WHEN THE BRITS WERE PIRATES THEY WERE ANGELS AND WHEN SOMALIS DO IT THEY ARE DEVILS

STATUS OF SEIZED VESSELS AND CREWS IN SOMALIA, THE GULF OF ADEN  AND THE INDIAN OCEAN (ecoterra - 25. January 2011)

STATUS-SUMMARY:

Today, 25. January 2011, 14h00 UTC, at least 48 foreign vessels plus two barges are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 868 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple - suffer to be released.
But even EU NAVFOR, who counts only high-value, mostly British insured vessels, admitted now that on their rather understating account 30 vessels and 723 hostages are recorded on their list as kept on the abducted vessels. Having come under pressure, EUNAVFOR felt compelled to publish now their list of those vessels which EU NAVFOR admits had not been protected from pirates and were taken.
EU NAVFOR also admitted for the first time that actually a larger number of vessels and crews is held hostage than those listed on their file.
Since EU NAVFOR's inception two years ago the piracy has started in earnest and it has now completely escalated. Only knowledgeable analysts recognized the link.
Request the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor from ECOTERRA Intl. for background info and see the situation map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA.


WHAT THE NAVIES OFF SOMALIA NEVER SEE:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/fighting_for_control_of_somali.html

What Foreign Soldiers in Somalia and even their Officers Never Seem to Realize:
The Scramble For Somalia

PEACE KEEPERS OR BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS ?


LATEST:

NOW OVER 850 SEAFARERS HELD HOSTAGE IN SOMALIA !
The number of sea-jacked vessels in 2010 clearly exceeded the pirates' catch of 2009 - an all time record, despite the fact that over 25 nations regularly patrol these waters.
For 2010 the recorded account around the Horn of Africa stands at 243 incidences with 202 direct attacks by Somali sea-shifta resulting in 74 sea-jackings. So far the impact of the navies has only caused the spreading of Somalia-based piracy all over the Indian Ocean. That only one in three attacks is successful is mainly due to the implementation of Best Management Practices employed by the vessels and not due to naval presence.
While billions are spend for the navies, the general militarization and mercenaries, still no help is coming forward to pacify and develop the coastal areas of Somalia.

Another German Freighter Sea-jacked by Somali Pirates (ecop-marine)

With good timining for the anti-piracy summit in Berlin, Germany, the Somali pirates attacked another German-owned BELUGA freighter on 24. January 2010 - this time the MV BELUGA NOMINATION (IMO 9356402). The attack happened allegedly 62nm (100 km) north of the archipelago of the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, but so far was not reported by EU NAVFOR, NATO, or IMB to the public. Information is regularly withheld when a military operation is planned or in progress, but it is not known if the shipowner has given permission to any such action.

Rumour about the attack had reached the anti-piracy meeting in Berlin yesterday afternoon, where ship-owners and representatives of the seafarers spoke out against arming of the crews and against the positioning of armed ship-protection-forces from private security companies. Since governmental Vessel Protection Detachments face so far personnel as well as legal impossibilities - especially concerning non-German flagged vessels, the meeting didn't come up with clear recommendations and German politician seem also not to be informed about the real situation on the ground, if they believe just more support to the AMISOM troops would bring any help against the piracy scourge.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the shipowner and the German parliamentary secretary Hans-Joachim Otto (FDP) confirmed now that the vessel was sea-jacked. According to Ukrainian sources the crew has sailors from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and the Philippines, but Russian diplomatic sources said there were no Russian citizens on board.

The press-officer of Beluga Shipping, Verena Beckhusen, informed that the company didn't want to make a statement in the moment. Also efforts by the Consulate General of Ukraine in Hamburg to find information on the exact number of their nationals on board were so far not successful. The Embassy of the Ukraine in Kenya has received orders to establish contacts with the operator and to follow the development of the situation, since it has experience in freeing the weapons-ship MV FAINA.

It is not clear yet if the German 9,775 dwt general cargo vessel is transporting sensitive goods. Some Beluga vessels like the MV BELUGA ENDURANCE are said to have been earlier involved in deliveries of military hardware, e.g. to the port of Mombasa in Kenya and several other BELUGA vessels had already earlier bad experiences with piracy, while MV BBC TRINIDAD was sea-jacked in 2008, triggering the German participation in EU NAVFOR's operation Atalanta. BBC ORINOCO as well as BBC TRINIDAD were boarded by pirates in other incidences, who after the attack left the vessels. Unfortunately the Somalis have meanwhile found means to break the strong-rooms open, where crews are hiding in case of an attack. In several cases the explosives and fuel the pirates used as "can-opener" for the "citadels" injured crew members as well as in other cases pirates.

Registered owner of the Antigua and Barbuda flagged MV B. NOMINATION is DUTCH NEELE SHIPPING GMBH, but under ISM manager BELUGA FLEET MANAGEMENT GMBH the ship manager is BELUGA SHIPPING GMBH of Bremen, Germany. The vessel has P&I insurance from Assuranceforeningen Skuld - Norway.

Fortunately the crew of the 132m long cargo ship is covered by an ITF Agreement through Marlow Navigation Co Ltd. and Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft.

Information from the ground in Somalia revealed that the vessel is at present commandeered towards the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast and is expected off Ceel Gaan.

©2011-ecoterra/ecop-marine


From the SMCM (Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor): (and with a view on news with an impact on Somalia)
The articles below - excepte where stated otherwise - are reproduced in accordance with Section 107 of title 17 of the Copyright Law of the United States relating to fair-use and is for the purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.

UN study proposes Somalia pirate court (AFP)

Somali pirates are expanding their attacks and costing the world more than $7 billion a year, according to a UN study that calls for stepped up security and a pirate court.
The report by former French minister Jack Lang suggests establishing a court under Somali jurisdiction but based in a foreign country in order to address the phenomenon, which has grown in recent years.
It said the international naval force in the Indian Ocean should patrol closer to the pirates' coastal hideouts and that economic incentives should be offered to Somali youth to dissuade them from joining the buccaneers.
Somali pirates have captured nearly 2,000 people and been paid ransoms of up to $9.5 million for seized tankers since 2008. As of December 31, 612 people and 26 ships were still being held, according to UN figures.
"The battle is being won by the pirates," Lang told reporters.
"They are going further out into the Indian Ocean and with more high-tech equipment to help them."
The pirates are even taking counterfeit bank note detectors out to sea to check ransoms, the report said.
Lang's report, to be debated by the UN Security Council on Tuesday, said pirate raids are now costing at least $7 billion a year, a sum that includes the military force, lost merchandise, ransom fees and higher insurance.
"If the international community does not act with extreme urgency, the pirate economy off the coast of Somalia will continue to prosper until it reaches the point of no return," the report said.
Dozens of warships from the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and other countries patrol the Indian Ocean shipping lanes off Somalia. Even Iran takes part.
Some 780 pirates are currently being held in 13 countries, but nine out of 10 pirates caught at sea by the international fleet are freed almost straight away because there is nowhere to try them.
Lang said all countries should adopt legislation so they can handle pirates who have committed acts outside their territory, in addition to establishing the extra-territorial Somali court.
Tanzania has indicated it would be ready to accept such a court, Lang's entourage said. It could perhaps use the same facilities as the UN-backed international court on Rwanda, which sits in Arusha.
A similar system was used for the trial of the Libyan bombers of the Pan-Am jet blown up over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Under a deal with Libya, the Scottish court sat in the Netherlands.
Lang's report said the cost of the court, new prisons and other measures to strengthen Somalia's judicial system would be about 25 million dollars, a tiny fraction of today's piracy losses.
Puntland and Somaliland, the two regions in lawless Somalia where most pirates are based, would need major economic aid to encourage young people not to join what Lang called the pirate "mafia."
The report said the international flotilla should operate "as close as possible" to the Somali coast in order to intercept the pirates' mother ships, which can only dock in a few known ports to get supplies.
It also said greater efforts must be made to make shipping companies take anti-piracy precautions suggested by the International Maritime Organization, including setting up barbed wire command centers on ships in risky areas, special crew training and enhanced communication systems.
N.B.: JACK LANG seems to have no idea and bad advisers:
a) There are hardly any pirates in or from Somliland (NW-Somalia), while most gang-members hail from Puntland and Central Somalia. If Lang doesn't know that - what can he possibly know at all??? Somaliland, however, which is not lawless at all as we have seen with the last democratic elections, will quickly get some pirates, if Lang proposes economic incentives from the UN. The scheme however could be a cover-up to secure the harbour of Berbera for the French, who lost in their earlier bid, because they had placed all their stakes and bribes on the former Somaliland president.
b) While Lang's opinion to employ young Somalis has been proposed since long by ECOTERRA Intl. with projects to engage them in the development of coastal communities, no funding has come forward. If it would now be designed not as an independent, locally adapted project but as another money-laundering scheme under the UN it will not work and spoil the opportunities.
c) As closer the naval vessels come to the coast as more harassments of innocent fishermen and atrocities will happen and contribute to further retaliations and the overall escalation. It also should not be forgotten that the legal status of foreign naval vessels in the territorial waters of Somalia (200nm) is by far not clear and the respective UN security council resolutions could only remotely help if the Somali parliament would agree to such violations of the national sovereignty - which it so far has not.
d) An International Piracy Tribunal is long overdue for cases, which happen in international waters, and in order to create an internationally equal justice system. But for cases within the Somali waters the Somali Government should be assisted to establish a proper court.

Somali pirates threaten to kill Korean hostages By Abdiqani Hassan (Reuters)
* Pirates say will avenge killing of comrades by commandos
* Maritime expert says pirates are panicked
Somali pirates threatened on Sunday to kill any South Korean seamen they take hostage in future in revenge for the killing of eight pirates by South Korean troops who stormed a hijacked vessel.
Pirates from two bases on the Somali coast said they were taking some crews held as hostages off their vessels and moving them inland in case of more rescue attempts by the fleet of foreign warships patrolling off the lawless country's shores.
Somali pirates typically do not harm their captives because they expect to negotiate a lucrative ransom for the release of a vessel. But now they say they want to avenge the deaths of their comrades.
"We never planned to kill but now we shall seek revenge," a pirate who identified himself as Mohamed told Reuters by phone.
"We shall never take a ransom from Korean ships, we shall burn them and kill their crew. We shall redouble our efforts. Korea has put itself in trouble by killing my colleagues," he said from the pirate haven of Garad.
South Korea's navy rescued all 21 crew aboard the chemical carrier Samho Jewelry on Friday. The vessel belonged to Samho Shipping, whose oil supertanker Samho Dream was released in November after being held by Somali pirates for seven months.
The pirates said they had received a record ransom of $9.5 million for the release of the supertanker.
"We have started taking the crew of (hijacked) ships inland and we have tightened our security. We lost great men in the fight with South Korean commandos," said a pirate called Hussein.
It was not possible to verify the movement of hostages. A Kenya-based maritime official told Reuters pirates often transferred crews when panicked but expressed doubts over the threat to kill Korean crews.
"They are jumpy right now and they could do anything. But their main objective is always money," said Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme.
A report earlier this month estimated the cost of piracy globally at $7 billion to 12 billion a year, and said the frequent hijackings off the Horn of Africa were driving up shipping costs in the Indian Ocean.

EU force says piracy raids endanger hostages By Tom Odula (AP)

NAIROBI, Kenya — Despite successful raids by Malaysian and South Korean navies that rescued two ships and their crew members from Somali pirates, the European Union Naval Force said it would not follow suit because such raids could further endanger hostages.
Malaysia's navy was holding seven Somali pirates Saturday who were apprehended in the second dramatic commando raid within hours on ships seized near the African coast, authorities said.
The operations gave both Malaysia and South Korea dramatic successes in the battle against pirates who have long tormented shipping in the waters off the Horn of Africa.
The Royal Malaysian Navy said its commandos wounded three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued the 23 crew members on the Malaysian-flagged chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel early Friday, shortly after the pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Aden with assault rifles and pistols.
The operation came the same day as another stunning raid by South Korean commandos who freed a hijacked freighter, which on Saturday was sailing toward Oman under the escort of a South Korean destroyer, a company official said.
EU Naval Force spokesman Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy said despite these successes the force would not change its approach toward tackling piracy.
"Our priority is the safety of the hostages. The pirates are using the hostages as human shields and if we get too close to the pirates they threaten to kill the hostages... I am sure they will carry out the threats if we got too close," O'Kennedy said.
The force now has four ships patrolling the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean. The EU's force for Somalia, also called Operation Atalanta, escorts merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid. The force said it also "protects vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean," in an effort to deter and disrupt piracy.
O'Kennedy said the force last year disrupted 64 attempted hijackings by Somali pirate groups. The EU naval force has also used a strategy of destroying pirates ships, which normally includes several skiffs and a mother vessel.
Somali pirates in the end will not be brutal with hostages because, he said, they know they will eventually get money.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, during which time piracy has flourished off its coast, sometimes yielding millions of dollars in ransoms.
There are now 29 vessels and 703 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia. [THAT'S A LIE! - there are many more] The country lies next to one of the world's most important shipping routes, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.
Malaysia's navy said it sent a ship and a helicopter to the Bunga Laurel, which was then 14 miles (22 kilometers) away, after crew members locked themselves in a safe room and activated a distress call Friday morning.
Elite security forces managed to board the ship and overpower the pirates after an exchange of gunfire, it said in a statement. No one in the rescue team or the ship's crew was injured.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was informed that seven pirates were captured. Authorities were considering whether they should be brought to Malaysia to face trial, he said.
"I am proud of our (navy), which acted with full efficiency and demonstrated courage," Najib said.
The navy ship was in the Gulf of Aden to escort vessels with Malaysian interests. The attack occurred only two hours after it had left the Bunga Laurel after accompanying it to what was considered relatively safe waters, the navy said.
It did not provide the crew members' nationalities. Representatives of the Malaysian International Shipping Corp., which operates the Bunga Laurel, could not immediately be reached.
Later Friday, the raid by South Korean commandos killed eight pirates and captured five others, ending the weeklong captivity of 21 crew members, including eight South Koreans, aboard the Samho Jewelry.
The wounded captain of the South Korean freighter, Seok Hae-gyun, was being treated at a hospital in Oman for a gunshot wound in the stomach by a pirate, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.
Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Seoul that Seok's condition was not life-threatening.
The captain helped the rescue operation by steering the vessel in a zigzag pattern to stall for time after the pirates demanded that the ship be taken toward Somalia, Yonhap said.
A Samho Shipping official confirmed that the ship was heading toward Oman, but said he had no other information because of a breakdown of the ship's communication equipment.
South Korea is studying whether to bring the five captured pirates to Seoul for prosecution or hand them over to countries near Somalia, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified government official.
Repeated calls to South Korea's Foreign Ministry seeking comment went unanswered Saturday.
Other countries' special forces have also launched raids to save ships boarded by Somali pirates within hours of the attacks in recent months, after being assured the crew was locked in safe rooms, commonly referred to as "citadels."

Somali pirates could face S. Korea trial: report (AFP)

Five Somali pirates captured by the South Korean navy during a mission to rescue a hijacked ship may be taken to South Korea for a trial there, a report said Sunday.
Seoul has started legal reviews to try the five Somalis as African countries refuse to try them in their own courts, Yonhap news agency reported, citing an unnamed senior official.
"Our stance is taking a strong legal action in any forms considering the significance of the issue... we have no legal problems punishing them based on international maritime laws," said the official quoted by Yonhap.
South Korean navy commandos on Friday stormed the Samho Jewelry, a 11,500-ton freighter hijacked on January 15 in the Arabian Sea, and rescued all 21 crew members -- eight South Koreans, two Indonesians and 11 from Myanmar.
Eight pirates were killed and five seized.
Neighbouring African countries such as Kenya have often tried seized pirates from Somalia in their own courts.
But Nairobi said last year it would stop the practice, urging the international community to share the burden of prosecuting and imprisoning pirates.
"Many neighbouring countries have expressed a reluctance to accept our request (to prosecute the pirates)," Yonhap quoted the official as saying.
The final decision on the captured pirates will be made as early as Wednesday when the freed ship, escorted by a South Korean naval destroyer, arrives at the Omani port of Muscat, it said.
South Korea's foreign ministry spokesman was not available for comment.
The rescue was seen as a major morale boost for the South's military, which has faced strong domestic criticism for a perceived weak response to North Korea's shelling of a border island in November.
Seoul has also come in for criticism after paying ransoms to secure the release of crew members from six vessels hijacked by Somali pirates.
A supertanker belonging to the same shipping operator, Samho Shipping, was released in November in exchange for a reported ransom of $9 million after being held for seven months.

The Clock is Ticking in Somalia By Mohamud Ahmed (AmericanThinker)

In Somalia, the clock is ticking toward the end of The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.  The TFG's tenure will expire in seven months, and the prospect of an extension is bleak.

Farmajo's administration fills the most unstable government in the world.  Oftentimes, its occupants last no longer than two years.  The TFG is not elected by the people, and its members are often selectively appointed to fulfill unattainable goals: completion of the reconciliation process, restoring government institutions, holding a national election, etc.  More often than not, the prime minister flouts these goals, whereupon he is excised by a no-confidence vote or a pressured resignation.

Prime Minister Farmajo has assumed an office of ill repute.  He replaced Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke, who resigned because of political rifts between him and President Sheikh Sharif, not to mention widespread allegations of uncooperativeness, administrative opacity, and pointed ignorance to insurgent activity in government-controlled areas of Somalia.  In fact, Villa Somalia is surrounded to this day, with only an 8,000-strong AMISOM force keeping it safe.

Now it's Farmajo's turn to face the burdens of public scrutiny and a cannibalizing parliament entity.  Halfway to his first hundred days, the PM has his work cut out for him.

Nomination and cabinet selection

PM Farmajo was nominated on October 14, 2010 and endorsed by the parliament two months later.  He formed his cabinet, mainly comprising educated diaspora Somalis, without the benefit of time on his side.

Considering the massive size of parliament, Farmajo's clique of eighteen ministers appeared small and efficient.  But there are problems even here: several cabinet members have been accused of having close relations with Ashabab, the insurgent group.  Moreover, some major Somali clans have mounted opposition to the Farmajo government, alleging that they were not consulted during the cabinet nominations.  The leader of semi-autonomous Puntland in Somalia, Abdiraman Farole, told the BBC that "we have witnessed many looted properties, but we have not known yet ministerial positions looted[.] ... [T]hese ministers do not represent us[.]"  Furthermore, the majority of the Farmajo cabinet have spent an average of 25 years of their lives outside Somalia -- a problematic situation, since the "technocrat" image they've consequently developed may not sync with the Somali milieu.

In general, no one expected the Farmajo cabinet to prevail in a parliamentary ratification vote.  Yet it happened -- though many believe that the "approval" came after thousands of dollars were distributed to bribe-plagued TFG parliament members.

