The March 5-16 airlift of Ugandan troops by the U.S. DynCorp International, working under the NATO banner, rotated the 850-man Ugandan battalion in Mogadishu, but added almost 1,000 more men to Amisom's strength of some 5,000 personnel.
However, 10 days later, there was no sign that the TGF was poised to launch an attack, even though TFG forces have been strengthened by some 2,500 troops trained in Kenya and Djibouti.
TFG Interior Minister Sheik Abdulkadir Ali Omar, announced March 6 that preparations for the offensive were in the "final stage." But nothing has happened.
That stems in large part from the weakness of the dysfunctional government and the inferior quality of its combat forces, who are poorly trained, motivated and equipped.
The government is notoriously corrupt. The United Nations has called for an investigation into the apparent diversion of large amounts of food aid to the Islamist insurgents by corrupt contractors.
Government officials say the TFG only has enough funds to sustain a few days of heavy fighting, rather than the months it is expected to take to get on top of the Islamists.
The extent of corruption has put off foreign donors who have kept the TFG afloat since it was established with U.S. backing -- and Ethiopian military muscle -- in December 2006.
Pro-government clan militias have refused to undergo training to professional military standards unless they are compensated. But the TFG Treasury is empty.
The Jamestown Foundation of Washington, which monitors global security, reported last Friday, "Leadership is also in question." It noted that President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed "rarely emerges from his headquarters in the Villa Somalia presidential palace."
Haha. Sh. Sharif rarely spends consecutive days in his bunker, erm headquarters, in Mogadishu. IOW, he emerges from there regularly in order to hop into an armored escort to the airport. But he is pinned down when there.
Meanwhile, contrast that UPI article with this one - the NYT's Jeffrey Garbageman atones for the unwanted focus on USG involvement in Somalia that one of his articles recently generated by cobbling together a big stinkin' heap of counterinsurgency propaganda while embedded in Mogadishu - Somali Backlash May Be Militants’ Worst Foe
MOGADISHU, Somalia — For the past three years, the Shabab, one of Africa’s most fearsome militant Islamist groups, have been terrorizing the Somali public, chopping off hands, stoning people to death and banning TV, music and even bras in their quest to turn Somalia into a seventh-century-style Islamic state.
At the same time, they have drawn increasingly close to Al Qaeda, deploying suicide bombers, attracting jihadists from around the world and prompting American concerns that they may be spreading into Kenya, Yemen and beyond.
But could Somalia finally be reaching a tipping point against the Shabab?
Not only is Somalia’s transitional government gearing up for a major offensive against the Shabab — with the American military providing intelligence and logistical support — but Mogadishu’s beleaguered population, sensing a change in the salt-sticky air, is beginning to turn against them.
Women who have been whipped and humiliated by morality police for not veiling their faces are now whispering valuable secrets about the Shabab’s movements into the ears of government soldiers. Teenage students outraged that Shabab-allied fighters hoisted a black flag in front of their school recently pelted the fighters with stones. Defectors are leaving the Shabab in droves, including one 13-year-old who said that he was routinely drugged before being handed a machine gun and shoved into combat.
...
..never before has the Somali public had such a vested interest in who wins as they do in the coming showdown against the Shabab.
“They are like rabid dogs,” said Dahir Mohamed, a shopkeeper, who still has puffy, oddly circular scars on his face from where he says young Shabab fighters bit him.
...
..if Somalis, who possess considerable firepower of their own, decisively turn against the Shabab, and the government provides people with an alternative to rally behind, it could be difficult for the militants to reconstitute themselves, even as a guerrilla army.
...
“I’m not saying Somalia’s going to be a modern state,” said one American official “But it won’t be a radical Islamic state either.”
The Shabab seem to be rapidly ruining any chances of that. Defections, double-crossings and internal strife are increasingly plaguing their movement, according to many Somalis.
...
The Shabab seem to be traveling down the same degenerative path of countless other African rebel groups that began with a discernible ideology, but then turned to terrorizing the very people they were supposed to liberate.
Or so the psyops teams would like you to believe...
(I feel so dirty after reading disinformation like that... ugg...)
