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 of the Security Council of 31 October 2001 (S/PRST/2001/30) in which the Council requested me to submit quarterly reports on the situation in Somalia. The report covers developments since my last report dated 16 July 2008 (S/2008/466) and focuses, in particular, on the internal political developments and the ongoing efforts to implement the Djibouti agreement reached between the Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia. The report includes relevant information on peacebuilding efforts, an update on the security, humanitarian and human rights situation, as well as operational activities of United Nations agencies and programmes in Somalia. It also provides details on the status of contingency planning for the possible deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping operation, as well as an update on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1816 (2008) on piracy and armed robbery, as requested in paragraph 13 of that resolution.

II. Main developments in Somalia

A. Political developments

2. Since my last report, there have been a number of significant political developments in Somalia. Key among them, was the decision by Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to dismiss the Mayor of Mogadishu and Governor of Benadir Region, Mohammed Dheere, on 29 July on charges of mismanagement of public funds. Following the dismissal of Mr. Dheere, 10 Cabinet members allied to President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned on 2 August in protest. President Yusuf subsequently reinstated the Mayor which exacerbated tensions within the Government. The Prime Minister in turn, nominated five new ministers and a deputy minister on 3 August to replace those who had resigned.

3. In a bid to break the deadlock, the leadership of the Transitional Federal Government — the President, the Prime Minister and the Speaker of Parliament — met in Addis Ababa on 25 August, where they reached an agreement under the auspices of the Ethiopian Government. The Addis Ababa agreement provides for the reconstitution of the Benadir regional administration within 15 days of signing the agreement; the proper collection and administration of revenue; capacity-building for the Ministry of Finance, customs, airport and seaport administrations, and the redeployment of Ethiopian troops outside the capital following the reconstitution of the Benadir regional administration.

4. On 27 August, Prime Minister Hussein announced to Parliament that a 12-member committee would be established to work on the reform of the Benadir regional administration as provided for in the Addis Ababa agreement signed on 25 August. The motion of “no confidence” tabled on 25 August in Parliament against the Prime Minister was defeated on 1 September by a vote of 191 members out of the 200 members present.

5. While the Addis Ababa agreement appears to have eased tensions within the Executive, members of the Transitional Federal Parliament voted against the reinstatement of the cabinet members who had resigned on 6 September. Consequently, the Speaker formed a Committee of Parliament to examine the issue. The Committee reported to Parliament, upholding its earlier decision not to reinstate the ministers who had resigned. Parliament endorsed the Committee’s recommendation on 24 September.

Report

November 22, 2008

CBE wants gov’t to intervene

An over 170 million birr loan taken by Midroc Construction in which the Sheraton Addis was used as a collateral has been listed by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) as non-performing loan.

CBE wants to foreclose the hotel but says it has problems and wants the government to intervene.

A source in CBE told The Reporter that the bank had on several occasion written letters to Midroc regarding the payment of the loan, and that it had not received any reply.

Unlike any other investor, the source said, Midroc had been given special privileges regarding the loan, but the company has even failed to at least explain why it cannot pay.

Normally, an investor who had taken loan from the bank, and had failed to do so according to the agreement, is given a 30-day notice to pay back or the collateral will be foreclosed.

With regard to Midroc, however, the bank has shied away from enforcing the regulation and wants the government to intervene, according to the source.

The Sheraton Addis has an unpaid loan from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia amounting to more than twice as much as the loan Midroc took from the bank.

Midroc Construction has also failed to pay debt and rent arrears amounting to 107 million birr. The company lost its contract worth 190 million birr because it failed to complete the construction of the road from Megenagna to Hayat Hospital as per the agreement it signed.

It is to be recalled that tests by several laboratories showed that asphalt imported by Midroc’s sister company, National Oil Company (NOC), was below standard.

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 advises the town’s elders on security matters and is in his fifties.

Somalia has been wracked by conflict since 1991 - when its last national government was forced from power.

The super-tanker is close to our coast. It is a very, very long ship. Some time ago we had our own problems of piracy in our town but that has not happened lately.

The people who have been hijacking these ships in our seas are not from our region. We do not know any of the guys on the super-tanker and they haven’t made any contact with us.

You know, our problem is not piracy. It is illegal dumping.

These problems have been going for sometime and the world knows about it. The Americans have been here in the region for a long time now - they know about the pollution.

Instead, no, the world is only talking about the pirates and the money involved.

Mysterious illnesses

Meanwhile, there has been something else going on and it has been going on for years. There are many dumpings made in our sea, so much rubbish.

It is dumped in our seas and it washes up on our coastline and spreads into our area.

A few nights ago, some tanks came out from the high sea and they cracked it seems and now they are leaking into the water and into the air.

