exception of alert levels (CMR of 1-2/10,000day and U5MR of 2-4/10,000/day) reported in 4 surveys (Shabelle agro-pastoral, Juba agro-pastoral and Riverine and Gedo agro-pastoral). 70% of these acutely malnourished children are in South and Central regions, the area's most affected by insecurity and limited humanitarian space.

South & Central regions: The sustained Critical and Very Critical nutrition situation in South and Central Somalia continues to highlight the impact of years of civil war on the population's ability to deal with shocks. Without appropriate access to basic health services, children start life vulnerable, and common childhood illness like respiratory infections and diarrhoea can be fatal. The widespread lack of safe water and improved sanitation further increase the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which is currently widespread. Children are fed a predominantly cereal and oil based diet, missing the essential micronutrients and proteins essential for health, growth and development. During times of crisis, even these foods are limited and exacerbated by all the other underlying factors, high levels of acute malnutrition are prevalent. Although levels of acute malnutrition are currently high all over the country, the very high stunting of 30% in the South and Central regions compared to the 10% reported in the northwest, further illustrates the chronic nature of this crisis. With the ever shrinking humanitarian space, the nutrition situation here remains in crisis with a poor outlook for the coming months.

Northern regions

In the Northwest region, there is a mixed picture with notable recovery to Serious from the previous Very Critical situation in the western Golis Guban, as a result of in migration of livestock, increasing access to milk and increased access to humanitarian support. This recovery is to a lesser degree in the eastern parts, likely due to less positive food security and basic service indicators there. In the other areas there has been no significant change from the Serious situation in the Post Deyr '08/09, however localized areas of higher concern are apparent in the agro-pastoral parts of Galbeed, in southern Togdheer, and in Sool Plateau linked to a combination of water crisis increasing diarrhoeal disease and increasing household food insecurity. Given the population density, even without Very Critical rates of acute malnutrition, 20% of all acutely malnourished Somali children reside in the northwest, therefore integrated efforts to meet their needs are key. In the northeast region, analysis of the nutrition situation is also providing a mixed picture, though overall a deterioration from 6 months ago. Critical rates of acute malnutrition are now being reported in East Golis, Guban & Karkar with Serious rates and risk of deterioration in Nugal valley. The sustained Critical rates in Hawd and Addun highlight the concerning nutrition situation in the northeast and the elevated needs.

Full_Report (pdf* format - 6.7 Mbytes)

The last nomads: drought drives Kenya's herders to the brink (guardian.co.uk)

In the isolated border lands between Kenya and Somalia, families have always clung to a precarious existence. Now a decade of drought has tested their endurance.

Hawa Hassan comes leading three donkeys, accompanied by two female relatives and a handful of the family's smallest children. They have walked out of the drought-withered acacia scrub, travelling 15 miles in a day to reach the Kenyan settlement of Makutano, not far from the border with Somalia.

Makutano is a sparse collection of tukuls – dome-shaped dwellings patched with cloth and tarpaulin and sections of woven-grass matting – scattered along the dirt road.

Passing through a fence of piled thorn around the settlement, Hawa and the other women unload branches from the donkeys' backs. Quickly and dextrously they bend and lash the boughs, framing an igloo-shaped structure in a few minutes, one of three that will be erected by the women in a sandy clearing among the low and spiny trees.

The men, says 55-year-old Hawa, are a day behind the women with what remains of their livestock – some camels and 18 goats out of the 40 they once owned. The rest perished through lack of water – or were slaughtered for meat so her family could survive a few more days on their journey.

"We have no water," she explains, "and no food. We have left the pastures because we have lost so many goats. We had to come here to seek assistance. For the past two months we have talked and talked about making this decision. We waited because we thought there might be some rain."

And in these few minutes on arriving at Makutano, Hawa's world is utterly transformed. A nomad when she walked in through its fence, in the moment of settling into its impoverished community she became something else instead: part of the burgeoning class of pastoral dropouts. No longer self-sufficient. Condemned to live at the very margins of Kenyan life. "I'm not sad that I came," she says. "I can get water here. I don't want to leave my life. If I could get some goats then I would return to herding... I can't feel good about being in a settlement. It has been forced on me. I don't wish it for my life."

A day later, I return to Makutano to find Hawa again, and to see how she has settled in. The men of her family have now joined the women. Children crowd outside the tukuls eating porridge made of maize mixed with ground tree bark – a traditional coping technique during times of little food. But Hawa is not there. One group of Hawa's relatives I do notice, however. A mother and young children, they sit eating next to the corpses of two of the family's goats that had collapsed and died a few hours before.

Other family members are gathered quietly around something lying on the ground, the motionless figure of a woman in her late 60s, her face wrapped in a shawl. A grandmother, someone explains, she is sick from hunger and malaria. It does not look as if she will survive the evening.

What is happening in Kenya's ranger lands is the slow death of an existence, with families attempting to cling stubbornly to a land where the acacia scrub has been scorched to a spectral grey; where wind erosion scourges the possibility of life out of the fragile, desiccated soil. It has always been a hard living, herding goats, camels and bony cattle on the migration routes between the dry season and the wet season pastures. These days it looks close to impossible: the herders have begun slaughtering what precious stock has survived in order to feed their families.

Those trying to assist the nomads in the ranger lands around the dusty town of Elwak on the Somalia border understand that there is a catch-22 in their efforts to help them: that external help – for all that it is desperately needed – may also be hastening the end of nomadic pastoralism in this region.

Where water is provided, delivered in a solitary tanker with a broken steering column, the nomads will gather, attracted by what is an occasional and insufficient supply of water. And be encouraged to drop out. New parts for the water truck can take up to three months to come from Nairobi, so its drivers have been forced to make their own uncomfortable decision: to drive it until it breaks completely rather than take it off the road for temporary repairs.

The watering points in the new settlements also attract wild animals. In the villages we hear stories of infants and livestock snatched by predators.

And so far it is a very piecemeal relief effort. While some plastic water tanks are being trucked in by Kenya's government, most settlements are reliant on dirty water pans – often shared by animals and humans.

While Hawa Hassan says she will miss her life among the tracts of thorn bushes, most recent pastoral dropouts interviewed by the Observer conceded that while in the past, perhaps, they had settled for brief periods, this time many are doing it for good.

The last drought – which began in 2005 – saw a dropout rate of close to 80%. This time the numbers are between 55% and 60%. But with no rains likely for weeks at the earliest, and then only the short rains, the situation is worsening by the day.

