Ecoterra Press Release 214 – The Somalia Chronicle June – December 2009, no 26

Following the Somalia Spring 2009 Chronicles, I herewith republish the Ecoterra press releases issued in the second half of 2009. I reproduce the integral version of all Ecoterra press releases in a recapitulative effort to provide the global readership with the most comprehensive collection of texts published worldwide about the most abominable Western postcolonial involvement in Africa, namely the systematic effort of extermination of the Somali Nation. The vast documentation provided serves as basic point of reference to students, researchers, analysts and intellectuals.

ECOTERRA Intl.

SMCM

Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor

ECOTERRA INTERNATIONAL - UPDATES & STATEMENTS, REVIEW & CLEARING-HOUSE

2009-07-21 TUE 16h34:53 UTC

Issue No. 214

A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or elsewhere, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." George Orwell

EA ILLEGAL FISHING AND DUMPING HOTLINE: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia[at]ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme EMERGENCY HELPLINE : SMS to +254-738-497979 or sms/call +254-733-633-733

"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream !"

Cpt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y Tanit - killed by French commandos - 10. April 2009 / Ras Hafun

NON A LA GUERRE - YES FOR PEACE

(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT - shot down on day one of the French assault)

"... obligation to fight oppression and cruelty wherever it appears, and that any group of people who are degrading another group of people have to be fought against with whatever tools we have available to us. "

B. H. Obama - US-American President, who said also: The world has changed ! YES, WE CAN !

Clearing-House: Cut out the clutter - focus on facts !

Breaking:

Formerly hi-jacked Yacht-Sailors arrive safely in Yemen.

"We just got word that Mr. Juergen Kantner and Mrs. Sabine Merz onboard S/Y ROCKALL have arrived safely in Aden", ECOTERRA's monitoring unit reported this morning. "We spoke with skipper Kantner, who is very happy that they made it against all odds."

The sailors where abducted with their one-mast yacht on 28th June 2008 while on their way through the Gulf of Aden and later were carried off into remote hideouts within the Cal Madow mountains in Northern Somalia. They were freed only on 9th August 2008 after a lengthy ordeal, during which they had to experience mock executions and other torture, and after a substantial ransom payment.

Meanwhile their yacht had been taken by local militia by force from Laskooray, the coastal town of Warsangeli-Land, which is located between the larger blocks of Puntland and Somaliland, to the harbour town of Berbera in Somaliland.

After having gone through another nightmare back home in Germany, the penniless couple set out again with the help of some friends to get their boat, which is their real home.

And they found in Somaliland and especially Berbera real people, who understood and helped them in the true tradition of hospitable Somalis assisting a stranded stranger. They managed to install a donated used engine, because the original one had been ruined by the militia-pilots running it without cooling, repaired the sail and all the 1000 other wounds the Rockall had suffered during her Odyssey.

But bad luck stroke again, when just a day before they were set to sail a mobile telephone mast operated by TeleSom came crushing down in the strong wind that day.

Unfortunately it hit the yacht and caused major damage, but luckily the couple was not injured.

So the two "we-will-not-give-up"-sailors had to endure another stretch in Berbera during which they had to bring the yacht at least into such a condition which would make any sailing not too risky. All that with very little supplies and primitive - or shall we say ancient - methods and tools.

They succeeded again and set out - after sending us a last signal from Berbera in order to monitor their voyage - through the dangerous waters of the Gulf - without a gun or naval escort - to Aden, where they safely arrived despite the rough weather and a still not fully repaired vessel. A strong South/South-westerly wind in this part of the Western Gulf of Aden helped.

"Aden looks like Paradise", said Mr. Kantner this morning, who knew the Yemeni town from the old days, when it was the Soviet-era horror-place on the northern side of the Gulf. "Aden has completely changed for the better and we hope we can repair our yacht here", he said.

The couple will have only a short time, because they have to use the time of the westerly winds in the Gulf for their passage, and therefore needs the help of many to get the yacht back into shape for the further voyage to the East. One thing is for sure: They will not give up their dream to reach the maritime wonder world of the Indo-Pacific.

Any well-wishers, who want to help and contribute to break the string of bad luck the ROCKALL had, can contact ECOTERRA Intl. on any of the numbers or addresses below.

News from sea-jackings, abductions, newly attacked ships and vessels in distress

Declassification of documents: Favorable opinion in the S/Y TANIT case

The French Advisory Commission of the Secrecy of National Defense (CCSDN) gave an favourable opinion concerning the declassification of documents from the French Ministry for Defense concerning details on the operation to free the hostages on the sailing yacht S/Y TANIT on April 10 off Somalia. This decision of the CCSDN was published in the Official Journal.

The favourable opinion relates to a report of 10 pages by the command of the marine commando unit, dated April 12, a chronological card of five pages of May 18 operations and a CD-ROM containing 83 photographs.

Bertrand Leclerc, senior vice-president of the Court of Rennes, who is in charge to co-ordinate the information in this case, had required, by letter on June 4, the declassification of these documents from the French Minister for Defense Herve Morin.

The request was then turned over to the CCSDN, on June 9, requesting for an opinion if the documents can be declassified and released to the judges.

After the favorable opinion, the judge's request was now returned to Mr. Morin, who can decide to follow or not. But it is expected that he will do so in due course, since almost the whole of some 140 opinions of the CCSDN were always followed by the authorities concerned.

Though negotiation possibilities had not been exhausted, the French navy commandos had launched an attack on the sea-jacked Tanit, a sailing ship of 12,5 meters, which was captured on April 6 off Somalia by five pirates who held the five passengers, of which a three year old child, hostage. While on April 09 snipers had shot down the sail and thereby more or less diabled the yacht, the deadly attack was launched on April 10.

During the attack, the skipper Florent Lemaçon was killed by a bullet shot by a French soldier, was revealed recently already by a journalist from Europe 1, who had inside information.

Two Somali pirates had also been killed and the three other Somali pirates were captured and brought back to France, where they were put on trial on April 17, says the official version, but different information shows that the case is not so clear.

The declassification of these documents therefore will be a good step into the right direction and to let justice prevail.

MV ARIANA with 24 Ukrainian sailors on board seems to have been abandoned by the owner of the vessel, British SEVEN SEAS MARITIME Ltd. and their front office in Greece ALL OCEANS SHIPPING. The vessel flies the flag of convenience from Malta (there is another Ariana, which flies the flag of Greece) and the Greek authorities seem to not be really interested in the case, since there is also no Greek national on board. Though the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry's representative office in Odessa, Mr. Kostiantyn Rzhepishevskyi, said on June 2 that "negotiations with pirates will be over soon", his predictions unfortunately became not true. The vessel carried soy beans from Brazil to the Middle East when it was captured north of Madagascar near Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. Observers from Ukraine fear that the London P&I Club insured vessel is in a tussle where foreign masterminds of piracy try to make the most out of the sea-jack case for themselves. Though one of the 24 strong all-Ukrainian crew had a fight with the pirates in the past, the crew was said to be still all right, despite the fact that attempts to torture the crew had been reported. Unfortunately now reports from the ground indicate that no negotiation is going on.

The sick game concerning MV HANSA STAVANGER becomes more dangerous. After yesterday three Germans and an Russian officer were brought back to the ship, the pirate skiff - despite the very heavy seas and strong South-West monsoon winds - brought from the ship one German and one other sailor back on land again.

Fears grow for crew of Hansa Stavanger

By David Osler for LloydsList

Fears are growing for the mental health of four seafarers from hijacked German boxship Hansa Stavanger, who have been detained by pirates deep within Somali territory for several weeks while being subjected to death threats and other ill-treatment.

The fate of the three Germans and one Russian national, some of whom are described by one source as "rapidly losing the plot", has been known in shipping security circles for several weeks, but with tacit agreement not to make it public. But the silence has now been broken, after German news magazine Der Spiegel reported on the case over the weekend.

Rather than being held onboard ship, as is the usual pirate practice, the hostages are at a location at least one hour inland from the Somali coast.

One security specialist confirmed the details to Lloyd´s List, saying that the men were being made an example of by a particularly vicious pirate faction, who were incensed after learning of an aborted attempt in May by Germany´s elite GSG 9 special forces to rescue the Liberia-flagged, 1997-built, 1,550 teu vessel.

Ironically, observers have for some weeks been predicting that Hansa Stavanger will shortly be freed, with Hamburg-based operator Leonhardt & Blumberg and the captors close to agreeing a ransom.

But according to Der Spiegel, both relatives of the captives and the German authorities are critical of the company, charging that it has taken a "very obdurate" stance in the talks, with the difference between the two sides amounting to a few hundred thousand euros.

