Around the Year Change 2008 – 2009 in Somalia - Horn of Africa Piracy Annals. Part 1
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
January 05, 2009
With a great number of pending issues related to the Somali piracy phenomenon, and with the MV FAINA crew unreleased after 2325 of captivity, the new year 2009 does not augur well for Somalia. Engaged in day-to-day struggle for mere political survival, over-dependent on non Somali advisors and patrons, liars and deceivers, today´s Somali leaders lose the perspective, and day by day become more impotent and more powerless. Yet, their unity (in disagreement) remains their only weapon, their only chance, their only strength.
The unrepresentative TFG structure have absolutely no meaning; the Diaspora has lost its contact with the Somali reality, and the different liberation leaders will all fail, if they do not manage to meet and work together on a minimum agenda, involving
1. the elimination of the war lords,
2. the prohibition of any means of possible contact between any Somali and the evil state of Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized Ethiopia),
3. the termination of the alien phenomenon of the Somali piracy,
4. the prevalence of the opposition forces throughout Somalia, and
5. the organization of general elections for Constituent Assembly.
Only the common engagement of the leaders of all liberation forces and their understanding of the fact that their victory will be based on power sharing can save Somalia now.
A number of recently issued Ecoterra press release updates shed light on the recent developments, and that´s why I will republish them in this series of Annals.
92nd Update 2008-12-31 11h35:41 UTC
Ecoterra Intl. - Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !
Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates and related news.
We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past - with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!
New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme - Media Officer: +254-733-385868
While our thoughts are with all those who are held captive in Somalia, as well as with the millions of Somalis, who are trapped in the ongoing conflict and poverty, we hope and wish for all that 2009 will bring freedom and relief, new hope and prosperity to those oppressed as well as insight and enlightenment, wisdom and humanity to those at whose hands the people suffer.
Happy New Year!
And we thank all those who have supported in the past year our work as well as the tireless efforts of the Seafarers Assistance Programme - Thank You!
Day 98 - 2325 hours into the MV FAINA Crisis - Update Summary
Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over three months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued.
An alleged participation of the deputy minister of transport and communication of Ukraine, Mr. Igor Urbansky, in the shipowner-company of the vessel MV FAINA, appears not to be true, online news-agency Ura-inform reports, referring to the press service of the Ministry of Transport and Communication of Ukraine. The press service cited a statement made by the deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Tibery Durdinets. On October 15, 2008, the daily newspaper Kommersant had published an article in which the authors noted a direct participation of the deputy minister of transport and communication Igor Urbansky in the owner-company of the FAINA. Urbansky categorically denied both the personal participation and the participation of Kaalbye Shipping (Kaalbye Group), in which he worked earlier. Kommersant did not react to his statements. The earlier report had received wide resonance on political grounds and within two months after the publication in the Kommersant it was distributed in other mass media in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
Then the Security Service of Ukraine begun to check on a possible participation of the deputy minister of transport and communication Igor Urbansky in the owner-company of the vessel, which apparently now has produced implicit proofs concerning his non-participation regarding the vessel. Igor Urbansky has now launched legal procedures against the publishing house Kommersant and the authors of the article - journalists Konstantin Usov and Martha Bondarenko. The application cited the protection of honour, dignity, business reputation and refutation of unreliable information as legal grounds and states that the non-participation of Urbansky in the company that owns the MV FAINA was officially confirmed by the Security Service of Ukraine.
While such side-shows and other blame-games - many of which were launched or channeled by Russian sources - have distracted much of the attention on the actual needs at hand, the Ukrainian government, which continues to be in political struggles also on other fronts at home, has not yet been able to push the negotiations for the release of the MV FAINA to a peaceful end. The governments line to not get directly into contact with the hostage takers, which is maintained internationally, plays directly into the hands of vicious "lawyers", greedy risk companies and other middlemen - especially from the Somali Diaspora-, who have scooped an estimated 90 million US dollars - 3 times more than the pirates themselves - this year from piracy off Somalia - a sure recipe that "business as usual" concerning the piracy will continue, while no support to uproot the root causes of the Somali piracy - predominantly the abhorred suffering of impoverished and haunted fishing communities along the coast - has come forward.
