Friday, 03 September 2010 05:01

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 24 seized foreign vessels (26 sea-related hostage cases since yacht SY LYNN RIVAL was abandoned and taken by the British Navy) with a total of not less than 401 crew members (incl. the British sailing couple) plus at least 9 crew of the lorries held for an exchange with imprisoned pirates, are accounted for. The 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. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) had been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases for Somalia and the mistaken sinking of one sea-jacked fishing vessel and 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.
For 2010 the recorded account around the Horn of Africa stands at 81 attacks by Somali sea-shifta resulting in 36 sea-jackings on the one side and the sinking of one merchant vessel (MV AL ABI) by machine-gun fire from the Seychelles's coastguard boat TOPAZ and the wrongful attack by the Indian navy on a Yemeni fishing vessel on the other.
The naval alliances had since August 2008 and until March 2010 apprehended 826 suspected pirates, detained and kept or transferred for prosecution 419,  killed at least 53 and wounded over 22 Somalis. (Actual independent update see: http://bruxelles2.over-blog.com/pages/_Bilan_antipiraterie_Atalanta_CTF_Otan_Russie_Exclusif-1169128.html).
Not fully 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 - like the S/Y Serenity, MV Indian Ocean Explorer.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 every year an increase in piracy cases can be expected.
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 at www.australia.to and the map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA.


---------------- directly piracy, abduction, mariner or naval upsurge related reports --------------------

Al-Shabab shifts gear towards Pirates hub in central Somalia by Mohammed Omar Hussein (Allvoices)
Al-shabab an armed rival Islamist function in Somalia has on Saturday evening moved towards Haradere district in Gal-Gadud region in central Somalia which is one of the largest hubs for Somali pirates.
On hearing this tips that the Al-Shababs are coming towards Haradere the Somali pirates at Haradere district have fled to Hobyo district in Mudug region.
There are several vessels which the Somali pirates have hijacked off the Somali waters which are currently anchored at Haradere district including an Italian ship.
It is a big question which the brains of the Somali cannot solve how the situation will be if Haradere town falls into the hands of Al-Shabab.
Allvoices has put the question on how the situation would be if Al-Shabab takes control of Haradere district to Abass Gabow Ali a Somali political analyst.
"I have no doubt that if Al-Shabab means to seize Haradere district nobody can stop them to conquer the town of Haradere, and I don’t think whether the Pirates can confront them, because the Al-Shababs are mighter than the pirates" said Abass Gabow Ali. Mr. Abass has also said that the only power which can confront Al-Shabab are the Ethiopian troops.
So thus Allvoices has asked Mr. Abass the possibility of the arrival of the Ethiopian troops on the shores of Haradere district since they have before pulled out from Somalia.
"The Ethiopian troop can at anytime come back to Somalia there is no accord signed to stop the intervention of the Ethiopian troops entering Somalia two days ago the Ethiopian troops were at the Somali boarder town of El-barde district tracking down Al-Shabab" added analyst Abass.
Pirates in Somalia have been for the last couple of years making swift and huge amount of money through hijacking ships off the Somali waters.

Pirates and fishermen in the Gulf of Aden by Graig Wijckaans (orientdaily) As we have seen with many news stories over the past eighteen months, it seems Piracy is no longer considered the realm of fantasy. Gone is the image of Long John Silver, a Hook for a hand, and eye patch and a parrot on his shoulder, the jaunty Pirate of many a children’s tale. These days, a Pirate is more likely to be a highly trained Somali, with a huge cache of heavy weaponry at his disposal.
The extraordinarily high number of recent Pirate attacks in both the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden has lead to Yemen wanting procedures put in place to protect their Fishermen. Yemen lies just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia where it is known a lot of the recent high levels of Pirate activity originate from.
It would also appear that it is not just the pirates that Yemeni fishermen need protecting from, but also the misconceptions of others. It has been reported that Yemeni fishermen have come under attack from both Indian and Ukrainian warships on manoeuvres in the area who, ironically it would seem, had mistaken the Yemeni fisherman for Somali Pirates.
The issues facing Yemeni fishermen were raised this week in a meeting between the Yemeni Minister of Fisheries, Mohammed Shamlan and Hadramout Governor Salem al-Khanbashi.
In the meeting, the two sides discussed any suitable mechanisms of coordination that can be used to ensure cooperation between the concerned authorities to properly curb the acts of Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and to ensure that Yemeni fishermen are protected from both Pirate attack from the Somalis across the Gulf, as well as the shameful cases of mistaken identity they have had to endure from the countries who are patrolling these waters in the hope of providing a visual deterrent to the Pirates in the first place.
Shamlan stressed that Government, represented via the Ministry of Fisheries and the relevant port authorities along the Yemeni coast are about to develop what they believe is an advanced mechanism to control Yemen’s waters in accordance with the very latest communication systems, all vessels in their waters, their routes and their destinations. Only by knowing who and where everybody is, do the Yemen government feel able to say they can adequately protect the nations fishermen from any further attacks, be it from Somali Pirates, or Ukrainian or Indian ‘Friendly Fire’.
Shamlam also confirmed after the meeting that the Ministry for Fisheries is to reimburse the fishermen who were attacked by the two warships operating in the Gulf and the Arabian Sea, providing them with new vessels and fishing equipment. Whether these men will feel safe in their own waters will now depend on how serious the Yemeni government is about protecting them.

