Ecoterra Press Release 215 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 27
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 09, 2010
ECOTERRA Intl.
SMCM
Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor
ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE
2009-07-22 WED 20h52:07 UTC
Issue No. 215
A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or elsewhere, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell
EA ILLEGAL FISHING AND DUMPING HOTLINE: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia[at]ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme EMERGENCY HELPLINE : SMS to +254-738-497979 or sms/call +254-733-633-733
"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !"
Cpt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y Tanit - killed by French commandos - 10. April 2009 / Ras Hafun
NON A LA GUERRE - YES FOR PEACE
(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT - shot down on day one of the French assault)
"... obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought against with whatever tools we have available to us. "
B. H. Obama - US-American President, who said also: The world has changed ! YES, WE CAN !
Clearing-House: Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !
Breaking:
Yemen Navy battles 14 boats which tried to seize oil tanker
An attempted attack by Somali pirates on a Yemeni tanker was foiled by warships and helicopters after an overnight pursuit in theGulf of Aden. Yemeni marine troops have foiled an attempted pirate attack, the fiercest ever, on a Yemeni oil tanker when 14 pirate boats approached the tanker in the Red Sea seeking to take it over, governmental Saba news agency reports.
The tanker, MT YEMEN OIL 7, was en route from the southern Aden port to the western Hodeidah port when pirates attacked it on Tuesday noon, the state-run 26sep.net citing sources at the navy reported.
The marines surrounded the pirates and clashed with them forcing them to flee out of Yemeni regional waters.
The tanker continued its voyage safely, with Yemeni marines broadening their combing to foil other possible attacks by notorious Somali pirates.
Early this month, marine forces thwarted three attempted pirate attacks against Yemeni oil tankers in the Red Sea.
In April, three Somali pirates were killed and 12 others seized after Yemeni marine forces rescued oil tankers which were attacked off the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden.
Yemen has received a number of pirates who were arrested by international forces patrolling the Indian Ocean on anti-piracy mission. Some have gone on trials. Last week, 22 African people appeared in a Yemeni court, facing piracy charges.
Many pirates had been released because they could not be prosecuted under some countries laws, while in Yemen many of them are jailed and prosecuted. Dutch commandos serving with the Nato anti-piracy operation freed 20 pirate captives from Yemen.
To restrict piracy and terrorism in the Gulf of Aden, Yemen established a Coast Patrol Authority.
However, Yemeni official said that establishing roads for a coastline which is over 2,200 kilometers long is a complicated process that needs a huge budget and long period.
News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress
The final process for a release process concerning T/B MASINDRA 7 and its 11-men Indonesian crew seems to have started now in earnest. It is at present the longest pending case of Somalia.
The German maritime officer and another sailor from MV HANSA STAVANGER, which had been taken from the vessel on land yesterday have - according to reports from this afternoon - been brought back to the vessel after a humanitarian organization intervened and elders from the area showed once again a bold stand to not allow that crew members would be carried away far into the hinterland.
No reports about the destiny of German's Hansa Stavanger ship with Ukrainians onboard.
There are still no reports about the destiny of the German Hansa Stavanger ship captured by Somali pirates with two Ukrainians onboard, says Ukrainian government news agency RUI.
The crisis staff of the German MFA is actively working to release the vessel," says a Germany's MFA official.
The ship highjacked by the pirates on April 4, has been moored in the Somali port of Harardere since April 9.
Relatives of the highjacked seamen believe that the ship-owner is not taking sufficient efforts to free the crew.
With the latest captures and releases now still at least 14 foreign vessels (14 if M/S IO EXPLORER is truly "gone") with a total of not less than 203 crew members are accounted for (of which 44 are confirmed to be Filipinos) and are held in Somali waters. They 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. MV JAIKUR 1 remains in Mogadishu harbor, but is an insurance and not a piracy case - all foreign crew was evacuated. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 148 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 47 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least three wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces. 111 Somalis are held in foreign prisons under charges of piracy. 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. Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season in winter and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon season starting from mid February and early April every year.
Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: YELLOW IO: YELLOW (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly still/again three groups from Puntland alone are out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean, where also groups from Harardheere have set out again, despite the heavy seas and the rough weather.
Directly piracy related reports
Kenya Maritime Law
By Andrew Mwangura / Seafarers Assistance Program
The new Kenyan merchant shipping act 2009 which was assented to by President Mwai Kibaki last month is a mockery to merchant mariners.
This law will turn the Kenyan flag into a flag of convenience and it will also turn Kenyan sea ports into ports of convenience. It has already turned Kenyan prisons into Guantanamo-Bay-like detention camps for suspected sea pirates.
On diverse dates between 1st February 2006 and 25th June 2009 a total of 110 pirates of Somali origin have been handed over to Kenyan authorities by foreign government which have signed memorandum of understanding with the Kenyan government which legal experts believe are unconstitutional.
The Kenya penalty code still provides for the death sentence e.g. in cases of murder or robbery with violence, but because e.g. European countries can not extradite people into the jurisdiction of a country where they would face the death penalty, the memorandum of understanding between the European Union and Kenya rules out the death penalty as punishment for a person, who had committed murder during a piracy episode or robbed a vessel's crew violently while being armed and is handed over to the Kenyan authorities for prosecution.
The exclusion of provisions laid down in current Kenyan legislation is certainly unconstitutional.
All the suspects were arrested by foreign naval ships operating along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Following UNSC Resolution 1846 which called for countries to establish an effective legal jurisdiction to bring alleged offenders in piracy cases to justice, protect seafarers and passengers, Kenya responded by prosecuting suspected pirates of the high seas under her juridical system and laws as well as under those memoranda excluding certain parts of the laws of Kenya.
Currently the total number of inmates in Kenya is about 53,000 prisoners against a national capacity of 16,000 and the backlog of cases in the judiciary is over 870,000 cases.
The current financial support to the prosecution of pirates from other nations in Kenya , provided for by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Commission (EC), is about US$2.4million, while the proposals submitted for supporting the legal proceedings instigated by foreign nations are amounting to US$5.1million.
Surely Kenya has a duty to co-operate with other nations in order to curb piracy, but Kenya 's contribution to that international affair can not amount to a financial burden in a country where hunger and malnutrition has not been eradicated due to lack of government funds.
The UNODC and EC financial support to the costs for detention, trial, prosecution and eventual prison caused by piracy suspects of non-Kenyan nationalities, delivered in a rendition program from areas outside Kenya into her jurisdiction does by far not meet the financial requirements and does not take into consideration such essential parts as legislative review, prosecution support, logistics and IT, police and maritime authority training, witness and trial support, juridical awareness, training and prisons renovation.
For over forty years Kenya has been operating under an outdated maritime law.
Since 1980 we have been asking the government of Kenya to harmonize and come up with new maritime law, labor laws and new fisheries act.
But the ignoble regimes of President Daniel Arap Moi and President Mwai Kibaki could not consider the views of seafarers and non-state actors.
It hurts very much to note here that the new Kenyan maritime law does not reflect major transformations in the international maritime labor standards.
As this is a serious violation of seafarers´ rights we call upon the International Transport Workers´ Federation and all politicians and people of good will to put pressure to the government of Kenya so that an amendment to the new Kenyan maritime law could reflect the internationally agreed standards and maritime labor instruments.
UK Government 'complacent' on pirate-terror links (epolitix.com)
A House of Lords committee has criticised the government for ignoring the risk that ransoms handed to Somali pirates are funding terrorism.
In a report from the Lords EU committee on money laundering and the financing of terrorism, peers warned that there is a "serious risk" that ransoms delivered to secure the freedom of hijacked ship crews are making their way to terrorist groups.
Pirates recently released a German-owned cargo ship after being paid a ransom of £1.1m.
More than 130 ships were attacked of the Somali coast last year.
The government has said that they have no evidence of a "direct link" between piracy in the Gulf of Aden and terrorists, although the Home Office conceded the presence of terrorist groups in Somalia was well known.
Buisness minister Ian Pearson told the committee: "I have been careful not to say that it is not going to terrorism. What I have said is that we have not found a direct link to that."
But committee members argued that the government was simply not looking hard enough.
The likely reason no link has been found between piracy and terrorism was that no link has been sought, the report argued.
It accused the government of having an "extraordinarily passive and complacent attitude" towards the problem.
Peers highlighted the contrast between the naval resources being deployed to the region compared to the lack of any "concerted action" to track the financial proceeds of piracy.
Under anti-terror legislation, individuals can be prosecuted if they supply finances that they had "reasonable cause to suspect" would be used by terrorists.
While paying ransoms is not currently against the law, if a connection between piracy and terrorism were to be found, ship-owners who pay ransoms could be prosecuted.
The report argued that governments were far better placed that individual ship-owners to determine whether ransoms were in danger of financing terrorism. And it criticised the government for being unwilling to "shoulder the responsibility".
It concluded that in every case where a ransom was being assembled in the UK, consent from the government should be sought to protect ship-owners from prosecution.
The Home Office was guilty of an "abdication of responsibility" if it failed to encourage this, the report added.
Pirates operate undeterred in the high seas
By Rohan Mathes (*)
Sea piracy is as old as the sea itself. Piracy on the high seas could be traced back to the era when the Viking pirates prowled the seas in search of treasures. Later, the sea -roving plunderers operated in the Horn of Africa, including the Somali waters, the Gulf of Aden, South East Asia, including Indonesian waters, the Malacca Straits, the South China Seas, South Asian waters as far west past Japan, the Bay of Bengal, the Niger Delta in West Africa and the Persian Gulf waters . Nevertheless, in no time in the known history of maritime piracy, has this menace reached such exponential proportions and impacted on the international marine industry, as now.
Latest statistics reveal that around 120 pirate attacks have occurred in 2008 alone, with over 50 successful hijackings. They have more than doubled to over 240 from 114, within the first six months of 2009, compared with the corresponding period of last year. Of around 78 vessels boarded worldwide by the sea bandits, 75 have been fired at, 31 hijacked and around 561 crew members taken hostage. Around 19 of them have been injured, seven abducted, six killed and eight missing.
Albeit attacks have decreased considerably in Southeast Asia in the recent years, pirate activity has increased across thousands of square miles of sea area, from the Gulf of Aden, the narrow doorway to the Red Sea, to the Kenyan border, off the Somali coast, across the Indian Ocean.
The Somali pirates have emerged, in the wake of the Somali internal conflicts, where the ruthless terrorist outfits have consistently strived and threatened to destroy the ruling regimes there from the 1990s. Nevertheless, the pirates, have also had a history that was most likely linked to alien commercial fishing fleets, which poached and plundered the country´s valuable resources of ´Tuna Fish´, within Somali territorial waters. Consequently, the traditional Somali fisher-folk had then transformed themselves into armed vigilantes, who demanded ransoms from the poachers.
The locations and modes of the piracy attacks are multi-faceted, ranging from theft or robbery from a ship, stealing its cargo or ship´s equipment and withdrawing, attacks at ´Anchorages´ within port limits or at outer anchorages, attacks when alongside and to the more complex and sophisticated hijacking of ships, which require much expertise and resources, and known to be carried out by large organized crime syndicates.
Attacks on a sailing ship at sea, can often be more threatening and dangerous for a ship´s crew, than one taking place in port, as the attack is likely to be planned and the attackers will almost certainly be armed. The majority of these attacks have taken place on ships, around the Horn of Africa. Recent evidence suggests that one should assume the perpetrators to be carrying and be prepared to use firearms, and in some cases, more powerful devices such as rocket-propelled grenades, AK47 rifles and the like.
They operate under cover of darkness, most often between dusk and dawn. One or more high speed, low-profile boats come alongside the intended target vessel, utilizing any blind spots available, such as an ´approach from the stern´, but also the sides, if the ship has a low freeboard.
They would normally access the target vessel by climbing up on poles or by utilizing grappling irons, hooked on to the ship´s rails. Attackers have shown considerable dexterity, skill and courage to have boarded ships traveling in excess of 17 knots and with high freeboards. They have demonstrated an ample knowledge of ship´s procedures, often seeking to board when bridge and engine room crew have been fully engaged in navigation, in congested or restricted waters. They have also been aware of the target ship´s general layout. The small boats used by the attackers may come from nearby coastlines or be launched from ´Mother´ ships in the vicinity. There have also been occasions where larger, unlit ships have been reported in the vicinity of the vessels which have been attacked.
In certain instances, the hijackers have also strived to mesh in, stealthily among local fishing boats or disguised themselves as Coast Guards or naval patrol boats and personnel, or pilots, in order to board their target ship.
It is extremely disappointing that in the absence of an official navy or in the least, a functioning and effective central government, whose economy is in tatters, could do very little to solve this issue. Piracy therefore, has inevitably evolved in to a symptom of Somali´s ills and chaos. To-date, the issue has aggravated and gone out of control of the authorities therein.
