Stepping up efforts against a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise that international navies have struggled to contain, the EU Naval Force (EU Navfor) said it had conducted an overnight attack on pirate targets using helicopters and surveillance aircraft.

It was the first time the EU had taken its fight against the pirates to Somali soil since its mandate was expanded earlier this year to allow strikes on land, as well as at sea.

A Somali pirate, who identified himself as Abdi, told Reuters that a helicopter attacked the central Somali coastline near Hardhere, a known pirate haven.

“An unidentified helicopter destroyed five of our hunting boats early in the morning. There were no casualties,” he said. “We were setting off from the shore when the helicopter attacked us. We ran away without counter-attacking.”

EU Navfor said it had carried out the attack to destroy pirate equipment, four days after Somali gunmen hijacked a Greek-owned oil tanker carrying close to a million barrels of crude oil in the Arabian Sea.

EU Navfor’s Operation Commander, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, said the attack would “further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates’ efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows”. Initial surveillance indicated that no Somalis had been wounded as a result of the attack, EU Navfor said.

“We have monitored several locations for quite a long time and the time and place chosen was one of the best opportunities,” Timo Lange, a media officer for EU Navfor, said. He said the force would launch similar attacks in future “given that those targets will show up again”.

The EU extended its counter-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia in March to the end of 2014 and expanded the area it covers to include the coastline itself.

Until Tuesday’s attack, it had only operated in waters off Somalia however. But the decision to extend operations to the Somali coastline itself means it is now able to target weapons and other equipment stored on the shore in order to reduce the pirates’ ability to launch attacks.

Despite successful efforts to stop attacks in the Gulf of Aden shipping lane, international navies have struggled to contain piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea due to their limited resources and the vast distances involved.

“As for the overall effect of this type of operation, it may take time to limit the overall scope of pirate activities. The pirates have had virtually unconstrained ability to operate for five or six years now and that won’t be rolled back rapidly,” a maritime analyst who declined to be named said.

The pirates have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms in recent years in what has become a highly organised, international criminal enterprise. A study published earlier this year by the One Earth Future Foundation showed Somali piracy cost the world economy some $7 billion last year, with ransoms paid reaching $160 million.

Somali pirates are switching back to using smaller cargo and fishing vessels as motherships, hoping to evade detection in the face of more robust maritime security.

There is a risk that the pirates may step up hostage taking to discourage further military operations, Rory Lamrock, an intelligence analyst with security firm AKE, told Reuters. “The concern is that pirates will simply relocate logistics bases further inland, possibly among coastal communities, to avoid EU airborne attacks,” he said.

“Hostages are still a ransomable commodity and intentional murders will remain unlikely, but an escalation in violence directed at hostages is definitely a possible response.”

The mandate of the EU force has been expanded recently to allow attacks on targets on the coast. The German Bundestag had approved on Thursday the expansion of the operation. Just a few days ago, a Greek tanker pirates with over 100 million barrels of oil on board hijacked. So far they have taken such actions with millions of dollars in ransom. It is believed to hold around 300 pirates currently 17 vessels.

The number of journalists who died while on duty in the first three months of this year reached 31 people, an increase of 50 percent of the 21 deaths last year, thewatchdog Press Emblem Campaign quotation on Monday.

In a dispute that hit Syria, nine journalists were killed in that period, including the famous U.S. war correspondent, Marie Colvin.

Brazil is also a dangerous country for media workers this year, with five journalistswere killed in three months.

Three journalists were killed in Somalia, while two each were killed in India, Boliviaand Nigeria.

In the whole of 2011, 107 journalists were killed.

US Navy Seals were used where an American woman and a Danish man were being held hostage.

Under the cover of darkness the US Navy Seals parachuted into Somalia, soon nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages freed.

Both the hostages were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped, the Navy Seals, catching the guards as they slept killing nine and taking three away.

The United States said, they will not tolerate the abduction of our people and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice.

The head of the Danish Refugee Council, said he would have preferred to see the two hostages freed peacefully after working with Somali groups, but we were happy with the outcome.

As large ships at sea have increased their defences against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land based kidnappings, these people were guests who were treated brutally, that was against Islam and our culture, these pirates have spoiled the customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back. Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors and an American journalist.

New Zealand Security Company Rescues Hostages in Somalia.

A New Zealand Security company has been involved in a dramatic rescue to release hostages held for 16 months by pirates off the Somali coast.

With pirates terrorising the high seas, the Security firm Barantas Security provides armed security personnel for commercial shipping. 

Recently the company was given the mission like no other, the company was asked by the Georgian Government to help out in a hostage turnover, the firm was tasked with rescuing 18 crew who had been at the hands of pirates for nearly a year and a half, once suit cases of cash had been dropped on the ship, and as the rescuers motored closer to the hostages the pirates tried their hardest to derail the mission, the risks are the pirates are still on board, there are more pirates in the area and also the issue of booby traps on the vessel when we board.