US: Egypt could secure Gulf of Aden by Mohamed Abdel Salam (bikyamasr)
The United States Department of State said that Egypt has put forward new ideas on the international working group for combating piracy in the Gulf of Aden and for the security of the Suez Canal. It said that these ideas are being studied in Washington with the goal of implementing them.
America In Arabic News Agency quoted a statement by American Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political and Military Affairs Thomas Countryman as saying that Egypt put forward some ideas, however, he did not explain the full details of the proposals.
Countrymen said that “Egypt is the fourth President of the International Working Group, but the ideas need to be taken forward for implementation and application, and in a better way while providing the necessary funding for it.”
The State Department said that more than 20 countries now participate in the international naval force, which works to secure the navigation in the Gulf of Aden. According to State there is, on any given day, an average of 17 military naval ships patrolling the Gulf of Aden, “which is partly related to passing through the Suez Canal in Egypt.”
The canal is one of Egypt’s largest sources for foreign capital and Cairo believes that securing the canal zone and the gulf would go a long way in getting ships to return to shipping via the canal.
The State Department said in its statement that the international force “is working steadily” and securing some 30,000 cargo ships crossing from this corridor each year, many of which passes through the Suez Canal in Egypt.
The statement quoted Countrymen as saying that the “warships of the United States and the European Union and NATO and a number of other countries, including Russia, China, South Korea, Japan are working together under a united international leadership.”
He said that 24 countries formed in January 2009 a “contact group” on piracy off the coast of Somalia “under the umbrella of the United Nations.”
The group now comprises 47 countries and 10 international organizations.
Countrymen said that progress in the fight against piracy happens “consistently and steadily but not dramatically,” adding that the number of successful attacks waged by the pirates in the region has declined.
The US had earlier said that Egypt, the United States, the United Kingdom and Denmark are leading the four teams to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden off the Somali Coast. This comes as piracy in the gulf continues to run without much hindrance, although international forces have been stationed in the area in an effort to curtail the hijacking of vessels that travel through the waters upon leaving the Suez Canal.

Maersk Alabama crew pans captain's account (UPI)
The Maersk Alabama's captain says he stands by his account of the ship's takeover by Somali pirates even if most of his crew has a different view.
The Boston Herald reported Thursday 16 of the 19 crew members on board the cargo ship when it was commandeered off the coast of Africa a year ago fault the book, "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS and Dangerous Days at Sea," for making Capt. Richard Phillips appear heroic rather than incompetent.
"I stand by the book," Phillips told the Herald in a phone interview from his Vermont home. "I was just doing my job, and I've always said that."
Michael Forbes, a Philadelphia lawyer who spoke for the dissident crew members, said the captain's account is "totally contradictory from talking to the crew, and I've talked to many of the crew members."
Among the bones of contention are Phillips' saying he took action after a crew member warned of an approaching boat. The crew says he ignored the warnings.
He says he sent the crew to a safe room after the attack started. The crew says there was no safe room and they hid in a makeshift shelter.
There are questions about whether he volunteered to go as a hostage to protect the crew or was simply captured.
Phillips blames the media for not giving the crew members the plaudits they deserve.
"The media made it out to be me when it was me and my crew," Phillips said.
But Forbes questions the captain's efforts to spread the glory.
"I'd like to say, how many times has he been quoted giving any praise or credit to the crew," Forbes said. "He's not once reached out to the crew. He portrays them as hired help."

Japan is opening its first overseas army base in Djibouti, a small African state strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aden, to counter rising piracy in the region.
The 40-million-dollar base expected to be completed by early next year will strengthen international efforts to curb hijackings and vessel attacks by hordes of gunmen from the lawless Somalia.
The Djibouti base breaks new ground for Japan, which has had no standing army since World War II and cannot wage war. It however has armed forces -- the Japan Self-Defence Forces -- which were formed at the end of US occupation in 1952.
"This will be the only Japanese base outside our country and the first in Africa," Keizo Kitagawa, Japan's navy force captain and coordinator of the deployment, told AFP recently.
"We are deploying here to fight piracy and for our self-defence. Japan is a maritime nation and the increase in piracy in the Gulf of Aden through which 20,000 vessels sail every year is worrying," Kitagawa said.
He explained that 10 percent of the Gulf of Aden's traffic comes from Japan and 90 percent of Japanese exports depend on the crucial sea lane that was almost overrun by the marauding pirates two years ago.
"A camp will be built to house our personnel and material. Currently we are stationed at the American base," Kitagawa said.
Since 2008, an international flotilla of warships has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden in a bid to stop the hijackings.
"The safety of the seas is therefore essential for Japan... the stability of this region will benefit Japan," Kitagawa added.
In recent years Somali pirates have attacked or hijacked Japanese vessels traversing the key route.
In 2008, pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked the Takayama, a 150,000-tonne oil tanker, but it was rescued by the German navy.
The previous year, chemical tanker Golden Nori was captured by the ransom-hunting pirates who freed it six weeks later. In February, the MV Apl Finland was saved by the Turkish navy from pirates who tried to clamber aboard.
Japan's decision was prompted by pressure from the country's maritime industry.
"We sent military teams to Yemen, Oman, Kenya and Djibouti. In April 2009, we chose Djibouti," Kitagawa said.
The Red Sea state, which is home to the largest overseas French military base and the only US army base in Africa, was picked for its suitable air and sea ports as well as political stability, the official said.
Last April, Japan's defence ministry announced it was sending two destroyers and surveillance planes to boost the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden.
The presence of the international navies has forced the Somali pirates to venture southwards in the less-patrolled Indian Ocean.
Last weekend they seized three Thai fishing boasts with 77 crew some 1,200 miles (2,220 kilometres) from the coast of Somalia, the first time the pirates have struck so far east into the Indian Ocean.