Nevertheless, there is a ray of hope in the growing crisis, that there is now a rising backlash on shore, on the pirate-infested region of Northern Somalia, where some of the very communities who had been flourishing with pirate dollars, supplying these buccaneers with sanctuaries, brides to wed, respect and even government support, are now starting to detest them. Anti-pirate militias are forming gradually, and sheiks and some government leaders are embarking on a venture to discredit and ex-communicate the pirates. They are viewed as stains on the devoutly Muslim, nomadic culture, and accused of introducing big-city evils and vices such as drugs, alcohol, street brawls and AIDS and the like. However, critics argue that there is a long way to go, in this promising development.
In cognizance of the relative ease of securing large ransoms in the order of millions of US dollars, pirating of merchant vessels has become a thriving and lucrative business of the Somali pirates. The status quo prevails and the robbers continue to haunt the Eastern coast of Africa, despite international concern, political pressure and even naval presence and operations in the region, especially at a time when the world is being rocked by an economic meltdown.
It is evident from past operations that the pirates too are highly sophisticated in their course of actions. Reports suggest that they use very efficient and high-tech equipment, such as satellite phones which are required for tactical communications off shore, in instances where local cell towers are beyond range. They are presumed to be utilizing GPS tracking equipment which are necessary to pinpoint their targets and navigate quickly, to and from the ´capture area´, to their bases in the Somali coast. The operations commence by tracking their targets. It is yet unknown how they obtain their intelligence. Nonetheless, recent developments indicate that they are well-informed and possess prior knowledge of the voyage schedules of the ´high value´ cargo vessels that are transiting the area, and pick them out at ease, sans "roaming" aimlessly in the high seas.
The operation then advances to the actual ´intercept´, where a "mother ship" moves into the area of their target craft, and then launches high-powered speedboats to transport the boarding parties.
The speedboats then approach the target ship, more often at night and fire on it, while being ready to board the ship, using ropes and ladders.
Following a successful boarding, the bandits of the ´high-seas´ eventually storm the bridge and forcefully sail the ship towards their safe haven. The pirates are believed to be operating from Eyl, their de-facto head quarters. Eyl is apparently the hub of pirate activity. They live, escort their hostages and ships, and following a successful hijacking, demand and negotiate their ransom dealings therein.
They escort the ship´s crew ashore and resume negotiations with the commercial shipping company, pertaining to their ransom and the release of their captives. The ransom is calculated on the value of the ship and more importantly, on its laden cargo. The highest ransom paid to-date, is believed to be around $30 million, to the Saudi oil tanker "Sirius Sta", which was laden with crude oil, valued at some $100 million.
In some instances, the attackers have boarded ships, made their way to the Master´s cabin and intimidated crew members by threats or assaults and forced them to open the ´safe´. They have fled the ship, robbing what they could find, sans alerting or disturbing other crew members. There have also been incidents where crew members have been threatened to secure the crew´s compliance with their orders. In many hijacking cases, the entire crew has been seized and locked up, posing a serious threat to safe navigation of the vessel.
Although the attack may last only a few minutes or an hour or so, ships can be under the control of attackers for a longer period, with few or nil qualified personnel manning the Navigating Bridge or the Engine Room. The vessel could be under the control of the attackers within this period. This could result in placing the vessel in grave and imminent danger and risk of collision or grounding. There could be severe environmental pollution as well, if the ship is an oil tanker or chemical carrier.
The ship´s crew, particularly the senior members, may now be more likely to be taken captive and held to ransom, especially due to the trend where ransom demands have been met rather easily on earlier occasions.
As a life-saving, precautionary measure, ships´ crew members are strongly advised to adopt an acquiescent attitude, and to refrain from retaliating with the hijackers, if attacked. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee whatsoever that the crew members would be safe and immune from harassment, by the already agitated and antagonized attackers. Hopefully they would only be safe by providence.
In other instances, the chances of the pirates receiving their ´big ransom´ is usually in the affirmative, although the parties concerned may have to go through a tedious process of negotiations and re-negotiations. No sooner the deal is through and the pirates are in possession of their ´Reward´ in ´hard cash, the hostages and the ship are then released. The agonized seafaring crew, who had spent many sleepless nights in the company of their captors, would be exceedingly glad and triumphant over their release, and yearning to get to their homes, to be united once again with their loved-ones, at their earliest.
Nations and diverse groups and associations of the shipping and maritime fraternity both in the government and the private sector, have sat together and discussed, in search of a viable solution to the burning issue. Indonesia, Malyasia and Singapore, for instance, have worked together and formulated collective mechanisms and taken counter measures to combat piracy, armed robbery and other acts of violence against merchant shipping, in their part of the world, the Malacca Straits in particular.
The EU countries have jointly mobilized a task force to combat piracy in this vast area of the Indian Ocean, the East African waters in particular, with little success. The U.S. Navy has a flotilla of war ships dedicated to anti-piracy operations. Russia, China and India also have ships operating in the region independently but with coordination with the EU task force in the Western Indian Ocean. Iran and Japan too, have sent their naval ships and joined the fray, to safeguard their interests.
In response to these heinous attacks, the maritime fraternity in consultation with the relevant international bodies, have engaged in extensive research and devised diverse action plans, taken counter measures and recommended practices to eradicate or at least mitigate the impact of such attacks.
The counter-piracy plans, watch-keeping and vigilance programmes, ships´ lighting, communications systems, closed-circuit television coverage (CCTV), provision of secure areas, alarm systems, evasive maneuvering and the use of hoses to deter attackers, use of distress flares and in some limited cases, the carriage and use of firearms among others, are some listed. Nonetheless, rewards are too great to deter the hijackers. The notorious pirates are still ahead and in the front seat. The seafaring crew will continue to relate their harrowing ordeals to their loved-ones back home and to the world at large.
(*) The author is a seasoned Merchant Navy officer who has sailed the seven seas and experienced pirate attacks.
Marine ecosystem, IUU fishing and dumping, ecology
Seafood exports to EU market to bear ´catch certificate´
By Ben Sanga
A proposed European Union (EU) guideline requiring imported seafood to be accompanied by a "catch certificate" from a competent authority could help curb illegal fishing on the Indian Ocean.
Exporters will be required to produce the certificate showing area where the catch shipped to the EU was made, the method of fishing, the trawler used and processing details.
The proposal comes as good news to about 20,000 Kenyan fishermen who are almost being locked out of the export trade as fish supply drops.
Athman Seif, a director of the Malindi Marine Association, says foreign fishing vessels operating illegally along the Kenyan coast are to blame for declining catches.
Kenya´s ability
If the EU guideline is implemented, Kenya is likely to continue producing 200,000 metric tonnes of fish annually from its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), stretching about 200 nautical miles into the Indian Ocean.
Records at the fisheries department show that about 60 foreign vessels have been licensed to fish within Kenya´s EEZ, but local fishermen associations say more than 200 vessels are seen in a single fishing season, a threat to Kenya´s ability to catch enough fish.
Marine experts warn that the supply along the 600km stretch of the coast stretching from the border with Somalia in the north to Tanzania in the south is decreasing.
The EU guideline comes in the wake of another, from Russia that says all shipments to that country must carry an inspection certificate issued by its authorities from August 1.
The guideline is aimed at eliminating unregulated fishing activities, comes into effect from January 1, 2010. Estimated to be about 10 to 15 per cent of the region´s total catch, illegal and unreported fishing disrupts the tuna trade, worth tens of millions of dollars every year according to experts.
The trade is booming due to insufficient patrols along the Indian Ocean with one or two patrol vessels, lacking capacity to intercept the hundreds of small boats, mainly from Taiwan and Indonesia.
"The Kenyan waters are virtually unpoliced and the fisheries department does not own patrol boats and navy is too committed to defence matters, leaving a loophole of illegal fishing," Mr Seif said.
The move by fish export destinations to introduce more stringent regulations is likely to lead to reduction of piracy incidents along the coast of Somalia where a section of residents seem to back the youth involved in piracy saying "it is some sort of compensation of illegal fishing."
Existing system
Currently, shipments to the EU require only a health certificate and the results of a test showing products are free of banned ingredients.
The existing system, according to an exporter, is simpler.
The European Commission, on behalf of the union, has in the past show interest in curbing Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fisheries in the region.
Recently, the commission entered into a partnership with the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) to fight the menace and announced that it would fund an initial project under this plan to the tune of seven million euros covering the first three years (2007-2010).
Anti-piracy measures
Russia calls for anti-pirate cooperation with NATO
The Russia-NATO Council opened in Brussels on Wednesday, a Russian diplomat told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. Russia is represented by deputy secretary of the Security Council Vladimir Nazarov. During the session, Vladimir Nazarov informed ambassadors of 28 NATO countries about the details of Russia´s new national security concept.
The panel was set up in 2002 to improve ties between the former Cold War rivals. Last month, NATO and Russia agreed to normalize ties and resume military cooperation during their first high-level meeting since Russia's war with Georgia disrupted their relations in August. Wednesday's meeting reflects the trend toward improved relations between the West and Russia.
Russia and NATO should work harder at fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia together, Russia's ambassador to the Western alliance then said Wednesday, as dpa reports.
Ambassador Dmitry Rogozin has asked NATO member states for a "detailed discussion" of how to improve coordination between the NATO and Russian warships currently operating around the Gulf of Aden, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said.
In particular, Rogozin asked the NATO-Russia Council - the regular format for talks between the Cold War foes - to consider improving communications between NATO and Russian warships in the pirate zone, and to look at the possibility of joint exercises and coordinated patrols.
NATO's deputy secretary general, Claudio Bisogniero, who chaired the meeting because his superior, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, was ill, said that the idea was interesting and suggested that the NRC's expert committees take it up in detail, Appathurai said. NATO and Russia have both deployed warships to the Gulf of Aden to deal with the threat of piracy there, with NATO despatching half a dozen frigates and Russia one or two destroyers, depending on the season.
The two sides have been at odds since last August, when Russia invaded NATO hopeful Georgia. However, in recent months they have begun to push for more cooperation in fields such as piracy, nuclear disarmament and the fight against drugs from Afghanistan. It would not be the first time that the two sides' navies have worked together: Russian ships have in the past joined NATO's long-standing anti-terrorist mission in the Eastern Mediterranean.
However, NATO froze military cooperation with Russia in the wake of the Georgian war and only agreed to resume it at the end of June, making any deal on improving anti-piracy cooperation potentially highly significant politically.
Diplomats say NATO and Russia are considering ways to boost cooperation in areas such as the war in Afghanistan and the counter-piracy campaign off Somalia's coast. They say other issues on the agenda of Wednesday's meeting of the NATO-Russia Council include combatting terrorism and the spread of nuclear weapons.
European security and defence policy (ESDS newsletter)
In the last year, the EU has been conducting two major military operations in and around Africa.
The EU naval force – EU NAVFOR – engaged in the counterpiracy operation "Atalanta" is ongoing and it is breaking new ground since its launch in December last year. It is the EU's first naval operation. It combines a contribution to alleviating the plight of the population of Somalia, through the provision of escorts for World Food Programme ships, with action in support of the shipping community through deterrence and repression of piracy. In an area as large as the Mediterranean, and against the background of acute instability on land in Somalia, it will not single-handedly solve the problem of piracy but it is already providing, together with international partners, a tangible contribution to safer sea transit in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. This has encouraged the EU Council to extend its mandate for another year beyond its current end date of December 2009.
EUFOR Tchad/RCA handed over to MINURCAT on 15 March, after one year during which it was able to bring a significant contribution to security in the East of Chad and the Northeast of the Central African Republic. It is now up to the UN to provide security there. But the EU is by no means turning its attention away from the region. Many member states are contributing troops to MINURCAT, and the EU is engaged in the political processes – in Chad and towards a solution of the Darfur conflict –, as well as in the provision of humanitarian and development assistance.
EU High Representative Javier Solana called for a "global and determined action" for Somalia
In a letter addressed last 28 May 2009 to all ministers for Foreign Affairs and all Ministers of defense of the EU, the High representative Javier Solana suggests to "build on the success of the EU naval operation Atalanta" and to "look at longer term durable solutions for stability in Somalia and the region – both at sea and on land".
"Working in coordination with all the partners, our counter-piracy efforts have been successful in bringing greater security to the waters off Somalia" Mr. Solana emphasized. "Today we need to move forward and to look closer at the root causes of the phenomenon", he added. "I have developed a number of proposals in the 6-monthly report of the naval operation EU NAVFOR – Atalanta for possible concrete actions along two axes : the strengthening of EU NAVFOR, and six new potential areas of work". he said. These areas include reinforced support to the AU in Somalia, capacity building for the Somali Security sector and a long term assistance strategy for Somalia. Also the development of a regional maritime capability and of a reinforced international legal framework to increase the risks and decrease the profits for pirates would be looked at.