Ecoterra Intl. repeats it's call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen or those who believe they are capable to try an attempt of a military solution must be held fully responsible for the surely resulting disaster.
Clearing-house:
News from other abducted ships ---
The Somali pirates holding the Saudi super tanker VCLL SIRIUS STAR may free the ship in honour of the Saudi king´s request to release the tanker, a mediator told the Somali newsgroup Mareeg. Mohamed Said - the mediator of the pirates holding the ship - and the Saudi government who contacted the Mareeg office in Mogadishu stated that the ship is close be freed by the pirates. "The pirates told me that they want to release the ship in hours, because they want to give high regards to the Saudi King", Said explained over VHF radio from a central Somalia location. After Said handed over the microphone to one of the captors, a pirate using the name Noh Adde told Mareeg that they received no ransom money but want to release the ship to respect the Muslim government of Saudi Arabia. However, sources close to the pirates told Mareeg that they have already received half of the ransom money they demanded. Mohamed Said has confirmed that the crew of the ship are safe and happy concerning the good news of their near release. "All 25 crew members on board are safe", he said. But analysts caution that such high hopes might be premature, since giving up the rest of the ransom has made some "investors" in the background unhappy and "if the vessel is not really released today the story is just another PR-gimmick", one observer remarked. "We decided to respect the request of Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Saud Al-Faysal who asked us to release the ship..." an Iranian Press TV correspondent quoted pirate's spokesman Mohammed Said as saying. However, he did not say when the giant oil tanker would be released. Own local sources, however, could not confirm the news of the immediate release, but are hopeful since the negotiation process is in an advanced stage.
Ransom negotiations with the captors for the release of MT Karagöl with its crew aboard are continuing, Kubilay Marangoz, a lawyer for the vessel's company YDC Maritime, told the Anatolia news agency yesterday, refusing to elaborate on the amount of the ransom being asked for and how it would be delivered to the pirates. "However, we are approaching the end in bargaining with the pirates. We may be able to provide some information on these issues after rescuing the crew", Marangoz added. Meanwhile, Fehmi Ülgener, a lawyer for the Yasa Maritime Company, which owns the other held Turkish ship MV Yasa Neslihan, briefly told Anatolia that they hadn't yet made any concrete progress in negotiations. However, contacts with the pirates are continuing, he added.
The National Security Council of Malaysia will serve only in an advisory role in the negotiations with pirates for the release of a Malaysian tugboat and its 11 crew members in the Gulf of Aden. Council secretary Datuk Mohd Hatta Abdul Aziz said it was against the council's policy to intervene as it was "not a government-to-government" matter. "The council will only advise if asked", he said. The owners of the Port Klang registered Masindra 7 are reportedly holding talks with the captors over the release of the tugboat and its crew members. While other Malaysian warships returned after a successful release of two Malaysian merchant ships, KD Indera Sakti is said to be still patrolling the area.
The Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) of Egypt released a report reviewing the most important events that took place in 2008 and listed the Egyptian intelligence successfully negotiating the release of its vessel seized by pirates off the Somalia coast in early September.
With the latest captures and releases now at least 18 foreign vessels with a total of at least 350 crew members (of which 92 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and 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.
Over 133 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded to far for 2008 with until today 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held 18). Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the hi-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.
Directly related news ------
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) had adopted an amendment to Chapter V of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 (SOLAS), which introduces new mandatory position reporting obligations for SOLAS ships. It is called Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) and requires vessels to automatically transmit identity and position with date/time at 6-hour intervals.
LRIT came into force on January 1st 2008 with compliance required by today, 31st December 2008. Vessels required to comply are:
Passenger ships, including high-speed craft
Cargo ships, including high-speed craft, of 300 gross tonnage and upwards
Mobile offshore drilling units.
