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With reference to the recent developments in the secessionist Somali ‘state’ Puntland, which is the epicenter of the Somali piracy, the 101st Press Release Update of the leading environmental NGO Ecoterra sheds also light on the markedly expressed interest of China to have a say in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

101st Update 2009-01-08 14h45:22 UTC

Ecoterra Intl. – Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !

Ecoterra International – Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates and related news.

We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past – with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
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Day 106 – 2520 hours into the MV FAINA Crisis – Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over three and a half months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued.

The Orthodox Christmas days continue with shivering in Ukraine – since Russia turned off all the gas supplies – and profuse sweating on MV FAINA, where the heat is unbearable, since the crew can not retreat to air-conditioned quarters like the sailors on the watching U.S. naval vessels. Meanwhile the costs for guarding the weapons transporter for more than 100 days have been calculated by analysts and exceed already by far the value of cargo and vessel.

Ecoterra Intl. repeats it’s call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen or those, who believe they would be capable to try an attempt of a military solution, must be held fully responsible for the surely resulting disaster. The saga and secrecy surrounding MV FAINA must not – like in the MS ESTONIA case, which is the worst naval disaster in Europe since WWII – become the shroud for its 20 seafarers.

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted or newly attacked ships ——–

Games Crazy People Play: Kidnapping, Pirating, and War – Naval War-games to protect Fish-piracy and to cover the real agenda !

Negotiations for the two tug boats (a Nigerian and a Malaysian – together with an Indonesian barge-), held at the very tip of the Horn of Africa have continued and it is hoped that the agreements concerning both cases can be concluded this week, a source close to the cases revealed. The crew on Masindra 7 is all right, the Indonesian captain confirmed, who stated that food is scarce. But the Nigerian crew is desperate because they have been held now for too long and their communication equipment broke down.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 foreign vessels with a total of accounted for 348 crew members (of which 92 are Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held). For 2009 the account stands at 11 abandoned attacks and 2 sea-jackings. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly related news ——

Puntland’s parliament today – on Thursday – elected Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole, 63, as the new president of the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Farole, who received 49 votes in the 66-member house, replaces Adde Musa Hirsi, who was ousted in the first round of voting. He becomes the third president of Puntland, a region which declared its autonomy in 1998. His term is for four years. Puntland’s first president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, resigned as Somali president late last month. Farole held the finance portfolio under Yusuf and was one of the main opposition leaders during Adde Musa’s tenure. The coast of Puntland is a major hub for pirates who have turned the Gulf of Aden into the world’s most dangerous waters, wreaking panic in the world’s shipping industry. Puntland’s security apparatus was depleted by Yusuf’s Ethiopia-backed war effort against the Islamists and has become largely lawless. Several foreign reporters and aid workers were kidnapped there in recent months. The new leader, Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, said he will fight piracy and insecurity.

“The new president will address the security situation in Puntland as a matter of urgency”, Abdishkur Mire Aden, a former deputy information minister in Puntland and close ally of Faroole’s, told IRIN. He said the new president was also keen to address the economic and social problems facing the population. The presidential contest had been expected to go into three rounds if no candidate garnered a two-thirds majority in the first and second rounds but it ended in the second round when Faroole got 49 out of 66 votes, said Ibrahim Muse Wadani, a journalist with the Bossaso-based Daljir Radio. Gen Abdisamad Ali Shire was elected vice-president, Wadani said. He said many people in Puntland viewed Faroole’s election “as a new beginning for Puntland”. Puntland declared autonomy in 1998, following a conference of local elders. However, the new president has vowed that Puntland would remain part of Somalia, according to Aden. “The president will make sure that Puntland is free from any criminal activity, including piracy, people-smuggling and kidnappings”, Aden said.

The Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet announced on Thursday the establishment of a new international naval force to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean after a wave of hijackings off Somalia. “The Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) has established Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) specifically for counter-piracy operations”, the US Fifth Fleet said in a statement. US Navy Rear Admiral Terence McKnight has been named commander of the task force, that will combine ships and naval assets from 20 countries to battle pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Ships from other navies, including US, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Iran, India, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and China, are also patrolling one of the world’s busiest sea lanes – the waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean leading to and from the Suez Canal. The new task force is expected to be fully operational by mid-January, according to the statement, which did not list the countries participating. It is also not clear whether the new anti-pirate force will have any expanded powers to battle pirates. “Some navies in our coalition did not have the authority to conduct counter-piracy missions”, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, said in the announcement. “The establishment of CTF-151 will allow those nations to operate under the auspices of CTF-150, while allowing other nations to join CTF-151 to support our goal of deterring, disrupting and eventually bringing to justice the maritime criminals involved in piracy events”. However, while warships have successfully fought off pirates on more than one occasion, the head of the Fifth Fleet’s Combined Maritime Forces said that ship owners themselves were making the biggest difference. According to Navytimes: “The most effective measures we’ve seen to defeat piracy are non-kinetic and defensive in nature”, Gortney said in the Jan. 8 statement. “But the problem of piracy is and continues to be a problem that begins ashore and is an international problem that requires an international solution. We believe the establishment of CTF-151 is a significant step in the right direction”. The US Navy’s current mission, Combined Task Force 150, has been struggling to contain an upsurge in piracy off the Somali coast. The new task force will be focused solely on fighting piracy, while the old mission will primarily handle drug smuggling and weapons trafficking.