M. Solana´s call for a "global and determined action" takes place after the Council of the European Union has given its full political support to the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. On 15 June, the Council agreed to extend the mission EU NAVFOR – Atalanta until December 2010. In July, under the Swedish presidency the EU will consider further options for support to Somalia in line with Solana´s call.
EU engagement in Somalia
Operation EU NAVFOR – Atalanta is part of a wider effort by the EU to address the situation in Somalia. The European Union is engaged with Somalia at the diplomatic, political, humanitarian and security levels, reflecting its commitment to the stabilisation of Somalia. The EU is the largest donor to Somalia.
Political engagement
The EU:
supports the Djibouti peace process and is active in the diplomatic efforts deployed by the international community, in particular within the International Contact Group for Somalia.
supported the enlargement of the Transitional Federal Parliament in January 2009, which made the Parliament more inclusive. It welcomed the election of President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, which brings hope for peace and stability in Somalia. The EU also welcomed the President´s efforts to reach out to all Somalis to further broaden participation in the political process.
continues to engage with the Transitional Federal Government, led by the new Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, and supports its efforts to improve the security situation in Somalia and bring relief to the population.
The EU also supports the tireless efforts of the UN Secretary General´s Special Representative for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, to facilitate progress in the political process. In this context, the EU welcomes the intention of the UN Secretary General to consult all stakeholders on the convening of an international peace conference to address issues related to capacity building, humanitarian assistance and sustainable development.
Support for security
The EU and its member states are helping the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to begin rebuilding security and creating an environment in which the gains of peace can be realised.
The EU with the UN and the African Union, hosted an international Conference in support of the Somali Security Institutions and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Brussels on 23 April 2009. Its purpose was to solicit contributions to the key elements of the strategy of the UN Security Council in Somalia, as set out in resolution 1863(2009).
The EU pledged EUR 12 million from the European Development Fund to the Somali police force through the UNDP Rule of Law programme, making the total amount of EU support through this channel EUR 43 million.
The EU also pledged EUR 60 million to AMISOM from the Africa Peace Facility. This should be added to EUR 15.5 million that were provided for 2007-2008 and a further EUR 20 million for December 2008 to May 2009.
Furthermore EUR 4.5 million have been provided under the Instrument for Stability to support AMISOM planning capacity.
Development cooperation and humanitarian aid For the period 2008 to 2013, the EU has committed EUR 215.4 million for
development aid through the European Development Fund, which is funded by the member states and managed by the European Commission. The main areas of development cooperation are governance, education, the productive sectors and rural development.
Humanitarian aid from the European Community amounted to EUR 45.8 million in 2008, considerably more than the EUR 12 million provided in 2007 because of the deteriorating situation. The number of people in need of humanitarian aid in Somalia has risen from 1.8 million at the beginning of 2008 to 3.25 million at the end of the year. In addition, EU member states also make separate, bilateral contributions to Somalia.
Piracy
Piracy is as old as navigation. But, in recent decades, it has been undergoing a spectacular renaissance, one which can be explained by three factors : rapid growth in marine traffic, reduction in the size of crews on merchant vessels and increasing traffic in low-cost arms. In the Gulf of Aden, particularly in the waters off Somalia, attacks on trade and pleasure vessels have become endemic, to the point that this modern piracy today constitutes a serious threat to the freedom of movement in this area, in which more than 25,000 ships navigate each year and through which more than 30 % of the European Union´s oil supply passes, as well as vital World Food Programme (WFP) aid shipped to Somalia.
On the basis of this observation, the European Union launched its first naval operation on 8 November 2008 : EU NAVFOR – Atalanta. The operation is planned to last for one year and its objectives are to provide protection to ships of the WFP, to protect merchant vessels and to use the means necessary, including force, to deter, to prevent and to intervene in order to put an end to, acts of piracy. Suspects apprehended within the context of EU NAVFOR can be prosecuted in particular by an EU member state or by Kenya under an agreement signed on 6 March 2009. It was recently decided to extend the operation for another year.
In spite of the obvious positive impact of this operation, it is illusory to think that piracy can be definitively stopped by the presence of a naval force alone. In the longer term, it is also necessary that peace and security be re-established in Somalia. With this in mind, the European Union, with the UN and the African Union co-organised, in April 2009, an international conference in support of security institutions in Somalia.
ESDP Structures - EU Satellite Centre
EU Satellite Center – A bird´s eye view in support of ESDP operations by Frank Asbeck, Director
The EU Satellite Centre provides crucial support for EU operations such as EUNAVFOR-Atalanta or EUFOR Tchad/RCA. Frank Asbeck, the Centre´s Director, highlights recent developments.
New EU operation or mission – new tasks for the EU Satellite Centre. This has been the rule rather than the exception since the Centre´s support to EUFOR DR Congo in 2006. ESDP is growing and the EU Satellite Centre is growing with it. EUFOR Tchad/RCA, EUMM Georgia, EUBAM Rafah, EULEX Kosovo, EU NAVFOR – Atalanta, EU SSR Guinea Bissau – the Satellite Centre has supported or is supporting them all.
The European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), established in 2002 to support Common Foreign and Security Policy, particularly ESDP, by analysing satellite imagery and collateral data, has experienced a remarkable evolution during the last two years, mainly due to the huge increase in task requests for ESDP operations and missions. The EUSC has had to shift its workforce completely in order to attend to the large amount of tasks for these operations and missions, all first priority.
"The Satellite Centre of Torrejón, in Spain, has become a true actor of European Security and Defence Policy and crisis management. It was mobilized for all our recent operations : Georgia, Chad, and the fight against piracy. We put its products at the disposal of MONUC to reinforce its information sources in the current crisis in East Congo. I could mention many other examples", Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, said at the meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers in November 2008.
Focus on Chad and now Somalia
Among the tasks received, those related to Chad have caused the biggest workload, and Somalia is now following closely. The EU Satellite Centre has supported EUFOR Tchad/RCA with both geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) since the operation was launched in January 2008. In fact, the heavy workload for this Operation caused the Centre to reorganise its Operations Division, creating an ESDP Operations Support Section which can provide products to the operational headquarters in less than 44 hours after reception of imagery.
During Operation EUFOR Tchad/RCA the EU Satellite Centre experienced a revolution in the way it provided support to troops on the ground. A specific arrangement signed with the Helios partners (Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain) for the purposes of EUFOR Tchad/RCA enabled SG/HR Javier Solana to request that Helios governmental satellites be programmed to collect extremely valuable imagery on the area of operations.
Combined with the reactivity of the Centre, access to governmental imagery programming has been widely recognised as a significant step forward in geospatial support to EU operations.
EUSC access to governmental imagery from new space sensors, namely Italy´s COSMO-SkyMed and Germany´s SAR-Lupe space-borne radar systems, will take place in coming months.
Having access to both governmental imagery and EU Secured Networks, the EUSC is presently able to perform the most sensitive intelligence support missions while interacting with a variety of actors (with whom it exchanges geospatial products and collateral data) and respecting the time-critical demands of modern military operations.
Maps, refugee camps and pirates
One of the most important tools to a deployed force is the availability of maps. If one goes to places like Africa, though, these tend to be very old and inaccurate. Satellite imagery gives the ability to produce accurate up-to-date maps by drawing layers on top of the images. This is one of the important ways the Centre was able to support EUFOR Tchad/RCA. Apart from that, the EUSC monitored the changing situation, providing the operation with IMINT. While GEOINT products give a detailed geographical overview, IMINT goes a step further by trying to say what is going on – it looks at intention, evidence, events and how things relate to each other on the satellite image, while having in mind information from collateral data. Many armed groups have attacked civilians during the Chad conflict. In this context, the EUSC has been given the task of looking at some of the facilities to help the commander of the EUFOR operation in Chad make the right decisions. The troops on the ground have used the EUSC products to effectively guard the refugee camps and to guarantee that the UN could deliver aid and provide security for the UN personnel.
At peak moments, the whole Operations Division worked in support of ESDP operations and missions. For this to be possible, the EUSC had to make agreements with several requesters to put their tasks on hold – a situation that illustrates the difficulties the EUSC is currently facing due to lack of resources.
For EU NAVFOR Somalia, several locations and ports have been analysed in response to tasking about pirate activity, as well as possible sea points of disembarkation in the adjacent areas.
A bird´s eye view not only makes it possible for decision-makers and soldiers to get an overview of an area without entering it; it also enables building a historical overview of a conflict by comparing imagery over the same location from different dates, which might be very important for legal or general historical issues.
Apart from knowledge in supporting operations, the EU Satellite Centre has solid experience in general geographic information system products, mapping and non proliferation treaty verification. More on : www.eusc.europa.eu
Mariners Aboard the USS Boxer are Quarantined for H1N1
Dozens of navy sailors and marines just days away from returning home to San Diego are under in quarantine in Pearl Harbor after a swine flu outbreak on board their ship.
Military officials confirm 69 cases of H1N1 aboard the USS BOXER amphibious ready group.
While the military says steps are being taken to minimize the risk to other sailors and Hawaii residents. The families of the service members are still a bit on edge.
"There was a lot of anxiety about the fact H1N1 had been aboard the boxer and so some family members were concerned so to sway some of those fears we had a navy doctor and address the group," said Misty Dedrun, wife of the USS Boxer Captain.
The military says the Boxer is expected to return to San Diego on time.
Boxer was part of the group of ships that helped rescue the crew of the Maersk ALABAMA in waters off Somalia earlier this year and later was used in an aborted GSG9 attack on MV HANSA STAVANGER.
No real peace in sight yet
Red Crescent staff member killed in Mogadishu
A staff member of the Somali Red Crescent Society was killed in the centre of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, 21 July.
Farah Aden Mo'allim was travelling in a public transport vehicle when he was caught in crossfire and hit by a stray bullet. He died instantly, before he could be taken to the nearest hospital.
"The death of our dear colleague is devastating news and illustrates once more how dangerous it is to live and work in Mogadishu. Providing victims of the armed conflict with humanitarian aid often means risking your own life," said Dr Ahmed M. Hassan, the president of the Somali Red Crescent.
Although the staff member was not deliberately targeted, the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent are deeply concerned about the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting and call on all warring parties to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, and in particular to draw a distinction at all times between civilians and persons taking direct part in hostilities.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent, which sent their condolences to the family, expressed concerns about the plight of civilians caught in the fighting and urged warring groups to comply with international humanitarian law.
The hardline militia and the more political Hizb al-Islam group launched an offensive in early May to oust the internationally-backed government of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed while some 223,000 people have fled fighting in Mogadishu since May.
Al-Shabab Claims Control Over Somali Capital
By Rachelle Kliger for Media Line
The Islamist Al-Shabab group in Somalia claims its forces retook control this week over strategic areas of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Al-Shabab, one of the primary factions in the Somali opposition fighting against government forces and troops from African Union, says this marks a new stage in the fighting in Mogadishu.
The group claims to have taken over the Global Hotel, where government forces were barricaded, according to the Egypt-based Islamic News Agency.
Richard Cornwell, an independent consultant and expert on African affairs, told The Media Line that A-Shabab was seeking to replace institutions of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) rather than take over them, because it viewed the government as illegitimate and a creation of foreign powers.
However, he said, creating their own government would be very difficult because of the troublesome and complex nature of Somali society.
"All Somalis have multiple identities, whether in terms of religious ideology, clan allegiance or place of residence," he said. "You´re dealing with a very complicated set of allegiances and Alliances that come together only to fall apart when they´re challenged."
The goal of the Al-Qa´ida-affiliated force is to topple the government and impose strict Islamic law.
A-Shabab already controls large parts of central and southern Somalia.
In these areas, its strict laws are being manifested in the form of beheadings, the severing of limbs as punishment for theft, enforcing an Islamic dress code and closing down movie theaters.
But Cornwell said creating a Somali state based on A-Shabab´s principles, which opposes foreign and Western influence, would be difficult.
"The form of Islam practised by most Somalis is a fairly moderate Sufi Islam, which doesn't lend itself to the formation of a pseudo-Taliban state at all. It would be a bit like trying to herd cats," he said.
The takeover follows fierce clashes between Al-Shabab and government forces on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses told the agency that during Saturday´s fighting, the government lost control over several important positions, including the old port in Mogadishu.
The weak Somali government is denying the reported defeats.
Since May, Somalia has been embroiled in fresh fighting between the two sides, in which hundreds of fighters and civilians have been killed.
As many as 200,000 Mogadishu residents have fled the capital since the clashes erupted again, the largest displacement since the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad came to power five months ago.