A letter from wives of the captives, seen by the publication, argues: "For this trifling sum, our husbands´ lives are at risk each minute from the pirates´ weapons."

Leonhardt & Blumberg declined to comment.

The source told Lloyd´s List: "The pirates want to make sure the world knows they are in control of things, not anybody else. What has not helped is the botched rescue.

"Negotiations on other ships [captured by the pirates] are very quiet, private affairs.

Hansa Stavanger has been a very public affair. That has turned against the crew aboard."

The men have been told that they will be killed unless payment is handed over rapidly, and have communicated that to their families by telephone, he added.

"What needs to happen is that [Leonhardt & Blumberg] needs to step back from it, say ´enough is enough, we want those guys out of there and the ship released and we need to end this sorry saga´. It needs to be recovered, and it needs to be recovered very quickly."

A second source at a leading private security company also corroborated the report, adding that some pirate groupings are become increasingly impatient with protracted negotiations.

On a more positive note, German-operated general cargoship Victoria was released on Saturday, according to a statement from the European Union´s Maritime Security Centre — Horn of Africa.

Pirate sources have told news agencies that a ransom of $1.8m was paid to secure the release of the 2004-built, 10,653 dwt vessel. Witnesses say that the captors fired in the air in celebration as the money was delivered by a tug.

Victoria, which was bound for Jeddah laden with rice at the time of its hijack in early May, is flagged in Antigua and Barbuda and is understood to have a crew of 11 people on board, all of them Romanian nationals.

According to the Lloyd´s Marine Intelligence Unit database, the ship is associated with Haren (Ems)-based company Intersee.

A statement on the MSCHOA website said two warships, the German frigate Brandenburg and the Greek frigate Nikiforos Fokas, assisted the ship heading north. The master and all crew members were said to be well and not to have required medical assistance.

Shipping security sources have for some time talked of a wider political deal in the offing, under which several captured ships would be freed more or less simultaneously, following political pressure from Somali factions. In return, western governments have promised to reciprocate by making additional aid available.

Situations with Hansa Stavanger become stained

By MIGnews.com.ua

The situation with German container ship Hansa Stavanger that had been seized by Somali pirates more than 3 months ago has become strained.

According to Spiegel magazine, pirates took three Germans and one Russian to the shore. They have been in the depth of Somali territory. According to the magazine, pirates imitated reprisal, humiliated and starved them. Nearly all crewmen are ill and are on the verge of nervous breakdown.

All experts are sure the situation with Hansa Stavanger is very critical, UNIAN reports. The negotiations between Hamburg shipping company and unpredictable pirates on acid are ardous. Recently the sides were close to make a deal on ransom amounting to US $2 or 3 but then it failed.

The container ship Hansa Stavanger that was going from the United Arab Emirates to Kenya, was seized on April 4 720 km from the Somali shore. The crew consists of 24 people. Three of them – are the citizens of Russia. Two of them are the citizens of Ukraine and five people are from Germany.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 14 foreign vessels (14 if M/S IO EXPLORER is truly "gone") with a total of not less than 203 crew members are accounted for (of which 44 are confirmed to be Filipinos) and are held in Somali waters. They are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. MV JAIKUR 1 remains in Mogadishu harbor, but is an insurance and not a piracy case - all foreign crew was evacuated. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 148 attacks (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 47 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least three wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces. 111 Somalis are held in foreign prisons under charges of piracy. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season in winter and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon season starting from mid February and early April every year. Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: YELLOW IO: YELLOW (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Allegedly still/again three groups from Puntland alone are out hunting on the Gulf of Aden and in the Indian Ocean, where also groups from Harardheere have set out again, despite the heavy seas and the rough weather.

Directly piracy related reports

Shipping Industry Says it Struggles With Alarming Rise in Pirate Activity by A.M. Best Company, Inc. wire service

Piracy is a growing threat to the maritime insurance industry, with the number of attacks doubling in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier.

German multiline insurer Allianz S.E. said in a report that what had been an ancient risk that has always been present in the world now has a modern face, and is becoming more of a worry in recent years as pirates increasingly turn to the kidnap and ransom of crews for profit.

"If you had asked me about insurance and piracy two years ago, I would have told you that I was aware of piracy off the Straits of Malacca, of rumors of pirate attacks off the coast of China and in Southeast Asia, but that this was not a major issue," said Sven Gerhard, global hull and liabilities product leader at Allianz and one of the authors of the report.

"It was insured, but we had other priorities," said Gerhard in an interview. "In the middle of last year, this dramatically changed, with kidnappings off the coast of Somalia and then Nigeria. When we saw what was happing, we realized that this was serious."

According to Allianz, based on figures obtained by the International Maritime Bureau, the first three months of 2009 saw a global total of 102 reported events of piracy, almost double the 53 events that were reported in the same period of 2008.

Moreover, Allianz said the majority of this rise in piracy is almost entirely due to increased activity off the coast of Somalia, as well as the neighboring Gulf of Aden, with 61 incidents during the first three months of 2009. There were just six incidents over the same period of 2008.

According to Gerhard, pirates previously did little more than plunder vessels of whatever they could easily and quickly remove, and then left the ship and the crew alone. "That has now changed," he said. "They're capturing the vessels and holding the crews hostage. And they're now very well organized and very well prepared."

Gerhard said the recent rise in piracy has been most visible off the coast of Somalia in East Africa, which is close to one of the major Europe-United States-Asia trade routes and sees billions of dollars worth of raw materials and manufactured goods pass every day. Cruise liners and other maritime traffic are also common in the region.

Somalia has been in a state of chaos since 1991, with the titular Somali government controlling only a fraction of the country. Levels of poverty and violence are high, creating ideal conditions for the rise in piracy.

There has been a notable change in the range of the Somali attacks. Previously pirates from this region used small speedboats that limited their range to just a few miles from the coast, so that ships that moved further offshore were untouched. Somali pirates are now using larger vessels as mother ships, extending their range to several hundred miles out to sea.

According to Gerhard, one of the most worrying things about the situation off the coast of Somalia is that there is a danger that pirates based in other countries might start to copy the tactics and strategy used by the Somali pirates. For example, a deteriorating situation is seen in Yemen, on the other side of the Gulf of Aden.

Underwriting Factors

On the underwriting side, Gerhard highlighted two elements. "The first is the classical element," he said. "If a vessel is taken and it's held for some months, is there a risk of some damage -- i.e: if the engines are shut down for a month or more there's the danger of damage and therefore machinery losses. There is also the question of business interruption and loss of hire, the chance that the bottom of the ship will have been fouled by weeds and needs to be scraped, and other maintenance issues, and therefore losses.

"The other element is a new one: the payment of ransom to release the crew, especially if the payment is not for the release of the vessel or the cargo, but just the crew. This component is new and is more in focus these days, especially off the coast of Somalia, where pirates are no longer taking a ship and plundering it, but now they are capturing vessels and ransoming the crew and the ship."

The risk of an attack is extremely high in some areas of the world, Gerhard added. "We have to evaluate this and set a premium that is adequate. We want to charge a premium that is set by the risk. A solution must be found to cut the piracy issue where it comes to bear. We must find a solution."

In the meantime, Allianz suggests that shipping companies need to look at the need to divert their vessels from the most vulnerable areas, as well as to put into place defensive measures, such as raising the speed of a ship, stowing boarding ladders on deck to prevent easy access, keeping a good lookout, being visibly on the alert and using defensive measures such as slippery foam and high-pressure water hoses.

Underwriters need to look at the insurance solutions that could be put in place, such as war and kidnap and ransom coverage.

Allianz is able to point to some good news in terms of the level of piracy attacks.

Although the situation has worsened off the Gulf of Aden and the coast of Somalia, it has improved a great deal in the waters around Indonesia and the Malacca Straits, where increased cooperation between the various governments in the area has resulted in a significant fall in reported attacks.

The navies of the world's major powers have almost all dispatched ships to patrol the area off the coast of Somalia. But Allianz said these ships will have to cover a huge area of ocean and that it will take an international effort to bring the problem under control.

A European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) statement says two frigates, the German Navy's Brandenburg and the Greek Navy's Nikiforos Fokas, assisted the MV VICTORIA heading north after her release. It adds that the master of the Victoria has reported that all crew members are well and further medical assistance is not required. EU NAVFOR says it is now monitoring the vicinity with a Maritime Patrol Aircraft.

