Medeshi
Commentary on History of Somaliland's Unification With Somalia
BBC Monitoring Africa, 2009-04-01
Text of report in English by Somali newspaper The Somaliland Times website on 19 February
This article is about Somaliland's fanatical, hasty unification with Somalia in 1960 and how Somalia doomed the union with political deprivation (1960-1982) and atrocities (1982-1990). It also states reasons of why the union can not be revived. In this article, North is referred to Somaliland and South is referred to Somalia as used in the three decades of the union.
A union, when it is about countries, is an act of uniting two or more countries with the objective of enhancing strength and advancing common interest. However, any union succeeds only if its initiative is fully deliberated, its constitution is well-thought of and defined and all sides respect and abide by it with real commitment to put it forward. The voluntary unification that took place between Somaliland and Somalia on July 1st, 1960 was driven by chauvinism (blind patriotism) from the part of Somaliland people who failed to foresee that such hasty act in Africa without deliberations on possibilities could result in devastating consequences as happened in the 1980s.
The successive, South-centred governments throughout the history of the union clearly indicated that Somalia was not ready for the unity but just took advantage of the fanatical patriotism of the North which carelessly threw its independence to unfriendly place.
In the thirty years of the union (1960-1990), Somaliland people have learned a lot from Somalia that dismisses any chance of reviving the doomed union in the future. The following past actions of Somalia that failed the union and make it impossible to revive in the future are:-
When the first government was formed in 1960 for the New Republic of Somalia, emerging from former British Somaliland and former Italian Somalia, the South took the president, Mr Aden Abdulle Usman (1960-1964), the prime minister, Mr Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the ministers of foreign affairs, interior, finance, Commander of the National Armed Forces, and the National Police Chief. The union parliament was sham too for the South taking unfair number of seats. This political hijack by the South was the first political blow to the power-sharing of the freshly formed union. Mr Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, who was prime minister of the North at the eve of unification, was denied of the premiership which he had as a right after the South took the presidency. President Aden Abdulle Usman was re-elected in 1964 (1964-1967) and repeated the same political blunders by giving the prime minister to Mr Abdirisak Haji Husayn (South-born) and other major cabinet posts to the South again.
The North was treated as an ordinary region in Somalia like Mudug or Banaadir [Mogadishu] ignoring the fact that the North became independent state, taking independence on June 26, 1960, before the South, which became independent on July 1st, 1960, and that the North initiated the unification of the two newly independent countries in the Horn of Africa. The political betrayal and humiliation by the South angered the politicians, traditional leaders, intellectuals, business community as well as military officers of the North.
This deep resentment influenced North-born young military officers, at the command of Hasan Kayd, to lead the unsuccessful military coup in Hargeysa on December 10, 1961 to reclaim independence and dignity of the North from the South-breached union.
Instead of addressing the grievances that led to the Northern mutiny and starting national dialogue for reconciliation, president Aden Abdulle Usman immediately transferred South-born military to North and North-born military to South to suppress and repress Northern people socially and politically to punish them for the rightful military mutiny.
The Southern troops turned Northern Regions into semi-colony with no freedom at all. Northern people were forced to travel to Mogadishu for school certificates (Even middle school certificates), passports, health care, business licenses etc.
In such situation of political deprivation and lack of investment in the North, General Siyad Barre (South-born ) overthrew the civilian government of the shaky union through bloodless coup on October 21, 1969 dissolving the constitution and the parliament immediately after the assassination of president Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (South-born) on October 15, 1969. Many people believed that president Abdirashid (1967-1969) was murdered for giving prime minister post to the North and that is why General Siyad Barre toppled Egal's two-year old government too (1967-1969). President Abdirashid gave the prime minister to the North to control the damage inflicted on power-sharing by president Aden Abdulle Usman. General Siyad Barre ruled Somalia for 21 years with iron-fist dictatorship (1969-1990) that curtailed all civil liberties. He continued the political deprivation and suppression of the North and strengthened the political domination of the South.
Worse than South-centred civilian governments, General Siyad Barre grossly breached the agreement of the union which was shared between the North and the South only by making it a union shared by all Somalis in the five Somali-territories (Somaliweyn) in the Horn of Africa. He gave special political and military privilege to the Ogaden tribe inhabiting in Western Somalia (Occupied by Ethiopia) and in Somalia Northeastern Region (Occupied by Kenya) thus adopting refugees as citizens and making citizens, especially those in the North, as second class citizens. General Bile Rafle, born in Somali Galbeed, became the governor of Hargeysa and Burco in the 1970s, and General Aden Gabyow, born in N.F.D [North Frontier District] of Kenya, became once the minister of defence of the then Republic of Somalia. These refugees-turned citizens widely participated in the atrocities and displacement of the central tribes in Somaliland (Isaaq Clan) during civil wars. Northern officials in South-owned governments were symbolic and powerless. Their posts were intended to mislead Northern public perception to believe in power-sharing that did not exist. If the Northern officials in the government had real power, they would prevent injustices and crimes committed against the North.
During the disastrous union, Darod and Hawiye clans dominated the government. Isaaq clan (The biggest clan in the North) was alienated throughout the union to eliminate political rivalry from North. It was also political hostility focus for challenging the hijacked union. The middle clans and the minorities were not in the radar of the political system of the union. Southern governments also practised "divide and rule" policy in the North turning native clans against each other politically before the civil wars and finally arming them against each other during civil wars.
After all talks and negotiations between Northern leaders and Siyad Barre's regime to reverse the anti-North policies failed, the Northern people had no choice but to challenge the unabated injustices of the South with armed resistance. A group of Isaaq emigrants living in London founded the Somali National Movement (SNM), with political and military wings, in April 1981 to overthrow Siyad Barre's dictatorship. The military wing of SNM waged relentless attacks against Southern troops of oppression, suppression, and repression based in the North. It launched its first operation, operating from bases in Ethiopia, in February 1982 against the government troops. These military operations of SNM successfully continued and devastated the government troops until the major offensive of SNM in 1988.
Claiming that Isaaq clan were supporters of the SNM guerrilla movement, Siyad Barre's government unleashed all sorts of human rights abuses against them such as killings, detentions, rapes, torture, unfair trials, confiscation of private properties, curfews and checkpoints in cities, towns, villages and rural areas in the North. Constraints on freedom of movement and employment and business discrimination against Isaaq were also common.
Even Isaaq community living in the South suffered the same human rights abuses equally. Siyad Barre also sent Northern prominent leaders and politicians such as Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal, Umar Arte Qalib, Ismail Ali Abokar, top military officers and scholars to prison arbitrarily.
The military wing of SNM launched major offensive against government forces based in Hargeysa and Burco in May 1988 destroying most of the troops and arsenal stationed there and crippling Siyad Barre's administration in the North. In Response to SNM offensive, Siyad Barre declared all-out war against Isaaq clan and started bombarding Hargeysa and Burco brutally and indiscriminately with artillery, tanks and war planes, some of them piloted by mercenaries from former Rhodesia, forcing the population of these cities to flee into Ethiopia for sanctuary leaving Hargeysa and Burco in ruins. Tens of thousands of civilians were murdered, massacred or executed summarily.
In July 1989, Forty-seven (47) people, mainly from Isaaq clan, were slaughtered at Jasiira Beach near Mogadishu by Siyad Barre's Red Berets. In February 2000, the bodies of more than 700 people were discovered in mass grave near the Airport of Berbera. Other mass grave sites were also found at Malko Durduro in Hargeysa, near Burco, Gabiley and Ceerigaabo. These mass graves held Isaaq victims of massacres and mid-night executions carried out by troops loyal to Barre's regime in the years 1988 and 1989. It was brutal military campaign of ethnic cleansing against the entire Isaaq clan. In January 1991, the heroic armed struggle of SNM and USC finally ousted Siyad Barre and his dictatorship simultaneously in the North and in the South. Siyad Barre fled the country on January 26, 1991.
Having seen the political deprivation and atrocities against the North and its people, the Northern Congress held in Burco on May 18, 1991 unanimously proclaimed the withdrawal of the North from the union with the South and reclaimed its independence of June 26, 1960 renaming itself: Somaliland Republic. The referendum held in Somaliland on May 31st, 2001 reaffirmed Somaliland sovereignty from Somalia. Somaliland is not a secessionist or breakaway region from Somalia as anti-Somaliland groups claim. It just withdrew from the union it joined as an independent state on July 1st, 1960 after it failed in the hands of Somalia. Djibouti became independent state in 1977 and rejected to join the union after witnessing how the South mistreated the North. Somaliland, Somalia and Djibouti are independent with equal status and legitimacy.
The Somaliland people shall not revive the doomed union with Somalia for the following 7 (Seven) reasons:
1 -The above history of political deprivation and atrocities committed against Somaliland people during the union have no justification or excuse at all.
2 -Somalia does not admit those injustices and heinous crimes against Somaliland people. It purposefully denies or covers them up by claiming that the people of Somalia suffered equally. What they do not want to hear is that they were responsible for the injustices and atrocities in Somaliland but the destructive civil wars in Somalia were self-inflicted. President Aden Abdulle Usman and General Siyad Barre can not be blamed for the injustices and crimes against the North alone because they were supported by Southern politicians, military commanders, troops and tribes loyal to Siyad Barre's regime.
3 -Any federal government shared with the tribes inhabiting in the central regions of Somalia (Mudug and Galgudud) is unlikely to survive long because they are power-obsessed, self-aggrandizing and uncompromising. Some of these tribes hijacked the union in the first decade of its age, some other supported and defended Siyad Barre's brutal dictatorship and another is blamed for the endless anarchy and violence in Somalia.
4 -Somalia still believes in government shared by Somaliwein (greater Somalia that includes all in Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Somali Northeastern Region (Kenya) and Western Somalia (Ethiopia). This is no man's government that leads to political chaos and socio- economic setbacks. Somaliland belongs to Somalilanders only.
5 -The place is Africa where democracy, fair elections and rule of law are not respected. Chronic tribalism, brutal dictatorships and crippling corruption are common and normal practice of the day. Any federal government can be easily overthrown at any time by military coups, just like General Siyad Barre did, with the immediate dissolution of elected parliament and constitution. No one can guarantee or trust that this will not happen again.
6 -Neither Somaliland people nor the people of Somalia can afford to have another risky unity that leads to brutal dictatorship or despotic turned-elected governments that plunge both peoples into other violent, atrocious civil wars. They need to have separate, safe, sisterly states with mutual relations like the 18 Arab countries that also share religion, language and culture but living in peaceful, prosperous independent states. Both nations must reject blind patriotism that led them to devastating civil wars in the past.
7 -The place is Africa where the laws of the jungle rein, where tribalism and localism are more important than nationalism and patriotism and where poverty and ignorance drive people to seek living in tribal corrupt or dictatorial governments instead of making sacrifices and hard work for better life and for self- sufficiency.
The critics of Somaliland independence, who advocate for reviving the disastrous unity, are either blind or indifferent to these political betrayal and appalling atrocities in this article. Their reckless, chauvinistic approach for unity must be rejected by Somaliland.
Originally published by The Somaliland Times website, Hargeysa, in English 19 Feb 09.
(c) 2009 BBC Monitoring Africa. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
Publication Date: 2009-04-01
© 2009, YellowBrix, Inc.
Somali pirates hijack British-owned ship
Medeshi
Somali pirates hijack British-owned ship
Mon Apr 6, 2009
Mon Apr 6, 2009
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates seized a British-owned ship operated by an Italian company on Monday, after taking three other ships over the weekend, a maritime official said.
A Taiwanese fishing vessel could also have been taken near the Seychelles on Monday, he said.