The United States recently announced it sent 40 tons of arms and ammunition to the Somali government and sent funding to train local soldiers.
American aid to Somalia does not include the deployment of U.S. troops in the country, and the U.S. is concerned the country will become a safe haven for Al-Qa´ida operatives.
The instability in Somalia is also fueling a spate of piracy off the Gulf of Aden.
Cornwell said if the situation in Somalia deteriorated, the U.S. would likely seek to get more involved but cautioned that it would have to go about it very carefully.
"The problem is, how do you get in there and prop up the very weak TFG institutions without aggravating further the Somali feeling of independence and anti-foreignism," he said, adding that A-Shabab has utilized this sentiment successfully to its own benefit.
"One of the ways this has been attempted is to ask other Islamic African countries to help, and to show that this is not a Western agenda and that Africa is standing behind the TFG."
Warships And Helicopters Seen in Mogadishu And Merka
Warships and helicopters have seperatly been seen hovering over the seaport of the Somali capital Mogadishu amd Merka, witnesses told Shablle radio on Wednesday.
Residents said they saw the warship in the the coast of Mogadishu seaport and helicopters flying over around the residences near the port in Mogadishu.
Similar warship and helicopter have also been seen in Merka town about 111 kilometres south of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Reports from Merka town in lower Shabelle region say that the residents could see a warship at the coast of the town and a helicopter hovering over the town on Wednesday morning.
People in the town expressed concern about the warships and the helicopter in the air over the town.
Warplanes seen flying over Mogadishu
Warplanes and helicopters have been seen flying over Somalia´s capital Mogadishu already since the last three days, witnesses said on Wednesday.
Residents in Hamarweyne and Waberi districts in Mogadishu said they could see a warship anchored near the seaport and several large warplanes and helicopters flying in a low level over Mogadishu seaport and the presidential palace.
A warplane has also been reportedly landed in Aden Ade International airport in Mogadishu.
The country to which the ship and the warplanes belong, is apparently not but known, but local residents presume it has to do with al Shabaab militants having taken over two French agents abducted from their hotel in Mogadishu last Tuesday by Somali gunmen.
France's foreign minister said on Tuesday his country did not rule out sending commandos to try to free two French security advisers held hostage in Somalia.
France may send commandos to recover hostages in Somalia (Xinhua)
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said here on Tuesday that France is doing everything to free the two Frenchmen kidnapped in Somalia on July 14, and may even consider sending commandos to recover the hostages.
Speaking at a press briefing, Kouchner noted that information coming out of Somalia about the hostages was "very contradictory." He said that to his knowledge, the two men are being held separately by two different militant groups.
"We are doing everything in our power, with all the French, to hasten their release," the minister said.
Kouchner said that the talks aimed at freeing the hostages were conducted via the French embassy in Nairobi, adding that France had not asked the Somali government for the permission to send in commandos.
"Priority is given to negotiations, but we don't exclude anything," Kouchner said.
Asked whether the two militant groups were seeking an exchange for 12 Somali pirates detained in France, Kouchner responded that they "are not really interested in piracy."
According to earlier reports, the two Frenchmen were on an official mission to train Somalia's security forces. A senior member of a rebel group holding the hostage said on Saturday that the pair would soon be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying and "conspiracy against Islam."
UN demands unrestricted access in Somalia
The UN has called for all groups operating in Somalia, including the Islamist militant al-Shabaab organization, to provide unrestricted access to the UN teams responsible for delivering aid to millions of Somalis in need. Some 3.4 million people, about half of the nation's population, depend on food aid. The UN World Food Programme expressed frustration with the looting of two UN compounds, in particular the theft of radio devices crucial to the delivery of food aid throughout the nation.
Al-Shabab´s Reign Of Terror. (somalilandpress)
Historically, there were numerous diverse groups who controlled Somalia—from the European colonialists to the dictatorial regime of Siyad Barre to the warlords—some of which were more brutal and murderous than others. However, these diverse groups had never committed the heinous crimes that Al-Shabab committed during their short period in Somalia. This is not to assert that the previous groups were not criminals, far from it. It is, however, to assert that the ways in which Al-Shabab implements its brutal and cruel tactics to terrorize the populace is unprecedented.
Al-Shabab´s most striking aspect of terrorizing, comparing with its previous counterparts, is that the group utilizes erroneously and hijacked our superb and superior religion, Islam. They misinterpreted the Holly Quran as well as the Hadiths, the sayings of the Prophet (PBUH), in order to achieve their selfish motives. They claim to be the only Muslims in the region while every other person is kafir, meaning unbeliever. Anyone who does not belong to their terror group or opposes their terrorist ideology is unbeliever and, as such, is subject to be humiliated, if not killed, tortured, beheaded or amputated. In order to terrorize the population beyond belief, they borrow new horrendous tactics from afar, either Afghanistan or Iraq, which are alien and shocking to our people: suicide bombings, public beheadings, public amputations, molestation, force marriage, and more. In addition, they brainwash our young boys daily to the extent that they made them a human bomb. They erroneously inform these young men that blowing themselves up for the sake of Islam (which not true) is one of the surest ways to enter paradise. These young men, having no formal education or religious education, believe these lies and kill tens of innocent people every day. These lies and brainwashing tactics are not taking place only in our country but numerous other places including Europe, America, and many parts of Africa as well as Arabia. We, as parents, struggled to safe our children from killing others or get hurt and we tried so hard to ensure that they will acquire a higher education. However, these terrorists took our children away from us. We should stand for our children and prevent them from being used as a means to selfish ends.
Al-Shabab brainwashed our beautiful and innocent young girls to marry an older men from either Afghanistan or Arab countries in order to support the "jihad," as reported repeatedly. In numerous occasions when these courageous young girls refused to marry these ugly and old men, they were raped in order to terrorize other girls. These girls have only two choices: either to marry these old foreign men, whom they do not even understand their language, or prepare to be raped by these terrorists. Therefore, the only option that the girl has is to marry these men in order to safe herself from rape and humiliation. Some girls were brave enough to refuse such an inhumane and degrading act but they were labeled as adulators and were stoned to death after Al-Shabab raped them. These young girls were taken away from their parents against their approval and forced to be wedded to these terrorists. Night after night these girls were raped. These girls range from 12 to 22 and I prey to Allah every prayer to free their little innocent souls from these terrorists.
Every person, regardless his/her status, age, gender or position, who raises any concerns or dares to ask questions, let alone criticize them, is either tortured, beheaded or killed. The brave ones who attempted to resist these barbaric and horrendous killings are labeled as unbelievers in order to justify his/her death sentence. Moreover, there were countless people whom their hands/legs were amputated simply because they were against Al-Shabab´s injustices. These people were not thieves as Al-Shabab claimed. Rather, as numerous witnesses affirmed, they were innocent people who either refused to join Al-Shabab or who raise concerns about Al-Shabab´s brutal and ugliness. To add insult to injury, all of the tortures, amputations as well as beheadings take place in public in order to terrorize the populace. The people who are called to watch the banishment range from 5 year-old to 80 year-old, all of whom are innocent and powerless.
Al-Shabab attacked, killed, tortured and terrorized the most peaceful Muslim group in our country, Sufism. Sufists do not involve politics or governing issues. They devote their time and energy the worship of the Al-Mighty God, Allah (SW). Some of us might disagree with some aspects of their belief, but we all know that they were and still are peaceful group. However, after Al-Shabab failed to recruit their young men or win their sympathy, they started to terrorize them. The Sufists, however, defended itself though their worship is disrupted. The reason that Al-Shabab attacked these peaceful Sufists is this: Sufifsts refuse to murder and terrorize their fellow defenseless Muslims and Al-Shabab did not approve such a humane and peaceful approach, because Al-Shabab is blood thirsty.
The previous groups who controlled our country, Somali, did not commit such a heinous crime. They did not commit suicide acts in public places; they did not behead, amputate or torture people publicly; they did not force young girls to marry foreign men; they did not rape children. Al-Shabab terrorist groups are merciless killers. They are part of Al-Qaeda terrorist groups who killed and kill innocent people around the world. They are the ones who hijacked our religion and claim to be the defenders of Islam. Islam does not allow us to kill innocent people, regardless of their religion or believe as long as they are not harming Muslims. Furthermore, Islam forbids the killing of fellow Muslims. Al-Shabab rejects all of these religious verdicts and start killing innocent Muslims, let alone non-Muslims. Therefore, it is safe to assert that Al-Shabab is against the teaching of our religion. I am not in a position to say that Al-Shabab members are not Muslims. It is up to Allah to judge whether they are Muslims or not, though countless Sheikhs (Muslim scholars argue persuasively that they are not Muslims). Whatever the case, Al-Shabab´s reign of terror should be stopped.
Terror suspects' arrested at Somaliland airport
Two men suspected of being involved in Somalia's insurgency have been arrested at the airport in Somaliland, a breakaway republic in northern Somalia, Radio Garowe reports.
Gen. Mohamed Dubad, Somaliland's police commissioner, told reporters Tuesday that the two suspects were arrested after being found inside airport grounds without reason or permission.
The two suspects were immediately transferred to the Central Investigation Department (CID) in Hargeisa, where they were being questioned by local police, the commissioner added.
Somaliland authorities have been on high alert since suicide bombers targeted key government buildings in Hargeisa that killed 20 people in Oct. 2008.
Insurgents are waging a bloody guerrilla war against the U.N.-backed interim government in Mogadishu, and are increasingly using Iraq-style insurgency tactics.
Somaliland is located in northwestern Somalia and unilaterally declared independence in 1991. The breakaway republic has not been recognized internationally.
Retracing the roots of Somalia conflict
By The Independent (Uganda) and Agencies
The Somali conflict dates back to 1978. Civil strife reigned high and culminated in the overthrow of President Siad Barre´s regime on 26 January 1991. Failure to agree on a national political formula plunged the country into intensive civil war and statelessness. A large number of small arms and heavy weapons commonly called ´technical´ fell into the hands of civilians who formed organised and freelance militias to replace the national defence and police forces. Atrocities committed include human rights abuse, indiscriminate killing of civilians, widespread rape and violence against women and children, arbitrary detention, forced recruitment and use of child soldiers among others.
A United States-led humanitarian and nation-building intervention under the auspices of the UN (the Unified Task Force, UNITAF) was initiated in 1993, but was withdrawn in 1995 after a firefight in Mogadishu resulted in US troop casualties. The preceding UN Peacekeeping Operation in Somalia, UNOSOM I and II also withdrew in March 1995. In the aftermath of these´ separate missions, warlords continued to ravage Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia.
The warlords operating in Mogadishu after the withdrawal of UNOSOM /I were finally defeated by an alliance of Islamic Courts, civil society groups, business community and the general population of Mogadishu early 2006. The Islamic Courts consolidated power and control over Mogadishu, through the establishment of committees and created more courts to form the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).
The ICU quickly spread its control over most parts of the country through conquest and intimidation.
The ICU´s roots can be traced to radical leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a retired Somali Armed Force Colonel, who went about after 1977, establishing Islamic Courts that provided harsh order to Somalia´s anarchic political landscape. Aweys was appointed Secretary General of the Sharia Implementation Council, a group dedicated to unifying Islamic courts under one body and governing Somalia under Islamic law. At the formation of the Islamic Courts Council in 2000 and the merging of independent courts in south Mogadishu, Aweys became the council´s Secretary General. The merger of the courts´ militias raised the largest force in Mogadishu to fight the warlords.
After several failed attempts at building a new Somali Unity Government, a two-year peace process, led--by the Government of Kenya, under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), concluded in October 2004 with the election of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed as the Transitional Federal President of Somalia. The process also led the formation of a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Transitional Federal Institutions (TFls), which up to June 2004, operated from Nairobi.
The TFG, since its relocation to Soma
lia after June 2004, moved its temporal headquarters to Jowhar and thereafter to Baidoa in the Bay Region. However, further progress was hampered by lack of institutional capacity and inadequate resources and external assistance to the TFls. Regional and local governing bodies, based on clan lines, each with its own security system, continued to control various cities and regions in the country. Most significant of these were the warlords that controlled and terrorized inhabitants of Mogadishu.
The situation in Somalia changed drastically from what it was when the TFG was formed. The ICU emerged as a major player in Somali politics alongside the TFG, establishing itself as the new reality that controlled Mogadishu and increasing its sphere of influence to other areas thus effectively besieging the TFG in the small enclave of Baidoa.
Two rounds of peace talks which took place in Khartoum, Sudan, under the auspices of the League of Arab States did not yield the desired results and the third round failed to take off due to opposing uncompromising positions adopted by both parties.
