STATUS OF SEIZED VESSELS AND CREWS IN SOMALIA, THE GULF OF ADEN AND THE INDIAN OCEAN (ecoterra - 25. October 2011)
PROTECTING AND MONITORING LIFE, BIODIVERSITY AND THE ECOSYSTEMS OF SOMALIA AND ITS SEAS SINCE 1986 - ECOTERRA Intl.
ECOTERRA Intl. and ECOP-marine serve concerning the counter-piracy issues as advocacy groups in their capacity as human rights, marine and maritime monitors as well as in co-operation with numerous other organizations, groups and individuals as information clearing-house. In difficult cases we have successfully served as mediators, helped hostages to get medical or humanitarian relief and released, assisted in negotiations and helped the families of victims. Our focus to make piracy an issue of the past is concentrating on holistic coastal development as key to uplift communities from abhorrent poverty and to secure their marine and coastal ecosystems against any harm.
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STATUS-SUMMARY:
Today, 25. October 2011 at 23h30 UTC, at least 28 larger plus 18 smaller foreign vessels plus one stranded barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 482 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple, two (or now only one) frail elderly ladies and four aid-workers - suffer to be released.
But even EU NAVFOR, who mostly only counts high-value, often British insured vessels, admitted now that many dozens of vessels were sea-jacked despite their multi-million Euro efforts to protect shipping.
Having come under pressure, EU NAVFOR's operation ATALANTA felt now compelled to publish their updated piracy facts for those vessels, which EU NAVFOR admits had not been protected from pirates and were abducted. EU NAVFOR also admitted in February 2011 for the first time that actually a larger number of vessels and crews is held hostage than those listed on their file.
Since EU NAVFOR's inception at the end of 2008 the piracy off Somalia started in earnest and it has now completely escalated. Only knowledgeable analysts recognized the link.
Please see the situation map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA (2011) and the CPU-ARCHIVE
ECOTERRA members can also request the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor for background info.
- see also HELD HOSTAGE BY PIRATES OFF SOMALIA
and don't forget that SOMALI PIRACY IS CUT-THROAT CAPITALISM
WHAT THE NAVIES OFF SOMALIA NEVER SEE:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/fighting_for_control_of_somali.html
What Foreign Soldiers in Somalia and even their Officers Never Seem to Realize:
The Scramble For Somalia
PEACE KEEPERS OR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS ?
SG Ban Ki-Moon (UN) and President Ram Baran Yadav (Nepal) should resign and take the responsibility for 4,500 Haitians having been killed by a Cholera strain introduced by unchecked, so-called UN Peace-Keepers from Nepal into Haiti.
LATEST:
STILL CLOSE TO 500 SEAFARERS ARE HELD HOSTAGE IN SOMALIA !
ECOTERRA Intl. has been the first group to clearly and publicly state that the piracy phenomenon off the Somali coasts can only become an issue of the past again, if tangible and sustainable, appropriate and holistic development for the coastal communities kicks in. Solutions to piracy have to tackle the root causes: Abhorrent poverty, environmental degradation, injustice, outside interference. While still billions are spend for the navies, for the general militarization or for mercenaries or conferences, still no real and financially substantial help is coming forward to pacify and develop the coastal areas of Somalia ir to help the Somali people and government to protect and police their own waters.
Updates and latest news on known cases of piracy - see the status section :
DELAYED TRIAL OF OF APPREHENDED KENYANS STARTS -
WHILE REAL CULPRITS IN KIDNAP AND MURDER CASE LANGUISH IN SOMALIA
Ali Babitu Kololo, 25, and Issa Sheikh Saadi, 37, are now set to appear before a magistrate at one of the most remote court locations in Kenya to stand trial concerning allegations that they had been aiding a murderous kidnap gang, comprising of Kenyans and Somalis, who killed holiday makers David Tebbutt, 58, and abducted his wife Judith, 56, to Somalia.
Ali Babitu Kololo, a divorced father of two who regularly works as timber cutter, was apprehended by Kenyan security personnel, who were eagerly looking for possible suspects they could present to the world media and incoming British investigators, after he came forward by himself having luckily escaped from the gang and reported that he himself was a victim of the criminals, while Issa Sheikh Saadi is said to have been arrested by Anti-Terrorism-Police out of bed in Kiunga.
Ali Babitu Kololo freely told immediately on the next morning after the incident how he was captured by the gang, forced under the gun to enter the boat with which they approached the wider area of the remote tourist lodge and under threat to be killed had to show the direction to the resort from the seaside.
Directed by the Lamu magistrate, Kololo was supposed to get his constitutionally guaranteed bail application hearing only at the High Court in Malindi, represented by local lawyer George Wakahiu, but that move was frustrated by the facts that the facilitation of the proceeding documents of the first hearing were delayed and then due to a judge transfer at the Malindi High Court, where at first no judge was available to hear the case. Many days later the newly appointed judge gave the prosecution still 10 more days to produce any evidence - a time-frame ending on 23. October.
After the trial hearing was initially set for 24. October, postponed to 25. October and postponed again, the trial is due to begin now on Wednesday the 26th, but George Wakahiyu is no longer representing the accused.
He said to The Telegraph reporter: "The matter has been referred for trial which will start tomorrow morning at the court in Hindi. For various reasons I am no longer instructed to represent the first accused."
The mandate for local lawyer George Wakahiu Njenga, who had at first offered himself to represent the accused Ali Babitu Kololo, had to be withdrawn after it transpired mid October that he was disqualified for insincerity by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) where he had applied to be the chairman. George Wakahiu Njenga was ejected by the IEBC selection panel after he admitted he was not a member of the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya despite indicating he was on its roll in his application forms.
Njenga was hard pressed by the selection panel’s chairman Ekuru Aukot to explain the discrepancy, which he said was tantamount to fraud. The panel outlined strict conditions for candidates interested in the positions in a move aimed at locking out tax defaulters and criminals. The applicants were required to seek clearance from the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Security Intelligence Service, Criminal Investigation Department, Kenya Revenue Authority, Director of Public Prosecutions, Higher Education Loans Board and professional groups such as the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya.
The panel's chairman Ekuru Aukot also challenged Mr Njenga to explain why he had registered two law firms under different names, contrary to the LSK requirements that allow each lawyer to own only one firm.
Dr Aukot said Mr Njenga had committed fraud and asked him to leave the interview room at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre.
Ali Babitu Kololo, who stated that he himself is a victim of the kidnap-gang, but was mishandled and remanded without a chance to get bail, also claimed repeatedly that he had not received medical treatment, despite the fact the the court in Lamu had ordered already on 03. October that the prison authorities have to present the injured remand prisoner to a qualified doctor and a facility where x-rays can be made. Family members, who noticed the injuries the accused had sustained during prolonged interrogations, had already been told by the police in Kiunga that their prisoner would receive medical treatment, but it was confirmed by the clinical officer in Kiunga that he was never even presented to the medical facility or treated.
Meanwhile a kidnapping spree has shown clearly who the real culprits are, from where they come and to where they flee.
With wild speculations in the media amounting to prejustice and contempt of court, many who believe that Ali Babitu Kololo is innocent and himself a victim, doubt if he will get a fair trial under these circumstances.
But then, Kenya also has qualified magistrates and judges, which can distinguish between made up or trumped up charges of eager prosecutors and investigators and see the truth, which also shall set innocent victims free.
TWO AID WORKERS KIDNAPPED IN CENTRAL SOMALIA
At around 15h00 (local time) on Tuesday, Somali gunmen kidnapped two foreign aid worker in the Somaali town of Galkayo.
The 60-year-old Danish man and the 32-year-old American woman were working for the Danish Demining Group when they were seized not far from the Galkayo airport, which is jointly managed by the Puntland and the Galmudug Regional States of Somalia.
If the Somali colleague who was with them in Northern Somalia is likewise a victim or part of the set-up is not clear yet. The American is a former school teacher.
The Danish Demining Group helps dispose of unexploded bombs and teaches communities about the dangers of land mines and other ordinance, according to its website. The role of the kidnapped aid workers was unclear, stated AP.
Denmark's minister for development cooperation, Christian Friis Bach, told the Danish media that the demining group was working to help Somali people. "That's why it's both sad and tragic that they have been struck by this kidnapping, and I hope their strong network and a collected effort also by the Foreign Ministry can resolve the situation quickly," he said.
The head of the Danish Refugee Council's International Department in Copenhagen, Ann Mary Olsen said: ”As a first priority, we have been concentrating on the ongoing investigations. We are keeping close contact with the family members, who are deeply concerned, just as we are.” She added: ”We have informed the family members and we are in close contact with them. We are all deeply concerned with the situation, but we request the media to respect the privacy of the families during this difficult time. Media inquiries are the last thing on their minds at this point.” According to Ann Mary Olsen, the staff members were very experienced and trained to work difficult places like Somalia. The Danish Refugee Council has been working there since 1998, but the activity in the area of Galkayo temporarily is on hold.