China Sets Sights On Enhanced Air, Sea Power by Anthony Kuhn (NPR)
China is in the midst of an ambitious bid to modernize its military by the middle of this century. A key part of this effort is to downsize its army -- the world's largest -- while beefing up its air force and navy. This will enable China to project military force farther beyond its borders.
In an effort aimed to show transparency in this process, China recently opened up Yangcun air base outside Beijing to military attaches and foreign journalists.
Pilots of the People's Liberation Army Air Force 24th fighter division barnstormed their fighter jets past the reviewing stand, before landing and taxiing down the runway.
The planes are J-10s, a Chinese-built, multi-role fighter made to be roughly comparable to the American F-16. Division Commander Yan Feng has logged more than 600 hours flying them. China plans to export the planes, and Yan makes what sounds like a sales pitch.
"As a pilot, I think the user interface is very good," he says. "It's highly maneuverable, has a good range, and its armaments and fire control systems are not bad. It's not like our old aircraft, which could easily go into a tailspin. Barring a major error, it's not easy to lose control of this plane."
China's air force and navy have benefited from two decades of double-digit increases in defense spending. And because the air force and navy cost more to equip than the army, they're getting a bigger share of the defense budget than ever.
"It's quite natural that we want to build up a streamlined military force, which has more focus on technologies rather than manpower," says Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Col. Huang Xueping.
Changing Military Priorities
The emphasis on air and sea power is part of a historical trend. Over the past century and a half, China has turned its attention from defending its land borders to its coastline. Roy Kamphausen, senior vice president of the National Bureau of Asian Research in Washington, D.C., notes that the collapse of the Soviet Union accelerated this shift.
"Once that was accomplished, the traditional threats that China has faced from its north and west largely dissipated," Kamphausen says. "That coincided with the growth of China's economy and a more outward-looking approach and thus a need to be more of a maritime power in all its dimensions."

To build up its air force and navy, China needs to reduce the size of its overall force. Xu Guangyu is a retired People's Liberation Army general, who is now with a government think tank called the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.
Xu figures that for a fairly modern military, China needs to spend about $100,000 per year on each serviceman, up from $30,000 now. Japan spends about $200,000, and the U.S. spends about $400,000.
"Assuming we increase defense spending by 8 percent per year, and reduce our total forces from 2.3 million to 1.5 million troops, we'll be able to spend $100,000 on each soldier by 2019," Xu says.
He points out that China's total spending is second only to that of the U.S. But it's low as measured by per capita spending. The argument is analogous to what the government says: Although China's overall economy is the world's third-largest, its people are still poor on a per capita basis.
Expanded Global Role For China's Military?
For the first time in about two decades, China's defense budget will grow at a single-digit clip -- roughly at the same rate as GDP growth. Xu explains that this is partly the effect of the economic recession, and partly to counter criticism that China is spending too much on military development.
Xu says China's military is currently about 60 percent army, 20 percent navy and 20 percent air force. He says China can achieve its aims by going to 50 percent army, and 25 percent each for navy and air force. He says China's need to project air and sea power is limited, so there's no need to go to a 40-30-30 ratio.
"China's land-based army will continue to be the main force," he predicts. "Our naval and air power will mostly be used to enhance the combat effectiveness of our ground forces."
For now, Kamphausen says that China has invested very little in overseas bases and refueling capabilities that would really allow China to project force around the globe.
"I'm beginning to conclude it's not that high a priority. And then, if it's not that high a priority, what does it say about how far they want Chinese air power to be able to reach? Still probably pretty close to home," he says.
Kamphausen says analysts are encouraged because China can now project its force in support of international missions, such as patrolling for Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. But analysts are also concerned because China's newly acquired weapons could one day be used to target U.S. forces in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.

Chinese naval squad returns from successful escort duty (Xinhua)
More than 800 officers and soldiers with Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy returned home Friday morning to a naval base in the Zhoushan Islands in eastern China after serving in Somali waters.
During the 128-day tour of duty, the flotilla rescued three merchant ships from pirate attacks and escorted 661 vessels, including a 20-km-long flotilla of 31 merchant ships, reportedly the biggest ship group to have been escorted in the Gulf of Aden.
The group saw its biggest action Feb. 25, when about 100 suspicious vessels were fast approaching and reportedly "harassing" the merchant ships. Shipboard helicopters took off and launched warning shots at several small boats that were about to attack.
According to a Xinhua reporter on board one helicopter, the suspicious vessels, intimidated by high explosive shells and flares, fled.
Previously, the shipboard helicopters had made six emergency takeoffs and drove off five groups of suspicious vessels.
The team also visited the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines at the invitation of the two nations' navies.
Two frigates, along with the supply ship Qiandaohu, set sail for the Gulf of Aden Oct.30, 2009 and arrived in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 12.