Questions about legal jurisdiction over pirates captured in international waters have again emerged after the crew of the HMS Absalon rescued five Somalis in the Gulf of Aden after their skiff was set ablaze by the crew of a cargo ship they were reportedly attempting to board and later sunk by the Danish navy. On 2 January the pirates attacked the ship, registered in the Netherlands Antilles. An emergency flare fired by the ship struck the pirates’ boat, forcing them to abandon ship. They were fished out of the water by the Absalon, but now the Navy finds itself again in a position of having no guidelines on what to do with them, writes the Copenhagen Post. Although the United Nations gave international forces in the Gulf of Aden permission to pursue pirates on land, criminal prosecution of pirates has become a thorn in the forces’ side due to uncertainty over questions of jurisdiction. On 3 December, Absalon was told by military headquarters in Bahrain not to pursue surrendering pirates – even though the ship’s crew was certain the pirates were responsible for the attack on Australian cruise ship MV Athena that day. Earlier in September, 10 pirates captured by the Navy had to be released because legal experts in Denmark were uncertain they could be prosecuted here and they could not be handed over to Somali authorities due to concerns that they risked capital punishment there. The Foreign Ministry indicated it has been in contact with Dutch officials about the pirates held by Absalon, but no decision has been made.

Three countries in the Indian Ocean —Mauritius, Seychelles and Maldives – have been accused of dealing in fish illegally captured by international fleets pirating the territorial waters of that country. A report made available to the press on Thursday by Ecoterra Intl. in the Somali capital Mogadishu states that the fish laundering is generating hundreds of millions of US dollars and that apparently it is not considered as criminal as money laundering. According to an official of the fishing industry in Mauritius, the problem of illegal fishing has existed for many years in that part of the Indian Ocean. As reported by APA, he said that although measures have been taken, including the setting up of a special police unit at the port to control fishing vessels, it has up to now been impossible to eradicate the problem. He said some 1,000 fishing vessels berthed in the Port Louis port in 2008 for transshipment, repairs and maintenance and that it is extremely difficult to control the origin of the fish cargo that is being transshipped. Illegal operators take possession of fish coming from Somali waters on the high seas as the country lacks the technical facilities to control the origin of fish, he said.

Yemen is set to take part in an international conference on piracy that would be held later this month in Djibouti, according to official sources. The delegation will consist of senior officials from the ministries of Transport, Foreign and Defense and the President’s Office and will represent Yemen in the conference, organized by the International Maritime Organization IMO. A source at the Transport Ministry said during the conference two memorandums of understanding would be signed by Yemen, Oman and Tanzania that will contribute to the establishment of a Sana’a-based regional center to fight maritime piracy and burglary. Yemen is one of many countries making major efforts to fight maritime piracy off Somalia’s coast and in the Gulf of Aden. Yemeni coastguards have started conducing anti-pirate patrols in the country’s territorial waters as well as taking necessary measures to protect Yemeni ships which pass through the sea lane connecting Europe and Asia.

An Australian warship may be set to join an anti-pirate task force operating in the seas off Somalia. The plan, being considered by the Australian Defence Force, follows the US request, which had expressed a strong desire for Australian involvement in a new multinational counter-piracy task force, formed on January 1. Australian defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said on Wednesday that taking on the pirates was a possible role for an Australian warship since the country had ended its long-running mission guarding Iraq’s offshore oil terminals at the top of the Persian Gulf. Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said on December 24 that the Australian ship would be assigned to other tasks, at the request of the US. Air Chief Marshal Houston said piracy was a major problem in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. “Ships carrying Australian passengers and cargo pass through that area”, he said.

A senior official says Taiwan is considering sending a naval force to protect its fishing vessels against Somali pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa. Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chao Chien-min said Thursday that the Taiwanese government is currently studying the feasibility of deploying its navy to the area, but that a final decision has not yet been reached. China, Taiwan’s rival, recently sent three naval ships to join an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf Aden, a key sea lane infested with pirates from impoverished Somalia.