The aid workers were taken by gunmen while on their way to the airport, said Ahmed Mohamed, a police officer in the Somali town of Galkayo to AP. Mohamed said the aid workers crossed into the southern side of the town.
Meanwhile it has transpired that they have been taken to a remote location in the southern part of Galmudug Regional state, where also abducted Judith Tebbutt, and numerous hostages, including two Danes and seven Indians are held on land by different pirate and gangster groups.
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We Were Pirates Once, and Young:
An American Way to Understand Somali Pirates By Michael Scott Moore (TheNewRepulic)
When Somali pirates started making international news, journalists and politicians said, in so many words, “Forget the romance of eye patches and parrots. These guys are mean.” They are mean, and getting meaner—Jeffrey Gettleman’s terrifying piece for this magazine (“The Wages of Anarchy”) made this very point—but they’re actually not all that foreign: The seventeenth-century Christian pirates of the Caribbean resorted to murder and torture, too. They did something, moreover, that Somalia would be lucky to learn from: They helped build America.
Colonists on the Eastern seaboard in the late 1600s were a struggling, gritty people living far from civilization but near some lucrative shipping lanes, and, after the Navigation Acts especially, they turned a blind eye to violent raids taking place just past their shores. “Very great abuses have been and continue still to be practiced,” wrote the Board of Trade in London to one colonial governor in 1697, warning him that he would lose his position if he continued to tolerate pirates.
But pirates were common in those days in spite of strict letters from London. The Navigation Acts strangled so much legal trade in the colonies that many sailors had nothing much to do. “Captains without cargo and seamen without employment turned in increasing numbers to the easy lure of piracy,” writes Douglas R. Burgess, a law historian at Yeshiva University and author of a book on colonial piracy calledThe Pirates’ Pact. “Piracy became—and would remain—a staple of colonial commerce long after the acts themselves were revoked.”
In fact, it flourished. By the 1690s, a bold generation of pirates sailed from the American colonies all the way to the Red Sea. Slave captains roving in that part of the world had noticed treasure ships from the Mughal and Ottoman empires trundling between Arabia and the Indian coast—that is, through the Gulf of Aden, where Somali pirates now hunt. Epic ransacking voyages were organized in the American northeast, with active sponsorship from colonial governors. The most famous of these Red Sea pirates, like Thomas Tew and Henry Avery, sailed with financing and “letters of marque”—official letters that authorized attacks upon enemy ships—from the governors of Rhode Island and New York. When they returned, with heavy ships, they would share the wealth with governors. This Red Sea trade became one of the most important sources of income in the colonies, according to Burgess. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was so impressed with the role pirate treasure played in colonial finance that without it, he argued in 1700, “we had never had a spot upon our Garment”—meaning that some northeastern colonies, with their hardscrabble subsistence farms, would have been flat broke.
The precedent of pirate wealth in the West is easy to miss. Americans are rich and historically distant enough now to forget that some of New York’s most venerable fortunes—Philipse, Van Cortlandt—grew large on pirate treasure. European countries also had phases of piracy, and some Western countries still tolerate certain kinds of high-seas crime. European and Asian trawlers steal a wealth of shark and tuna from Somalia’s undefended waters, which the navies off Somalia have failed to prevent.
Revisiting this history is not just awkward; it raises questions about the future of Somalia. Could pirates lay a foundation of wealth in a dry and destitute land? The comparison may seem like a stretch, but in some areas the ransoms have already helped. “In northern coastal towns like Harardhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving,” the Associated Press reported in 2008. The same article quotes a shopkeeper named Sugule Dahir in Eyl. “There are more shops, and business is booming because of the piracy,” he said. “Internet cafes and telephone shops have opened, and people are just happier than before.”
Local attitudes have hardened toward pirates since 2008. But along parts of the coast, Somalis still know where the money comes from. “We marry pirates! Otherwise we’d go hungry,” a young woman told a reporter for the German broadcaster ZDF in May this year. She lives in a central Somali village called Afbarwaargo, where pirates aren’t scorned. “We need someone who can feed the family,” she said. “Right now it’s only pirates who can do that.”
The sums of cash, of course, fund more than family meals. Somali pirates won an estimated $238 million in ransoms during 2010, according to a nonprofit called Oceans Beyond Piracy, much of which went toward luxuries like khat or SUVs. Other amounts flow into an uncertain network of financiers inside and outside Somalia. Local warlords need to be paid off—including Islamists like Al Shabab, in some areas—and certain pirate bosses also meddle in arms smuggling, according to the U.N. So a great deal of the money fuels Somalia’s civil wars.
Of course, there are crucial differences between early America and modern Somalia beyond where the money ends up. Pirates helped build the American colonies because the colonists belonged to a well-organized system of trade; the stolen money oiled a working—if rudimentary—infrastructure, which Somalia lacks. Twenty years of civil war have left the nation without proper schools, institutions, and in some cases functioning roads. Khat also leaves people listless, and constant warfare leaves them traumatized. Piracy—so far—tends to fuel the chaos, not alleviate it. American colonists also had ambitions to build a stable new country, and it’s not clear that Somalis have the same unified will. Still, with peace, and infrastructure, some Somali pirate treasure might not go to waste.
Straightforward ocean mugging is a sign of powerlessness, and it’s significant that early American attitudes toward piracy flip-flopped after the Revolution. By 1800, more responsible leaders like Thomas Jefferson fretted that foreign pirates were bad for European trade. The fledgling nation built a deep-water navy with the specific goal of breaking the “Barbary corsairs” off North Africa, who controlled the Strait of Gibraltar. By 1815—after a decade of raids on the Barbary shore—American ships could sail freely to Europe. All that piracy business was behind them.
(*) Michael Scott Moore is the author of Sweetness and Blood, a book about surfing, and he’s working on a book about pirates.
Back (ShipTalk)
EU Navfor has hit back at accusations the military is soft on suspected Somali pirates caught ready for action at sea, reports Tradewinds Gangs busted with rocket propelled grenades, ladders, barrels of fuel and other equipment in a skiff are routinely stripped of their tools and set back home, much to the frustration of those in the shipping industry.
Keith Blount, chief of staff at EU Navfor in Northwood, says arresting the pirates would be like imprisoning a law-abiding sports car driver as he has the capacity to speed. “The pirates are fully equipped to commit a crime in the same way as a Ferrari driver is fully equipped to do 150 miles per hour on the road,” Blount told assembled media this week. “The same law applies to us in that circumstance as it does in this case. With no crime having been committed it is a bit like stopping a Ferrari driver doing 70 miles per hour on the M1, smashing his car up and putting him behind bars because he has the potential to do 150 miles per hour. “These guys have the potential to commit piracy, but they have not done so at the time.” He accepts stripping pirates of their equipment does not put them out of the game forever, “but they do not like it”. Blount says it is a “misnomer” that naval forces do not arrest pirates if the opportunity presents. “Within the legal framework which exists we lock pirates up when we have caught them in the act and they have committed a crime,” he said. “You will see there are over 1,000 pirates in prison worldwide and many more in the judicial system.”
Royal Marines Capture Back-to-Back Pirate Ships, Hostages Rescued (gCaptain)
In a spectacular show of “I’m going to seriously ruin your world if you don’t comply,” the British Royal Marines embarked on HMS Somerset and RFA Fort Victoria take down two pirate-held ships with zero resultant casualties this week. The following is the press release from the Royal Navy. A Royal Marines Commando guards suspected pirates off the Somali coast after the Royal Navy liberated its second hijacked vessel in a week. It’s thought they were using the fishing boat Hibid Fidi as a ‘mother ship’ – until HMS Somerset pounced, boarded the dhow, freed its Pakistani crew and detained the men holding them against their will.
The action comes just days after RFA Fort Victoria, which is leading a NATO counter-piracy mission in the region, freed 23 sailors from the Italian bulk carrier MV Montecristo after a 500-mile dash across the Indian Ocean. It took an overwhelming show force from Royal Marines, raiding craft and a Lynx to force the hijackers to give in. A similar show of force was evident in the case of Hibid Fidi some 100 miles off Somalia – one Merlin from 829 Naval Air Squadron in Culdrose, Somerset’s sea boats packed with elite green berets and specially-trained Royal Navy boarding teams, and the frigate’s upper deck guns manned. The Devonport-based frigate has recently arrived in the region, taking over from her sister HMS Monmouth. Somerset spent the month-long passage from the UK to her operational area honing her boarding and counter-piracy skills both in the Mediterranean and east of Suez. Practice made perfect in the textbook take-down. The frigate was on patrol under the banner of the Combined Maritime Forces – the Bahrain-based international coalition of 25 nations determined to sweep criminal activity from the waters of the southern Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Somali Basin, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. She was alerted to the actions of the 100-tonne fishing dhow Hibid Fidi, which was not acting the way a fishing vessel would normally behave in these waters.