In a bid to boost security on various sea-routes, shippers have put on trial the new satellite-based technology system that shall help monitor the movement of vessels round-the-clock. The system, dubbed Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT), will be operational from this week following the appointment of the International Mobile Satellite Organisation (IMSO), as coordinator, by the UN-backed International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The new technology will be a mandatory requirement for vessels on international voyages, including passenger ships, high-speed crafts weighing 300 tonnes or more, cargo ships, and mobile offshore drilling units. The US will provide the data exchange platform for the LRIT´s operations on a temporary basis, until 2011, as a permanent and independent framework is sought. The former, radar-based Automatic Identification System (AIS), was already mandatory as part of the International Ship and Ports Security Code (ISPSC) for vessels over 300 tonnes and all passenger vessels regardless of size. AIS is a shipboard radar display, with overlaid electronic chart data, that includes a mark for every significant ship within radio range, each as desired with a velocity vector (indicating speed and heading). Each ship "mark" could reflect the actual size of the ship, with position to GPS or differential GPS accuracy. By "clicking" on a ship mark, one can learn the ship name, course and speed, classification, call sign, registration number, MMSI, and other information.
Manoeuvring information, closest point of approach (CPA), time to closest point of approach (TCPA) and other navigation information, more accurate and more timely than information available from an automatic radar plotting aid, can also be available. Display information previously available only to modern Vessel Traffic Service operations centres is available to every AIS-equipped ship, but also can be misused by pirates identifying and tracking their prey. Already in December 2004, the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee condemned the use of freely available AIS data published irresponsibly. With the mandatory LRIT it is anticipated that from now on governments also can keep their illegally fishing vessels on a leach and ensure that they respect the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone of Somalia - otherwise they must be held responsible as complicit.
Somalia's parliament now has 28 days to elect a new president by secret ballot. The winner must win a two-thirds majority of the votes. If not, a second and third round of voting is called. In the last round, the winner would only need a simple majority. Because TFG members earned their posts through protracted negotiations fostered by the UN, rather than elections, Somalia is not a democracy. That is set to change in 2009, when Somalis are scheduled to vote in the first elections in more than twenty years. Few analysts, however, anticipate the government will last until the vote. In an April 2008 report on Somalia, Africa expert John Prendergast called the TFG "feeble, faction-ridden, corrupt, and incompetent". Fresh turmoil and uncertainty loom for the people of Somalia - already ravaged by displacement, conflict, drought and hyper-inflation - after the country's interim president resigned on 29 December. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed resigned after disagreements with parliament and his prime minister, as well as pressure from the international community.
According to an observer, Yusuf could still pose a serious obstacle to peace in the country. "He will most likely re-establish his political base in Puntland and use that as a bargaining chip". A member of parliament in the Yusuf camp, who requested anonymity, told IRIN Yusuf was pressured into resigning by the international community. "He was forced to resign and it will not lead to peace and stability", said the MP who was speaking from Galkayo, Yusuf's home town. A Nairobi-based regional analyst who preferred anonymity, said the TFG and the Djibouti wing of ARS need to move quickly to form a broad-based government. "They need to move with greater urgency to form a unity government and bring in others opposed to the process". Mr Yusuf´s resignation offers a route to power for moderate Islamists in the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, which could now secure representation in a reconstituted parliament and government. One western diplomat said that if the moderate faction of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia were not brought into the fold then it was time to forget about the faltering effort to build governmental institutions in Somalia. Many Somalis will remember Yusuf as the man who brought Ethiopian forces into Somalia, which led to a fierce insurgency and the displacement of over a million people. At least 16,000 Somalis died between 2007 and 2008 and more than 30,000 were injured, according to local human rights groups. Somalia has the highest levels of malnutrition in the world, with up to 300,000 children acutely malnourished annually, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The Ethiopian army has successfully discharged its mission in Somalia and will be withdrawn, according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Acting Spokesman Wahide Belay. The official announcement follows an approval from the House of Peoples Representatives and declarations by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Wahide further said that after the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, the government will focus on activities that would make Ethiopia safer and assist Somalia on ensuring peace and stability. "The Ethiopian army thwarted the direct threat posed by extremists and the government in Asmara that had sent its destabilizing force, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)", Wahide said. "Ethiopia alone cannot continue to shoulder the responsibility that should have been the international community's onus to share". Speaking about the notorious pirates operating in Somalia, he blamed the international community saying that piracy would not be a problem if the world had not neglected Somalia for years.