"A 32,000-tonne bulker was seized early this morning. It is UK-owned but operated by Italians. The crew is mixed but we are not sure of their nationalities," said Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
The British vessel was named as the Malaspina Castle.
"I hear they have also captured a Taiwanese fishing vessel near the Seychelles," he told Reuters.
Pirates also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and the Hansa Stavanger, a 20,000-tonne German container vessel, over the weekend, despite the presence of foreign warships that have been sent to the region to deter the pirates.
Heavily armed gangs from the lawless Horn of Africa nation hijacked dozens of vessels there and in the strategic Gulf of Aden last year, taking hundreds of sailors hostage and taking millions of dollars in ransoms.
A Taiwanese fishing vessel could also have been taken near the Seychelles on Monday, he said.
"A 32,000-tonne bulker was seized early this morning. It is UK-owned but operated by Italians. The crew is mixed but we are not sure of their nationalities," said Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
The British vessel was named as the Malaspina Castle.
"I hear they have also captured a Taiwanese fishing vessel near the Seychelles," he told Reuters.
Pirates also seized a French yacht, a Yemeni tug and the Hansa Stavanger, a 20,000-tonne German container vessel, over the weekend, despite the presence of foreign warships that have been sent to the region to deter the pirates.
Heavily armed gangs from the lawless Horn of Africa nation hijacked dozens of vessels there and in the strategic Gulf of Aden last year, taking hundreds of sailors hostage and taking millions of dollars in ransoms.
Somali pirates step up international hijacking
Medeshi
Somali pirates step up international hijacking
NAIROBI (AFP) — Somali pirates seized a French yacht, a German vessel and a Yemeni tugboat over the weekend in a flurry of hijackings far out in the Indian Ocean, a group monitoring piracy said on Monday.
As pirates ventured further off the coastal areas heavily patrolled by a growing international naval coalition, Ecoterra International also revealed that an Indian cargo had been seized and released over the past week.
The environmental group, which monitors illegal marine activities in the region, said a French-flagged yacht with four crew had been captured Saturday "around 640 kilometres (400 miles) off Ras Hafun in northeast Somalia."
There was no immediate confirmation from the French naval forces engaged in anti-piracy operations in the area, but Ecoterra International said brief satellite phone contact was made with the ship on Sunday.
"The abducted yacht is currently sailing with eight knots towards the Somali Puntland coast.
"Local marine observers stated that the attack was reportedly launched from a captured Yemeni fishing vessel," the statement said.
Hundreds of ransom-hunting Somali pirates -- armed with machineguns, RPGs and grapnels -- have hijacked dozens of ship over the past year, mostly merchant vessels plying one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
They operate from skiffs towed by pirate "mother ships", which are often hijacked fishing vessels. Last year, their haul included a Ukrainian cargo loaded with combat tanks and a 330-metre Saudi crude carrier.
More than 130 attacks, including close to 50 successful hijackings, were reported in 2008, threatening one of the planet's most vital shipping lanes and spurring the international community into joint naval action.
It is not the first time French yachts have fallen prey to pirates and France has shown itself ready to intervene in the past.
On September 15, French special forces stormed the Carre d'As, a yacht carrying a retired French couple captured by pirates two weeks earlier.
In another spectacular operation, French commandos went after pirates who had just released the luxury yacht Le Ponant in April 2008.
The latest hijacking in the Indian Ocean comes a day after a Kenya-based maritime official confirmed pirates had also seized a German container vessel.
"The ship was taken... far out at sea, around 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast, between Kenya and the Seychelles," said Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.
Ecoterra also reported that an Indian cargo, the Shehenshah-e-Medina, and its 18 crew members were recently released by Somali pirates after being held for close to a week.
The group's statement quoted Ahmed Bhaya, secretary of Salaya Vessel Owners Association, as saying that the ship which was not carrying any cargo, was hijacked on March 30.
It also said that pirates captured a Yemeni tugboat, the Al-Ghaith, and its seven crew members on Sunday.
The number of attacks by ransom-seeking Somali pirates and their success rate had dipped since the start of the year, owing to an increased international naval presence in the Gulf of Aden and unfavourable seas.
But some pirate groups have ventured far into the Indian Ocean, southeast of Somalia, to target ships further out at sea, away from heavily patrolled shipping corridors.
The latest spate of hijackings and releases brings to at least 15 the number of ships currently in pirate hands, and to around 250 the number of hostages.
Somali pirates step up international hijacking
NAIROBI (AFP) — Somali pirates seized a French yacht, a German vessel and a Yemeni tugboat over the weekend in a flurry of hijackings far out in the Indian Ocean, a group monitoring piracy said on Monday.
As pirates ventured further off the coastal areas heavily patrolled by a growing international naval coalition, Ecoterra International also revealed that an Indian cargo had been seized and released over the past week.
The environmental group, which monitors illegal marine activities in the region, said a French-flagged yacht with four crew had been captured Saturday "around 640 kilometres (400 miles) off Ras Hafun in northeast Somalia."
There was no immediate confirmation from the French naval forces engaged in anti-piracy operations in the area, but Ecoterra International said brief satellite phone contact was made with the ship on Sunday.
"The abducted yacht is currently sailing with eight knots towards the Somali Puntland coast.
"Local marine observers stated that the attack was reportedly launched from a captured Yemeni fishing vessel," the statement said.
Hundreds of ransom-hunting Somali pirates -- armed with machineguns, RPGs and grapnels -- have hijacked dozens of ship over the past year, mostly merchant vessels plying one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.
They operate from skiffs towed by pirate "mother ships", which are often hijacked fishing vessels. Last year, their haul included a Ukrainian cargo loaded with combat tanks and a 330-metre Saudi crude carrier.
More than 130 attacks, including close to 50 successful hijackings, were reported in 2008, threatening one of the planet's most vital shipping lanes and spurring the international community into joint naval action.
It is not the first time French yachts have fallen prey to pirates and France has shown itself ready to intervene in the past.
On September 15, French special forces stormed the Carre d'As, a yacht carrying a retired French couple captured by pirates two weeks earlier.
In another spectacular operation, French commandos went after pirates who had just released the luxury yacht Le Ponant in April 2008.
The latest hijacking in the Indian Ocean comes a day after a Kenya-based maritime official confirmed pirates had also seized a German container vessel.
"The ship was taken... far out at sea, around 400 nautical miles from the Somali coast, between Kenya and the Seychelles," said Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.
Ecoterra also reported that an Indian cargo, the Shehenshah-e-Medina, and its 18 crew members were recently released by Somali pirates after being held for close to a week.
The group's statement quoted Ahmed Bhaya, secretary of Salaya Vessel Owners Association, as saying that the ship which was not carrying any cargo, was hijacked on March 30.
It also said that pirates captured a Yemeni tugboat, the Al-Ghaith, and its seven crew members on Sunday.
The number of attacks by ransom-seeking Somali pirates and their success rate had dipped since the start of the year, owing to an increased international naval presence in the Gulf of Aden and unfavourable seas.
But some pirate groups have ventured far into the Indian Ocean, southeast of Somalia, to target ships further out at sea, away from heavily patrolled shipping corridors.
The latest spate of hijackings and releases brings to at least 15 the number of ships currently in pirate hands, and to around 250 the number of hostages.
Germany seeks release of ship hijacked by pirates off Somalia
Medeshi
Germany seeks release of ship hijacked by pirates off Somalia
Posted on : 2009-04-06
Berlin - Germany was attempting Monday to obtain the release of a German container ship which was hijacked the previous day in the Indian Ocean, apparently by Somali pirates. A newspaper in Hamburg identified the vessel as the Hansa Stavanger, owned by a city shipping company, Leonhardt & Blumberg.
The Hamburger Abendblatt said the vessel, built in 1997 at the Wenchong shipyard in Guangzhou, China, had had several other names and owners.
Another newspaper, the Neue Ruhr Zeitung, quoted the commander of the European Union's Atalanta naval operation in the region, Commodore Antonios Papaioannou, as saying there were five pirates on board and the 24-man crew included five Germans.
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Berlin said a task force of officials was trying to obtain more information and gain the ship's release.
The Spiegel Online website in Germany quoted Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, as saying the ship was seized about 400 nautical miles (about 750 kilometres) off the southern Somali port of Kismayo, between the Seychelles and Kenya.
Several German vessels have been captured on the coast and only freed after ransom payments.
A week ago, German Navy units in the area thwarted an attempted pirate attack on a navy oiler, the Spessart, in the Gulf of Aden and detained seven would-be pirates.
Germany seeks release of ship hijacked by pirates off Somalia
Posted on : 2009-04-06
Berlin - Germany was attempting Monday to obtain the release of a German container ship which was hijacked the previous day in the Indian Ocean, apparently by Somali pirates. A newspaper in Hamburg identified the vessel as the Hansa Stavanger, owned by a city shipping company, Leonhardt & Blumberg.
The Hamburger Abendblatt said the vessel, built in 1997 at the Wenchong shipyard in Guangzhou, China, had had several other names and owners.
Another newspaper, the Neue Ruhr Zeitung, quoted the commander of the European Union's Atalanta naval operation in the region, Commodore Antonios Papaioannou, as saying there were five pirates on board and the 24-man crew included five Germans.
A Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Berlin said a task force of officials was trying to obtain more information and gain the ship's release.
The Spiegel Online website in Germany quoted Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, as saying the ship was seized about 400 nautical miles (about 750 kilometres) off the southern Somali port of Kismayo, between the Seychelles and Kenya.
Several German vessels have been captured on the coast and only freed after ransom payments.
A week ago, German Navy units in the area thwarted an attempted pirate attack on a navy oiler, the Spessart, in the Gulf of Aden and detained seven would-be pirates.
Chinese and Somalis among victims in Binghamton, NY
Medeshi April 5, 2009
Chinese and Somalis among victims in Binghamton, NY
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP)
Church bells tolled Sunday in honor of those killed by a gunman at an immigrant center as the Chinese government said four of its citizens were among the 13 victims.
Police are still reaching around the world to notify families of those killed Friday by 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, who was apparently upset about losing his job at a vacuum plant and about people picking on him for his limited English.
His victims came from around the globe, including Laos, Mexico, Somalia and the former Soviet republics.
Four Chinese were among those killed, said Zinqi Gao, spokesman for the Chinese consulate in New York. Their names will be released Sunday, he said.
One Chinese student was among the wounded, according to consular officials quoted by China's official Xinhua News Agency. He was shot in the arm and leg.
Wong was born in Vietnam to a Chinese family. He moved to the U.S. in the early 1990s and soon afterward became a citizen, friends and relatives said.
At 10:30 a.m. Sunday just outside the front door of the First Congregational Church, next door to the shooting scene, Tom Bucker pulled on a thick rope to sound the church's bell 14 times, once for each victim and once for Wong.
"It was very sad, but it's an honor I could do something for the people who have been injured and killed," said Bucker, who's been the bell-ringer for 15 years.
The Rev. Arthur Suggs, the church's pastor, abandoned his Palm Sunday sermon to address the carnage nearby.
"I have seen clergy on TV attempting to say something meaningful following Columbine, following Virginia Tech," he told congregants. "I have seen clergy attempt to make some sense out of what is inherently senseless. And now it's my turn."
He urged people to follow the example of the Amish, who quickly embraced the family of a gunman who killed five girls at a Pennsylvania schoolhouse in 2006. And he decried a culture that he said has become desensitized to violence.
"When will we as a culture say enough is enough?" he said.
The process of notifying families of the victims has been slowed by the many languages the victims spoke and their far-flung homelands.