HMS Somerset’s Merlin was scrambled to shadow the dhow before the frigate’s Commanding Officer, Cdr Paul Bristowe, sent in his commando boarding team. Once the dhow was under their control, it became evident that the Pakistani crew were being held against their will by the Somalis – whose weapons were then seized and destroyed.
The suspected pirates were subsequently handed over to Coalition forces. Cdr Bristowe said:
“This was a good day for the UK and Combined Maritime Forces – and another victory for all nations who rely on these waters for trade or fishing stock. “We have not only set free these fishermen, but denied criminal elements the use of an ideal command platform. “Our extensive training set us up for success. Somerset’s team reacted calmly and professionally in this swift and effective boarding.” Meanwhile, the owners of the Montecristo have conveyed their thanks to Fort Victoria for saving their ship from the pirate scourge last week. The president of the Livorno-based Dalmare line, Nello D’Alesio, has written to Capt Shaun Jones RFA, the supply ship’s Commanding Officer, and offered the RFA-Royal Marines-Fleet Air Arm-Royal Navy team aboard “our utter and most felt gratitude”. Signore D’Alesio continues: “We want you to know that the D’Alesio Group does not take for granted what has been done to save our ship – but most of all our men. “We would really appreciate if you would consider extending our gratitude to your entire crew and whoever else was involved in this delicate and successful operation.”
Foreign Office let us down, British kidnap couple tell MPs By Caroline Davies (TheGuardian)
Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were held hostage in Somalia, say UK authorities offered only 'tea and sympathy' to their family
Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were held hostage in Somalia, say UK authorities offered only 'tea and sympathy' to their family
Paul and Rachel Chandler gave evidence at a foreign affairs committee inquiry into piracy off Somalia. Photograph: PA
The British couple kidnapped from their yacht and held hostage for 13 months in Somalia have said the Foreign Office provided nothing but "tea and sympathy" to their family. Paul and Rachel Chandler, seized after leaving the Seychelles bound for Tanzania in October 2009, told a committee of MPs that the Foreign Office did not have the "expertise" to deal with kidnappings.
Paul Chandler, 61, said it had only contacted their family "four days after the news was in the public domain". By that time relatives were "bewildered, uncertain, and unadvised", while being hounded by the media for information.
The Foreign Office should have advised the family "at the earliest possible moment" about the general situation regarding hostages and kidnappings in Somalia. It should have advised them not to speak to the media "because it was well known that by far the best thing for a hostage is a press blackout". If their family had known that "it would perhaps have had significant beneficial consequences," he said.
It should also have told the family "we can't help you – but here's a man who can". Because of lack of political influence in Somalia, and British government policy not to pay ransoms, Chandler said the family should have been told: "If you need help, the private sector can help. Perhaps you should contact these people."
It was more appropriate for police to take the lead in such situations, he said, as they had expertise in criminal kidnappings. "We were just the hostages, but our families were the victim of extortion." The couple were giving evidence at the foreign affairs committee inquiry into piracy off Somalia. Most of their evidence was given in private for the sake of Judith Tebbutt, who is still being held.
The couple, originally from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but now living in Dartmouth, Devon, were released last November for an unconfirmed ransom of up to £620,000. Rachel Chandler, 57, said: "What the Foreign Office did provide was essentially tea and sympathy. And in doing so, I think, it rubbed our family up the wrong way." The couple's suspected captors are being tried in Kenya over the hijacking of a French vessel. The Chandlers said they understood the British and Kenyan authorities are discussing whether they will also face trial over their case. The Metropolitan police is said to have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
"I'd like to see them prosecuted by the UK. Not necessarily physically in the UK,'' said Paul Chandler, "and yes, we would be happy to give evidence."
The couple said there had been no warnings, from the Foreign Office, their insurers or the authorities in the Seychelles that their route to Tanzania would put them at high risk from piracy. Rachel Chandler added they would continue sailing: "Cruising is our chosen lifestyle and we want to continue cruising for as long as we are able. We're certainly not defeated by what happened to us".
Paul Chandler, 61, said it had only contacted their family "four days after the news was in the public domain". By that time relatives were "bewildered, uncertain, and unadvised", while being hounded by the media for information.
The Foreign Office should have advised the family "at the earliest possible moment" about the general situation regarding hostages and kidnappings in Somalia. It should have advised them not to speak to the media "because it was well known that by far the best thing for a hostage is a press blackout". If their family had known that "it would perhaps have had significant beneficial consequences," he said.
It should also have told the family "we can't help you – but here's a man who can". Because of lack of political influence in Somalia, and British government policy not to pay ransoms, Chandler said the family should have been told: "If you need help, the private sector can help. Perhaps you should contact these people."
It was more appropriate for police to take the lead in such situations, he said, as they had expertise in criminal kidnappings. "We were just the hostages, but our families were the victim of extortion." The couple were giving evidence at the foreign affairs committee inquiry into piracy off Somalia. Most of their evidence was given in private for the sake of Judith Tebbutt, who is still being held.
The couple, originally from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but now living in Dartmouth, Devon, were released last November for an unconfirmed ransom of up to £620,000. Rachel Chandler, 57, said: "What the Foreign Office did provide was essentially tea and sympathy. And in doing so, I think, it rubbed our family up the wrong way." The couple's suspected captors are being tried in Kenya over the hijacking of a French vessel. The Chandlers said they understood the British and Kenyan authorities are discussing whether they will also face trial over their case. The Metropolitan police is said to have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
"I'd like to see them prosecuted by the UK. Not necessarily physically in the UK,'' said Paul Chandler, "and yes, we would be happy to give evidence."
The couple said there had been no warnings, from the Foreign Office, their insurers or the authorities in the Seychelles that their route to Tanzania would put them at high risk from piracy. Rachel Chandler added they would continue sailing: "Cruising is our chosen lifestyle and we want to continue cruising for as long as we are able. We're certainly not defeated by what happened to us".
Yemeni pirate handed life sentence in court in Norfolk By Tim McGlone (TheVirginian-Pilot)
A Yemeni fisherman who was taken hostage by Somali pirates and then joined in the hijacking of an American yacht was sentenced Friday to life in prison for his role in the attack.
Mounir Ali apologized and said he participated in the attack only to try to get his own fishing boats returned. He said if he had known there would be violence he never would have participated.
"I'm very sorry, very, very sorry," Ali told U.S. District Judge Mark S. Davis.
In November 2010, Ali and a group of Yemenis were fishing in several boats near the island of Socotra in the Gulf of Aden when they were taken hostage by pirates and brought to Somalia. Ali was held hostage for three months until he was forced to embark on a piracy mission in February in his own boat.
While at sea, the Somalis captured the American yacht Quest and took its owners and crew hostage. At that point, Ali agreed to join the pirates with the promise of getting a share of the ransom and his fishing boats back.
The hijacking turned deadly when the U.S. Navy approached and tried to negotiate the release of the hostages. The Somalis refused and several of them shot and killed the Americans, yacht owners Scott Underwood Adam and Jean Savage Adam of Los Angeles and their friends and crew Phyllis Patricia Macay and Robert Campbell Riggle of Seattle.
Ali was in the galley cooking when the shootings started. He told authorities one of the pirates came down and tried to get a knife to stab the hostages, but Ali refused and threw the knife out a porthole and into the sea.
The Navy stormed the yacht and captured the pirates, bringing them to Norfolk for prosecution.
Indian Navy vessel foils pirate attack; ammunition seized (HindustanTimes)
An offshore patrol vessel of the Indian Navy INS Sukanya thwarted another attempted piracy in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday night. Navy officials seized three rifles, eight magazines and about 320 rounds of ammunition from the pirate boat with 14 pirates. Ladders and grapnels used by
An offshore patrol vessel of the Indian Navy INS Sukanya thwarted another attempted piracy in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday night. Navy officials seized three rifles, eight magazines and about 320 rounds of ammunition from the pirate boat with 14 pirates. Ladders and grapnels used by
The operation began after an Indian merchant vessel MV Desh Rakshak spotted a boat with a skiff in tow approaching it from about 5 to 6 nautical miles. The merchant vessel sent out a distress signal following which INS Sukanya, deployed in the region to carry out anti-piracy escort operations, altered its course.