The current drought, which began when the rains failed once again in April, is not yet as bad as the drought that came in 2005 and left this area littered with the corpses of animals. But the animals are dying now, the weakest stumbling and falling, unable to get up again. And the consequence of a change in the global weather patterns that has seen three serious droughts within a decade, when previously a bad one occurred every nine to 12 years, has been a whittling away at the nomads' capacity to restock with animals, to replenish and survive – normally a period of about three years.

The problems are exacerbated by the political marginalisation of this remote region – nearly 700 miles from Nairobi – whose residents, mainly Muslims, have long been regarded with either suspicion or indifference by those in the capital.

The result has been a mounting desperation. Families who are rich enough have taken their animals hundreds of miles by lorry to Mombasa on the coast to pasture them, or have had fodder brought from Nairobi. Those lacking in resources have been forced over the border to Somalia or into Ethiopia where many have seen their cattle stolen by militias, or have been drawn into sometimes violent conflicts over competition for resources.

One man, recently returned from Ethiopia, shows me a freshly healed wound on his throat that was sustained in a fight before he was driven back across the border. Others speak of losing all their camels to raiders in Somalia. And not all these conflicts are occurring across the border.

One morning I accompany the limping government water truck on its deliveries. First stop is a settlement named Iresuki. A group of women wait by the road with empty 20-litre plastic canisters. As the tanker arrives a fight breaks out between several women desperate to get water.

The problem is explained. The tanker visits on average just once a week. The water it delivers lasts only four days. So those without access to donkeys to fetch water from elsewhere are forced to beg and borrow. Or go thirsty.

In another village, Dowder, I come across a temporary water pan – a tarpaulin laid into a broad trench in the earth – into which the tanker deposits water for livestock. A few muddy puddles are all that remain of the water.

Abdi Kher Hassan and Bishar Dahir are scooping up the puddles, a few spoonfuls at a time. "It's for my family to drink," says Abdi. "For our homes." Unlike Hawa, Abdi has no wish to return to the ranger lands and the nomadic way of life. He dropped out of pastoralism two and a half years ago. His life is not much better.

"When we had livestock we had to move around," he says with sad logic. "Now our livestock is gone, we don't have to move. Before I had 50 goats. Now I have five. Those are ones that I'll stay home with. I don't want to go back to that life. It is too hard. My children are getting an education here. I don't want them to follow their father and grandfathers as the situation gets worse."

Bishar says they have chosen to settle on these remote and dusty roads so that their plight remains visible to the government. "If we went to the big towns, no one would notice us. We have settled here where people will notice us and where we can be helped."

The escalating collapse of the pastoralist way of life is having a profound social impact on the dropouts, those on the verge of dropping out, and the few settled communities in the region.

At a bush madrasa, an irritable teacher with a stick beats children struggling to learn Islamic verses drawn with charcoal on flat sections of tree bark.

Their parents, it transpires, are still in the bush trying to survive but have given their youngest children to relatives – who have already dropped out – to care for in settlement.

Other problems are more obvious. The dropouts congregating in Elwak and by the road have little access to healthcare and sanitation – a particular issue in the town, where the tukuls have sprung up around homes, behind the healthcare centre, and around the water towers. Most of the dropouts are lacking in any employment.

For the children it is a particularly harsh existence. Close to the water towers in Elwak, Khadija Omar is standing over the body of the last of her 50 goats. She arrived in Elwak 10 days before. One of her children has pneumonia, another has malaria. She says she will survive by gathering firewood.

Ahmed Ibrahim, of Northern Aid, a local partner of the British charity Christian Aid, which is about to launch an appeal to counter the effects of the drought in Kenya, describes the situation of the nomads as desperate. "The pastoralists know that to take their livestock into areas like Somalia, where there is a war, is unsafe. It is a mark of their desperation."

"The way the climate is changing – if it continues – it will be very difficult to sustain the nomadic way of living. It is a very hard task. We fear that soon people will begin dying not just from the lack of food but from a lack of water."

He believes that despite the terrible conditions visible already, the nomads are currently only at the beginning of what has become a disaster.

The flight from drought

A third drought in a decade is afflicting the countries in the Horn of Africa. In Kenya, more than three million people are facing food and water shortages. The worst problems have been in the north of the country, where conflicts over resources have broken out between groups of nomadic pastoralists, killing dozens.

In desperation, some nomads have crossed the borders into Ethiopia and war-torn Somalia. Others have sent women and children to lead herds into the Tsavo national park to graze, while those who are wealthy enough have moved livestock by truck as far as Mombasa on the coast in search of grazing land.

Anti-piracy measures

100mph 'James Bond' superboat 'stopped by driftwood'

By John Bingham

A 100mph James Bond-style superboat designed to outpace pirates and drug smugglers was brought to a halt by a chunk of driftwood during a high profile display, it has been reported.

The James Bond-style XSR interceptor was reportedly stopped by a chunk of driftwood

The £1.5 million XSR military interceptor was being put through its paces on the Thames in east London's Docklands when the propeller became jammed, sending it veering off course toward the riverbank.

The armour plated vessel, made by Southampton-based XSMG World, is the fastest boat ever built.

Capable of travelling at 85 knots (97mph), it carries a hidden .50 calibre machine gun enabling it to defend itself against seaborne attack such as pirates off Somalia or Caribbean drug smugglers.

Fitted with a "revolutionary" stabilisation system, involving inflatable tubes, it is designed to cope with the impact of high speed manoeuvres and extreme weather.

But during a demonstration at the Defence and Security Exhibition at the Excel centre, a chunk of wood jammed in its propeller sending the boat off course, The Sun reported.

It took a glancing blow with the bank it finally came to a halt leaving a handful of people on board reportedly shaken but unhurt.

A spokesman for the company told the newspaper: "We are assessing the damage but it will probably just need paintwork."

The incident marred an opportunity for the manufacturer to show the boat off to potential customers including the Royal Navy and other international fleets.

Pirate Hunters of the Gulf of Aden

By Chuck Simmins

Task Force 151

U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Scott Sanders, Vice Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Royal Navy Capt. Keith Blount, chief of staff of Combined Task Force 151 spoke with reporters about the status of anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa on Friday, September 11. I participated in the press briefing described in this story.

Task Force 151 is part of a multi-national effort to protect shipping for intense pirate activity originating in the nation of Somalia. While the United States Navy and the Royal Navy have provided the core units for the Task Force, other allied navies have also participated with ships, aircraft and personnel. TF 151 is joined in its mission by naval units of the European Union, NATO and a number of independent efforts from countries such as Russia, mainland China and Iran.

Adm. Sanders discussed the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor. The latest version of the IRTC was established in February 2009. It is about 2,600 miles long and 60 miles wide. Running along the Yemeni coast, it is designed to provide a safer transit route for shipping, away from fishing grounds and away from the Somali coast.

