Thursday, March 5, 2009

Somali Piracy After the End of the MV FAINA Crisis. Part IV

The paramilitary block that still pressurizes for a NATO amphibious operation in the Horn of Africa region has filled the web with fallacies, false reports, and fake pictures of supposed Somali pirates, who are simply American and English paramilitary off the coast of Virginia.

This block represents a major threat for the entire Mankind, as it attempts to influence the worldwide public opinion about an inexistent threat, namely the Somali fishermen whop turned out to function as pirates for a while because precisely this same criminal block incited and even bribed the few besotted Somali warlords who in turn did not have any difficulty to excite the imagination of their staffers for ´big money´ available offshore and to subsequently send them for the already known offshore adventures.

In two earlier articles entitled ´Somali Piracy After the End of the MV FAINA Crisis. Parts I – II´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93169) and ´Somali Piracy After the End of the MV FAINA Crisis. Part III´

(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/93171), I published the first three press releases issued by the leading environmental NGO Ecoterra after the peaceful happy end of the MV FAINA crisis. In the present article, I go on with the next Ecoterra press release, which offers across-the-board information about the Horn of Africa region.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) Part IV

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release

2009-02-22 22h50:28 UTC

EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia@ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979

Clearing-house:

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships --------

Today on Sunday morning Pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship (38,886 gross tonnage) in the Gulf of Aden, Greece's merchant marine ministry confirmed. "Pirates seized the Maltese-flagged cargo ship MV SALDANHA, with 22 crew, off Somalia", the ministry said, according to Reuters. It said the vessel, loaded with coal, was sailing to Slovenia. The vessel's owner-manager is CARDIFF MARINE INC of Athens and the vessel is not covered by an ITF agreement. Nationalities of the crew members could not yet fully be established, but Indian and Filipino seafarers are said to be among the abducted men. The vessel has a registered owner from the Marshall islands and has apparently not yet arrived at the Somali coast. The BBC's Jonah Fisher, on board a UK warship 100km (60 miles) away, said the captain of the MV Saldanha radioed that pirates had boarded his ship. The Saldanha is now heading to Somalia under pirate command after the UK navy's HMS Northumberland judged it was beyond its remit to pursue the ship. It has reportedly passed Ras Caseyr and expected to pass Ras Hafun tomorrow morning and thereafter to sail to Eyl. When the captain of MV Saldanha made contact with HMS Northumberland, he told the naval commander that pirates had warned the British warship to stay away. Apparently the pirates had ordered the captain to warn the British warship. This was confirmed by the British defence ministry.

A tuna fishing vessel with Chinese crew as been arrested near Ras Hafun. Further details are awaited.

Local marine observers reported another sea-jacked merchant vessel had arrived north of Eyl already days ago. It is said to be owned by a European company, but the exact identity of vessel or crew could not yet be established. Over the last week rumours had first spoken of a Indian-flagged vessel, which was not confirmed. But a cargo ship appears now to actually have been sea-jacked from the Gulf of Aden despite missing international reports. The vessel is said to be since a couple of days anchored in the area between Ras Hafun and Bargaal with engine failure and out of any communication, because after two RPGs had been fired against the ship all communication equipment was destroyed. Unconfirmed local reports speak of at least 17 English speaking caucasians on board and three injured seamen. A local search-party along the coast near Ras Hafun couldn't find the vessel.

MSV ALZAEEMAH, a Yemen-flagged motorized fishing dhow, has returned to Yemen with all crew well after having paid up for infringing on Somali fishing rights while operating from Socotra.

The case of the Indian-flagged MSV SHABA, a motorized Dhow, is reported to have been solved in Boossasso with the help of local authorities.

Neither the Nigerian owner nor the Nigerian government seem to be willing and capable to end the suffering of the 10 men crew onboard T/B YENEGOA OCEAN, which is now the longest sea-jacking case ever in Somalia. The tug had been seized on 4th August 2008. The nearly seven month ordeal of the all-Nigerian crew has become intolerable from a humanitarian point of view. The vessel and crew are left without clean water, food, fuel and medicine. The seamen are just fed locally and are starving. Reports from the captain confirm that they suffer horribly. Diarrhea and skin diseases are minor ailments compared to the trauma of the men deriving from the fact that they are left abandoned at Hawo, one of the remotest area of the very tip of the Horn of Africa, because neither the owner of the tug nor the governmental officials seem to care. Though sometimes reports concerning the suffering of crews are made up by the pirates or the seamen themselves in order to push for a quick end of the hostage situation with a high ransom, this case has become now really extreme and calls for serious and immediate intervention.