Perceived interferences by some frontline states in the Somali Peace Process, contributed to unnecessary tension and mistrust between the TFG and the ICU. Both sides claim the involvement of external players and countries in providing military and other support to one side or the other. While the TFG claimed that there are international terrorists within the ICU with support from some countries including Eritrea, the ICU counter-alleged that the deployment of Ethiopian forces was in support of the TFG.
In light of the worsening security situation in Somalia, the Government of Somalia and the Heads of State of the IGAD on 31 January 2005 resolved in Abuja, Nigeria, to deploy a Peace Support Mission to Somalia. The deployment was endorsed by the African Union.
Among the objectives was to support dialogue and reconciliation In Somalia, working with all stakeholders; provide protection to the TFls and their key infrastructure, assist in the implementation of the NSSP, particularly the effective reestablishment and training of all inclusive Somali security forces and to protect its personnel, installations and equipment, including the right of self-defence.
It was further decided that AMISOM would comprise 9 Infantry battalions of 850 personnel each supported by maritime coastal and air components, as well as an appropriate civilian component, including a police training team. The initial deployment was to involve at least 3 infantry battalions, with adequate arrangements for additional battalions to follow quickly. Today only 4300 troops, about 5 battalions, from Uganda and Burundi have been deployed in Somalia.
The TFG agreed to the transition of peacekeeping authority in Somalia from AMISOM to the UN.
Grant to help protect beleaguered Somali journalists
Reporters Without Borders has awarded a grant of 2,000 dollars and made available 20 bullet proof vests for Somali journalists who are forced to work in increasingly dangerous conditions.
Some 15 journalists working for the country´s main media reacted to the murder of the head of Radio Shabelle, Mukhtar Mohamed Hirabe – the 14th journalist to be killed since 2007 - by holding a press conference on 9 June at which they said they were forced to stop work because of an upsurge of threats against them.
This group of journalists, made up of editors, producers and presenters, called for an emergency plan allowing them to work in a high security building in a safe neighbourhood of the capital, Mogadishu. At present, many media staff are risking their lives by working in districts controlled by Islamist insurgents, like Mogadishu´s Bakara market.
The chief editor of HornAfrik radio told Reporters Without Borders that he received no government help or protection after receiving direct death threats and witnessing the murder of some of his colleagues. The main reason for these attacks was to prevent the independent media from covering the situation on the ground, he said. Journalists have been targeted by the radical Islamic insurgents of Shabbab, who are battling government forces in Mogadishu, but they also suffer intimidation on the part of the security forces or local authorities.
Financial assistance offered by international organisations such as Reporters Without Borders, should encourage these journalists to continue their work so that the abuses carried out by the militias do not silence Somalia media. Scores of Somali journalists have left the country in the last few months, driven out by growing threats to the safety, and others have quit the profession.
Al Shabaab destroys graves in southern towns
Al Shabaab militant group has desecrated four well-known graves in towns near Afgoye, 30 km south of Mogadishu, officials said on Wednesday.
Forces from the group have demolished four graves buried in famous Sheiks in Lungare Village which thousands of people pay homage to them every year.
One of the graves was buried in Sheik Osman Sheik Abdirahman, a well respected shrine in the area by Sufi adherents.
Al Shabaab and their ally Hizbul Islam destroyed hundreds of graves in southern towns since the beginning of this year 2009.
Al Shabaab has recently been looking for graves in the area. They described the graves as Un-Islamic.
The Sufi adherents angered by the desecration of the graves took up arms to fight against al Shabaab in central Somalia.
Impacting reports from the global village
SOMALIA-YEMEN: Registration programme "to weed out illegal migrants"
A campaign to register Somali refugees with the aim of creating a government database and identifying illegal African migrants is under way in Yemen, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Issam al-Mahbashi, who is in charge of refugees at the ministry's Africa Department, told IRIN the registration campaign would help distinguish Somali refugees from African economic migrants.
"There is mixed migration as the smuggling boats coming from Bossaso [in Somalia] carry economic migrants as well as asylum seekers. The latter should be granted refugee status, while the former should return," Al-Mahbashi told IRIN in Sanaa.
The registration process, funded by the European Union, had been agreed with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), he said.
The plan is to have six permanent registration centres around the country. The first one was launched in Sanaa in March and another opened in the port city of Aden this month.
The registration's first phase, which may last six months, involves Somali refugees only. The second phase, which is still under advisement, is to include non-Somali asylum seekers.
The MFA official said the turnout for the registration process was high, adding that the drive had been publicized by UNHCR in different languages via the media and posters.
He further noted that another chance would be given to those who did not register during the first phase.
Temporary campaigns would be conducted to check the identity of any refugees following the first phase. Those who refused to register would be identified while travelling from one governorate to another, according to Al-Mahbashi.
"Anyone who fails to register during that period will be arrested and deported despite being Somali," Al-Mahbashi said.
Andrew Knight, UNHCR's external relations officer in Yemen, said such action would contravene the 1951 Refugee Convention.
Article 33 of the convention, to which Yemen is a signatory, states: "No Contracting State shall expel or return ("refouler") a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
Knight has urged the Somalis in Yemen to register.
According to UNHCR, there were 152,693 refugees assisted by UNHCR in Yemen as of 31 May, of whom 143,998 were Somalis, 2,919 Ethiopians and 672 Eritreans.
Al-Mahbashi said there were 750,000 Somali refugees and more than 300,000 African migrants (Ethiopians, Eritreans and others) in Yemen.
According to the World Refugee Survey 2009 by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, the Yemeni government claims there may be as many as 700,000 Somalis in the country.
Swedish Presidency EU - Foreign Ministers to discuss Somalia at Council meeting in Brussels
On 27-28 July, the General Affairs and External Relations Council will meet in Brussels. Minister for EU Affairs Cecilia Malmström and Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt will chair the respective meetings. The Minister for EU Affairs will present the Swedish Presidency´s work programme. The foreign ministers will discuss issues including Somalia, Georgia and Iran.
EU Affairs Minister´s work programme presentation to be webcast.
The Minister for EU Affairs, Cecilia Malmström, will present the Swedish Presidency´s work programme and inform her colleagues about the work of the General Affairs Council this autumn. The presentation will be webcast live.
Ministers discuss EU action in Somalia
In the External Relations Council, the ministers will discuss the situation in Somalia. The situation in Somalia is very unstable. In early May, fighting broke out between the Islamic opposition and the transitional government. This has had serious political and humanitarian consequences. At the Council meeting, the ministers will discuss the EU´s action in Somalia, support to the transitional government, and how the EU can cooperate with other actors.
Kenya to Reinforce Border with Somalia Following String of Abductions (TransWorldNews)
Kenya has pledged to reinforce its border with Somalia in an attempt to stem the recent string of abductions carried out by militants.
Government officials have been concentrating their efforts on halting the actions of the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab which it blames for the recent flow of illegal weapons into the country as well as the abductions.
Kenya´s President Mwai Kibaki addressed the issue saying, "Our borders are porous and it is not a place where you can totally keep al-Shabab at bay. But we are trying our best."
Al-Shabab militants are being blamed for the abduction of three foreign aid workers in Kenya over the weekend, an act that apparently went unchallenged. The Islamist militants have also been seen trying to recruit young men outside a Kenyan school. The group is currently waging an intense war against the Western-backed Somali government and has launched a series of attacks inside the capital city of Mogadishu.
Top diplomat to handle Kenya reconciliation
By Oliver Mathenge, Daily Monitor Correspondent
A renown diplomat, African peacemaker and a man of eloquence has got the job to test his skills. Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, a career diplomat and well-known peace negotiator was yesterday appointed the chairman of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to serve for two years.
Kenya´s Parliament approved the setting up of the TJRC last year with a wide mandate: to investigate gross violations and abuses of human rights.
The cases to be investigated include abductions, disappearances, detentions, torture, sexual violations, extrajudicial killings, murder, ill-treatment and loss of property suffered by any person between independence and end of last year´s post-election violence.
Mr Kiplagat´s deputy will be Ms Betty Murungi, a Harvard-trained lawyer and international human rights law expert who has experience in similar processes in Sierra Leone and elsewhere in the world.
The other Kenyan commissioners are Margaret Shava, Tom Ojienda, Ahmed Sheikh Farah and Tecla Namachanja. The foreign appointees are Judge Getrude Chawatama from Zambia, Mr Berhanu Dinka from Ethiopia and Prof Ronald Slye from the US.
The TJRC Act says that the vice-chairman is to be appointed by the commissioners. Mr Kiplagat described the job as enormous but expressed confidence that his team would deliver.
"We will cover events of the past, since 1963 which will include historical injustices, corruption and ethnic clashes," he said. Independence Kenya has a long story of assassinations, state-sponsored ethnic violence, police executions and disrespect for human rights.
Killings such as those of former MP JM Kariuki and Foreign Minister Robert Ouko remain unresolved despite decades of police and parliamentary investigations and lots of public speculation.
Investigating the plunder of public resources by successive regimes is a major task in its own right, given the pervasive theft by generations of the political elite and top civil servants.
Mr Kiplagat, along with nine other commissioners, was appointed by Kenyan President Kibaki, to serve for two years. Mr Kiplagat is a former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also served as the special envoy to the Somalia Peace Talks. He has been Kenya´s envoy in France and the UK and was deputy General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Kenya.
His selection according to the parliamentary departmental committee on administration of justice and legal affairs was due to his vast knowledge in conflict management.
The TJRC team will identify people whose rights were abused and decide how they are to be compensated. It will also investigate economic crimes and provide redress in respect of crimes of a sexual nature against female victims.
The commission will recommend prosecution of persons responsible for or involved in human rights and economic rights violations and abuses.
Mr Kiplagat has an international profile and is respected for his work in both the Sudan and Somalia peace processes.
The appointments came amid a raging debate over whether those guilty of crimes against humanity during the post-election violence should be tried or be taken before the TJRC.
In a blitz-question Kenya's KTN broadcaster however established that 60% of Kenyan's refuse the diplomat as head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, while many insist that the crimes committed during post-election violence, which saw 1500 people killed, must be tried by the International Criminal Court in The Hague and not a local tribunal.
Woman hopes DNA unlocks Kenya trap
By Raveena Aulakh / Toronto Star
Toronto lawyer insists test would 'end the debate' about whether stranded Canadian is an imposter
Stymied at every step to rescue his client from a bureaucratic limbo in Nairobi, a Toronto lawyer is now turning to DNA as the last resort.
"It's clear now that fingerprints are pointless," said Raoul Boulakia, lawyer for Suaad Hagi Mohamud.
"So I'm asking them to do DNA testing now. I want DNA testing for her, her husband and son. It's most definitive and ends the debate of who the human being is."
Boulakia, who will be in federal court today to ask the government to bring his client home, also wants Canada to try to stop criminal proceedings against her in Nairobi until DNA testing is completed.
The 31-year-old mother went to Nairobi on April 29 to visit her mother. But when she tried to return May 17, she says a Kenyan officer stopped her at the Nairobi airport for not looking like her four-year-old passport photo.
She spent eight days in jail and was released on bail without any travel papers. Kenyan officials sent her passport to Canadian officials, who said she was an "imposter," then voided the passport and sent it back to Kenya for prosecution.
The Somali-born Mohamud will be in a Nairobi court on Friday.
When Mohamud was detained, she insisted her fingerprints be taken to be verified against ones she gave when she applied for Canadian citizenship.
But on Monday, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency said fingerprints are not retained once a citizenship application is closed.
Boulakia is hopeful the "mess" can be sorted out quickly now. "Honestly, DNA could move this (case) forward and simplify it. There is no indication otherwise that it's being resolved."
He also had an hour-long conference call with a judge yesterday about the case but said he "couldn't comment on what was discussed."
DNA testing is common for refugees and immigrants to prove family relationships and identity. From 1991 to 2000, DNA testing was used in the cases of almost 8,000 immigrants and refugees entering Canada. Boulakia said it usually takes five days to match DNA samples but only three days if it is expedited. "The big thing here is that a 12-year-old child is without his mother. We need to find answers for him," said Boulakia.
There have been dozens of questions about this case but no answers. During the two months since Mohamud was detained in Nairobi, officials have not said why they can't repatriate her and charge her with a passport offence. They also haven't commented on why they believe she is not who she claims to be. Yesterday, several phone calls and emails to the ministries of foreign affairs and public safety went unanswered. An email from a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency referred the Star to government websites.
Meanwhile, Mohamud said yesterday she had travelled on the same passport to Nairobi twice before in the past four years without any trouble. On the first trip in 2006, she went to Nairobi to visit her dying father. "I first went to Somalia and then flew to Nairobi."
She travelled to Kenya again in November 2007 and returned to Toronto in February last year.
But Mohamud is worried about what will happen in the Nairobi court Friday.
It could mean a jail sentence or even deportation to her lawless native land.