Those risks turned to reality as the Kiwi commando’s attempted and freed the hostages.

Image via Wikipedia

The speaker, Amy Oliver, verified that the team of the single-engine U-28 had been on a objective that “had to do with ISR” — that is, intellect, monitoring and reconnaissance for special functions makes on the earth. The U-28 is a little, retrofitted professional planes that looks indistinguishable from a private planes to the bare eye, especially from high in the air.

As the planes came back to Get away Lemonnier, a consistent hub for special functions in search of terrorists in eastern African-american, “the structure saw smoking arriving from the planes.” There was no visible recognition into the cause of the collision, which Oliver said was still under research.

Nor did Oliver specify where the objective happened. But special functions makes have improved their action in eastern African-american considerably these days, particularly in Somalia, where on Jan 24, they drawn off a extraordinary hostage save in the nation. There is another National still presented hostage in Somalia, the writer Erina Scott Moore, but it was not yet determined whether the intellect objective the four top level airmen accomplished had anything to do with Moore.

A speaker for U.S. African-american Control, Nicole Dalrymple, informed Risk Room on Wednesday that she would check to see what information she could launch about the four airmen’s last objective. We’ll upgrade this publish as more information and facts becomes available.

Their planes, a U-28, is a tricked-out edition of a Pilatus PC-12 turboprop. Just like the little, professional piloted planes become traveling by air agents by the military’s Venture Independence application, the U-28 has a package of alerts and camcorders to look for special providers on the earth. It also does not need a lengthy driveway — in fact, it’s able to area on dust and lawn — improving its charm for alternative makes.

Oliver said the airmen had not been at Lemonnier for very lengthy. Air Power special functions deployments generally last two several weeks, she said. But like many of their other top level soldiers, the four men who passed away had provided several tours: this was Hall’s 7th implementation, Whitlock’s fifth, Wilkens’ third and Scholten’s third.

The collision actually happened on Sunday, but the Immunity Office postponed the statement until Wednesday day, a common wait awaiting notice of the victims’ family members. The fatalities were declared as “four airmen who were assisting Function Long lasting Independence,” the army status for the Afghanistan war, although the collision happened a large number of kilometers from Afghanistan; in the last, soldiers who have passed away in locations like Bahrain have been in the same way detailed as assisting the Afghanistan war.

Afghanistan

Right now

Western coalition forces, led by the US, are trying to neutralise the Taliban, stabilise the country and rebuild its infrastructure.  Meanwhile, the Taliban and its allies are trying spread their influence throughout the country.  They have the benefit of powerful supporters in Pakistan and sense an opportunity now that the western powers have confirmed they plan to leave.

Coming up next

Negotiations will commence between the coalition and moderate elements of the Taliban.  The Taliban will insist that the west ditches President Karzai before they join a new government.  Ethnic tensions my come to the surface, as Afghanistan is a federation of different nationalities, and all-out civil war is a real danger.

Syria

Right now

Anti-government are forces trying to overthrow the regime of President Assad.  Assad is using military force against his own people to cling on to power.  Even if he wanted to compromise, it seems that his generals will not allow him to do so.

Coming up next

The rebel forces will go on the offensive with renewed support from outside the country, in particular Turkey and Saudi Arabia.  Expect the regime to topple very quickly, but there is a real danger this will produce conflict between Sunni and Shia Moslems within Syria.

Egypt

Right now

The overthrow of President Mubarak one year ago, part of the Arab Spring, has left Egypt in a three-way power struggle between the pro-democracy activists, the Islamists and the Army.

Coming up next

The Islamists appear to have the upper hand at the moment and have their target set on the Presidential election in June.  The key question, however, is what will the Army do if they do not like the outcome of the election?

Europe

Right now

Germany is trying to prop up the ailing Euro currency by bailing out the Greek economy.  As a condition of this support, Greece has had to endure a major austerity programme.

Coming up next

A rise of political extremism in Greece seems likely as a result of the spending cuts taking hold.  A new government is likely to come to power which rejects the Euro and restores the Drachma.  The European Union will stumble, but survive.  As a result, Germany’s leadership over Europe will be strengthened.

USA

Right now

With America still struggling to overcome the after-effects of the 2008 credit crunch, all eyes are on the up-coming presidential election.  Either Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum will lead the Republican challenge against President Obama.  Obama, meanwhile, is struggling to shake off the view that he was more effective as a candidate than he has proven to be as a president.

Coming up next

Expect a series of bold and dramatic policy initiatives by Obama in the next few months to try to seize the momentum and a very close election in November.

Somalia

Right now

The government of Somalia is effectively dysfunctional and struggling to exert any kind of control over the nation.  Meanwhile, the Islamist group, al-Shabab, who have declared themselves allies of Al Qaeda, control much of the south and east of the country.