MT STOLT STRENGTH is said to have lost now all anchors and is moving from place to place between Dhanane and Eyl.

Negotiators for the MT LONGCHAMP obviously have missed the window for a quick release. The crew, however, is said to be all right and has still enough supplies.

The arms from MV FAINA, an Ukrainian vessel earlier abducted in Somalia but now released, have been transported by rail to the Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi / Kenya under military security. Kenya says it purchased the cargo of 33 Soviet-era T-72 combat tanks and 812 tonnes of ammunition among other military hardware for its own military. But controversy continues to surround the shipment as the vessel's manifest suggested the arms belonged to South Sudan.

The BBC's Joseph Odhiambo in Mombassa says there was heavy security as the first arms train left Mombassa early on Wednesday. The 17-wagon train was carrying five tanks, five military trucks and five anti-craft gun-ships, he said. The arms were shipped in three consignments the correspondent said, with the other two on Thursday and on Friday. The deceased captain of the ill-fated weapons transporter was buried Thursday in St. Petersburg and the surviving crew members, incl. two other Russians, one Latvian and 17 Ukrainians were bestowed with Ukrainian awards.

Gunmen kidnapped a Pakistani national in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in north-eastern Somalia, officials said Sunday. The Pakistani man was seized from his car 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of the port of Bossasso, said Muse Gelle, governor of the Bari region. He was traveling to a farming project where he was working, Gelle said. The man's name and employer were not immediately known, while locals identified him as a geologist.

Two Italian nuns in their 60s, who were kidnapped in Kenya near the Somali border more than three months ago, have been freed and were in good condition, Italian officials said Thursday. The two nuns were abducted by armed men on November 10 in the northern Kenya district of Mandera. The hostages, who had lived in Kenya for years, were believed to have been taken across the border into Somalia. The neighbouring region of southern Somalia has been controlled by Islamist fighters allied to local militia. Italy's foreign ministry confirmed their release to AFP, and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi expressed his "satisfaction following the freeing of the two sisters". "I followed this matter closely", he said, according to ANSA news agency. "The two sisters are doing well and are in our embassy in Nairobi". Italy's ambassador to Nairobi, Pierandrea Magistrati, told ANSA "they are doing well -- they are currently in my sitting room". The Vatican had expressed concern about the nuns -- Caterina Giraudo, 67, and Maria Teresa Oliviero, 61 -- following their kidnapping, and on Thursday expressed "joy" after their release. "It is a great joy", said Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, cited by ANSA. "We prayed for them for months". In November, a Somali national was charged in a Nairobi court with kidnapping the two nuns.

Abdikadir Mohammed Omar faced charges of kidnapping and robbery with violence. Armed Somali gangs have carried out scores of kidnappings in recent months, often targeting either foreigners or Somalis working with international organisations to demand ransoms. Two Italian aid workers kidnapped in Somalia in May 2008 were later freed. The spate of kidnappings has complicated the delivery of aid to the most affected populations in Somalia, a country long plagued by conflict and humanitarian emergencies. The release of two journalists, a Canadian and an Australian, has still not been achieved by the negotiating team from the two countries, though the journalists working on a humanitarian story had been abducted already on 23rd August last year.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 11 (possibly 12 with the mystery ship) foreign vessels with a total of not less than 175 crew members accounted for (of which 34 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 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have 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 32 averted or abandoned attacks and 6 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by friendly fire on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Illegal fishing, dumping and trafficking news ------------------

Global Fisheries, from 1950-2004

Over-fishing, driven by subsidies of over about 30 billion US $ per year, has depleted fish populations worldwide, and is compromising ecosystem structure and function. The costs are becoming increasingly unacceptable. The Sea Around Us Project at the University of British Columbia, Canada, has assembled global databases of catches, distributions of commercial marine species, countries fishing access agreements, ex-vessel prices, marine protected areas and other data, and mapped these. This information, integrated using powerful new analyses, enabled us to illustrate worrying ecosystem impacts of fisheries.