Sanders is quite proud that there have been no successful piracies of ships in the corridor that followed the suggested guidelines and followed the recommended safety and more robust response protocols aboard ship. Sanders characterized the sailors of these merchant vessels as courageous in the defense of their vessels.

The recommendations are designed to deter pirates from boarding vessels, and if a ship is boarded, to allow the various naval vessels time to respond. Attempts to pirate such vessels in the IRTC have been made but all have failed.

The Admiral made it clear that other vessels have been seized by pirates. While TF-151 and the other navies do their best, the merchant vessels that do not follow best practices risk being taken.

Last week, a skiff was spotted and stopped by the combined efforts of several navies. A Japanese P-3 aircraft first spotted the suspicious ship. A helicopter off a ship from the Republic of Korea investigated. German and Greek ships provided additional assets. A boarding party from a Norwegian ship did search the skiff.

The Norwegians found a "fishing vessel" with no fishing gear. It carried weapons, ladders and other materials associated with piracy. All of the weapons and material were confiscated and the Somalis with their skiff were sent home.

Captain Blount, a veteran of naval activity off the Iraqi coast, talked about the Coast Guards' of the nations in the region. The Kenyans are working closely with TF-151. There is a meeting scheduled for September 12 with officers of the Yemeni Coast Guard to build that relationship. In a week or two, TF-151 personnel will be meeting with officials in the Seychelles with a similar agenda.

Blount discussed the announcement that the Somali government was intent on creating its own Coast Guard. He welcomed the move and TF-151 would be open to discussions and perhaps some level of assistance at the right time.

Both Rear Admiral Sanders and Captain Blount stressed the extraordinary level of communication and cooperation among all of the nations conducting anti-piracy operations in the Gulf. Sanders stated that regardless of other political conflicts, controlling piracy was a common interest for all of these nations.

Chinese soldiers hold anti-pirates drill in Gulf of Aden

Chinese naval soldiers on board of the Zhoushan missile frigate in the Gulf of Aden held an exercise of anti-piracy operations on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. The Chinese escort flotilla is on an escort mission to fend off Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

A helicopter was seen taking off the Zhoushan and later soldiers abseiled by the rope to take their positions on board of merchant ship Jiaxin.

No real peace in sight yet

Heavy Fighting Continues in Mogadishu

Heavy fighting between the AMISOM troops and Islamist fighters is currently continuing in parts of the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Saturday.

Reports say that clashes started early on Saturday morning in around Kulliyada Jalle Siad building, the largest base of the Brundian troops in Mogadishu as both the Islamist fighters and African Union troops AMISOM are exchanging heavy gunfire.

Residents around the areas of the building where the clashes are continuing expressed concern about the heavy gun battle saying that sound of heavy weapon could be heard all directions of the capital.

It is unclear the real casualties of the fighting so far.

The fighting seems to be part of the series of clashes and attacks continued in the Somali capital Mogadishu in over the past few days.

Every day you can give thanks that you don't live in Somalia

By Norman Webster (*)

The world's No. 1 failed state is crumbling and crazy-dangerous

Whenever one becomes discouraged with life in Ourtown - its potholes and falling masonry, its war between drivers and cyclists, its noisome politics and bizarre language quarrels - one can always, at the end of the day, crack a cold one and sink into the sofa while murmuring gratefully, "Well, at least this isn't Mogadishu."

This will certainly have occurred to readers of National Geographic. The September issue has an outstanding piece on the world's No. 1 failed state, Somalia. It is a stunner - especially the photographs by Pascal Maitre, Paris-based but a five-time visitor to the country and its crumbling, crazy-dangerous capital.

Older correspondents will shed a tear for the days before religious war and clan violence tore the place apart. Thirty years ago, when I visited to report on a refugee crisis, Mogadishu itself was a pretty safe place featuring elegant buildings left by the former colonial ruler, Italy.

Today much of the city is rubble, its streets a feral cockpit where only the unwise venture after dark. Hotels along the Indian Ocean beach front are shattered hulks.

That was where the old Anglo-American Beach Club was located. Foreigners, mostly Italian, would gather there to commiserate about Somali bureaucrats whose perfection of the 10-second attention span ensured that nothing, absolutely nothing, ever got done. An official speaking to you while simultaneously signing his name to documents would actually halt his pen in mid-signature to discuss a new matter with a new arrival. It drove the Italians nuts.

The evidence of near-madness was clear at the Beach Club: They were mixing their gin with Fanta orange.

The decline of Somalia is one of the saddest stories of our time. It almost makes one pine for dictators. The country was no paradise, but it did enjoy relative stability under a buck-toothed general named Mohammed Siad Barre, who took power in a coup in 1969 and held it until ousted in 1991.

Barre ran a taut ship in which opponents did not prosper. He seems to have had a nose for the ferocious, deeply-rooted clan politics of Somali society, as noted in a stark proverb:

Me and my clan against the world;

Me and my family against my clan;

Me and my brother against my family;

Me against my brother.

Since Barre's downfall, there has been almost constant warfare in the Horn of Africa. Life has been hell for millions - although, it must be noted, more hellish for the inhabitants of the former Italian Somalia, in the south, than those of the former British Somalia in the north. Known, somewhat confusingly, as Somaliland, this northern territory today is effectively independent and relatively sane. No one is quite sure why, or how long the blessed surcease will last.

It is a harsh, arid land, Somalia, burdened by drought, heavy weapons, brutish leaders, female circumcision and now pirates (pirates!) openly plying their trade along the coast. Islamic terrorists are on the rise; security experts warn that Somalia could become a safe haven for Al-Qa'ida, as happened in Afghanistan in 2001. Foreigners are kidnapped for ransom (including Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout, who has been held for 13 months since being abducted together with an Australian colleague on the same road, and the same day, as National Geographic's reporter and photographer passed with difficulty).

Here are a few figures.

Population: about 9.1 million.

Number killed in civil warfare: about l million.

Top 5 ranking in 2009 Failed States Index issued by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine: Somalia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Number of Somalis estimated by recent UN report to be in need of humanitarian assistance: 3.76 million.

It was an earlier crisis that took me to Somalia in 1979. Mohammed Siad Barre had made a bad mistake by invading Ethiopian territory in the Ogaden desert, counting on the Americans to aid him against Ethiopia and its Communist allies, Cuba and the Soviet Union. [N.B. US president Jimmy Carter had promised the weapons but never delivered in time. The M16s and heavier gun, however were delivered - mainly to fulfil the contract with the weapons-industry - but only when the Ogaden war was long lost. Many of the weapons from this delivery have since spread to Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda and are in the hands of local nomad militias.] When the Americans did not come through, a counter-attack pushed the Somali army back to its borders.