"All I want is to come (home) to my son," she said.
Toronto woman in Kenya seeks court help
by CBC News
Canadian officials in Kenya confiscated the passport of Suaad Haji Mohamud and concluded she was an imposter.
The lawyer for a Toronto woman stripped of her Canadian passport in Kenya will be in Federal Court on Wednesday to ask Ottawa to bring her home immediately.
Raoul Boulakia says quick action is needed because his client, Suaad Haji Mohamud, is due to appear in a Kenyan court Friday. The 31-year old could be sent to a Kenyan prison or deported to her birth country, Somalia.
She has been prevented from leaving Kenya since mid-May, when she tried to leave Nairobi following a two-week visit with her mother. Kenyan officials said she didn't look like the photo on her passport and prevented her from leaving.
I did not expect my country to do that to me.'—Suaad Haji Mohamud
Canadian officials in Kenya confiscated her passport and concluded she was an imposter.
The High Commission of Canada in Nairobi sent a letter to Kenyan officials on May 28 that stated, "Please be advised that we have carried out conclusive investigations including an interview and have confirmed that the person brought to the Canadian High Commission on suspicion of being an imposter is not the rightful holder of the aforementioned Canadian passport."
Mohamud says she has lost a lot of weight in the four years since the passport photo was taken. She showed the Kenyans other pieces of Canadian identification and offered to be fingerprinted, but she was charged with identity fraud. She spent eight days in jail before she was released on bail.
Fly her home: lawyer
Boulakia will ask the Federal Court to order the government to issue an emergency passport and fly her home at government expense. He also wants DNA testing on Mohamud and her 12-year-old son.
The Federal Court application also seeks a declaration that the government "acted in bad faith by arbitrarily denying the applicant's citizenship, and by delaying resolution of confirming her citizenship."
Boulakia said he will ask the court to make its own declaration that the woman is who she says she is.
Mohamud says she provided fingerprints when she applied for Canadian citizenship, but Canadian officials say fingerprints are destroyed when such an application is closed. Dozens of her neighbours in Toronto have vouched for her.
Speaking by phone from Kenya, Mohamud said the Canadian government is "humiliating" her.
"I did not expect my country to do that to me," she said.
Mohamud, who has lived in Canada for 12 years, says she's determined to get home to her son.
"It doesn't matter how long this shit takes … I'll be there," she said.
Something to read also for the handlers of two French agents, who allowed or ordered them to pose as journalists in Mogadishu!
Putting Journalists in Danger
By Ben L. Kaufman
In my University of Cincinnati ethics classes, I argue that the greater the risk to journalists the less necessary the story or image is to their readers, viewers and listeners. My conclusion arises from taking chances, sending colleagues into potential danger and knowing that others do the same, sometimes with fatal results.
I was reminded of this risk/benefit tension by the recent escape of New York Times reporter David Rhode and an Afghan colleague after seven months of Taliban captivity.
And as I wrote this, I wondered how NBC justified the dangers it´s creating for all journalists with its new reality show, The Wanted, which began Monday night. In it, NBC unites a reporter with a former U.S. Navy Seal and a former Army Green Beret in a hunt for fugitive war criminals and terrorists. Dumb. Too many people already see journalists as the enemy to be kidnapped, taken hostage or killed.
I´ve been a risk-taker.
Years ago as a Minneapolis Star reporter, I covered twisters that were heading for the Twin Cities. A colleague and I raced to a suburban Lake Minnetonka community that we expected to be hit. We wanted stories you can´t get when the storm is over.
Driving west to meet the storm, we watched winds lay a moving tractor-trailer on its side. It skidded and ground to a halt so slowly that it was unreal. We drove on after the driver climbed out and waved.
A twister hit moments before we arrived. Dark as it was, we saw century-old trees plucked from the ground. Boats were sucked from their berths and plunged into houses. Utility lines whipped, wrapped and fell. Some sparked. We got our stories. No one had anything like it.
Years later, I had joined The Enquirer and twisters were predicted for Greater Cincinnati. I suggested sending reporter/photographer teams to western Hamilton County to anticipate those tornados. My editor just shook his head, much the way he must have when his eager dog brought all of the morning papers on their street.
It was the difference between witnessing an event and interviewing witnesses.
A corollary to my risk/benefit ethic says that, however much high-risk stories excite an editor´s competitive urge, it´s up to journalists whether to accept the risks. Sending unwilling journalists into danger against their better judgment is unethical. Enquirer photographer Glenn Hartong underlines that point below.
But another corollary undermines my ethical calculus: Journalists who take risks and bring in enviable stories and images will be favored with more desirable assignments. Journalists who refuse might not be offered similar opportunities and could endanger their jobs.
This corollary was clear after BBC producer Kate Peyton accepted assignment to Somalia against her better judgement. Somalia is one of the most dangerous places on Earth. She was murdered leaving her hotel in Mogadishu.
According to the BBC, Peyton´s sister, Rebecca, told the British inquest, "She was utterly clear in her mind that she had to do it, that she had no choice. She had been told there were doubts about her commitment to her job. When it comes to news journalism, you earn a lot of points by going to dangerous places. It is simply how it functions."
Some journalists are motivated by risk. Too many editors, however, put even willing employees in harm´s way without adequate preparation or protection.
I went to the Congo border as a photojournalist because the 1960s were a decade of African turmoil and bloodshed and I wanted bylines. I´m no war lover, but reporting combat, riots and massacres draws favorable attention in our trade.
I took my chances, and I also edited a new daily paper, sending others into potential danger. Looking back, the stories and images were important and the risks — accepted without hesitation by similarly motivated colleagues — were reasonable at that time and place.
When The Enquirer sent me to Israel in 1979, I was invited to apply for a photojournalist job at another American newspaper chain´s Jerusalem bureau. By then, I was married and a parent. My wife was sure I´d end up badly, given the sometimes heedless way I pursue images.
As usual, she was right. I told the chain´s correspondent, "Thanks, but no thanks." It wasn´t long after that journalism became increasingly dangerous, if not lethal, there.
That raises a related issue. For generations, journalists were perceived as neutrals rather than targets. It was bad luck when a Japanese bullet killed columnist Ernie Pyle, photographer Robert Capa stepped on a Viet Minh land mine and photographer Larry Burrows died with other journalists in Laos when their helicopter was shot down. They accepted the danger but were not targeted and killed because they were journalists.
That´s no longer the case.
There´s a growing sense that journalists are targets whether abroad or at the hands of thuggish cops at home.
It was an unpleasant reality we no longer could ignore when NBC´s Bill Stewart was forced to his knees and executed on-camera in 1979 by a Nicaraguan soldier. Stewart held a white flag and offered his press credentials.
AP´s Terry Anderson spent more than six years in captivity in Lebanon after being kidnapped in 1985.
In 2002, Daniel Pearl, a Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter, was beheaded by Muslim radicals in Pakistan. They posted his execution on the Internet.
American missiles and tank fire killed journalists in Baghdad, and explanations still ring hollow. More recently, the assassination of muckraking Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya created a furor.
Journalism web sites are rich with less tragic stories of American cops intimidating reporters and photographers, sometimes taking their cameras or recorders and destroying images and sound.
It´s still going on. Scores of reporters and photographers are killed every year with little notice outside our trade and their families. There´s a steady toll from Russia, Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, Mexico, Sri Lanka, etc. Most are citizens of those countries. Relatively few are foreigners. Not a few die for writing about powerful and often corrupt countrymen who, for what Americans consider chump change, hire two young men on a motorbike, one with a semiautomatic pistol.
Americans are not exempt. Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles was killed by a car bomb in 1976, and 2007 shotgun blasts ended Chauncy Bailey´s investigative journalism in Oakland, Calif.
Meanwhile, smart editors increasingly are hiring protection for journalists in dangerous places or, when that´s too costly, withdrawing them from those areas. That´s why there are so few foreign journalists in Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq. In the same way, journalists increasingly are going abroad with training provided by our military or private groups dedicated to their safety.
Even so, when my Enquirer editor asked if I´d go to Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion, I said yes even though I was three weeks short of retirement. It would be a great story. A last hurrah. Dumb.
I checked my passport, cameras, camping gear, immunizations and shots I´d have to get. The paper reconsidered, not least because of the costs and my ignorance of any languages Afghans spoke other than English. Smart.
Risk doesn´t have to be exotic. At The Enquirer, I sent then-freelance photographer Hartong to a Queensgate railroad fire that threatened a propane tanker. "No telephoto shots," I recall saying. "Get in there with a really wide angle."
It was a management decision — high risk for a photo that wasn´t worth a life or serious injury — that I deplore today. It´s what I would have done. Had it blown while he was anywhere near, he would have been ashes instead of an Enquirer staff photographer known widely for his photos of firefighters.
Hartong also accompanied Enquirer reporter Cam McWhirter to Sarajevo when that was a very deadly place. They covered a 1996 reunion of Sarajevo residents living in the Tristate and families who stayed in Bosnia during the gruesome civil war. Hartong and McWhirter did a fine job for our readers, but that story wasn´t worth the risk.
I ran this line of thinking past Hartong last week. He responded:
"The railroad tanker was indeed a dangerous thing and I made the photo with a 500mm mirror lens. Any thinking photographer will always take the marching orders of an editor with a grain of salt. Only the person on the scene is able to judge what risk is worth taking.
"Sarajevo wasn´t, to my mind, all that dangerous. … My daily forays into Over-the-Rhine and other areas are equally dangerous, the major difference being the language barrier that foreign countries present. … The most inexcusable part of the Bosnia trip was the unwillingness of The Enquirer to pay for a minder/driver. Nor do they pay for body armor or any forms of training or protective equipment.
"I have gone into collapse zones during fires, walked through flooded waters, chased cops chasing armed criminals, gone into the heart of tornado generating thunderstorms and drove into Adams County during impassable winter conditions. I would do any and all of these things again.
"I believe that, if rescuers put themselves at risk and if people live in dangerous conditions, we, as journalists, must face the same risks to document the story."
That said, a routine assignment can turn dangerous. A canoe can capsize while a photographer is covering environmentalists paddling down the polluted Mill Creek. That´s bad luck. Every police ride-along has the potential to turn violent.
To minimize a controllable danger, Gannett Co., The Enquirer´s parent company, generally bans journalists from military public relations flights. Ward Bushee, ex-Enquirer editor, was covering a South Dakota Air National Guard flyover when the jet he was in collided with another. Both pilots and Ward ejected. Bushee was badly injured.
I learned about this when I was offered a ride on an Air Force KC-135 tanker out of Columbus with its unique all-female reservist crew. Permission denied. The story wasn´t worth arguing against company policy.
Similarly, higher ratings aren´t worth the risks created by NBC´s decision to turn its reporter into a warrior on The Wanted. No war criminal or terrorist is going to distinguish between the reporter and his armed, aggressive companions.
It´s one thing to accompany soldiers in action, but this stupid show can only blur the already dim line between journalist and armed combatants in the same way 24 Hours sometimes ignored the distinction between aggressive interrogation and unacceptable and probably illegal torture.
Another ethical tension is whether to report a kidnapping or to remain silent until the victim is safe or dead.
In this country, news media generally go along with police or FBI requests for silence during a kidnapping, lest we provoke the kidnapper into further harming the captive.
Abroad, it´s a tougher decision. When The New York Times´ David Rhode and an Afghan colleague escaped the Taliban, they thanked everyone for the voluntary news blackout during their seven months in captivity.
Theirs was the second high-profile blackout in recent months, also reached by consensus among competing news media. Earlier, journalists who knew that Britain´s Prince Harry was a combat infantry officer in Afghanistan kept it to themselves for weeks rather than put the prince and his unit in greater danger.
News blackouts bring ethics problems for news media dedicated to gathering and reporting facts. Critics challenge our selectivity. Why is self-censorship possible when a journalist or prince is involved, but kidnappings of aid workers, missionaries, diplomats, civilian contractors, etc., are instant news? It´s a fair question. The rules can change when it´s family; we define "family."
The choice of silence or publicity never is made by the victim. Silence could sentence them to death. So could publicity. No one knows whether news stories might increase the bargaining value of a living captive or frighten kidnappers into killing their victim.
Publicity probably protected freelance Iranian-American radio reporter Roxana Saberi when Iranians jailed her this year. She didn´t ask for silence. She was freed soon after her conviction amid persistent reporting on her case.
Finally, Christiane Amanpour, CNN´s chief international correspondent and one of the highest-profile TV journalists, told interviewer Leslie Stahl on wowowow.com, "If I´m kidnapped I want you, personally, to lead the charge and make sure people know about it."
Obama´s Foreign Non-Policy
By Abe Greenwald
Why it´s hard for conservatives to praise Obama´s good decisions.