On to someone else I almost always disagree with, J. Peter Pham's latest - Muddled on Mogadishu: America's Confused Somalia Strategy. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Pham apparently still does not realize the counterrevolutionary tactic of installing Sh. Sharif into the largely irrelevant office of transitional president of Somalia. Not only did that move split apart the ARS at a most opportune time, it further provoked divisions amongst Islamist groups and clans, ensuring, if not divide et impera per se, at least a destabilization that precluded an unaccountable Islamic governance for Southern and Central Somalia. Islamist has been pitted against Islamist as animosity mounts against the Abgal. That was the role set up for Sh. Sharif - ignore the "last best hope" spin. More like a late-in-the-game hail mary to avert a popular revolution from taking hold.
Anyway, back to Pham. He almost comes close to figuring this out when he writes: [italics are his - see the original for links to sources]
While the media is wont to describe the TFG—which, it should be recalled, is just the fifteenth in a succession of failed interim regimes since the overthrow of the dictatorship of Muhammad Siyad Barre—as the "internationally recognized government" of Somalia, the fact is its legal recognition as a sovereign subject of international law is more the exception than the rule. While the United States, for example, never formally severed relations with Somalia after shutting down the American Embassy there in 1991, neither has it officially recognized any of the fifteen transitional governments, including the current TFG. The State Department website merely states: "The United States maintains regular dialogue with the TFG and other key stakeholders in Somalia through the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya."
That would be the man of many acronyms, Ambassador Ranneberger, who "is also responsible for U.S. relations with Somalia" and functions as Sh. Sharif's handler.
In fact, the lack of affirmative de jure recognition for the TFG is presumed by the introduction in October 2009 of a proposed Congressional Resolution by Congressman Donald Payne, chairman of the Africa Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging "the Obama Administration to recognize the TFG and allow the opening of an official Somali Embassy in Washington."
The clear implication is that the United States Government accords the TFG something less than normal diplomatic recognition as a sovereign. In fact, this point was formally conceded in early 2010 by the Obama administration when, in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving Siyad Barre's defense minister, Mohamed Ali Samantar, the Solicitor-General of the United States and the Legal Advisor of the State Department acknowledged that "since the fall of that government, the United States has not recognized any entity as the government of Somalia".
But, either he is not capable of drawing the correct conclusion or he's also subordinated honest assessment to an ideological itinerary.
Thus, the muddled message seems to be we will arm you in the hope that you make something of yourself because we don't have any other ideas at the moment, but we won't recognize you just in case you utterly embarrass us—not much of a strategy as far as it goes. What is needed is a fundamental change in approach. If, after more than five years since its inception, hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid, and the lives of hundreds of valiant Ethiopian, Ugandan, and Burundian officers and enlisted men who have given their lives defending it when its own ministers won't commit their own sons to the effort, the TFG is still unable to rally to its banner the very people it purports to represent, there is nothing that any outside power can or should do to impose it upon clearly unwilling Somalis. Rather, it is high time that the United States and Somalia's other international partners look after their own legitimate interests and refocus their energies on minimizing and containing the harm caused by the interim regime's ineffectiveness and corruption, while strengthening those functional parts of the former Somali state and integrating them into the framework for regional security and stability. To put it in terms that would resonate with the traditional pastoral Somali, the stakes are simply too high for us to risk a bet on a camel that, if not quite dead, is certainly crippled.
-- -- --
In Uganda,
New Vision: Gen. Wamala advises on Somali crisis
THE commander of the land forces, Lt. Gen. Katumba Wamala, yesterday said increasing the number of troops in Somalia will not solve the crisis in the war torn nation. He instead appealed for a more holistic approach to the Somali problem.
Speaking at the opening of a consultative assessment workshop for the African Union (AU) in support of the transitional federal government of Somalia, Wamala said the problem in the country was more than just the issue of troops.
“For those who think the solution to Somalia’s problem is just guns, they are mistaken. The problem is not the number of guns, the problem is failed institutions and what is needed is a holistic approach to the problem,” he said.