Cyprus seizes Iran-tied materiel. Cyprus is today holding cargo from the Russian-owned general cargo vessel Monchegorsk – cargo that has been at the centre of international intrigue for the past few weeks. Cypriot Defence Minister Costas Papacostas said over the weekend that while the 23,128dwt ship did not carry weapons per se, it did have more than 90 containers aboard stuffed with "material that could be used in the manufacture of munitions". The Nicosia government has detained the Cyprus-flagged ship at Limassol since 29 January on request of the US State Department, which has alleged that the cargo violated UN sanctions against Iran, which shipped the seized boxes. Last week, the UN Security Council´s sanctions panel agreed that the cargo violated Iranian arms exportation sanctions. Offloading of the boxes began on Friday. They will be stored at a Cypriot naval base near the port. No long-term determination has yet been made for the cargo, which first came to light when the vessel was stopped by a US warship and inspected in the Red Sea after departing Bandar Abbas, as Sea Sentential reports.

Directly related news ------

A suicide attack against African Union peacekeepers in Somalia on Sunday killed 11 Burundi soldiers and wounded 15 others, the deadliest attack against AU troops since their deployment two years ago, the LA Times reports. Last week another Burundian was killed. Insurgents from Al-Shabab militia, which claims links to Al-Qaeda, took responsibility and vowed to continue assaults against AU soldiers who have been helping shore up Somalia's shaky transitional government. "Go home, otherwise you will meet our hell", said Al-Shabab leader Muktar Robow, speaking by telephone to reporters after the attack. The hard-line Islamist group of Al-Shabaab in Somalia Sunday said they carried out "twin suicide attacks" on a base of the African Union peacekeeping forces in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "Two martyrdom (suicide) operations were carried out by the Mujahedeens (holy fighters) against the enemy of Allah who are the crusade invaders in our country and we have inflicted heavy losses on them", Sheikh Muqtar Robow Abu Mansuur, spokesman for Al-Shabaab movement, said in a press conference on the phone. He said two suicide bombers -- one in a vehicle and another wearing an explosives-packed vest -- infiltrated the AU base at the former Somali National University. Hundreds of displaced people are living around the campus, and one witness said he saw two civilians among the dead. "I saw a four-wheel-drive car driving at a high speed and then heard a massive explosion", said Kalid Ali Nur, a witness. AU and United Nations officials condemned the attack as an attempt by insurgents to detract attention from ongoing efforts to form a new unity government. "This new wave of attacks came at a time when remarkable achievements have been made towards the promotion of an all-inclusive political and reconciliation process, which culminated with the election of a new president and the appointment of a new Prime Minister and cabinet, which has been endorsed by the now expanded Somali Transitional Federal Parliament", the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping, stated today. Last month, more than a dozen civilians were killed during a car-bomb attack in Mogadishu that targeted AU troops. In that case, many of the casualties were reportedly killed by AU troops during a shootout that followed the explosion. The African Union is investigating the deaths.

Somalia's new unity government will solve the problem of piracy by creating a maritime corridor through the country's territorial waters, the Somali ambassador to Russia said on Thursday. Mohammed Mahmud Handule said at a RIA Novosti news conference that the Somali government had already worked out the legal and technical issues involved in opening the corridor. "The new [Somali] government will rigorously work on this [problem of piracy]", he said. "We want to create a corridor where from Point A all ships will be put in groups of 5-7, and then our friends, including Russia, will escort them to Point B. Vessels not traveling through that corridor will be considered pirates or poachers".

The 16 suspected pirates captured recently in the Gulf of Aden by American naval ships could face separate prosecutions in countries other than Kenya, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. The governments of Kenya and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding under which Kenya would prosecute pirates interdicted by U.S. forces in the region. But there are other options, Whitman said. "[Kenya is] not the only place where prosecution could take place", he said. "It's possible that prosecutions could take place in other venues, to include the states that have been associated with the victims of these attacks". The suspected pirates currently are being held by Task Force 151 -- the anti-piracy group operating in the gulf -- aboard the USNS Lewis and Clark supply ship. Officials have confirmed pending evidence and information about the individuals, eliminating any possibility the suspects were "displaced mariners" and not pirates, Whitman said.