U.S. officials are welcoming the resignation of President Yusuf and expressing hope that the move will help clear the way for a unity government that can prevent a slide into chaos when Ethiopian peacekeeping troops withdraw. State Department Acting Spokesman Gordon Duguid said the United States supports and respects Mr. Yusuf's decision to step aside. Duguid said Somalia's parliament should act quickly to select a new president within 30 days - under the terms of the transitional federal charter - and that other key figures in the government should work for unity and stability. "We urge the parliament, the prime minister and leaders of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia to intensify their efforts to achieve a government of national unity and to enhance security through the formation of a joint security force", said Gordon Duguid. "To that end, the United States is ready to provide $5 million to support the formation of such a joint security force".
The U.S. Navy and its allies have seized since October around 18-20 tons of drugs smuggled along a "hash highway" through the waters of the western Indian ocean, IHT reports and it is estimated the narcotics seized, mostly hashish, are worth $100 million. The seizures occurred in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden along a route the Navy calls the "hash highway" in a Monday statement. It said proceeds could have helped fund militants in Afghanistan. The area is also the frequent scene of attacks by Somali pirates. Navy 5th Fleet spokesman Lt. Nathan Christensen would not say where the drugs originated. But he says many of the narcotics along the route are going "to and from Afghanistan and Pakistan". It is called for and hoped that CTF-150 as well as EUNAVFOR-Atalanta and other navies will now also embark on illegally operating foreign fishing vessels within the 200nm EEZ of Somalia as well as act against human trafficking.
The Navy's Mobile Security Squadron 3 has been deployed to protect the Military Sealift Command Tippecanoe from the growing threat of pirates off the coast of Somalia, the Navy reported. The Tippecanoe is currently supporting the Navy's 5th Fleet security and counter-terrorism operations in the Gulf of Aden. The Tippecanoe is part of the Navy's fleet of replenishment ships and can supply cargo, ammunition and fuel, among other requirements needed while operating at sea. The U.S. Navy has deployed a Mobile Security Squadron to protect a replenishment oiler supporting the U.S. 5th Fleet in the volatile Gulf of Aden.
Taiwan ships could ask China's naval task force for escorts against pirates, sources said on Monday. Taiwan ships could make the request through the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) to China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS), the sources said. ARATS would then send the request to the sea rescue center under the Ministry of Transport and ARATS said it had notified SEF of the situation.
While the world-press-corps gets their free ship-rides on CTF-150 and EUNAVFOR vessels in order to report from "pirate infested" waters, nobody seems to wonder, why the Somali waters increasingly become submarine-infested and serve now as the worlds largest underwater exercise area. Obviously it is a "free range" with hardly any state-observer, who could or would protest. That US, Russian and German submarines have been operating along the Indian Ocean coast and in the Gulf of Aden is known since quiet some time, but now more and more commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden as well as along Somalia's Indian Ocean coast report sonar sightings of these "cigars" patrolling or - detected while the vessels are providing relief food - hanging out in front of Somali ports like Mogadishu, Kismayo and Boosaaso as well as near neighbouring Mombassa in Kenya and Aden in Yemen.
While global naval forces have more or less embarked on an open - though rather confusing than truthful but nevertheless more transparent - reporting strategy concerning their deployment of naval surface-ships to the area around the Horn of Africa, the increasing numbers of submarines seem to be part of the more exciting hide- and seek game. They come and go unreported and mostly unnoticed. Countries ranging from Australia through France, Iran, Israel and Singapore to Turkey have engaged over the recent years in a submarine run.