The patrol vessel of the navy launched the Chetak helicopter, which warned the boat to stop, and asked all the crew members to muster on the upper deck of the boat. A team of marine commandos then boarded the ship and conducted a search. The arms and ammunition were seized and other equipment thrown overboard, and the boat was released, said a Navy release. This is the fourth time INS Sukanya has thwarted a pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden.
On September 20 and September 24, pirates tried to approach vessels that were being escorted by INS Sukanya but the attack was warded off and the pirates disarmed by a team of marine commandos.
Indian naval ships have prevented 40 piracy attempts in the Gulf of Aden and over 1,700 ships of different flags have been safely escorted.
Meanwhile Pakistan forced an Indian army helicopter, which obvipously had strayed into Pakistan territory to land and detained the crew, a spokesman in Islamabad stated.
Poaching by Indian fishermen in EEZ of Pakistan (DailyTimes)
Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) being the sole maritime law enforcement agency undertakes concerted operational efforts to prevent the poaching activities by Indian fishermen. In this regard, besides regular deployment of the ships and surveillance by aircraft, a series of focused anti-poaching operations are also conducted in the Eastern Maritime Region. To curb this tendency, Indian boats close (10-15 NM) to the EEZ are cleared from the Pakistani limits towards India. Even among those Indian fishing boats, which intrude deeper into our EEZ only a few are apprehended and others are cleared off purely on humanitarian basis. Pakistan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is enormously rich both in living and non-living resources. Most significantly, the Indus Delta region is abundant with prime quality fish and a most attractive lure for fishermen. On the other hand such a delta is not available in the entire Indian Gujrat region. Indian fishermen, therefore, deliberately violate the international boundaries and indulge in illegal fishing activities in Pakistan’s EEZ, especially in the Indus Delta region comprising a number of creeks. Most unfortunately, there is a general misperception in the local public about these blatant illegal acts committed by the Indian fisherman. It is mostly thought that the Indian fishermen accidentally enter Pakistani waters and are innocent ‘inadvertent crossers’. Convicted fisherman, when interviewed by the media purport the same view, which is taken at face value. NGOs, humanitarian organisations, respectable members of society etc, in innocence, naivety and lack of adequate knowledge, adopt the same stance and project the fishermen as hapless victims of circumstances which were beyond their control. Arrests are blamed on the insensitivity and highhandedness of local law enforcement agencies. However, nothing could be more being further from the truth. It is pertinent to mention that Indian fishermen commit deliberate poaching in our waters. It must be highlighted that all the Indian fishing boats today are fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) on board and the exact position of the boat, at all times, is well known to the crew.
These fishermen mainly sail from Okha or Porbandar in India, which are around 115NM (148-km) and 135NM (250-km) (Nautical Mile = 1.85-km) respectively from our EEZ. The boats travel even further ahead of the EEZ and their deliberate acts of intrusion are done well within Pakistan’s waters. Violators are apprehended even 100 nautical miles inside our waters. These incursions are not restricted to a few so termed ‘innocent inadvertent crossers’ but at occasions number over 300 boats. The lure of the rich fish catch is extremely attractive and worth taking a calculated risk vis-à-vis the expected return. This is a visible and evident indication of the mal intent of the Indian fishermen who intentionally ingress deep into Pakistan’s Maritime Zone for illegal fishing.
Moreover, the nets used by them are internationally banned, due to their very small mesh size. These nets, when used for trawling, sweep the sea and practically eradicate all forms of marine life. The consequences of such inhuman practices and blatant violation of international norms are most disastrous on our ecosystem, which can be well visualized. Such poaching activities, besides depleting the highly priced marine species in our region, not only cause enormous revenue loss to the government exchequer but also deprive the poor fishing community of Pakistan of their livelihood and honourable means of sustenance. On the contrary, any crossing by Pakistani fishermen into the Indian EEZ is indeed inadvertent as there is no fishing attraction in Indian waters.
From January 2011 till end April, 4799 Indian fishing boats were reported operating in our EEZ. The vast majority of these boats were cleared off. Only 37 boats along with 134 Indian fishermen, who were fishing more than 70NMs inside our EEZ, were apprehended. However, during the same period, only five Pakistani fishing boats were maliciously apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard units, and that too in close proximity of the EEZ demarcation. The data of apprehended Indian fishing boats and fishermen clearly reflects the mal intent and deliberate intrusion, aimed at poaching in our EEZ.
A ‘Hot Line’ was earlier established in November 2006 for exchange of information and coordination between the two director generals. The intrusions are regularly conveyed to Indian Coast Guard. Regrettably, the response has at best been lukewarm and no effective action to curb the ingress has been taken, indicating tacit State approval of this criminal activity. On passing of the recent monsoon period, the poaching activity again recommenced mid September 2011 onwards. A few figures are cited, as shown in table given below. The extent of the illegal activity in this short span is an indication of the attractive lure despite the ever-looming peril of apprehension. However, regular patrolling and clearing of these fishermen by Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) ships has progressively resulted in substantial decrease in the presence of Indian boats. During the past three weeks, 31 boats and 130 crew members have been apprehended, which is but a mere drop in the ocean. During the trials of Indian Fishermen, a humanitarian view is also accorded by Pakistani Courts, which award light sentences from one to three years for this deliberate illegal activity. Frequently, as a goodwill gesture, the Government of Pakistan releases them before the end of their sentence. On the contrary, Indian law enforcement agencies mete out very harsh punishment to Pakistani fishermen and they are kept away from the judicial process for a long time.
The PMSA remains committed to protect and safeguard national interests in the Maritime Zones of Pakistan. The force will continue to ward off Indian poachers and guard against other illegal activities, in order to makes our sea safe and secure for the country. “Poaching by Indian fishermen inside Pakistan’s EEZ is consistent and on large scale. This is due to the rich fishery resources on the mouth of Indus Delta within Pakistan’s EEZ. Despite intensive efforts of MSA and apprehension of Indian fishing boats as per government’s policy, deliberate violation of Pakistani EEZ by Indian fishermen continues causing huge losses to Pakistan’s fisheries resources. The Indian side may be impressed upon to guide and direct their fishermen to abide by the international limits of the EEZ.”
Somalia fishing industry survives despite tension By Abdulaziz Billow (PressTV)
The Somali fishing industry is among the most thriving industries in the country despite the endless fighting that is taking place in Mogadishu and Somalia at large. The endless fighting has paralyzed all sectors of the Somali economy and virtually all industries have seized operation.
But one industry remains operational and that is the fishing industry.
Geographically, Somalia locates in the East Africa. In the east it is adjacent to Indian Ocean and in the north the Gulf of Aden of Red Sea with coast line of 3333 km square sovereignty territorial waters up to 200 nautical miles.
Fisheries are mainly engaged in lucrative commerce from enclave along the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean as far south as to the coast of Kismayo, Mogadishu, Marko, Berbera, Haradhere and Hobyo to the south among many other areas.
Mohamed Yunis 29 years of age and a fisherman says that despite the clashes that has been witnessed in the land by the warring factions in Somalia he has dedicated his life to the sea and is happy with the sale of fish in which he describes as ever booming.
Mohamed says that the only thing he can do is to be a fisherman and venture out to the sea following the unrest being witnessed in Somalia. Mohamed says that the piracy scourge has also affected the Somali fishing industry
The fishing industry in Somalia is still active despite the prolonged civil war, despite the challenges facing the Somali coastal waters including piracy the fishing industry has continued to thrive.
Noor Hussein a fish vendor at Hamarwayne market says that the fishing industry is the only active industry in Somalia at this time and the industry has offered opportunities to the youths who have lost hope in seeing a better Somalia.
The Somali fishermen association say that more than 4000 different species of fish are brought into the market, a key sign that the industry is thriving positively and offering new opportunities to the youths of Somalia.
Hamarwayne fish-market is controlled by cooperatives of fishermen and fish traders whose function goes back to 1980's when the late military regime led by General Mohamed Siyad Barre started fishing cooperatives.
Today's criminal pirates claim their origins come as Somali fishermen and argue that extreme illegal overfishing in Somalia's territorial waters by other countries decimated the fish population and Somalia's fishing industry, forcing the fishermen to turn to piracy.
From the SMCM (Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor): (and with a view on news of events with an impact on Somalia)
The articles below - except where stated otherwise - are reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and are for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions held by ECOTERRA Intl.
Articles below were vetted and basically found to report correctly - or otherwise are commented.
Somalis say:
NO TO UN-TRUSTEESHIP OVER SOMALIA AND NO TO AU AND IGAD MILITARIZATION
NO foreign or local military governance on land or foreign naval governance on the Somali seas.