On Saturday evening, police drove up to Omri Yigal's modest, neatly kept house to deliver the news that his wife, Dolores, was among the dead. A recent immigrant from the Philippines, she was in an English class at the American Civic Association on Friday morning when Wong opened fire.
"They said she probably went quickly so she didn't suffer, I pray," Omri Yigal said, his voice shaking.
His wife had dreamed of getting a job working with children.
"She wanted to learn English so she could find work," he said.
A service was planned for Sunday afternoon at the Islamic Center of the Southern Tier for two of the victims. One of them, Layla Khalil, was an Iraqi woman and mother of three in her 50s who came to the United States after surviving three car bombings in Iraq, said Imam Kasim Kopuz, leader of the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier.
"To think that would happen here," Kopuz said.
It remains unclear why Wong strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on the citizenship class and started shooting, but police Chief Joseph Zikuski said he knows one thing for sure: "He must have been a coward."
Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but changed course and decided to turn the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, Zikuski said.
"He had a lot of ammunition on him, so thank God before more lives were lost, he decided to do that," the chief said.
Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. His rampage "was not a surprise" to those who knew him, Zikuski said.
"He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," the chief said.
Until last month, he had been taking classes at the Civic Association, which teaches English to immigrants and helps them prepare for citizenship tests.
Wong used two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — for which he had obtained a permit more than a decade ago.
A receptionist who survived, 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia, played dead, then called 911 despite her injuries and stayed on the line while the gunman remained in the building. DeLucia remained in critical condition Saturday. The chief said she and three other hospitalized victims were all expected to survive.
Wong worked at IBM for a time, friend Hue Huynh said, and after seven years in California, came to Binghamton where he worked at the Shop-Vac plant.
Zikuski said Wong was fired from that job, where he assembled vacuum cleaners.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers John Kekis, Michael Hill and Carolyn Thompson in Binghamton; John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y.; and Richard Pyle in New York.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Chinese and Somalis among victims in Binghamton, NY
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP)
Church bells tolled Sunday in honor of those killed by a gunman at an immigrant center as the Chinese government said four of its citizens were among the 13 victims.
Police are still reaching around the world to notify families of those killed Friday by 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, who was apparently upset about losing his job at a vacuum plant and about people picking on him for his limited English.
His victims came from around the globe, including Laos, Mexico, Somalia and the former Soviet republics.
Four Chinese were among those killed, said Zinqi Gao, spokesman for the Chinese consulate in New York. Their names will be released Sunday, he said.
One Chinese student was among the wounded, according to consular officials quoted by China's official Xinhua News Agency. He was shot in the arm and leg.
Wong was born in Vietnam to a Chinese family. He moved to the U.S. in the early 1990s and soon afterward became a citizen, friends and relatives said.
At 10:30 a.m. Sunday just outside the front door of the First Congregational Church, next door to the shooting scene, Tom Bucker pulled on a thick rope to sound the church's bell 14 times, once for each victim and once for Wong.
"It was very sad, but it's an honor I could do something for the people who have been injured and killed," said Bucker, who's been the bell-ringer for 15 years.
The Rev. Arthur Suggs, the church's pastor, abandoned his Palm Sunday sermon to address the carnage nearby.
"I have seen clergy on TV attempting to say something meaningful following Columbine, following Virginia Tech," he told congregants. "I have seen clergy attempt to make some sense out of what is inherently senseless. And now it's my turn."
He urged people to follow the example of the Amish, who quickly embraced the family of a gunman who killed five girls at a Pennsylvania schoolhouse in 2006. And he decried a culture that he said has become desensitized to violence.
"When will we as a culture say enough is enough?" he said.
The process of notifying families of the victims has been slowed by the many languages the victims spoke and their far-flung homelands.
On Saturday evening, police drove up to Omri Yigal's modest, neatly kept house to deliver the news that his wife, Dolores, was among the dead. A recent immigrant from the Philippines, she was in an English class at the American Civic Association on Friday morning when Wong opened fire.
"They said she probably went quickly so she didn't suffer, I pray," Omri Yigal said, his voice shaking.
His wife had dreamed of getting a job working with children.
"She wanted to learn English so she could find work," he said.
A service was planned for Sunday afternoon at the Islamic Center of the Southern Tier for two of the victims. One of them, Layla Khalil, was an Iraqi woman and mother of three in her 50s who came to the United States after surviving three car bombings in Iraq, said Imam Kasim Kopuz, leader of the Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier.
"To think that would happen here," Kopuz said.
It remains unclear why Wong strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on the citizenship class and started shooting, but police Chief Joseph Zikuski said he knows one thing for sure: "He must have been a coward."
Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but changed course and decided to turn the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, Zikuski said.
"He had a lot of ammunition on him, so thank God before more lives were lost, he decided to do that," the chief said.
Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. His rampage "was not a surprise" to those who knew him, Zikuski said.
"He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," the chief said.
Until last month, he had been taking classes at the Civic Association, which teaches English to immigrants and helps them prepare for citizenship tests.
Wong used two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — for which he had obtained a permit more than a decade ago.
A receptionist who survived, 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia, played dead, then called 911 despite her injuries and stayed on the line while the gunman remained in the building. DeLucia remained in critical condition Saturday. The chief said she and three other hospitalized victims were all expected to survive.
Wong worked at IBM for a time, friend Hue Huynh said, and after seven years in California, came to Binghamton where he worked at the Shop-Vac plant.
Zikuski said Wong was fired from that job, where he assembled vacuum cleaners.
Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers John Kekis, Michael Hill and Carolyn Thompson in Binghamton; John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y.; and Richard Pyle in New York.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Ethiopians' G-20 protest got unprecedented media coverage
Medeshi April 4, 2009
Ethiopia- Ethiopians' G-20 protest got unprecedented media coverage
Ethiopians protesting the invitation of Ethiopia's Prime Minister to the G20 summit were successful in getting their message across the media. Unlike other similar protests against Ethiopian government, the protest in London had unprecedented media coverage by the western media. Here is what Jonathan Rugman of Channel 4 News, the reporter who interviewed Meles Zenawi wrote on his blog, "Watch out for my colleague Alex Thomson’s report tonight on how the much-hyped G20 protests, policed at a cost of millions, were today dominated by a few hundred Somalis, Ethiopians and Eritreans, which was not what much of the media, on hand in case of a scuffle, had in mind.
They were protesting about human rights abuses perpetrated by the government of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, interviewed by this programme yesterday".
The protest was covered by BBC, ITN and CNN among many other western media. Abbay Media, an Ethiopian opposition website, has the most extensive coverage of the protest, documenting it with several photos and a picture of Meles Zenawi sitting in his Jaguar.
Abu Mansoor Al Amriki claims in video to be US jihadist in Somalia
Medeshi
Abu Mansoor Al Amriki claims in video to be US jihadist in Somalia
Apr 4 . 2009
Abu Mansoor Al Amriki claims in video to be US jihadist in Somalia
Apr 4 . 2009
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSANAssociated Press Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A man who calls himself an American promotes holy war in Somalia in a video posted this week on an Islamic militant Web site.
A U.S. government contractor who tracks extremist propaganda says the footage is the first to show what may be an American with a senior role in al-Shabab, a Somali group the State Department considers a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida.
A U.S. government contractor who tracks extremist propaganda says the footage is the first to show what may be an American with a senior role in al-Shabab, a Somali group the State Department considers a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida.
The half-hour video features an amateur English-language rap soundtrack and purports to show an operation against Ethiopian troops in Somalia. It appeared on Web sites where al-Qaida and other militant groups often post messages and videos. A caption says it was filmed on July 15, 2008.
A tall man with long dark hair and a wide smile who appears to be in his 20s and gives his nom de guerre as "Abu Mansour al-Amriki," or "the American," urges Muslims around the world to send their children to replace his group's fallen fighters.
"If you can encourage more of your children, and more of your neighbors, and anyone around you to send people ... to this jihad, it would be a great asset for us," he says.
Al-Amriki speaks English with a North American accent and reads verses from the Quran in fluent classical Arabic. He appears to be of European or possibly Arab descent but it was impossible to independently confirm his nationality or where the video was filmed.
The man appears in a scrubby rural clearing filled with short trees and dust. There are few identifying markers indicating he is in Somalia, though several of his companions appear to be Somalis.
In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a former fighter, Mohamed Muqtar, said he had met the man more than two years ago in the Islamist stronghold of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest town.
"This is the same man, the American man, I saw in Kismayo two years ago when I was being trained there," he said. "This man was training us how to make land mines and explosives."
He could give no details on how he was able to identify the man.
Farhan Haji, another former fighter who lives in Mogadishu pointed to the green shrubbery in the tape and said it did not look like Somalia.
"This could be a Hollywood actor anywhere in the world," Haji said.
Another English speaker does not appear on the tape but raps over a track of Islamic devotional songs.
"Bomb by bomb, blast by blast, only going to bring back the glorious past," the man chants atonally. "Mortar by mortar, shell by shell, I'm only gonna stop when I send them to hell."
Ben Venzke, director of IntelCenter, the U.S. contractor that tracks extremist propaganda, told the AP that the video appears to be authentic.
"It was done in the same manner that all their releases are done," he said. "We have absolutely no reason to believe it's anything but an authentic (al-Shabab) video."
California-born Adam Gadahn has appeared prominently in al-Qaida videos in the role of a top propagandist.
Gadahn, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Azzam al-Amriki, has appeared in videos talking about the defeat of America in Iraq and other battlefields with jihadists and urging Americans to convert to Islam. He has been indicted on treason charges, and the FBI has put a $1 million reward on him, calling him "an integral part of al-Qaida's media and recruitment branch."
It is not known, however, if Gadahn has ever played a leadership role in al-Qaida.
Some members of the thriving Somali community in Minneapolis and St. Paul have reported being questioned by the FBI as it investigates whether some young men are being "radicalized" in Minnesota and recruited to fight with terror groups in their homeland.
"This is the first time an American has been shown in a leadership/senior role advising/teaching a group of jihadists," IntelCenter said in an e-mailed analysis. "This is a significant development and likely to be indicative of other developments within the group."
Islamic groups in Somalia coalesced into a loose alliance with some clan militias to fight an insurgency against troops from predominantly Christian Ethiopia. The government had called in the Ethiopians to oust an umbrella Islamist group that held most of southern Somalia and Mogadishu for six months until December 2006.
Under an intricate peace deal the United Nations mediated, the Ethiopians withdrew in January and moderate Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was elected president that month.
The weak government Ahmed took over in January controls virtually no territory and is struggling to prove its legitimacy, though Ahmed has been welcomed by influential Islamic clerics in this predominantly Muslim country.
Ahmed's allies, however, control much of central and pockets of southern Somalia. The more hardline Islamist elements Ahmed split from last year such as al-Shabab, control most of southern Somalia.
___
Associated Press writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report
A tall man with long dark hair and a wide smile who appears to be in his 20s and gives his nom de guerre as "Abu Mansour al-Amriki," or "the American," urges Muslims around the world to send their children to replace his group's fallen fighters.
"If you can encourage more of your children, and more of your neighbors, and anyone around you to send people ... to this jihad, it would be a great asset for us," he says.
Al-Amriki speaks English with a North American accent and reads verses from the Quran in fluent classical Arabic. He appears to be of European or possibly Arab descent but it was impossible to independently confirm his nationality or where the video was filmed.
The man appears in a scrubby rural clearing filled with short trees and dust. There are few identifying markers indicating he is in Somalia, though several of his companions appear to be Somalis.
In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, a former fighter, Mohamed Muqtar, said he had met the man more than two years ago in the Islamist stronghold of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest town.