Then the Ethiopians began a brutal cleansing, driving hundreds of thousands of ethnic Somalis from their homes in the desert. The victims told wrenching (and believable) stories of torture, rape and executions, villages put to the torch, camels slaughtered and, that most terrible of desert crimes, the poisoning of waterholes.

Meanwhile, the so-called Western Somali Liberation Front was carrying on a guerilla campaign in the Ogaden. At its headquarters, a peeling back room in Mogadishu, the Front's secretary-general added an unusual item to his charges against the much-hated Cubans. It seemed that Fidel's boys, missing the delights of home and Havana, were wont to have, er, unnatural relations with donkeys in the desert. Chuckles all round.

I took notes gravely. You never know.

(*) Norman Webster is a former editor of The Gazette.

If we brand Somalia the next Afghanistan, we invite it to live up to its name By Daniel Howden

A UN-recognised government that controls only three districts of the capital, propped up by international peacekeepers. A raging Islamic insurgency that has rallied support by denouncing its opponents as foreign stooges. Rebel strongholds where medieval justice is meted out and teenage boys have hands and feet chopped off, while women and girls are stoned to death in public.

Suicide bombings that kill dozens. Kidnappings and targeted killings that terrorise aid workers and journalists.

The parallels between Afghanistan and Somalia are not hard to find, but should not be exaggerated. Somalia, for one thing, is now the worst humanitarian crisis in the world with half the population in need of assistance and 1.5 million people displaced. Nonetheless, the Horn of Africa nation invites comparisons as a haven for global jihadists where the Islamic militias are fighting to create an "al-Qa'ida state".

This was a country that was abandoned by much of the world after the fall of the socialist dictator Siad Barre in 1991. The interventionist Clinton administration had its fingers burned two years later when it lost 18 servicemen in the incident remembered in the film Black Hawk Down. The UN pulled out two years after that, when the country became a model "failed state" as the country's patchwork of competing clans tore itself apart. It was only after the 11 September attacks on the US that Somalia began to reassume strategic importance for Washington.

It was after 2005, when a section of the business community had tired of paying levies to the warlords and started backing a loose alliance of Islamic Sharia law courts, that the dynamic changed. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) that emerged drew mass support and within a year had driven the warlords from the capital. But diplomatically it was the wrong time for a new Islamic state to emerge, and Somalia was accused of channelling money to al-Qa'ida and sheltering terrorists.

A year later, the US engineered an invasion of Somalia by its traditional enemy Ethiopia and the ICU was scattered by a larger conventional army. The Ethiopian occupation turned out to be disastrously worse. The youth wing of the ICU, al-Shabaab, transformed itself into a fundamentalist militia (admired by al-Qa'ida) that drew deep public support by fighting the occupier. And at the end of last year the Ethiopians retreated.

The international community turned to Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the leader of the ICU, to take over the government – the same man the US helped to topple two years prior. He promptly installed sharia, but found that he could no longer control the al-Shabaab or his former ally Sheikh Aweys who now heads another Islamic militia, Hizbul-Islam.

The government has lost much support since taking over, and militants now control most of south and central Somalia. Open backing from Washington has bolstered support for Sheikh Ahmed's opponents. The question now worrying Western security experts is whether Somalia will become a training ground for jihadis from Somalia's huge diaspora. Certainly al-Shabaab is recruiting in the US and Europe and suicide bombers in Somalia have come from communities as far afield as Minnesota. An alleged terror plot in Australia earlier this year involving Somalis has rung alarm bells.

However, Chatham House's Somalia expert, Roger Middleton, cautions against premature conclusions about Somalia becoming "the new Afghanistan".

"Shabaab and Hizbul-Islam are nationalist movements first and foremost. The commanders are fighting to control Somalia. Their agenda is local, not global." There is a danger, he says, that the Afghan template being pushed down on Somalia "becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy".

Somalis Served Guns at Iftar

By Abdul-Rahman Yusuf, IOL Correspondent

Ahmed Nour is sitting with his family in their house in southern Mogadishu, waiting for the Maghreb (Evening) prayers call to break fast.

Suddenly, the voice of gun battles blares out, sending the terrified Somali family on the run.

"We are served with guns at iftar," Nour told IslamOnline.net.

"Instead of going to houses and mosques for iftar, we are racing to the shelters.

"We are celebrating Ramadan with gunshots instead of dates," he said.

Many Muslims break their fast with dates, a Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Somali opposition has intensified attacks against government troops during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Six people were killed Friday when a stray mortar smashed into a hospital compound in Mogadishu before the iftar.

"Mortar shells killed 9 disabled persons and seriously injured 19 others," Yasin Ali Sheikh, vice chairman of Elman peace and human rights group, told Reuters.

The Shehbab group and Hezb al-Islam allied militia have rejected calls by Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed for a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan.

The two groups launched a deadly offensive in May against the government troops in a bid to unseat it.

The fighting has left hundreds of civilians dead, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

More than 200,000 people have also been displaced in the past two months.

Fearful Iftar

The usual Ramadan joy drawn on the Muslim faces worldwide is almost absent on the Somali faces.

"Since the beginning of Ramadan, Somalis were not able to get a single safe iftar," a local journalist told IOL, wishing not to be named.

"They (militants) target residential areas around the market, leaving people in fear."

As if the militants were not enough for the helpless Somalis, the African peacekeepers are adding to the civilians´ suffering.

"We are also the target of the cannons of the African troops," Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, from the Haden district in southern Mogadishu, told IOL.

He said the peacekeepers argue that they shell the area from where the militants fire at the troops.

The mandate of the African peacekeepers has recently been changed to allow the troops to fight alongside the government troops against the militants.

But this never brought back the smile to the Somali faces.

"Residents who are still staying in this area are tasting all forms of panic," said Abdullah.

"Instead of bringing joy to our hearts, the iftar time brings fear and sorrow."

AU soldiers kill a dozen camels in Mogadishu

That the purely trained African Union soldiers in Mogadishu fire on everything and anything moving is known and the many civilian casualties caused by AU fire provide for sad evidence to this fact.

A batch of new victims are now a dozen Somali camels, which actually are of the one-humped dromedary species Camelus dromedarius.

A total of 12 camels died in Mogadishu after African Union troops in Mogadishu (AMISOM) shot and killed them, witnesses confirmed. Residents said earlier the soldiers opened fire indiscriminately killing 11 camels instantly near Mogadishu airport overnight. Four other camels had also been injured in the incident of which one died in the meantime.