Marine ecosystem, IUU fishing and dumping, ecology

A representative of the owners of FV SAMARA AHMED and FV MOMTAZ 1, seized April 10, 2009 for illegal fishing in Somali waters has arrived in Bosaaso, the harbour town of Puntland - the semi-autonomous breakaway region in the North-East of Somalia. So far he has not been able to establish contact with the group holding the vessels and the all-Egyptian crew of 40 sailors, including six minors. The parents of the minors have complained to the Egyptian government that the owner of the vessel actually hi-jacked their under-aged sons, who have no papers, and sailed with them into dangerous waters to engage in illegal fishing, a multimillion dollar business for the fish-poachers, who claim now to have no money to pay the fine.

The crew of T/B BUCCANEER, held with its two barges near Laskooray at the Gulf of Aden coast for alleged illegal dumping, still is waiting for a miracle, since the owners and operators of the vessel have not agreed with the captors on the release and the Government of Italy seems to have backed off.

Yemen State and LPG Producer on Maritime Spin!

Balhaf shrimp deaths probably natural, says environment committee

By Alice Hackman

Contrary to previous media reports, the death of shrimp and fish reported late June near Balhaf, Shabwa, is probably linked to seasonal cold water upwellings, said a governmental environment committee who visited the site last week.

Local press previously linked shrimp mortality around the fishing village of Bir Ali to the presence of the Yemen Liquefied Natural Gas Company (Yemen LNG) plant in Balhaf Bay, a few kilometers west, saying that crude oil was observed in surrounding waters.

"Yemen LNG does not produce crude oil," said the company in a press release last Sunday.

Not only is Yemen LNG a liquefied natural gas –not oil- exporting company, according to Yemen LNG information editor Kamal Al-Wazizah, but the plant is not fully operational yet, as it is still under construction.

The company's first cargo of liquefied gas is not expected until the end of August, he said.

"Documentation of shrimp die-off dates back to well prior to construction, before any activity had commenced on-site," said Al-Wazizah. "For example, in June 2006, the phenomenon was observed when there was no marine [construction] activity on the site."

"This incident is the result of a well-known natural phenomenon that occurs in many parts of the Indian Ocean, including southern Yemen, and is not related in any way to any human or project activity," the gas company said in its press release.

The natural phenomenon Yemen LNG is pointing to are plankton blooms, which occur every year along the coast of Somalia, Yemen and Oman during the summer monsoon months, according to scientists.

>From June to September, strong monsoon winds cause cold water upwellings along these countries' shores. This nutrient-rich water is ideal breeding ground for phytoplankton, microscopic plant-like organisms, but this can also in turn lead to oxygen depletion and mass fish mortality.

Fish that swim into oxygen-depleted water pockets see their metabolisms slow down then die, say scientists. Dead fish float up to the surface and are washed ashore.

Following reports in the press about the event, a team from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) with members from the Ministry of Water and Environment, the Ministry of Fisheries, the Ministry of Oil and Minerals and the Marine Authority visited Balhaf from July 7 to 13.

One week after the reported event, they found no evidence of dead shrimp, said Dr Yahya Al-Badawi, environment manager for the gas division at the Ministry of Oil and Minerals and head of the environment committee that visits the construction site twice a month.

Local fishermen had not seen any kind of oil pollution or dead shrimp, except for small quantities of dead shrimp in Balhalf near the plant's cooling water exit pipes, said Nadhil Al-Turaik, who is in charge of marine environment protection from land-based activity at the EPA.

"On June 26, 2009, there was mortality of shrimp in small quantities compared to 2006 and 2008 in Balhaf next to the construction site for the cooling water outfall pipes," noted the EPA report.

"I think it's a natural phenomenon, fish do not have oxygen because of the current," said Captain Salem Awadh, who has fished in Balhaf waters for the last 26 years, and says that he heard about this year's dead shrimp from two people.

"It happened a lot in 2007 and 2008 when big quantities of shrimp died," he added. "I saw them with my eyes and took some of them."

"I think this is a natural phenomenon," said Al-Turaik. "We need to analyze water and shrimp for credible information."

"We must analyze samples," agreed Miriam Tahir, Ministry of Fisheries representative on the field visit, who also said that the shrimp kill was probably a result of seasonal upwelling.

No independent tests

Dr. Saleh Salem, head of the Marine Sciences Research Center in Aden, was sent a sample to study after the shrimp deaths occurred but, he said, it arrived late and in poor condition.

Although he suspects pollution from a primary viewing of the sample, he has been unable to visit the site to conduct further tests.

"We need the company to cooperate with us for access to the site," he said.

"We will take our responsibility to protect the environment, and we will help the company," he said. "We want to set up an environmental monitoring system with the company."

Salem added that, from his 30 years experience in the area, June was too early for a natural fish kill, as these usually occur mid-July to August, during which time small fish are killed, but not usually shrimp.

"[Fish mortality] involves oxygen depletion, toxins, microbiology and these mechanisms may act individually or all of them in different stages," said Dr. Adnan Al-Azri, assistant professor at the Marine Science and Fisheries department at the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.

In [the] Arabian Sea, we do experience fish kill almost every year, most caused by oxygen depletion," he said. "[They] do occur on [the] onset of the upwelling but the major ones occur post upwelling due to nutrient influx in the coastal water."

Protecting the coral

To ensure that the gas company plant does not destroy the surrounding environment during construction, the governmental environment committee visits the Balhaf site twice a month and will next be visiting again this Tuesday, said Al-Badawi.

"Yemen LNG has a consultant company to test water and monitor corals," he said. "They monitor every month and send us a report every three months."

"Some small accidents have occurred, but they followed the problem and made transportation and conservation of damaged coral," he said. "Coral died [due to] mistakes with anchoring some boat, and they had to make transportation to a place with the same environment and conditions."

"[There are] many divers, at this time they clean the coral area after finishing construction," he said. "Divers have a machine like a [vacuum cleaner] and take off dirt and sediment over the coral."

"A program of weekly water quality sampling is in place," said Al-Wazizah. "The last marine water quality sampling was performed in mid-June."

Compensating the fishermen

Yemen LNG said it is committed to protecting the livelihoods of the local community, including local fishermen, and compensating anybody affected by the construction of the gas plant in Balhaf Bay.

For example, to compensate the fishermen who previously used Ras Balhaf, where the gas plant is being built, as a shelter, a breakwater was built two years ago in Bil'a, said Mustafa Al-Mehdar, fishing projects coordinator at the Yemen LNG.

The company is also now setting up new fish aggregator devices to help fishermen increase their catch in nine sites, after the three that were set up last year proved to be very popular, he said.

"Big fish are attracted by the small fish," he said, explaining that previously unavailable fish such tuna and other larger fish were now making their way into the nets of Balhaf fishermen.

Fishermen who lost production during the construction of the Yemen LNG plant are also being compensated through the government, added Al-Mehdar.

"After the company took [Balhaf Bay], everything became forbidden," said Captain Salem Awadh, "But the company has compensated us with fish aggregators 55 miles wide and 12 miles out to sea."

Global warming and fish kills

Scientists have pointed to the link between climate change and increased upwellings, responsible for algae blooms and possible fish mortality, during the summer months in the Arabian Sea.

"Over the past 7 years, the western half of the Arabian Sea has witnessed record increases in phytoplankton blooms due to a year-by-year intensification of monsoonal winds," wrote Dr. Prasad Thoppil, a US-based researcher in oceanography, in 2005.

"In a [2005] study, we show that these changes are being triggered by the rapid decline and meltdown of winter-time snow over southwest Asia and the Himalayas."

Anti-piracy measures

Pirate whisperer' brings news of kidnappings by Koert Lindijer

Andrew Mwangura has excellent contacts with both pirates and seamen off the coast of Somalia. The Kenyan former sailor is fighting mafia practices at sea.

Andrew Mwangura is an unlikely hero. The timid 47-year-old Kenyan has been called the 'pirate whisperer ' and he maintains excellent contact both with pirates and seamen held hostage off the Somali coast. He has made some powerful enemies in his fight against mafia practices at sea and in Kenya.

Thanks to the extensive network he built up during his years as a seaman, he is better informed of what is playing out on the Indian Ocean than the crews of the numerous naval ships sent to fight piracy; he is often the first to report the news that a ship has been hijacked or released.

A Hollywood film is being made about his life, with Samuel L. Jackson playing the lead. "They wanted to murder me. But I am following my calling," Mwangura said in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa. "Maybe the big screen can help in that."

Gangsters

Mwangura established the East African Seafarers´ Assistance Program in Mombasa that reports daily on the many hijackings off the coast of Somalia. More than 22,000 ships navigate the Gulf of Aden each year and half of all cargo from East to West traverses the Indian Ocean.