"This is the same man, the American man, I saw in Kismayo two years ago when I was being trained there," he said. "This man was training us how to make land mines and explosives."
He could give no details on how he was able to identify the man.
Farhan Haji, another former fighter who lives in Mogadishu pointed to the green shrubbery in the tape and said it did not look like Somalia.
"This could be a Hollywood actor anywhere in the world," Haji said.
Another English speaker does not appear on the tape but raps over a track of Islamic devotional songs.
"Bomb by bomb, blast by blast, only going to bring back the glorious past," the man chants atonally. "Mortar by mortar, shell by shell, I'm only gonna stop when I send them to hell."
Ben Venzke, director of IntelCenter, the U.S. contractor that tracks extremist propaganda, told the AP that the video appears to be authentic.
"It was done in the same manner that all their releases are done," he said. "We have absolutely no reason to believe it's anything but an authentic (al-Shabab) video."
California-born Adam Gadahn has appeared prominently in al-Qaida videos in the role of a top propagandist.
Gadahn, who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Azzam al-Amriki, has appeared in videos talking about the defeat of America in Iraq and other battlefields with jihadists and urging Americans to convert to Islam. He has been indicted on treason charges, and the FBI has put a $1 million reward on him, calling him "an integral part of al-Qaida's media and recruitment branch."
It is not known, however, if Gadahn has ever played a leadership role in al-Qaida.
Some members of the thriving Somali community in Minneapolis and St. Paul have reported being questioned by the FBI as it investigates whether some young men are being "radicalized" in Minnesota and recruited to fight with terror groups in their homeland.
"This is the first time an American has been shown in a leadership/senior role advising/teaching a group of jihadists," IntelCenter said in an e-mailed analysis. "This is a significant development and likely to be indicative of other developments within the group."
Islamic groups in Somalia coalesced into a loose alliance with some clan militias to fight an insurgency against troops from predominantly Christian Ethiopia. The government had called in the Ethiopians to oust an umbrella Islamist group that held most of southern Somalia and Mogadishu for six months until December 2006.
Under an intricate peace deal the United Nations mediated, the Ethiopians withdrew in January and moderate Islamic leader Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed was elected president that month.
The weak government Ahmed took over in January controls virtually no territory and is struggling to prove its legitimacy, though Ahmed has been welcomed by influential Islamic clerics in this predominantly Muslim country.
Ahmed's allies, however, control much of central and pockets of southern Somalia. The more hardline Islamist elements Ahmed split from last year such as al-Shabab, control most of southern Somalia.
___
Associated Press writer Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report
Somali police arrest would-be assassins
Medeshi
Somali police arrest would-be assassins
4 Apr 2009
Somali police arrest would-be assassins
4 Apr 2009
The arrest of the assassins of a Somali lawmaker has raised hopes that the new government in the Horn of Africa may manage to restore the law.
Three men were arrested for shooting at a parliament member named Cammir Ahmed Tiiti Wednesday afternoon, police spokesman Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barrise told a Press TV correspondent on Thursday.
Col. Barrise added that the police were looking for a fourth suspect.
In the shooting incident in Mogadishu's Shiibis district, Tiiti's driver and one guard were killed. The Somali lawmaker himself sustained serious injuries for which he was transferred to a Ugandan military hospital at Aden Adde International Airport.
According to Col. Barrise, the detainees -- who are infamous for involvement in armed robbery and murder -- have been confirmed as the real perpetrators of the crime.
Somalia has long been the scene of relentless violence and conflict between rival factions such as al-Shabaab -- the military wing of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) -- and forces loyal to the former transitional federal government.
Armed bandits raid homes and attack business centers while the pirate-infested waters of Somalia, where no foreign ship is safe, have become a cause for serious international concern.
Elected by Somali lawmakers and backed by prominent religious leaders, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is now tasked with bringing Somali rival parties together and weeding out insurgency in the troubled African country.
MRS/HGH/AA
Three men were arrested for shooting at a parliament member named Cammir Ahmed Tiiti Wednesday afternoon, police spokesman Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barrise told a Press TV correspondent on Thursday.
Col. Barrise added that the police were looking for a fourth suspect.
In the shooting incident in Mogadishu's Shiibis district, Tiiti's driver and one guard were killed. The Somali lawmaker himself sustained serious injuries for which he was transferred to a Ugandan military hospital at Aden Adde International Airport.
According to Col. Barrise, the detainees -- who are infamous for involvement in armed robbery and murder -- have been confirmed as the real perpetrators of the crime.
Somalia has long been the scene of relentless violence and conflict between rival factions such as al-Shabaab -- the military wing of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) -- and forces loyal to the former transitional federal government.
Armed bandits raid homes and attack business centers while the pirate-infested waters of Somalia, where no foreign ship is safe, have become a cause for serious international concern.
Elected by Somali lawmakers and backed by prominent religious leaders, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is now tasked with bringing Somali rival parties together and weeding out insurgency in the troubled African country.
MRS/HGH/AA
G20 pledges $1 trillion in funds
Medeshi April 3, 2009
G20 pledges $1 trillion in funds
World leaders at the G20 summit in London have agreed on a compromise package of $1 trillion in stimulus cash and more market regulation to combat the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
The world's richest countries agreed to triple the finances of the International Monetary Fund and also backed new curbs on financial markets in their meeting in London on Thursday.
Gordon Brown, the prime minister of host nation Britain, pledged enhanced supervision for large hedge funds and a crackdown on tax havens in his closing speech at the summit.
"The old Washington consensus is over, today we have reached a new consensus that we will do what is necessary to restore growth and jobs and prevent a crisis such as this from happening again," Brown said.
"We have... agreed additional resources of $1 trillion that are available to the world economy to the IMF and other institutions."
Brown said that the summit's final communique provided for a $500bn boost to the IMF's resources, raising to $750bn the funds it can make available to countries worst hit by the global crisis.
The summit was held as about 400 protesters protested near the east London venue, a day after thousands of people staged demonstrations in the centre of the city to speak out against governments' management of the financial crisis.
But share markets appeared to welcome the agreement, hoping that it would add to some signs that the global downturn may be beginning to bottom out.
The Dow Jones industrial average in the US surging past the 8,000 barrier for the first time since February 9 before closing at 7,978.08 for a gain for 2.8 per cent.
'Unprecedented steps'
Barack Obama, the US president, said that the G20 members had rejected the protectionism that could have deepened the economic crisis and that the summit had agreed to "unprecedented steps to restore growth" and to prevent future crises.
"We are protecting those that don't always have a voice in the G20 but who have suffered greatly in this crisis," he said.
"It is also my job to lead America in recognising that its fate is as part of the world, that if we neglect the poorer countries not only will we deprive ourselves ... but that despair may turn to violence that may turn on us."
Brown said the G20 would publish a list of tax havens that were non-compliant with current regulations and would bring in "tough sanctions" for those who do not comply with any new changes.
"The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end," he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said that the conclusions of the summit were "more than we could have hoped for".
"The G20 countries have decided on a profound reform of the international financial architecture," he said. "It is now on record that a breakdown in regulation was at the origin of the financial crisis."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, called the agreement an "almost historic" compromise.
Compromises
There had been indications before the summit that members were divided on how best to pull the global economy out of recession.
The US and Britain were in favour of pumping more money into the financial system, seeing the strategy as a way to encourage banks to lend to consumers and thus entice them to spend money on goods and services.
The US has so far spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion - almost as much as the value of everything produced in the country in 2008.
But France and Germany had signalled their opposition to further fiscal stimulus packages, calling instead for an emphasis to be placed on increasing regulation of the international financial system.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief, was pleased with the outcome, calling the agreement "the most co-ordinated stimulus ever".
"It's a global stimulus we asked for and we have been followed," he said.
Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera's economic analyst, said that Brown's comments of the Washington consensus were the most remarkable from the summit.
"To hear that the Washington consensus, which places all decisions in the hands of the market, is over, is incredible," she said.
"The Washington consensus has hurt so many people in developing countries. But what will replace it?"
Leaders also agreed at closed meetings on a trade finance package worth $250bn to support global trade flows and agreed to kick start stalled Doha trade liberalisation talks at the next G8 meeting in Italy in July.
Another G20 summit will be held in New York in September as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly.
Sarkozy said that meeting would focus on "evaluation" of the measures agreed in London.
G20 pledges $1 trillion in funds
World leaders at the G20 summit in London have agreed on a compromise package of $1 trillion in stimulus cash and more market regulation to combat the worst economic crisis since the 1930s.
The world's richest countries agreed to triple the finances of the International Monetary Fund and also backed new curbs on financial markets in their meeting in London on Thursday.
Gordon Brown, the prime minister of host nation Britain, pledged enhanced supervision for large hedge funds and a crackdown on tax havens in his closing speech at the summit.
"The old Washington consensus is over, today we have reached a new consensus that we will do what is necessary to restore growth and jobs and prevent a crisis such as this from happening again," Brown said.
"We have... agreed additional resources of $1 trillion that are available to the world economy to the IMF and other institutions."
Brown said that the summit's final communique provided for a $500bn boost to the IMF's resources, raising to $750bn the funds it can make available to countries worst hit by the global crisis.
The summit was held as about 400 protesters protested near the east London venue, a day after thousands of people staged demonstrations in the centre of the city to speak out against governments' management of the financial crisis.
But share markets appeared to welcome the agreement, hoping that it would add to some signs that the global downturn may be beginning to bottom out.
The Dow Jones industrial average in the US surging past the 8,000 barrier for the first time since February 9 before closing at 7,978.08 for a gain for 2.8 per cent.
'Unprecedented steps'
Barack Obama, the US president, said that the G20 members had rejected the protectionism that could have deepened the economic crisis and that the summit had agreed to "unprecedented steps to restore growth" and to prevent future crises.
"We are protecting those that don't always have a voice in the G20 but who have suffered greatly in this crisis," he said.
"It is also my job to lead America in recognising that its fate is as part of the world, that if we neglect the poorer countries not only will we deprive ourselves ... but that despair may turn to violence that may turn on us."
Brown said the G20 would publish a list of tax havens that were non-compliant with current regulations and would bring in "tough sanctions" for those who do not comply with any new changes.
"The banking secrecy of the past must come to an end," he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, said that the conclusions of the summit were "more than we could have hoped for".
"The G20 countries have decided on a profound reform of the international financial architecture," he said. "It is now on record that a breakdown in regulation was at the origin of the financial crisis."
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, called the agreement an "almost historic" compromise.
Compromises
There had been indications before the summit that members were divided on how best to pull the global economy out of recession.
The US and Britain were in favour of pumping more money into the financial system, seeing the strategy as a way to encourage banks to lend to consumers and thus entice them to spend money on goods and services.
The US has so far spent, lent or guaranteed $12.8 trillion - almost as much as the value of everything produced in the country in 2008.
But France and Germany had signalled their opposition to further fiscal stimulus packages, calling instead for an emphasis to be placed on increasing regulation of the international financial system.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief, was pleased with the outcome, calling the agreement "the most co-ordinated stimulus ever".
"It's a global stimulus we asked for and we have been followed," he said.
Samah El-Shahat, Al Jazeera's economic analyst, said that Brown's comments of the Washington consensus were the most remarkable from the summit.
"To hear that the Washington consensus, which places all decisions in the hands of the market, is over, is incredible," she said.
"The Washington consensus has hurt so many people in developing countries. But what will replace it?"
Leaders also agreed at closed meetings on a trade finance package worth $250bn to support global trade flows and agreed to kick start stalled Doha trade liberalisation talks at the next G8 meeting in Italy in July.
Another G20 summit will be held in New York in September as world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly.