Even China is rapidly expanding its submarine fleet, both diesel and nuclear propelled. Beijing strategists would appear to see them as part of any asymmetrical warfare – and traditional Chinese stealth craft – against the continuing large American and even Japanese supremacy in the Pacific, writes Sol Sanders and explains that the U.S. has 53 nuclear powered submarines, twice the number of any other nation. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing Dec. 13, 2007, ranking Republican Duncan Hunter of California said the U.S. Navy risks being eclipsed by China's growing maritime power. With China's naval interest now expanding into the Indian Ocean the question in the moment is therefore how many subs are escorting the Chinese naval fleet of two destroyers and one supply ship to Somalia? All not yet so serious, insiders ensure, more like a paint-ball-shootout and strategic exercise, which does not have to follow the naval protocol of visiting or co-exercising navies. Maybe it is time that merchant submarines are developed to avert the skinny Somali pirates in their little skiffs, which serve at present as excuse for the naval expansion and war-games - while still nothing is done to develop their homeland that only serves as playing ground for military exercises - now like in 1993.
The government of Japan decided to send naval officers to the U.S.-led "contact group", which will exchange information and coordinate naval operations involving the U.S., U.K. and other nations, the Sankei newspaper reported.
The Russian Baltic Fleet's frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) protected over 50 commercial ships from pirates off the Somali coast in 2008, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Tuesday. The missile frigate has been operating off the Horn of Africa according to international maritime law and agreements since the end of October. "During its mission in the Gulf of Aden, the Russian combat vessel escorted 13 convoys, totaling 51 ships, through the dangerous waters [off the Somali coast]", Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said. Dygalo said the frigate would continue its mission until mid-January and would be replaced by another Russian combat ship.
Berbera harbour in Somaliland once more turned into a graveyard for a vessel yesterday, when a large ship was sunk inside the port. "Oil from the ship is floating everywhere!" a Somali environmentalist stated in a radio call from Somaliland. The vessel still had its amenities installed when it went under. Local observers wonder how the Somaliland government can offer its harbour as base for international anti-piracy operations and in the same time let the harbour be blocked by now several sunken ships.
Related news from the global village -----
Tim Coles considers the disparity in reporting the "Somali pirates" rather than the far greater crime of Ethiopian aggression in Somalia which the UK and US fund. Under the headline - Why are the media ignoring US- and UK-funded criminals in Somalia? - he writes: Little is known in the West about the violence taking place throughout Somalia in the name of freedom and democracy. Instead of reporting the more serious issues, the media focuses upon the hijacking of cargo and oil carriers by pirates, neglecting to report the much worse crimes taking place throughout the country. Somalia´s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) is leading a terror campaign to oust the Union of Islamic Courts because the TFG "favour democracy", in the words of UK Foreign and Commonwealth Minister Mark Malloch-Brown. The TFG is, however, responsible for major atrocities including massacres, kidnappings and inducing starvation. Georgette Gagnon, Human Rights Watch´s African director, stated that Britain´s silence amounts to "complicity in crimes against humanity" (Pflanz 2008).
Worse than mere complicity is responsibility, namely Britain´s funding and providing diplomatic support for the TFG. What is the evidence for these assertions? A total of 3.5 million Somalis directly face starvation from what Channel 4 News calls "a man-made famine" (Channel 4 2008), conveniently neglecting to report the British Labour government´s involvement in the atrocities; at least 1 million Somalis are dispossessed (UNHRC 2008); and, since the beginning of 2008, over 30,000 Somalis have sought refugee status in Yemen, traveling perilously across the pirated Red Sea, resulting in the deaths of thousands (UNHRC 2008). The "manmade" aspect of the famine is the result of two elements. Firstly, the majority of aid into Somalia has to come by sea because the land is much too unstable. The meager aid coming by land was prevented from entering Somalia by the Minister of the Interior Guled Ga´amadheere – a man on the UK payroll, a man who owns a house in Britain – under the pretext that the food had expired (Hartley 2008).