China will continue to invest heavily in the development of its armed forces, say analysts, despite the economic downturn. The deployment of two Chinese destroyers to the coast of Somalia to fight pirates – modern China’s first naval dispatch outside the Pacific Ocean – and hints of building its first aircraft carrier, are two recent signs of the country’s growing military ambitions, analysts state on Aljazeera. “China is becoming more confident militarily every day”, says Allan Behm, an Australian security analyst and former government official. “China’s air and sea power is expanding in terms of both capability and numbers, especially in the ‘blue water’ (long range) role, and in the submarine arm. The global financial crisis will not hold China back in those areas”. Even so, Behm says, he does not predict any China-related military conflicts in 2009 and added: “China will concentrate on restoring its economic performance”. He stated also that China “will maintain a very tight control on any form of dissidence domestically. And everyone else will be attempting to reinvigorate their own economies, which will moderate any tensions with China, since they are all so dependent on China’s economic performance”.

However, it looks like 2009 will be another roller coaster ride for Beijing, which on October 1 is set to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Analysts agree that the financial crunch is going to be China’s biggest challenge in 2009. Many academics say it will spark social unrest, but that the one party state has the means to cope. “The biggest problem for the Chinese Communist Party is the economic slowdown which will cause large scale unemployment, which in turn has implications for social unrest”, says He Baogang, a professor at Deakin University’s School of Politics and International Studies in Australia. “The big problem is that a large number of newly graduated students will not be able to find a job, and if they combine forces with [discontented elements amongst] unemployed migrant workers or other unemployed, that will create a big social force which will threaten the government – so that is something they will be worried about”. Around 1.5 million graduates were jobless at the end of 2008, says China’s official Xinhua News Agency citing a report by the China Academy of Social Sciences.

The government will employ a mixture of force and concessions to control any protests, says He Baogang, but he does not foresee unrest escalating out of control. The human rights outlook, meanwhile, remains bleak with China continuing to boost its military capacity despite its growing economic woes. A few weeks ago 4,000 officials were called to the capital to be trained on how to deal with “sudden emergencies” such as protests, He Baogang said. The fact that the bulk of those laid off will be migrant workers from the countryside will cushion the blow, says Andrew Nathan, a professor of political science at Columbia University in the US, and explains that “One advantage that the Chinese economy and regime still have is that the laid off workers have the option of returning to the countryside since they are still rooted there”. But China’s human rights outlook for 2009 does not look rosy, say the analysts.

At best, things will remain the same; at worst, China’s growing confidence and the possibility of social unrest mean that they could significantly worsen. Most recently, human rights groups have criticised Beijing for holding Liu Xiaobo, an academic who was formerly jailed for taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Columbia University’s Andrew Nathan says the human rights situation will remain bleak but is unlikely to worsen. “I think the picture with civil and political rights will remain about the same – political dissent and religious freedom will be suppressed, the press will continue to be under party control, the courts will continue to lack independence”. Chinese academics, however, stress that individual rights – such as property ownership and the freedom to express opinions at the local level, providing they do not threaten the government – will improve, and the government’s legitimacy indeed depends on it. “If we look closely at China, the rising of China requires the government to provide more and more protection for human rights, in particular property rights”, says Deakin University’s He Baogang. Improving these rights lays the foundation for social stability, he says, and this will be even more important in 2009 in the turmoil of the economic slump. “I think the wider rights of China will continue to improve” next year, he says, while admitting that freedom of speech or the right to challenge the authority of the Communist Party will remain suppressed.

Other academics take a much bleaker view and see 2009 as a bad year for human rights in China. “It certainly seems to be the case” that the success of the Olympics and its increasing global stature has emboldened China to crack down even more severely on signs of dissent, says Michael Davis, a professor of law at Chinese University of Hong Kong. He adds: “I would expect human rights to worsen, as the regime comes under increasing pressure”. China recently embarked on a propaganda campaign involving Somalis who were coerced rather than convinced to praise the Chinese activities at the Horn of Africa and paid Uganda’s AU troops 750,000 US$ for better equipment. Though neither China nor for that fact Russia ever caught a Somali pirate yet, everyone is watching what will happen to pirates arrested by Russian or Chinese naval forces. These two nations are known to be very ruthless when it comes to law and order issues. Most other nations are more politically correct. The Chinese are rather more blunt, states the Strategy Page. Most of the criminals executed worldwide each year, are killed in China.

Note
Picture: A fishing boat – frequently used means of transportation for the Somali pirates

Tags: Aden, Guarantee, Gulf, Indian, Ocean, Only, Peace, Reunified, Somalia