Sarkozy said that meeting would focus on "evaluation" of the measures agreed in London.
Fighting Poverty in the Failed and Violent State of Somalia
Medeshi Medeshi April 3, 2009
Fighting Poverty in the Failed and Violent State of Somalia
Working on poverty reduction is hard anywhere in the world but is harder some places than others. World Concern is one of the few agencies that has worked in Somalia for over three decades. There is no effective central government in Somalia and the areas of our work are sometimes occupied by one of the rival groups and then another, sometimes from one day to the next. Violence in Somalia is always imminent. It is one of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world to fight poverty. We were recently asked by a donor how we are able to work even in those areas that are in the control of Islamic militants. Here is how our staff in Africa answered.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Somalia has one of the worst human development indices and the south in particular bears the burden. Due to the protracted conflict and natural disasters there have been an estimated 3.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid and a further 1 million are internally displaced (Somalia CAP 2009).
World Concern has worked in Somalia for almost 30 years. Through that experience, we have developed an understanding of the Somali people, especially in the areas that you referred to in your email. The current program primarily targets the unarmed, marginalized Somalia Bantus, who have small farms, and people affected by leprosy. Because of frequent conflicts with neighboring pastoralists (herders) who come in search of water and pasture for their animals, World Concern expanded the program to address water issues for the pastoralists.
The program is being implemented in an area that is located away from the main trade routes, providing some protection from conflicting groups. The residents of the area are the marginalized Somali Bantus. One of the villages a major settlement of people affected by leprosy. The project is designed to benefit 45,000 people, 24,200 of whom are direct beneficiaries.
The Somali political landscape is very dynamic with frequent changes. World Concern has always worked with and through the community elders and their structures such Community Development Committees, and Sector committees for the various activities. These are manned by the beneficiary community who come from the target groups. We do not deal with the armed groups in any way.
World Concern works with the locally elected central committee of elders which has remained unchanged over the years in spite of the constant shift of power in the area. The Central Committee is in charge of selecting the Community Development Committee. World Concern has continually trained the Central Committee and the Community Development Committees to build their capacity for project implementation.
The present programming is aimed at saving lives and reducing conflict between communities through capacity building. World Concern through consultative meetings with the community leadership has shared responsibilities in the implementation activities.
What would happen if our programs were forced to end either by a decision of the US government or because of violence from the Somali groups in power in our areas?
1. We would have to immediately cease our activities without any planning or preparation.
2. It would negatively reflect on the image of World Concern in the community because we failed to honor the obligation of completing the program. This would also make reentry into the community difficult. It would enhance recruitment of militants.
3. It would negatively impact the work and reputation of our the local partners we work with on the ground, making them more vulnerable to violence
4. Most of the resources we and the communities have invested would be wasted because we would be unable to continue the activities essential to securing benefits to the people in the area of our work.
5. The very fragile local economy would shrink even further because of lack of employment and reduced commerce.
6 . The community would suffer even more. The already marginalized Bantus and leprosy affected people would suffer greater oppression and be deprived of access to services essential to their welfare. Without our work with both of the competeing communities, conflict between pastoralists and Bantu farmers would probably increase. Because we would not complete our planned activities, many in the area of our work would either lose their livelihoods. It would affect 80% of the pastoralists, 90% of the farmers, and 100% of those who fish as a major part of their livelihood.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Doing good well is more than simply knowing how to pursue interventions with excellence, Working in places like Somalia requires a strong commitment to the Somali people, patience, great wisdom in complex personal and group relationships and a daily dependence of our staff upon God and a willingness to submit our ideas to His direction. It is only God who nurtures the courage of our staff to work in the face of uncertainly and sudden violence.
World concern
Fighting Poverty in the Failed and Violent State of Somalia
Working on poverty reduction is hard anywhere in the world but is harder some places than others. World Concern is one of the few agencies that has worked in Somalia for over three decades. There is no effective central government in Somalia and the areas of our work are sometimes occupied by one of the rival groups and then another, sometimes from one day to the next. Violence in Somalia is always imminent. It is one of the most difficult and dangerous places in the world to fight poverty. We were recently asked by a donor how we are able to work even in those areas that are in the control of Islamic militants. Here is how our staff in Africa answered.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Somalia has one of the worst human development indices and the south in particular bears the burden. Due to the protracted conflict and natural disasters there have been an estimated 3.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid and a further 1 million are internally displaced (Somalia CAP 2009).
World Concern has worked in Somalia for almost 30 years. Through that experience, we have developed an understanding of the Somali people, especially in the areas that you referred to in your email. The current program primarily targets the unarmed, marginalized Somalia Bantus, who have small farms, and people affected by leprosy. Because of frequent conflicts with neighboring pastoralists (herders) who come in search of water and pasture for their animals, World Concern expanded the program to address water issues for the pastoralists.
The program is being implemented in an area that is located away from the main trade routes, providing some protection from conflicting groups. The residents of the area are the marginalized Somali Bantus. One of the villages a major settlement of people affected by leprosy. The project is designed to benefit 45,000 people, 24,200 of whom are direct beneficiaries.
The Somali political landscape is very dynamic with frequent changes. World Concern has always worked with and through the community elders and their structures such Community Development Committees, and Sector committees for the various activities. These are manned by the beneficiary community who come from the target groups. We do not deal with the armed groups in any way.
World Concern works with the locally elected central committee of elders which has remained unchanged over the years in spite of the constant shift of power in the area. The Central Committee is in charge of selecting the Community Development Committee. World Concern has continually trained the Central Committee and the Community Development Committees to build their capacity for project implementation.
The present programming is aimed at saving lives and reducing conflict between communities through capacity building. World Concern through consultative meetings with the community leadership has shared responsibilities in the implementation activities.
What would happen if our programs were forced to end either by a decision of the US government or because of violence from the Somali groups in power in our areas?
1. We would have to immediately cease our activities without any planning or preparation.
2. It would negatively reflect on the image of World Concern in the community because we failed to honor the obligation of completing the program. This would also make reentry into the community difficult. It would enhance recruitment of militants.
3. It would negatively impact the work and reputation of our the local partners we work with on the ground, making them more vulnerable to violence
4. Most of the resources we and the communities have invested would be wasted because we would be unable to continue the activities essential to securing benefits to the people in the area of our work.
5. The very fragile local economy would shrink even further because of lack of employment and reduced commerce.
6 . The community would suffer even more. The already marginalized Bantus and leprosy affected people would suffer greater oppression and be deprived of access to services essential to their welfare. Without our work with both of the competeing communities, conflict between pastoralists and Bantu farmers would probably increase. Because we would not complete our planned activities, many in the area of our work would either lose their livelihoods. It would affect 80% of the pastoralists, 90% of the farmers, and 100% of those who fish as a major part of their livelihood.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Doing good well is more than simply knowing how to pursue interventions with excellence, Working in places like Somalia requires a strong commitment to the Somali people, patience, great wisdom in complex personal and group relationships and a daily dependence of our staff upon God and a willingness to submit our ideas to His direction. It is only God who nurtures the courage of our staff to work in the face of uncertainly and sudden violence.
World concern
Michelle Obama fever hits the UK
Medeshi Apri 2, 2009
Michelle Obama fever hits the UK
By Rajini Vaidyanathan
BBC News
In the US she is already a cover girl, gracing the front of glossy magazines like Vogue and Hello.
In the UK on her first visit as First Lady, Michelle Obama seems to be making just as big an impact.
She has attracted as much interest and column inches as her husband on this London trip; creating a buzz with her dazzling outfits, her own schedule of events and her own fanbase.
Outside Buckingham Palace, as crowds gathered in anticipation of the Obamas' arrival, Mrs Obama's star appeal was apparent.
Rebecca Smith, from Leicester, was one of the hundreds of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the First Couple.
"She seems to be a good role model. A strong, intelligent woman. I think she'll go down very well here. People have warmed to the Obamas. I don't think you'd see this crowd for many other dignitaries," she said.
"Michelle Obama has a strong aura about her, a bit like Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis," she added.
Co-star
Back in 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy went on an official visit to Paris, she too was such a hit that her husband, President John F Kennedy, joked about how he was just the side attraction:
"I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself... I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it," he said.
While Michelle Obama has not quite stolen the show from her husband on this trip, she has been more of a co-star than merely the supporting act.
While President Obama is scrutinised for the decisions he makes alongside other world leaders at the G20 summit, Mrs Obama is being scrutinised for her fashion choices.
And on this trip there have been many.
By Wednesday evening she had sported four different outfits, from a bright yellow dress designed by Jason Wu (the man behind her inaugural ball gown), to a sparkly cardigan and skirt set by US high
street store J Crew (another of her favourites). The fashion press have so far given her outfits the thumbs up.
Marc Karimzadeh, from the Women's Wear Daily fashion website, said of her yellow dress: "I think it was an optimistic colour... the hopeful, optimistic colour really signifies what a lot of people hope this trip will be."
When she met the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Michelle Obama opted for a more formal outfit: a black jacket with a white top.
Despite some speculation as to whether she would bare her arms when meeting the Queen (the First Lady often wears sleeveless outfits, including in her official White House portrait), she chose to cover up. (Photo: Barack Obama in Somali Dress)
Later in the evening, however, at a Downing Street dinner, she lost the outerwear to reveal her bare arms in an ivory top.
Cup of tea
Fashion aside, Michelle Obama had a busy schedule of her own.
As her husband spent Wednesday morning facing questions from the media alongside Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Michelle Obama accompanied the PM's wife Sarah Brown on a visit to Maggie's Cancer Centre in West London.
Meeting patients and staff, the First Lady reminded people that she has an interest in supporting charitable causes.
“ The warmth and patience she showed and the time she took to engage with everyone was greatly appreciated ” Laura Lee Chief executive of Maggie's Cancer Centre
Mrs Obama was friendly and at ease as she introduced herself personally to everyone as "Michelle" and even sat down to have a traditional cup of British tea, something she admitted she did not drink too often.
"The warmth and patience she showed and the time she took to engage with everyone was greatly appreciated," said Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie's Cancer Centre.
Trudi Cogdell, a patient at the centre, described her meeting with the First Lady as "very friendly".
"She's a lovely lady, she's very open... she'd talk to anyone".
Michelle Obama has frequently displayed a down-to-earth approach during the trip.
On meeting the Queen, she followed formality by curtseying, but later, during a reception, she showed her more casual, affectionate side by putting her arm around Her Majesty to hug her.
It is reported that the Queen was so taken by Mrs Obama she even said: "Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?"
Outside the palace, Kevin Egglestone, an American who is studying in London, said Mrs Obama had a unique appeal.
"I think it's hard for people to dislike her once they see her. She's always smiling, has a little bit of glamour and a knowing wink".
And Mr Egglestone added that he thought the positive image Michelle Obama was portraying here in London could help America's standing around the world.
"Seeing a First Lady that represents a part of America that is engaging and not aloof who you feel you can approach, will also give people the feeling that they can engage with America."
Story from BBC NEWS:
In the US she is already a cover girl, gracing the front of glossy magazines like Vogue and Hello.
In the UK on her first visit as First Lady, Michelle Obama seems to be making just as big an impact.
She has attracted as much interest and column inches as her husband on this London trip; creating a buzz with her dazzling outfits, her own schedule of events and her own fanbase.
Outside Buckingham Palace, as crowds gathered in anticipation of the Obamas' arrival, Mrs Obama's star appeal was apparent.
Rebecca Smith, from Leicester, was one of the hundreds of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the First Couple.
"She seems to be a good role model. A strong, intelligent woman. I think she'll go down very well here. People have warmed to the Obamas. I don't think you'd see this crowd for many other dignitaries," she said.