Two months after the release of the 2010 United State’s Quadrennial Defense Review, which acknowledged India’s rise in as a militarily power in the Asia Pacific and the dominant role that Indian Navy could play in years to come, the six-day visit of US Navy chief Admiral Gary Roughead to India ahead of the annual India-US naval ‘Malabar’ exercise marks significance.
Released every four years, the USQDR chalks out the strategy for the US Defense Forces. “The distribution of global political, economic and military power is shifting and becoming more diffuse. The rise of China, the world's most populous country, and India, the world's largest democracy, will continue to reshape the international system," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said while releasing the 128 page USQDR 2010. The 2010 is a war time QDR and it’s the third consecutive since 2001 and 2008.
Though, the USQDR talks extensively about the ongoing US militarily operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, from India’s perspective there are some important points to be noted.
For skeptics in Indo-US relations, after Obama came to the White House, there needs no any further answer on how important that India finds in the scheme of things in the US policy decisions than by just glancing at the QDR released on February 2010.  The USQDR emphasized that for US to retain its position as the most powerful actor, it must boost up cooperation with its key allies and partners to sustain peace and security.  
To start with US is primarily a country whose eminence depends on its ability to control the oceans around the world. The school of thought started out nearly 135 years ago with the vision of the great US Naval officer nearly by named Alfred Thayer Mahan. Mahan advocated that the sea power—the strength of a nation’s navy—was the key to strong foreign policy.
Mahan’s vision to see things further is amazing since in his work “ The Problems of Asia” published  in 1901, he predicted that China with its size, mass and population could pose challenge to the US. In Mahan’s time there couldn’t have been many to put their money on China’s rise. Mahan was also lucky his voice was heard in the US political establishment when he started writing on Naval affairs. Since his friend and Assistant Secretary of Navy Theodore Roosevelt went on to become the President in 1901. Further, Mahan’s thoughts were understood in the political establishment what with the great American President during the World War II Franklin Delano Roosevelt also had an Assistant Secretary of Navy during World I under President Woodrow Wilson before he became President in 1933.  The US political establishment understood that for US to be a super-power it needs to control all the oceans in the world.
The US strategic thinking understands this thought and that is why it reaches out to India as the Centre Stage of the 21st century in the Indian Ocean. The US’s grand strategy needs India in the Indian Ocean as much as it needed the United Kingdom in the 20th century in the Atlantic Ocean. This is clearly buttressed in the QDR 2010.
Further, in the US grand strategy of “Balancing of Power” India is the vital cog to contain China in the Indian Ocean and so further in the greater Asia Pacific region.
This was emphasized in the QDR US that India will emerge as the key security provider in the Indian Ocean and beyond. The USQDR is a strategy driven document.
As per the report, India will play the most influential role in global affairs as its economic power, cultural reach and political influence increases. "This growing influence, combined with democratic values it shares with the United States, an open political system, and a commitment to global stability, will present many opportunities for cooperation," the 2010 USQDR said.
If the report is anything to go by it outlines a blue print for the “Concert in Asia” with the US providing a balance act. Nothing illustrates better than the proposed trip of US President Barack Obama to Guam base to June 2010. Though the scheduled trip got delayed because of Obama’s commitment to the Health Care legislature the importance of Guam stop over trip of Obama en route from Indonesia to Australia emphasizes the importance of Indian Ocean in the years to come in Washington’s overall geo-strategy.
Security Analysts and policy makers in India need to take two important points from the USQDR. First it is about how to handle counter-insurgency and second the importance of Indian Ocean in the years to come.
Nothing illustrates better than the above point but by understanding that the brain behind the 2010 USQDR is considered to be the President of the Center for a New American Center, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) John A. Nagl. John A Nagl is the author of the book Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam (2002) and played a prominent role along with current Commander of the U.S. Central Command, General Petraeus in authoring the U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual (2007). John A Nagl has talked and written on how the US Army/ Marine Corps can learn the lessons in counter-insurgency from the Indian Army’s experiences. The 2010 USQDR talks about the ongoing counter-insurgency operations initiated by the US in Iraq and Afghanistan. John A Nagl had borrowed on British Imperial Army’s counter-insurgency lessons in India to be put in effect in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Second, the importance of Navy in the USQDR can be understood by the fact that the present Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen comes from a Naval Background. It’s for the first time that a USQDR is released when a Naval Officer occupies the post of Joint Chief of Staff after 1996 QDR was the first review requested by the Congress following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In this year US Budget heavy investment has been made on US Navy. The USQDR 2010 says that the US Naval Forces will continue forward positions in the years to come which means that Indian Navy can push to be taken itself on the board. On the other hand, one needs to understand that 2006 QDR was released by then Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld who just quit his post months after releasing the report.
However, the present Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates is being retained from the former Bush administration. Obama is the only US President besides another Democratic one, Bill Clinton to have the Secretary of Defense from the opposite party since World War II. This emphasizes that the US’ overall strategic approach has not changed drastically from the earlier Bush administration as some skeptics in India view. Robert Gates was appointed as the Secretary of Defense by George W Bush after the exit of Rumsfeld. Gates is considered to have a “realist” political outlook unlike the conservative Rumsfeld. However, Gates has called for vastly expansion the military's missions through the 2010 QDR.
Economically, it is being understood that this QDR is released to when the US is bogged down in Iraq, Afghanistan and fighting a financial recession. The USQDR is followed by a for $708 billion defense budget in the year 2010. The request is higher than at any point in US history since World War II, higher than both during the Korean War in 1952-53 and Vietnam War peak budget in 1968.
The QDR calls for even more Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA). Now the big question is how the US will be able to sustain forces in both Iraq and Afghanistan kind of situations and operations in upcoming years to come. In that context, it needs a partner which can both assist in its military operations. It is understood that the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations cannot be extended further in Asia. To stretch matters further, the US is bogged down with 400,000 US military personnel in  forward-stationed or rotationally deployed around the world.
Further, in a historical co-incidence, 2010 USQDR emphasizes the point of National Correspondent for The Atlantic and a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Robert Kaplan’s article in the Foreign Affairs March/ April 2009 titled “Center Stage for the 21st Century,” which talked about the rivalry in the Indian Ocean between India and China, and how the US could play the balancing role.
Interestingly, Indian Ocean accounts for the highest tonnage of transportation of goods in the world, with nearly 100,000 ships transiting its expanse annually. In the waters of the Indian Ocean, nearly 2/3 thirds of the world’s oil shipments and 1/3 cargo traffic are carried annually. This emphasizes the importance of the Indian Ocean in the 21st century.
In a same way, the great American Diplomat George Kennan published an article titled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in Foreign Affairs magazine in July 1947. The article formed the basis of US’s containment strategy against the Soviet Union during the Cold War and ultimately led to the failure of Communism.
The highlight of the Robert Kaplan’s 2009 article was that the South China Sea is full of energy wealth that the Chinese wish to exploit. It is the Pacific gateway to the Indian Ocean. It frustrates the Chinese to no end that the U.S. Navy is present there to the degree that it is. US Navy cannot be solo over the region and it needs a partner and India can afford to be one.
On the other hand, the worst case scenario for the US will be the increase in the list of failed states in Eastern Africa and piracy in the Horn of Africa. QDR 2010 talks about those situations in which the US troops will be dragged in the failed states like Afghanistan and Iraq. In the Horn of Africa, countries such as Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia fall in the above categories.
Presently, The Indian Navy escorts Indian-flagged cargo vessels through the Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa. Indian Navy’s presence there has resulted in the decrease in the incidents of piracy. Also, the U.S. forces are working in the Horn of Africa to provide training, equipment, and advice to their host-country counterparts on how to better seek out and dismantle terrorist and insurgent networks. A greater co-operation between Indo –US forces should be pushed ahead. Specifically, “The United States has a substantial interest in the stability of the Indian Ocean region as a whole, which will play an ever more important role in the global economy. The Indian Ocean provides vital sea lines of communication that are essential to global commerce, international energy security, and regional stability. Ensuring open access to the Indian Ocean will require a more integrated approach to the region across military and civilian organizations,” says USQDR.
Indian political establishment needs to grabs the present moment. The first step in the right direction will be to enhance more naval to naval co-operation. The 2010 Malabar series of exercises is scheduled from April 23 to May 2. The USQDR emphasizes the importance of India’s Maritime stretch in the years to come especially from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Hormuz. 
India will do itself great help if it could establish a tri-service command in the Arabian Sea just like the present one in the Andaman and Nicobar. This will help India to project its might in the Horn of Africa and in those East African states where the need arises.
After all, the US geo-strategy is based on the concept of the 20th century geo-strategist and the “god father” of the containment strategy, Nicholas John Spykman who propagated that “Who controls the rimland rules Eurasia; Who rules Eurasia controls the destinies of the world.” Typically, the rim land refers to the maritime fringes of the Eurasian continent.
Spykman also emphasized that US needs partners in the rimland to counter any rise of the Heartland (Soviet Union) or the Middle Kingdom (China). There is no prize for guessing on why 2010 USQDR implicitly talks about the importance of having India as a strategic partner to balance the power of China in the Eurasian Continent.