African Union troops in the Somali capital Mogadishu had during the night opened deliberate fire on a caravan of camels passing near their barbed wire fence around Adan Ade international airport.

"At around 9:15pm local time the African Union sentries have opened indiscriminate fire on a caravan of camels travelling on the highway near the airport, and killed 8 he camels and 4 she camels and wounded dozen of others" said Rage Ali a resident living around the airport speaking to Somaliweyn radio.

It was not known first why the AU soldiers shot and killed the camels, but a resident near the airport said the soldiers might have mistaken the camels and opened the fire out of fear to be attacked in a decoy plot.

An African Union soldier who was among the soldiers, who have opened the fire on the caravan of the camels and who requested his name not to be disclosed in the media, confirmed to Somaliweyn radio that in the first place they never thought these were camels, but people intending to attack them, and have simultaneously opened fire on the camels.

The camels apparently ran past the entrance to Mogadishu's airport and the protection force thought rebels were behind the camels.

It was sometimes in the mid of 2008 when the Ethiopian troops in Somalia have similarly opened fire on a caravan of camels travelling along the industrial area in Mogadishu.

AMISOM troops, which are not deployed as peacekeepers but still only have a protection mandate for the Somali government, have their biggest base at Halane Training Camp, a short distance from the airport in South Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab rebels sometimes use passing civilians and vehicles to give as cover before attacks, police are reported as saying.

"We thought Islamists and AMISOM were fighting last night, but this morning we just saw dead camels," resident Farah Aden told Reuters. "Each camel had at least 10 bullet wounds. The whole area was covered with blood."

The owners of the camels are now up in arms about the killing of their camels and met with AMISOM officials at the airport.

The camel herders and officials of the African Union have on Sunday came together to discuss about the issue, and some reports we are getting from the African Union barracks in Mogadishu, says that the AU troops have agreed to pay compensation the camel owners.

"It was our new forces and they were not aware of the camels' movements," the spokesman for the AU troops who face nearly daily attacks from hard-line Islamist rebels, told Reuters

"They say they were attacked, and so opened fire," said Barigye Ba-hoku and added "We admit there was a mistake and we've spoken to the owners."

The Untold Story Behind the Replacement of Prof. Gandhi

By Dr. Mohamed Abbas

The removal of Professor Mohamed Abdi Mohamed "Gandhi" from his portfolio as Somalia´s Minister of Defense was received by many as mind-shattering news. Before the cabinet reshuffle took place, who would have thought that Professor Gandhi, an intellectual man with a great deal of foresight, would be treated in such a degrading way?!

In comparison with the rest of the cabinet ministers, Professor Gandhi is a sincere politician who does not believe in tribal allegiances but fully committed in putting Somalia´s national interest above anything else. If he is not faithful to his country, he wouldn´t have left the university teaching career in the West and his dust-free, tension-free luxury life in Paris. Instead, he chose to serve for his country and live in Mogadishu, the most volatile and dangerous city in the world.

Professor Gandhi has a wealth of academic and administration experiences under his belt and holds PhD in Geology and another PhD in Anthropology and History from Besancon University in France. He was awarded the prestigious International Laureate from French Academy and played a key role in shaping the Somali Civil Society since its inception. When I evaluate Professor Gandhi´s contributions to the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and I compare how he was treated in return, I can only recall Nuruddin Farah´s wisdom in his novel Close Sesame, "that a traitor can betray only the one who trusts him".

As Defense Minister, Professor Gandhi was the driving engine and the towering figure in a government that never speaks with one voice. He did his best to produce something that was alternative to the propaganda that was being put out by the enemy of the Somali people. He is a leading Somali intellectual who believes the rule of law even in a lawless nation like Somalia. He is a man who seeks peace at a time when peace lovers are few and far between in Somalia.

The change of his portfolio from Minister of Defense to Minister of Transport will only serve as another blow to the already fractious government that is hiding in Villa Somalia, the Presidential Compound in Mogadishu.

When the Somali cabinet was reshuffled recently, I talked to my Somali colleagues about their views on who is behind the replacement of Professor Gandhi as Somalia´s Minister of Defense at this critical stage, is it the Somali President or the Prime Minister? Without any hesitation, their fingers of blame all pointed at one man, Meles Zenawi, Ethiopai´s Prime Minister.

The answer I received from my colleagues will not be very much different from the responses you would get if you were to ask the same question to any truthful Somali who is living either in Somalia or beyond its borders. If you give a careful thought to this judgment, it seems that it makes sense, given the fact that many unproductive ministers with no performance culture still hold their portfolios.

Worse than that, some corrupt yes-men, former warlords and potentially future tyrants remain key figures in the Somali cabinet ministers.

Starting from his appointment as Somalia´s Minister of Defense in February 2009, Professor Gandhi has kept the flames going and has been riding a wave of popularity ever since. He gained trust both from his people and from the international community alike.

So what went wrong?! In other words: what are the things that Professor Gandhi has done that upset Ethiopia and gave the regime in Addis Ababa the jitters?

As Somalia´s Minister of Defense, Professor Gandhi´s strategy was to build a powerful Somalia army, which he believed is the only way to bring Somalia back on track. And to make this strategy workable, he brought together high ranking officers from former Somali armed forces in Washington from 1 – 5 August 2009 for in-depth discussions on the re-establishment of the Somali National Army and subsequently, disarming all armed militias. He urged the former Somali military officers to prepare to defend Somalia from both internal and external enemies and to secure the territorial integrity of the nation. Professor Gandhi was also against the TFG´s strategy of relying on clan militias and the so-called Ahlu Sunnah wa Al-Jama´ah who are indeed a deviated group that founded a most unholy alliance with the regime in Addis Ababa, and still hiding behind this beautiful name (Ahlu Sunna wa Al-Jama´ah).

Many Somalis – including myself – believe that the sole objective behind the cabinet reshuffle was just to replace some influential key ministers who are not pro-Ethiopia such as Professor Gandhi and the former Foreign Minister Mr. Oomar, in exchange of political and military support from Ethiopia. To many Somalis, the "cabinet reshuffle" was just a cover-up to hide Sheikh Sharif and Sharmake´s total submission and obedience to Ethiopia´s Prime Minister from becoming publicly known.

Professor Gandhi wanted to build a strong Somali national army to replace those poor armed, poor trained clan militias who are now in government uniforms. And of course, these initiatives have angered Ethiopia, which is Somalia´s rival and historical enemy.

If truth be told, this is the untold story behind the replacement of Professor Gandhi as Somalia´s Minister of Defense. And as a final point, I would advise him to resign from his new portfolio.