For centuries Africa has been using this sea route as a connection to the outside world. The monsoon winds brought Arab and Persian traders in their sailing ships over these seas. A few hundred Somali gangsters - Mwangura refuses to call them pirates – now threaten this area.

"All conflicts in Africa have some connection with the sea," Mwangura said in a soft voice. The weapons and drug trade, the dumping of chemical waste, the transport of illegally mined resources and clandestine fishing take place on these waters, which are subject to hardly any control. "Only the ship owners know what they transport, the crew is kept in the dark about the cargo."

Dirty business as leverage

Mwangura said the reason behind the hijackings is the "piracy" by foreign ships, which have been fishing in Somali waters for years without paying. "The navy ships sent out there do nothing about it. Just last month the South Korean navy protected two illegal South Korean fishing boats off Somalia."

Suspicious activities are taking place at sea. Some ships are sailing under cheaper flags and have something to hide. "Many hijacked ships are involved in dirty business. Somali gangsters know that and use it as negotiating leverage."

Mwangura poses difficult questions about liberation actions by the navy ships. With regard to the Dutch ship the Marathon hijacked in May for instance, Mwangura had reliable information about the drowning of one pirate and the death of a Ukrainian crew member. The Dutch ministry of defence stated it knew nothing about that, but when the Marathon was released last month Mwangura was proven right. "What does the ship owner or the Dutch navy want to keep quiet?" he wondered.

Released him without charges

According to Mwangura the pirates work together with Somali warlords. It often turns out that they have been trained by Western security companies hired by warlords in the capital of Mogadishu or the semi-autonomous Puntland region. "Think twice about the training of Somali militia fighters for the protection of the coastal waters, like the West is propagating. It could have an adverse effect."

The hijackings are big business; last year between 120 and 150 million dollars was paid in ransom and divided up among hijackers, their sponsors and negotiators. "Ninety percent of the ransom is paid via Kenya," said Mwangura, "Kenya is now the axis of the conflict." Unconfirmed reports talk of investments by businessmen involved in Kenyan real estate and connected with piracy.

The pirate whisperer has criticised the Kenyan involvement. "That almost cost me my life," he said. When the Ukrainian ship the Faina was hijacked last year, Mwangura reported that the cargo - 33 tanks – was headed for Southern Sudan, contrary to the official version that the final destination was the Kenyan military. The police subsequently arrested him for illegal possession of marijuana. "Absurd, since I don't smoke or drink," Mwangura said, laughing shyly.

After nine days the authorities released him without any charges. He went into hiding out of fear for an attack on his life. Even the makers of the Hollywood film could not reach him. Now he is back on the scene, looking around nervously, but still convinced of his cause. "They tried to shut me up. They failed."

New Russian task force to patrol Somali waters until November

A new task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet will join international efforts to fight piracy off Somalia until the end of October, the first deputy chief of the Russian Navy General Staff said on Monday, RIA Novosti reported.

The task force, comprising the Admiral Tributs destroyer with two helicopters, a salvage tug, a tanker, and a naval infantry unit, will arrive in late July in the Gulf of Aden to take part in operations.

"We are deciding on the composition of the next task force to be sent to the region around the Horn of Africa in November," Vice Admiral Oleg Burtsev said.

Around 35 warships from the navies of 16 countries are currently deployed off Somalia's coast to counter frequent pirate attacks on vital commercial lanes.

The Russian Navy joined international anti-piracy efforts off Somali coast in October 2008. Three warships have so far participated in the mission - the Baltic Fleet's Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate, and the Pacific Fleet's Admiral Vinogradov and Admiral Panteleyev destroyers.

Burtsev said earlier that at least five large groups of pirates, totaling over 5,000 men, are operating in the Gulf of Aden, and they had become more daring and aggressive recently.

According to the United Nations, Somali pirates collected $150 million in ransom payments from ship owners last year, while overall losses from piracy were estimated at $13-16 billion, including the soaring cost of insurance and protection for vessels, as well as sending ships on longer routes to avoid high-risk areas.

No real peace in sight yet

Militants execute Somali aid workers

By Ali Osman

On Tuesday, two Somali aid workers of a local NGO were executed by Al-shabaab militias in Raskamboni southern Somalia, say relatives.

The wife of one of the men, told reporters that her husband was working for a local NGO, operating in the city of Raskamboni, a coastal town near the Somali-Kenyan border.

The men were according to the relatives accused of being spies for foreigners.

"…my husband was not a spy, he was a civilian working for NGO, he was working there for many years…" says the wife one of the men who didn´t wanted to be named for security reasons.

It is not the first time al shabaab group execute people who they accuse of being spies.

Last month, up to seven young men were executed by the militant group in Somalia.

Kenyan team in Somalia for talks to free aid workers by:Claire Wanja/AFP

Kenyan delegation comprising village elders began negotiations to free three foreign aid workers abducted at the weekend by Somali gunmen, police said Monday.

The delegation from Mandera, left for the Somalia side to seek the freedom of the foreigners.

Details of their nationality and employers have not been released.

"Six elders left Mandera last evening (Sunday) and are now in the Somalia side trying to negotiate the release of the foreigners," a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"A meeting was held at the weekend in Mandera where it was agreed that diplomacy be used to resolve the matter," he added.

The official said no ransom has been demanded and "we hope they will not ask for money."

Islamists Deny Involving Foreign Aid Workers' Abduction

The Islamist organisation of Hisbul Islam in Bardere town in Gedo region has denied involving the abduction of the three foreign aid workers who were kidnapped recently from Mandera town in the border between Somalia and Kenya, officials told Shabelle radio on Monday.

Sheik Farhan il Moge, a spokesman for the organisation in Gedo region said in an interview with Shabelle radio that they were not involved the three foreign aid workers kidnapped from their centre in Mandere town.

"We are not part of the kidnapping action against the foreign iad workers. we only heard the accident and we shall take part how those people will be freed," Sheik Farhan said.

The statement of Hisbul Islam organisation in Gedo region comes as unidentified Somali gunmen kidnapped the three aid workers who were working for an international charity organisation based in Mandere town in the border between Somali and Kenya.

Somali officials said Sunday they were trying to arrange the release of a trio of foreign aid workers who were kidnapped from a town along the Kenyan border.

Sheik Osman Ibrahim, head of the Islamic administration in the town of Beled-Hawo, told the Shabelle Media Network he had spoken with tribal elders about the abduction, which took place Saturday in Mandera town.

He said search parties had gone out to look for the three after they disappeared Saturday.

The New York Times said Sunday the kidnappings are believed to be the work of the Islamic rebel group Shabab. Analysts suspect the abduction is aimed at obtaining a ransom, which would be called a "fine," by a Shabab Islamist court.

No group has so far claimed responsibility, but al Shabaab blamed members of another Islamist rebel group, Hizbul Islam, for the attack. The aid organization concerned asked that its name and the nationalities of the hostages not be released.

July 2009 - Somali gunmen stormed into the Safahi hotel on July 14 in Mogadishu and kidnapped two French security consultants working for the government. The al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab movement took possession of both French hostages after winning a tussle with the Hizbul Islam rebel group which was holding one of them.

November 2008 - Four other European employees of the French non-governmental organisation against hunger Action against Hunger (Action contra la Faim) ACF and their two Kenyan pilots, kidnapped in early November, are also still being held. Gunmen stormed an air strip near Dusamareb town on November 5 and kidnapped a number of aid workers. French-based Action Contre La Faim charity confirmed four of its people were taken. The EU said two Kenyans, two French, a Bulgarian and a Belgian national were among those kidnapped.

August 2008 - Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, and Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist, were kidnapped in Mogadishu. A Somali journalist, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, who was working as their interpreter, was also kidnapped. Elmi was released in January 2009. The two journalists, abducted on August 23 last year, are still captives.

April 2008 - A Briton and a Kenyan working on a U.N.-funded project were seized by gunmen and taken to Jilib town, 280 km (175 miles) south of Mogadishu. They are still being held.

U.N. Issues Alert Over Deteriorating Health Situation In Somalia

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an alert on Thursday "seeking donor help" to address the health situation in southern and central Somalia, "which has continued to deteriorate due to latest fighting in [the capital of] Mogadishu," Xinhua reports. In the alert, OCHA said civil strife has had a "debilitating effect" on the social services infrastructure - particularly health services - in the country,

Xinhua writes. "With the country already facing one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, the humanitarian health community is finding itself constrained by the health funding deficit, leaving a number of critical life-saving health projects uninitiated and ongoing ones under threat of cessation," OCHA said.