The first people fell ill yesterday afternoon. People are reporting mysterious illnesses; they are talking about it as though it were chicken pox - but it is not exactly like that either. Their skin is bad. They are sneezing, coughing and vomiting.

This is the first time it has been like this; that people have such very, very bad sickness.

The people who have these symptoms are the ones who wake early, before it is light, and herd their livestock to the shore to graze. The animals are sick from drinking the water and the people who washed in the water are now suffering.

Isolated

We are people who live in a very remote town and here, we are isolated; we only rely on God.

This town is close to the sea. It is a very old town which has a mixture of Somali clans. It is not big but it has a well-knit community.

Our community used to rely on fishing. But now no-one fishes. You see, a lot of foreign ships were coming and they were fishing heavily - their big nets would wipe out everything, even the fishermen’s equipment. They could not compete.

So the people here began farming and keeping greater numbers of livestock. Like in any other Somali town, all one can do is rely on oneself.

But now we have these medical hazards.

What can we do about it?

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 pirates have seized eight vessels, including a huge Saudi tanker carrying $100m (£67m) worth of crude oil.

This high profile case has outraged the maritime industry and the international community have called for joint action against piracy.

Dangerous waters

“The pirates released the ship today and it is now sailing to freedom,” said Andrew Mwangura, the head of the East African Seafarers Association.

The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry says the 6,765 tonne vessel was on its way to the United Arab Emirates and is about 500m (800km) off the coast of Somalia.

Somali pirates seized the tanker on 26 September in the Gulf of Arden near the Horn of Africa, waters that are highly dangerous for shipping.

The MV Genius was hijacked on the same day as MV Favina, a Ukrainian ship that was carrying a cargo of tanks and weapons, and it is still being held by pirates.

Pirates based in war-torn Somalia regularly attack vessels plying major commercial shipping routes nearby.

This year here have been 95 attempts at capturing ships by pirates in the Gulf of Arden, 39 of which have been successful, according to maritime organisations.

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 urgent action.

He said it was affecting all countries involved in international trade.

Ninety-five attacks have been recorded off the Somali coast this year, including the recent capture of a Saudi tanker carrying a $100m cargo of oil.

A reported ransom demand of $25m (£17m) for the MV Sirius Star was denied by the company conducting the negotiations with the pirates on behalf of the tanker owners.

Shipping experts expect the demand to be much higher.

A spokesman for the shipping industry in London, Pat Adamson, told the BBC there would be pressure from some quarters on the Saudis not to pay up as it would only lead to further hijackings.

What was needed, he said, was for the navies in the area to go after the pirates’ “mother ships” that were far out to sea, remove their armaments, and sink them.

Otherwise, he said, it was only a matter of time before another super-tanker was hijacked.

An Indian warship sank one “mother ship” this week.

‘Act now’

Mr Wetangula told a meeting of regional diplomats in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, that piracy was getting worse.

“Major trading countries - India, Malaysia, China - your vessels are in danger. Our major trading partners - Germany, Britain and others - our cargo is in danger,” he said.

“We must act now and not tomorrow.”

The United States says it is seeking clarification at the United Nations on how much force should be used to deal with the pirates threatening international shipping.

The UN Security Council is due to renew a six-month-old resolution specifying the terms under which foreign navies can pursue pirates into Somali waters

Several navies have already engaged in battles against the pirates.

The Indian navy said one of its frigates sank a pirate ship and British and Russian ships have exchanged fire with pirate vessels.

“We’re taking a look with other countries as to how we might modify that resolution to better enable responsible state naval assets to deal with the issue of piracy in the region, which has very real economic implications,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

‘Well treated’

Meanwhile, the MV Sirius Star and its crew, which includes two Britons, are being held near the Somali port of Harardhere.

The BBC’s Frank Gardner says the 25-member crew are believed to be being well treated.

He says negotiations between the pirates and the ship’s Saudi owners are being conducted through an interpreter on a satellite phone using an outside company that specialises in dealing with kidnaps and ransom demands.

Sailors seized by Somali pirates usually have to wait 45 days or more for the ships’ owners to pay the ransom and win their release, he says.

But sources in Harardhere say the pirates and tanker crew are eager to conclude a deal far sooner than that.

On Thursday, Maersk, one of the world’s biggest shipping firms, announced that some of its fleet, mainly tankers, would no longer use the Gulf of Aden unless there were more naval escorted convoys.

Travelling around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope instead of taking a short cut via the Suez Canal, would add several weeks to average journey times and substantially increase the cost of goods for consumers.

ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopian Airlines said on Friday it had signed an agreement to buy eight Bombardier nextgen turboprop aircraft worth $242 million to satisfy growing domestic demand.