United insurgency

Recently, the leaders of Alshabab and Hisbal Islam assembled in Kismayo to show their solidarity.  The merger has been jointly announced by the heads of Alshabab and the Hisbal Islam Leader, Sheikh Aweys.  Together, the two strongest Islamist organizations will form a united front, controlling more than two-thirds of Somalia.  Indeed, since Mr. Farmajo came to power, not much has changed on the ground.  The only force preventing a complete takeover from the extremists has been the AMISOM, who, when attacked, fire indiscriminately and shell the civilian-populated areas of Mogadishu -- an infuriating act of violence against innocents.  This has resulted in civilian sympathizers demanding AMISOM's withdrawal.  Yet the weak government has once again appealed to the African Union and the United Nations to expand the AMISOM's strength from eight to twelve thousand.  The government has thus ignored the inhabitants of Mogadishu, hence the insurgents' growing resiliency and public support.  The more the government relies on AMISOM, the larger and more organized the insurgents become.

Ceremonial presidency 

It has been argued that the TFG's powers -- in particular, the president's and the PM's -- are inseparable.  However, the Somali constitution has clear definitions and an unequivocal separation of powers.  According to the TFG charter, "[t]here shall be a President of the Somali Republic, who shall be The Head of State, commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces ... and Symbol of National Unity. ... The President shall appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister and/or dismiss the government if it fails to obtain the required vote of confidence from Parliament[.]"

Evidently, the TFG's incessant problems have nothing to do with the separation of powers, but rather with President Sharif's lack of experience and competence as a leader.  President Sharif has no known political résumé beyond his days with the Islamic Courts Union in 2006.  This was a campaign in which a confederation of Islamist groups engaged a fierce and successful battle against the warlords in Mogadishu.  At that time, President Sharif was a despised leader under Sheikh Dahir Aweys, then the ICU ruling shura (committee) supreme chairman.  Sheikh Sharif's agreement to negotiate with the old TFG in Djibouti angered Aweys, which resulted in a split between the two leaders.  Meanwhile, Sheikh Sharif relied on external advisers since he could not make his own decisions.

Sharif functions more as a foreign affairs minister than as a head of state -- he spends a lot of time traveling to Middle Eastern and neighboring states instead of dealing with the problems at home.  For that reason, self-interested Sharif advisers sought someone who will follow his leadership style, and Omar Sharmarke did not fit that profile.  Prime Minister Farmajo has been chosen over many experienced, more agile candidates because of his "follower" attitude.  President Sharif wanted just such a PM, but in reality, there is nothing for Farmajo to follow.  So the prime minister is cornered -- President Sharif cannot lead, and he will not let the PM lead.  This stalemate cannot be overcome unless Sharif is replaced with better leader.

TFG mandate expires August 2011
The current Sharif government was formulated in Djibouti in January 2009.  President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned December 2008 after a long, bloody war in which he was accused of authorizing Ethiopians to invade Somalia.  At that time, many people held the notion that the short-lived Islamic Courts Union would have ended the mayhem in Mogadishu had the Ethiopian Army not invaded Somalia and swept Islamist forces out of the country.  Many believed that it was indeed a missed opportunity and that this led the U.S and others to take a different political course -- that is, installing Sheikh Sharif, a "moderate," as the next TFG president.  Under the Djibouti agreements, the two sides -- the previous TFG parliament and a new Sharif parliament -- merged to form the current Sharif-led Transitional Government.

Evidently, the Americans' capture of Sheikh Sharif on the Somali-Kenyan border after the ICU defeat by the Ethiopians was the first step to create a "moderate" leadership within the Somali Islamist world.  According to U.S Embassy cables recently published by WikiLeaks, Sharif was interrogated in the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, where he took an oath to remain "moderate" in exchange for amnesty.  The Americans and their allies hoped that Sheekh Sharif would deliver a heavy blow to the insurgents by damaging their alliances and infiltrating Al-Shabab intelligence.

Unfortunately, after nearly two years, Sharif has not gained an inch of land from insurgents.  Furthermore, he has failed to apprehend even a single known al-Shabab/Hisbal leader, while insurgents have made huge advances and now encircle territories surrounding Villa Somalia, the presidential place.

U.S. dual-track policy and the international community

In June 2010, a group of TFG parliamentarians and government officials were invited to Washington, D.C. to report on the "state of the moderate" Sharif government.  The eight-member delegation stayed almost two weeks and had prearranged meetings with various congressmen.  To their disappointment, Somali parliamentarians and other TFG officials were subjected to heated interrogations harsh reprimands.

Later, Senators Feingold and Payne issued what they called the Final U.S. House Resolution for Somalia, which conveyed new ideas supposedly based on the Somali delegation's input.   Members of the Somali delegation recommended that the U.S. reevaluate her policies towards Somalia; some suggested that the U.S. shift focus in Somalia in order to involve more clans, traditional leaders, parents, women, and youths in the decision-making process.  

But this was not to be.  A few months later, the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Africa Johnny Carson announced a modified strategy: a "dual track policy" aimed to engage on the one hand with Puntland and Somaliland (Somalia's relatively stable parts) and on the other hand with the TFG.  Of course, engagement with the latter would depend on the progress it made against al-Shabab's growing influence.  This announcement came during a difficult period for the TFG.

The international community, and the U.N. in particular, has not been serious enough to extend support to the weak TFG administration.  These international entities choose instead to focus on piracy: in June 2008 Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon authorized the navies of 22 nations to police Somalia's unguarded waters at a cost of more than $40 million per year.

On the other hand, the U.N. has a paltry presence inside Somalia itself.  The office of the U.N.'s undersecretary to Somalia (currently occupied by Augustine Mahiga) is operated from Nairobi, Kenya.  Likewise, the UNDP's limited operations go through networks of dishonest subcontractors.  Most NGOs also have their bases in Nairobi.  The EU, the Council of Arab Nations, and others have excused themselves from any close involvement, leaving Somalia at the mercy of the African Union and IGAD.  However, in a letter to Secretary Mahiga, PM Farmajo indicated his government's inability to attain security goals because of the expiring mandate of the TFG in August 2011.  He further reiterated the need for expansion of the UNISOM forces, as the creation of a functioning Somali Army requires a long-term commitment.

Issues of national interest and Memorandum of Understanding:

In his letter to Secretary Mahiga, PM Farmajo expressed his commitment to one unified Somalia, to the restoration of the rule of law, to rebuilding of national institutions, to fighting piracy, and to improving the private sector.  Unfortunately, he did not mention the protection of Somali waters.  Earlier, the PM was contacted by Somalitalk.com, the organization that investigated the Kenya-TFG Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) deal, a foiled annexation scheme to dispute Somalia's Continental Shelf.  The PM has not addressed Somalitalk's concerns.

In fact, the MOU was between the Sharmarke administration, acting on behalf of Sheikh Sharif, and the Kenyan government.  Its intent was to create an unwarranted dispute within the Somalia's waters.  Kenya, with the help of Norway, invested a lot of money to promote this hidden agenda, but the deal incensed Somalis everywhere, including in the Somali parliament.

As a result, the parliament voted unanimously against the MOU.  The U.N. Agency for Oceanic Affairs followed suit, acknowledging Somalia's Territorial Sea and Ports Statute, signed into law on 10 September 1972.  But Kenya has pursued other avenues to imperil Somalia's waters: Kenya's recent plea to the Commonwealth of Nations came out of her desire to substantiate her illegitimate claim to part of Somalia's unprotected wealth.  In fact, Kenya already occupies NFD (North Frontier Province) Somali territory, which was annexed to Kenya by the British before Somalia won independence.

So far, PM Farmajo has ignored this critical issue.  Many questions consequently come to mind: why he is not stepping in to defend Somalia's waters?  Why ponder on the pirate issues while Somalia's seas are under constant threat?  The Somali people are desperately awaiting Farmajo's response.

PM Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has joined the TFG at a critical juncture.  The first half of his hundred days have elapsed with no considerable achievements, but he still has a slim chance of success. Tthe TFG was never a viable solution for Somalia; it was never anything more than an IGAD-prescribed life-support system.  The continuing fractures and splits in the corrupt Somali parliament make it clearer every day that Farmajo will need nothing short of a miracle to change course.  There is hope yet for the prime minister, but time is running out.

Somalia: Intellectual dishonesty of the Somali prime minister By Liban Ahmad (*)
The BBC Somali Service interview with the Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Abdi Mohamed (Raiisul Wasaaraha oo ka hadlay go'aankii Puntland) was a poor prime ministerial response to Puntland's decision to stop working in partnership with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia although the BBC let him off the hook by not asking  his reaction to Puntland's stance against renewing the TFG mandate beyond August 2011.
The prime minister cited the reconciliation efforts that members of his cabinet undertook in Mudug region last year where members of two neighboring sub-clans clashed.  "No one has ever conducted such reconciliation before", he told the BBC Somali Service. In 1993 former TFG president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (then head of emergencies in Mudug and Nugaal and Bari regions) and the late warlord  General Mohamed Farah Aideed signed an agreement to which Puntland and Galmudug  administrations are still committed.
Mr Mohamed said he had not listened to the news about Puntland communiqué against extending the TFG mandate "but if it is true , it is  unfortunate. It empowers Ahmed Godane [ Emir of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen] and foreign jihadists." Mr Mohamed likened Puntland to Al Shabaab supporters but this is hardly surprising. " Puntland people are patriots who had a role in the Somali Youth League, ( the independence  movement) and   made their land peaceful" he said but in his  U.S. Strategic Interest in Somalia: From Cold War Era to War on Terror, (2009) " a thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the State University at Buffalo in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Department of American Studies",  he put forward the  following baseless argument: 
"In the South, the Italian colony found similar willingness in two loyal tribes: the Majeerteen of the Darood clan and the Mudulod, sub-clan of the Hawiye. These two southern tribes helped the Italians without reservation. In return, Italian and British colonies enabled these clans to claim some superiority over the other clans in terms of wealth, scholarship for their children in London and Rome, and future government influence in the (sic) post-colonial era."
Asked abut Somaliland's search for secession, he said it was not appropriate to refer to "past colonial hegemony" to justify secession.  Mr Mohamed has praised 'Somaliland' people for their achievements. However, his portrayal of one of the Somali clans in ex-British Somaliland in his thesis makes him the wrong person to preach Somalis against secession. Another quote from the prime minister's 2009 thesis with relevance to 'Somaliland' is this:  
"Most importantly, when European imperialist decided to give up their colonies in Somalia, they rewarded top leadership positions to the tribes and individuals closest to them. For instance, in the Northern colony of British Somaliland, the Isaaq tribe was awarded virtually all of the best jobs for its collaboration with the imperialists."
It is not only Somali warlords who divide Somali clans ; many Somali 'intellectuals' like prime minister Mohamed, have written either lies about Somalia or justified  victimising Somali clans. The Holy Koran1 cautions the learned against intellectual dishonesty:  " Do you enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (to practice it) yourselves, and yet you study the Scripture? Will you not understand? 02:44 (Surat al Baqarah; verse 44).
Somalia's Prime Minister, Mohamed A. Mohamed, had better pluck the courage to address his inconsistencies   and intellectual dishonesty before discussing the merits of unity and governance for divided Somalis.  
(*) Liban Ahmad is the editor of Somalia Research Report - he can be reached at Libahm@gmail.com

Puntland bans Somali officials from landing at Puntland airports By Abdi Hajji Hussein (AHN)
The semi-autonomous state of Somalia's Puntland has banned the officials of the transitional federal government of Somalia from landing any airport in the regions under the administration of Puntland, statement from the authorities said on Saturday afternoon.
The semi-autonomous state of Somalia's Puntland has banned officials of the transitional federal government of Somalia from landing at any airport in the region that is under the administration of Puntland, a statement from the authorities said on Saturday afternoon.
"After an unusual meeting held by the cabinet of Puntland semi-autonomous state, all ministers have agreed a decision banning all TFG officials (from parliament, cabinet or other TFG institutions) from reaching and landing any airport in Puntland regions" said press release from the cabinet meeting.
No statements about Puntland's declaration were immediately available from the Somali government, which is led by former rebel Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.
The decision is a sign of the deteriorating relations between the two governments as Somalia seems to be beleaguered according to Al shabaab's daily and relentless attacks on Somali forces and African Union peacekeepers in Mogadishu.
The move by Puntland comes less than a week after an unusual meeting by the cabinet of Somalia's semi–autonomous state of Puntland in which they suspended all cooperation with the transitional federal government (TFG) of Somalia.
Political analysts said that there are many unfulfilled promises and direct roadblocks to its internal wishes and aspirations from the Somali government side.
Following the decision, Da'ud Mohammed Omar, Puntland's minister of planning and international co-operation, said in a press conference in Garowe, that a communiqué issued after the meeting announced that the "unanimously agreed [to] suspending all relations and cooperation with [the] transitional government."
Omar said Puntland had called on the international community not to recognize Somalia's transitional government as a representative for Puntland, adding that the authorities thanked the world nations for helping Somalia since 1991 when former dictator Mohammed Si'ad Barre was ousted from the country.
Puntland was the only administration in the northern Somalia that had been in favor of the transitional federal government which controls only small parts of the seaside capital Mogadishu.
Critics said that this second decision taken by Puntland may be irretrievable blow on Somalia's internationally recognized government.

Somali Refugees Blocked From Living in New Camp in Kenya (MSF)
Nairobi, January 21, 2011—Tens of thousands of Somali refugees continue to live in appalling conditions on the outskirts of already congested refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, while a nearby extension camp able to accommodate more people lies empty, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today. MSF urgently calls on the responsible actors involved in negotiations to open the new camp to facilitate the refugees' immediate relocation.
The new camp, Ifo II, was created in response to the continuous influx of thousands of Somali refugees who are fleeing war and drought in Somalia. More than 400 refugees arrive daily in Dadaab and many were to be relocated to Ifo II, located less than 10 kilometers (about six miles) away, on November 2, 2010. Instead, the camp remains uninhabited, while tens of thousands of Somali refugees live in unacceptable conditions on the outskirts of another overcrowded camp, Dagahaley.
"The minimum international humanitarian standards are not being met," said MSF Humanitarian Affairs Officer Elena Estrada. "The refugees have scarce access to water, food, non-food items, and shelter. There are no latrines, making open defecation the only option, and thus increasing the risk of the spread of disease, particularly in this vulnerable population group that is already fleeing years of war."
Established in early 1991, the Dadaab refugee camps were meant to house 90,000 refugees. In 2008, the three camps in Dadaab were declared full and unable to host more people. The camps are currently home to more than 308,000 people from Somalia. After negotiations in December 2009 with the local community, elected leaders, the provincial administration, members of parliament, and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), extension camps with a capacity of 80,000 people were approved.
In the first two weeks of January 2011 alone, almost 6,000 refugees made the perilous journey from Somalia to Dadaab. However, instead of finding the necessary assistance and protection, the refugees are caught in the middle of negotiations over the opening of Ifo II and are left in unacceptable and undignified conditions outside Dagahaley.
Aid agencies, including MSF, are waiting to resettle and assist refugees in Ifo II, an area equipped with clean water, sanitation and health services, and schools. An MSF medical team has been on stand-by since October 2010 to assist patients in a temporary health structure, while a 45-bed hospital is being built.
In November 2010, MSF warned that the situation for the refugees living in spontaneous settlements outside Dagahaley camp was becoming untenable. The makeshift shelters and food supplies were destroyed after heavy rains, further deteriorating the already squalid living and health conditions of the refugees.
Insecurity is another problem facing the refugees. The majority of the new arrivals are children, women, and the elderly. Living outside the camps mean they have little or no protection and are vulnerable to further violence.
MSF has been assisting Somalis since 1992. The medical humanitarian organization started work in Dagahaley camp in March 2009, providing medical care including surgery and maternal health services, in a 110-bed hospital. The four MSF health centers offer vaccinations, antenatal care, and mental healthcare, with an average of 10,000 patient consultations every month.

More than 300 Somali refugees forgotten in Mozambique jails By Abdi Hajji Hussein (AHN)
Yusuf Hussein Mohamoud, a Somali prisoner in one of Mozambique jail, who stealthily got a phone, has told state run Radio Mogadishu that more than 300 Somalis are in a jail in that country, calling for the Somali transitional federal government to intervnee and facilitate secure release from what he called the bad jails in Mozambique.
With the appalling security and living conditions in Somalia, many Somalis have fled to everywhere around the world only to be indefinitely imprisoned in foreign jails.
Yusuf Hussein Mohamoud, is one such Somali refugee who is also a prisoner sitting in a Mozambique jail.
After he stealthily procured a cell phone,  he started calling for help. 
One of the phone calls he made was to Radio Mogadishu to reveal that there are more that more than 300 Somali citizens that are languishing jails in that country,.
Mohamoud has appealed for the new Somali transitional federal government to intervene in the issue and facilitate secure their release from what he called the horrible jails in Mozambique.
Unfortunately for the Somali's, whose central government was overthrown in 1991 have no embassies, consulates or other advocates capable of defending their rights, according to Mohamoud.
Mohamoud said he said that all of the Somali refugee prisoners in Mozambique live in poor conditions lacking adequate sanitation, food and medical care. He explained that many of the Somali refugee prisoners have medical conditions, diseases and disorders that go untreated by their wardens.

Somali Embassy in Germany Returned to Somali Government (ecoterra)
The Somali community in Bonn celebrated and welcomed the return of the Somali embassy in Germany into the hands of the Somali Government.
The ambassador of Somalia to Germany, Mr. Mohamud Mohamed, said at a function in front of the embassy-building in Bonn that "we are very happy to get back our embassy in Germany, which was sold by the former Somali ambassador to Germany."
This is the second embassy to be returned into the hands of the Somali government since the collapse of the former government in 1991.
At the beginning of the year the building of the former Somali embassy to Kenya was returned by court order.
Now, also a court in Germany had ruled that the former Somali embassy building, sold off after the collapse of the Somali government was illegally sold. "The building is uninhabitable, so we have to renovate it and then we will move in," said Ambassador Mohamud Mohamed, nicknamed Tifow in Bonn.
When the government of then President Siyad Barre collapsed in 1991, civil strife engulfed the country, all the diplomatic ties with foreign governments ceased and are now only slowly rebuilt under the UN-recognized Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
In Rome, where the Somali embassy is used and managed at least as a refugee shelter by a community of Somalis stranded there, though it is frequently raided by Italian police, the former TFG Prime Minister and now appointed Ambassador to Italy and the the EU (Brussels), Mr. Nur Cadde doesn't care.