"Michelle Obama has a strong aura about her, a bit like Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis," she added.
Co-star
Back in 1961, when Jacqueline Kennedy went on an official visit to Paris, she too was such a hit that her husband, President John F Kennedy, joked about how he was just the side attraction:
"I do not think it altogether inappropriate to introduce myself... I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it," he said.
While Michelle Obama has not quite stolen the show from her husband on this trip, she has been more of a co-star than merely the supporting act.
While President Obama is scrutinised for the decisions he makes alongside other world leaders at the G20 summit, Mrs Obama is being scrutinised for her fashion choices.
And on this trip there have been many.
By Wednesday evening she had sported four different outfits, from a bright yellow dress designed by Jason Wu (the man behind her inaugural ball gown), to a sparkly cardigan and skirt set by US high
street store J Crew (another of her favourites). The fashion press have so far given her outfits the thumbs up.Marc Karimzadeh, from the Women's Wear Daily fashion website, said of her yellow dress: "I think it was an optimistic colour... the hopeful, optimistic colour really signifies what a lot of people hope this trip will be."
When she met the Queen at Buckingham Palace, Michelle Obama opted for a more formal outfit: a black jacket with a white top.
Despite some speculation as to whether she would bare her arms when meeting the Queen (the First Lady often wears sleeveless outfits, including in her official White House portrait), she chose to cover up. (Photo: Barack Obama in Somali Dress)
Later in the evening, however, at a Downing Street dinner, she lost the outerwear to reveal her bare arms in an ivory top.
Cup of tea
Fashion aside, Michelle Obama had a busy schedule of her own.
As her husband spent Wednesday morning facing questions from the media alongside Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Michelle Obama accompanied the PM's wife Sarah Brown on a visit to Maggie's Cancer Centre in West London.
Meeting patients and staff, the First Lady reminded people that she has an interest in supporting charitable causes.
“ The warmth and patience she showed and the time she took to engage with everyone was greatly appreciated ” Laura Lee Chief executive of Maggie's Cancer Centre
Mrs Obama was friendly and at ease as she introduced herself personally to everyone as "Michelle" and even sat down to have a traditional cup of British tea, something she admitted she did not drink too often.
"The warmth and patience she showed and the time she took to engage with everyone was greatly appreciated," said Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie's Cancer Centre.
Trudi Cogdell, a patient at the centre, described her meeting with the First Lady as "very friendly".
"She's a lovely lady, she's very open... she'd talk to anyone".
Michelle Obama has frequently displayed a down-to-earth approach during the trip.
On meeting the Queen, she followed formality by curtseying, but later, during a reception, she showed her more casual, affectionate side by putting her arm around Her Majesty to hug her.
It is reported that the Queen was so taken by Mrs Obama she even said: "Now we've met, will you please keep in touch?"
Outside the palace, Kevin Egglestone, an American who is studying in London, said Mrs Obama had a unique appeal.
"I think it's hard for people to dislike her once they see her. She's always smiling, has a little bit of glamour and a knowing wink".
And Mr Egglestone added that he thought the positive image Michelle Obama was portraying here in London could help America's standing around the world.
"Seeing a First Lady that represents a part of America that is engaging and not aloof who you feel you can approach, will also give people the feeling that they can engage with America."
Story from BBC NEWS:
SOMALIA: Getting tough on foreign vessels to save local fishermen
Medeshi
SOMALIA: Getting tough on foreign vessels to save local fishermen
NAIROBI, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) - Somalia has revoked fishing licences for foreign vessels and is planning a new law to regulate fishing in its waters, a minister told IRIN on 2 April.
The move follows complaints by local fishermen of lost livelihoods because they lacked modern equipment and the means to replace old nets, and were being forced out by foreign-owned vessels. (Photo: Aden Dahir/IRIN RADIO Somali fishermen repair fishing nets in the southern coastal town of Merka)
"I do sympathise with the fishermen and we are working on a new law to regulate the activities of these [foreign] ships," said Abdirahman Ibbi, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources in the new Somali National Unity Government.
Ibbi said an estimated 220 foreign-owned vessels were engaged in unlicensed and illegal fishing in Somali waters. Most were of European origin, he added.
However, he said, it was "impossible for the new government to monitor their fishery production in general, let alone the state of the fishery resources they are exploiting".
Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan, head of a fishing cooperative in the southern coastal town of Merka, told IRIN that livelihoods were being destroyed. "Fishing is the only thing we know and without it we have nothing," he said, adding that lack of support, combined with the foreign fishing vessels, was ruining fishing communities.
Hassan said many members of his cooperative, established in 1974, lacked equipment, such as boats and nets, "because they had no means to replace the old ones".
Harassment claims
Reports of crews of foreign-owned ships harassing and intimidating local fishermen had been made by Somali fishermen.
"They are not only taking our fish, but they are also stopping us from fishing," said Mohamed Abdirahman, a fisherman in Brava, 200km south of Mogadishu. "They have rammed boats and cut nets.”
He said a number of Somali fishermen were missing and presumed dead after encounters “with these big ships”.
Abdirahman said the number of foreign ships in the south had increased after they were chased from the north by pirates. He said the foreign ships were now being protected by the navies of their countries and “do whatever they want to us”.
Local fishermen go out late at night to set their nets, but discover in the morning that they have been cut or stolen. "They are no longer satisfied to take our fish, but they are forcing us to abandon fishing altogether," he said.
He claimed some of the foreign navies were treating Somali fishermen as if they were pirates and had occasionally opened fire on Somali fishing boats.
"We are forced to avoid going far and stay within sight of towns to avoid them and this means our catches are much smaller," Abdirahman said. "We are being driven out of business by foreign vessels protected by their navies. Who is protecting us? Our existence depends on the fish."
He said the international community was only "talking about the piracy problem in Somalia, but not about the destruction of our coast and our lives by these foreign ships".
He said many families were already destitute and if the situation did not improve, “many families will be begging”.
Somalia has a 3,330km coastline, with major landing sites in Kismayo, Mogadishu, Merka, Brava, Eil, Bargal, Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera, and Bosasso. It has large species, including tuna and mackerel; smaller stocks, such as sardines; shark species and lobsters.
Somalia, which has been ravaged by civil war since 1991 and has had no effective functioning central government, lacks the capacity to ensure controlled exploitation of the fishing sector and can hardly enforce fishing regulations on its own, much less stop foreign vessels, said a civil society source in Mogadishu.
ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Environment, (IRIN) Food Security
SOMALIA: Getting tough on foreign vessels to save local fishermen
NAIROBI, 2 April 2009 (IRIN) - Somalia has revoked fishing licences for foreign vessels and is planning a new law to regulate fishing in its waters, a minister told IRIN on 2 April.
The move follows complaints by local fishermen of lost livelihoods because they lacked modern equipment and the means to replace old nets, and were being forced out by foreign-owned vessels. (Photo: Aden Dahir/IRIN RADIO Somali fishermen repair fishing nets in the southern coastal town of Merka)
"I do sympathise with the fishermen and we are working on a new law to regulate the activities of these [foreign] ships," said Abdirahman Ibbi, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources in the new Somali National Unity Government.
Ibbi said an estimated 220 foreign-owned vessels were engaged in unlicensed and illegal fishing in Somali waters. Most were of European origin, he added.
However, he said, it was "impossible for the new government to monitor their fishery production in general, let alone the state of the fishery resources they are exploiting".
Abdullahi Sheikh Hassan, head of a fishing cooperative in the southern coastal town of Merka, told IRIN that livelihoods were being destroyed. "Fishing is the only thing we know and without it we have nothing," he said, adding that lack of support, combined with the foreign fishing vessels, was ruining fishing communities.
Hassan said many members of his cooperative, established in 1974, lacked equipment, such as boats and nets, "because they had no means to replace the old ones".
Harassment claims
Reports of crews of foreign-owned ships harassing and intimidating local fishermen had been made by Somali fishermen.
"They are not only taking our fish, but they are also stopping us from fishing," said Mohamed Abdirahman, a fisherman in Brava, 200km south of Mogadishu. "They have rammed boats and cut nets.”
He said a number of Somali fishermen were missing and presumed dead after encounters “with these big ships”.
Abdirahman said the number of foreign ships in the south had increased after they were chased from the north by pirates. He said the foreign ships were now being protected by the navies of their countries and “do whatever they want to us”.
Local fishermen go out late at night to set their nets, but discover in the morning that they have been cut or stolen. "They are no longer satisfied to take our fish, but they are forcing us to abandon fishing altogether," he said.
He claimed some of the foreign navies were treating Somali fishermen as if they were pirates and had occasionally opened fire on Somali fishing boats.
"We are forced to avoid going far and stay within sight of towns to avoid them and this means our catches are much smaller," Abdirahman said. "We are being driven out of business by foreign vessels protected by their navies. Who is protecting us? Our existence depends on the fish."
He said the international community was only "talking about the piracy problem in Somalia, but not about the destruction of our coast and our lives by these foreign ships".
He said many families were already destitute and if the situation did not improve, “many families will be begging”.
Somalia has a 3,330km coastline, with major landing sites in Kismayo, Mogadishu, Merka, Brava, Eil, Bargal, Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera, and Bosasso. It has large species, including tuna and mackerel; smaller stocks, such as sardines; shark species and lobsters.
Somalia, which has been ravaged by civil war since 1991 and has had no effective functioning central government, lacks the capacity to ensure controlled exploitation of the fishing sector and can hardly enforce fishing regulations on its own, much less stop foreign vessels, said a civil society source in Mogadishu.
ah/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Environment, (IRIN) Food Security
Somalia: Shoot, But Don't Touch
Medeshi
Shoot, But Don't Touch
April 2, 2009:
So far this year, over 20,000 Somalis have fled to Kenya, where they live in camps near the border. Hundreds cross the border each week, trying to get away from the fighting in southern Somalia. Islamic radical groups like al Shabaab claim to control most of the south, but that control is still disputed by other, less radical groups, or resisted by clans that prefer to run their own affairs. The fighting and general anarchy is driving many Somalis to flee the country.
The pirates have not been able to seize ships in the Gulf of Aden since the anti-piracy patrol began operation in January. So now at least one pirate mother ship has shifted to the east coast, going after the ship traffic headed south for South Africa and around the cape to the Atlantic. Many of these ships come out of the Persian Gulf, and travel 400-800 kilometers off the Somali coast. Speed boats can't make it out that far, and have to be towed out by a larger "mother ship." Now it's up to the anti-piracy patrol to hunt down and capture or destroy the mother ship. That's only a temporary fix, as any large fishing boat (built to operate on the high seas) can operate as a mother ship. Since most nations participating in the anti-piracy patrol are not authorized to prosecute captured pirates (they are disarmed and released), it's going to be difficult to halt, or even control, the pirate problem. In the last two weeks, there have been nearly 20 ships attacked far off the east coast, and four ships (including a yacht) have been taken. Currently the pirates are holding nine ships for ransom, along with 137 crew.
Fighting continues in Mogadishu, and throughout southern Somalia, as al Shabaab and government gunmen battle each other for control. Al Shabaab has officially asked foreign aid groups to return and help feed over three million people who are starving in the south because of a long drought. Most aid groups have withdrawn because of increasing attacks (robbery, murder, kidnapping) on aid group personnel. The aid groups are negotiating with al Shabaab over a possible return. In the past, Islamic conservative groups have proved unreliable negotiating partners.