Under the multi-prolonged approach, Katumba Wamala said there was need to tackle the security issue alongside building state institutions, which he said are almost non-existent due to two decades of insurgency.
“We cannot think of sending more soldiers when other arms of government are not functional. We need to improve the arms of the state,” he said.
Participants included the Soma li minister for labour and human resource, Mohamed Abdi Hayir, Wafula Wamunyinyi from the AU commission for Somalia and the Somali ambassador to Uganda, Sayid Ahmed Dahir.
The workshop also established what is needed for the effective running of crucial ministries and offices in Somalia and to ensure local ownership of the process.
The crucial ministries included that of defence, national security, internal affairs, public service, finance and the office of the prime minister.
The ultimate aim is to improve service delivery in crucial areas and it is hoped that this will provide the necessary catalyst for peace and stability.
...
Wamunyinyi lashed out at the numerous conferences and workshops that have been held in the name of addressing the Somalia problem but with no solutions.
“We are no longer interested in conferences that bear no results and this is particularly true for people dealing with the Somali crisis,” he said.
A similar report on the conference in the Daily Monitor adds:
Gen. Wamala, who was addressing a meeting of senior Somali government officials in Kampala, said Somalis are likely to lose confidence in the transitional government of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed due to poor social service delivery.
...
..the deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, Mr Wafula Wamunyinyi, said the African Union (AU) has prioritised capacity building to support transitional government institutions.
He said the AU, which is mandated to build capacity of the transitional government institutions, has identified public service and security as the key areas to reactivate.
But then that article also (mis)attributes the problem as
The conflict between Islamist insurgent groups has displaced nearly 170,000 people in the capital, Mogadishu.
Of course... What else could one expect from a publication whose banner reads "Truth Every Day"?
As if the succinct summary prepended to that article didn't already clue you in:
In Summary
The Somalia Minister for Labour and Human Resources Development, Mr Mohamed Abdi Hayir, said Somalis alone cannot bring stability in their country. “We need your support. African brothers are those who can support you when you are in a critical condition,” he said.
-- -- --
Mercenaries on a problematic merchant ship killed a suspected Somali pirate on Tuesday. From the story in Ecoterra International's SMCM
UAE vessel in third and now deadly incident off the Somali coast
The notorious UAE-owner-managed MV ALMEZAAN (aka AL Mezaan) (IMO number: 7906710) a general cargo ship with a gross tonnage of 2086 built in 1979 and sailing under a flag of convenience from Panama was again in trouble - this time approximately 60 miles south of Harardheere along the Somali coast.early on Tuesday morning.
Already captured twice before (one time in connection with armoured vehicles and one time in connection with an alleged weapons transport), this time the crew had armed private staff with them killing one of the Somalis, who wanted together with six others to intercept the vessel en route to Mogadishu.
...
"Private security guards shot and killed a Somali pirate during an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa in what is believed to be the first such killing by armed contractors," the EU Naval Force spokesman confirmed Wednesday.
The Somali group had apparently approached the vessel twice, said EU Naval Force spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour. During the second approach there was an exchange of fire between the guards and the pirates.
...
The vessel sports as "registered owner" SHAHMIR MARITIME of St Vincent & The Grenadines - another briefcase office -, while BIYAT INTERNATIONAL from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates serves as ship-manager and Inter Gulf Marine of UAE usually play the role of the shipping and cargo manager. With this onion-routed layers of confusing responsibilities it will be interesting to see who takes the responsibility for hiring the armed men onboard, to see if they had permission to carry arms in Somali waters from the Somali government and who from the "guns-for-hire" will finally admit to have shot and killed the Somali man.
...
Though in general this killing raises questions over who has jurisdiction over a growing army of armed guards on merchant ships flying flags from many nations, it is quite clear that in this case the shooter as well as the attackers have to be tried by the High Court in Mogadishu, because based on Somalia's still valid maritime law of 1973, merchant vessels can not carry arms in Somali waters without permission from the government of Somalia and an armed attack against a merchant vessel in Somali waters is likewise a crime.
-- -- --
What to make of this? Feeling out public opinion? Provoking attacks?