President Shariff and Premier Sharmarke in standoff

Reliable reports, which Somaliweyn radio is getting from the Somali parliament, speak of a serious disagreement between the Somali President Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed and the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke over the recent agreement between the Somali government and the autonomous region of Puntland, signed by the Somali Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke sometimes last month in the town of Galkayo.

President Sheikh Shariff, with support from the two big wigs in the Somali parliament - Shariff Hassan Sheikh Adan, who is the deputy Somali Premier as well as the Minister for Finance, and Professor Abdurahman Hajji Adan Ibbi who is also the deputy Premier as well as the Minister for fisheries and marine resources -, opposes the Puntland pact.

Lobbing in the Somali parliament to remove Somalia Premier Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke from his post started. Already around 200 lawmakers are said to be prepared to impeach him.

The general disagreement among the top Somali government officials is on the verge to be publicly known, and the matter became worse when the Somali president has signed an agreement concerning the financing of ant-piracy initiatives with the Djibouti government in Djibouti.

The Somali premier and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland had agreed to a 15 articles pact between the two sides, signed by the Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and the regional President of Puntland Abdurahman Mohamed Farole.

While Sharmake is determined the agreement to be implemented, the president and his followers have shown detest concerning the agreed points.

This sort of disagreement is seen by many Somalis as common among the Somali government officials.

TFG Leadership Rift over Galkacyo Agreement

by Liban Ahmad

The Puntland State of Somalia has warned the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) against failing to honour the agreement signed by the TFG prime minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke and Puntland president, Abdirahman Farole in Galkacyo in August. The warning comes in the wake of an agreement signed by the Somali Minister Fisheries, Abdirahman Ibbi and Djibouti minister of Transport, Ali Hassan Bahdoon, this week.

The new agreement will make Djibouti the centre of anti-piracy campaign. The Puntland leadership warned against any attempt to sack the Somali prime minister. It is not secret that power struggle has erupted between the Somali president Sheikh Sharif and his prime minister. President Sharif banks on the expanded Parliament to be able sack the prime minister in the same way that the former Transitional National Government president Abdiqasim Salad Hassan sacked his prime minister Ali Khalif Galaydh in 2002. Unlike Ali Khalif Galaydh, the TFG prime minister, Omar Abdirahshid Sharmarke, enjoys support in his powerbase, Puntland, and has put a lot of effort into convincing the Puntland leadership that the TFG can be serious about federalism although the Sharia law was passed without any consultation with autonomous administrations.

"Power struggle is not good news for the Somali president and the prime minister. It will be interpreted as a repeat of the messy power struggles that affected the work of the TFG from 2005 to 2008" says Ali Ahmed , a Galkacyo based Somali journalist.

In a article in Christian Science Monitor Alexander Noyes and Richard Bennet, research associates at the Council on Foreign Relations "argue that Washington should cease direct military aid to Somalia´s Transitional Federal Government, work with regional partners to cut supply lines to the insurgency, and encourage negotiations between the TFG and the Islamist insurgent group al Shabab."

The absence of benchmark against which to assess the work of the TFG has dissuaded the TFG leadership from starting debate on ways to restore popular trust in federal institutions. Devising a benchmark is not a simple task. Gradually the international community is taking steps to address contradictions in its Somalia policy: financing a transitional government with no governance record at the expense institution building efforts by autonomous regions.

What will happen if Puntland withdraws support for the TFG?

If Puntland-TFG working partnership breaks down, President Sharif may be forced to make peace with the insurgents from a weaker position. The African Union and the United Nations Somali Office will reexamine their approaches to working with the TFG. The TFG has always relied on the support of the international community to pressure its ´partners´ or opposition into accepting the ´TFG legitimacy´. The TFG president prefers putting all resources in the TFG coffers whereas the prime minister opts for sharing resources between the TFG and autonomous regions as a trust-building exercise. That is why the Somali president backed the Minister of Fisheries for signing an agreement that violated the letter and the sprit of the Galkacyo agreement. The rift within the TFG leadership is a public relations blow of which the insurgents can take advantage.

President Rayale Agrees To Reopen Parliament (Somaliland Globe)

The leader of the of the Upper House of parliament, Suleiman Mohamoud Aden, and nine other members met president Rayale to push him to reopen the parliament, which was taken over by the police on Tuesday, without preconditions.

The president agreed to reopen it, according to Aden.

Apart from Aden and his colleagues´ efforts, there were also forty highly influential suldans (traditional clan leaders) who talked some sense into the president to open the parliament on Saturday to avoid a potential confrontation between the police and members of the public who are preparing themselves to defend their MPs to resume their public duties in parliament without hindrance.

"The president agreed to reopen the parliament and will order the police to stay away from parliament premises so that the lawmakers can resume their duties fully in parliament on Saturday," Mr. Aden said in an interview with the BBC radio.

Also, he appealed to the opposition parties to call off their planned nationwide protest activities on Saturday since the president agreed to reopen the parliament.

Thirty-two MPs held an impromptu meeting in a private residence in south Hargeisa on Wednesday after the security forces denied them to resume their duties in parliament. The MPs agreed to present themselves to the parliament on Saturday along with members of the public who are expected to come out in full force in central Hargeisa.

Impeachment trial initiated by the opposition MPs against the president triggered fresh political crisis in the country and put the Legislative branch directly on a collision course with Executive branch. Consequently, president ordered the police to take control of the parliament to prevent MPS from debating on his impeachment trial.

The confrontation between the two sides continues. Before, the confrontation was confined between the opposition parties and the president.

Somaliland leader calls for calm after deadly demos (AFP)

The president of breakaway Somaliland called on the opposition Sunday to show restraint after violent demonstrations killed at least three people in the capital Hargeysa.

"I call upon you to show restraint by ending the protests on Hargeysa. We know that undermining existing peace is very simple, but regaining a lost peace will not be a simple task," Dahir Riyale Kahin told a news conference.

Deadly clashes erupted Saturday when opposition demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans sought to break into the parliament building after police tried to stop a scheduled debate on a motion to impeach the president, officials said.

Witnesses said the riot police opened fire on the crowd and police arrested three journalists. Police said armed protesters wounded four officers.

Faced with increased violence in the tiny self-styled state, Riyale pointed to the unrest in south Somalia with a radical Islamist insurgency as an example of what happens when peace is lost and a state fails.

"Today we know the lack of stability created by the Shebab (radical Islamists) in south Somalia, and we cannot rule out they could also be operational in our region since some of our children are among them, so don't allow yourselves to spill your blood for the sake of someone's interest," he told reporters at the presidential palace.