Commentators on the right have been eager to reinforce President Obama´s better foreign-policy moves. Despite their best intentions, however, conservative praise for Obama repeatedly fails to gain purchase. It´s not that enthusiasm for this or that Obama decision is misplaced; it´s that there´s no reason to take any single administration accomplishment as representative of a larger strategy, and those apportioning the compliments know it. Laudatory editorials and blog posts by strong-military advocates or pro-democracy pundits are wishful, caveat-rich, and willfully imperceptive. These folks are typing with their fingers crossed.
The praise is, by necessity, narrowly focused, giving Mr. Obama singly earned points for discrete acts. After the U.S. Navy rescued Captain Phillips off the coast of Somalia, Wall Street Journal editors wrote, "White House and Navy officials say President Obama had issued a general authorization to use force in these circumstances, and that is to his credit." Point. When at long last Barack Obama made a full-throated denunciation of the Iranian regime´s post-election brutality, the Weekly Standard´s Stephen F. Hayes noted, "There are some things to quibble with, but this is much, much better." Point. And after the president gave his pro-democracy, anti-corruption speech in Ghana, Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal called it "by far the best of his presidency." Point.
But this hat trick is not all it´s cracked up to be. Since the rescue of Captain Phillips, the Islamist al-Shabab group has enlisted pirates to smuggle as many as a thousand al-Qaeda fighters into Somalia in an effort to overthrow the American-backed government. Mr. Obama has responded by sending aid money. Point retracted. Apparently satisfied with the state of affairs in Iran a month after the regime slaughtered protesters in the streets, the Obama administration has gone silent on electoral justice for Iranians and is back on track in its effort to engage (and thus legitimize) the thugs of Tehran. Point retracted. Regarding the president´s call for good governance and personal responsibility in Ghana, the point was earned under protest to begin with. As Stephens went on to write, "[I]f the U.S. owes Africa no apologies for its recent disasters, why has Mr. Obama gone to such lengths to apologize to Iran for the 1953 Mossadegh coup, and, in his Cairo speech, to the entire Muslim world for the politics of the Cold War? Or if Mr. Obama wants to ´isolate´ irresponsible actors, why does he continue to promise engagement with Iran, Syria, Russia, and perhaps North Korea, no matter how they behave?"
It is those very questions that make praising President Obama´s foreign-policy decisions such a trying exercise. The individual moments conservatives attempt to praise are quantum phenomena with no traceable link to other administration events or to any organizing principles. More often than not, the admirable instances are most notable for contradicting positions Mr. Obama has previously held. His condemnation of Tehran´s barbarism is one such instance; his commitment to a longer Iraq engagement is another; and his decision to prevent the release of photographs showing Americans allegedly abusing detainees abroad is yet another. When the good comes so frequently after a commitment to the bad, its virtue is at least suspect.
The suspicion? That Barack Obama has no operable foreign policy. He does not stay the liberal course he so often talks up, nor does he effectively plan for the conservative solution he eventually adopts. Shifting gears and looking flat-footed while doing so is not the president´s intention.
By the administration´s own admission, "ideology is so yesterday." That is how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it in April. Therefore to praise Mr. Obama for acting in accordance with a preferred ideology is to cling hopelessly to the past, to a period of political history when a particular decision or statement could be read as an endorsement of a paradigm. To offer such praise is to deny the great disclaimer of the Obama presidency when it comes to foreign affairs: Any resemblance to a political philosophy or school of thought is purely coincidental. As Mrs. Clinton put it in a speech at the Center for Foreign Relations last Wednesday, "Rigid ideologies and old formulas do not apply."
An à-la-carte approach is in. Those of us hoping to nudge the administration through positive reinforcement are left sifting through fragments in search of something worthwhile. One gem came with President Obama´s decision in March to broaden the American commitment in Afghanistan. At the time, Robert Kagan wrote on the Washington Post´s blog page that this was "evidence that the president is pragmatic in the best sense of the word. He and his key advisers, such as Richard Holbrooke, understand that better and more effective government in Afghanistan is a key to the successful defense of American security."
Point.
Or so we hope. Recently, President Obama has hinted at a premature scale-down of force in Afghanistan. On July 11, he told Sky News that the U.S. will be looking to see what more could be done to help Afghanistan after its upcoming elections, adding, "It may not be on the military side, it may be on the development side." During a meeting with the Dutch prime minister four days later, Mr. Obama expressed his hope that the U.S. could "transition to a different phase" of operations after the elections. This past Friday, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said truthfully enough, "After the Iraq experience, nobody is prepared to have a long slog where it is not apparent we are making headway," and then added this unadulterated morale killer: "The troops are tired; the American people are pretty tired." With no "rigid ideology" to anchor its commitment to this operation, the administration may see little reason to endure months or years of body counts and mixed news. But if we abandon Afghanistan to the kind of lawlessness and terrorism manifested in the attacks of 9/11, Barack Obama will have given up much more than a well-earned point from the conservative commentaries.
(*) Abe Greenwald is policy adviser and online editor with the Foreign Policy Initiative in Washington.
Obama denies any U.S. blame for imperialist aggression in Africa
By Eugene Puryear
Hands off Africa: Real change demands self-determination and independence
President Obama´s recent trip to Ghana, his first trip to Africa as president, drew a considerable amount of attention. As President Obama´s father was from Kenya, his first trip to the continent and his speech were highly anticipated.
Africa—still tragically mired in poverty and violence—like much of the world has looked to Obama to inaugurate a new era in U.S. foreign policy.
In similar terms to his speeches aimed at Black America, he paid lip service to historical oppression and underdevelopment, but incorrectly identified personal responsibility as the main factor in the continued underdevelopment of Africa.
While paying some lip service to Africa´s colonial legacy, he abdicates any responsibility for the West after the era of barbarous colonialism. He pays zero attention to neo-colonialist predations. For example, Obama said: "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants."
Role of imperialist powers in post-cold war period
While the first part of the statement about Zimbabwe is entirely false, to act as if the West has had zero culpability for issues on the African continent, particularly during the 1990s, is purposefully misleading. While of course there are plenty of Africans who have not acted in the best interests of their countrymen, we can not lose sight of the role imperialism played in Africa during the post-cold war period.
As is well documented, Western powers forced most African countries during the 1990s into structural adjustment programs. These economic attacks did everything possible to weaken the role of the state, promote privatization and sell-offs of state assets and de-emphasize spending on infrastructure—all policies that benefited Western corporations to the detriment of the people. Not exactly a hands-off approach.
Obama also fails to mention how one of the main reasons AIDS continues to ravage the African continent to such a degree is directly attributable to Western pharmaceutical companies, which zealously pursue their "intellectual property rights" no matter how many are dying. These corporations continually attacked the rights of countries such as India and Brazil to produce low-cost generic AIDS drugs, thus unnecessarily limiting the availability to millions of impoverished AIDS victims in Africa.
The president also could have mentioned how so many of the wars in Africa during the 1990s have involved the imperialist powers. One could fill many articles discussing various cases.
It is worth noting that the United States and Europe supported various sides of many destructive conflicts, from Sudan to Congo, to Chad and Somalia.
Somalia is a good example because of recent actions. In 2007, the United States destabilized the only government to unite the country since 1991 by supporting an Ethiopian invasion and occupation. The U.S. military has also launched a number of air attacks on civilians and whole villages in Somalia, striking at supposed "terrorist dens."
It is beyond questioning that the United States played the key role in exacerbating and intensifying the current conflict in Somalia in order to keep the African country from developing independently of U.S. imperialism.
If democracy is so important to Obama for the future of the African continent, why has his government not denounced Meles Zenawi, leader of Ethiopia, as brutal as any other leader the world over? Where is the denunciation of the Swazi king, who has prostrated his entire country before Coca-Cola and textile companies from Taiwan, where women are banned from wearing pants, and the entire parliament is approved by King Mswati III?
President Obama was right in one sense: Africa´s future is up to Africans. However, it is also up to revolutionary-minded people to stand side by side with the progressive movements in Africa and oppose our own government´s attempts to use progressive-sounding cover to influence and control the direction of development in Africa.
Japan's Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Tuesday slammed the Democratic Party of Japan's foreign policies for "being irresponsible" and "lacking specifics."
On the day the Lower House was dissolved for a snap election Aug. 30, Nakasone criticized the main opposition party's tactics, including effectively killing a bill to allow inspections of vessels sailing to or from North Korea.
"It is regrettable that the bill did not clear the Diet," Nakasone told reporters, adding that Japan has a responsibility to conduct checks of ships in line with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874.
Japan during this now defunct diet made also a regrettable step away from its pacifistic constitution by sending warships to join an international naval frenzy allegedly addressing piracy around the Horn of Africa.
Arab states urged to tackle multiple crises
By Patrick Galey
Siniora highlights need to end occupation, armed conflict in region
The Arab world must tackle the global financial crisis, make provisions against climate change and seek to end regional occupation before the area can enjoy lasting stability, according to a new landmark security report. "The Arab Human Development Report 2009: Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries" was unveiled in Beirut on Tuesday, entreating Arab leaders to confront the economic and social crises which risk overrunning the region.
Speaking at report´s launch, in Beirut´s Grand Serail, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora focused on the issue of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, calling for "an end to occupation" and "[preparations] for the appropriate conditions for a fair and comprehensive solution to the sufferings of the Palestinian people."
He added that fighting within individual states was preventing lasting regional stability from taking root.
"Putting an end to armed conflicts in Arab states is an essential condition for the security of the Arab human being," said Siniora.
The report, produced in conjunction with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), was complied by more than 100 international and Arab writers and academics.
Amat al-Alim Alsoswa, assistant secretary general of the United Nations and director of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab Studies, said the report would have a "tremendous impact in the Arab countries and all over the world."
She said that Lebanon´s recent successful elections proved to "the international community that democracy and peace are possible in our region and that Lebanon can play a pioneering role in this regard."
However, due to recent regional conflict and acrimonious debate over ownership of the Arab lands, "the pursuit of human development in our countries has begun to falter," said Alsoswa.
She insisted that attaining security in the region should be a strictly Arab affair: "We maintain our steadfast belief that only we Arabs can decide where we want to go and how we might arrive there."
Among the topics detailed in the report, recommendations are proffered on how the Arab world can tackle poverty and end hunger, boost public health services and end armed conflict that has forced an estimated 17 million Arabs from their homes over the past 60 years.
The financial crisis, currently engulfing most of the developed world, is acutely affecting the Arab region, given that many countries within it rely heavily on revenue generated from oil exports.
According to the report, oil constituted 75 percent of merchandise exports from Arab countries in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available.
"The collapse of the international financial system has affected each of the Arab countries – the few that enjoy abundance as well as the majority that do not," said Alsoswa.
The crisis risked pushing millions of Arabs over the edge into poverty, according to the report. In Lebanon, one in four people survive on less than $4 a day. More than 300,000 people scrape by on just half that amount, rendering 8 percent of the population mired in extreme poverty.
In addition to economic perils, the report claims that climate change poses a serious threat to stability in the region.
If action is not taken, the burgeoning Arab population – set to hit 385 million by 2015 – will see millions more without regular access to drinking water in years to come. In particular, a 1.2°C rise in global temperature would lead to a 15 percent drop in water supply in Lebanon.
Although the Arab region contributes less than five percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, the area´s arid environment could leave people especially vulnerable to rising temperatures. "Arabs do not lack for deserts, but global warming would give us still more," said Alsoswa. "It would also shrink what we are already short of, namely, precious water resources … turning millions into environmental refugees."
The issue of Israeli occupation is addressed in the report, with many seeing it – in addition to the situation in Iraq and Somalia – as one of the main hurdles barring enduring Arab security.
"Occupation and military intervention in the region have the gravest effects on the Palestinian, Iraqi and Somalian people," said Clovis Maksoud, professor of International Relations at American University in Washington DC and an Advisory Board member for the report. "The ongoing interventions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Iraq and Somalia undercut human security in other Arab countries as well."
Siniora added: "There should be a radical reconsideration of the means adopted to regain the land [currently occupied by Israel]."
He stressed that the Lebanese people were united in assisting the region´s stabilization, as well as maintaining the security situation within Lebanon.
"The Lebanese are keen on coexistence," said Siniora. "All the Lebanese agree that Lebanon is a finer nation for all its citizens but our Lebanese identity does in no way weaken our belonging to the Arab world. There is no contradiction between our Lebanese and Arab identities."