Iran to Send Fleet of Warships to Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea (FNA)
The Iranian Navy plans to send a fleet of warships, including a home-made destroyer, to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea in the near future.
"During the mission, the fleet of warships will enter the waters of the Red Sea and then will be dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea," The Iranian Navy Lieutenant Commander Rear Admiral Gholam-Reza Khadem Biqam told FNA on Sunday.
Elaborating on the important features of the mission, Khadem explained that the fleet would pass through the Suez Canal and would move on a very good route.
He said the mission would last for one year.
He also underlined that the fleet would gain good intelligence and information of the regions it is due to visit during the mission.
The Iranian Navy has started extraterritorial missions mainly in 2008. The Navy has lately dispatched its 10th flotilla of warships to the Gulf of Aden to defend the country's cargo ships and oil tankers against the continued threat of attack by Somali pirates.
The intelligence-operational fleet of warships, which consisted of Khark warship and Alvand destroyer, were dispatched to the Gulf of Aden on September 1 to fight Somali buccaneers and guard Iranian cargo ships in the volatile region.
Iran's measure to dispatch the 10th fleet of warships to the Gulf of Aden will boost Navy's operational range in international waters since the Iranian Navy is considered as a strategic regional force with a long operational range.
Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari in September stressed Iran's continued naval deployment in the high seas, and said that he Iranian Navy's presence in the high seas and international waters is part of Tehran's strategy for defending its interests abroad.
The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in high seas, including the Gulf of Aden, since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
Also, Sayyari announced in late 2010 that Iran plans to deploy its first home-made destroyer, 'Jamaran', in the high seas and international waters as part of the country's strategy to defend national interests abroad.
"Jamaran destroyer will be deployed in an area 10 degrees north of international waters in the near future," Sayyari told FNA in October.

Unrest in Arab States by exiledsurfer
"The lesson from what's happening in Tunisia is that (Arab leaders) won't be able to hide any more behind the Islamist threat argument." -Amel Boubekeur
If Tunisians are protesting for freedom, not religion, what role did Wikileaks and online social networks play in mobilizing Arab populations to throw off the shackles of authoritarian, repressive, and corrupt regimes? Are our western institutions responsible for the waves of protest threatening to drown capitals in the Middle East?.
Self immolation has a long history as an act of faith, desperation, or protest, but the spate of copycat protests in Algeria, Egypt, and Mauritania has many Arab leaders worried that what started in Tunisia could spread to their populations. Islamist leaders have started calling "Tunisian style" suicides a sin, labeling the protestors as unbelievers, but stopping short of calling for a Fatwa (ruling) on the issue.
After Ben Ali found refuge in Saudia Arabia on January 15th, the Swiss government ordered a freeze on all funds held by him in Switzerland. on January 18th. Al Arabiya is cited claiming that Ben Ali had no intention to resign, and only "fled due to a lie by his head of security". Meanwhile, as the interim government experiences growing pains the well-known dissident Moncef Marzouki returned to a moving reception, while other opposition leaders have aired intentions to investigate anyone displaying ostentatious wealth in Tunisia. [Update 1]: When Ben Ali told Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi he was considering returning from exile after fleeing to Saudia Arabia, Ghannouchi told him that was impossible, a government minister told Reuters.
Najib Chebbi, an opposition leader who is now regional development minister in a coalition government, said the exchange happened in a telephone conversation after Ben Ali, toppled by weeks of protests, fled to Saudi Arabia last week.
"Did WikiLeaks cause a revolution? Did Twitter? Did rain in Los Angeles a couple of weeks back cause a mild spell in the UK today? Probably not, but it is impossible to tell anyway. They are all aspects of non-linear complex systems sitting on the edge of chaos, a googol of tiny threads interacting in ways that produce unpredictable and sometimes emergent outcomes."-Ben King
The Revolution in Tunisia which started in Sidi Bouzid is shaking the fabric of many Arab countries. On December 17 2010 when Mohammed Bouazizi, an unemployed 26-year-old in the town of Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire in an attempt to commit suicide after Police had confiscated fruit and vegetables he was selling because he lacked a permit. Bouazizi's act of desperation highlighted the public's boiling frustration over living standards and a lack of human rights. His self-immolation sparked demonstrations which in the end brought down the regime of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and the RCD party which had ruled Tunisia with an iron fist. After 1000's of protestors took to the streets in Tunis, and 300 lawyers held a rally in solidarity with protesters, things became more violent and bloody, with government security forces cracking down on protests. While accounts vary, it is estimated that more than 60 Tunisians died in clashes with the government.
A full timeline of events in Tunisia is available on Al Jazeera English.
After hacktivists acting under the name "Anonymous" announced Operation Tunisia to counter the attempts of the government to censor Tunisian's communicating and organizing via the Facebook social network, authorities arrested a group of bloggers, journalists, activists, and a rap singer, all of which were held in prison until Ben Ali departed Tunisia on January 14, 2011. One of the arrested activists, Slim Amamou, was appointed to the newly formed interim government as Secretary of Youth and Sports Amamou immediately came under fire from other activists, responding to their criticisms of complicity in a video interview.
As hacktivists call for more cyber attacks on government websites in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Libya, commentators in the west have debated back and forth whether or not Wikileaks and social networks have played a role in what started in Sidi Bouzid, Ben King cuts through the noise, making a powerful argument for the systems view, and gives an answer for who and what is responsible for the revolutionary spirit gripping the Arab world:
"Wikileaks is a node, Twitter and Facebook a network of links and people. Yet they are but parts of a larger whole, the internet. This is itself but a part of a larger network, one that encompasses all of the culture and civilization that each node experiences. To give credit to one or the other for people taking to account the previously unaccountable would be glib to the extreme. It would ignore the decades of suffering for a society who for the most part didn't even have the internet.
"Ultimately it was the Tunisian government that was responsible for the revolution."
In the end, all governments and regimes which censor their population's free speech, distribute their wealth unequally, and fail to recognize nationalism as a 20th century paradigm ill-suited to a rapidly shrinking resource base on an ever more socially connected planet, will suffer the same fate as all other genetic and memetic life forms which fail to adapt to the ever-changing flux of evolution: extinction.

WikiLeaks diplomatic cables "leaked" to Norwegian media house (ecoterra)
While WikiLeaks published so far only one percent of the over 250,000 leaked U.S.American diplomatic cables and had shared the whole loot only under strict conditions with just five media-houses worldwide, who adhered so far to a co-operative publication strategy, the Norwegian newspaper "Aftenposten" recived a leaked complete set, which they now share with other mediahouses, who so far had no priviledged access.
If this new development is part of a calculated new strategy of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, whose team suffered defections in recent month and received criticism for obviously not being able or willing to speed up the release of redacted cables, which are mirrored by over 1,400 websites, or if this is a real leak from defectors or other sources with access to the whole lot is so far not clear.
Fact is, however, that now journalists of the conservative German newspaper "Die Welt" and others from Skandinavia and Holland to whom Aftenposten provides access seem to be busy searching the stockpile for news most interesting for their readers.

Updates on Mohamed, WikiLeaks and Manning By Glenn Greenwald Gulet Mohamed is an 18-year-old American citizen whose family is Somali.  His parents moved with him to the U.S. when he was 2 or 3 years old, and he has lived in the U.S. ever since.  In March, 2009, he went to study Arabic and Islam in Yemen (in Sana'a, the nation's capital), and, after several weeks, left (at his mother's urging) and went to visit his mother's family in Somalia, staying with his uncle there for several months.  Roughly one year ago, he left Somalia and traveled to Kuwait to stay with other family members who live there.  Like many teenagers who reach early adulthood, he was motivated in his travels by a desire to see the world, to study, and to get to know his family's ancestral homeland and his faraway relatives. Continue reading

During the first week of Janyary 2011, I wrote about and interviewed Gulet Mohamed, the 18-year-old Somali-born American citizen who described how he was abducted in Kuwait by unknown authorities, blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, and then interrogated, beaten and tortured for the next week (he has since turned 19).  After he was moved to a new facility to be deported, he was able to speak with the outside world, including me, only by virtue of a cellphone which a fellow detainee had illicitly smuggled in and allowed him to use; if not for that, it's quite possible that nobody, including his family, would be aware of his detention.
There are three updates to note about issues I've written:
(1) Gulet Mohamed -- the Somali-born American citizen who just turned 19 and who described how he spent a week being interrogated, beaten and tortured by unknown captors -- remains in custody in Kuwait despite not being charged with any crimes or wrongdoing of any kind.  As his lawyer said in an interview with me on Tuesday, it is the Americans, not the Kuwaitis, who are responsible for his ongoing detention by virtue of placing him on the U.S.'s no-fly list -- likely, they believe, in order to enable his ongoing interrogations by the FBI without a lawyer or other legal protections to which he'd be entitled if he returned to the U.S.
Yesterday, Mohamed's lawyer told me that while American officials do nothing to help him (and much to ensure his ongoing detention), Mohamed was visited again by FBI agents and "interrogated aggressively for hours despite repeated requests that the interrogation stop until his counsel is present."  He added that "at one point during the interrogation, the two agents started screaming and yelling at Gulet inches from his person," and that "a Kuwaiti official actually intervened at this point and directed the agents to calm down and not treat Gulet like they were."  As he put it:  "Gulet has to rely on agents of the government that probably executed his torture to protect him from his country of citizenship."  The photograph of Mohamed in detention was taken by his brother yesterday.  A letter sent by Mohamed's lawyer to the Attorney General regarding the details of the FBI's conduct is here.
If Mohamed is guilty of anything, then he ought to be charged and prosecuted.  Forcing this 19-year-old to remain imprisoned and subjected to ongoing interrogations without the slightest explanation -- particularly after the ordeal to which he was subjected -- is a true travesty.  Denying his  constitutional right to return to his own country through a secret, unexplained placement on the no-fly list is even worse.  The American government has the obligation to assist its citizens in these circumstances, but in this case is doing precisely the opposite.   His attorney has written another letter to the Attorney General, but it appears as though legal action is necessary to redress his plight.
(2) Jacob Appelbaum -- the WikiLeaks volunteer who was detained and interrogated for hours and had his electronic goods seized the last time he attempted to re-enter the U.S., and who was told that this would happen each time he left the country and came back -- indeed encountered similar treatment on Sunday when he returned home from Iceland.  This time at the Seattle airport, he was again detained, questioned, and had his electronic goods taken -- all without a warrant -- though this time he purposely traveled without a laptop or cellphone (the only item he had with him was a memory stick onto which he embedded the Bill of Rights).  Appelbaum recounted his ordeal yesterday on Twitter, and BoingBoing has collected his narration here.
(3) The Bradley Manning Defense Fund announced that WikiLeaks has given the fund $15,000.  That brings the total raised for Manning's defense to more than $100,000, which guarantees that he will be able to pay for a vigorous defense. 

Former Swedish judge Sundberg-Weitman speaks out on the handling of the Julian Assange case
- see HERE

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The Mystery of the Black Goo By Naomi Klein (TheNation)

I got off the WeatherBird II mid way through the cruise in Pensacola, Florida. Five days later, an e-mail arrived from chief scientist David Hollander, subject line: "Yuck!"

As soon as it was back out on the water, the WeatherBird II headed to Perdido Pass, about two miles from Orange Beach, Alabama. When the team pulled up the multi-corer, they were stunned by what they found: the cylinders filled with pitch black, gelatinous goo that looks exactly like crude oil. But it didn't act like oil: the scientists were able to wash it off their hands easily, and it smelled strongly of sulfur, not petroleum. "As a sedimentologist I can tell you that none of us have ever seen anything like this in the Gulf of Mexico," Hollander says, "especially not in shallow water. It certainly didn't belong there."
The location was also interesting. According to Hollander, "this exact area was subjected to over two months of continuous oiling of the shoreline region and the widespread use of dispersants in near-shore shallow waters."
Back at the University of South Florida laboratories, the experiments began. It turns out the black goo is made up of dead plankton and other organisms that adhered to each other. But why did all these life forms die? John Paul, a professor of biological oceanography, tested the waters from the mud and they came back, in his words, "toxic as all bejesus." So there has been some kind of poisoning, but was it BP? Or did these organisms run into some other poison in the gulf?
According to Hollander, it's certain "that these unique sediments have accumulated within the past year and that their origin is contemporaneous with the timing of the oiling and use of dispersants" in the area.
Hollander's tests are ongoing and definitive results will take weeks. All he knows is that a whole lot of marine organisms died and formed a "toxic marine tumble weed," rolling around on the ocean floor until the Weatherbird team happened to poke it. Which kind of makes you wonder: what else are those supposedly healthy waves hiding?
Watch underwater video of the discovery

(*) Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist, fellow at The Nation Institute and author of  The Search for BP's Oil (Environmental Issues) As the gulf is declared "safe," scientists look deep in the sea for evidence of lasting damage. Plus, watch a video from Klein's investigation.

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SOMALI WATERWORLD
THE SITUATION ON SOMALIA's 6th ESTATE:

- YOU ARE PERSISTENTLY BEING LIED TO WITH IMPUNITY
- TRENDS
- SOLUTIONS PENDING
- ECOTERRA STATEMENT and
- THE WISH-LISTS FOR THE NAVIES, THE  UN AND BAN KI-MOON

READ ALL AND UNDERSTAND AT: http://beforeitsnews.com/story/135118
and http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Send-NATO-and-their-Navies-to-the-Shrinks/2931537


HOSTAGE CASES UNDER OBSERVATION:

Genuine members of families of the abducted seafarers can call +254-719-603-176 for further details or send an e-mail in any language to office[AT]ecoterra-international.org


MV SOCOTRA 1 : Seized December 25. 2009. The vessel carrying a food cargo for a Yemeni businessman and bound for Socotra Archipelago was captured in the Gulf of Aden after it left Alshahir port in the eastern province of Hadramout. 6 crew members of Yemeni nationality were aboard. Latest information said the ship was commandeered onto the high seas between Oman and Pakistan, possibly in another piracy or smuggling mission. 2 of the original crew are reportedly on land in Puntland. VESSEL STILL MISSING and/or working as pirate ship, was confirmed by Yemeni authorities.

FV AL-SHURA (AL-SHUVAL?) : Seized after February 20, 2010 and most likely on 25th February with one of 9 the Yemeni sailors being killed by the Somali pirate-attackers. Allegedly the pirates now left the vessel and the dhow was returned to her owner, but independent confirmation is still awaited from Yemen. A similar dhow named AL-SHUVAL was said to have be moored off Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian ocean coast off Somalia until recently and was observed at Dhanaane and then moved away. The vessel is now missing and as such confirmed by Yemeni authorities.

MV ICEBERG I : Seized March 29, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged Ro-Ro vessel MV ICEBERG 1 (IMO 7429102) with her originally 24 multinational crew members (9 Yemenis, 6 Indians, 4 from Ghana, 2 Sudanese, 2 Pakistani and 1 Filipino) was sea-jacked just 10nm outside Aden Port, Gulf of Aden. The 3,960 dwt vessel was mostly held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian  Ocean coast of  Somalia. Since negotiations had not yet achieved any solution, the vessel was taken to the high seas again. Then the USS McFaul intercepted and identified the ship on 19th May 2010, despite the pirates having painted over her name and re-named the ship SEA EXPRESS, while the vessel was on a presumed piracy mission on the high-seas. Since about 50 pirates on the ship made any rescue operation impossible without endangering the 24 crew, the naval ship followed the commandeered vessel's movements for the next 36 hours, until it began to sail back towards the coast of Somalia. Already back then it had transpired that the shipping company Azal Shipping based in Dubai refused to pay any ransom and the ship is apparently not insured, though it carries quiet valuable cargo. It seems that the British cargo owner is influencing the not forthcoming negotiations. The sailors soon had no more food, water or medicine from their stores on board. Chief Officer Kumar, Chief Engineer Mohamed and Second Engineer Francis also stated since months that they urgently need Diesel for the electricity generators. The crew requested in July and August again humanitarian intervention as before but could only receive some supplies through intervention by local elders and a humanitarian group, because the owner-manager neglects the crew . In September the some negotiations for the release started again, but have not been concluded, because the captors consider the offer of the shipowner as unrealistic. According to the Chinese state-media newswire XINHUA, the acting director at the ministry of foreign affairs in Accra (Ghana) Mr. Lawrence Sotah said the ministry, in response to a petition by a relative of one of the hostages, had commenced investigations, but reportedly stated also that their location and reasons for the kidnapping remained unknown. "We do not have any information as to what the pirates are demanding, because the owners of the ship or the pirates themselves have not put out any information which will be helpful for us to know exactly what they want," he said. "Ghana's mission in Saudi Arabia has been contacted to assist, " Sotah said. He said the ministry was working with other international security organization to get to the bottom of what he termed the "alleged" kidnapping.
The vessel is owned by a company called ICEBERG INTERNATIONAL LTD, but registered only with "care of" the ISM-manager AZAL SHIPPING & CARGO (L.L.C) - Shipping Lines Agents - Dubai UAE, whose representative is saying that he is handling the case.
Though EU NAVFOR spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour had stated that the vessel was carrying just "general mechanical equipment" and was heading for the United Arab Emirates when it was attacked, it carries according to the owner-manager generators, transformers and empty fuel tanks. It could now be confirmed that besides other cargo it carries generators and transformers for British power rental company Aggreko International Power Projects and the cargo seems to be better insured than the vessel.
One of the sailors from Ghana was able to speak to a journalist back home and stated on 22. September: "They have given us a 48 hour deadline that if we don't come up with anything reasonable they will kill some of us and sink the vessel. I am appealing to the Ghanaian authority that they should do something to save our lives because our treatment here is inhuman". The vessel is now very close to the shore of Garacad. In the beginning of October the Somali pirates allegedly threatened to kill the sailors and to sell the body organs of the 22 hostages, if their ransom demands are not met in the near future. Media reports said the information was received via a text message from one of the hostages, but investigations showed that the message, which read that the pirates will kill them and then remove their eyes and kidneys in order to be sold, is more a sort of a macabre hoax. On 27. October the third officer (name of the Yemeni man known but withheld until next of kin would speak out) died. The crew reported the case, evidence was provided and the owner confirmed that he also knows. Since there is no more light diesel to run the generators for the freezer, the owner reportedly just gave instructions to take the body off the vessel, but has made no arrangements to bring it back to Yemen.
Thereafter it was said that the group holding the ship would use it again to capture other vessels when two skiffs were taken taken on board hinting at plans that the gang intended to commandeer the ship to the high-seas again. But vessel and crew were then still held at Kulub near Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, because it is believed the vessel is out of fuel.
The families of the Indian seafarers on board have several times called upon the President and the Prime Minister of India and addressed the Indian Minister to help and solve the crisis, since the shipowner is not even responding to their requests for information. Though Dubai's Azal Shipping, fronting for the real owners, stated to a maritime website that the crew would not be malnourished, the governments of the seafarers already have statements from the captain and crew-members themselves, which state otherwise and also describe the appalling medical situation.
Again an urgent request to deliver relief-supplies in form of food, water and urgently required medicine as well as fuel for the generators has been made by the captain and crew, but was so far neglected by the ship-owner, who also has not yet facilitated the transfer of the body of the deceased to his Yemeni family. A great number of the still surviving 23 crew are suffering now from serious medical conditions of various kind , ranging from blindness, infections to mental illness, and  most suffer from skin rashes, which make now humanitarian intervention and medical assistance compulsory.
It is hoped that the Indian Prime Minister, who was in the UAE, can achieve that the owners of the vessel are now really engaging in a tangible process to free the vessel and not just rely on their so-called consultants.
Latest reports state that the vessel is now only one mile off the beach off Kulub. Dangers that it might get wrecked on the beach are real, because the chief engineer alerted that there is no more fuel on board to manoeuvre the vessel away from the shore and heavy winds and waves push the vessel closer to land.
It would not be the first time that unscrupulous vessel or cargo owners even hope to cash in on the insurance money for a wrecked ship and lost cargo in such a case.
Since 02. February 2005 the classification society Bureau Veritas had withdrawn from this vessel, because a survey of the ship was already overdue back then and no survey has been carried out since. But this did not stop disputed outfits like the Canadian company Africa Oil to use the ICEBERG I as their supply vessel for their adventures with the Australian oil-juggler Range Resources and the Puntland regional administration and to take equipment back to Djibouti when their deal finally went sour recently.
The vessel is also not covered by an ITF Agreement and the crew will have serious difficulties to get their rights even once they come free.
Already the family of the deceased Yemeni seafarer and their lawyer from Aden had no success to achieve any co-operation from the vessel owner or their front-men - a situation experienced by several organizations already before.
Meanwhile the flag-state Panama and the governments of the seafarers have been addressed and are requested to step in. Panama's Shipping Registry, the largest in the world at the end of 2010, has finally exited the "grey list" compiled by signatories of the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (Paris MOU.) The Paris MOU compiles a list of shipping registries that are not in compliance with international standards. So ot is expected now that the authorities from Panama will take their guarantor position as flagstate concerning the lives of the seamen on MV IVEBERG serious now.
Latest reports say that the body of the deceased seafarer is decomposing, while vessel and crew are obviously also earmarked to rot unattended in that hell.

