UN Security Council
17 Nov 2008
Report of the Secretary-General on the situation in Somalia (S/2008/709)
Report to Security Council
The first two sections of the report are shown below. The complete report is available in PDF format at the link above.
I. Introduction
1. The present report is submitted pursuant to the statement of the President [...]
BBC
November 21, 2008
Ex-Somali Army Colonel Mohamed Nureh Abdulle lives in Harardhere - the town closest to where the hijacked Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star is moored. He tells the BBC, via phone from his home, that the town’s residents are more concerned about the apparent dumping of toxic waste than piracy.
The Harardhere-born military man [...]
BBC
November 22, 2008
Pirates in Somalia have released a Greek-owned ship that was hijacked two months ago.
Greek officials say the tanker’s cargo of refined oil is intact and its 19 crew members are safe.
The owners of the MV Genius declined to say whether a ransom had been paid to the pirates.
In the past two weeks Somali [...]
BBC
November 21, 2008
There are fears if the ransom is paid other super-tankers will be targeted
Somali pirates have been paid more than $150m (£101m) in ransoms in the past 12 months, Kenya’s foreign minister says.
“That is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their activities,” Moses Wetangula said, urging the world to take [...]
afrol News, Norway
21 November 2008
The Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement has blamed Washington’s alleged policy of “balkanising Somalia” for being the root cause behind piracy off the Somali coast, adding that breakaway Somaliland and Puntland must return to Somalia to create a forceful unit.
Eritrean government statement
According to the official Eritrean statement, [...]
Reuters
November 21, 2008
DUBAI - The U.S. Navy and operators of a Saudi oil supertanker hijacked by Somali pirates could not confirm on Friday reports that the hijackers had demanded a $25 million ransom.
“I’ve read the reports but I can’t confirm anything independently on that,” Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, [...]
BBC
November 21, 2008
Islamists again control much of Somalia
At least 15 people have been killed after insurgents attacked the Somali capital, Mogadishu, witnesses say.
Heavily armed men were repulsed after they attacked the house of district commissioner Ahmed Da’i just after dawn prayers, resident Ahmed Mumin said.
Mr D’ai confirmed the attack and said the [...]
Reuters
Fri 21 Nov 2008
Abdi Sheikh
* Somali Islamists hunt tanker hijackers
* Police kill 17 al Shabaab insurgents in Mogadishu
* Kenya urges foreign nations to act now
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Dozens of Somali Islamist insurgents stormed a port on Friday hunting the pirates behind the seizure of a Saudi supertanker that was the world’s biggest hijack, a local [...]
UN News Centre
20 November 2008
The recent agreement on political cooperation signed between the Somali Government and an Islamic opposition alliance has given the peace process in the strife-torn country renewed impetus, a senior United Nations official told the Security Council today.
But Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Haile Menkerios warned that the continuing tensions [...]
Peninsula On-line/AFP, Qatar
November 21, 2008
NAIROBI: A proposal by Somalia’s president to move reconciliation talks with the Islamist opposition from Djibouti to Libya threatens to cripple peace efforts and undermine the government, observers said yesterday.
President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed suggested on Tuesday that the UN-sponsored talks, which started in May, be moved to Tripoli, highlighting [...]