The other route is the sea, which is pirated. The high level of piracy has given the British Foreign Office a pretext not to supply aid in armoured vessels – a minimal contribution given Britain´s military power: although, in 2007, there were 31 civilian and refugee ships attacked by pirates, no World Food Programme vessels up to November 2008, which were provided solely by Holland, had been targeted. Furthermore, the Danish contribution has proved economically unviable; France provided ships for the whole of three months; Sweden has refused to help; South Africa refuses to help, as "food aid piles up in South Africa, Somalia starves"; and, despite this, the British Ministry of Defence denies ever receiving a request by the World Food Programme to provide naval ships, which it now seems to have done solely to protect oil interests, namely following the hijacking of the Saudi tanker. This, however, contradicted the Foreign Office statement that they were looking into it with their "other commitments taken into account", namely funding the destruction of Somalia through the Ethiopian regime (Channel 4 2008). (In fact, at the time of writing, if one types "Somalia" into the UK Ministry of Defence website search engine, not one result appears).
When, during a parliamentary session, Lord Hylton asked if Labour has any "proposals for limiting supplies of arms and ammunition reaching Somali", Malloch-Brown responded with unusual candour: "The UK plays a leading role in the drafting process of key UN Security Council resolutions on the issue of arms and ammunition supplies reaching Somalia" (Malloch-Brown 2008) – in other words, Britain will determine the outcome of UN Security Council resolution before the vote is cast, choosing to "bypass" the Security Council when it is in the UK´s interest to do so. President Abdullahi Yusuf of the TFG, "was implicit in the murder of a political opponent, whose wife, Zahra Abdullah, took Yusuf to court in Britain. The High Court ruled that Yusuf had organized the killings, and ordered he repay Ł30, 000 in damages. Mr Yusuf, 70, a warlord, is recognized by Britain as the head of the transitional government of Somalia in exile. He is in Britain for medical treatment following a liver transplant" (Campbell 2005). Ethiopia´s key US alliance in its "war on terror" (US Department of State 2008) allowed Yusuf, and Somali Prime Minister Mohamoud Gedi, to "virtually hand-pick" their associates in Addis Ababa. "Mr Yusef is also from the Darod clan, the long-time adversary of Mogadishu´s dominant Hawiye clan, which supported the [Islamic] courts", quoted in The Times (Fletcher 2007), concluding that the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 by the insurgency alarmed Ethiopia´s Christian elite, who feared that the rise of an Islamic state on its border would radicalise its own substantial Muslim population. It also alarmed Washington, which feared that militant Islam was spreading to the Horn of Africa and had belatedly sought to prop up the warlords. But many ordinary Somalis rejoiced at the return of order despite the courts´ strict Islamic codes.
In the midst of the offensive, Washington even permitted Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea – the country on which the US had persuaded the UN to impose strict sanctions only three months earlier. It was the US, after all, that helped to propel it to power. European diplomats, officials and other experts fear that, in helping to oust the Islamic courts, Washington could have wrecked Somalia´s best chance in a generation of achieving a lasting peace. Somalia´s Bank al-Barakat was closed by the Bush administration in 2001 under the counter-terrorism bill, yet, despite exoneration from the 9/11 Commission Report six years ago, the bank is still closed, leaving orphans, war-widows and the disabled completely broke (Raphaeli 2001 and Hartley 2006). According to the International News Safety Institute, "press freedom has many enemies in Somalia. The armed group al-Shabaab, Mogadishu governor and mayor Muhammad Dhere and national security agency director Muhammad Warsame Darwish are among those who are particularly brutal in the way they treat journalists", (INSI), all of which are funded and protected by the UK in our understanding of "democracy".