FV JIH-CHUN TSAI 68 (aka JIN CHUN TSAI NO 68) (日春財68號) : Seized March 30, 2010. The Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessel with factory facility was attacked together with sister-ship Jui Man Fa (瑞滿發), which managed to escape. The vessels are operating out of the Seychelles and reportedly had been observed in Somali waters earlier. The crew of Jih-chun Tsai No. 68 consists of 14 sailors - a Taiwanese captain along with two Chinese and 11 Indonesian seamen. The vessel was mostly held at Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and at first negotiations faced serious communication problems,  while later allegedly a conclusion was achieved. But the release could still not be effected, since the brokers as well as the pirate-group holding the vessel changed. Allegedly money was sent into the wrong hands and never reached those holding the vessel and the seafarers hostage. It was reported in the meantime that the Taiwanese captain had several times been beaten severely. However, a release of vessel and crew from Kulub seemed to be near and the vessel left the coast at the end of November, but is said now to NOT have been released and instead is used for another piracy operation.

MV RAK AFRIKANA : Seized April 11, 2010. The general cargo vessel MV RAK AFRICANA (IMO 8200553) with a dead-weight of 7,561 tonnes (5992t gross) was captured at 06h32 approximately 280 nautical miles west of Seychelles and 480nm off Somalia in position 04:45S - 051:00E. The captured vessel flies a flag of convenience from St. Vincent and the Grenadines and has as registered owner RAK AFRICANA SHIPPING LTD based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and an office in the Seychelles, while industry sources said the beneficial owner was from China. AL SINDBAD SHIPPING & MARINE from Ras al Khaimah (UAE) serves as manager. While China's Seafarers Union, based on an outdated ITF database, first spoke of 23 Chinese nationals as crew, the shipowner says there are 26 seamen from  India, Pakistan and Tanzania on board. The actual crew-list has not been provided yet and the crew is not covered by an ITF agreement, but it could be established that the 26 member crew comprises of 11 Indians, including the captain, the second and third officer, as well as 10 Tanzanians and 5 Pakistanis. The vessel stopped briefly due to engine problems - around 280 nautical miles (520 kilometres) west of the Seychelles - but was then commandeered to Somalia and was held off Ceel Huur not far from Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean Coast, from where it was moved to Ga'an and further towards Hobyo, but then it was still held in the vicinity of Harardheere. When the pirates tried to leave the coast last time from that location they were pushed back by the navies to the shore and the vessel is now held near Xamdule (Hamdule is between Hobyo and Harardheere). The captors have forced the crew to fly the Italian flag, signalling an apparent beneficial owner of the vessel. Meanwhile negotiations had reportedly broken down - because the interpreter was confused by not knowing if he was talking to the right people - but seem now to have started again, though so far fruitless.

THAI FISHING FLEET : Seized April 18, 2010 with a total crew of 77 sailors, of which 12 are Thai and the others of different nationalities, the Thailand-flagged vessels operating out of Djibouti were fishing illegal in the Indian Ocean off Minicoy Island in the fishing grounds of the Maldives. All three vessels were then commandeered towards the Somali coast by a group of in total around 15 Somalis. Already there are reports of three dead sailors with these vessels.
FV PRANTALAY 11 with a crew of 26
FV PRANTALAY 12 with a crew of 25
FV PRANTALAY 14 with a crew of 26
None of these vessels is registered and authorized by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to  fish in the Indian Ocean.
The fleet was mostly held off the coast at Kulub near Garacad (06 59N 049 24E) at the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. The captors already threatened since months to use one of the hunter-vessels of the group as a piracy-launch, while negotiations have not been forthcoming. Prantalay 14 left the coast in the morning of 20. September to what is said to be another piracy expedition. Three skiffs, three ladders and other equipment were observed to be on board.  The vessel has been  further observed on 28. September near the shipping lanes in the area. On 30. September  at 10h15 UTC a Pirate Action Group consisting of one skiffs with ladders and weapons was reported in position 07 34 N 057 39 E, which is assessed to be connected to an operation of this fishing vessel as Mother Ship - reported in position 06 47 N 060 51 E. A regional minister from Puntland got into problems when final negotiations for the release of the held vessels were supposed to take place at Garacad, but went sour. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wants the navy to extend its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia for another month. He will seek cabinet approval for an additional budget of about 100 million baht for this purpose, navy chief Admiral Kamthorn Phumhiran said earlier. Adm Kamthorn said Mr Abhisit wants the mission of The Royal Thai Navy Counter Piracy Task Unit of two navy ships with 351 sailors and 20 special warfare troops on board, which had left Thailand on Sept 10 and is now operating in the Gulf of Aden, extended. The mission was originally set for 98 days, ending on Dec 12., but the usual fishing season goes beyond that time, which is believed to be behind the extension demands. Now also FV PRANTALAY 11 left on another hunting mission for piracy prey, because the Thais have not at all even tried to wrench the ships from the fists of their captors. Only PRANTALAY 12 and her crew was then left as a super-hostage at the coast until on 16th November also FV PRANTALAY 12 sailed again to the oceans. All 3 vessels are believed in the moment to hunt for larger prey, since the shipowner PT Interfisheries didn't secure their release.
FV PRANTALAY 14 returned in the meantime after having been used to capture another merchant vessel and is now held off Hobyo at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.

FV TAI YUAN 227 (aka MALAYSIA 618):  Seized on May 06, 2010 in an area north of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Seychelles as it headed for the Maldives. The Taiwanese fishing boat has a crew of 28 (9 Chinese, 3 Vietnamese, 3 Filipinos, 7 Kenyans and 2 from Mozambique). Taiwan's foreign ministry confirmed that the vessel had been seized after the Taipei Rescue Command Centre reported the incident to  have taken place in approximate position 0105N-06750E. The ministry added that contact was made on Friday that week with the pirates who made an unspecified ransom demand, while the vessel is heading towards the Somali coast. The vessel has no authorization by the Indian Ocean Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean, which, however, is partly explained by the fact that China is opposed to Taiwan as flag state. Due to the inaction of the ship-owner and the Taiwan government to free the vessel, it was used again as launch for further piracy attacks. Vessel and crew was held off Habo at the Puntland coast of the Gulf of Aden, but now the Taiwanese fishing vessel is said by the NATO Shipping Centre (NSC) to be operating as pirate mother-ship within an area of a 200nm radius from 06 degrees 50 minutes north and 65 degrees 00 minutes east. NSC 'Counter Piracy Operation Ocean Shield' warns Masters . The vessel has even the potential to conduct pirate operations further out. The Tai Yuan 227 is a white hulled fishing vessel, approximately 50 metres long, with the registration numbers BH3Z87 painted in large black letters on the hull. NATO sounded a warning when at 21h00 UTC (18h00 local time) on October 19, 2010, the commandeered FV Tai Yuan 227 was sighted in position Latitude: 11°00N Longitude: 61°00E.
At 06h22 UTC on 16. January the FV TAI YUAN 227, which sports now the new name MALAYSIA 618  was observed with two skiffs in position Latitude: 19°47N   Longitude: 063°25E sailing with a speed of 6kts and course of 207 degrees.

FV AL-DHAFIR : Seized on May 06 or 07, 2010 off the coast of Yemen. The Yemen coastguard of the Arabian peninsular state reported the case. Yemen's Defence Ministry confirmed that the 7 Yemeni nationals on board were abducted to Somalia. Yemen's coastguard said Somali pirates captured the fishing vessel, while it was docked at a Yemeni island in the Red Sea and had taken it to Somalia. The coastguard was continuing its efforts to retrieve the boat, the Defence Ministry said, but meanwhile the dhow was said to be held at the Somali shore close to Kulub.

MSV SHUVAL : Seized May 08, 2010. Latest information retrieved about the fate of this Yemen-flagged vessel confirmed a sighting at Garacad, where the vessel was at anchorage on 9. June 2010. Yemeni authorities are further investigating.

MV SUEZ : Seized August 02, 2010. In the early hours at 0420 UTC of AUG 02, 2010, the MV SUEZ (IMO number 8218720) reported being under small arms fire from a pirate attack by one of 3 skiffs in position 13 02N - 048 54E and minutes later the Indian captain reported pirates on board.
After notification of the attack, attempts were made by the navies, who are supposed to protect the area, to make contact with the MV SUEZ, but to no avail. Egyptian-owned MV SUEZ was sailing under flag of convenience from Panama in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) when it was attacked. Immediately after the first report a helicopter was directed to the ship but pirates had already taken over the command of the vessel, EU NAVFOR reported.
Two NATO warships, HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën and USS Cole, from the NATO counter piracy task force undertaking Operation OCEAN SHIELD, and a Singaporean warship the RSS Endurance from the CMF taskforce were within forty miles of MV Suez at the time of the attack. Despite reacting immediately and having a helicopter on the scene within 10 minutes, naval forces were unable to prevent the attack as the pirates had been able to board the ship within 5 minutes, NATO reported.
The case actually shows that though the ship was reportedly employing Best Management Practices, having barbed wire in place and fire hoses ready, the waters off Yemen and opposite Puntland are the most dangerous in the whole area. Somali sea-shifta are able to outwit and overcome any preventive measures - including arms on board, which only would drive the casualty figures higher. The incident actually highlights once again that it is high time to follow the advice to engage and help local Somali communities along the two coasts to make their coastlines safer themselves and to empower them to rule out the holding of any hostage from these innocent merchant vessels.
The MV SUEZ, with a deadweight of 17, 300 tonnes, has a crew of 24, according to NATO, while EU Navfor said 23 and the last crew-list: showed 21 with 9 Egyptians, 7 Pakistani, 3 Indians and 2 Sri Lankans. It, however, could be confirmed in the meantime that the 23 men crew consists of 11 Egyptians, 6 Indians, 4 Pakistani and 2 Sri Lankans. Crew and shipowner do not have an ITF Approved CBA agreement and - due to an overdue survey - the ship's classification status had been withdrawn by Germanischer Lloyd since 28. 06. 2010. The detailed, actual crew list is awaited. RED SEA NAVIGATION CO. serves as ship manager for owner MATSO SHIPPING CO. INC. - both from Port Tawfiq in Egypt. Red Sea Navigation's commercial director Mohamed Abdel Meguid said his company already paid a US$1.5 million ransom last year (actually it was the year before) for another hostage ship, the MV MANSOURAH 1 (aka Al Mansourah), which was sea-jacked on 03. September 2008 and released against the ransom after only 23 days. As DPA reported from Cairo a day later, an official with Red Sea Navigation Company, who declined to be identified publicly, said that the company would not pay a ransom and that the matter was being handled by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo.
MV SUEZ, the merchant vessel with a cargo of cement bags destined for Eritrea, was then commandeered towards the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and was expected at the pirate lair of Garacad in Puntland, but there pirate groups were fighting among each other and had come recently under pressure from Puntland forces. The vessel therefore  dropped at first anchor near Bargaal and then was commandeered back again to the Gulf of Aden coast of Puntland, where it was held close to Bolimoog, between Alula and Habo at the very northern tip of the Horn of Africa. Thereafter the ship was moved again to the Indian Ocean coast near Dinowda Qorioweyn.
"The pirates are treating us toughly, and they took some of the crew to unknown place to exert pressure on owners of the ship," Farida Farouqe quoted her husband as telling her over the phone, as Xinhua news agency reported.  The alleged demands vary between one, four and six million dollars, while officially the ship owner has been reported as saying already earlier that no ransom will be paid, while the cargo-owners seem to have been negotiating. Vessel and desperate crew were held off Dinowda Quorioweyn at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Puntland and until 12. December off Ceel Danaane.
Reports then stated that the vessel, accompanied by a sea-jacked Iranian fishing vessel, was set to go on another piracy mission, because the captors and the owners couldn't agree on a ransom, and actually did leave that coast, but was observed now anchored on 1. January 2011 at Garacad in position 0653N - 04922E.

YEMENI FISHING VESSEL : Seized August 26, 2010. The earlier reports provided by maritime observers speaking of the capture of a fishing vessel were confirmed now to the extend that the type and flag of the vessel have been identified. The Yemeni fishing vessel with at least 10 sailors on board was seized in the territorial waters of Somalia. The name of the vessel and Yemeni registration is not yet known. The Yemeni boat was sailing near the north coast of Somalia when the captors attacked it with small skiffs. They later headed toward the Somali coast. Present location unknown. At the beginning of November 2010 in total at least five Yemeni fishing vessels are held by the Somali sea-gangs and a detailed report is awaited from the Yemen authorities.

MT OLIB G : Seized September 08, 2010. Reports from our local observers were confirmed by EU NAVFOR: Early on the morning of 8 September, the Greek-owned, Malta-flagged Merchant Vessel (M/V) MT OLIB G (IMO 8026608) - a Greek-owned chemical tanker - was pirated in the east part of the protected Gulf of Aden corridor. After having received a report from a merchant vessel that a skiff was approaching MV OLIB G, and after several unsuccessful attempts to make contact with the vessel, the USS PRINCETON warship of Task Force 151 launched its helicopter. The helicopter was able to identify two pirates on board MT OLIB G, the EU report stated.  The MT OLIB G was sailing West in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor en route from Alexandria to India through the Gulf of Aden - allegedly carrying only ballast. The Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) is an area in which EU NAVFOR (Task Force 465), NATO (Task Force 508) and Combined Maritime Force (Task Force 151) coordinate the patrol of maritime transits. It is, however, not known yet if the vessel was involved in dumping or why it was just sailing with ballast. The MT OLIB G, deadweight 6,375 tons, has a crew of 18, among which are 15 Georgian and 3 Turkish. Crew and vessel are not covered by ITF Agreement. The vessel has as registered owners FRIO MARITIME SA and as manager FRIO VENTURES SA, both of Athens in Greece. The attack group is said to consist of people from the Majerteen (Puntland) and Warsangeli (Sanaag) clans, who had set out from Elayo. After the well timed attack - more or less synchronized with attacks on two other vessels - and the subsequent overpowering of the crew the vessel was then commandeered towards the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, where it was first  held near Eyl and then off Kulub. According to media reports the owner of the vessel initially offered a ransom of $75,000, but later raised it to $150,000. However, the sea pirates want no less than $15 million, a Press TV correspondent reported. Both sides seem to be not realistic. Vessel and crew are at present held approx. 38nm off Eyl at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and different reports about conflicts have been received.

MSV NASTA AL YEMEN : Reportedly seized on Sept. 14, 2010. Number of crew yet unknown, but presumed 9. Further report awaited from Yemen.

MT ASPHALT VENTURE : Seized September 28, 2010. The Panama-flagged asphalt tanker MT ASPHALT VENTURE (IMO 8875798) was captured on her way from Mombasa - where the vessel left at noon on 27. September, southbound to Durban, at 20h06 UTC = 23h06 local time in position 07 09 S 40 59 E. The vessel was sailing in ballast and a second alarm was received at 00h58 UTC = 03h58 LT. The ship with its 15 all Indian crew was then observed to have turned around and is at present commandeered northwards to Somalia. EU NAVFOR confirmed the case only in the late afternoon of 29. September. Information from the ground says a pirate group from Brawa had captured the vessel and at first it was reported that the vessel was heading towards Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast, while the tanker had first contact at the Somali coast near Hobyo and was then commandeered further north. The vessel is managed by ISM manager OMCI SHIPMANAGEMENT PVT LTD from Mumbai and owned by BITUMEN INVEST AS from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, who uses INTER GLOBAL SHIPPING LTD from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates as ship-handler. The Government of India and other authorities are informed. Concerning the condition of the crew so far no casualties or injuries are reported, but the vessel seems to have an engine problem. Vessel and crew are at present held off Kulub at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. Negotiations for a release have commenced.