--------- ecology , ecosystems, marine environment, IUU fishing and dumping, UNCLOS, humanities ------------

Ukrainian and Indian warships attacked innocent fishermen
Fishermen demand compensation by Iscander al-Mamari (YemenObserver)
As Yemen’s fishermen continue its struggle toward off attacks from Indian and Ukrainian warships, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Abubaker al-Qirbi, demanded compensation for Yemeni fishermen who have been subjected to attacks by warships in the Aden Gulf and Indian Ocean. 
“Yemen demanded the establishment of mechanisms for the non-recurrence of such incidents and to consider the cases of compensation for fishermen on the material and human damage caused to them. Moreover, Yemen requested to make a mechanism to investigate incidents as soon as possible,” said the minister.
The Minister, furthermore, affirmed that there are numbers of deaths in fishermen and others are injured as a result of attacks on them by the battleships.
In the same case, the Minister of Fisheries Mohamed Shamlan, and Hadramout Governor Salem al-Khanbashi discussed possible procedures to prevent these attacks. The meeting between the governor and the minister was held Monday, April 19th.
Shamlan said that the ministry is ready to follow up procedures for reimbursing the fishermen who have been attacked by the two warships operating in the territorial waters. The warships are in the Yemeni waters to combat maritime piracy off the coasts of Somalia. “The government is about to develop an advanced mechanism to control the Yemeni waters in accordance with the latest communication systems, including all vessels operating in the Yemeni waters and thus protect the fishermen from any attacks,” Shamlan said. 
In the meeting, the two sides dealt with the suitable mechanisms of coordination and cooperation between the concerned authorities to curb the acts of maritime piracy off Yemen coasts and to protect the Yemeni fishermen through securing the areas of fishing activities.
[N.B.: The situation in Somalia is even worse, but neither the TFG nor the regional governments are in a position to defend their innocent people from the wrat and hate of the international navies. The cases of two murderous attacks by the Norwegian navy and the killing of an alleged attacker by armed people on clandestine weapons transporter ALMEZAAN are still not fully investigated and brought in front of a court.]