OCHA said poor access to health services is leading to an increase in "communicable disease outbreaks, rising rates of severe acute malnutrition, and falling immunization rates, among other effects," according to the news service. The alert followed a similar one by aid agencies in Somalia seeking $11 million for emergency water and sanitation needs of those who have fled Mogadishu in recent weeks.

More than 200,000 people have fled Mogadishu since "fighting broke out between the government and the opposition Al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups in early May," in what the OCHA has described as the "biggest exodus from the capital since Ethiopian forces intervened in Somalia in 2007," the U.N. News Centre writes.

According to that appeal, OCHA said UNICEF "requires $3.3 million before the end of July to maintain life-saving operations for more than 1 million conflict-affected people, while current emergency funding allocated for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is likely to be exhausted within the next two months," afrol News reports. The appeal said more than $2.1 million is needed to provide water to drought-affected communities in the south-central region of the country.

UN suspends operations in Baidoa, compounds looted

The UN has suspended humanitarian operations in Somalia's southwestern town of Baidoa following the looting of its compound there, an official told IRIN on 21 July.

"We are still assessing the longer-term implications of the [militia] statements and actions and we are trying to re-engage but we have temporarily suspended humanitarian operations in Baidoa as our radio equipment was looted," Rozanne Chorlston, the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said.

Members of the Islamist Al-Shabab militia group, which has been fighting government troops in the capital, Mogadishu, looted equipment and vehicles from the UN compound in Baidoa on 20 July and also raided the UN office in Wajid, 340km northwest of the capital.

Baidoa is the seat of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who was elected president in February at a parliamentary meeting in Djibouti. Al-Shabab has since waged a war against the government, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.

After the looting of the UN compounds, Al-Shabab broadcast a message on local Somali radio, calling for the closure of the offices of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Political Office in Somalia (UNPOS) and the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), which it said supported the TFG and the African Union Mission in the country (AMISOM).

In a statement issued on 20 July, Bénédicte Walter, the UN spokesperson, said: "In Baidoa, the looting of all emergency communication equipment and the lack of security officers makes it impossible for the UN as a whole to continue its operations. We deeply regret having to relocate staff and temporarily suspend our operations in Baidoa. We are expecting authorities to reconsider these decisions and allow us to address the critical humanitarian situation in Baidoa and its region."

Walter said operations in Wajid, "where the minimum security conditions are unchanged", will continue.

"Al-Shabab members visited the WFP [World Food Programme] compound in Wajid for a meeting. They took away two cars and some furniture that were not WFP property," the statement read.

Walter said the UN was optimistic that minimal conditions on the ground would be restored to allow the critical humanitarian work to resume in Baidoa and continue elsewhere in Somalia.

UN humanitarian chief condemns increasing violence against aid workers

The top United Nations humanitarian official today deplored the growing number of attacks against aid workers, while highlighting that the effects of natural and man-made disasters on people´s lives would become more devastating.

John Holmes, Emergency Relief Coordinator, told the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) that he was increasingly horrified by the attacks on humanitarian workers, who he noted gave their energies and lives to helping others and were often treated with hostility, suspicion and violence in return.

In his opening address to the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment in Geneva, Mr. Holmes warned that so far in 2009 the complexity and nature of emergencies had taken an even heavier toll than in previous years.

He said that many of the adverse trends plaguing the humanitarian community in recent years, showed no signs of slowing, citing as examples last year´s Sichuan earthquake in China, which caused over 87,000 deaths and some billion in damages, and hurricane Ike in the United States, which left losses of around billion in its trail.

Mr. Holmes added that while long-running conflicts in Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the occupied Palestinian territories, and Somalia continued to disrupt the lives of millions, new outbreaks of hostilities in Pakistan and the recent offensive by Sri Lankan Government forces aimed at ending its decades-long struggle with Tamil rebels had forced hundreds of thousands more people into desperate situations.

This year´s annual session of ECOSOC, which serves as the central UN forum for discussing international economic and social issues and formulating policy recommendations, kicked off on 6 July.

Explosion Injures Four in Mogadishu

By Hasan Osman Fantastic

At least four people have been injured after a hand grenade explosion targeted to government soldiers in Derkenley district in Mogadishu; witnesses told Shabelle radio on Sunday.

Residents told Shabelle's reporters that armed had group attacked a bomb explosion to the government soldiers at Dabakayu Madow neighborhood in Derkenley district in the Somali capital Mogadishu wounding 4 civilians near where blast occurred on Sunday evening.

It is unclear whether casualties reached to the government soldiers or not, but reports say that the troops opened fire to the people after the bomb attack in Darkenley district in the south of the Somali capital

The movement of business and the traffic in the area where blast occurred in the district was halted for awhile after the explosion but lately restarted as the situation returned calm.

Locals said that all the people who were injured in the explosion were rushed to the hospital and it is not the first time that explosion targeted to the government soldier in Mogadishu.

Millions to remain in need of aid, says agency

Somalia's food security situation is not expected to improve over the next six months and the number of people in need of humanitarian aid will remain high through December, the Famine and Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net) has said.

"Overall, the food-security situation in Somalia remains precarious, with over 3.2 million people in need of emergency humanitarian aid and livelihood support," FEWS Net said on 17 July in a report [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2009.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/VDUX-7U2T3L-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf] on the country's July-December food-security outlook.

The USAID-funded agency said the final outcome of the 2009 Gu (long rains) season would become clearer when an ongoing multi-agency assessment led by the Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU Somalia) is completed in early August.

The prevailing food insecurity in the capital, Mogadishu, and in Shabelle, Hiran, Mudug, Galgadud, Bakook and Gedo regions is not expected to improve in coming months, FEWS Net said, due to combined effects of continued conflict, displacement of civilians, failure of the Gu rains, high prices of staple foods and the deepening drought in central and northern regions.

Since May, at least 200,000 people have been displaced from their homes in Mogadishu by continued fighting between government troops and insurgents of the Islamist Al-Shabab group opposed to the government of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

FEWS Net said between July and September, food insecurity would worsen in the drought-affected regions of Hiran, Galgadud, Mudug, Nugal, Sool, Sanag and Togdheer, while a "near normal" crop harvest is expected from the south, especially in Bay, Juba and Shabelle regions.

"However, due to the impacts of increased conflict on the main road linking the south and central regions, normal cereal flows will be impeded and no significant reduction in current high food prices will occur," FEWS Net said.

"Ongoing armed conflict in Mogadishu, Shabelle and parts of the central region will continue to contribute to food insecurity in IDP camps and among poor urban populations in host communities."

Massive mortality among weak animals in drought-affected regions is expected between October and December, the agency said, especially given the likelihood of average to above-average deyr (short) rains.

"Though off-season crop production and rangeland resources (water and pasture) will improve, the short-term impact of the El Niño is also likely to include serious flooding in the lower reaches of the Juba and Shabelle river basins in November and December," the agency said.

It based its food-security outlook on several assumptions: an escalation of armed conflict in Mogadishu, Shabelle and central regions through the end of the year; increased armed conflict resulting in more civilian displacement and restricted internal trade flows; the prevailing strong winds and hagaa dry spell worsening the availability of water and pasture in pastoral areas; El Niño - a phenomenon typically associated with good deyr (short) rains in October-December; and near-normal cereal harvest in key cropping areas of Bay, Shabelle and Juba regions.

In its quarterly food security and nutrition brief, FSNAU Somalia said it would conduct an emergency survey of the impact on internally displaced persons (IDPs) as part of the Gu assessment as the "depth and severity" of the IDP humanitarian emergency was increasing.

France's foreign minister says the country doesn't rule out sending commandos to try to free two French security advisers held hostage in Somalia, reports AP.

Bernard Kouchner says the two men are being held separately, apparently by two different militant groups.

The men were seized July 14 in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, while on an official mission to help train Somalia's security forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen.

Asked whether France could send troops to try to free the hostages, Kouchner said Tuesday that Somalia's government has not requested such help but that "nothing is ruled out."

He says "the priority is for negotiations."

A rebel group has said the two would be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying.

France is doing "everything it can" to free two French men abducted in Somalia last week and may consider using its commandos to release them, said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, according to Bloomberg.

Reports coming out of Somalia about the hostages are "very contradictory," Kouchner told reporters today in the capital, Paris, adding that his information was that the men may be held separately by two different groups.

The unidentified French security advisers were abducted on July 14 while eating breakfast at the Sahafi Hotel in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. The men are currently being held by the Islamist al-Shabaab militia, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Muhideen Ahmed, a Somali police official.

