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POPSUS pays Uganda to arm Somali fighters The UPDF, which is in Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force to the country, is said to have been paid up to $10 million (Shs21b) for arming and training the TFG fighting force. This is the first time the arms-for-cash deal is being made public and the revelations could mean that the UPDF was violating the neutral terms of its peacekeeping mandate by arming one of the combatants.
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POPSChinese Crew Fends Off Somali Pirates The Global Times newspaper, a tabloid run by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said yesterday two destroyers and a large-sized depot ship would set sail for the region after Christmas to defend Chinese shipping. The first tour of duty would be for three months, it said. According to Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers Assistance programme, there have been 124 incidents of piracy off Somali this year and some 60 successful hijacks. Nearly 400 people and 19 ships are being held along the coast, including a Saudi supertanker with 2 million barrels of oil and a Ukrainian cargo ship with 33 tanks.
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POPSIslamic Rebels in Somalia destroy Muslim shrines Those people whose tombs were destroyed contributed to the understanding and proliferation of Islam in the coastal area of East Africa and deserved respect,” said resident in Kismayu who witnessed the destruction of the shrines.
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POPSUS seeks to pursue Somali pirates onto dry land "There is complete council solidarity and consensus on the importance of dealing with the piracy problem and thwarting it, and dealing with it with every tool at our disposal," said U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Alejandro Wolff. "Clearly this implies both at sea and, if needed, with the consent of the Somalis, on land," he told reporters.
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POPSEU Launches Anti-Piracy Operation off Coast of Somalia The US-drafted resolution, adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council, extends for one year the right of countries with permission from Somalia’s transitional government to enter Somali waters to pursue and attack pirates. French UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert said last week he was confident the EU operation would improve security in the Gulf of Aden, a major sea lane for Middle East oil used by ships heading to and from the Suez canal. An unresolved issue has been jurisdiction over captured pirates and where they can be prosecuted. US envoy Rosemary DiCarlo told reporters last week Washington hoped more countries would use a 1988 convention against unlawful acts committed at sea to put captured pirates on trial.
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POPSSomali factions agree on power sharing “The parties have agreed on a number of guiding principles as a framework to strengthen their commitments on political cooperation – particularly the establishment of a Unity Government and an inclusive Parliament,” said the agreement signed in Djibouti and released by the United Nations. Parliament would be enlarged by 200 seats, which would be filled by ARS, the statement said. An extra 75 seats will be set aside for members of civil society “including women and the business community.” The legislature, based in the provincial town of Baidoa, has 275 members now. (Reuters)
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POPSAU official calls for Somali elders to help stop piracy A communiqu issued Friday after an EU/AU leadership meeting also urged the United Nations to play a role in bringing stability to Somalia. In unusually pointed language, the statement said the two continental groupings 'await with interest' the U.N. Security Council plan for establishment of a multi-national stabilization force that could reinforce the beleaguered 3,400-strong African Union peacekeeping force currently in Somalia. The Security Council has been reluctant to send a peacekeeping force to Somalia, with some diplomats arguing there is no peace to keep.
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POPSIndian navy vessel sinks suspected Somali pirate ship. Some of the pirates tried to escape on two speedboats. The Indian sailors gave chase but one boat was later found abandoned, while a second boat escaped. The Tabar has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden since 23 October, and has escorted 35 ships safely through the "pirate-infested waters", the statement said. Last week, helicopter-borne Indian marine commandos stopped pirates from boarding and hijacking an Indian merchant vessel.
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POPSSomali govt troops seize town held by Islamist rebels Somalia is the most pressing humanitarian emergency in the world — even worse than Darfur — the country representative for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said in 2008. Aid workers say Somalia has more than 1 million internally displaced people and their numbers are swelled by an exodus of thousands of civilians each month from the capital, Mogadishu, under attack from Islamists fighting to take control of it. Relief agencies say that the 15km between the capital and the town of Afgoye is probably the largest concentration of displaced people on the planet. In March 2008 an estimated 250,000 people were camped along the side of the road.
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POPSUK judge-you're a criminal you'll do fine in Somalia Since arriving in Britain, he has tried to build a life in north London but took up petty offending to support his drug and alcohol addictions. Mr Mohamed came into contact with law enforcement when he was 12 and later began committing burglaries to buy cannabis and cocaine. His most recent conviction was for an assault on a prison officer
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POPSIndian warships to patrol Gulf of Aden "The government on Thursday gave permission for formal anti-piracy patrols by our warships in the region, which will be carried out in coordination with DG Shipping. The intention now is to work closely together with foreign navies in an international task force to thwart piracy," said another official.
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POPSSomali extremist Islamic group threatens Kenya Al-Shabab is among several Islamic militia groups that have waged an Iraq-style insurgency against Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies for almost two years. The nearly daily mortar attacks and gun battles have killed thousands of Somali civilians in the capital, deaths that all sides blame on each other. Ethiopian troops entered Somalia in December 2006 to back their Somali allies and oust Islamists who controlled much of southern Somalia and Mogadishu for six months. Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre before turning against each other, reducing the Horn of Africa nation to a state of chaos and anarchy.
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POPSEritrea blasts US policy in horn of Africa To those who feel that no other countries should criticize the US-Just because Eritrea is not a strong powerful nation does not mean they have no right to express their opinion, nor does it make that opinion any less valid. An example would be Albania. Probably nowhere on earth is President Bush more beloved. While I don't agree with their opinion, the fact that they are a small less powerful nation does not invalidate it.
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POPSGerman police remove two terror suspects from plane in Cologne According to the German police, the men were not planning to hijack the plane, reports the Telegraaf. It was still unclear at press time what form of attack the suspects were planning, but the paper said they were not believed to be a threat to the Netherlands. One possibility is that the two men were planning to fly on to Africa. ( comment from Dutchnews.nl)
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POPSSomali pirates face charges in France France has gone further than any other nation in taking on the pirates. In another case in April, helicopter-borne French troops swooped in on Somali pirates, capturing six of them, after the hijackers released dozens of hostages who had been held on a yacht.
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POPSMystery swirls around hijacked Iranian ship Within days, pirates who had boarded the ship developed strange health complications, skin burns and loss of hair. Independent sources tell The Long War Journal that a number of pirates have also died. In a strange twist, the Iranian press claims that the U.S. has offered to pay a $7 million bribe to the pirates to "receive entry permission and search the vessel." Officials in the Pentagon and the Department of State approached for this story refused to comment on the situation.
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POPSThousands flee fighting in Somalia David Shinn, a former US diplomat who teaches at the George Washington University, said fighters from the hardline al-Shabab militia were trying to assert their authority in order to force the Ethiopians out. They are trying "to show that they are in a position to perhaps even take control of Mogadishu if the Ethiopian forces were to leave", he told the BBC.
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POPSThirty killed as Mogadishu is shelled
Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been fighting the government and its Ethiopian allies for control since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an Iraq-style insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians to date. In recent weeks, the militants appear to be gaining strength and sidelining the fragile government. The group, known as the Council of Islamic Courts, has taken over the port town of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it. "We keep recruiting new fighters to prepare them for the holy war against Ethiopian troops in our country and their Somali stooges," said Sheik Muhumed, a commander with al-Shabab, the group's military wing. The United States considers al-Shabab a terrorist group, raising fears Somalia could become a have
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POPSSwedish prosecutor closes terror probe “There are lots of things that need to fall into place. I have to prove clear intent when it comes to collecting and sending the money, that it will be used for terror attacks. Then we need to follow the money all the way from Sweden to whoever may actually carry out a terrorist attack. There are challenges in both of these paths,” he said.
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