FV GOLDEN WAVE 305 (sporting also the Korean name Geummi 305 or KEUMMI 305) : Seized October 09, 2010. The 241-to large South-Korean-owned but now apparently Kenyan-flagged fishing vessel, which had been transformed from an old merchant ship into a specialized fishing vessel, was already captured possibly in Somali waters, the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP) reported first.
The owners as well as the international navies kept mum until 17. October, when the British mastered Maritime Security Centre MSC(HOA) notified the case based on a statement by South Korea's Foreign Ministry.
Maritime observers working in Somalia with ECOTERRA Intl. had earlier confirmed that the vessel on that day was already held off the Central Somali coast off Harardheere (Xarardheere), from where then some movement again southwards was observed.
The owners, who had not reported the case earlier, said then that the position of the capture of the vessel and crew was 03:06S and 047:58E at 07h45 UTC (10h45 local) on 09. Oct. 2010 in the Somali Basin, which would be just 10 miles off the coast of Lamu on the north of the Kenyan coast and near the border with Somalia. But this report is highly questionable since local reports state that the vessel was boarded while inside the Somali waters.
However, ECOTERRA Intl. and SAP urged the Somalis to either open a formal and legal process to prosecute a case of illegal fishing, or to release the vessel, if there is evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that the ship and crew were not fishing illegally in Somali waters.
Since both countries, Kenya and Somalia have ratified the United Nations Common Law on the Sea (UNCLOS) since long, there is no doubt about the maritime boundary between the two states, despite the persistent haggling and attempts on higher levels to alter this.
The 241-ton trawler cum long-liner is very well known since many years for its poaching operations, which was confirmed also by the Malindi Marine Association in Kenya (MaMa-Sea) and ECOP marine, a group of marine protection specialists. The vessel had been illegally entering the Somali fishing grounds with impunity over many years and then usually kept hanging out at the North Kenya banks as well as even off Malindi in order to cover the traces of the illegal activities.
Though the judiciaries of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia as well as e.g. of the regional State of Galmudug still face serious problems, a legal process is possible everywhere in Somalia and not only in Somaliland and Puntland, where the international community has recognized the legal procedures and regularly hands over pirates arrested by the foreign navies into these systems, which even are sentencing people to death and execute the death penalty. Especially because there is an official moratorium on fishing by foreign-flagged vessels in Somali waters since 2008 firmly in place and no legal licences have been issued, the case must be dealt with in front of a court.
ECOTERRA Intl. spokesman Dr. Hans-Juergen Duwe called upon specialized legal organizations, judges and lawyers from benches in friendly nations to come forward and assist the Somali judiciaries in prosecuting such cases, which all too easily are otherwise then just brushed away as pure piracy and thereby kept away from the eyes of the legal eagles and the law - thereby encouraging other fish-poachers to copycat, since the risk to be captured by Somali coastguards or the real buccaneers is still rather minimal.
The vessel has a large crew of 43 seafarers with the South-Korean owner cum master and a South-Korean chief engineer as well as two Chinese officers and 39 Kenyans.
Their venture is specialized on scooping by pot-fishing the ever declining populations of coastal crab and rock lobsters, a delicacy for the top-market seafood restaurants the world over, as well as in long-line fishing for the high-priced yellow-fin tuna and Kingfish as well as the rare bill-fish like Marlin and Sailfish as well as the already endangered sword-fish. For the tuna-fishing it would also have to be registered with the Indian Ocean  Tuna Commission (IOTC), but the vessel is not listed there - neither as Keummi 305 nor as Golden Wave.
Also in Kenya local fishing co-operatives as well as the associations of deep-sea anglers had complained since long about the detrimental activities of this specific vessel, which is persistently using illegal gear. While in the mostly unprotected waters of Somalia their clandestine deals usually were covered with a handful of dollars into the palms of some unscrupulous businessmen, local "authorities" or impoverished local fellows, they apparently also enjoy "protection" from certain cadres in Kenya. However, fishermen contacted at the Kenya coast today actually jubilated that this vessel had been finally captured by the Somalis.
The pirates haven't contacted the ship's agent in the south-eastern South-Korean port city of Busan for any possible negotiation, Yonhap news agency said. The fisheries company that owns the ship shut down its Busan head office due to financial troubles in 2007 and has been operating only with the Keummi 305, it said.
Reports state that Captain Kim Dae Gun himself, who is on board, is the owner of the vessel.
The vessel at first was brought to Harardheere and then moved south to be held around 90 nm south of Harardheere, but on 23. October was then observed by naval forces in the vicinity of the point where an LPG tanker was sea-jacked  the very day 50nm off Mombasa.
Apparently the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) is no longer operating.
Negotiations have not yet started in earnest and families of the seafarers fear the vessel might again be misused for other dangerous piracy operations under a human shield for which the crew is abused.
The Captain of the Golden Wave 305 is urgent need of medication, and the whole crew may lack food soon.
The arrival of the 4,500-tonne Choi Young, a South Korean destroyer with a fresh batch of some 300 troops, at the end of December in the Gulf of Aden marked the sixth replacement of the Cheonghae unit since its deployment early last year under a US-led multinational anti-piracy campaign.
The fishing vessel and crew are at present held south of Ceel Gaan, close to Harardheere, at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast and it is assumed that after the deadly operation freeing South-Korean MT SAMHO JEWELRY the case will become difficult to solve.

MV IZUMI (ISUMI) : Seized on October 10, 2010. The multi-purpose ship MV IZUMI (IMO 9414955) was captured while en route from Japan via Singapore to Kenya in Somali waters  at 13h09 UTC in position 01 39S 042 05E, which is around 170 nautical miles (314 kilometers) south of Mogadishu, and has an all- Filipino crew of 20 seamen.
The ship, which has a deadweight of 20,170 tonnes, is owned by Japanese shipping company NYK-Hinode Line Ltd., one of the oldest shipping lines plying the routes from the Far East to East Africa, and is flying a flag of convenience from Panama. Managers are Fair Field Shipping KK [ Kaytaro G Sugahara]. In 1996, FCC was established in Conneticut/USA based Fairfield Group as a chemical principal occupation operator. Fairfield is part of Great American Lines Int'l, Inc., which was incorporated in 2004 in the U.S.State of Florida.
The MV IZUMI is a RoLo (roll-on lift-off), a hybrid vessel type with ramps serving vehicle decks but with other cargo decks accessible only by crane. The ship is under DIA S.A. contract and had been carrying steel products for the automotive industry from Japan via Singapore towards Mombasa, said its Tokyo-based operator NYK-Hinode Line.
While in the years back the company still had Japanese officers on  board of their vessel, they have now all-Filipino crews despite the ban by the government of the Philippines to employ their nationals on routes endangered by piracy.
EU NAVFOR confirmed the case on 11. Oct. and reported the vessel at a position 170 miles (274 kilometres) south of the Somali capital of Mogadishu and as being commandeered northwards, while a Danish and the EU NAVFOR French warship FS FLOREAL were close by and were monitoring. Vessel and crew have been now commandeered to Xamdule (Hamdule) between Hobyo and Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.
Japan's transport minister Sumio Mabuchi on Tuesday said Tokyo was "nervously" watching developments while cooperating with the International Maritime Organization in dealing with the suspected pirate attack.
Japan last year joined the United States, China and more than 20 other countries in the maritime operation against pirates who have attacked ships off the Horn of Africa, a key route leading to the Suez Canal.
Tokyo has also dispatched two maritime surveillance aircraft and scores of military personnel to beef up its anti-piracy mission, although their operations are restricted by the country's pacifist constitution.
Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force has deployed two destroyers to escort ships in the pirate-infested gulf, and said last month that it had so far provided safe passage for more than 1,000 ships.
The vessel is
The Ro-Lo hybrid vessel was then anchored two miles from the coast, 6 miles north of Haradheere for some time, but now MV IZUMI with her hostages as human shield is at present used as piracy launch. First it was used in an attack against the merchant vessel MV TORM KANSAS near Pemba Island on the boundary between Kenya and Tanzania and on 06. November the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS INFANTA CHRISTINA and her escort object, the AMISOM weapons-transporter PETRA 1, became a target off the East coast of Somalia. The vessel is still out hunting.
At 23h40 UTC on 24 Dec the pirated MV IZUMI was reported in position 06°30 N - 052°18E, cruising 245° at a speed of 13 kts conducting mother-ship piracy operations.

FV AL FAHAD : Seized October 11, 2010. Many more Iranian fishing vessel were over time actually held by Somali gangs than listed, since their cases and the fate of their sailors are not officially reported - neither by Iran nor the Western Navies.
Sources with detailed knowledge from Iran stated after the release of one Iranian fishing vessel without ransom but actually a reward paid to their captain for good assistance during piracy operations of other vessels at the end of October 2010, that at least one other Iranian fishing vessels is held at present near Garacad. How many were seized for illegal fishing in Somali waters or how many were sea-jacked just to use them as piracy launch or to press ransom could so far not clearly be established.
One Indian Navy vessel not involved in anti-piracy operations received a distress call from a merchant vessel pointing out it had spotted pirate skiffs with the Al-Fahad. The naval vessel on research mission intercepted on 10. December 2010.
"Six skiffs, with outboard motors, an AK-47 with ammunition, gas cylinders and fuel was found on board the dhow after it was intercepted... the pirate boat was then disabled," said an officer. Indian naval sources maintained that the Dhow had not been sunk.
According to those Indian naval sources there were 31 people on board. Unfortunately the Indian navy ship must not have realized that this was a sea-jacked vessel and let the Somalis and allegedly Yemeni men on board sail away after they destroyed the so called pirate-paraphernalia.
It also becomes obvious that crews collaborate with pirates to use their ships as transporters, pirate launches or even as attack vessels.
Allegedly the vessel flies now a flag from Yemen and Indian naval sources maintain the vessel was not sunk.
Though some naval sources in the region doubt the Indian report, the vessel therefore has to be kept on the list of sea-jacked ships.

MSV ZOULFICAR : Seized near Socotra on October 19, 2010. This is a motorized sailing dhow, which was captured near the Socotra archipelago. It must not be mixed with the case of Comorian MV ALY ZOULFECAR. Yemen authorities stated that it would not be a Yemeni vessel, but could possibly be from Iran. Further details awaited.

MT YORK : Seized October 23, 2010. The Singapore-flagged MT YORK (IMO 9220421), Liquid Petroleum Gas Carrier, had left Mombasa on 23. October in the morning at 06h00 en route to the Seychelles. The vessel was then attacked at around 17h30 local time (14h30 UTC) by two skiffs, approximately 98 nautical miles East of Mombasa in Kenya. The Turkish warship TCG GAZIANTEP, operating under the Combined Maritime Forces (Task Force 151) launched her helicopter to investigate and was able to observe pirates with weapons on board the vessel. The LPG Tanker is owned by Greek Interunity Management Corporation (IMC) and had just transported a cargo of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) to Mombasa.  
Gerald Lim, a director of the ship owner York Maritime Company Private Ltd, said initially that there was no word on the ship or crew since it put out a distress call. After the attack the MT YORK was drifting but then began moving at 10 knots in the morning of 24. October, when then the Singapore-flagged LPG tanker,was finally confirmed pirated in the Somali Basin by EU NAVFOR. It seems that the South-Korean fishing vessel FV GOLDEN WAVE 305 (alias FV KEUMMI 305), captured from an illegal fishing trip in Somali waters on 9 October 2010, was used to sea-jack the MT YORK, which is under German-owned BERHARD SCHULTE Ship Management.
The tanker, with a dead-weight of 5,076 tons, has a crew of 17, including the German Master, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos. The vessel was commandeered towards Harardheere and Hobyo with a possible final holding ground off Garacad when it left the coast again and was at 03h04 UTC on 29. December reported as  possibly conducting mother ship operations in position Latitude: 00°36N Longitude: 058°37. At 09h40 UTC on 31. December 2010 pirated MT YORK was observed in position 03°06 N - 064°02 E with a course of 270 deg. at speed 9 kts.
At 13h54UTC on 05. January 2011 the vessel was again observed in position 04°00 N 051°58 E, sailing with course 290° at speed 6.5 kts. It transpired on 10. January 2011 that MT York actually towed a sea-jacked tug-boat from north of the Seychelles towards Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.
  
MSV AL-NASSR : Seized October 28, 2010 off Socotra.The motorized Dhow was captured on October 28, 2010 at 11h56 UTC (14h56 local time) in position 12:08N – 054:25E off Socotra Island, Somalia, according to the IMB Piracy reporting centre. Once a British protectorate, along with the remainder of the Mahra State of Qishn and Socotra and being a strategic important point, the four islands making the Archipelago of Socotra  were accorded by the UN in 1967 to Yemen, though they are very close to the mainland of the tip of north-eastern Somalia. Several of the female lineages of the inhabitants on the island, notably those in mtDNA haplogroup N, are reportedly found nowhere else on earth. The Dhow with presently unknown flag and about 10 crew is heading now towards the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor of the Gulf of Aden (IRTC) and is likely to be used as pirate-base and decoy to capture a larger vessel. Further reports are awaited.

MT POLAR : Seized Oct. 30, 2010. Armed pirates in two skiffs boarded and sea-jacked the Liberian-owned product tanker MT POLAR (IMO 9299563) with 24 crew members aboard in the very early morning hours at  01h40 UTC (04h30 local time on 30. October 2010 in position 12:12N – 064:53E. The incident occurred according to the Piracy Reporting Centre 633nm east of Socotra island, off Somalia; or 684 miles (1,100 kilometres) east of the Indian Ocean island of Socotra according to EU NAVFOR. According to a EU NAVFOR statement the owners of the Panamanian-flagged 72,825 dwt vessel MV POLAR, Herculito Maritime Ltd, confirmed early Saturday that pirates are in command of the ship, which was en route from St. Petersburg and Kronstadt to Singapore with a cargo of fuel oil.
While it is undisputed that the ship originally 24 crew members, EU NAVFOR reported one Romanian, three Greek nationals, four nationals from Montenegro and 16 Filipinos, but according to the ICSW (International Committee on Seafarer's Welfare) there are three Greek nationals, 16 Pinoy seafarers, three from Montenegro and one Romanian as well as one Serb. In connection with this case AFP concluded that though naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to patrol the region's waters they have failed to stem piracy, one of the few thriving businesses for coastal communities in a country devastated by war and poverty. According to reports from Somalia the already sea-jacked Iranian fishing vessel from Hobyo was used to capture this vessel in tandem with covering VLCC SHAMHO DREAM. Allegedly the captain of the Iranian fishing vessel thereafter received money from the pirates and was released with his vessel and crew.
Paradise Navigation S.A. is a Panamanian registered company, established in Greece under law 89
Constantinos Tsakiris is the Chairmman and Managing Director of Paradise Navigation SA, a shipping management company established in Greece and founded back in 1968, as Navipower Compania Naviera SA, by the Tsakiris family, a traditional Greek ship-owning and operating family.
Constantinos Tsakiris is the Chairmman and Managing Director of Paradise Navigation SA, a shipping management company established in Greece and founded back in 1968, as Navipower Compania Naviera SA, by the Tsakiris family, a traditional Greek ship-owning and operating family.
MT POLAR had reached the Somali coast in the morning of 30. October and was held off Hobyo. On Monday, 22. November 2010 one Filipino seafarer was reported by the Seafarers Network from Greece to have died allegedly of a heart attack.
At 02h33UTC on 23 November 2010, MV POLAR was reported in position 07°49N 055°53E - apparently on a piracy mission.
At 19h40 UTC on 25. November 2010, MV POLAR was observed in position 09 29N 068 44E, course 258, speed 12.6 kts. The pirated vessel is conducting piracy operations, using the surviving crew members as human shield.