SPAIN SPONSORS SUPPORT TO FISH POACHING IN INDIAN OCEAN
There is no fishing licence for any Spanish vesssel in the 200nm EEZ of Somalia!!!
Spain’s Ministry of Defense to purchase aircraft to protect fishing ships in Somalia (barcelonareporter)
This is the first time that Spain will use remote-controlled aircraft in this type of mission, Spain’s Ministry of Defense to purchase aircraft to protect fishing ships in Somalia
The Defence Ministry will deploy unmanned aerial vehicles this year as part of operation "Atalanta" against piracy in order to improve the protection of Spanish fishing vessels operating in waters off Somalia, sources within the Navy confirmed.
This is the first time that Spain will use remote-controlled aircraft in this type of mission, in which is currently deployed a maritime patrol aircraft P-3 Orion and about 300 sailors aboard the frigate "Victoria", with two helicopters".
Spain began to use the unmanned aircraft (UAV, its acronym in English) in Afghanistan in April 2008. The use of these devices reduces the number of patrol helicopters, has lower cost and improves the collection of information.
A new task that the "Atalanta" operation has begun to play in recent weeks, is the control of the main ports that serve as the bases of the Somali pirates and their ships. They are well suited to carry out surveillance on a boat that could be hi-jacked.
As yet it has not yet been finalized which model of UAV plane will be used or the number of units to be purchased, however the budget allocated for the purchase of these aircraft is eight million euros.
Pre-purchase leasing is more expensive, but in case of an accident, the manufacturer is responsible. Aircraft operating in Afghanistan are the Israeli Searcher MK II-J, which has the most advanced technologies in such aircraft, with a range of 300 kilometres and twelve hours of flight.
The purchase of just four UAVs would cost 17 million euros.

NOWHERE ELSE TO GO
UN food agency relocates to Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland state (APA)
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has transferred some of its offices in southern Somalia to the relatively calm regional semi-autonomous state of Puntland in north-eastern Somalia, a senior Somali official confirms here Sunday.
Abdirahman Mahmoud Hajji, the mayor of the city of Gaalkacy in Puntland told reporters Sunday that the UN food agency has opened two of its main offices relocated from southern Somalia in the Puntland region after it affirmed that security there was reliable and the UN staff can operate there in safety.
“A top WFP security official had previously visited Puntland and gathered information and he then suggested that their offices could be opened in Gaalkacy, so the offices are now operating,” the mayor said during his Sunday press conference.
“The two offices were relocated from the cities of Bu’aale in the middle Jubba region in southern Somalia and Waajid in the Bakool region south-western Somalia, because of the insecurity in the southern Somali regions,” the mayor said.
The offices of the World Food Program and other international relief organizations in southern Somalia were closed earlier this year after the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabab militants banned the agencies from operating in the country.
The militants accused the WFP of crippling the country’s food production, saying that the agency brings its food aid as soon as crops have been planted.
With the militants banning aid agencies, the United Nations is warning of a looming humanitarian disaster in Somalia, as more than 3.5 million people, about half of Somalia’s total population currently need emergency food assistance.
Those in need of food assistance include about 1.5 million civilians who fled from their homes in the capital Mogadishu because of the nearly daily armed confrontations the city has been facing for the past three years.


--------------------------- anti-piracy measures --------------------------------

Eleven alleged pirates brought to United States for prosecution by Terry Frieden (CNN)

Federal authorities are flying 11 suspected pirates from East Africa to Norfolk, Virginia, to be prosecuted for alleged attacks on U.S. Navy ships near Somalia, according to multiple federal law enforcement sources familiar with the operation.
The accused pirates have been indicted on a series of charges that remain under court seal until the suspects appear before a federal magistrate in Norfolk early Friday, the officials said.
The suspects are expected to arrive in Norfolk late Thursday night and will remain in the custody of federal agents until they are taken into court, the officials said.
"The U.S. Marshals Service will be taking custody of the defendants following their initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, and they will be housed locally through the court proceedings," the Marshals Service said in a written statement.
The service refused any other comment on the operation to bring the pirates to U.S. soil.
The FBI and Justice Department had no comment.
The cases will be prosecuted in Norfolk, which is in the Eastern District of Virginia. Officials from Alexandria, Virginia, where the district court is based, were already in Norfolk standing by for the pirates' arrival, officials said.
Federal officials are tentatively planning to hold a news conference Friday in Norfolk following the initial court appearances.
One official, who asked not to be identified because the cases are not yet public, said five of the accused pirates were captured after the USS Nicholas was attacked by a pirate ship on March 31. Six others were captured in a separate incident on April 10 after a pirate ship fired on the USS Ashland, the official said.
The United States, the European Union and others have beefed up their security presence in waters near Somalia after a rash of attacks by pirates in the past two years.