“Following the rapid growth of the Ethiopian economy, we have been experiencing an appreciable rate of growth in market demand on the domestic sector of our services,” said Ethiopian Chief Executive Girma Wake.

Girma said the airline had optioned the purchase of four more aircraft, which would bring the total deal to US$366 million.

The new aircraft will mainly be used to service Ethiopia’s northern religious tourist sites.

Tourism represents a mere 2.5 percent of the Horn of Africa country’s gross national product, but the government has set the ambitious goal of attracting a million foreign visitors a year by 2010, quadrupling current figures.

Wake said the planes would also be used to service some regional routes.

One of Africa’s leading carriers, Ethiopian Airlines announced last month that operating revenues rose 34 percent to 9.2 billion birr ($941 million) in the year ended June 2008. The airline travels to 33 destinations in Africa and 53 international airports.

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, it is the US government that stands behind the political split currently experienced in Somalia. Somaliland - a former British colony uniting with Italian Somalia in 1960 but declaring independence again in 1991 - the autonomous region of Puntland, and other areas held by local warlords all were the product of “reckless” US policies aimed at splitting Somalia, the Asmara Ministry holds.

Also the serious problem of Somali piracy could therefore be blamed on Washington, Eritrea holds. “The main cause of this problem is the vacuum that has been created for the last 17 years in Somalia,” the statement said. “Sadly, an enduring solution is not conceivable until the reckless acts of the US and its surrogates aimed at balkanising Somalia, dividing its people along ethnic and clan lines … cease,” it adds.

“The solution lies, accordingly, in the liberation and reconstitution of a united and sovereign Somalia,” Asmara officials hold. “Unless and until the entire Somali people – whether they are in the so-called ‘Somali-land’, “Punt-land’, ‘Juba-land’ or ‘Benadir-land’ - extricate themselves from the malaise of fragmentation to bring about their own enduring solution by themselves, piracy and other deplorable activities will not indeed cease,” they add.

This is not the first time the Eritrean government calls for unity among “the entire Somali people.” Somalis also dominate large tracts of Ethiopia - Eritrea’s arch enemy - Kenya and Djibouti. It has been documented that Eritrea has sponsored and trained Somali secessionists in Ethiopia.

Eritrea further is actively involved in the fighting in Somalia, supporting one of the many splinter groups there. Eritrea, it has been documented, has trained and armed a militant Somali Islamist group which is blamed for attacks on the Somali transitional government, its Ethiopian allies and Somali civilians.

While itself intervening in Somalia arming extremist groups, Eritrean authorities cast doubt on the motives of several Western powers now getting involved in the fight against Somali piracy and that are sending naval forces to the Horn region. “Some might be motivated by sincere objectives. But for others, the situation provides a silver lining for illegal intervention,” the Eritrean Foreign Ministry claims.

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, told Reuters.

He said the U.S. Navy had no new information, but believed the vessel remained anchored off the Somali coast at Haradheere.

A spokesman for Vela International, the Dubai-based shipping arm of Saudi Aramco, said he had no new information and declined to comment on the reports.

Vela operates the Sirius Star, which is owned by Saudi Aramco. The giant vessel with a capacity of two million barrels, or $100 million worth of oil, was seized by Somali pirates around a week ago.

French news agency AFP quoted a pirate on Thursday as saying they had demanded a $25 million ransom and set a 10-day deadline.

Ahmed, an associate of the pirates who gave only one name, told Reuters on Thursday no ransom demand had yet been made.

“There has been no demand for ransom so far. There are about 30 Somali pirates on board,” he said.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Wednesday the ship’s owners were negotiating over a possible ransom payment, but East African maritime officials could not confirm this.

“We have no word on a ransom demand yet. It is very unclear,” said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East African Seafarers’ Programme.

The audacity of the attack underlined the extent of a crime wave that experts say has been fueled by the Islamist insurgency onshore and multi-million-dollar ransoms.

Since seizing the Sirius Star, pirates have hijacked at least three other ships, maritime officials say.

Scores of attacks in Somali waters this year have driven up insurance costs for shipping firms and caused some to divert cargo away from the Suez Canal and around South Africa instead, pushing up prices for manufactured goods and commodities.

The United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to impose sanctions on anyone contributing to violence and instability in Somalia, in a bid to curb fighting in the chaotic Horn of Africa country.

Friday, 21 November 2008

A reporter with a France-based publication, Le Monde Diplomatique, once wrote that “the Nigerian film Industry has served in no small measure in laundering Nigeria’s battered image abroad”. How true the statement rings. From Nairobi to Kampala, from Dar es Salam to Addis Ababa, Nigerian home videos are selling like hot cakes and the people from the horn of Africa don’t seem to have enough of our artistes.