Now that Ethiopian troops have departed, Islamic terrorists have felt more confident about relocating to Somalia. While last year there were about a hundred foreign Islamic terrorists in the country, now there are nearly 500. Osama bin Laden has issued audio messages calling for Islamic radicals to come to Somalia and install an Islamic religious dictatorship, so the country can be used as a base for Islamic terrorists. This has angered many Somali Islamic conservatives, who now control the government (such as it is). One thing Somalis can agree on is opposition to foreign domination.
In some parts of the south, al Shabaab are trying to ban all sorts of "sinful" activities (cigarettes, music, videos, and chewing Khat, a popular narcotic leaf). This does not make al Shabaab any more popular.
March 29, 2009: In the Gulf of Aden, pirates attacked what they thought was a tanker. It was, but it was a German Navy tanker, assigned to the anti-piracy patrol. Armed members of the crew fired back at the pirates, and the tanker turned about and went after the fleeing speedboat. Other anti-piracy patrol ships and helicopters joined in, and the seven pirates were captured by the Germans. But after being disarmed, the pirates were released, as the Germans have no authority from their government to prosecute pirates.
March 28, 2009: In Puntland, a bomb went off outside police headquarters after a pro-al Shabaab cleric was arrested. Elsewhere, someone tossed a grenade at some police. These attacks killed one person and wounded another. Islamic radicals have some support in the northern statelets of Puntland and Somaliland, but not enough to take control.
March 27, 2009: A German tanker, and its crew of 13, that was seized five weeks ago, were released after the payment of a ransom. Every time a ransom is paid, more Somalis are encouraged to join the pirate gangs and go for the big prize.
March 26, 2009: In the last two days, a Greek tanker, the 9,000 ton Nipayia, and a Norwegian one, the 25,000 ton Bow Asir, were seized off the east coast of Somalia, where the anti-piracy patrols rarely operate. The Nipayia was taken while 729 kilometers from the Somali coast, while the Bow Asir was 400 kilometers from the coast.
Shoot, But Don't Touch
April 2, 2009:
So far this year, over 20,000 Somalis have fled to Kenya, where they live in camps near the border. Hundreds cross the border each week, trying to get away from the fighting in southern Somalia. Islamic radical groups like al Shabaab claim to control most of the south, but that control is still disputed by other, less radical groups, or resisted by clans that prefer to run their own affairs. The fighting and general anarchy is driving many Somalis to flee the country.
The pirates have not been able to seize ships in the Gulf of Aden since the anti-piracy patrol began operation in January. So now at least one pirate mother ship has shifted to the east coast, going after the ship traffic headed south for South Africa and around the cape to the Atlantic. Many of these ships come out of the Persian Gulf, and travel 400-800 kilometers off the Somali coast. Speed boats can't make it out that far, and have to be towed out by a larger "mother ship." Now it's up to the anti-piracy patrol to hunt down and capture or destroy the mother ship. That's only a temporary fix, as any large fishing boat (built to operate on the high seas) can operate as a mother ship. Since most nations participating in the anti-piracy patrol are not authorized to prosecute captured pirates (they are disarmed and released), it's going to be difficult to halt, or even control, the pirate problem. In the last two weeks, there have been nearly 20 ships attacked far off the east coast, and four ships (including a yacht) have been taken. Currently the pirates are holding nine ships for ransom, along with 137 crew.
Fighting continues in Mogadishu, and throughout southern Somalia, as al Shabaab and government gunmen battle each other for control. Al Shabaab has officially asked foreign aid groups to return and help feed over three million people who are starving in the south because of a long drought. Most aid groups have withdrawn because of increasing attacks (robbery, murder, kidnapping) on aid group personnel. The aid groups are negotiating with al Shabaab over a possible return. In the past, Islamic conservative groups have proved unreliable negotiating partners.
Now that Ethiopian troops have departed, Islamic terrorists have felt more confident about relocating to Somalia. While last year there were about a hundred foreign Islamic terrorists in the country, now there are nearly 500. Osama bin Laden has issued audio messages calling for Islamic radicals to come to Somalia and install an Islamic religious dictatorship, so the country can be used as a base for Islamic terrorists. This has angered many Somali Islamic conservatives, who now control the government (such as it is). One thing Somalis can agree on is opposition to foreign domination.
In some parts of the south, al Shabaab are trying to ban all sorts of "sinful" activities (cigarettes, music, videos, and chewing Khat, a popular narcotic leaf). This does not make al Shabaab any more popular.
March 29, 2009: In the Gulf of Aden, pirates attacked what they thought was a tanker. It was, but it was a German Navy tanker, assigned to the anti-piracy patrol. Armed members of the crew fired back at the pirates, and the tanker turned about and went after the fleeing speedboat. Other anti-piracy patrol ships and helicopters joined in, and the seven pirates were captured by the Germans. But after being disarmed, the pirates were released, as the Germans have no authority from their government to prosecute pirates.
March 28, 2009: In Puntland, a bomb went off outside police headquarters after a pro-al Shabaab cleric was arrested. Elsewhere, someone tossed a grenade at some police. These attacks killed one person and wounded another. Islamic radicals have some support in the northern statelets of Puntland and Somaliland, but not enough to take control.
March 27, 2009: A German tanker, and its crew of 13, that was seized five weeks ago, were released after the payment of a ransom. Every time a ransom is paid, more Somalis are encouraged to join the pirate gangs and go for the big prize.
March 26, 2009: In the last two days, a Greek tanker, the 9,000 ton Nipayia, and a Norwegian one, the 25,000 ton Bow Asir, were seized off the east coast of Somalia, where the anti-piracy patrols rarely operate. The Nipayia was taken while 729 kilometers from the Somali coast, while the Bow Asir was 400 kilometers from the coast.
Ships held by Somali pirates
Medeshi
Ships held by Somali pirates
Thu Apr 2, 2009
April 2 (Reuters) - Security forces have deployed to outer islands of the Seychelles archipelago after a second vessel flying the Indian Ocean nation's flag was seized by Somali pirates, the army chief said on Thursday.
At least 15 pirate attacks on vessels off the coast of Somalia were reported by the International Maritime Bureau for March, after just two in January and February.
Earlier hijackings were focused on the Gulf of Aden.
Below are some of the ships believed to be still held by pirates as well as some details on the increase in piracy:
STOLT STRENGTH: Seized Nov. 10. The chemical tanker had 23 Filipino crew aboard. It was carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products.
CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized Nov. 15. The tanker was travelling from Dumai, Indonesia, to Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.
NAMES UKNOWN: Seized on Dec. 10. Pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing vessels with a total of 22 crew in coastal waters in the Gulf of Aden. Five crew reportedly escaped.
NAME UNKNOWN: Seized on Dec. 16. A yacht with two on board, an Indonesian tugboat used by French oil company Total. Pirates also hijacked the Chinese fishing vessel Zhenhua-4 with 30 Chinese crew aboard but it was freed the next day.
LONGCHAMP: Seized on Jan. 29, 2009. The liquefied petroleum gas tanker, built in 1990, has 13 crew on board, 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian. The tanker has a capacity of 3,415 tonnes.
SALDANHA: Seized on Feb. 22, 2009. The Maltese-flagged cargo ship, sailing to Slovenia, has 22 crew and was loaded with coal. TITAN: Seized on March 19, 2009. The 43,000 dwt Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo vessel with 24 crew was sailing from the Black Sea to Korea when it was attacked by pirates.
NIPAYIYA: Seized on March 25, 2009. The Greek-owned and Panamana-registered MT Nipayia, was seized by pirates 450 miles from Somalia's south coast.
BOW ASIR: Seized on March 26, 2009. The 23,000-tonne Bahamas-registered chemical tanker was carrying caustic soda. It was operated by Salhus Shipping and carried 27 crew consists of a Norwegian captain, 19 Filipinos, five Poles, one Russian and one Lithuanian.
INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009: The 35-metre long boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates around 12 passengers. The yacht Serenity with three people on board was seized in late February or early March.
* PIRACY: KEY FACTS:
In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide -- more than 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden increased nearly 200 percent.
All types of vessels have been targeted. The pirates boarding the vessels were also better armed than in previous years and prepared to assault and injure the crew.
Sources: Reuters/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net
Ships held by Somali pirates
Thu Apr 2, 2009
April 2 (Reuters) - Security forces have deployed to outer islands of the Seychelles archipelago after a second vessel flying the Indian Ocean nation's flag was seized by Somali pirates, the army chief said on Thursday.
At least 15 pirate attacks on vessels off the coast of Somalia were reported by the International Maritime Bureau for March, after just two in January and February.
Earlier hijackings were focused on the Gulf of Aden.
Below are some of the ships believed to be still held by pirates as well as some details on the increase in piracy:
STOLT STRENGTH: Seized Nov. 10. The chemical tanker had 23 Filipino crew aboard. It was carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products.
CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized Nov. 15. The tanker was travelling from Dumai, Indonesia, to Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.
NAMES UKNOWN: Seized on Dec. 10. Pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing vessels with a total of 22 crew in coastal waters in the Gulf of Aden. Five crew reportedly escaped.
NAME UNKNOWN: Seized on Dec. 16. A yacht with two on board, an Indonesian tugboat used by French oil company Total. Pirates also hijacked the Chinese fishing vessel Zhenhua-4 with 30 Chinese crew aboard but it was freed the next day.
LONGCHAMP: Seized on Jan. 29, 2009. The liquefied petroleum gas tanker, built in 1990, has 13 crew on board, 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian. The tanker has a capacity of 3,415 tonnes.
SALDANHA: Seized on Feb. 22, 2009. The Maltese-flagged cargo ship, sailing to Slovenia, has 22 crew and was loaded with coal. TITAN: Seized on March 19, 2009. The 43,000 dwt Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo vessel with 24 crew was sailing from the Black Sea to Korea when it was attacked by pirates.
NIPAYIYA: Seized on March 25, 2009. The Greek-owned and Panamana-registered MT Nipayia, was seized by pirates 450 miles from Somalia's south coast.
BOW ASIR: Seized on March 26, 2009. The 23,000-tonne Bahamas-registered chemical tanker was carrying caustic soda. It was operated by Salhus Shipping and carried 27 crew consists of a Norwegian captain, 19 Filipinos, five Poles, one Russian and one Lithuanian.
INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009: The 35-metre long boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates around 12 passengers. The yacht Serenity with three people on board was seized in late February or early March.
* PIRACY: KEY FACTS:
In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide -- more than 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden increased nearly 200 percent.
All types of vessels have been targeted. The pirates boarding the vessels were also better armed than in previous years and prepared to assault and injure the crew.
Sources: Reuters/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net
The House of Saud and Succession : The Nayef Appointment
Medeshi
The House of Saud and Succession: The Nayef Appointment
Dr. Theodore Karasik
Monday 30 March 2009
Introduction
Saudi King Abdullah’s sudden decision to promote the interior minister Prince Nayef, 76, his half-brother from the rival Sudairi clan, to second deputy prime minister, follows a logical path. This places him in direct line to the throne as the incumbent Crown Prince defense minister Prince Sultan appears to lie on his deathbed. It is important to point out that the Nayef appointment continues a tradition of defacto management practices by senior Saudi princes when one is ill- Prince Nayef has been helping oversee the government since Crown Prince Sultan had his relapse five months ago. This appointment makes his supervisory role official.