The Berbera regional court in the breakaway Republic of Somaliland sentenced seven pirates each to 20 years of prison after the court found them guilty yesterday. The pirates were arrested in Berbera earlier this month after security forces discovered that the group were preparing themselves for a piracy operation inside Somaliland waters. The seven men, five of whom are from the neighboring Somali region of Puntland and two Somalilanders were arrested with a number of weapons including Ak-47, RPGs and some explosives. The court announced their sentences yesterday and ordered their weapons to be handed to the security forces in the region. This is not the first time the same court sentenced pirates from Puntland - at least two other groups were found guilty of planning a piracy activities in Somaliland, the Somaliland Press reports. Somaliland is so far combating piracy successfully in its territory without any international support.

The Turkish frigate Giresun joining the international naval forces henceforth will protect vessels from pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Admiral Janer Bener, relatives of seamen and numerous public took part in the departure ceremony. The captain of the naval vessel Jem Dalkanat said at the ceremony that they intended to act humanely in the fight against pirates, Hurriyet reported. Giresun will arrive in the destination in several days and start to implement its liabilities as part of special sub-unit formed as part of UN Security Council´s decision to combat pirates. Staff of the frigate totals 263 people. The Giresun will stay in the Gulf of Aden for four months.

EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, tries to urge Switzerland to participate in operation Atalanta. He expressed Brussels' interest in Swiss elite soldiers. "Swiss troops would be very welcome in operation Atalanta", Solana said after a meeting with Calmy-Rey in Brussels. He made it clear that a financial contribution by Switzerland was out of the question. "Frankly speaking such an option is not a priority", Solana said. He added, however that it was up to Switzerland to decide what form of cooperation it provides. Solana said he hoped the government would give the green light, but declined to say whether the EU preferred personnel or helicopters. The participation of Switzerland in the naval operations off Somalia has faced serious resistance from many Swiss people, lead by the Swiss Green Party member Geri Müller, who is a member of the security commission of the Swiss national assembly. She termed a possible operation involving Swiss soldiers off Somalia as colonialism.

Somalis flee to Malta. A boatload crammed with 227 illegal migrants berthed at Wied il-Buni fishermen's quay in Birżebbuġa yesterday, the Malta Times reports. The boat arrived at about 12.30 p.m., with immigrants mainly from Somalia, and mostly male, except for 22 women and two young children. The army's observation post at Delimara sighted the boat at 11 a.m. as it approached Bengħajsa, close to the gas-bunkering tank area. Patrol and rescue boats were immediately sent to the area to investigate. A helicopter was also deployed to assess the situation. It was noted that, although the immigrants lacked life-jackets, their overall state of health was generally good. Immigration police and members of the detention services were waiting for the boatload when it landed at Wied il-Buni. A group of 262 immigrants on board a large wooden boat, landed in Marsaxlokk on February 1. Thirty-five of these have already been sent back to Egypt. A month earlier, a group of 162 immigrants were rescued in rough seas after they sent a distress signal to the armed forces from a position 59 nautical miles south of Malta. Since January, there were several disturbances at the Safi detention centre where a number of Somalis protested over their detention conditions. Italy is also facing a similar situation with the foreign press reporting a clash between migrants and the army after several tried to escape from a centre in Lampedusa. Last year, over 31,700 migrants landed in Lampedusa, an increase of 75 per cent over 2007.

NATO is planning new anti-piracy mission. A NATO spokesman says the alliance is planning a new naval operation to combat piracy off Somalia. NATO spokesman James Appathurai says that based on discussions with NATO defense ministers at a conference in Poland, "you can expect to see another NATO naval operation off the coast of Somalia next spring in the general effort to combat piracy". NATO in December ended Operation Allied Provider, during which its warships successfully escorted cargo vessels bearing 30,000 tons of aid to Somalia but failed to prevent a surge in pirate attacks. The four NATO vessels were replaced by a naval task force organized by the European Union.