Garowe Online: Mogadishu braces for govt's military offensive
The besieged Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia is planning to launch full scale its much-awaited offensive against the powerful insurgence in the coming week, sources told Radio Garowe.
A high ranking official who requested not to be named said the preparation has been completed and the plans are to retain the control of the Horn of African nation which had been ruined by two-decade long civil war.
"This coming week will launch our offensives to retain the control of 10 districts in Mogadishu, which are not under the control of the government,” he said.
“The war will start within weeks and the plans are that way unless its changed,” he added.
"This coming week will launch our offensives" or "the war will start within weeks" unless we don't...?
And how does one "retain control" of districts "not under the control of the government"?
In recent weeks, thousands of people have fled Mogadishu's near-daily insurgent attacks and the TFG officials' repeated threats of launching a massive offensive to push back the insurgents.
The official also said American warplanes will take part in the offensives and the neighboring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia will tighten their borders with Somalia.
...
Somali military commander Gen. Mohammed Gelle Kahiye has previously stated that the force will receive special care ... in the fight, adding that work is completing at the special Hospital where the wounded will be admitted.
The war against the insurgents was planned by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who said it is the only remaining option for his one-year old administration to voyage in the rattled waters.
Heh!
Like this?
Mareeg Online: Five killed in fresh shelling in Mogadishu
At least five civilians have been killed and seven others have been injured in heavy shelling that targeted civilian populated areas in the capital, witnesses said on Thursday.
It is not known the reason behind the shelling, and no fighting has been reported in Mogadishu on Thursday.
The shelling targeted Karan, Yaqshid, and Abdiaziz districts in north Mogadishu and also Hodan district in south Mogadishu.
It is suspected that the government soldiers and the African Union troops fired the mortars to the insurgent held areas in the capital.
The wounded civilians have been rushed to Mogadishu hospitals where they are being treated.
-- -- --
Cleansing?
Garowe Online: Somali force demolish houses near Mogadishu airport
Somali police force demolished several homestead built near the Mogadishu Airport after reports emerged that they were funded and used by Al-Shabaab insurgent group.
The force, which was acting on order from Mogadishu local administration, razed down all the houses on what the officials said was plans to avert a possible attack on the airport carried within the area by the insurgents.
"The houses were demolished so as to tighten the security around the airport,” said Mogadishu’s council Secretary General Abdikafi Hilowle.
Col. Abdullahi Hassan Barise, Police Spokesman told the reporters that the insurgent group Al-Shabaab funded the construction of the houses near the airport so that I can use to carry out its attacks. [sic]
"It was a counter-plan if we look on one side, the other side is maintaining the security of the government-controlled areas. The government will relocated those affected by relocated to Medina district,” he said.
However, the affected population says the operation was conducted in an unethical manner where the police forcible uprooted the innocent civilians and demolished the houses early in the morning.
“I and my six children are homeless now, we don’t where to spend tonight which is our biggest nightmare". "We built our houses here because we felt it is more secure than any other place,” said Muhubo Nur, one of the mothers whose house was demolished.
The order to demolish the houses was issued by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh, according to district commissioner of Hamarjajab.
AP: Hundreds of Somali families evicted near airport
Witnesses say hundreds of poor Somali families are being forcibly evicted from their homes near the airport.
Asha Madey said Friday that she spent the night in the open with her seven children after their two-room house was destroyed by security personnel with bulldozers.
Police spokesman Abdulahi Hassan Barise says the plan will continue until threats to Mogadishu's main airport are eliminated. The targeted area was a former air force base and is about 100 yards (meters) from the airport's fence.
Human rights groups say the families - who squatted the idle land - have no place to go.
Somalia's fragile government is battling Islamists who usually fire mortars from residential areas.