France "acknowledged" the authorization granted by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed´s transitional government for French commandos to be used to free the hostages, though no request has been made to do so, Kouchner said.

"Priority is given to negotiations, but we don´t exclude anything," Kouchner said. Discussions aimed at freeing the men are "ongoing," he said.

Kouchner said he has had no indication that the abduction of the men was linked to French actions to deter piracy off the coast of Somalia, where at least 29 merchant ships have been seized this year by armed gangs.

Neither former spokesman of the Shabaab al Mujahidiin, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow (a.k.a. "Abu Mansur"), who had been replaced, nor the new spokesperson of the ASRA army, Sheikh Ali Mahmud Ragi, known as Sheikh Ali Dheere, nor any of the other al-Shabaab splinter groups have been able to say anything. Observers feel that the Islamists actually do not really know yet what to say and what to do, which raises serious concerns that the groups running with the two hostages will not really be up to the task to act responsibly. Also the Supreme Council of Shabaab al Mujahidiin has remained mum so far, while only an anonymous alleged senior member of the al-Shebaab organisation, which is fighting the country's official government, said the pair would be charged with spying and mounting a "conspiracy against Islam". The unidentified officer said the two French agents "will soon be tried and punished under the Sharia law." On condition of anonymity that al-Shebab officer told the AFP news agency last Saturday: "The men were caught assisting the apostate government and their spies, so that they will soon be tried and punished under the Sharia law, they will face the justice court for spying and entering Somalia to assist the enemy of Allah."

One comment we received was: "Im sure the frenchies will sit back, say a few diplomatic words and do...Nothing!!! After all, this isn't Greenpeace we're talking about.", thereby referring to the attack of French secret agents against a Greenpeace ship, killing a renowned conservationist.

And the Somalis might be advised to borrow a leaf from Iran, where a French woman who was recently arrested for spying is held. The Iranians at least know how to treat prisoners, though not too many details of her circumstances had yet been shared with the public. Her name is Clotilde Reiss, and she´s only 23. After being arrested by the Iranian police at the Tehran airport, she was taken to Tehran´s notorious Evin prison. For the five months prior to her arrest, she had been working as a French-language teaching assistant at Esfahan University in Iran. France´s ambassador to Iran, was able to meet with Reiss in prison. The Iranian authorities´ accusations of espionage - taking mobile phone pictures during the post-election violence - seem to be rather flimsy, and French officials have said on numerous occasions that the charges are completely baseless. French President Sarkozy issued a statement that demanded Reiss´s release in no uncertain terms.

Government says no officials were involved in the abduction of French nationals

by Said Abdullahi

On Tuesday, a commission established by the Federal government of Somalia, to investigate the kidnapping of two Frenchmen in Mogadishu, said they found no evidence that government officials were involved in the kidnapping.

The two French men were adducted by gunmen from their hotel in Mogadishu, one week ago, they are now in the hands of Islamist insurgent groups in the capital of Somalia.

There have been allegations that the Federal minister of interior Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, was involved in the kidnapping. Many accused his bodyguards of abducting the two men and then later handing them over to the insurgent groups. The Minister denies all allegations.

Several bodyguards of the minister and hotel staff were arrested, while the investigation continues.

Hotel Sahafi, where the two French men were kidnapped, is located in south of Mogadishu , the heart of a heavily guarded area, controlled by the government and African Union Peacekeepers AMISOM.

The French nationals were on an official visit to the capital of Somalia, to train government troops.

After the abduction, the government quickly named a team of 15 security officials, who will investigate the kidnapping.

The first report released by the commission, said that there are no clear evidence that any of the government officials were involved in the abduction.

The commission is expected to conclude their investigation in the coming days.

There are still no demands from the insurgent group who are holding the two men, the French government announces this week, that they are ready to negotiate with the militants holding the two French officials.

Impacting reports from the global village

Ottawa's rabbit hole

The clock is ticking for Toronto traveler Suaad Hagi Mohamud, and not in a good way. Stranded in Kenya because Canadian authorities have declared her an imposter and voided her passport, she must face charges in a Kenyan court on Friday.

Like Alice in Wonderland, Mrs. Mohamud has disappeared down a rabbit hole of shifting reality since being arrested by Kenyan police at the Nairobi airport two months ago because an official claimed she didn't resemble her passport photo. The Somali-born woman was returning to Toronto from a visit with her ailing mother. Canadian consular officials were quick to insist, on undisclosed evidence, that she was a fake.

After weeks of stalling, Canadian officials in Nairobi agreed to take Mohamud's fingerprints for definitive identification, but only after her case surfaced in the media. That was almost two weeks ago. Since then the government has not revealed the results or the reason for the delay, although there are hints that the earlier prints Mohamud had taken as a refugee may now have been deleted from Ottawa's files.

Mohamud, a Toronto resident with a 12-year-old son, now faces charges of identity fraud, in a country Amnesty International says is in need of "fundamental judicial, police and security sector reform." A fingerprint match could be the crucial evidence needed to acquit her.

Without Ottawa's help, Mohamud will likely be convicted and sentenced to time in one of Kenya's brutal jails for a crime of which she may be entirely innocent. Or she may be deported to Somalia, a failed state that is in the midst of a bloody civil war.

Meanwhile, a Toronto lawyer has filed a motion in court to demand that Ottawa hand over any evidence it has on Mohamud's identity.

To date, both Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon have remained silent on this matter, which has only served to increase speculation that they are trying to cover up for an embarrassing mistake. To clear the air, they should end their silence forthwith.

N.B.: ECOTERRA Intl. has meanwhile placed one of their officers as a Guardian Angel near Mrs. Suaag H. Mohamud in order to prevent that she can be framed during her unprotected stay in the country. Meanwhile lawyers from Canada and Kenya have become active, but the Canadian High Commission in Kenya only called Mrs. Suaad H. Mohamud once now and asked her to come "to sign a paper"! - not explaining to her what and why. An official communication by ECOTERRA Intl., who has been mandated by Mrs. Suaad H. Mohamud, to the Canadian High Commission as well as to officials in Canada so far remains unanswered.]

U.N. reports record humanitarian aid shortfall by Laura MacInnis for Reuters

Recession drives up global humanitarian needs, U.N. says

Aid shortfalls for 2009 biggest in Sudan, Congo, Zimbabwe

Economic stresses to increase social tensions, conflict

The United Nations on Tuesday revealed a record $4.8 billion funding gap for its 2009 aid projects as a result of strained foreign assistance, widespread economic trouble and a ten-fold increase in needs in Pakistan.

"This recession is driving up humanitarian needs," U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes told a news briefing in Geneva, where he held meetings with donor nations who will soon set their 2010 aid budgets.

A financing report prepared for those sessions stressed that the United Nations has received less than half the $9.5 billion it sought for humanitarian work this year. Yet some 43 million people need assistance this year, up from 28 million in 2008.

While there have been no large natural disasters so far in 2009, the global downturn has amplified needs in impoverished countries, and especially in those in protracted crisis such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

Pakistan's military incursion against Taliban fighters that has sent two million people from their homes has also stretched U.N. aid operations, which are meanwhile expanding in Iraq and Zimbabwe as a result of better aid worker-access there.

"Humanitarian need is increasing because of economic crisis and other global challenges," the report said, saying the loss of jobs and decline in remittances from relatives overseas had pushed more people into poverty and made food, health and education harder to access.

Rise in Distress Migration

"There is likely to be a rise in distress migration, malnutrition and social unrest," it said. "Extreme economic hardship is likely to generate new, or exacerbate existing, social tensions and conflict."

For the most part, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, traditional donors such as the United States, European Union, Japan, Canada and the Nordics have not slashed their aid budgets, "many of which were set before the financial crisis exploded in the last quarter of 2008."

"However, budgets will be under greater pressure for 2010, because of the expected declines in government revenue if national income continues to fall and simultaneous increases in government borrowing for economic stimulus spending," the report circulated on Tuesday read.

The $4.8 billion shortfall for 2009 affects all major U.N. humanitarian projects, which involve supplying water, food, medical care and shelter, clearing landmines, and helping vulnerable people improve their agricultural output.

Countries with the biggest funding gaps include Sudan ($916 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo ($505 million), Zimbabwe ($458 million) and Somalia ($428 million).

Pakistan, which has seen the most dramatic change following the army offensive against militants that caused more than 2 million people to flee their homes, has a $312 million gap.