"There is not enough urgency, insufficient cooperation, weak coordination and inadequate commitment" surrounding the threat of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden, said Sandro Calvani, director of the U.N. Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute at the Madariaga College of Europe Foundation, as UPI reported on Atalanta. "I think this is the first time we've seen all five permanent members of the Security Council actually have military forces operating in the same geographical region and to the same end", said Cmdr. Snowy Lintern, liaison officer of the force. But he pointed out that their five ships in theater are scarce. "The density of traffic is 250 ships per day", said Lintern. "Three thousand small boats are engaged in fishing off the coast of Somalia, and all of these 3,000 small boats are exactly the same vessels as the pirates use. So being able to identify which ones are pirates and which ones aren't is a problem for us". The five EU ships could soon be backed up by four more EU ships, but the area of operations remains vast and the ships are of little use merely as a deterrent. India, Russia, the United States, Malaysia and China also have ships in theater, while Turkey is planning to send one. "Few states have ratified anti-piracy and prosecution and punishment of pirates conventions such as UNCLOS (the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the SUA (Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation) convention", explained Emanuele de Rosa, a maritime security expert at the European Commission. In fact, only three or four EU member states have legislation to prosecute pirates in their home countries. "It's happened a couple of times where the U.S. and, currently, the Danes have pirates aboard their warships, which have been captured, for three to six months while they found out if they're going to be able to prosecute them or not. And often they're not and simply released back into Somali territory", said Lintern. But while the EU naval force has made it clear that its mandate does not extend to Somali territory -- although they have permission to enter Somali waters to combat counter-piracy -- de

Rosa stressed that establishing an effective state in Somalia is paramount.


The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, after a through study of international law and conventions, determined that it may be appropriate for supranational bodies to intervene in what are normally considered the domestic affairs of a state for the purpose of protecting people who are at risk. The commission´s report pinpointed principles on which its prominent jurists reached consensus and which it believes to be "politically achievable in the world as we know it today". The cardinal principles the commission considered legitimate were stated in the following words:

State sovereignty implies responsibility, and the primary responsibility for the protection of its people lies with the state itself… However, where a population is suffering serious harm, as a result of internal war, insurgency, repression, or state failure, and the state in question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it, the principle of nonintervention yields to the international responsibility to protect.

The report does not deny that sovereignty is important, but it calls attention to what sovereignty entails. For the jurists, sovereignty is not best conceived of in terms of control but rather in terms of responsibility. Government officials are responsible for assuring the safety of citizens and for advancing their welfare. The commission did not find genuine support for a view that sovereignty necessitates unlimited state power over its own citizens, but instead acknowledged that "sovereignty implies a dual responsibility: externally—to respect the sovereignty of other states—and internally—to respect the dignity and basic rights of all the people within the state". The report noted in its conclusion that "sovereignty as responsibility has become the minimum content of good international citizenship".

The general responsibility to safeguard peoples´ welfare requires the implementation of three specific tasks. In the first instance, it entails a responsibility to prevent or to contend with the root causes of conflict that puts people at risk of requiring humanitarian intervention. Contending with the root causes can mean putting to an end political repression. In the second instance, it entails a responsibility to respond aptly when there is a pressing human need. A fitting response may call for sanctions, international prosecutions, or military interventions. And last but not least, the responsibility to protect people in distress demands a responsibility to rebuild by providing the right kind of help with recovering, reconstructing, and setting in motion a process of national reconciliation.

Russia´s heavy missile cruiser, the Pyotr Veliky, on Wednesday - 18th February - handed over ten Somali piracy suspects to Somalia in the Yemeni port of Al-Mukalla. The ten had been detained near the Yemeni Island of Sokotra in the Indian Ocean, the SAPA news agency reports. The suspects, on two speedboats and on a floating base, were trying to assault a trawler when the Russian cruiser captured them. It was, however, not immediately established to which Somali authority the ten suspects were handed over and if they would be tried in Somalia, the semi-autonomous region of Puntland or Yemen.

Discard the Top-Down Strategy in Somalia, writes foreign policy analyst Seth Kaplan and elaborates: As Somalia continues to be ravaged by pirates, it has come to embody the very meaning of state collapse and tragedy. Warships from the United States, Germany, and China are now trying to fight the vicious bandits, who have hijacked 40 vessels in the past year and made off with ransoms totaling more than $30 million.

But this drama is only the latest chapter for a country that has been beset by war, famine, and terrorism ever since the loss of a functioning government in 1991. The international community has spent more than $8 billion trying to fix Somalia during the past two decades, but it remains a stark example of state failure in the postcolonial period.