NO to any threat infringing on the sovereignty of Somalia, especially concerning the 200nm territorial waters, given since 1972, and the 200nm EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone / UNCLOS) already in place since 1989 as well as the 350nm continental shelf zone.
NO to any Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in relief food or Genetically Engineered (GE) seed supplies.
Somali president: Kenyan incursion 'unacceptable' (AP)
Somalia's president says a two-week-old Kenyan military incursion into Somali territory is "inappropriate and unacceptable."
Somalia's president says a two-week-old Kenyan military incursion into Somali territory is "inappropriate and unacceptable."
Monday's remarks by President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed cast doubt on how closely the two governments have been coordinating their offensives. The al-Qaida-linked Somali insurgent group al-Shabab is fighting on two fronts, against the U.N.-backed government and its African Union supporters in Mogadishu, and against Kenyan troops in the south.
But Ahmed says Kenyan troops are not welcome in Somalia and people will not accept them. It is unclear what Kenya's final strategy is in Somalia. The Kenyans say they will stay in the south until al-Shabab is defeated.
But Ahmed says Kenyan troops are not welcome in Somalia and people will not accept them. It is unclear what Kenya's final strategy is in Somalia. The Kenyans say they will stay in the south until al-Shabab is defeated.
2 Kenyan fighter jets crash in Somalia (PressTV)
Thousands are fleeing Afmadow as Kenyan forces close in on the town in southern Somalia.
Two Kenyan jet fighters have crashed after colliding over southern Somalia, Press TV reports.
The two fighter planes crashed between the towns of Kismayu and Qooqani, a Somali military officer told the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu on Tuesday. The jets were heading to the southern port city of Kismayu after targeting the positions of al-Shabab fighters in southern Somalia, the officer added.
On Monday, a Kenyan jet bombed an al-Shabab base near the port in Kismayu, an al-Shabab stronghold.
Kenyan troops began an air and ground offensive against al-Shabab in southern Somalia last week after Nairobi accused the militants of being behind several kidnappings of foreigners carried out on its territory, including the abduction of a French woman who later died in captivity. However, the militant group has denied involvement in the incidents.
Kenyan troops are now preparing for a new operation, in which they will attempt to capture the key southern town of Afmadow, which is controlled by al-Shabab.
The Somali government has said it is "unacceptable" for Kenyan forces to be in Somalia without Mogadishu's approval.
Kenyan airstrikes kill 64 in Somalia (PressTV)
Kenyan airstrikes have claimed the lives of at least 64 Somali civilians, while leaving dozens of others injured, Press TV reports.
The fatal airstrikes were carried out by Kenyan jet fighters near the southern town of Afmadow, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday. At least 130 people were also injured in the air attacks.
Kenyan troops have advanced about 100 kilometers (60 miles) into the southern areas and, having seized the key Somali town of Qooqani last Tuesday, are bracing for another round of attacks on the strategic city of Afmadow, largely controlled by al-Shabab.
The main target of the joint Somali-Kenyan offensive is also to flush out the militants from the port city of Kismayo -- Shabab's economic headquarters, located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) to the southeast of Afmadow.
The Kenyan military intervention followed Nairobi's accusation that al-Shabab had kidnapped four European women, including two Spanish humanitarian aid workers, in Kenya over the past weeks.
US planes join Kenyan battle By Peter Leftie & Muchemi Wachira (Nation)
Al Shabaab militants were on the back foot on Saturday evening as they faced heavy bombardment from multiple fronts from a combined force of Kenyan troops, US drones, African Union peacekeepers and Transitional Federal Government fighters.
There was progress on the diplomatic front, too, when the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad) member states endorsed the military offensive against the militants during a special conference held in Addis Abba Ethiopia on Friday.
The Igad Council of Ministers urged the United Nations Security Council to impose a blockade on Kismayu, a move which will effectively cut off billions of shillings collected by the militants to fund their insurgency.
A statement from the military said Kenyan security forces were advancing towards Burgavo town in southern Somalia after capturing Oddo on Friday. (READ: Kenya targets al Shabaab’s lifeline)
Another group was marching towards the town of Badade from the direction of Kolbio which they conquered on Friday. The troops had earlier bombed areas around Munarani near Oddo from the air, flattening an al Shabaab command centre.
A third company was moving towards the town of Hayo in Central Jubaland after the heavy rains that have been pounding the area subsided.
Simultaneously, fighters allied to the TFG were closing in on Afmadow amid reports that al Shabaab militants were regrouping in the town of Bula Haji and heading towards Afmadow.
It is expected that a deadly confrontation between the Kenyan and TFG troops on one side and the militants on the other may be witnessed in that town.
The al Shabaab militants are reported to have sent fighters around the River Juba area in a bid to stop Kenya and Somalia troops from advancing into Kismayu territories in a bid to cut off billions of shillings they earn in port fees and illegal sale of contrabands goods.
The Kenya army alone is reported to have deployed at least 4,000 soldiers backed by Transitional Federal Somalia Government troops for a ground invasion of Kismayu.
Navy ships fitted with heavy weapons are reported to have arrived in the Somalia territorial waters and set up base around Bajuni Islands of Kudai, Ndoa, Chuvaye, Koyama, Fuma Iyu na Tini and Nchoni Islands.
Reports which could not independently be verified emerged that at least 44 militants were killed following a deadly attack by US drones in Ras Kiamboni on Friday.
A day earlier, another 22 militants had been killed in a similar attack in Kudhaa Island near the Kenyan border, according to reports carried by Press TV.
In Dhobley, one of the six former al Shabaab strongholds so far captured by the Kenyan forces, Kenyan soldiers were being hailed as heroes after pushing out the militants who have been oppressing locals for years.
The locals were even volunteering intelligence information on al Shabaab to the Kenyan troops according to a TFG military official Major Mudu Mohammed who spoke to the Sunday Nation.
“Civilians are giving Kenyan soldiers information on the hideouts of al Shabaab who have terrorised them for so long,” he said.
Maj Mohammed said that majority of al Shabaab’s victims were women and children as most of the young men had fled for fear of being captured and forcefully recruited into the militant group.
At a press conference in Dhobley town, the spokesman for the TFG forces and the Ras Kiamboni Brigade, Mr Abdi Nassir Serar, thanked Kenyan troops for liberating the region and rescuing locals from the grip of al Shabaab.
“Kenyan soldiers have been very supportive, they have been aiding civilians by flushing out al Shabaab insurgents using both land and air,” said Mr Serar, speaking through an interpreter.
A TFG soldier, Aden Omar, who is among nine others recovering at the Dhobley General Hospital is among the fighters who was rescued by Kenyan troops after being tortured and left for dead by the militants.
“We were patrolling Hawana area near Tabda town six days ago after we managed to take it from the al Shabaab, but they regrouped and staged a retaliatory attack and I was shot from behind while in keeping guard,” said Omar who is nursing two bullet wounds on both feet.
Meanwhile, the African Union on Friday dismissed claims by Somali insurgents that they had killed dozens of alliance soldiers in Mogadishu, contending that Shabaab had dressed the corpses of its own dead in AU uniforms as a propaganda stunt.
The Islamist militia displayed dozens of bodies on the outskirts of the war-torn Somali capital on Thursday, claiming to have killed about 70 peacekeepers.
Ongoing operation
Somali press also reported that the militants had turned on residents of one of their strongholds, Afmadow in Lower Jubba in Southern Somalia accusing them of supporting the ongoing operation.
“The al Shabaab group has arrested a number of civilian people in the town of Afmadow in Lower Jubba region of southern Somalia,” reported the Shabelle news.
“The fighters of the insurgent group seized people accusing them of supporting the Kenyan forces who entered Somalia to fight al Shabaab.
Reports say that the 18 apprehended people were taken into custody. Well-known businessmen were among those arrested,” the report added.
A local radio station also reported that over 60 al Shabaab militants had been injured during fierce battles with the Kenyan troops in Tabto and Qoqani which have been since captured by the Kenya Defence Forces.
“Over 60 wounded al Shabaab fighters have been taken to Kismayu town for treatment after they were injured during the recent clashes in Tabto and Qoqani, Lower Jubba.
Reports say militia from Ag-Libah and Hosingow who were wounded in an arterial bombardment of foreign warplanes have also been taken to Kismayo,” said Radio Bar-kulan.
US Says No Participation in Kenya's Somalia Operation (VOA)
The United States has denied taking part in Kenya's operation against al-Shabab militants in southern Somalia.
A U.S. State Department release said Tuesday that the U.S. has helped Kenya build its border defense capacity for years, but added, "The United States is not participating in Kenya's current operation in Somalia."