SY CHOIZIL : Seized 26. October 2010. South-African owned SY CHOIZIL was sea-jacked after having left Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Though news through the seafarer's network had broken much earlier, the case was officially only confirmed on 08. November. The yacht is owned and was sailed by South African skipper Peter Eldridge from Richards Bay on the northeast coast of KwaZulu Natal, who escaped after the yacht was commandeered to Somalia, while his South African team-mates Bruno Pelizzari (aka Pekezari), in his 50's, with partner Deborah from Durban were taken off the boat and are still held hostage on land in Somalia. Several questions remain still unanswered, though after the return of the skipper to South-Africa it was officially stated that the yacht had been abducted off Kenya this is still conflicting with other naval reports. Since the own yacht of the abducted couple is still moored at the harbour in Dar es Salaam it could well be that they only joined or actually hired skipper Eldridge first for a short trip north to Kenya.
Both present hostages, Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend "Debbie", Deborah Calitz, were on board when the yacht under the command of Peter Endrigde allegedly heading south to Richards Bay from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on October 21 or 22. Together with the skipper and owner of the yacht, the trio were said at first to have then encountered the pirates on 31. October 2010 in the open sea.
At least one of the attacking pirates appeared to have  been from Tanzania and spoke KiSwahili. However, the sloop rigged sailing yacht set up for long distance cruising was then commandeered to Somalia by five Somalis - apparently with the aim to reach Harardheere at the Central Somali coast.
When observers had on 04. November a sighting of a yacht near the Bajuni Island of Koyaama at the Southern coast of Somalia, the search for a missing yacht was on in order to identify the boat and the sailors, but neither the Seychelles nor the network of yachts-people reported any missing yacht, though at that point already even the involvement of a second yacht was not ruled out.
Navies were then trailing the yacht at least since 04. November.
The fleeing yacht was on 06. November forced by the pursuing navies to come close to Baraawa (Brawa). There the yacht had "officially" again been located by the EU NAVFOR warship FS FLOREAL when it was "discovered to be sailing suspiciously close to shore", so the statement. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact the yacht, including a flypast by the warship's helicopter, allegedly no answer was received and the French warship launched her boarding team to investigate further, a EU NAVFOR statement revealed and it was also officially stated that they had received a Mayday  signal. Why only then the emergency call was sent and not much earlier, has so far not been explained.
After a direct chase by naval forces escalating the situation and the yacht running aground, SY CHOIZIL's skipper Peter reportedly jumped over board during a close naval swoop, when also shots were fired and a naval helicopter and a commando team in a speedboat were engaged. Other reports state the owner of the yacht, Peter Eldridge, managed to escape when he refused to leave the boat he built with his own hands 20 years ago. Officials now put it as "the yacht's skipper refused to cooperate" - usually a call for immediate and even deadly response in any hostage situation the world over where armed assailants are involved.
However, Peter Eldridge was later picked up by the French navy and was placed into safety on a Dutch naval vessel. He is confirmed to be a South-African by nationality and his next of kin were informed immediately. After he then arrived at the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa on board the Dutch warship, he was handed over to South African officials and brought to Kenya's capital Nairobi, from where he returned to South-Africa.
Peter Eldridge, who was a member of the Zululand Yacht Club which uses the Richards Bay Harbour as its base, stated later: "The yacht was attacked by pirates - all men aged between 15 and 50 - on October 26," and thereafter: "They demanded money. They took the money that Deborah and Pelizzari were carrying for their families. They demanded more and we told them that we did not have more because we were ordinary people."
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said earlier he assumed the yacht had been towed to Mombasa as could have been expected with all the naval presence, but at the same time ECOTERRA Intl. received information from their marine monitors in Somalia saying the yacht was left behind by the naval forces and was floating. Peter Eldridge's wife, Bernadette, told later the South African Times that she did not know whether her husband Peter would return to Somalia to retrieve what's left of his yacht, SY Choizil, which was run aground during the incident. It is, however, unclear how official statements and the owner himself can speak of "having resisted to the pirates" and insisting that he "was not leaving his yacht alone", when at the same time he must have left it to be rescued by the navy.
"We only can hope that the different reports speaking of the killing of one man, whereby at present nobody can say if that had been caused by the naval interaction or by the pirates or if it is mixed with another case, will turn out to be not correct at all," a spokesman from ECOTERRA Intl. said on 07. November and added: "and we hope and urge the local elders to ensure that the innocent woman and man will be set free immediately. Since the Al-Shabaab administration, who governs vast areas in Southern Somalia, where the ancient coastal town of Baraawe (Brawa) is located, had earlier openly condemned any act of piracy, it is hoped that a safe and unconditional release of the hostages can be achieved."
The naval command of the European Operation Atalanta stated on 09. November that the whereabouts of the other two crew members is currently unknown, despite a comprehensive search by an EU NAVFOR helicopter.
Karl Otto of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town stated that the Department of International Relations and Co-operation was handling the hostage situation.
International Relations and Co-operation spokesperson Saul Kgomotso Molobi confirmed this on 10. November and said the pirates had not yet made any ransom demand.
While the families of the Durban couple are sick with worry while they wait to hear from the kidnappers, the skipper's wife said: "We have been restricted from giving out more information. I have been told not to say more," but did not want to reveal who had told her to keep quiet.
South African High Commissioner Ndumiso Ntshinga said he is in constant contact with authorities in Somalia who are involved in the search for Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend.
Ntshinga indicated that maybe the story that the were taken off Kenya - as the Seychelles had claimed - is not correct, by saying: "We have always believed that their reach was mostly around Somalia but if they are going to be going down to the Gulf of Mozambique then it is worrying," said Ntshinga. Naval sources not with EU NAVFOR had earlier stated the attack was at the boundary between Tanzania and Kenya while other naval sources had spoke of the boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique.
After two weeks into the crisis the South African government still stated only: "At this point in time we do not know where they are. We have instructed our consulate to handle the matter," foreign ministry spokesman Malusi Mogale told AFP.
Director of Consular Services at the International Relations Department, Albie Laubscher, said all they can do is wait.
"The situation is that we are expecting the pirates to make contact in some way or another."
Information from Somalia says that the couple was held then for a few days held firth south and then inside Brawa but thereafter was moved to an undisclosed location.
For the Government of South Africa Mr. Albie Laubscher, the director of consular services at the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said the families of the Durban couple had been briefed that the hostage drama could be a long, drawn-out affair. He said it was government policy not to pay ransom.
The escaped skipper Peter Eldridge maintains that they had been sea-jacked off the Kenyan coast, but failed to explained why they were there instead on their planned route to the South from Dar es Salaam.
A friend of Pelizzari, Jason Merle, said the former elevator technician had decided about four years ago to sell his house and build a yacht. 'He and Debbie invested their lives in that boat, which is now docked in Dar es Salaam, waiting for them to come back to Tanzania,' Merle said. 'They don't have any money. Neither does the family. Ransom is going to be pointless. They're not going to get anything out of that couple. The only thing they have is that yacht and a laptop.'
The abducted yacht SY CHOIZIL is still held at the Somali coast, while the couple is now said to be held somewhere in the area of Somalia's embattled capital Mogadishu.
In an effort to send the message to pirates that Deborah is African born and should not be treated like a European or an American, Deborah's brother Dale van der Merwe has denied media reports his sister was of British or Italian descent.
'She does not have any British ties and has never set foot in Britain. We are worried that should her captors read this... it may skew their perception of who Debbie really is and try attach values to her as it was done in the case of the recently released British Chandler couple.'
He said the couple were 'ordinary workers'. They had been sailing for almost two years, stopping at ports on Africa's coast to 'visit and do occasional work'.  See: http://yachtpals.com/node/12445
'Anyone who knows or meets them (including their captors) will see that they are gentle and kind people who are not interested in politics but only love sailing, ' he said and added 'Debbie and Bruno will help anyone regardless of their politics, religion, nationality or race, and frequently at their own cost. They are just fellow Africans who work hard and have a passion for sailing."
The family asked the couple's captors to keep them unharmed and release them back to their families and children, whom they have not seen for so long.
The Dutch Navy detained two groups of Somalis during the last week of November, believing those arrested could be involved in the abduction of Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend Deborah Calitz. The people on board of two different skiffs threw their guns overboard when they realised they were about to be attacked by a naval force. But only skipper Peter Eldridge would be able to confirm whether any of the suspects were involved in the attack. Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme said fishermen and coastal traders also carried weapons in these dangerous waters and the Dutch Navy could have the wrong men and add to the complications. The Kenyan and the South-African government had refused to accept the men for prosecution, since there was no evidence, and the Dutch Navy was for days in limbo - not knowing what to do with them.  Then on 05 November five of these Somalis were flown on a military plane to Eindhoven, in the south of the Netherlands to stand trial in Rotterdam for abducting the two South Africans from their yacht. The five were among some 20 suspected pirates rounded up last month in two separate operations. The other 15 were released due to a lack of evidence at an undisclosed location and their case is seen by human rights lawyers as illegal arrest and possible refoulement.
After now more than one month the South African government maintains that no ransom demands have been made, but has not stated if there was no contact or if other demands were brought forward.
According to South African officials there was still no sign of the South African couple captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia at the end of November and Carte Blanche spoke to their Durban-based families, who are concerned that there've been no ransom demands.
International Relations spokesman Clayson Monyela said on 10. December that the kidnappers have yet to make contact with the South African government or the relatives of Bruno Pelizzari and his partner, Deborah Calitz.
It seems that the first contact possibilities were lost by the South-African officials.
The daughter of Mrs. Calitz also appealed to the captors to at least come forward and start talks on a release.
But after two months, on Thursday, 25. December 2010, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Clayson Monyela still could only say: "There is nothing new on the South African couple who were hijacked by Somali pirates." Mrs. Calitz' brother Dale van der Merwe said: "The situation stays unchanged, we are still waiting for information.
Skipper Peter Eldridge was in January 2011 interviewed by police and court officials in the Netherlands on the case and reportedly testified that the attack had happened off Tanzania and not off Kenya, as he allegedly had stated to South African officials earlier, who issued this as statement. As South African media reported, Eldridge stated that he also looked at photographs of the accused men and identified some of them as the pirates who had hijacked the Choizil.

MV ALY ZOULFECAR : Seized November 03, 2010. The Comorian-flagged vessel a was pirated en route and in transit from the Comoros to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). The 43 meters long vessel was attacked in the morning of 3 November 2010 in position 05°15 S 043°39 E while in transit. Shortly thereafter the Master of the vessel reported that pirates were on board, EU NAFOR confirmed. The MV ALY ZOULFECAR has 29 people on board, of which 9 are crew members and 20 passengers. The crew consists of 1 Tanzanian, 4 Comorian and 4 from Madagascar. The passengers consist of 12 Tanzanian and 8 Comorian. This makes a total of 13 Tanzanian, 12 Comorian and 4 Malagasy on board the pirated vessel. Kenyan sources had spoken also of a Kenyan woman on board, but it is now believed she is among the Tanzanians listed.
Though not yet officially confirmed, latest reports speak of at least one casualty on board. The Somali pirates allegedly have seriously injured one of the crew members on board, according to a regional maritime official. Andrew Mwangura, the East Africa Coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP) said there were still scanty details about the casualty. "The attacked crew seemed to have argued with the pirates and they said they will teach him a lesson, that was when he was shot at. It is believed that the victim engaged pirates and they shot at him, wounding him seriously," Mwangura told journalists in Mombasa. Mwangura said it had not been confirmed who exactly the casualty was, but sources indicated that it could be the vessel's engineer or captain.
The vessel was slowly commandeered North along the Somali Indian Ocean coast, was used as piracy launch in attacks on other vessels and is at present held off Hobyo.

MSV AL BOGARI : Sighted November 7, 2010, as being hijacked, no further data

PAKISTAN MSV : Seized on November 9, 2010. The motorized dhow with a so far unknown number of crew was sea-jacked around 850nm east from the NE-coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean and then used to capture the Tunisian merchant ship MV HANNIBAL II three days later in the same wider area. The authorities of Pakistan have been informed and further information about the name of the vessel etc. are awaited.

MT HANNIBAL II : Seized November 11, 2010  In the early morning hours the Tunisian-owned and Panama-flagged chemical and oil-tanker MT HANNIBAL II (IMO 8011756) with a crew of 31 was taken at 04h35 UTC in position 11:26N – 066:05E off the coast of India while sailing to Suez from Pasir Gudang, Malaysia - ferrying vegetable oil.
"The master of the vessel reported that he had been attacked and boarded by pirates in an area some 860 nautical miles East of The Horn of Africa which is considerably closer to India than it is to Somalia," EU Navfor said in a statement.
The 31 men strong crew of the 24,105 tonne double-hull tanker consists of 23 Tunisians, four Filipinos, a Croat, a Georgian, a Russian and a Moroccan.
GABES MARINE TANKERS SARL as ship-manager fronts for the owner POLO NAVIGATION LTD - both of Ez Zahra, Tunisia.
Reportedly the chief engineer of the vessel was slightly injured with a hit of a gun-butt during the attack and the ship had at first arrived near Garacad at the North-Eastern Somali coast of the Indian Ocean.
At 01h05 UTC on 23. November 2010 MV HANNIBAL II was reported in position 10°30N 059°04E - apparently on a piracy mission.
At 06h31 UTC on 26. November 2010 MV HANNIBAL II was observed chasing a merchant vessel in position 18°50N 061°23E, course 300°, speed 7.8 knots. The pirated vessel was conducting piracy operations but then came to the Somali coast again.
On 17. December a crew-member with a serious medial condition was successfully evacuated with the consent of the captors of the vessel and in a joined naval medivac operation led by a Thai navy vessel as well as the immediate medical treatment on a German warship. The crew member of the hijacked vessel MV Hannibal II, who was released by the pirates, was then transferred to the Bouffard hospital in Djibouti after being treated for a suspected appendicitis by medical staff on board the EUNAVFOR German warship FGS HAMBURG. After being described as being stable and very happy to be free, he was transferred to a military hospital in Tunisia. Narrating his time as a hostage, he said: "We were all kept the whole time on the bridge of our ship. The only possibilities to move were the few minutes when we were allowed to go to eat.  Most of the times we got some rice with fish." Like in other cases pirates had offered the sick man to be released without conditions, but this is the first time that the ship-owner, captain and crew played along. In other cases like when a Ukrainian woman had an abortion, neither the vessel owner nor even the Ukrainian parliament facilitated a possible medical evacuation.
The vessel was moored off Dinowda Quorioweyn not far from Garacad at the north-eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia, but apparently now has left for another piracy operation.
At 13h37 UTC (10h00 local time) on 27 December 2010, a Pirate Action Group consisting of pirated vessel Hannibal II acting as mother-ship was reported in position 15 10N - 056 22E with course 165 and speed 14 kts.
At 06h00 UTC on 28. December the MV Hannbal II was then reported in position Latitude: 12°27N Longitude: 055°07E with course 226° at speed 11 kts.
On 01. January 2011 the attack skiff, which captured Algerian MV BILAN was launched from Hannibal II and at 08h40 UTC on 02. January 2011 pirated vessel Hannibal II was reported in position Latitude: 12 14N and Longitude: 054 54E - possibly looking for even more prey.
Thereafter the vessel and crew returned to the Somali Indian Ocean coast and is held there at present.
While the government of Tunisia has been renewed by Tunisia's youth, which finally stood up against the shortcomings of their state, the vessel owners appear to be so far unconcerned to solve the case quickly.
 
MV YUAN XIANG : Seized November 12, 2010. The Chinese-owned general cargo ship MV YUAN XIANG (IMO 7609192) carrying 29 sailors of Chinese nationality was seized during the night by an unknown number of pirates in the Arabian Sea in position 18:02.55N – 066:03.39E - around 680nm east of Salalah, Oman. An act of piracy was then confirmed on 12.11.2010 at 07h01 UTC. 

According to the China Marine Rescue Centre (CMRC), the Chinese-owner-manager and Ningbo-based  Hongyuan Ship Management Ltd (HONGYUAN MARINE CO LTD) in Zhejiang, China, had received a call just before midnight whereby the pirates informed that they were sailing the vessel owned by HONGAN SHIPPING CO LTD to Somalia.
The 22,356 dwt vessel flies a flag of convenience (FOC) from Panama, a flag-state who apparently even doesn't care when sailors are dying an unnatural death on their registered vessels. 
The CMRC was reportedly unable to get in touch with the hijacked ship and the fate of the sailors remained unclear, Xinhua said, adding that the attacked occurred outside a region protected by a multinational forces, including China's navy. The vessel was for a certain time at Xabo (Habo) at the Gulf of Aden coast but was then commandeered around the Horn into the Indian Ocean and is at present held off Dhanane, south of Garacad at the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia.

FV ALDUNAYN (aka FV DUL-NURAIN) : Seized on November 15, 2010. The Yemeni fishing vessel was captured from Hurdia, which is 40 miles from  Bargal. Allegedly a Somali Muse Ali Mohamud Warfa (aka Ilkacase) a Majerteen whose sub-clan is Osman Mohamoud and who served as fishing agent on that boat, was killed and was then burried by elders from the Isse Mohamud subclan. The vessel was held for a time at Dhinawda which is 60 miles to Garacad, but was now in January 2010 observed as being on a piracy mission in the Northern Arabian Sea.

FV AL JEESH : Seized around November 18, 2010, maybe even together with FV ALDUNAYN. Fish-poacher, now used as piracy launch.
 
COMORAN FV : Seized on November 18, 2010. The Comoros-flagged fishing vessel with a two man crew was confirmed sea-jacked inside the territorial waters of the Comoros. So far the identity of the vessel has not been released.

MV ALBEDO : Seized on November 26, 2010. The Malaysia-flagged box-ship MV ALBEDO (IMO 9041162) en route from Jebel Ali in the UAE to Mombasa in Kenya was boarded in the early morning hours and an alarm was raised at 03h00 UTC (06h00 LT) in position 05:38N – 068:27E, which is around 255 nm west of the Maldives group of islands. The master had reported to the Malaysian owners already on that fateful Friday that pirates were on-board and his vessel was hijacked. That information was then forwarded to to the navies. However, EU NAVFOR confirmed only 3 days later on mid-Monday that the vessel was captured. Why EU NAVFOR only reported so late is not known, but maybe because a Danish Navy frigate was sailing Saturday to the rescue of the German freighter MCL Bremen, a multi-purpose 130-metre freighter, which was nearby attacked by pirates. But following standard procedures, the whole crew barricaded themselves in a secret room and the attackers later left that vessel before the warship arrived and MLC BREMEN is reportedly sailing free.
The sea-jacked 1,066-TEU container vessel MV ALBEDO has a crew of 23 sailors. Six hail from Sri Lanka and others from Pakistan, Iran and Bangladesh. Registered owner and manager is MAJESTIC ENRICH SHIPPING SDN, which was incorporated on January 25, 2008 as a private limited company under the name of Majestic Enrich Sdn Bhd in Malaysia by Iranian shipping executives and on April 3 changed its name to Majestic Enrich Shipping Sdn Bhd.The vessel is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere.

FV KANTARI 12 : Seized before November 30, 2010. The vessel was used to capture FV LAKMALI and FV LAKMINI 03.
Since FV KANTARI 12 at first had not arrived at the Somali coast, it was feared that they would probably conduct mothership operations  the 15North-60East area, which was later confirmed.
Further reports concerning the whereabouts of this vessel awaited.

FV LAKMINI 03 : Seized November 30, 2010. Sri Lankan 40 ft. fishing vessel FV LAKMINI 03 (Reg: IMUL-A-0453-KLT) was captured together with FV LAKMALI, which was later released but detained by the authorities at Minikoi island. FV Lakmini 03 was taken hostage while in international waters and after they had gone fishing from Beruwala, from where the vessel had departed on November 20, 2010. The pirates launched the attack from another commandeered vessel - the FV KANTARI 12. 
The crew consists of six Sri Lankans and in addition two abducted fishermen from the earlier released FV LAKMALI: Mr. Lal Fernando and Mr. Sugath Fernando. The whereabouts of the two fishermen at the Somali coast could in the meantime be established.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry of Sri Lanka has requested their envoys in Nairobi / Kenya to follow up on these sea-jacking cases.
The vessel had arrived at the Somali coast off Garacad, but further details are not known yet.
 
MV JAHAN MONI : Seized December 05, 2010. The Bangladesh-flagged bulk carrier MV JAHAN MONI (IMO: 9102954) was sea-jacked by alleged Somali pirates position 08:12N – 071:55E, which is around 67 nm west of Minicoy Island and the merchant vessel was reported hijacked by six armed pirates and 26 people were taken hostage barely 70 nautical miles off the Indian Lakshadweep Islands. At 09h42 UTC on 05 December NATO reported the merchant vessel was under attack by pirates in 1 skiff in position 08°10N 071°43E. The vessel was attacked twice before being boarded by the heavily armed pirates and in an area, where a multi-ship task force of the Indian Navy was carrying out search operations in the Arabian Sea for pirate mother vessels. EU NAVFOR finally confirmed on 06 December that the bulker was pirated in the Somali Basin, approximately 1300 nautical miles East of Somalia, and only 300 nautical miles from the Indian mainland coast.
Apparently one of the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used to launch the attack.
The vessel was en route rom Indonesia with 43,150 tonnes of nickel ore on board to take them to Greece via Singapore.
It is owned by Mohammed Shajahan, owner of leading mild steel producing company KSRM and Bangladeshi shipping company Brave Royal. All people on board - 25 crew and one woman - are reported to be Bangladeshi.
The vessel was commandeered at a speed of 10 nautical miles towards the Somali coast and arrived there on Saturday 10. Dec. 2010 early morning, as was also confirmed by owner Mohammad Shahjahan for the owners and Rahmatullah, technical officer of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited - the operating firm of the ship, confirmed - though they doesn't have contact yet. Marine superintendent of the company Captain Mohammad Golam Mostafa confirmed that the ship had been anchored at the east coast of Garacad.
Officials of SR Shipping Limited, the owning company of the hijacked ship, and its sister concern Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited held a meeting to chalk out the negotiation with the pirates, if they contact after reaching the shore.
The authorities could not yet contact with any of the crew or pirates. A satellite telephone to the ship on Saturday morning remained unanswered, Mostafa added. 
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has assured "all-out" support to free the vessel and crew, he said.
A senior Bangladesh Shipping Ministry official said: "Our first priority is to bring back the lady as soon as possible," referring to the wife of the chief engineer.
Mohammed Shahjahan, chairman of Brave Royal Shipping Management Limited that owns the ship, MV Jahan Moni, stated on Sunday, 12. December 2010, that the pirates put him through to the captain, chief engineer and the chief engineer's wife on telephone. They talked twice, at 2:30pm and at 7pm, he said. A serious conflict between two Somali groups, who claimed "ownership" of that vessel, broke out already before the vessel arrived at the Somali coast. It is held now off Dhanane, south of Garacad, at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.
Owners of hijacked ship MV Jahan Moni claimed they could hardly make any headway over the rescue of the ship and its crew in a conversation with the Somali pirates on 06. January.
However, families of several crew-members on hostage blamed the owners for delaying in paying the ransom to the pirates. The crew-members talked to their family over telephone on Wednesday night.
The ship owner Mohammed Shajahan denied the allegation saying they could not progress much as the pirates were not regular in contact.
 