He also called on the opposition parties to come to the negotiation table without preconditions in order to avoid more violence.

Tension rose in the breakaway state after the postponement of the presidential election scheduled for September 27.

The poll has already been delayed twice, notably over a disagreement concerning the voters' register.

Riyale, 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.

Impacting reports from the global village

Compassion for the Wrong Strategy

Angelina Jolie Visits Camps of Somalia Refugees in Kenya

Angelina Jolie, who donned a blue cap and black shirt, was spotted smiling while listening to a Somali refugee in Dadaab refugee camp on the Kenya-Somali border in East Africa, on Saturday.

The 34-year-old star has worked with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) since early 2001.

The actress, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR, was busy with a day-long visit to the camp to focus on the forgotten plight of the refugees from Somalia and to appeal for solutions for the overcrowding.

Critics, however, see the UNHCR operation of the refugee camps in Kenya rather as a hotel-management exercise, where the owner wants to stay in business, have a high occupancy rate, and rather build an additional new hotel to which old and new guests can be transferred regardless of social implications for the refugees and the local population alike - all as the increasing expense of the international community.

"As long as UNHCR is not forced to seriously work with at least 50% of its efforts and money on rebuilding and securing the situation in the home-countries of the refugees in order to create a situation where the uprooted families can return to a safe and sound future in their own lands, the refugee-satellite cities all over the world will increase and the UNHCR as industry-leader in forced-hospitality will prosper for the wrong reasons - instead of striving to be not necessary any more UNHCR's wrong strategies are increasing the refugee problem the world over," states ECOTERRA Intl.

Italy moves against FGM in Somalia

In an address by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini at the G8 International Conference on Violence Against Women, Italy stated:

"So Italy has taken on a leading role in the global battle to combat violence against women. It is natural, therefore, that our country should have wished to seal this strong political intent through a specific action designed to eliminate a practice that is still in wide use in a number of countries. A practice which is an aberrant form of physical violation of women´s bodies: female genital mutilation.

This is a topic on which Italy has taken action since the mid-1980s, starting in Somalia. Today it sees the Italian Foreign Ministry engaged in a full-blown prevention strategy, including through an international Development Cooperation campaign together with UNFPA and UNICEF. Naturally, to achieve substantive results, collaboration and a leading role for the governments directly concerned are crucial elements in the process.

In this framework, I have decided to promote an initial meeting in New York in the margins of the 64th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 25 September to bring together the partners – who include a number of African countries, NGOs and UN agencies – who have thus far decided to espouse this cause and together draw up an effective common strategy."

More Britons travel to Somalia for 'jihad': report (AFP)

Intelligence chiefs have warned British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government that Somalia is the next challenge in efforts to stem Islamic terrorism, a report said Sunday.

The officials have warned that the number of young Britons travelling to Somalia to fight in the war-torn country or take part in "terror training camps" is rising, the Independent on Sunday said, citing unnamed sources.

In particular, they are concerned about the number of people with no direct family connection to Somalia who are travelling there.

The number travelling there every year has more than quadrupled to at least 100 since 2004, according to the newspaper.

"I have seen figures that are not in the public domain that suggest there is an increasing flow of young Britons into Somalia," said opposition Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, chairman of the counter-terrorism subcommittee.

"There is now a mixture of British people, from numerous backgrounds, who are heading out there and that is causing great concern."

The Shebab, an Al-Qaeda inspired movement, is spearheading a three-month-old offensive to topple Somalia's President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and has imposed strict Sharia law in areas under its control.

The US has expressed fear that the Shebab would turn Somalia into an extremist haven similar to the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan -- which has been a top priority for the Barack Obama administration.

MI5 warns that young Brits heading for terrorist training Somalia soaring (ANI)

British intelligence chiefs have targeted war-torn Somalia as the next major challenge to their efforts to repel Islamic terrorism, after receiving reports of scores of youths leaving the UK for "jihad training" in that failed African state.

According to The Independent, MI5 bosses have warned ministers that the number of young Britons travelling to Somalia to fight in a "holy war", or train in terror training camps, has soared in recent years as the country has emerged as an alternative base for radical Islamic groups.

The number of young Britons following the trail every year has more than quadrupled to at least 100 since 2004 - and analysts warn that the true figure (which would include those who enter the country overland) will be much higher.

However, the British authorities are particularly concerned about the number of people with no direct family connection to Somalia who are travelling to fight and train there.

The diversity suggests Somalia is flourishing as a training ground for radical British Muslims, who could join the local terrorist militia al-Shabaab ("the youth"), go on to join conflicts including the Afghan campaign, or return home to pose a security threat to the UK.

Jihad: The Somalia connection by Brian Brady

Numbers of young Britons heading for war-torn African country have soared

British intelligence chiefs have targeted war-torn Somalia as the next major challenge to their efforts to repel Islamic terrorism, after scores of youths left the UK for "jihad training" in the failed African state. MI5 bosses have warned ministers that the number of young Britons travelling to Somalia to fight in a "holy war", or train in terror training camps, has soared in recent years as the country has emerged as an alternative base for radical Islamic groups including al-Qa'ida.

The Independent on Sunday understands that the number of young Britons following the trail every year has more than quadrupled to at least 100 since 2004 – and analysts warn that the true figure (which would include those who enter the country overland) will be much higher.

However, the British authorities are particularly concerned about the number of people with no direct family connection to Somalia who are travelling to fight and train there. The diversity suggests Somalia is flourishing as a training ground for radical British Muslims, who could join the local terrorist militia al-Shabaab ("the youth"), go on to join conflicts including the Afghan campaign, or return home to pose a security threat to the UK.

It was reported earlier this year that a suicide bomber from Ealing had blown himself up in an attack in Somalia that killed more than 20 soldiers. Two Somali asylum-seekers were among the four men convicted of the failed attempts to bomb the London transport system on 21 July 2005.

Although Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the main destination for British would-be jihadists, the IoS has established that British intelligence chiefs have multiplied the time and resources dedicated to monitoring the trail between Britain and Somalia. The human chain to the Horn of Africa is at the centre of a number of ongoing secret operations. The most established British Somali communities – in London, Liverpool, Cardiff and Bristol – have been placed under the microscope, but "significant investigations" have been targeted on Manchester and West Yorkshire.

The Somali connection has been played down in recent years, as security services have concentrated on more traditional terror hot spots such as Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. A number of the "liquid bomb" plot terrorists convicted last week had Pakistani connections and the bomb makers are believed to have received training at an al-Qa'ida camp in Pakistan.