A Kenyan army spokesman said Sunday that so-called "partners" had launched airstrikes against al-Shabab, and indicated that one of those partners was the United States.
The Kenyan army spokesman also said the French Navy had shelled the al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo. The French navy denied that claim on Monday.
Kenya sent troops into Somalia this month in pursuit of al-Shabab militants, which it blames for a series of cross-border kidnappings.
Somalia's president said Monday that he opposes the Kenyan intervention. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said only African Union troops can operate legally in Somalia.
That drew a sharp response from a top Kenyan lawmaker, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Farah Moallim, who told VOA Somali Service Tuesday that Kenya has a right to defend itself.
Al-Shabab is fighting to topple the U.N.-backed Somali government and set up an Islamic state in Somalia. The group has lost ground to Somali government and African Union troops in recent months but still controls considerable territory in southern and central Somalia.
The United States considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, and has struck al-Shabab targets in Somalia in the past. However, The New York Times on Sunday quoted a senior U.S. official as saying there have been no recent U.S. military strikes in Somalia.
Al-Shabab has denied playing a role in the kidnappings that took place just before Kenya's incursion.
Since entering Somalia a little more than a week ago, Kenyan forces have carried out airstrikes and advanced close to al-Shabab-controlled towns but have yet to fight a major ground battle with the militant group.
A Kenyan army spokesman said Sunday that so-called "partners" had launched airstrikes against al-Shabab, and indicated that one of those partners was the United States.
The Kenyan army spokesman also said the French Navy had shelled the al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo. The French navy denied that claim on Monday.
Kenya sent troops into Somalia this month in pursuit of al-Shabab militants, which it blames for a series of cross-border kidnappings.
Somalia's president said Monday that he opposes the Kenyan intervention. President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said only African Union troops can operate legally in Somalia.
That drew a sharp response from a top Kenyan lawmaker, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Farah Moallim, who told VOA Somali Service Tuesday that Kenya has a right to defend itself.
Al-Shabab is fighting to topple the U.N.-backed Somali government and set up an Islamic state in Somalia. The group has lost ground to Somali government and African Union troops in recent months but still controls considerable territory in southern and central Somalia.
The United States considers al-Shabab a terrorist group with links to al-Qaida, and has struck al-Shabab targets in Somalia in the past. However, The New York Times on Sunday quoted a senior U.S. official as saying there have been no recent U.S. military strikes in Somalia.
Al-Shabab has denied playing a role in the kidnappings that took place just before Kenya's incursion.
Since entering Somalia a little more than a week ago, Kenyan forces have carried out airstrikes and advanced close to al-Shabab-controlled towns but have yet to fight a major ground battle with the militant group.
France reportedly bombs Somali town (AP)
Thousands of people, meanwhile, fled a camp for the displaced near Somalia's capital on Sunday, fearing an imminent clash between African Union peacekeepers and the al-Qaeda-linked militants who are trying to demonstrate their strength amid an assault on two fronts.
In the country's south, others braced for fierce battles as Kenyan soldiers closed in on a militant-held town in their weeklong effort to defeat the al-Shabab group blamed for suicide bombings, kidnapping foreigners and killing famine victims.
Kenyan forces last week moved into Somalia to fight al-Shabab, and on Sunday confirmation emerged that the East African country is receiving help in the fight from a Western power.
Kenyan military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said the French navy bombed the town of Kuday near the southern al-Shabab stronghold of Kismayo on Saturday night. A Nairobi-based diplomat told The Associated Press last week that France was carrying out military attacks in Somalia; French officials in Paris denied French forces were carrying out any attacks.
U.S. officials told AP last week that the United States had been pressuring Kenya to "do something" in response to a string of security incidents along the Kenya-Somalia border, but that Kenya's invasion of Somalia took the U.S. by surprise.
The U.S. has carried out precision strikes against militants in Somalia in recent years, but has not been involved in any wider military action since pulling out forces shortly after the 1993 military battle in Mogadishu known as "Black Hawk Down."
Chirchir said fighting was likely to occur in the town of Afmadow "very soon." Afmadow lies near Kismayo.
"Most likely man-to-man battles will occur in Afmadow," he told The Associated Press. "That is one of the areas we really want to inflict trauma and damage on the al-Shabab basically to reduce their effectiveness completely so that they do not exist as a force."
Hundreds of residents were fleeing Afmadow Sunday in anticipation of fighting. Chirchir said al-Shabab were regrouping in the town of Bula Haji to face the Kenyan troops.
Somalia has been a failed state for more than 20 years, and the lawless country is a haven for pirates and international terrorists. Al-Shabab fighters have been waging a war against the weak Somali government for more than five years, but now face attacks on two fronts.
A force of 9,000 African Union peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda have been aiding the Somali forces. Al-Shabab retreated from Mogadishu amid a devastating famine a few months back, but re-emerged by staging their deadliest single bombing that killed more than 100 people.
People on Mogadishu's outskirts brace for battles
African Union forces already have pushed the militants from their last base in the capital of Mogadishu, and those staying on the outskirts said they worried the battles were approaching. The African Union Mission to Somalia force, also known as AMISOM, said in a statement Sunday they had advanced to Mogadishu's outskirts.
"We want to pass here before the fighting closes the escape routes," said Salado Abdullahi, a mother of six, who was at a checkpoint in Mogadishu on Sunday.
On Sunday, a suicide bomber killed himself and wounded two AU troops when he ran after the AU convoy.
The Kenyan military sent troops into neighbouring Somalia one week ago to pursue the militants following a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil that were blamed on Somali gunmen. Al-Shabab has threatened to launch suicide bombings inside Kenya in retaliation, and the U.S. Embassy warned late Saturday that an imminent terrorist attack is possible.
Somali gunmen have kidnapped four Europeans in the last six weeks — two from Kenya's Lamu coastal resort region and two from the Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border. One of the hostages, a quadriplegic French woman, died on Wednesday.
The kidnappings have threatened Kenya's tourism industry, which had only recently bounced back from a near collapse after post-election violence left more than 1,000 dead several years ago.
Kenya's troops are untested and it isn't clear if they are prepared for a long-term occupation requiring counterinsurgency skills — a scenario that ended U.S. and Ethiopian interventions during Somalia's 20-year-old civil war. The Somalia operation is Kenya's biggest foreign military commitment since independence in 1963.
However, al-Shabab has been weakened by a severe famine in its strongholds. Al-Shabab also is beset by internal divisions and public discontent over the group's strict punishments, recruitment of child soldiers and indiscriminate bombings.
Roadside blast kills 8 in Somalia (PressTV)
A roadside attack in Somalia has left 8 killed.
A roadside attack in Somalia has left 8 killed.
At least six civilians and two soldiers have been killed in a roadside blast in famine-stricken Somalia, Press TV reports.
The roadside bomb which went off in south Mogadishu, is the third massive explosion to take place in the region in the past hours, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday. Although further details have not yet been released, al-Shabab fighters have claimed responsibility for all of the attacks. The fighters have vowed to continue their attacks on Mogadishu until the region is cleared of foreign troops.
War-torn Somalia is also the sixth country to be the target of deadly US drone strikes. Although Somali civilians are often killed in the attacks, Washington says its strikes are aimed at al-Shabab militants.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia remains one of the countries generating the highest number of refugees and internally displaced persons in the world.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Suicide bomber kills self, wounds two AMISOM peacekeepers (AP)
An African Union official says that a suicide bomber has blown himself up in Somalia’s capital, wounding two AU peacekeepers.
Biyereke Floribert, a spokesman for African Union peacekeepers, said Sunday that the bomber ran after a convoy of AU peacekeepers near the Tribunka square in Mogadishu before detonating the explosives.
Floribert blamed the attack on al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group that is waging an insurgency against Somalia’s weak government.
Earlier this month al-Shabab militants blew up a truck bomb in the capital, killing more than 100 people in their deadliest single explosion.
African Union peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda are supporting Somali forces in their battle against the militants.
Biyereke Floribert, a spokesman for African Union peacekeepers, said Sunday that the bomber ran after a convoy of AU peacekeepers near the Tribunka square in Mogadishu before detonating the explosives.
Floribert blamed the attack on al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked group that is waging an insurgency against Somalia’s weak government.
Earlier this month al-Shabab militants blew up a truck bomb in the capital, killing more than 100 people in their deadliest single explosion.
African Union peacekeepers from Burundi and Uganda are supporting Somali forces in their battle against the militants.
AMISOM disputed the following report, according to the BBC; AMISOM first said that only two of their soldiers were killed, but later admitted 10 dead and two missing. The hiding of proper information concerning figures of AU troops killed in Somalia is systemic and persistent.