From Amnesty International's new report, No end in sight: The ongoing suffering of Somalia's civilians [503KB PDF]
This document reports violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses suffered by civilians, including incidents which may constitute indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, unlawful restrictions imposed on journalists and aid workers, torture and other ill-treatment and unlawful killings since September 2009. This document does not present an exhaustive account of the human rights situation in Somalia, but only contains information that Amnesty International has been able to gather from local sources. Amnesty International believes that this information represents only a small part of what is really happening in the conflict areas of south and central Somalia, because insecurity and threats on civil society have effectively hampered adequate monitoring of the situation. Nevertheless, the number of incidents reported here point to patterns of serious abuses and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, some of which amount to crimes under international law. While some of the actors and the dynamics in the Somalia internal armed conflict may have changed, the nature of abuses affecting civilians remains largely similar to those which were committed between early 2007 and January 2009, when the Ethiopian army was present in the country.
...
There are near weekly incidents of fighting and shelling between armed opposition groups on one side and TFG forces and AMISOM troops on the other side, and near weekly reports of civilian deaths and injuries as a result. Armed opposition groups continue to launch attacks from areas inhabited or frequented by civilians in Mogadishu, endangering the lives of civilians. They fire mortars and heavy artillery in the direction of TFG and AMISOM bases, near which civilians live. TFG and AMISOM forces are repeatedly accused of responding by firing mortars and using other artillery weapons in the direction of the attackers. All sides to the conflict use mortars and other heavy artillery, weapons which are inherently indiscriminate when used in densely populated urban areas. Some sources have even alleged to Amnesty International that AMISOM is firing BM or “Katyusha” rockets when responding to attacks by armed opposition groups.5 These attacks and counter-attacks invariably result in civilian deaths and injuries.
AMISOM has told Amnesty International that it does not respond to attacks by armed groups by shelling indiscriminately civilian areas, and that it exercises maximum restraint and caution when acting in defence against attacks by armed opposition groups. Amnesty International provided to AMISOM a list of incidents where indiscriminate shelling of residential areas is alleged to have occurred and invited it to respond to such allegations. Amnesty International has yet to receive a response from AMISOM on some of the specific incidents detailed below.
Although Amnesty International does not have sufficient information to make a determination that each of the attacks described in this chapter was indiscriminate, the use of mortars and other weapons that are inappropriate for fighting in densely populated civilian areas demonstrate a persistent failure by all parties to the conflict to comply with their legal obligation to take necessary precautions to protect civilians and civilian objects, and are likely to have resulted in indiscriminate attacks.
From the section on applicable International Humanitarian Law,
International humanitarian law governs the conduct of war and seeks to protect civilians, others not participating in hostilities and civilian objects during times of armed conflict. International humanitarian law binds all parties to an armed conflict, including non-state armed groups.
International human rights law, including civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights, applies both in peacetime and during armed conflict and is legally binding on states, their armed forces and other agents. It establishes the right of victims of serious human rights violations to remedy, including justice, truth and reparations.
International criminal law establishes individual criminal responsibility for certain violations and abuses of international human rights and international humanitarian law, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance.
Civilians are defined in IHL as those who are not combatants. In the context of the non-international armed conflict in Somalia, Amnesty International uses civilians to describe people who are taking no direct part in hostilities. Common Article 3 provides that persons taking no active parts in hostilities “shall in all circumstances be treated humanely”, setting out a duty to care for the wounded and sick, prohibiting, inter alia, unlawful killings, torture, humiliating and degrading treatment and the taking of hostages.
International humanitarian law places an absolute duty on all parties to the conflict to distinguish between civilians and combatants.
...
All parties to the conflict must take “constant care…to spare the civilian population, civilians and civilian objects.” All feasible precautionary measures must be taken to avoid, and in any event minimize, incidental loss of civilian life and injury to civilians, including doing everything feasibly to verify that the prospective targets of an attack are military objectives, and not civilians or civilian objects; where possible, giving effective advance warning of attacks which may affect the civilian population; refraining from deciding to launch any attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination of these, which would be excessive in relation to direct military advantages anticipated. Parties to a conflict must also take all necessary precautions to protect civilians under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations including by removing civilians from the vicinity of military objective and avoiding locating military objectives near or within densely populated areas.
...