Somali Pirates Charged in U.S. Courts by Stacy (RightsPunditJuris)

Eleven alleged Somali pirates, charged in a Virginia Court yesterday, have not entered pleas but have indicated that they understand the accusations being set against them. The case indicates a landmark moment in the ongoing saga over who should take charge of bringing the hi-jackers to justice when the crime is committed in international waters. Check out the full story, as well as pictures and video below!The eleven accused came from two different groups that had attacked U.S. Navy ships earlier this year. The first five had mistaken the USS Nicholas for a cargo frigate and attempted to hi-jack the ship. Not smart! The other six had allegedly opened fire upon the USS Ashland in waters near Djibouti.

The U.S. has been increasing its presence in the waters near Kenya due to the increasing rates of incidents. The alleged Somali pirates, charged with more than enough for life sentences, are being brought to justice as part of an ongoing effort to stabilize international waters according to NCIS Special Agent in Charge Russ.

“The Naval Criminal Investigative Service provides unique forward deployed law enforcement capabilities to the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Strategy,” said the agent. “This case demonstrates the working relationship between uniformed military forces and NCIS – which is a civilian agency – and our federal partners to ensure cooperative security and stability across the maritime domain.”

U.S. Attorney MacBride issued a statement on the proceedings as well:

“Since the earliest days of this country, piracy has been a serious crime. Piracy threatens human lives and disrupts international commerce. When pirates attack U.S. vessels by force, they must face severe consequences.”

The defendents are being accused of piracy, attacking to plunder a vessel, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to use firearms during an act of violence, and using firearms in an act of violence. The first accustation carries a life sentence in itself, and the others can total up to another 50 years if they escape the first.
The Somali pirates, charged in U.S. Courts for the first time since the nineteenth century will no doubt receive swift justice. But what does this mean for the other vigilantes on high waters?
Will the U.S. only bring to justice those stupid enough to fire upon a U.S. Navy ship?
Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Somalia: 11 pirates go on trial in Bosaso court (HORSEED)
On Saturday, the trial of 11 suspected Somali pirates started in the Bosaso district court of the sem-autonumous region of Puntland.
Of the Suspected pirates seven were last week brought to Bosaso Port by the French Navy, who captured them near Seychelles waters and handed them over to Puntland authority.
The judge sentenced 5 Somali pirates to 5-years in prison , while the other 6 accused pirates were sentenced to 1 year in jail for piracy in Somali waters.
The court also judged Umar Abdi Qasim,whom was accused for making explosive items, the judge said he will face a 10-year prison.
Puntland government said that it will fight against piracy, while they are about 240-suspected pirates in Bosaso main jail.

A package of projects to help Somalia and its neighbours prosecute maritime piracy suspects was approved today by a 10-nation board overseeing a new United Nations trust fund for the fight against piracy, the Department of Political Affairs reported.
The announcement was made at United Nations Headquarters by B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who chairs the Board of the Trust Fund to Support Initiatives of States Countering Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. "Piracy off Somalia is a menace to the region and the world. Prosecuting suspected pirates is an important piece of the international strategy to combat the problem," he said.
The five projects approved by consensus today cost $2.1 million and focus primarily on support for the prosecution of piracy suspects. Four of the projects will help strengthen institutions in the Seychelles, which is serving alongside Kenya as a regional centre for the prosecution of suspected pirates, as well as in the regions of Puntland and Somaliland, in such areas as mentoring of prosecutors and police; constructing and rehabilitating prisons; reviewing domestic legislation on piracy; and enhancing the capacity of the courts. An additional media project seeks to help local partners design and disseminate anti-piracy messages within Somalia.
The Board also recently established an emergency funding facility to offset the costs involved in prosecuting piracy suspects arrested at sea, including travel for witnesses, court equipment and the transportation of suspects. The Trust Fund was established in January 2010 by the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia.
Under-Secretary-General Pascoe said that, with today's approvals, the Trust Fund's initial contributions have been largely spent and it will need new donations to replenish it.
The Board comprises 10 voting members -- Djibouti, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Norway, Somalia and the United States -- as well as three non-voting entities –- the International Maritime Organization (IMO), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations country team for Somalia.

Counter Piracy Task Force Changes Command (U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Public Affairs)

Privateers against Somali pirates (SecurityIntelligence)
Several private security firms are trying to re-establish the letter of marque system, which would allow privateers to combat pirates

EU NAVFOR Force Commander welcomes Greek Ship Elli to its anti piracy operation (EU NAVFOR PR)
On 20th April 2010, a week after joining EU NAVFOR’s anti piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, the Greek frigate ELLI was officially welcomed to the task group with a visit from Force Commander Rear Admiral (LH) Jan Thörnqvist. 
Taking the opportunity to visit HS ELLI when his own Command Ship, HSwMS CARLSKRONA, met HS ELLI during tasking in the Gulf of Aden, Force Commander Jan Thörnqvist said the arrival of the Greek Ship was “a most welcome contribution to the EU NAVFOR anti piracy operation” and expressed his delight “that so many of the crew of HS ELLI are experienced in operating in the waters around the Horn of Africa.  HS ELLI is a good reinforcement to our task force.” 
During the visit, Commander Christos Deyannis, Captain of HS ELLI, was able to show his newly refitted ship to the Force Commander.  She is a very capable vessel with a built-in armament of guns, torpedoes and missiles.  She has an Agusta-Bell 212 helicopter and a highly capable Boarding Team.  She also has modern state of the art; radars, sensors, sonar’s and combat data systems. 
HS ELLI joined EU NAVFOR on 14th April 2010 and is planned to stay until August.