The U.N. report also stressed that Kenya has sunk into a more perilous situation, with food becoming more expensive and scarce, and refugee camps filling up with thousands of people fleeing violence in neighbouring Somalia, where insecurity has made it increasingly difficult and costly to deliver aid.

Zimbabwe's funding needs have increased because of ongoing humanitarian pressures and also because the new power-sharing government has opened the door to more humanitarian activity.

"Similarly, in Iraq, funding requirements have gone up in part because of a need to take advantage of opportunities to prepare for return and resettlement," the U.N. report said.

UN short nearly $5bn for aid projects as global recession cuts donations

By Heather Stewart for The Guardian

Half-yearly report says members countries have less funds to spare while poverty is on the increase in developing world

The United Nations is warning of a $4.8bn (£2.9bn) shortfall in funding to tackle humanitarian crises in the world's poorest countries, as the credit crunch leaves developed world governments with little cash to spare.

Delivering its half-yearly update about emergency fund-raising, John Holmes, of the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that while the UN's emergency appeals had received more funds than at the same time last year, the economic crisis was exacerbating poverty and increasing need.

"It is clear that the global recession puts pressure on the aid budgets of all donor governments, but of course it puts immeasurably more pressure on crises-stricken people in poor countries," he said.

The UN has raised a total of $4.6bn over the past six months for its humanitarian appeals – but Holmes said it had identified $4.8bn of "unmet needs" – the biggest gap ever.

Holmes compared the shortfall in funding for the world's poorest people with the vast sums spent by the US, UK and other developed countries on bailing out their banking sectors.

"If just a fraction of the hundreds of billions of dollars recently committed by governments to private financial institutions were allocated to humanitarian action, these appeals could already be fully funded, and those in need could be getting the best available protection and assistance, on time," Holmes said.

He singled out Kenya, Palestine and Zimbabwe as states whose financing needs have become more severe over the past six months, and said the UN is keen to raise more resources during the rest of the year.

Holmes said humanitarian needs in just one country, Somalia, had decreased recently – but only because a food aid project had been cancelled due to rising insecurity for the staff working on the ground.

Aid agencies have repeatedly sounded the alarm since the global downturn began last year about the disproportionate impact on poor countries, which often rely heavily on export earnings.

World trade volumes have collapsed over the past six months, and unlike their richer counterparts, governments in the developing world find it hard to raise funds on international capital markets. Only a small proportion of the funding pledged at the G20 summit in London earlier this year to combat the impact of the crisis was targeted at the world's poor.

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi came under international pressure in the run-up to the G8 summit he hosted in L'Aquila earlier this month, after cutting Italy's aid budget.

At a recent conference in New York, organised by the president of the UN general assembly, member-states pledged to offer extra aid, but little has so far been forthcoming.

Saudi Arabian princess seeks asylum in Britain over illegitimate child

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has successfully sought asylum in Britain after claiming she would face the death penalty if she went home.

The woman, who has been granted anonymity, is married to an elderly member of the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia and met her non-Muslim English boyfriend during a visit to London.

She became pregnant the following year and persuaded her husband to let her return to the UK so she could give birth in secret.

She has now become one of a handful of Saudi citizens to apply to the UK courts for asylum. Such cases are not generally acknowledged by the British government for fear that highlighting the persecution of women in the strict Muslim nation would strain relations with the House of Saud.

The woman told the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal that she could be liable to death by stoning under Sharia law if she returned, or face an honour killing.

Since she fled her home country, her husband's family and her own, independently wealthy family, have broken off contact with her.

The Home Office has declined to discuss the case, which was first reported in The Independent. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia also failed to comment in time for the paper's deadline.

But it serves as further evidence that the Gulf state of Saudi Arabia, which is home to around 30,000 Britons, is still lagging behind in its approach to human rights.

According to Amnesty International, there were at least 102 executions of men and women by stonings, floggings, beheadings and hangings last year and the charity claims there are at least 136 more people on death row.

Last week, the kingdom's religious police were blamed for the shooting dead of two sisters by their brother in Riyadh in what was deemed to be an "honour killing".

The sisters, who were 19 and 21, had been arrested by the police for allegedly mixing with men to whom they were not related, a move which according to The Society for Defending Women's Rights, prompted the killing.

The Russian navy is reported to be moving ahead with plans to upgrade its Soviet-era naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus in the eastern Mediterranean.

Ria Novosti Monday quoted a senior Russian navy source as saying that "following modernization, the naval maintenance site at Tartus will become fully operational."

The source said the base, established during the Cold War but little used since, would support Russia's anti-piracy operations off Somalia.

However, Moscow will be able to use it, and possibly a separate facility at Latakia, Syria's other main port, to reassert its influence in the Mediterranean and the Arab world.

Moscow has also been seeking to establish naval bases in Libya, at the western end of the Mediterranean, and in Yemen on the Red Sea.

This is causing some consternation in the region. Israel in particular is showing signs of alarm at the prospect of Russian military and intelligence support for Syria, possibly including the deployment of advanced air-defense systems around Tartus and Latakia on its doorstep.

If the Russians complete the upgrade of the Tartus facility, Russia's only foothold in the Mediterranean, it would mark the first military presence Moscow has established outside the borders of the former Soviet Union since it collapsed in 1991.

Still, many questions remain about the value to Moscow of making such a strategic leap at this time as relations with the United States remain in flux.

First, these days Russia's Black Sea Fleet, which would provide the ships for a Mediterranean squadron, is a pale shadow of what it was during the Cold War.

"We have almost no ships left in the Black Sea," commented Konstantin Makienko of Moscow's Center for Strategic and Technical Analysis. "All that Russia could maintain in Syria is a ship or two. That's only a symbolic presence."

Second, Moscow, even with the windfall of high oil prices in 2006-2008, has other military priorities in its much-reduced military budget, such as its nuclear deterrent, the revival of its missile forces and strategic aviation.

Third, while deploying a naval force in the eastern Mediterranean would provide some political leverage for President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, it would have little real military value.

The Russian flotilla would be heavily outgunned by U.S., NATO and Israeli forces and would be beyond the effective reach of Russian air cover, a suicidal proposition.

Nonetheless, the Russians appear to be up to something. In August 2007 Adm. Vladimir Masorin, commander of the Russian navy, declared at Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Crimea:

"The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically. I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic Fleets, the Russian navy should restore its permanent presence there."

In June 2006 the Russians were reported to be dredging Tartus to deepen the harbor to handle large Russian warships and had begun constructing a new dock at Latakia.

The plan, according to Moscow newspaper Kommersant, was to base a four-ship squadron of the badly depleted Black Sea Fleet, led by the missile cruiser Moskva, the fleet's flagship, in the eastern Mediterranean.

Russia initially denied these reports, as did Damascus. But Masorin's remarks cast some doubt on those denials. In 2005 Putin, then president, appointed Masorin as naval commander with orders to revive the vastly reduced post-Cold War navy.

The Israeli media has speculated that a Russian presence in Syria would handcuff the Israeli militarily in any future conflict over the Golan Heights or Lebanon.

If the Russians do rebuild their base at Tartus, it would likely be protected by state-of-the-art S-300PMU-2 Favorit surface-to-air missile batteries manned by Russians.

These long-range systems, far superior to Syria's air-defense system, could provide cover for much of Syria and become a major obstacle for the Israeli air force.

The S-300s would certainly make recent Israeli air force operations, such as the provocative 2006 low-level buzzing of President Bashar Assad's palace in Latakia and the September 2007 airstrike on a nuclear facility near the Turkish border, far more risky.

According to various reports, Moscow has been selling Syria a wide range of weaponry, including highly effective SS-26 Iskander-E missiles and advanced anti-tank systems.

The Syrians, always hard up for cash, may well be prepared to provide Moscow with naval bases as partial payment for its arms purchases, past, present and future.

Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian fields (AP)

More than 30 Israeli settlers, some of them on horseback, set fire to fields and olive trees and stoned Palestinian cars during a rampage in the West Bank on Monday, a Palestinian official said. Two Palestinians were lightly injured.

The settlers went on the rampage near the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank to protest the Israeli army's removal of an unauthorized settlement outpost in the area.

Ghassan Daglas, a Nablus municipality official, said the riot began with 10 settlers on horseback and grew to a mob of 30 south of the city, where the settlers attacked Palestinians who passed in cars.

Daglas said smoke from the burning fields blanketed the area, but no houses were damaged. Daglas said Israeli forces tried to stop the rampaging settlers.

Israel's paramilitary border police force said it arrested one settler. Israel has pledged to the U.S. to remove more than two dozen tiny, unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, but has taken little action against them. Hardline settlers commonly attack Palestinian property as retaliation for demolished or evacuated settlements — a tactic they call the "price tag."