The United Nations, Western governments, and donors have been trying to fix Somalia in a way that is convenient for them—by creating a central government. They are more willing to accept the appearance of a cohesive regime than they are to accept the reality that they are simply backing one faction, which just happens to control the purported government.

Instead of repeatedly trying to foist a Western style top-down state structure on a deeply decentralized society, the international community should work with Somalia's long-standing traditional institutions to build a bottom-up government.

This would mean working with clans, the single most important component of the population's identity. While Somalis share a common ethnicity, language, and religion, they are divided into four major clans, each with numerous sub-clans and extended family networks. Like many tribal societies, the clans use customary law to govern their communities—and wield enormous influence.

In Somalia, clans started undermining the country's centralized government as soon as the country achieved independence in 1960, ultimately driving Siyad Barre's regime to its dismal end in 1991. The country has been fragmented into autonomous fiefdoms ever since.

Now, the country has become a haven for Islamic insurgents and could potentially destabilize the Horn of Africa and beyond. With violence on the rise, it is a growing humanitarian disaster.

Just as clans helped destroy Somalia's government, they can be instrumental in reconstituting it. Already they have created a semblance of order in many parts of the country, using their traditional governing system to resolve disputes and encourage some investment. Somaliland, the self-declared independent state in Somalia's northeast, has even held a number of free elections, and established enough stability and prosperity to attract migrants from around the region.

The international community could help rescue Somalia by working directly with these clans, incorporating their informal governing methods into regional and local governments. Foreign aid could help construct these bodies, and find ways to formalize dispute resolution between groups.

A chain of such governments would provide for almost all the population's day-to-day needs. This new state structure would be designed to correspond as closely as possible to the underlying clan structures, with almost all money and responsibility decentralized to the lower levels.

The central government would manage a common currency (through a technocratic central bank), offer a venue and process for negotiating clan disagreements, and provide a platform for clan representatives to work on a few foreign policy and national infrastructure issues. As state institutions mature over time and the working relationships among clans improve, more regulatory powers could be established at the center.

However, the great majority of international assistance should be directed at the local level, where the chances of bringing peace, stable administration, and the benefits of development are likely to be greatest. Such assistance could be conditioned on each regional government's commitment to manage foreign aid transparently, as well as its readiness to expel terrorists, pirates, and organized criminals.

This confederate structure would somewhat mirror the way some European countries, such as Switzerland, functioned before the rise of centralized states. The national government would have even less power than the pre-Civil War American federal government had.

Within Somalia, the biggest obstacle to this approach, aside from the growing chaos, would be the weakening of traditional clan structures in parts of the south. But a program of autonomous self-government could be readily implemented in a few regions right away—such as Somaliland, Puntland, and Galmudug—and as outside assistance helped these areas improve their public services and economies, other regions would seek to join them. Offering to empower sub-clans or independent factions in this way would give local leaders—including warlords and moderate Islamists in some places—an incentive to participate in government.

But the far greater challenge is to get the international community united behind an approach that breaks from its one-size-fits-all state-building formula. Somalis have suffered enough. It is time for a strategy that better fits the country's social fabric.

A press communiqué issued by a group of Somali Muslim scholars has demanded the withdrawal of African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) within 120 days, while calling on Somali factions to avoid violence, Radio Garowe reports. The statement was signed high-profile Somali scholars from across the country and other scholars who flew to the capital Mogadishu for the days-long talks that resulted with the press communiqué. The nine-point declaration offered a heavy dose of warnings, advise and a new direction to save Somalia from an explosion of violence among Islamist factions.

The first point said it is "prohibited" under Islam to kill a Muslim or to violate a Muslim's property and reputation.

The second point said it is a "duty" for Muslims to follow a moderate path in the religion, while warning against labeling Muslims as "non-Muslim" when politically feasible.

The third clause, directed specifically to the government of new Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, demanded that Islamic Shariah law become the foundation of the country's political system.

The fourth clause advised that a special scholars' committee be set up to revise the country's secular constitution and "remove" clauses that are anti-Islamic law.