Anatomy of a smear campaign: Human Rights Watch under attack
By Emily Dische-Becker for MENASSAT
The Wall Street Journal, the Israeli government and its supporters attacked Human Rights Watch for raising funds from Saudi citizens by promoting its struggle with pro-Israeli groups. The claims appear to be baseless, instead revealing an increasingly desperate attempt to silence critics of Israel´s conduct.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an article, entitled "Human Rights Watch Goes to Saudi Arabia; Seeking Saudi Money to Counterbalance ´Pro-Israel Pressure Groups,´ which alleged that the organization raised money in Saudi Arabia by advertising its battle with pro-Israeli groups.
The article´s author, David Bernstein, blasted Human Rights Watch for not criticizing Saudi human rights abuses during a trip to the kingdom. Bernstein also contends HRW singled out Israeli human rights abuses as a means of raising money with potential private donors. "[Sarah Leah] Whitson [director of HRW´s Middle East and North Africa division] wasn't raising money for human rights," Bernstein claims, "She was raising money for HRW's propaganda campaign against Israel."
Bernstein writes, "The point […] is not that HRW is pro-Saudi, but that it is maniacally anti-Israel. The most recent manifestation is that its officers see nothing unseemly about raising funds among the elite of one of the most totalitarian nations on earth, with a pitch about how the money is needed to fight "pro-Israel forces," without the felt need to discuss any of the Saudis' manifold human rights violations, and without apparent concern that becoming dependent on funds emanating from a brutal dictatorship leaves you vulnerable to that brutal dictatorship later cutting off the flow of funds, if you don't "behave."
Whitson responded immediately in the Wall Street Journal´s comments section, refuting any such claims. "We did indeed spend much of the time in serious discussion about Saudi violations, including its troubled justice system and the lack of women´s rights, as well as our work in the region, including Israel," Whitson wrote.
In an interview with the Huffington Post, she explained that the event in Riyadh had not been a fundraiser at all, but rather a private dinner hosted by prominent businessman and intellectual, Emad bin Jameel Al-Hejailan, "which included business leaders, civil society leaders, and well-connected Saudis."
HRW does not accept funds from any governments or government agencies but is funded by individuals and foundations across the world—none of whom can contribute conditional funds to sway the organization´s reporting.
Smear campaign extends
Bernstein´s allegations might have disappeared into the annals of right-wing smear attacks against those who criticize Israel´s conduct, were it not for Jeffrey Goldberg, a pre-eminent journalist and blogger, who served as a prison guard for the Israeli army during the First Intifada (1987-1991).
Goldberg, who claims to be a liberal but famously called Stephan Walt and John Mearsheimer´s book "The Israel Lobby" anti-Semitic, comparing it to Bin Laden´s ideology, dredged the issue into a tabloid exchange with HRW´s director Ken Roth devoting three blog posts to the Wall Street Journal´s claims:
"Another problem here, of course, is that Sarah Leah Whitson, if the allegation against her is to be believed, trafficked in a toxic stereotype about Jews in a country that bans most Jews from even crossing its borders, and whose religious leadership often propogates the crudest expressions of anti-Semitism," Goldberg wrote.
"The term pro-Israel lobby, of course, means something very different on the Arabian peninsula than it does here. Here, even to critics of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) it means a well-funded, well-oiled political machine designed to protect Israel's interests in Congress. In much of the Arab world, ´pro-Israel pressure group´ suggests a global conspiracy by Jews to dominate the world politically, culturally and economically."
Smear tactic coordinated with Israeli government?
The same day the Wall Street Journal piece was posted, Ron Dermer, director of policy planning in the Israeli Prime Minister´s Office announced, "We are going to dedicate time and manpower to combating these groups; we are not going to be sitting ducks in a pond for the human rights groups to shoot at us with impunity."
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev added, "A human rights organization raising money in Saudi Arabia is like a women's rights group asking the Taliban for a donation. If you can fundraise in Saudi Arabia, why not move on to Somalia, Libya and North Korea? For an organization that claims to offer moral direction, it appears that Human Rights Watch has seriously lost its moral compass."
AIPAC, the U.S. lobby followed suit, sending an alert to its supporters about the Wall Street Journal story.
Racist undertone
Underlying these accusations against HRW is a conflation of the Saudi government with its citizens, portraying any Saudi interested in HRW´s work as eager to indulge conspiracy theories about a nefarious Jewish lobby and supportive of an anti-Semitic agenda.
Whitson told MENASSAT that the accusation was, "fundamentally a racist one" and also addressed this in her reply to Bernstein:
"Support from citizens of Arab countries for the work of Human Rights Watch – including our vocal, public criticism of rights violations by their governments – is something to be applauded, not denigrated. Believe it or not, some Arabs believe in human rights too."
"The ethnic background of our donors is irrelevant to the work we do," Whitson also told Interpress Service (IPS). "It's not relevant to our work in Israel that many, many of our donors are Jewish. And it's not relevant for the work that we do that we get money from Arab countries.
"Should people be criticising us for the fact that much of our support base is made up of Jews?" Whitson asked, adding, "Should that imply that our work on Israel is in fact too soft?"
Post-Gaza: HRW more critical of Israel?
Critics on the left have in the past accused HRW of reporting on violations of human rights and international law without regard for the political context and power dynamics between occupier and occupied, lending the impression that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one between equal forces.
But since the Gaza War in 2009, HRW has been perceived as adopting a harsher tone with Israel, suggesting that the attacks from hardline pro-Israeli groups have increased in tandem. In an interview with MENASSAT, Whitson denied that HRW has changed its tone towards Israel or has become more critical, because the "standards of law haven´t changed."
Whitson also says that the attacks against HRW have remained consistent throughout its history of reporting on the conflict, as have the patterns of Israeli violations—pointing out "striking parallels" between the 1996 Qana massacre and the 2006 Lebanon war.
Perhaps the impression that HRW has been more critical of Israeli human rights violations is a result Israel of the increasingly lopsided conflict, with massive casualties resulting exclusively on one side—with little for HRW to criticize, apart from rocket attacks, which more often than not land in the desert. In addition, the Israeli government has, as of late, not even made a pretense of seriously investigating accusations of war crimes.
The Israeli army´s absolving of any wrongdoing contradicts evidence—white phosphorous raining down on populated areas of Gaza, UNRWA schools under attack—that was even broadcast on CNN. Perhaps the growing impunity and undeniable recklessness with which Israel commits human rights violations has forced its most radical supporters to search for new avenues to attack HRW—hence leading to the fabricated scandal of HRW hitting up Wahhabist anti-Semites for petrodollars?
In a more recent article, Bernstein, the author of the original article in the WSJ, backed off from his original accusation. "[I]f Ms. Whitson did indeed discuss Saudi human rights abuses during her trip, I apologize for suggesting otherwise," wrote Bernstein Wednesday in the comment section of a blog.
Attacks Backfire
Bernstein´s half-hearted apology was perhaps in part prompted by the scrutiny his claims received in the media, including from prominent progressive Jewish bloggers like Matt Yglesias and Daniel Levy.
Yglesias wrote, "As a Jewish progressive, one of the most disturbing elements about Israel´s recent trajectory has been an increasingly tendency by the Israeli government and by hawkish Jewish organizations to respond to criticism of Israel´s human rights record by lashing out against human rights groups."
Stephen Walt, co-author of the "Israel Lobby" also mentioned the smear campaign on his blog, concluding, You know a country is in trouble when it routinely attacks respected human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, or when a group of its own soldiers releases damning personal testimony about their own misconduct in Gaza."
Within a few short days, the attempt to smear HRW might have backfired. The story was largely picked up and reported as another incident of Israel´s supporters trying to silence any critics. The underhanded tactics of those who try to silence any criticism of Israel have become a newsworthy item, attracting attention from bloggers and columnists who jumped to Human Rights Watch´s defense.
Ironically, the conduct of these hardline Israel supporters—who denounce any mention of a coordinated strategy against Israel´s critics as anti-Semitic—continues to reinforce the impression that Israel´s critics face intimidation.
In addition, as Whitson points out, Human Rights Watch hardly expected condemnation for its activities in Saudi Arabia from outside the Wahhabist state, to which human rights organizations are granted only infrequent access.
Given how difficult it is for HRW to operate in Saudi and attract supporters to its events, Whitson says, the participants in the Riyadh meeting should be cheered on for working to improve their rights, rather than attacked.
Somali Robber guilty of Beshenivsky death (UKPA)
A gangster has been convicted of the murder of Police Constable Sharon Beshenivsky who was shot dead during a bungled armed robbery in the UK.
Mustaf Jama, 29, was part of a gang that gunned down the popular officer and wounded her colleague, Pc Teresa Milburn, during the raid in Bradford in November 2005.
Jama was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court following a retrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict at a trial in January.
Mustaf Jama fled to his native Somalia - despite being Britain's most wanted man at the time - using a friend's passport.
He was finally brought back to the UK to face justice in 2007 after an undercover operation smuggled him out of Africa.
The popular 38-year-old mother of three and two stepchildren was shot and killed on her youngest daughter's fourth birthday as she responded to an alarm call.
Her colleague Pc Milburn was also gunned down in the street as the robbers escaped with little more than £5,000.
Jama was one of three raiders who entered the premises of a travel agent, believing that up to £100,000 could be inside. The thugs terrified staff with a pistol and sub-machine gun and panicked when they saw police outside.
Ringleader Muzzaker Shah and Jama's younger brother Yusuf were caught soon after and both were jailed for life for murdering the officer, and must serve at least 35 years each.
Pc Beshenivsky was the first woman police officer to be shot and killed on duty since Pc Yvonne Fletcher was gunned down outside the Libyan embassy in London in 1984.
Failure to deport foreign prisoners "nothing short of a scandal" (police-report)
The UK Conservative Party has criticised the Government for its "failure to deport foreign prisoners" as a man is jailed for the murder of police officer Sharon Beshenivsky. PC Beshenivsky was 38 when she was killed outside a travel agency in Bradford during a burglary, in November 2005.
Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, however has said that this is another example of the danger posed when the Government fails to deport foreign prisoners, calling it "nothing short of a scandal".
He continued; "There are still serious foreign offenders roaming around in our community and not only has the Government not deported them, but they don't even know where they are. Many people will see it as a ticking time bomb."
A judge told Jama he would spend at least 35 years in prison.
Jama did not fire the shot that killed PC Beshenivsky, but the prosecution said he was "as much guilty of murder" as the gunman.
Sentencing Jama, judge Mr Justice Openshaw said he was one of a "team of ruthless and dangerous men".
The judge said: "The impact that the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky has had upon [her widower Paul] and their five children will no doubt continue to be felt for the rest of their lives."
Jama was criticised by the judge for putting PC Beshenivsky's family through another trial, following that of his brother and Shah, because he fled to Somalia.
He said: "His flight has made it necessary for the victims, including of course the family of Sharon Behsenivsky…to go through the distressing ordeal of a second trial."
There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help - if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !
ECOTERRA Intl. maintains a register for persons missing or abducted in the Somali seas (Foreign seafarers as well as Somalis). Inquiries by family member can be sent by e-mail to office[at]ecoterra-international.org
For families of presently captive seafarers - in order to advise and console their worries - ECOTERRA Intl. can establish contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, and their wives as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will answer truthfully".
ECOTERRA - ALERTS and pending issues:
PIRATE ATTACK GULF OF ADEN: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2
NATURAL RESOURCES & ARMED FISH POACHERS: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, only now the two countries (Spain and France) to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked have come up with a declaration that they will respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia but so far not any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.
LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect, while the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is sponsoring several service-led acquisition programs, including the VLAD, Joint Integration Program, and Improved Flash Bang Grenade. Alredy in use in Somalia are so called Non-lethal optical distractors, which are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy. Somalia is also a testing ground for the further developments of the Active Denial System (ADS) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). If new developments using millimeter wave sources that will help minimize the size, weight, and system cost of an effective Active Denial System which provides "ADS-ACTD-like" repel effects, are used has not yet been revealed. Obviously not only the US is developing and using these kind of weapons as the case of MV MARATHON showed, where a Spanish naval vessel was using optical lasers - the stand-off was then broken by the killing of one of the hostage seafarers. Local observers also claim that HEMI devices, producing Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Bioeffects, have been used in the Gulf of Aden against Somalis. Exposure to HEMI devices, which can be understood as a stun-gun shot at an individual over a larger distance, causes muscle contractions that temporarily disable an individual. Research efforts are underway to develop a longer-duration of this effect than is currently available. The live tests are apparently done without that science understands yet the effects of HEMI electrical waveforms on a human body.
ECOTERRA Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.
ECOTERRA members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation. (for previous information concerning the topics please google keywords ECOTERRA (and) SOMALIA)
The network of the SEAFARERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. ECOTERRA Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.
Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and ECOTERRA Intl. Please donate to the defence fund.
Contact us for details concerning project-sponsorship or donations via e-mail: ecotrust[at]ecoterra.net
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For more information see this article in The Nation or this article in Wired News.
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