Mogadishu massacre - 70 AU troops killed (AFP)
If verified, it would be the worst massacre and largest single defeat that the AU force in Mogadishu has suffered in some four years of bloody battles defending the weak Western-backed government against the hardline Shabaab.
"We have killed more than 70 of the enemy soldiers today... We have inflicted heavy losses on them and you can see their dead bodies," Shabaab spokesperson Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said, displaying the bodies in the dust to reporters.
Angry crowds dragged some of the bodies across the ground, witnesses said.
Photographs show long lines of at least 20 bodies dressed in military uniform laid out in the sand, surrounded by a large crowd with their faces covered.
Witnesses confirmed that the dead bodies were displayed in the extremist Shabaab-controlled Alamada area, some 18km outside the war-torn capital late on Thursday, and that the bodies were not Somalis.
"I have seen the largest number of soldiers killed in a battle, I have counted 63 Burundian soldiers, all of them dead, the Shabaab brought them on trucks to Alamada," Hasan Yunus, a witness said.
"Some of the dead bodies were dragged along by angry residents - I could not count them exactly, but there were more than 60," said Ahmed Jama, another witness.
Burundian
African Union Mission for Somalia (Amisom) troops and government forces have been pushing into remaining rebel areas in Mogadishu, after the bulk of the Shabaab abandoned fixed positions in August.
Burundian troops with the 9 000 strong Amisom force control the sector closest to the fighting and are believed to have led the assault.
Ugandan soldiers make up the bulk of the AU force and control other sections of the anarchic capital.
Despite their pullout from much from the capital, the Shabaab have not wavered from their aim to topple the AU-protected government. They still control large swathes of southern and central Somalia, and remain a serious security threat.
Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia are also facing assaults from Kenyan troops and tanks backed by air strikes since Nairobi declared war on the insurgents and confirmed it had moved its forces into Somalia on Sunday.
Kenya's military said on Thursday it had seized the coastal area of Ras Kamboni without a fight, a former Shabaab stronghold just across the Somali border, said military spokesperson Major Emmanuel Chirchir.
Inland, Chirchir said Kenyan troops were bogged down by "heavy rains" some 100km inside Somalia, as they prepared to push forward to seize the town of Afmadow, where Somali government forces were fighting.
Nairobi's unprecedented military incursion into Somalia, which it said had already killed dozens of Shabaab fighters, has triggered warnings of bloody retaliation by the Shabaab.
The Shabaab deny involvement in a spate of attacks and abductions from Kenya - including that of a disabled French woman who died in captivity - that Nairobi says prompted its offensive.
Guerrilla tactics
In Somalia, there has been a series of suicide bombings in the capital since the Shabaab rebels said they were abandoning face-to-face battles and switching to guerilla tactics in the city instead.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber exploded a truck laden with explosives, killing at least 82 people and wounding many more.
But the deaths in Mogadishu Thursday provide a grim warning suggesting that the Shabaab remain a powerful military threat.
Shamso Abdulkadir was amongst the giant crowd who came to see the dead bodies, and said that some wore body armour and helmets.
"I have counted 70, most of them were shot in the head and shoulders," Abdulakdir told AFP.
"Residents gathered to watch the dead bodies after they were publicly displayed, and then afterwards, they were dragged about by people," she said.
Somali government and Amisom officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Heavy fighting was reported in the northwest Deynile district throughout Thursday, but Somali government officials had earlier said they were moving alongside AU troops "towards the final strongholds of the terrorist militants".
Battles began before dawn in Mogadishu as AU-backed Somali forces advanced on holdout Islamist Shabaab positions, officials and witnesses said.
The fighting was cantered in Deynile suburb, a remaining pocket still held by the al-Qaeda linked militants, which borders the rebel-held Afgoye, the world's largest camp for displaced people.
The illegal Kenyan invasion of Somalia crystallizes IGAD/EAC Political Initiative By Mohamud M. Uluso (SMCM)
The ongoing illegal Kenyan military invasion of Somalia, which has left experts on East Africa region with many questions about motive, timing and objectives, crystallizes the Regional Political Initiative (RPI) of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and East African Community (IGAD/EAC) on Somalia. Important members of IGAD/EAC are Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda.
In the past, the UN Security Council has turned down several times the request for no fly zone and naval blockade on South Central area controlled by the militant Al Shabab. It has also resisted the approval of an additional 11,000 AMISOM forces. The Kenyan action contravenes the UN and African Union Charters and infringes the sovereignty of Somalia. It definitely undercuts the case for no fly zone and naval blockade.
The Kampala Accord (KA) and the Communiqué of the meeting of the International Contact Group held in Denmark on September 29, 2011, both have made reference to a Regional Political Initiative (RPI). Details of the RPI are scant. The only plausible goal of the RPI could be to keep Somalia’s political dispensation under the control of IGAD/EAC and to force the international community to foot the bill.
Article 4 (n) of KA says:
The Heads of state of the region (IGAD and EAC) shall constitute a political bureau with participation UN (UNPOS) and the AU similar to Burundi Regional Peace Initiative. The Bureau shall oversee and monitor compliance of the TFIs with agreed benchmarks and the timelines to implement the transitional tasks and to advance the Somali peace.
Article 3 of the KA say:
All Parties [President and Speaker] ……..Cognisant of the concerns of the troop contributing countries not to squander significant military progress and the readiness by the Regional Heads of States (IGAD and EAC with the participation of United Nations (UNPOS) and the African Union) to oversee and monitor and guide any agreement by the Transitional Federal Institutions on bringing to an end the phase on 20 August, 2011 and thereafter bringing in a new dispensation.
Point 8 of the Communiqué of the 18th Extra-ordinary session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government reads as follows:
[IGAD] Reiterates its earlier decision on the centrality of the role of IGAD and reaffirms that the Somalia process must be anchored in IGAD and calls on all actors working towards peace in Somalia to do so in consultation and concurrence with IGAD.
Somalia, a failed state listed as a front of Islamic threat, serves the leaders of IGAD/EAC as an insurance coverage for their political abuses and corruption in their own countries and as a cash caw to receive special privileges and massive financial, military, and diplomatic assistance from the US Administration and European countries. President Sheikh Sharif, Speaker Sharif Hassan and Prime Minister Prof. Abdiweli M. Ali of K-TFG have failed to explain to the Somali public and parliament the story behind the RPI.
The clashes between Somali factions along the Somali Kenyan border and the recent spate of kidnapping of foreign citizens from inside Kenya have disturbed the security and economic situation of Kenya but they were not sufficient to justify a military invasion of Somalia. The old rivalry and mistrust between Somalia and Kenya, the catastrophic famine and drought ravaging Somalia, the Kenyan campaign to change the existing maritime border, the decline of Al Shabab power, the beginning of the rainy season and the incalculable human and economic costs as well as the political and legal problems associated with military operation against a neighbor country were factors necessary to be considered against the Kenyan invasion of Somalia.
The Kenyan government changed several times the justification and explanation of the legality and its intended aims for sending its military inside Somalia. First, Kenya invocated article 51 of the UN Charter as self defense from foreign armed attacks. Then, it argued that it invaded Somalia on the invitation of the K-TFG. Finally, it claimed the blessing and support of IGAD/EAC and African Union. The declared aim of the Kenyan Government is to capture Kismaio and stay in Somalia until there were no Islamic insurgents left.
On October 18, a Kenyan delegation composed of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense travelled to Mogadishu to issue with K-TFG a lopsided joint communiqué that supported the Kenyan invasion under the excuse of ‘common enemy.’ Apart from the communiqué, K-TFG leaders remained in denial, silent or vague about the Kenyan invasion. The K-TFG President and the Minister of defense left the country for a private visit to Turkey in the face of the international political flare up on the Kenyan invasion of Somalia. The Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP) avoided to debate on the joint communiqué and its consequences because for the livelihood of the parliamentarians Nairobi and Kenya are more important than Mogadishu and Somalia.
Back from the Mogadishu trip with the joint communiqué in hand, the Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetengula headed to Addis Ababa for consultation on the next move. Kenya and Ethiopia agreed to hold an extra ordinary meeting of IGAD Council of Ministers on October 21, 2011. Before IGAD’s meeting, President Muwai Kibaki held Cabinet meeting on the issue and later briefed the media and Parliament on the ongoing military operation against Somalia. Kenyan opposition parties expressed their strong objection to the Kenyan military adventure dubbed “Operation Protect Nation” and decried it as illegal and imprudent.