Individuals, whether civilians or military, can be held criminally responsible for certain violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
Serious violations of international humanitarian law, including wilful killings, torture and other ill-treatment, direct attacks against civilians or indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, may amount to war crimes. Individuals may be held liable for attempting, committing, planning or instigating the commission of a war crime. Responsibility for war crimes may also fall upon commanders or non-combatant leaders under the principle of command responsibility where they knew or should have known about the commission of a war crime and failed to take sufficient measures to prevent the carrying out of a war crime or failing to punish those responsible.
-- -- --
So what was being unloaded at the port in Mogadishu?
Mareeg Online: The chances of a fair vote in the coming election are fast receding
At least two civilians were killed Friday and seven others were injured in mortar shelling that hit in north Mogadishu.
More mortars hit in Wardhigley, Karan, Yaqshid, and Shibbis districts in Mogadishu where the Insurgents control.
It is not known the reason behind the shelling, but reports say insurgents fired mortars to sea port and the African Union troops who guard the port fired back heavier mortars to the areas.
Residents say shelling in Mogadishu became nearly daily. Five civilians were killed in Mogadishu on Thursday by mortars in the same districts.
-- -- --
The unpopular operations around the airport this week ran into predictable problems
Mareeg Online: Three killed in fighting between government soldiers
At least three people including a civilian woman were killed in a gun battle between government soldiers in Mogadishu, witnesses said on Saturday.
The fighting started after soldiers tried to destroy forcibly makeshift houses in Afisyone neighborhood in Mogadishu near the airport which the mayor ordered days ago but other soldiers confronted them.
Abdirisaq Mohamed Nur, Mogadishu mayor ordered the makeshift houses near the airport to be destroyed saying that Islamist militants could infiltrate among the IDPS and could target the airport.
Government soldiers who their families live in the area rejected the other soldiers to destroy the houses and the fighting erupted between them killing five people and wounding seven others including civilians.
Colonel Hassan Mohamed Hassan, an officer of the Somali government who live in the area criticized the soldiers who attacked their houses and added that they have complied the order of the mayor and were in middle of moving when these soldiers attacked them.
Shabelle Media: Landmine blast kills high TFG official in Mogadishu
The district commissioner of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia for Hamar Jajab district in Mogadishu has been killed another officials injured after land mine blast targeted to the officials’ vehicle traveling around Afisyone the airport, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Saturday.
The transitional government authorities ordered the displaced people around Aden Ade International airport to leave from the areas soon as possible recently and there had been relocating operations continued there.
Witnesses confirmed the death of the district commissioner Ahmed Sheik Mohamed Odawa known as (Qorleh) adding that the deputy security secretary of Banadir region was among the government officials assassinated in the landmine explosion.
Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen claimed the responsibility of the blast.
...
On the other hand fighting between the military and police forces of the transitional government troops broke out at the areas around the airport early on Saturday morning before the district commissioner and his convoy headed to the side of Afisyone where he was lastly assassinated in the zone.
Abdullaahi Hassan Barise, the spokesman of the police forces of the transitional government of Somalia was reportedly injured as the clash between the two sides continued.
Reuters: Four Somalis killed by roadside bomb, police say
A government official and three other people were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb triggered by remote control in the Somali capital, witnesses and police said.
Ahmed Mohamud, district commissioner of the Mogadishu district of Hamar Jajab, was killed while driving in a part of the city controlled by the government and African Union peacekeepers.
"He died on the spot, two soldiers and a civilian woman also died there," police officer Abdi Hassan told Reuters.
The rebel group al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack which also left several people wounded.
Garowe Online adds
The officials were reportedly in the area to assess the security situation after the police on Thursday demolished several houses of Internally Displaced people built near the airport.
Al-Shabaab insurgent group has claimed responsibility for the explosion.
"We carried out the attack to avenge the suffering he (Odowa) inflicted on the poor displaced people," Al-Shabaab’s Mogadishu commander Sheikh Ali Mohammed Hussein told the reporters.
Meanwhile, brief clashes involving government soldierss near Mogadishu 's main airport has killed at least five soldiers and injured six others. Other reports said armed protesters opposed to the demolition of the house in the area joined the clashes against one side of the government forces.