The Palestinians oppose all settlement activity on land they claim for a future state, and the U.S., which considers settlements obstacles to peace, is demanding a freeze on all settlement construction in the West Bank.

Israel has rejected the U.S. calls for a settlement freeze, saying existing settlements must be allowed to expand to account for "natural growth" in their populations.

Some 280,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements, in addition to 180,000 Israelis living in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim both areas, which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

Six Songs Used to Torture and Intimidate

By Danny Gallagher for Mental Floss (www.mentalfloss.com)

Playing an annoying song over and over to get someone to spill their guts might sound like a gag from a Mel Brooks movie, but it's actually become a standard practice. An article by an NYU musicologist in the Journal of the Society for American Music details how music was regularly used in interrogations on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan as a method of inducing disorientation to get suspects to talk without inflicting physical force.

Here are some of the songs used by military and law enforcement entities to get their suspects to sing.

1. Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA"

It should stand as no surprise that a large majority of the songs used in Guantanamo Bay consisted of seemingly patriotic ditties like Springsteen's most famous American anthem. One Spanish citizen accused of being linked to the terrorist network Al-Qaida claimed his interrogators played this song the majority of the time during his entire two year stay in the Cuban prison. However, Clive Stafford Smith, the legal director of the UK human rights charity Reprieve, noted that it may not have been the most patriotic choice since "the message of the song is harshly critical of American policy, condemning the war in Vietnam and describing a veteran's efforts to find work."

2. Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty"

Mohammed al Qahtani, the man many believe was the "20th hijacker" of the Sept. 11 attacks, got one of two wake-up calls during his stay in Guantanamo Bay: dripping water on his head or an earful of Aguilera's sexually-charged lyrics. This was combined with other interrogation techniques, such as prolonged strip searches and invasion of space by a female. He would admit he met with bin Laden, but later deny this admission. Days later, many of these interrogation methods were halted after military lawyers raised questions about their efficacy.

3. Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made for Walking"

One of history's most tragic standoffs also featured one of history's most famous musical standoffs. Cult leader David Koresh's battle with the FBI in 1993 featured a back and forth barrage of ballad bombardments. Koresh wore down his followers by blasting his own failed pop songs at eardrum-busting levels. When the FBI moved in and cut the power to the compound, they fired back with Nancy Sinatra's depressing girl power pop ballad along with a monotonous mix of Tibetan chants, cavalry bugle beats and 1950s-style Christmas carols for nearly seven weeks straight. FBI officials said they rejected the idea of using Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" because of fears that some of the cult members might actually like it.

4. AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" and "Hells Bells"

Heavy metal songs have long been a favorite tool of military interrogators. They're loud, often repetitive and (as any parent with steadily reduced hearing can attest) can even create feelings of physical pain or discomfort to the ears and head. Troops used "long range acoustic devices" to blast the Australian metal group's ballads throughout the region to increase the vulnerability of Iraqi insurgents. The LRADs, developed by the American Technology Corporation, have also been used to repel pirate attacks in Somalia and throw sound at bystanders at stores and conventions for product displays.

5. Anything by Barry Manilow

The work of the world's most famous lounge lizard might be Jack Bauer's first choice of music in an interrogation room. Actually, the military didn't use Manilow's music to get their suspects to sing. The New Zealand town of Christchurch recently blasted the crooner's tunes throughout their central mall district to drive away the local punks who had been littering the area with graffiti, drinking in public and doing drugs. It sounds like a perfect plan because after all, he may write the songs that make the whole world sing, but they also make young kids' heads explode.

6. Barney the Dinosaur's "I Love You"

The Guardian newspaper in London called this sugary lump of fear inducing madness the most "overused" song in the U.S. interrogator's arsenal. Interrogators at Guantanamo Bay, however, used the sappy kids' show theme song as "futility music" to convince detainees of the futility of maintaining their silence. One United Kingdom human rights group protested President George W. Bush's visit to England by blasting the song in his general direction. Now that's a second strike.

There is no limit to what a person can do or how far one can go to help - if one doesn't mind who gets the credit !

ECOTERRA Intl. maintains a register for persons missing or abducted in the Somali seas (Foreign seafarers as well as Somalis). Inquiries by family member can be sent by e-mail to office[at]ecoterra-international.org

For families of presently captive seafarers - in order to advise and console their worries - ECOTERRA Intl. can establish contacts with professional seafarers, who had been abducted in Somalia, and their wives as well as of a Captain of a sea-jacked and released ship, who agreed to be addressed "with questions, and we will answer truthfully".

ECOTERRA - ALERTS and pending issues:

PIRATE ATTACK GULF OF ADEN: Advice on Who to Contact and What to Do http://www.noonsite.com/Members/sue/R2008-09-08-2

NATURAL RESOURCES & ARMED FISH POACHERS: Foreign navies entering the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and foreign helicopters and troops must respect the fact that especially all wildlife is protected by Somali national as well as by international laws and that the protection of the marine resources of Somalia from illegally fishing foreign vessels should be an integral part of the anti-piracy operations. Likewise the navies must adhere to international standards and not pollute the coastal waters with oil, ballast water or waste from their own ships but help Somalia to fight against any dumping of any waste (incl. diluted, toxic or nuclear waste). So far and though the AU as well as the UN has called since long on other nations to respect the 200 nm EEZ, only now the two countries (Spain and France) to which the most notorious vessels and fleets are linked have come up with a declaration that they will respect the 200 nm EEZ of Somalia but so far not any of the navies operating in the area pledged to stand against illegal fishing. So far not a single illegal fishing vessel has been detained by the naval forces, though they had been even informed about several actual cases, where an intervention would have been possible. Illegally operating Tuna fishing vessels (many from South Korea, some from Greece and China) carry now armed personnel and force their way into the Somali fishing grounds - uncontrolled or even protected by the naval forces mandated to guard the Somali waters against any criminal activity, which included arms carried by foreign fishing vessels in Somali waters.

LLWs / NLWs: According to recently leaked information the anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden are also used as a cover-up for the live testing of recently developed arsenals of so called non-lethal as well as sub-lethal weapons systems. (Pls request details) Neither the Navies nor the UN has come up with any code of conduct in this respect, while the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWP) is sponsoring several service-led acquisition programs, including the VLAD, Joint Integration Program, and Improved Flash Bang Grenade. Alredy in use in Somalia are so called Non-lethal optical distractors, which are visible laser devices that have reversible optical effects. These types of non-blinding laser devices use highly directional optical energy. Somalia is also a testing ground for the further developments of the Active Denial System (ADS) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). If new developments using millimeter wave sources that will help minimize the size, weight, and system cost of an effective Active Denial System which provides "ADS-ACTD-like" repel effects, are used has not yet been revealed. Obviously not only the US is developing and using these kind of weapons as the case of MV MARATHON showed, where a Spanish naval vessel was using optical lasers - the stand-off was then broken by the killing of one of the hostage seafarers. Local observers also claim that HEMI devices, producing Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation (HEMI) Bioeffects, have been used in the Gulf of Aden against Somalis. Exposure to HEMI devices, which can be understood as a stun-gun shot at an individual over a larger distance, causes muscle contractions that temporarily disable an individual. Research efforts are underway to develop a longer-duration of this effect than is currently available. The live tests are apparently done without that science understands yet the effects of HEMI electrical waveforms on a human body.

ECOTERRA Intl., whose work does focus on nature- and human-rights-protection and - as the last international environmental organization still working in Somalia - had alerted ship-owners since 1992, many of whom were fishing illegally in the 200 nm Exclusive Economic Zone, to stay away from Somali waters. The non-governmental organization had requested the international community many times for help to protect the coastal waters of the war-torn state, but now lawlessness has seriously increased and gone out of hand.

ECOTERRA members with marine and maritime expertise, joined by it's ECOP-marine group, are closely and continuously monitoring and advising on the Somali situation. (for previous information concerning the topics please google keywords ECOTERRA (and) SOMALIA)

The network of the SEAFARERS ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME helped significantly in most sea-jack cases. ECOTERRA Intl. is working in Somalia since 1986 on human-rights and nature protection, while ECOP-marine concentrates on illegal fishing and the protection of the marine ecosystems. Your support counts too.

Please consider to contribute to the work of SAP, ECOP-marine and ECOTERRA Intl. Please donate to the defence fund.

Contact us for details concerning project-sponsorship or donations via e-mail: ecotrust[at]ecoterra.net

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Press Contacts:

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