The fifth clause was dedicated to foreign troops present on Somali soil – a 3,500-strong AMISOM peacekeeping force deployed in Mogadishu. The clause said the AMISOM force did not come with the wish of the Somali people and must leave Somalia within 120 days, starting on March 1, 2009.

The six clause called on Islamist factions opposed to President Sheikh Sharif's new government to "avoid" all acts that can lead to war and to "create an environment of peace" so that the above-mentioned clauses can be implemented.

Clause number seven stated that if the concerned parties – i.e. government and anti-government groups – do not fulfill the decisions above, the final decision rests with the Somali Islamic scholars' council, a group that grew out of the scholars' mediation council but kept Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad as chairman.

The eighth clause was exclusively dedicated to "reconciliation as a duty" to all Muslims, saying the scholars' council will continue peace effort s "among the brothers".

The ninth and final clause was a general statement addressed the Somali public, calling on everyone to repent to Allah (God), to uphold their religion (Islam), to respect their scholars, and to help each other in doing righteous deeds.

Somali gunmen attacked a local aid worker near the restive country´s capital, killing one person and wounding two others, said an official who survived the attack. The armed men attacked the home of Mohamed Hassan Orow, who heads a local NGO, in a town south of Mogadishu late Thursday, sparking a firefight with the security guards. "Armed men attacked my house and one of my security guards was killed in the fire exchange". Orow told AFP. And in another incident at least one civilian was killed and three others wounded in the crossfire after insurgents attacked AU peacekeepers, known locally as AMISOM, stationed at the ex-Jalle Siyad compounded, witnesses said. "We woke up to explosions and bullets", said a resident who lives near the compound. There was no immediate clear information available on casualties suffered by the fighting sides. Separately, a roadside explosion at a security checkpoint in south Mogadishu manned by Islamic Courts gunmen targeted an AMISOM military convoy as it passed through, the AMISOM spokesman said. Maj. Bahoku Barigye, the AMISOM force spokesman in Mogadishu, told reporters that no AU soldier was hurt, but confirmed that one of their army vehicles was damaged.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and Somalia's new Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake received parliamentary endorsement by a parliamentary vote-of-confidence for the new Cabinet consisting of 36 ministers.

The positions were distributed among Somali clans using the 4.5 power-sharing formula. Important positions besides three ladies being appointed to the dokets of Health, Family Affairs, and Rural Development, are:

Deputy PM and Minister of Fisheries: Prof. Abddulrahman A. Haji Ibrahim, who was fisheries minister already in 2004.

Deputy PM and Minister of Finance: Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden

Deputy PM and Minister of Interior: Mr. Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, the Islamic Courts senior ground commander during the two-year insurgency.

(the fourth PM already resigned)

Foreign Minister: Mohamed Abdi Omaar

Minister of Finance: Mr. Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan - the former Speaker of Parliament.

Minister of Security: Mr. Omar Hashi Aden, was a key member of the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS), which united with the Transitional Federal Government to form the country´s first-ever Government of National Unity.

Minister of Defense, Prof. Mohamed Abdi Gandhi, who is more an educator than a military man.

Minister of Higher Education: Mr. Ibrahim Hassan Adow

Minister for Environment: Mr. Burci Hamsa

Minister of Water and Minerals: Mr. Ahmed Abdalla Boss

Minister of Rural Development: Mrs. Kadija Mohamed Dirie

Minister for Agriculture: Mr. Hassan Mohamed Noor (Shirti Guduud)

Somalia's leaders, including the President, PM, the new Cabinet and the 550-seat parliament, are all currently based in the neighbouring Republic of Djibouti and are expected to fly to the Somali capital Mogadishu soon. The new Unity Government derived from the "Transitional Federal Parliament" — itself an unelected body imposed by the United Nations in 2004 at the UNEP conference centre in Kenya - which had elected its meanwhile ousted President Abdullahi Yusuf and the Transitional Federal Government shortly thereafter at a Kenyan stadium. The TFG with US-backed Ethiopian troops pushed the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) from Mogadishu in 2006 and thereafter faced a new civil war in the country, which was only briefly stopped by a peace agreement signed under UN supervision in Djibouti designing the present enlargement of parliament by inclusion of the moderate parts of the UIC and new presidential elections.