-- -- --
More on that story of that shooting of the suspected "pirate" from issue 349 of Ecoterra International's SMCM. (The EU NAVFOR released the survivors this weekend after the cargo ship party refused to give any statements, which leads you to wonder what exactly everyone -- from the MV ALMEZAAN and it's owners to the navies involved -- has been up to.)
The case of an alleged "security detail" on board a more than suspicious cargo vessel killing an alleged Somali attacker becomes more and more confusing, though it had triggered a wide discussion about the use of armed private security guards on vessels again.
Transpiring information now says that there had been no security group on board the MV ALMEZAAN though the spokesman of Operation Atalanta, the EU NAVFOR naval anti-piracy consortium, had reported otherwise, based on what the Spanish frigate had reported back.
There can be no doubt that the first priority in investigating and trying this case rests with the judiciary of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, because the incident happened inside the 200nm zone of Somalia, over which - based on the valid Somali maritime law of 1973 - Somalia has the full jurisdiction.
A rendition of the 6 surviving Somalis to Kenya or the Seychelles and/or the withholding of the body of the deceased, the boats and equipment from the Somali government - as it was intended by the Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon - must be seen as obstruction of justice and destruction of crucial evidence and the Kenyans anyway already refuse to get more alleged pirates delivered into their jails with very scanty evidence.
The destruction of evidence already took place because the Spanish navy destroyed the supply boat of the Somali group, which allegedly attacked the MV ALMEZAAN.
To first apprehend the six men and then just send them home and to deliver the dead body to the AMISOM forces of the African Union in Mogadishu is certainly not appropriate - to say the least.
The case must be tried by the Somali High Court in Mogadishu, which is staffed, equipped and functioning at least to such extent that nobody could pretend it would not be capable to handle such a case.
Contacted, the Somali Minister of Justice, Abdurahman Mohomud Farah, has promised a full investigation and bringing the culprits to book - be it so called pirates, so called security details or so called navies, because the story from Harardheere, the home of the Somali group, says that actually naval forces killed the man - not necessarily the Spanish, which apparently arrived only an hour later.
In the murky waters off Somalia the navies unfortunately are not the bright light of honesty and transparency on the horizon, required to solve Somalia's problems with piracy.
If one then looks in addition on the comments on the EU NAVFOR website concerning this story one gets an impression what characters actually are attracted by the European navies' operations. EU NAVFOR obviously even promotes such outbursts, for which similar writers just recently got jailed in the U.S., because each comment is vetted and can appear on the www.eunavfor.eu website only after approval.
How long will the Atalanta-boys be allowed to continue their shameful games before the senior Admiralty of the European nations step in and reinstall the codex of honour at least with their national blue water forces.
-- -- --
Somaliland Press: Puntland President Dashes to Ethiopia For an Emergency Meeting
The president of Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland and a senior delegation from his administration have flown out of the commercial port town of Bosasso on Sunday for hurried Addis Ababa talks.
Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed ‘Farole’ and a senior delegation including his Interior minister, Mr. Abdullahi Ahmed were invited to Addis Ababa for an emergency meeting as crisis between the government of Farole and Puntland’s main intelligence agency intensified.
The issue arose when President Abdirahman Mohamed ‘Farole’ issued a presidential decree, dated March 12th, ordering the dismissal of Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) director, Mr. Osman Diana, and appointing Col. Ali Mohamed Yusuf “Binge” (see SOMALIA: Tensions high in Bossaso as president shakes up intelligence agency).
Mr. Osman has defied the dismissal, saying the order is unacceptable and accused the president of trying to take full control of the agency.
According to sources close to Mr. Osman, he also accuses the president of having links with pirates in the region.
Mr. Osman has also since seized full control of PIS’s second office in Lanta Hawada neighborhood in the port city of Bossaso.
The PIS, which functions independently was established almost a decade ago and is considered the most powerful institution in Puntland. The PIS is said to receive at least 50 per cent of Puntland’s annual income as well as funds from Western intelligence services.
The political maneuvering of president Farole has also raised concerns with the Americans and Ethiopians – who are said to be the main financiers of PIS.
Mr. Farole is expected to meet with U.S. and Ethiopian officials regarding PIS and he is mostly like to reverse his decree under the pressure of the two countries.
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