Signals
Many analysts are looking at Saudi succession issues with increasing interest. In the past last two weeks Prince Nayef has been very vocal about his views of the Kingdom’s future, the health of Crown Prince Sultan, and defeating al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. In several ways he has been announcing his platform. In the al-Jazirah daily, Prince Nayef stated that he sees no need for women members of parliament or elections. As regards to the advisory Shura Council, he said "Appointing the members always ensures that the best are selected. If it was to happen through elections, the members would not have had been this competent." Asked if that could include women, he said: "I don’t see the need for that." In Okaz, Prince Nayef addressed the condition of Crown Prince Sultan by explaining "The crown prince is in the best condition and he is in good health, all that remains to be done is the completion of simple procedures for him to leave the hospital soon." Given that Nayef gave this comment from the bedside of Crown Prince Sultan in a New York medical facility, the situation boded ill.
At the same time Nayef also addressed current Shiite protests in the Kingdom saying that the Kingdom’s Shiite minority must respect Salafi Sunnism following February confrontations in Medina between religious police and Shiite pilgrims. He stated that there is no crackdown on Shiites in the Kingdom and that Shiites and Sunnis were arrested. "It is not a matter of targeting Shiites or others as much as it is a matter of dealing with anyone who breaks the law or tries to cause offense in the country, especially in the Two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah." Finally, Prince Nayef said Saudi Arabia had won world applause for its successful campaign to root out terrorism. "The Kingdom is in the forefront of countries that are capable of challenging terrorism and defeating its plots. Many foreign delegations have visited the Kingdom to learn from our experience in fighting terror. Many militants have abandoned their deviant ways after attending counseling programs."
Next Step: The Allegiance Committee
Officially, Nayef remains only one of a number of princes in the royal family who could become crown prince. In 2006, King Abdullah created a new mechanism, the Allegiance Committee, comprising 35 princes, to decide along with the king who is named crown prince. The chairman of the Allegiance Committee, Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz, and a first generation senior royal, plays a key role in the supervising and building of consensus. If and when Crown Prince Sultan passess away, the first meeting ever of the Allegiance Committee will occur to confirm Nayef’s additional title.
Prior to the new rules, kings and crown princes were chosen by secret family meetings of uncertain structure. On one occasion in 1964, such a conclave deposed King Saud who was deemed unsuitable by his brothers. In 1992, King Fahd declared that the monarch alone should choose the crown prince. Now, future crown princes will have to be approved by the Allegiance Committee made up of Ibn Saud’s sons, the eldest sons of the brothers who have died since Ibn Saud’s death, as well as the sons of the current king and crown prince. The decisionmaking will occur in secret and may or may not rely on the support of the power ministries. According to the documentation, the king will suggest three candidates; in the event of disagreement, there will be a vote. Apparently mindful of the precarious health of some of the princes, the new system also calls for a temporary council of five princes to lead the country if neither the king nor the crown prince is deemed fit to rule for medical reasons — though defining such ill health could be a tool used by other princes who feel that they are not being heard.
An Unusual Open Complaint
It is important to point out that Prince Nayef is the closest of any senior al-Saud to the radical religious elements of Saudi society. He used his connections as interior minister for negotiations with al-Qaeda leaders and their associates in the Saudi clerical establishment to follow the diktat of the Royal Court. Nayef is expected to be the most conservative of any Saudi monarch to date if he succeeds to the throne.
Nayef’s reputation regarding the slowing or stopping of reform is causing an uproar among senior Saudi princes who reject his views, and, his appointment. Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, who has been outspoken for his desires for greater reforms in Saudi Arabia, said directly to King Abdullah that he needs to make sure the appointment served purely an "administrative purpose." He stated: "I call on the royal court to clarify what is meant by this nomination and that it does not mean that he (Prince Nayef) will become crown prince. The latest nomination of the second deputy prime minister will give the impression that he will automatically become crown prince." Significantly, Talal’s open challenge signals the beginning of a public rift that will shine light on Saudi leadership trends including any meeting of the Allegiance Committee.
Implications
The implications of the appointment and the future needs to be thought out. First and foremost is the age issue. Without diving into speculation it should be considered that if succession runs the course of the qualified first-generation princes, then there may be many changes ahead; one might even argue similar to the interregnum during the Andropov-Chernenko period under Soviet rule. This may signal, for instance, that after Prince Nayef will then be Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, another aging prince. The second generation of Saudi princes may have to wait a long time for their candidacy to the throne.
Second, is Nayef’s foreign policy outlook. If he becomes crown prince and later king, Nayef may be able to help the Obama administration to open doors for ending the AfPak problem by using leverage with Islamic radical institutions and circles close to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there will be dramatic change. Whereas Abdullah, the reformer, was more open to accepting the Jewish state, Nayef will lean more towards backing Hamas and other extremist Palestinian elements. Moreover, Prince Nayef regards Iran as a foe and is ready to fight the expansion of Iranian influence in the Persian Gulf than the more accommodating King Abdullah. Cooperation and accommodation may give way to more confrontation especially if Iran develops a nuclear weapon. With Nayef as either the monarch or crown prince, a Saudi nuclear weapon will not be far off. In regards to the Arab Gulf states, the possibility of tensions grow with Nayef’s appointment because of previous episodes of the Interior Ministry’s tough stand on border demarcation involving energy routes and infrastructure.
Overall, Nayef will still defend the Kingdom at all costs and will continue to rely on many outside defense contractors and suppliers to guarantee safety and security. He will also slow down reforms dramatically thereby raising anxiety with the West.
* Dr. Theodore Karasik is the Director, Research and Development at the
Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) Dubai, UAE
Dr. Theodore Karasik
Monday 30 March 2009
Introduction
Saudi King Abdullah’s sudden decision to promote the interior minister Prince Nayef, 76, his half-brother from the rival Sudairi clan, to second deputy prime minister, follows a logical path. This places him in direct line to the throne as the incumbent Crown Prince defense minister Prince Sultan appears to lie on his deathbed. It is important to point out that the Nayef appointment continues a tradition of defacto management practices by senior Saudi princes when one is ill- Prince Nayef has been helping oversee the government since Crown Prince Sultan had his relapse five months ago. This appointment makes his supervisory role official.
Signals
Many analysts are looking at Saudi succession issues with increasing interest. In the past last two weeks Prince Nayef has been very vocal about his views of the Kingdom’s future, the health of Crown Prince Sultan, and defeating al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. In several ways he has been announcing his platform. In the al-Jazirah daily, Prince Nayef stated that he sees no need for women members of parliament or elections. As regards to the advisory Shura Council, he said "Appointing the members always ensures that the best are selected. If it was to happen through elections, the members would not have had been this competent." Asked if that could include women, he said: "I don’t see the need for that." In Okaz, Prince Nayef addressed the condition of Crown Prince Sultan by explaining "The crown prince is in the best condition and he is in good health, all that remains to be done is the completion of simple procedures for him to leave the hospital soon." Given that Nayef gave this comment from the bedside of Crown Prince Sultan in a New York medical facility, the situation boded ill.
At the same time Nayef also addressed current Shiite protests in the Kingdom saying that the Kingdom’s Shiite minority must respect Salafi Sunnism following February confrontations in Medina between religious police and Shiite pilgrims. He stated that there is no crackdown on Shiites in the Kingdom and that Shiites and Sunnis were arrested. "It is not a matter of targeting Shiites or others as much as it is a matter of dealing with anyone who breaks the law or tries to cause offense in the country, especially in the Two Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah." Finally, Prince Nayef said Saudi Arabia had won world applause for its successful campaign to root out terrorism. "The Kingdom is in the forefront of countries that are capable of challenging terrorism and defeating its plots. Many foreign delegations have visited the Kingdom to learn from our experience in fighting terror. Many militants have abandoned their deviant ways after attending counseling programs."
Next Step: The Allegiance Committee
Officially, Nayef remains only one of a number of princes in the royal family who could become crown prince. In 2006, King Abdullah created a new mechanism, the Allegiance Committee, comprising 35 princes, to decide along with the king who is named crown prince. The chairman of the Allegiance Committee, Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz, and a first generation senior royal, plays a key role in the supervising and building of consensus. If and when Crown Prince Sultan passess away, the first meeting ever of the Allegiance Committee will occur to confirm Nayef’s additional title.
Prior to the new rules, kings and crown princes were chosen by secret family meetings of uncertain structure. On one occasion in 1964, such a conclave deposed King Saud who was deemed unsuitable by his brothers. In 1992, King Fahd declared that the monarch alone should choose the crown prince. Now, future crown princes will have to be approved by the Allegiance Committee made up of Ibn Saud’s sons, the eldest sons of the brothers who have died since Ibn Saud’s death, as well as the sons of the current king and crown prince. The decisionmaking will occur in secret and may or may not rely on the support of the power ministries. According to the documentation, the king will suggest three candidates; in the event of disagreement, there will be a vote. Apparently mindful of the precarious health of some of the princes, the new system also calls for a temporary council of five princes to lead the country if neither the king nor the crown prince is deemed fit to rule for medical reasons — though defining such ill health could be a tool used by other princes who feel that they are not being heard.
An Unusual Open Complaint
It is important to point out that Prince Nayef is the closest of any senior al-Saud to the radical religious elements of Saudi society. He used his connections as interior minister for negotiations with al-Qaeda leaders and their associates in the Saudi clerical establishment to follow the diktat of the Royal Court. Nayef is expected to be the most conservative of any Saudi monarch to date if he succeeds to the throne.
Nayef’s reputation regarding the slowing or stopping of reform is causing an uproar among senior Saudi princes who reject his views, and, his appointment. Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, who has been outspoken for his desires for greater reforms in Saudi Arabia, said directly to King Abdullah that he needs to make sure the appointment served purely an "administrative purpose." He stated: "I call on the royal court to clarify what is meant by this nomination and that it does not mean that he (Prince Nayef) will become crown prince. The latest nomination of the second deputy prime minister will give the impression that he will automatically become crown prince." Significantly, Talal’s open challenge signals the beginning of a public rift that will shine light on Saudi leadership trends including any meeting of the Allegiance Committee.
Implications
The implications of the appointment and the future needs to be thought out. First and foremost is the age issue. Without diving into speculation it should be considered that if succession runs the course of the qualified first-generation princes, then there may be many changes ahead; one might even argue similar to the interregnum during the Andropov-Chernenko period under Soviet rule. This may signal, for instance, that after Prince Nayef will then be Riyadh Governor Prince Salman, another aging prince. The second generation of Saudi princes may have to wait a long time for their candidacy to the throne.
Second, is Nayef’s foreign policy outlook. If he becomes crown prince and later king, Nayef may be able to help the Obama administration to open doors for ending the AfPak problem by using leverage with Islamic radical institutions and circles close to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. In terms of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there will be dramatic change. Whereas Abdullah, the reformer, was more open to accepting the Jewish state, Nayef will lean more towards backing Hamas and other extremist Palestinian elements. Moreover, Prince Nayef regards Iran as a foe and is ready to fight the expansion of Iranian influence in the Persian Gulf than the more accommodating King Abdullah. Cooperation and accommodation may give way to more confrontation especially if Iran develops a nuclear weapon. With Nayef as either the monarch or crown prince, a Saudi nuclear weapon will not be far off. In regards to the Arab Gulf states, the possibility of tensions grow with Nayef’s appointment because of previous episodes of the Interior Ministry’s tough stand on border demarcation involving energy routes and infrastructure.
Overall, Nayef will still defend the Kingdom at all costs and will continue to rely on many outside defense contractors and suppliers to guarantee safety and security. He will also slow down reforms dramatically thereby raising anxiety with the West.
* Dr. Theodore Karasik is the Director, Research and Development at the
Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA) Dubai, UAE
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Qaar ka mid ah Ururada Bulshada Rayidka ah oo walaac ka muujiyay mudo dhaafka golayaasha deegaanada
Annaga oo ah Ururada Bulshada Rayidka ah ee Madaxa-banaan waxaanu si wayn uga walaacsanahay