Rachel Onyiro, a Kenyan working with an International Non Governmental Organizaton, Action Against Hunger, has been enjoying Nigerian videos for the last five years. At a chance meeting, she pulled me aside and asked why Nigerians always spoke loudly and with emphasis. During our brief acquaintance, Onyiro always greeted me as “my brother o! But aside that, she could freely reel out names of the about twenty star Nollywood artistes without blinking an eyelid. “My brother oo. I love Nigerian videos a lot’, Onyiro conversed. “I love Genevieve. She is so cute and has a good mastery of English language. Is Ramsey Noah really a Nigerian? He is just too handsome”, she praised. “Your movies are head above shoulder than the ones we produce here in Kenya. The Ghanaians are still trying to learn from you people. But they should learn to cut out most of the fetish parts.”

In Nairobi, apart from a drove of Nigerian traders who sell the genuine videos on the streets, some smart Kenyans have resorted to pirating the movies in seven-in-one DVDs. Okey Nnadi, a Nigerian based in Kenya is not very happy with this trend. He said: “My country men are losing money through the activities of these pirates who are reaping where they did not sow. For now there is nothing we can do. I only sell the original videos which I order whenever someone is traveling home. On the other hand, we cannot complain too much because Kenyans have come to respect us and know more about our culture through these films.”

In Ethiopia, the country of the famed Emperor Haile Sellassie, reggae has ceased to be the main source of entertainment attraction despite the considerable number of Jamaican immigrants in the country. Currently, Nigerian movies have relegated the once popular Indian movies to the back shelves. Prior to 2006, Indian movies freely found their ways into the Ethiopian market because of the strong bilateral relations between the two countries. But Nigerian videos are now in high demand. According to Eshetu Tolessa “Ethiopians prefer Nigerian movies because they are acted by our African brothers and we identify more with them than with Hollywood or Bollywood productions”.

Nigerian movies have transformed the film rentals business in that country. Since the advent of what they popularly call Nigerian films, the rentals business has never remained the same. Many indigenes have set up rental shops to meet the burgeoning demand. The Christian movies from the stables of Mount Zion Ministries are much in demand just as the secular productions. Initially they sourced these movies from members of the Nigerian community who brought limited copies on arrival from Nigeria. The movies over-watched and are later sold to the people at higher prices.

But the more they saw the movies, the more insatiable and wiser they became. They started looking towards Kenya and Dar es Salam to smuggle in the videos. With the rising demand for the videos, a few smart Ethiopian recording studios such as Dibora, Dallas and others started pirating the videos directly from the cable African Magic station. They didn’t stop there. They translated these videos into amharric, which is their official language, and this inevitably broadened the base of those who can never do without watching Nigerian movies. Though Nigerians residing in that country are unhappy that our artistes have not organized themselves very well as to reap financially from these countries, they’re always full of pride whenever the people describe our movies in glowing terms.

Almaz Kebede is one restless Ethiopian lady who cannot do without Nigerian acts. After enjoying a movie in which Richard Mofe Damijo starred in, she never knew any rest. Kebede even started referring to RMD as her husband. As I made to leave that country, she asked me to connect him to the popular actor. Not even the information that RMD was already married could deter her. Some of the younger kids in the Ato Meles - led country have added a mischievous dimension to the popularity of Nigerian movies. After watching such movies as Osoufia in London, Mr.Ibu and Police Recruits, which starred the inane John Okafor, they resorted to calling me Mr. Ibu behind my back. The midget actors, Aki na Pawpaw also have a cult-follower ship in these East African cities. They were always bemused that such “young boys” could be so funny and talented.

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 bodies of the attackers “now littered the streets”.

The raid comes on the day Ethiopian troops are due to start leaving Somalia, under a recent peace deal.

The BBC’s Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says there is no sign yet that the planned Ethiopian withdrawal from Mogadishu’s residential areas has begun.

The pull-out is due to finish on 29 December, according to the UN-brokered deal between the government and some moderate Islamist groups.

Mosque killing

Meanwhile, a gunman has killed one clan elder and wounded three others in an attack inside a mosque near the northern town of Hargeisa.

Hargeisa is the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, which has been spared much of the violence of the rest of the country.

After the Mogadishu attack, another resident Dahir Mohamed said he had seen the bodies of 15 young men.

“They were unfamiliar faces in the our district, so we think they were the insurgents.”

The Islamists have not commented on the incident.

Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia two years to help the transitional government oust Islamists from Mogadishu and surrounding areas.

But President Abdullahi Yusuf last week admitted that Islamists now control most of the southern part of the country.