Chris Albin-Lackey writes in the Huffington Post: America's most visible response to the crisis has been a series of air strikes against terrorism suspects that have mostly killed civilians. The air strikes--and the way in which US officials have ignored overwhelming evidence of Ethiopian and transitional government war crimes -- have fueled anti-American sentiment and bread leaders preaching a kind of Islamist extremism that had never managed to take root in Somalia before. US policy not only has displayed a callous disregard for the basic human rights of Somalis, but it has failed on its own terms, breeding the very extremism it sought to eliminate. The Obama administration has an opportunity to bring a fresh approach to this escalating, complex crisis. It will have to weigh diplomatic initiatives involving all the countries in the region, the viability of the transitional government forces and peacekeeping forces in Somalia, and the role of the United States military.
Accountability for the serious abuses that underpin both the suffering of Somalia's people and the growth of violent extremism is only one element in these challenges, but it is critical. It will mean publicly demanding accountability from all of the parties responsible for war crimes on the ground -- including Ethiopia, Washington's most important strategic ally in the region. The US relationship with Ethiopia is important, but complacency toward war crimes in Somalia will undermine US efforts to address the broader crisis. There is no easy solution to Somalia, but Washington can show that it is ready to address the challenge by quickly appointing a high-level US envoy on the Horn of Africa and supporting a UN commission of inquiry to investigate the most serious crimes. These steps cannot undo the damage failed US policies have caused in Somalia but they would send the message that the Obama administration is moving in a new and more principled direction.
With already over 370 dead and continued shelling of civilians in southern Israel, now is the time to issue a demand to world leaders that the spiraling violence that has characterized the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must come to an end.
Petition to the UN Security Council, the European Union, the Arab League and not at least the USA, who still supports the genocidal main aggressor, Israel:
We urge you to act immediately to ensure a comprehensive ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, to protect civilians on all sides, and to address the growing humanitarian crisis. Only through robust international action and oversight can the bloodshed be stopped, the Gaza crossings safely re-opened and real progress made toward a wider peace in 2009. The world can not continue just watching like in Rwanda or Srebrenica, Darfur or Congo, if there shall be any respect and credibility be left for international organizations and the league of free nations.
U.S. prosecutors say Blackwater Worldwide security guards used machine guns and grenade launchers in an attack on unarmed Iraqi civilians, some of whom had their hands up. Prosecutors unsealed a 35-count indictment against the five guards Monday for a 2007 shooting in Baghdad. The guards surrendered in Utah, where they will argue the case should be tried. The Justice Department charged the men with manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and using a machine gun in a crime of violence. The latter charge carries a 30-year mandatory prison sentence. A sixth guard for the U.S. contractor admitted in a plea deal to killing at least one Iraqi in the shooting. His guilty plea, likewise, was unsealed last Monday. "The government alleges in the documents unsealed today that at least 34 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured without justification or provocation by these Blackwater security guards", national security prosecutor Pat Rowan said. Blackwater protects U.S. State Department personnel.
Witnesses said the heavily armed U.S. contractors opened fire unprovoked at a crowded intersection. Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, says its guards were ambushed by insurgents while responding to a car bombing. "Prosecutors allege that the men shot and killed Iraqis 'upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion' - that's the language in the indictment", according to CBS. "We think it's pure and simple a case of self-defense", Paul Cassell, a Utah attorney on the defense team, said Monday as the guards were being booked. "Tragically people did die". An afternoon court hearing was scheduled on whether to release the guards. Defense attorneys were filing court documents challenging the Justice Department's authority to prosecute the case. The law is murky on whether contractors can be charged in U.S. courts for crimes committed overseas. The guards face the prospect of 30-year mandatory prison terms under the anti-machine gun law passed during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic. The indicted guards are Donald Ball, a former Marine from West Valley City, Utah; Dustin Heard, a former Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a former Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn.; and Paul Slough, an Army veteran from Keller, Texas. The sixth guard was identified as Jeremy Ridgeway. Based in Moyock, N.C., Blackwater is the largest security contractor in Iraq and provides heavily armed guards for diplomats. Since last year's shooting, the company has been a flash point in the debate over how heavily the U.S. relies on contractors in war zones.