Since 2009, Kenya pursued aggressive intervention policy towards Somalia. For the preparation of military action, Kenya received helicopter gunships from USA and large infantry equipments from China. The former Minister of defense of D-TFG Prof Mohamed Gandi reached a personal understanding with Kenyan officials for the recruiting, training and arming of 2,000 forces selected from specific clans of Jubba regions (Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo) for the establishment of Jubbaland State later renamed Azania State. Donors covered the costs of those forces. President Sheikh Sharif, former Prime Ministers Omar Abdirashid and Mohamed Abdullahi Formajo opposed the deployment of those forces in Jubba regions and asked their relocation in Mogadishu, a request summarily and angrily rebuffed by the leaders of Azania State.
Besides, two other events may have changed the political calculation of IGAD/EAC and precipitated the Kenyan invasion of Somalia. First, the high profile visit of Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyib Erdoĝan to Mogadishu with more than 300 million dollars of aid and the large pledge of 500 million dollars made in Istanbul by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have revived the historical alliance between Turkish and Somalis. The second event is a process of reconciliation among Somali Islamists secretly initiated by the government of Qatar. The Foreign Ministry of Ethiopia reported that the suicide attack of Al Shabab in Mogadishu on October 4 has faltered the Qatar’s efforts.
A glance at the joint communiqué that was concluded with K-TFG President but signed by the Minister of defense, one discovers the degree it degrades K-TFG and its leaders. Point six of the communiqué says, “The President is committed to the implementation of KA.” Since KA brings K-TFG under the RPI, point six preempts the President’s deviation from the will of Kenya. The communiqué permits the Kenyan forces to operate indefinitely into Somali territory without accountability. After ousting Al Shabab from Kismaio, Kenya will control the political process of Jubba and Gedo regions and will make the proposal on the partition of Somalia a fait accompli.
Four Somali forces or Militias are fighting on the side of Kenya. They are Raskambooni militia, Azania militia, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama militia, and forces under K-TFG flag. One can expect that the Kenyan invasion of Somalia will create new conditions and pretenses on the ground. Nationalists, clan and Islamist forces will emerge in the regional theatre.
Somalia will not overcome the current fragmentation and anarchy under the Regional Political Initiative of IGAD/EAC. Somali Citizens should resist foreign designs. They should claim the ownership of their country and build their common future based on their culture and aspirations.
KENYA MUST NOT PLAY WITH SOMALI FIRE By Yusuf Dirir Ali (TheSomalilandPress) Long before Restore Hope, the joint UN and USA humanitarian campaign in Somalia in early 1990s, a consultant to the UNO on Somalia, advised the USA administration to attempt everything else but not war with Somalis, in his opinion; war is the thing Somalis know best. The USA did not heed to that precious advice and we all remember the way that campaign went wrong – it ended with the famous Black hawk down and that was the last USA chapter of waging war in Somalia – at least an open and all out ground war. That UNO consultant is called Mr. John Drysdale. He knew the closing stages of the campaign even before it was waged. He was not a fortune teller; Mr. Drysdale was some one who had first hand experience of what Somalis are capable to accomplishing in the war field. He was the British administrator of Somaliland more than four decades prior to the début of that campaign.
The Ethiopians were not dissuaded by the USA experience in Somalia. They did not either learn much from their centuries-old wars with Somalis and with the help of the USA air power, they too attacked and captured Mogadishu, but their victory did not last for too long and they were also compelled to a humiliating withdrawal after Somalis taught them a lesson in urban and guerrilla warfare.
Now it appears that the Kenyans did not learn much about the history of Somali warfare. In my opinion they too have made very bad miscalculations and do not understand that all Somalis are not the murderous Al-shabaab group and the Transitional Federal government. The Somali population is not the weak and famine-devastated thousands that live in refugee camps in the Northern Frontier district (NFD), which it self is a Somali region given to Kenya in the early sixties, after Kenya gained its independence from Britain. NFD is one of the five Somali territories represented in the star on the Somalia flag. Besides NFD, the other four Somali territories are Somalia, The Republic of Djibouti, The self administered Somali region in Ethiopia and the Republic of Somaliland.
The Kenyans fancy to believe that they could win a war and defeat Somalis, it is passable for them to accept as true what they believe, but the truth of the matter is they are playing with inextinguishable fire – a greater Somali fire. By starting a war in this region can easily instigating Somalis to reclaim their Northern Frontier District (NFD). Therefore, I brotherly advise the Kenyans to withdraw immediately before Somalis beat the drums of war, believe me that will not be a good sign for the Kenyans. To give you an example of what that could mean; the recent Kenyan civil unrest will feel just like a picnic in warm summer day on Mount Kilimanjaro.
Since its independence from Italy, Somalia is wounded by civil war, famine, terrorism and corrupt incompetent consecutive regimes, but Somalis are far from death and are strong enough to inflict an ever lasting damage to an aggressor. They are also blessed with Muslim and Arab brethren, who will not hesitate to assist them to rebel all enemies from all Somali territories.
Kenyans have no business crossing the borders to Somalia; it is illegal under International law and it is morally wrong. If they have beef with Al-Shabaab then they must fight them in their own territory and not inside Somalia. Kenyans must not arrogantly over estimate their economic and military power and must keep in mind, that only Somalis are capable of defeating Somalis and no body else. They must bear in mind that their country is very easily susceptible to be fractured through ethnic and tribal lines. By starting a war with Somalis Kenyan economy and tourist industry can be devastated within hours. It must realize that it can not win the wars lost by super powers. Kenya must not be fooled by the guys who call themselves the TFG of Somalia; these guys lack morality, education, experience and live their lives under the protection of the Ugandan forces tanks in their home – Mogadishu. They can be bought and sold in a junk yard. If the Kenyans trust the strategic analysis of these TFG guys then they are deficient in judgement.
Somalis know too well the illegal Somalia territorial water’s concession made to Kenya by the illegal and morally corrupt TFG. Somalis are aware of the Azania project that is established by Kenyans through a mercenary force headed by Mr. Gandi, a power Hungary opportunist. Somalis quite appreciate Kenya’s geopolitical ambitions, both short and long term strategies. By looking at realities on the ground, these Kenyan dreams are far from becoming true. Kenyans politicians must clear their heads of the myths and wrong assumptions. They are not able to conquer more territories from Somalis, but instead the Northern Frontier District might go back to hands of Somalis.
In recent years Kenya was enriched with not only the looting of the Somalia’s International assistance through the NGOs operated mafia that consider the humanitarian assistance, war and drought confounded Somalis as their personal spoils of war. Not only that, but Kenya is also benefiting from Somalis who bring with them capital, technical and business expertise to that corruption riddled East African country. Somalis have both directly & indirectly created jobs for millions of Kenyans.
Thus, Kenya benefited from Somalia more than any country in the world. For those simple reasons, Kenyans should be grateful to the Somalis and must not try to slaughter the goose that laid the golden eggs. Kenyans and for that matter any other neighbouring country must think twice before they venture to play with Somali fire; it will never die very easily. Somalis might consider moving their businesses and investments from Kenya to neighbouring Republic of Somaliland and The Republic of Djibouti. Both Somaliland and Djibouti are eager to receive their Somali brethren and their investments with open hearts. The United Nations and the donor countries might also consider moving their offices to the more peaceful and politically stable Somaliland, since Kenya is not able to provide security to the foreign diplomats, expatriates and tourists in its country.
Like in Libya, the scramble for Somalia is for its natural resources - for the WEST!
Norway oil interests push Kenya into Somalia proxy war (WaGoshaNews)
When the British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler was kidnapped and held for one year by Somali pirates, the UK government did not use tanks and military jets to hunt for the abductors.
But the case is different in Kenya, where few days after the abduction of foreign tourists and aid workers, the country crossed the border into Somalia, claiming it was chasing the Al-Shabab militants, whom it said were behind the kidnapping.
Al-Shabab, a desperate Islamic militants, who felt the heat in the capital, Mogadishu denied taking part in the abductions of the foreigners in Kenya, although Kenya it self has no proof to show that it was Al-Shabab that had actually captured the foreigners.
For the last two months Somali gunmen from both sides of the border have been operating freely in the area, killing innocent refugees, raping and wounding some others. Kenyan officials are aware of this and were reluctant to take any action.
Kenyan military incursion against Al-Shabab
Reliable sources in Kenya and Somali governments confirm that Kenya has been pushed by Norway, which has long time dream of the war-torn country’s oil resources.
A Kenyan official who declined to be named told Wagoshanews that Nairobi authorities received millions of dollars from the Norwegian government to attack southern Somalia in the pretext of fighting against Al-Shabab. “The Norwegian was angry with Somali parliament’s recent decision of rejecting a plan aimed at changing Somalia’s sea boundaries that could allow Norway to drill free of charge oil from the region”, added the official.
Since 2006 Norway has been making efforts to find an opportunity of drilling Somali
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