Coming up next

With the support of neighbouring states, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, and the backing of the West, the government will try to push back al-Shabab from its strongholds and return some form of stability to Somalia. The prospect of peace and security any time soon for ordinary Somalis is, unfortunately, very slim

China

Right now

The Chinese Communist Party appears to have achieved the impossible, by overseeing the complete financial and industrial transformation of the country into a world economic power, while at the same time maintaining their authoritarian grip on power.  The Party hopes for a smooth transition when current General Secretary Hu Jintao steps down later this year and is replaced, it is widely predicted, by Xi Jinping.

Coming up next

The recent relaxation of access to social media sites in China, and the leadership transition in the fall, may well encourage democracy activists to take a bolder approach.  Whatever happens at home, China’s ongoing influence in the world, especially in Africa, will grow.

Furthermore, take the recent outcry in the Maldives where incumbent President Nasheed was forced to resign by gunpoint.  The follow-up and ascension of the Vice President was constitutionally sound; hence, internal manipulation and a legitimization of an effective coup.  What we have in cases such as these is an emerging trend toward hypodermic democracies; democracies by title and manipulation, but not by actual nature; a fact further complicated in that no reliable model for a democracy exists, no way to effectively export one exists, as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, and democracy, and, arguably, in its finest form it’s nothing more than political utopianism.   Yet as Twain illustrates- “democracy is bludgeoning of the people, for the people, by the people.” A transparent, actual participatory democracy in these times would devolve into dystopia.    

Hypodermic democracies are further aggravated and induced by lofty concepts like national identity, which are entirely artificial to begin with.  The irony is that national identity, which is considered a solvent for conflict, has actually become a rallying cry for militants and armed groups, i.e. Somalia.  Militants use the concept of national identity to further entrench their movements and portray them, not as seditious or factional, but as an alternative form of national identity to that imposed on the populace by external authorities, i.e. the UN, attempting to solidify borders and keep peace. 

Combined, it’s all a bloody mess.  Democracy, national identity, and other political taglines used as objectives in stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq totally backfired.  Democracy is a non-tradition, national identity is irrelevant, and now, through reform attempts, both have become further utilities for despotic groups to justify either their regimes or quarreling.  The solution is to begin a global approach that doesn’t attempt to recreate antique concepts or powder up abstract macro-ideals, but focus on the actual: human identity and basic needs.  All else is without measurement by default. 

The organization estimates that the worst drought in 60 years has cost the past year, tens of thousands of lives. At the height of the crisis, 750,000 people were threatened with starvation.
In six regions declared famine

In the summer of 2011, the United Nations had declared in six regions in southern and central Somalia’s famine. The areas are largely dominated by the radical Islamist militia Al Schabaab that allows Western aid organizations is limited.

Hundreds of thousands of desperate Somalis fled to neighboring Ethiopia and Kenya.

However, the FAO warned that the crisis situation in the country remains still precarious. “We can not prevent droughts, but we can take steps to ensure the future of them are no more starvation,” said Graziano.

International said in November that famine threatens 250 thousand Somalis (French – Archive)

The United Nations announced today that the agricultural crop is unusually good and heavy amounts of rain, in addition to food aid distributed by relief organizations, eliminated famine in Somalia, although the situation remained fragile, with a possibility to escalate.

The United Nations said that the crop was twice the size of crops throughout the past seventeen years, and this helped to lower the prices of food, although the mortality rate in southern Somalia is among the highest in the world.

However, the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in Somalia, Mark Bowden emphasized that “gains remain fragile and will turn to the contrary, without the continued support.”

Warning of Famine
The United Nations announced last July for the existence of a famine in the two regions of southern Somalia, and then extended the warning of famine in the September / September to include six regions of eight.

The organization said that initially 750 thousand Somalis are at risk of imminent death from hunger, and then reduced the figure to 250 thousand last November.

After six months of the announcement of the Somali famine areas, there were four million are in need of assistance, the United Nations said that this number is now reduced to two and thirty-four thousand.

In spite of that the provision of assistance to some 180 thousand people living in camps in the capital Mogadishu has improved the situation but the fighting in the south and center of the country disrupted the arrival of food aid to most affected areas.

Government forces are battling al-Shabab Mujahideen fighters linked to al Qaeda five years ago, despite the entry of Kenyan and Ethiopian troops to Somalia last year to participate in the battles against the movement.

Red Cross
And expelled youth movement last Monday the International Committee of the Red Cross – which is among the few international agencies that distribute food in areas under the control of young people – the international organization is accused of distributing expired foods on women
And children.

And crossed the International Committee of the Red Cross regrets the decision that halted the program distributed food to 1.2 million in the period from June to December / December 2011.

The Committee noted that 6% of the food supplies were spoiled withdrawn or destroyed by the youth.

The Director-General of the Organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Jose Graziano da Silva, “The crisis is not over and will not be deducted unless rainfall and consistently coordinated action over a long period to improve the speed of adaptation linked to population and development aid.”
 

Source: Reuters