The fuel shortage Tanzania has been experiencing in the past week or so is "artificial", the Government declared yesterday. Energy and Minerals deputy minister Adam Malima said there were enough stocks of fuel to meet national demand for at least a month. "All factors that affect the supply and, by extension, prices of fuel are stable. There has been no disruption of fuel delivery and supply in the country, which has enough stocks to last at least a month. "There has been no abrupt increase in demand to cause widespread shortages. In short, there have been no factors that have destabilised the principles of supply and demand recently", he said. Mr Malima added that the ministry had directed the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (Ewura) to meet with oil companies and other stakeholders today to address the problem that has seen fuel prices increase sharply in some areas. "The Government has directed Ewura to consult with oil dealers in the country to establish what has happened. Ewura will then use the feedback to take appropriate measures that will be in line with regulations governing the petroleum sector".
Mr Malima said Ewura would communicate its decisions and their implementation to the Government which would then issue an official statement on the matter. However, Ewura was working on a modality of indicative fuel prices that would rein in dealers who charged unreasonably high prices, he added. The deputy minister said oil importers have of late been bringing in less fuel because of a sharp fall in prices of the commodity in the world market. "They fear that importing huge quantities could result in losses if world prices keep falling", he said. Mr Malima also ruled out piracy off the coast of Somalia as among the causes of the current shortage, saying supplies to Tanzania had not been affected by piracy. Likewise Kenya is suffering from clandestine moves of the oil-cartels rather than fictive pirate threats, and has embarked now on a full-fledged investigation.
Charter rates within the dry bulk sector took a free fall from their highs of $180,000 per day in July for Capsize vessels to less than $40,000 in November, leaving most players unable to break even and most of the new ones leaving the scene. The dry bulk index, BDI, the barometer of shipping cost for commodities, fell from 11,793 points on May 20 to only 663 points on December 5, a 94.4 per cent decrease. Container shipping rates have taken a downward trend on major routes too. "Some of us in this industry had predicted this situation, but no one ever expected that external factors such as the global financial crisis would have a big impact on the shipping industry", says Ahmad Essa Harib Al Falahi, CEO of Gulf Energy Maritime (GEM). Analysts had predicted that the shipping industry throughout all its sectors would grow by an average of 20 per cent in 2008 globally and over 35 per cent in the region, but all projections have been revised downwards by more than a half, with a further slowdown in growth expected in 2009. "Although no one anticipated this situation, I think it was necessary to help weed out all the shipping mafia, people who simply entered the industry to make quick money. We see them going out one by one and this will help to bring back credibility to the industry", says Rohan Shetty, Group Managing Director, Kellett and Singleton Group. See the full analysis on: http://www.business24-7.ae/articles/2008/12/pages/12312008_1858e56bfdb54631b0420e7befaa9c1a.aspx
Calamities are a way of life for insurance companies, whether in the form of typhoons or pirates off the Somali coast. But for Japan´s non-life insurance companies, the combination of the financial crisis and the inexorable shrinking of their home market could be enough to generate a shake-up of the industry, writes the Financial Times. Unlike Japan´s banking sector, which emerged from a decade of woes with three banking groups dominating the scene, the non-life insurance industry is highly fragmented. According to the General Insurance Association of Japan, which represents 26 non-life insurance companies, combined net premiums written by members in the first half of this year fell 2.6 per cent while pre-tax profits declined 57 per cent, due to losses on the revaluation of securities. The sector has also been damaged by revelations that some non-insurance companies overcharged premiums and that 26 companies had failed to pay hundreds of thousands of claims. Less than a decade after Japan´s non-life insurance sector was transformed by a wave of mergers, Mitsui Sumitomo (MSIG), Aioi and Nissay Dowa are considering a three-way merger that could change the face of the casualty and general insurance market. The three have business ties through the Mitsui group – which has traditionally been affiliated with Nippon Life – and the Toyota group. These two groups have historical ties through their founding families.
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