MSC PANAMA : Seized December 10, 2010. At 12h12 UTC (09h12 LT) on 10 December 2010 the U.S.-owned container vessel MSC PANAMA (IMO: 8902125) was reported to be under attack by an armed group of in total five sea-shifta in two skiffs on board in position 09°57S 041°46E. A Rocket Propelled Grenade was used during the attack which occurred approximately 80 nautical miles east of the Tanzanian/Mozambique border. On the afternoon of 10 December, the merchant vessel was then confirmed pirated and in position Latitude: 10°00S Longitude: 041°51E.
The boxship was en route from Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) to Beira (Mozambique) when the attack occurred.
This southerly attack in the Western Indian Ocean is a further example of the constantly expanding area of pirate activity, triggered by naval activities in the Gulf of Aden and close to the Somali shores and apparently also serving an agenda of implicating more and more regional countries. Apparently one of the the previously sea-jacked fishing vessels was used in the attack.
The 26,288 dwt MCS PANAMA is a Liberian flagged container ship, operated by SHIP MANAGEMENT SERVICES INC from Coral Gables Florida, a US based company and an affiliate of Ultrapetrol, fronting for registered owner EURUS BERLIN LLC. SMS shares an office, address, and employee roster with US-listed owner Ultrapetrol's management subsidiary, Ravenscroft Ship Management. It is said to be an Eastwind container ship, whereby it was noted that Eastwind Maritime Inc., a Marshall Islands Corporation filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of New York on June 24th, 2009 (Case No. 09-14047 - ALG).  
The 1,743-teu box ship has a crew of 23 seafarers, who all are from Myanmar/Burma).
"The Somali pirates let the Burmese crewmen call their families three days ago. All said they were in good health and told their families not to worry about them," an official at the Rangoon branch of St. John's Ship Management said on condition of anonymity to Mizzima News.
Although the crewmen were not in mortal danger, they needed to keep their spirits up while being held by the pirates, Htay Aung, a central executive committee member of the junta-supported Myanmar Overseas Seafarers' Association, said.
The release of the MSC Panama and the crewmen would depend on the negotiations between the pirates and the company and such talks normally takes more than two months, Thai-based Seafarers' Union of Burma official Aung Thura told Mizzima. His union has been outlawed by the Burmese ruling military junta.
The vessel arrived in Somalia and is held now south of Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast off Harardheere, close to MV ALBEDO.

MV RENUAR : Seized: December 11, 2010. As ECOTERRA Intl. reported the cargo vessel was captured on 11. December 2010 at around 05h40 UTC in position 06:09N – 067:19E, which is approximately 360nm SW of Minicoy Island, 1,200nm from Mogadishu in Somalia and 550nm off the Indian coast. On 13. November also NATO finally confirmed and stated the capesize bulker was captured at position Latitude: 06°11N Longitude: 067°25E.  EU NAVFOR had earlier confirmed our reports on 12. December.
Panama-flagged MV RENUAR is a bulk cargo vessel with a dead-weight of 70,156 tonnes and was en route to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates from Port Louis in Mauritius when it was captured on Saturday, EU NAVFOR confirmed and stated: "The pirates have confirmed that they have control of the ship which is now heading west towards the Somali coast." The EU said it was a Liberian-owned vessel.
But Europe's best ship register states that CANDY ENT INC from Greece is the registered owner and MARYVILLE MARITIME INC from Greece the manager. Though the Greek ship register is notoriously in shambles, it is not known how EU NAVFOR did arrive at the conclusion that the vessel would be Liberian owned.
The pirates launched the attack from 2 skiffs, supported by a mother ship, with fire of small arms and rocket propelled grenades forcing the merchant vessel to stop. The bulker has a 24-man all-Filipino crew, who attempted to evade the pirates for some time, causing the pirates to make several attacks before finally boarding the vessel. One of the pirates had died during the attack - marine observers reported yesterday.
That at present more and more of the previously already captured fast fishing vessels are used to launch far-reaching attacks is widely known and analysts can not understand why these vessels are not tracked better by the navies.
The bulk carrier MV RENUAR (IMO9042221) is at present commandeered to the Somali coast, but naval centres stated that they had at that moment no communications with the ship and that the condition of the crew is not known.
The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines said it was working to ensure the safety of 24 Filipino seafarers on board the Panama-flagged vessel MV Renuar. In a release posted on its website on Monday, the DFA's Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) said that it has instructed Capt. Gaudencio Collado, Philippine Liaison Officer to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) in Manama, Bahrain to assist in the rescue efforts and that the European Union Naval Forces (EU NAVFOR) will attempt a rescue before the vessel, now en route to Somalia, reaches Somali waters.
Analysts, however, see such sabre-rattling as rather unfortunate and advised that the DFA should better look into the policy, which once had stopped Filipino seafarers from signing on with ships plying such dangerous routes.
DFA Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr. also instructed Collado to convey to the EU NAVFOR the Philippine Government's "paramount concern" for the safety of the Filipino crew members. The OUMWA likewise called on the Philippine Embassy in Athens to convey the same message to the vessel's Greece-based owner. The crew had locked themselves in a compartment but were later overwhelmed and the pirates are in control of the vessel. The captain contacted a humanitarian organization and reported that the crew is all right. The ship arrived on 20. December south of Garacad at the Northern Somali Indian Ocean coast.

MSV SALIM AMADI : Seized December 15, 2010. The motorized cargo dhow of most likely Indian origin was seized at 10h00 LT (07h00 UTC) some 70nm from Bosaso on her way from Dubai to this harbour town of the regional state of Puntland in Somalia. Number of crew and fate not known.

MV ORNA : Seized December 20, 2010. The UAE-owned, Panama-flagged bulker MV ORNA (IMO 8312162) was in the morning of 20. December 2010 at 08h29LT (11h29 UTC) reported under attack by pirates in position Latitude: 01°46S Longitude: 060°32E.The bulk carrier was under way to India from Durban and is laden with coal.
NATO reported that the attack was launched from 2 attack skiffs, with pirates firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the merchant vessel en route in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 nautical miles North East of the island-state of the Seychelles. The vessel was stopped and boarded by at least 4 pirates.
The bulk carrier was then pirated, EU NAVFOR confirmed later and that the number o f crew on board was unknown.
 The crew is co-operating and no damage is reported, the EU statement reads, which also stated that MV ORNA was not registered with the naval centres of MSCHOA or UKMTO.
The MV ORNA is a Panama flagged, UAE owned bulk cargo vessel with a dead weight of 27,915 tonnes.
The vessels safety management certificate had been withdrawn by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai already on 14. October this year and the crew is also not covered by an ITF agreement, but unlike other UAE-owned vessels it has still at least  an insurance with Sveriges Angfartys Assurans Forening (Swedish Club). Ship manager SWEDISH MANAGEMENT CO SA in Dubai fronts for registered owner SIRAGO SHIPMANAGEMENT SA.There are 19 sailors on board and the crew comprises of one Sri Lankan and 18 Syrians.
The owner of Kassab Intershipping-Swedish Management, Capt Abdul Kadar, said that the cargo ship MV Orna was carrying 26,500 tonnes of coal from Durban, South Africa and was enroute to Okha, India, when it was hijacked. 
The vessel is at present commandeered towards the Somali coast.
Capt Kassab said that "the ship is expected to reach the Somali waters by Friday and then only we can start negotiations. Past experiences show that the pirates start negotiations only after reaching their home country's shores."

YEMENI FV NN : Seized December 23, 2010. Somali pirates seized the Yemeni fishing vessel with four crew members around 120 nautical miles east of the Yemeni island of Socotra. Further details awaited.
 
MV THOR NEXUS : Seized December 25, 2010. In the early hours of 25 December, the general cargo vessel MV THOR NEXUS (IMO 8712491) was pirated approximately 450 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean. EU NAVFOR confirmed earlier reports, which had reached in the morning the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme in Mombasa.
The vessel was actually taken at 01h40 UTC (04h40 LT) in position 16°01 N - 060°12 E. 
The 20,377 tonne general cargo ship, which is Thai flagged and owned, was on her way to Bangladesh from Jebel Ali in the UAE at the time of the attack. No details of the attack were known to EU NAVFOR at that stage
The 27 crew on board are all from Thailand.
The vessel is carrying 15,750 tonnes of fertiliser to Bangladesh, a director of the local agent of the Thai bulk carrier stated and explained that the government of Saudi Arabia was sending the fertiliser as part of an agreement with the Bangladesh government. Manjur Alam Chowdhury, director of Hai Shipping Limited, said the hijacked ship was carrying the last shipment of the agreed donation. The value of the fertiliser is Tk 44 crore, said Majharul Haq Milon, deputy manager (Chittagong region) of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC). The ship was due to reach Chittagong on December 30. 
THORESEN & CO BANGKOK LTD serves as ship manager of the vessel for THOR NEXUS SHIPPING in Bangkok, Thailand and its P&I insurers are The West of England Shipowners. Unfortunately the crew seems not to be covered by an ITF agreement. Pacific International Lines (PIL) incorporated in 1967 has developed from a coastal ship-owner/operator in Singapore to become one of the largest shipowners in Asia. Today, it is ranked 19th amongst the top container-ship operators in the world and owns 123 vessels. Their ship Kota Wajar was hijacked in the Indian Ocean last October by Somali pirates, served for a short while as prison for a kidnapped British sailor-couple, went on piracy missions and was held for more than 2 months before ship and crew were released.
Thailand's Ministry for Foreign Affairs is actively trying to help the crew aboard a Thai vessel seized by Somali pirates Friday in the Arabian Sea, a senior ministry official, Thani Thongpakdi the director-general of the foreign ministry's Information Department, said on Monday.
Mr Thani said the company owning the vessel has informed the families of the crew and asked the Royal Thai Navy to inform the special Thai naval task force combating piracy and armed robbery to closely monitor the affair.
The Royal Thai Navy earlier sent 350 Thai navy personnel on a 98-day operation as part of the international naval force combating piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia.
The director-general added that so far they have not yet told the ship owner of their demands for any ransom.
The foreign ministry has instructed the Thai embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Muscat, Oman to do the best of their abilities to help secure the release of the Thai crew, Mr Thani said, adding that both countries are believed to have influence over the waterways in the region and that they may have some channels to communicate with the pirates to help secure the release of the Thai nationals.

According to a report released by Iranian station PressTV, authorities in Thailand have threatened the Somali pirates with a crushing attack should they refuse to release the hijacked Thai-flagged cargo ship.

An unnamed top military commander in Thailand called on the pirates to release the vessel, warning that the Thai army would attack the pirates and release the ship and all its crew members, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The commander also explained that the government policy in Thailand would not allow ransom pay to criminals.
Meanwhile, a source close to the Somali hijackers said the pirates would kill the hostages should Bangkok refuse to pay the ransom demanded, the report stated, showing a fake picture of an alleged pirate from the Far-East Malacca Straits area.
However, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the Royal Thai Navy had ascertained the position of the vessel and one of its craft had followed it at a distance. He asked the navy to be very careful for the sake of the crew's safety.
Actually, the pirates radioed HTMS Similan, which is operating in the Indian Ocean to protect Thai ships and is following the seized vessel, to say they would kill the crew of the Thor Nexus if the navy ship approached closer than 20 nautical miles.
Navy chief Kamthorn Phumhiran has ordered his subordinates in the Arabian Sea to take "decisive action" when they have a suitable opportunity - defined as the moment when officers have ascertained the safety of the Thai crew members.
Navy chief of staff Thagerngsak Wangkaew said helicopter surveillance had confirmed the 27 Thai crew members were being held on the bridge of their vessel to prevent an attack or rescue action. The surveillance revealed there were 12 armed pirates. 
The Thai navy has wrapped up its anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden on 06. January, despite the fact that 27 Thai crew remain captive on a cargo ship seized by Somali pirates. Admiral Takerngsak Wangkaew, the navy's chief of staff, said yesterday the navy had decided to end its mission after failing to make progress in negotiations for the return of the Thai-flagged cargo ship. The navy insisted it had ensured the 27 Thai crew taken hostage on board the ship were safe before the decision was made to head home, which was a rather ridiculous styatement. ``The company that owns the ship will continue the negotiations,'' Adm Takerngsak said. The MV Thor Nexus is owned by Thoresen Thai Agencies.
The vessel is at present held off Garacad at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast.

FV SHIUH FU No. 1 : Seized December 25, 2010. At 10h30 UTC on 25. December 2010, the white hulled fishing vessel Shiuh Fu No.1 - CT7 0256 (ID58582) was reported by NATO as sea-jacked by pirates in position 12°58S - 051°52E around 120nm east of Nosy Ankao, Madagascar. A previously hijacked merchant ship was reported to be in the vicinity during the hijacking of the fishing vessel. It was then at 11h15 UTC observed to act as piracy launch in position 12°58S - 51°51E, while cruising 293° at a speed of 1 kts.
Its 29 sailor crew consists of 1 Taiwanese, 14 Vietnamese and 14 Chinese.
The Republic of China flagged, 700 to long-liner, owned by SHIUH FU FISHERY CO., LTD. of Kaohsiung in Taiwan is apparently licensed by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC NO. 900070256) to fish in these waters. 
Further reports state that the vessel, which shows on it's side in large letters BI2256, was commandeered further south was observed on 26. December 2010 heading 172º with a speed of 10 knots at position 15°23'42.00"S, 52°14'45.60"E. The vessel has a powerful 1,200 HP engine and can run faster, which makes it a serious threat concerning possible pirate-attacks against merchant vessels in the area.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a press release it had launched an emergency mission and instructed Taiwan's representative office in Cape Town, South Africa to seek assistance from the government of Madagascar.
There has been no communication since Dec. 25 with the Shiuh Fu No. 1, said Samuel Chen (陳士良), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of African Affairs.
On 28. December the vessel maintained its strange search- or forestalling-like pattern along Latitude 52 on the North-Eastern side of Madagascar.
But at 03h13 UTC on 29. December 2010, the Pirate Action Group with FV SHIUH FU NO.1 was then reported as going east in position 13 27S - 053 03E with course 102° at speed 9.1 kts.
Vice chief Dao Cong Hai of the Vietnamese Department for Management of Overseas Labor said on January 5 that the 12 Vietnamese workers were enrolled by three manpower exporting firms, named Inmasco, Servico and Van Xuan. All of them are from the central provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh. Hai said that the department had instructed the three firms to get in contact with the Taiwanese employer to get information about the Vietnamese sailors and communicate with the victims' families. "This is an unexpected accident. The pirates need money. They need time to evaluate the ship to fix the ransom," Hai said.
Local observers reported on 10. January 2010 that the vessel was moored off Ceel Gaan at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast of Harardheere, but thereafter took off again.
At 10h50 UTC on 14. Jan 2011, SHIUH FU No.1 acting as mothership, was reported in position 12°21N 055°56E. 
 
MV EMS RIVER : Seized December 27, 2010. At 13h03 UTC (10h03 local time) on 27  December 2010, German-owned MV EMS RIVER came under attack by a Pirate Action Group operating from sea-jacked MT MOTIVATOR acting as mother-ship in position 17 57.7N - 057 43.8E.
The crew managed to lock themselves into the citadel (strongroom), but later the seamen were overwhelmed.
The merchant ship was pirated approximately 175 nautical miles (280 kilometers) North East of the port of Salalah, Oman, EU NAVFOR's Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy confirmed today, Tuesday.
Already on the day of the capture an ECOTERRA spokeswoman had described the situation in a report by ECOP-marine as extremely dangerous, because a collision or other mishap during the attack could have led to a disastrous oil spill from the MT MOTIVATOR used by the pirates as their launch, since it carries a huge load of lubrication oil and the attacked MV EMS RIVER carries likewise dangerous goods in form of a cargo of petroleum coke.
MV MOTIVATOR was in the vicinity of Antigua/Barbuda-flagged EMS RIVER throughout the attack which further enforces the current pirate modus operandi of the use of already pirated large vessels as mother-ships.
The 5,200 dwt general cargo ship, which is  was on her way to San Nicolas, Greece from Jebel Ali in the UAE at the time of the attack.
The relatively small general cargo ship - originally named MV GRONA BISSUM - with a gross tonnage of 3,500 has a crew of one Romanian, possibly of Russian origin, and seven Filipinos. It is managed by GRONA SHIPPING GMBH & CO KG for registered owner GRONA AMMERSUM, a subsidiary of Grona Tankers GmbH & Co KG.from Leer, Germany and is insured by Britannia Steamship Insurance Association Ltd.
MV EMS RIVER is a brand new vessel, which Mr. MARKKU JUHANNI VEDDER from Grona Shipping of Winschoten had received just this year.
The Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines stated: "The DFA-OUMWA (Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs) continues to coordinate closely with the concerned Philippine Embassies, the vessels' principals and the local manning agencies for the early and safe release of the seafarers." The DFA added "The Philippine Foreign Liaison Officer to the Combined Maritime Command in Bahrain, Commander Gaudencio Collado, is now coordinating with naval authorities to resolve the case."
NATO finally confirmed the sea-jacking also and observed the vessel on 28. December in position 15°21N - 057°52E being commandeered with course 211° at speed 11 knots towards Somalia.

FV VEGA 5 : Seized before December 28, 2010. The small Mozambique-flagged longliner FV VEGA 5, which was at first reported missing by her owner, was only confirmed as being pirated in the waters between Mozambique and Madagascar on 31. December .The fishing vessel lost contact with the rest of the fleet three days before the end of the year and on 31 December, a Pescanova plane was able to locate the boat with 14 crew held hostage and a pirate skiff in tow, but it was not possible to have contact with the crew.  
At 19h34UTC on 31. December 2010 the 24m-long,150 to vessel was then also reported by NATO in position latitude 14 28S and longitude 041 42E and as towing one skiff.
However, the attack likely occurred further south as the last position reported by the vessel monitoring system (VMS) was 21 55S - 035 53E.
After the kidnapping, the rest of the Pescamar fleet operating in the area retreated to port.
FV Vega 5 was spotted on 31. December 2010 near the Mozambique coast, approximately 200 nautical miles south-west of the Comoros Islands, heading north, the EU-Navfor anti-piracy mission said.
There have been several attacks over the Christmas period in waters south of central Mozambique in east Africa, underlining the extent to which international anti-piracy efforts, with China also cooperating with EU forces, have forced pirates to move further away from Somalia, AFP remarked.
There has been no further communication with the vessel. The nationalities of the 24 crew manning the 140-tonne fishing vessel are 2 Spaniards (the captain and the boatswain are Galician), 3 Indonesians and 19 Mozambicans. The vessel flies a Mozambican flag but one of the investors of the owner-company is from Spain, which is also why there are 2 Spaniards on board.
The "Vega 5" is operated by a Spanish multinational and Spanish-Mozambican company, PESCAMAR. The boat belongs to the firm Efripel Lda, in which the Mozambican government has some participation, but is operated by Pescamar Ld, a joint venture in which Pescanova has a significant amount of influence.
The Spanish partner in this venture, PESCANOVA, said on Monday that the ship is now under constant surveillance.
Mozambican Deputy Fisheries Minister Gabriel Muthisse confirmed that the ship has been seen moving northwards.
The head of the Ministry of Marine Affairs of the Xunta de Galicia, Rosa Quintana, meanwhile, said the boat "is located" and every six hours the owners received a report on the situation.
"Today, there have been a total of 44 ships seized, with 771 crew, which shows that the measures announced to eradicate the causes of pirate attacks are not being effective," said Bieito Lobeira, of the Spanish Nationalist Party, as reported by FIS.
The vessel has been taken to the coast off Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast and the case seems to become complicated. Meanwhile information was received that the engine of the vessel has apparently been disabled.
 