The British Somali community has grown rapidly in recent years, with thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting in their homeland. But the hardship they have experienced has raised fears that many younger British Somalis have become detached from wider society – and ripe for radicalisation. The Home Office is funding a "Prevent" strategy to tackle radicalisation in UK Muslim communities.

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, chairman of the counterterrorism subcommittee, said: "I have seen figures that are not in the public domain that suggest there is an increasing flow of young Britons into Somalia. There is now a mixture of British people, from numerous backgrounds, who are heading out there and that is causing great concern."

Despite international support, a series of governments has folded in the face of opposition from rival warlords over almost two decades. Al-Shabaab, a militant Islamic group with deepening ties to al-Qa'ida, is engaged in a vicious struggle with the latest transitional government.

The organisation, which has been designated a terrorist group by the US government, has imposed sharia law in the areas under its control. US officials also accuse al-Shabaab of recruiting young children to train for suicide missions in Somalia.

But it is the ability of Somali militants to reach beyond their own borders that is causing the greatest concern. A confidential report from the non-governmental organisation Partners International Foundation in 2002 identified at least 16 terrorism training camps. The Americans claim the network has grown since then.

Three men from Minneapolis have so far pleaded guilty to terror-related charges stemming from a federal investigation into Americans travelling to Somalia to fight with Islamic militants. At least three more have died, including one whom authorities believe is the first American suicide bomber. Australian authorities last month revealed they had uncovered an alleged plot by immigrants, including three Somalis, to carry out a suicide attack.

The alarm has been echoed in the UK, where undercover surveillance operations have identified a growing number of suspect visits to Somalia.

"We would have started at below 20 five years ago, when Somalia was not significant enough to be put under close surveillance," a senior Home Office source said yesterday. "It has been climbing noticeably every year. You have to remember that Somalia is not a place you would go for a holiday. It is particularly striking when people with no Somali family are going there; it looks as if some people are being attracted by the lawlessness."

The British Somali who became a suicide bomber is believed to have entered Somalia on foot, over the border from Kenya. The unnamed 21-year-old reportedly blew himself up at a checkpoint in the southern Somali town of Baidoa in 2007.

Sheikh Ahmed Aabi, a moderate Somali religious leader in Kentish Town, north London, said that he had heard from families of sons travelling to Somalia to join Islamist groups. "I'm hearing it from parents," he said. "They say they [their children] are joining the jihad. This is a big problem facing our community."

A troubled history

By Victoria Richards

1960 British and Italian Somaliland join forces on independence to form the Somali Republic under the first president, Aden Abdullah Osman.

1969 Mohamed Siad Barre assumes power in a coup.

1991 Mohamed Siad Barre ousted

1993 US Army Rangers are killed when Somali militias shoot down US helicopters in Mogadishu. Hundreds of Somalis die in the ensuing battle, shown in Black Hawk Down. US mission formally ends in March 1994.

2007 Jan US air strikes target al-Qa'ida but reportedly kill civilians – the first known direct US military intervention since 1993. President Yusuf defends them. Interim government imposes state of emergency.

2007 Jun US warship shells suspected Al-Qa'ida targets in Puntland.

2008 Mar US launches missile strike on town of Dhoble targeting al-Qa'ida suspect wanted for 2002 bombing of Israeli hotel in Kenya. Insurgency spreads.

2008 Apr US air strike kills Aden Hashi Ayro, a leader of Al-Shabab insurgency.

2009 May Islamist insurgents attack Mogadishu.

2009 Jun Security minister killed by hotel suicide bomb. Officials ask neighbouring countries for troops.

US support for Israel led to 9/11: Bin Laden message (AFP)

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden told Americans in a new message that their support for Israel had prompted him to launch the September 11, 2001 attacks, a US-based terror monitoring group said.

Al-Qaeda's As-Sahab media released a video titled "Message to the American People," which features a still image of bin Laden and an audio statement, said IntelCenter.

The release came two days after the United States marked the eighth anniversary of the Al-Qaeda-sponsored attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

According to the center, Bin Laden said that among "some other injustices," US support to Israel motivated Al-Qaeda to launch the 9/11 attacks.

He also stated that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were driven by the pro-Israeli lobby in the White House and corporate interests, not Islamic militants.

"If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups," he said, according to IntelCenter. "Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq - as Bush claimed - it (the White House) should have been liberated."

He was referring to former US president George W. Bush, who launched an invasion of Iraq in 2003.

According to bin Laden, current US President Barack Obama is powerless to change the course of the wars.

Obama's retention of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and other individuals from the Bush administration is confirmation of the president's weakness, the Al-Qaeda chief argued.

Bin Laden urges Americans to pressure White House leaders to cease the wars and US support to Israel, rather than succumb to what he called "the ideological terrorism" exercised by neo-conservatives.

"The bitter truth is that the neo-conservatives continue to cast their heavy shadows upon you," he insisted.

If the wars are not ended, "all we will do is to continue the war of attrition against you on all possible axes, like we exhausted the Soviet Union for ten years until it collapsed with grace from Allah the Almighty and became a memory of the past," bin Laden vowed.

IntelCenter said bin Laden typically releases such a statement annually around September or October.

The last audiotape by bin Laden was released June 3. In that missive he scorned Obama's overture to the Islamic world and warned of decades of conflict ahead.

That audiotape aired on Qatar's Al-Jazeera news channel less than an hour after Obama landed in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's home country, at the start of a Mideast tour.

Obama "has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonizing Muslims... and laying the foundation for long wars," bin Laden said in the June release, referring to deadly clashes in Pakistan between the US-backed government and Islamist militants.

"Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America," said at the time the Al-Qaeda leader whose network carried out the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

"Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades."

Bin Laden has a 50-million-dollar bounty on his head and has been in hiding for the past eight years.

Intelligence officials, US military analysts and other experts have long said they believe the world's most wanted man is hiding in either Pakistan or Afghanistan near the remote mountainous border between the two countries.

In March, an audio attributed to bin Laden accused some Arab leaders of being "complicit" with Israel and the West against Muslims and urged holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories.

The same month, the terror chief urged the overthrow of the Somali president.

Yemen and Somalia talk educational cooperation

Yemen's Minister of Education Abdul Salam al-Jawfi met on Saturday with his Somali counterpart Ahmed Abdullah Sheikh and the two discussed mutual cooperation between the two countries in the education field.

The two ministers also dealt with the possibility of learning from Yemen experience in the field of training and preparing curricula.

During the meeting, al-Jawfi reiterated Yemen's readiness to support Somalia in various education aspects, which President Saleh had endorsed already. For his part, Ahmed Abdullah Sheikh appreciated Yemen's continuous support for his country in various areas of co-operation.

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.

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