Impacting news from the global village -----

The European Commission supports the decision of the African Union to introduce targeted sanctions against the military junta in Mauritania. European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, declared: "I fully support the decision of the African Union, while regretting that it has come to this. For months the international community has been asking the various warring parties to find a mutually acceptable solution which we could support. I am disappointed to see that the junta is continuing to go its own way, thereby dragging the country into international isolation - with serious political and socio-economic consequences. I still believe that there is scope for convergence between all the parties but this calls for direct dialogue and a willingness to reach a consensus, both of which have been lacking to date". The Commissioner said he was prepared to support any genuine commitment to dialogue between the Mauritanian parties. Following the coup on 6 August 2008, the Commission froze a large part of its financial cooperation with Mauritania pending a favourable response from those in power under the consultation procedure set out in Article 96 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement. The prescribed period is drawing to a close and the junta has as yet failed to make any proposals which are acceptable to the international community. The European Commission is soon to propose to the EU Member States a roadmap with appropriate measures for resuming cooperation as and when democracy is restored on the basis of a consensual process of return to constitutional order.

The Commission is willing to discuss other, more targeted, measures which the Member States might wish to put in place. However, it also must be noted that for years EU fishing vessels had depleted the fish-stocks of Mauritania to an extent, which was unbearable for the local fishing communities and the majority of the people of Mauritania. Sir Allan Ramsay, the former British Ambassador to Morocco and Mauritania remarked already in 2001: The thought came to me also during the very difficult negotiations between Morocco and the EU over fishing rights in Moroccan waters, and again in Mauritania whose defenseless coastline is ruthlessly pillaged by the fishing fleets. If, by 2010, the governments concerned claim that Mediterranean Single Market can be said to have succeeded, one will be able to test the truth of the claim, in part, by seeing whether there has been any reduction in the number of young men drowned in the intervening years in attempting to swim across the Straits of Gibraltar to Spain, young men from Sub-Saharan Africa and West Africa as well as from Morocco itself, and elsewhere in North Africa, all hoping for a share in that ice-cream.

Monaco Declaration on Ocean Acidification

One of the key issues which will face us in the future, in our efforts to better protect and manage marine ecosystems, is ocean acidification. The seas and oceans absorb one fourth of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere from human activities, which in turn is driving their acidification at a rate that is unprecedented. This chemical modification will alter marine ecosystems, upon which over half of the world´s population depends for its primary source of food.

Marine conservation and MPA experts and practitioners should be fully aware of the scale of the changes and issues we now face alongside the ongoing concerns about the impacts of climate change on our marine ecosystems. This declaration released today, based on irrefutable scientific findings and signed by 155 scientists from 26 nations, sets forth recommendations, calling for policymakers to address this immense problem. In Monaco, scientists at the IAEA´s Marine Environment Laboratories (MEL) have joined more than 150 experts from 26 countries calling for urgent actions to halt rising levels of acidity in the world´s oceans. "It is the other CO2 problem that must be grappled with alongside climate change. Reining in this double threat, caused by our dependence on fossil fuels, is the challenge of the century", the marine scientists say in the declaration, which is strongly supported also by H.S.H. Prince Albert II. To download and read the Monaco Declaration click here: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/doc/MonacoDeclaration.pdf

The fuel shortage Kenya has been facing is artificial, Capital News can authoritatively report. Reliable sources in the fuel industry point at a situation where key players are creating a non-existent shortage by failing to supply products under what is known at private imports. "A number of marketing firms place nominations to import products but end up failing to honour the pledges thus creating the shortage", one source who spoke on condition of anonymity said. Industry players say that Kenya relies on two forms of importation for fuel products. One is the open tender system for crude oil products – super petrol, diesel and kerosene – which is coordinated by the Ministry of Energy. The balance comes through private imports, and this is the method being exploited by unscrupulous marketers to create the artificial shortage since a company that pledges to import products but fails to do so, owes no one any explanation for the failure. The fuel-shortages often have been blamed on piracy issues in Somalia, which has been exposed many times already as lame excuse for clandestine profiteering stunts, while tanker vessel queue to offload at Mombassa harbour.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine

East-Africa

254-714-747090

www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.

Nairobi Node

africanode@ecoterra.net

254-733-633-733

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme

SAP Media Officer

254-733-385868

sap@ecoterra.net

Source: By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis (The American Chronicle)

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