MV BLIDA : Seized January 01, 2010. At 15h36 UTC (12h36 LT) of New Year's day, the bulk carrier MV BLIDA was attacked by an armed Pirate Action Group of four men in one skiff, which had been launched from earlier pirated MV HANNIBAL II at position Latitude: 15 28N Longitude: 055 51E. The location is approximately 150 nautical miles South East of the port of Salalah, Oman. EU NAVFOR and NATO confirmed the sea-jacking.
The 20,586 tonne Bulk Carrier is Algerian flagged and owned. The vessel was on her way to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania from Salalah in Oman at the time of the attack.
The bulker has a multinational crew of 27 seafarers under a Ukrainian captain (17 Algerian, 6 Ukrainian - incl. captain-,  2 Filipinos, 1 Indonesian and 1 Jordanian).
The official version is that the vessel is carrying a cargo of Clinker.
MV BLIDA was registered for protection with MSC(HOA) but had not reported to UKMTO, EU NAVFOR stated, but did not explain why the vessel was not protected - especially because the vessel used as pirate-launch - MV HANNIBAL II - was reported earlier by NATO to be in the area.
Ship manager of MV BLIDA is SEKUR HOLDINGS INC of Piraeus, Greece and registered owner is INTERNATIONAL BULK CARRIER of Algeria.
The manager could for the first time Wednesday contact the Ukrainian captain who said the 27-member crew is safe, the Ukrainian foreign ministry in Kiev said. The captain of the Blida bulk carrier told the Greek manager that "no crew member had been injured" during the attack last Saturday and that the sailors were in "satisfactory" condition.
Shipping in Algeria is a government monopoly run by the Algerian state, the National Corporation for Maritime Transport and the Algerian National Navigation Company (Société Nationale de Transports Maritimes et Compagnie Nationale Algérienne de Navigation--SNTM-CNAN).
Earlier on 05. January, shipcharterer IBC said it had received no ransom demand from the unidentified pirates who seized the vessel.
"I don't know who will pay, but I repeat that we have not received such a demand," Nasseredine Mansouri, head of International Bulk Carriers (IBC), an Algerian-Saudi company specialising in maritime cargo transport, told AFP. 
Justice Minister Tayeb Belaiz said on 06. January his country would not pay a ransom. Belaiz said in a statement to the press that Algeria was the first country to have "called, before the UN general assembly, for the payment of ransom to criminals and kidnappers to become a criminal act". Paying ransom encourages criminals and finances terrorism, he said. "Algeria does not pay ransom," he said adding that the kidnapped crew had been able to contact their families by telephone.   
The vessel has arrived in Somalia and is now moored off Garacad at the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia marine observers reported.

BARGE DN127 from T/B TIBA FOLK : Seized January 01, 2011. The small UAE-flagged offshore supply vessel TIBA FOLK (IMO 7403017), a tug-boat with 1978 dwt and towing the barge DN127 was attacked and fired upon north of the Seychelles and around 672 nautical miles east of Hobyo at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast on New Years day.
 when the small UAE-flagged offshore supply vessel TIBA FOLK (IMO 7403017) with 1978 dwt was attacked from two pirate skiffs and came under fire at 07h5 4UTC on New Years day in position Latitude 03 56N Longitude 059 33E, which is north of the Seychelles and around 672 nautical miles east of Hobyo at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast, she was towing at least one barge.The tug had reportedly a cargo of valuable generators and it is said to have been protected by an armed security detail, but it is not know if the generators were on the barge or loaded on the supply vessel.
The barge with the registration DN127 was subsequently released from the tug to increase speed and manoeuvrability.
The barge was then pulled by likewise sea-jacked gas-tanker MT YORK towards Harardheere at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast and is moored there a little bit further off the coast not far from Ceel Gaan, according several local reports. On the barge, which also has a crane, are several shipping containers.
The barge was
Until today EU NAVFOR only confirmed that the barge was sea-jacked but didn't release any detail about the attack and did neither report concerning the whereabouts of the tu, the crew or the security detail nor if in the shoot-out any of the personnel on the tug or any of the pirates had been injured or killed.
Likewise the shipowner FOLK SHIPPING LLC from Deira, Dubai, United Arab Emirates has not come clear on the fate of the tug and a possible second barge, which some sources say was abandoned and later taken by coalition naval forces.
One barge was observed by NATO at 05h11UTC on 03.January 2011 - i.e. three days after the incident - and described as ABANDONED in position Latitude: 03°21N Longitude: 057°18E.
The location around Ceel Gaan near Harardheere, which is south of Hobyo and at the Central Somali Indian Ocean coast is an area now governed by fundamentalist Al-Shabab after their merger with Hezb-ul Islam. The barge, however, might not stay there but might be brought further North and towards Hobyo, local observers reported.

MV AL MUSA : Seized January 09, 2011. The Indian merchant dhow was hijacked along with her 14 Indian crew on or about the 9th of January 2011 while under way off Oman.
The dhow was abducted along with her 14 Indian crew on or about the 9th of January 2011 while under way from Dubai to Salalah around 50nm off the coast of Oman. The vessel is carrying assorted food-stuff and is at present commandeered to Somalia.

CREW OF MV LEOPARD : Seized January 12, 2010. The six men crew (2 Danes 4 Filipinos) was snatched from 1,780-dwt weapons transporter MV Leopard. 
The MV LEOPARD (IMO 8902096) is owned by a small company named "Shipcraft", which is specialized to haul dangerous, military and nuclear cargoes, the Maritime Bulletin says.
The Leopard is known to be carrying what various informed sources have described as a "sensitive" cargo which is believed to include weapons. Although ships operated by Shipcraft, the Leopard's Danish operator, routinely carry nuclear items, this vessel is not believed to have any on board. Some analysts said it could have been possible that the ship had been disabled by its crew before they hid in the citadel and the Somalis may also have felt that the high-profile nature of the cargo could also have posed a heightened risk of naval or military intervention, but sources from Somalia believe that the real danger concerning the cargo sensed by the Somalis was the reason to abandon the vessel.
It is unknown if the pirates have touched any of the cargo while the welfare of the crew is also not known. Representatives from ShipCraft have steadfastly refused to comment on the issue when contacted by TradeWinds on several occasions on Wednesday and Thursday. The company deactivated its website on Thursday morning as reports began to filter through that the ship was carrying a potentially dangerous cargo and it remains "under construction".  Since unprotected, also MV FAINA - a Ukrainian weapons-carrier with battle tanks for Southern Sudan was intercepted by Somali pirates, but in this case held for 144 days with a major diplomatic row evolving concerning the final destination of the weapons, since they had no permits for Sudan.
"We do not know where the crew is and we are concentrating on locating them and bringing them home to safety," Shipcraft chief executive Claus Bech said in a statement.
He confirmed a report late Thursday that the pirates had taken the six crew members -- two Danes including the captain, and four Filipinos -- and abandoned the 1,780-dwt cargo vessel MV Leopard (built 1989).
He did not reveal if the kidnappers had demanded a ransom.  Registered shipowner is LODESTAR SHIPHOLDING LTD of Horsholm, Denmark, who has as ISM manager NORDANE SHIPPING A/S.
A search onboard the boat Thursday by Turkish soldiers, who are part of an international NATO-led force in the Gulf of Aden, turned up "neither pirates nor crew members," Bech said.
The shipping company last had contact with The Leopard crew on Wednesday at 1300 GMT, when the captain sent a distress signal indicating that the cargo ship had been "attacked by pirates who were boarding from two speed boats," the statement said.
After receiving the alert, NATO sent the Turkish warship Gaziantep to the scene, a spokesman for the alliance's anti-piracy mission, Jacqui Sheriff, told the Politiken daily's website.
Shipcraft, which has not provided information on what the cargo ship had been carrying, is known as a specialist in shipping explosives and ammunition, the paper reported, adding that The Leopard was transporting weapons.
All the company's ships have traveled in the area with armed guards since pirates attempted to capture another of its cargo ships, The Puma, in mid-2009.
However, Politiken.dk reported that The Leopard had let off its armed guards at the Oman port of Salalah before sailing into a zone considered "safe" where it was attacked.
The crew of MV LEOPARD is not covered by an ITF agreement.
According to TradeWinds and in what represents a major departure from Somali pirates' usual modus operandi, the six seafarers have been snatched and moved to a seized Taiwanese fishing vessel which is operating as a mother-ship.
British sailing couple Paul and Rachel Chandler who had their yacht Lynn Rival hijacked in October 2009 before they were moved to the seized 1,550-teu container vessel Kota Wajar. From there they were taken ashore and held hostage for over a year and only freed last November.
The only other such "off-takes", apart from the Chandlers, were the kidnapping of Juergen Kantner and his partner from their sailing yacht S/Y ROCKALL on 23. June 2008, the kidnapping of Deborah Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari from S/Y CHOIZIL on 26. October 2010 and the snatching of Sri Lankan fishermen  Mr. Lal Fernando and Mr. Sugath Fernando from FV LAKMALI on November 30, 2010. However, recent information reaching our marine monitors in Somalia also say that three women (one Tanzania and two Comorian) have been transferred from the vessel on which they where kidnapped - the MV ALY ZOULFECAR.
Allegedly the Somalis holding the 6 men crew have already offered a deal to exchange them. 
The Danish shipping company said it was searching for the six crew members, while reports from Hobyo say that 4 Somalis including one dead had been delivered by a naval Helicopter to Hobyo.

MV EAGLE : Seized January 17, 2011. At 06h41 UTC (09h41 LT) on Monday 17 January, the bulk carrier MV EAGLE (IMO 8126408) was attacked and pirated by a single skiff in position Latitude: 13°17N Longitude: 061°42 E. The attack occurred in the Gulf of Aden, 490 nautical miles South West of Salaam, Oman. The pirates had been firing small arms and a Rocket Propelled Grenade before boarding the vessel.  There has been no contact with the ship since the attack. The MV EAGLE which is Cypriot flagged and Greek owned, has a deadweight of 52,163 tonnes and a crew of 25 Filipinos (according to the shipowner and DMS of the Cyprus government - not 24 as stated by EU NAVFOR) and was on passage from Aqabar (Jordan) to Paradip (India) when it was attacked.
The Handymax bulker is owned by the Perogiannakis family, Perosea Shipping Co. S.A. of Greece. The company Perosea currently operates just this one rather old bulker, which was built in 1985.
The ITF agreement, which had been agreed as TCC and was covering the crew with the Pan-Hellenic Seamen's Federation (PNO), expired on 05. April 2009. The crew of the vessel is therefore not covered by an ITF agreement.
There is at present no information concerning the condition of the crew, while the vessel is said to be commandeered to Somalia.

MV HOANG SON SUN : Seized January 20, 2010. The vessel MV HOANG SON HUN (IMO 8323862) was seized by pirates, who came onboard shooting at 12h42 UTC in position Latitude: 15°11N Longitude: 059°38, which is approximately 520 nautical miles South East of the port of Muscat, Oman. The 22,835-tonne Bulk carrier, which is Mongolian flagged and Vietnamese owned, has a crew of 24 Vietnamese nationals.
MV HOANG SON SUN was not registered with MSC(HOA) and had not reported to UKMTO.
Owner and manager of the Vietnamese vessel is HOANG SON CO LTD from Thanh Hoa City, Vietnam, who insured it with West of England Shipowners. Unfortunately for the seafarers it has no ITF agreement.
Nguyen Bien Cuong, head of the Hoang Son Co's maritime security department, said the last time his firm had heard from the Vietnamese crew of the cargo ship was Tuesday.  
The merchant vessel is believed to be commandeered towards Somalia.

 

  ~ * ~

OTHER CASES NOT COMPLETELY CLOSED:

- please see: Status of not yet resolved Maritime Incidences off Somalia

  ~ * ~

THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO A WARNING TO VESSELS TRAVERSING THE SOMALI BASIN TO BE AWARE OF LARGER VESSELS BEING USED AS LAUNCHING PAD AND DECOY FOR PIRACY ATTACKS .
All vessels navigating in the Indian Ocean are advised to consider keeping East of 60E when routing North/South and to consider routing East of 60E and South of 10S when proceeding to and from ports in South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya.
The Indian Government has issued a NOTICE on 30th March 2010: All Indian-flagged motorized sailing vessels are - with immediate effect - no longer permitted to ply the waters south and west of a line joining Salalah (Oman) and Malé (Maldives).
NOTIFICATION BY THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT
- Issued by The Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai.
DIRECTIONS 31. March 2010
The Directorate has issued directions prohibiting the trading of mechanized sailing vessels south and west of the line joining Salalah and Male, with immediate effect.

NON-MARITIME HOSTAGE CASES IN SOMALIA:

Missing:
Briton Murray Watson and Kenyan Patrick Amukhuma are missing since 01. April 2008. They were working on a U.N.-funded project in the Juba valley, were seized by gunmen near Bua'le and taken to Jilib, 280 km (175 miles) south of Mogadishu. Media reports until November 2010 maintained they are still being held and close sources reveal that the case is one of a so far Unsuccessful Resolution with no independent proof of live since a long time. While, based on reports from the ground, it could be assumed that Patrick Amukhuma had died, the meanwhile penniless Kenyan-Somali spouse with 3 children of Mr. Watson appealed as recently as October 2010 again for the release of the British researcher.

Political hostage:
French officer Denis Allex. Somali gunmen kidnapped two French security advisers working for the Somali TFG government from the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu on July 14 2009. Police said one escaped on Aug. 26 after killing three of his captors, but Marc Aubriere denied killing anyone and said he slipped away while his guards slept. A video released by Al Shabab was showing the second officer still being held  and political demands for his release were made by Al Shabab. On June 9, 2010 the video appeared on a website often used by Islamist militant groups, which said the hostage, named as Denis Allex, had issued a "message to the French people". The video showed the captive in an orange outfit with armed men standing behind him.
France has received "proof of life" of one of its secret agents held hostage in Somalia since July 2009, the French foreign intelligence service DGSE said on Tuesday, 27. December 2010..

A DGSE source said the service had received "a reply to a personal question" to which Denis Allex, a French secret agent kidnapped by an Islamist group on July 14, 2009, was able to respond, proving he was alive.
"No detail was given by his captors on the state of his health nor on his location or the conditions in which he is being held," the source added.

 ~ * ~

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 48 seized (of presently 49 listed as not secured) foreign vessels (plus two barges) with a total of not less than 868 hostages or captives are accounted for. Despite a directive by the Philippine government that no Pinoy seafarers should ply these dangerous routes there are numerous Filipinos currently held captive by pirates. All cases are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed too. While in 2005 there were only three merchant ships molested and in 2006 four (two merchant and two fishing vessels) in 2007 when Abdullahi Yussufs soldiers had returned to Puntland and were trained to become sea-bandits as well as after the enlargement of the CTF 150 fleet then there were 13 (incl. many fishing vessels and small merchant vessels) captured. In 2008 with the onset of CTF 151 and the US funded Puntland Intelligence Service (PIS) and the inception of the EU NAVFOR armada over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for Somalia with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases and the mistaken sinking of one sea-jacked fishing vessel with the killing of her crew by the Indian naval force. For 2009 the account closed with 228 incidences (incl. averted or abandoned attacks) with 68 vessels seized for different reasons on the Somali/Yemeni captor side as well as at least TWELVE wrongful attacks (incl. one friendly fire incident) on the side of the naval forces, including the horrible murder of Yemeni and Somali fishermen in a mid-nightly raid on a natural harbour in Puntland committed by a Norwegian commando unit.
For 2010 the recorded account around the Horn of Africa stands at 243 incidences with 202 direct attacks by Somali sea-shifta resulting in 74 sea-jackings on the one side and on the other the sinking of one merchant vessel (MV AL-ABI ) by machine-gun fire from the Seychelles's coastguard boat TOPAZ (11 Somalis now jailed for 10 years in the Seychelles) as well as the wrongful attack by the Indian navy on an innocent Yemeni fishing vessel and the sinking of FV SIRICHAI NAVA 11 with many injured sailors and at least five people from the vessel and 8 attackers dead. Sea-jacked MV AL-ASSA - without its original Yemeni crew - was used as pirate vessel and likewise sunk while the Somali captors allegedly were released on land. In addition four Somali fishermen were killed by naval helicopter, which the navies cowardly never identified, at Labad north of Hobyo and one fisherman has killed by AMISOM forces near Mogadishu harbour.
For 2011 the recorded account stands at 32 incidences with  28 direct attacks and nine vessels sea-jacked (two of the 2011 cases were let go already and one was freed).
The naval alliances had since August 2008 and until May 2010 apprehended 1090 suspected pirates, detained and kept or transferred for prosecution 480,  killed at least 64 and wounded over 24 Somalis. (Independent update on the killings of Somalis see: EXCLUSIV - whereby it must be stated that while trying to keep up with the killings and arrests, the deportations of Somalis or cases where they were set out again without supplies to face sure death on the ocean - like the Russians did in at least one case - it is due to the in-transparency of the navies extremely difficult and hard to keep track and the journalist who maintained the statistics gave up and started a new blog). It must, be noted that most navies have become since the beginning of 2010extremely secretive and do neither report properly to the Somali government nor through their media outlets on the real number of casualties and injuries.
Not well documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (although not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail or like the S/Y Serenity, MV Indian Ocean Explorer were sunk to cover their drug-smuggling activities. Present multi-factorial risk assessment code: GoA: RED / IO: RED  (Red = Very much likely, high season; Orange = Reduced risk, but very likely, Yellow = significantly reduced risk, but still likely, Blue = possible, Green = unlikely). Piracy incidents usually degrade during the monsoon season and rise gradually by the end of the monsoon. Starting from mid February until early April as well as around October every year an increase in piracy cases can be expected. With the onset of the monsoon winds and rough seas piracy cases decline.
If you have any additional information concerning the cases, please send to office[at]ecoterra-international.org - if required we guarantee 100% confidentiality.
For further details and regional information see the Somali Marine and Coastal Monitor and the situation map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA. See the archive at www.australia.to and news on www.international.to

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East Africa ILLEGAL FISHING AND DUMPING HOTLINE:  +254-714-747-090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email:  office[at]ecoterra.net
EA Seafarers Assistance Programme  : Call: +254-734-437838 or +254-714-747090 or SMS to +254-738-497979

ECOTERRA Intl. is an international nature protection and human rights organization, whose Africa offices in Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania also monitor the marine and maritime situation along the East African Indian Ocean coasts as well as the Gulf of Aden. ECOTERRA is working in Somalia since 1986 and does focus in its work against piracy mainly on coastal development, marine protection and pacification. ECOP-marine (www.ecop.info) is an ECOTERRA group committed to fight against all forms of crime on the waters. Both stand firm against illegal fishing as well as against marine overexploitation and pollution.

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