Turkey will host next month an international conference on the political situation in Somalia and the fight against piracy , a senior Spanish official said on Tuesday.
The conference will be held in Istanbul in mid-May, said Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Angel Losada.
Losada told a meeting of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs that the idea of an international conference on Somalia was first brought forward last year by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The conference was first scheduled by Spain to be held in Kenya and the reasons for the transfer to Turkey were not immediately disclosed, though insiders cited security reasons.
Losada said the conference in Turkey aims to coordinate the international assistance to the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.
The last such conference in Brussels brought substantial pledges, which mostly did not materialize and extremely little donor financed development inside Somalia has been funded or implemented, which would benefit the population. Buildings for the Ministry of Interior in Puntland or funding for the TFG and its parliament building do not help the extremely impoverished and suffering population.

-------------- no real peace in sight yet --------------

Somali fighters seize three towns (AlJazeera)
Somalia's al-Shabab group, which has vowed to topple the UN-backed government, has seized three towns in the central Galgudud region from the pro-government Ahlu Sunna movement, witnesses said.
Al-Shabab took control of the towns of El Der, Masagaway and Galad towns on Friday reportedly without any resistance from the rival group.
US-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that the group had "brought stability to some areas long plagued by violence", but that the local population was "paying a very steep price".
The three towns lie on the road linking Mogadishu, the capital, and eastern Somalia, which is considered to be al-Shabab's power base.
"We have overrun the militants who tried to stop the efforts to spread Islam in Somalia. With the power of Allah we have taken control of three districts in Galgadud region," Sheik Yusuf  Kabokudukade, a senior al-Shabab official in the region, said.
"We will not stop until we take control of the whole region from the enemy of Allah," he said.
The loss of the three towns will be a blow to Ahlu Sunna and the government, which signed a deal last month to work together against al-Shabab.
'Steep price'
Al-Shabab, which the US says is affiliated to al-Qaeda, controls much of south and central Somalia, as well as large areas of Mogadishu.
It accused the group's fighters of "implacable repression and brutality" in the areas unders its control.
The transitional government has little real control over the country, holding only a few parts of the capital despite assistance from an international peacekeeping force.
On Thursday, the UN special representative to Somalia said that there could be no peace for the Horn of Africa country without national reconciliation.
"Somalia will not experience stability or peace without national reconciliation," he told reporters after a meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia, which includes representatives from the United Nations, the African Union and the Arab League.
"The essential problem in Somalia is instability rooted in the fact that every tribe or faction believes it has a right of veto, despite the existence of a government recognised by the international community and by neighbouring countries."
Amr Mussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, urged Somalia's disparate groups not to reject the peace process, saying that their integration in the process was "without exception an essential condition for its success."
"Without comprehensive reconciliation and support for the legitimate transitional government, reconstruction efforts in Somalia are doomed to fail," he said.

Students stayed home from school and traders closed their shops Thursday after Islamist militants said they would attack a rare political gathering — a meeting of Somalia's parliament.
The militant al-Shabab group even warned teachers nearby not to hold class. Parliament wound up canceling the session for the second time this week. Parliament speaker Sheik Aden Mohamed Nur insisted it was not because of the threats but because the meeting hall "needed loudspeakers and some other adjustments."
The legislature — 550 members hand-picked by their clans — has many more problems than missing audio equipment.
Parliamentarians are fleeing Mogadishu, Somalia's bleak, shattered capital, in droves and resettling in neighboring countries. Militants have killed nine parliamentarians over the last few years for being part of a Western-backed government.
One former parliamentarian has even joined al-Shabab while another quit last month, opting to be jobless. Parliament now has trouble forming a quorum.
"Apart from the title of a parliamentarian, they are nothing," said Said Hassan Shire, the member who resigned. "I regret the useless years I was part of a failed parliament. I curse every day of those years."
Like ordinary Somalis, parliamentarians face insecurity and a low standard of living. They have been arrested in security crackdowns in Kenya and Ethiopia, and some have sought asylum in Europe. They have seen their stipend cut by two-thirds to $600 a month.
"The situation of Somali MPs is deplorable," said Rashid Abdi, a Somali expert at the International Crisis Group. "Their future is bleak and the blame lies with the international community that urged the parliament to increase its number to 550 members and failed to assist. Now the members have run out of options. They are targeted by armed groups in Somalia and by neighboring countries."
A decade ago, Shire gave up his business exporting livestock in hopes he would become part of a functioning government that could restore security to his anarchic country. When the current government signed a power-sharing agreement in 2008 with moderate Islamists, the aim, Shire said, was to reconcile with the remaining opposition groups and restore peace to the country.
"But all those things have failed. So my conscience simply won't allow me to be part of a failed parliament," he said. "Members can't operate freely. They don't have the security to move around, nor the money to survive."
Pay for the parliamentarians is a sore point. Members say the United Nations Development Program for Somalia should be paying them, and that they have not received their full salaries for almost a year. Deputy speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha said the European Union pays parliament's salary through the UNDP. But Marie Dimond, UNDP-Somalia's deputy country director, said the money is a "support measure" for the government.
"Salary payments are first and foremost a government responsibility," she said.
When parliament does meet it passes laws — albeit ones that can be enforced only in the small area the government controls — and approves Cabinet appointments. Members last met in December.
Earlier this week al-Shabab fighters visited a school near where parliament was to meet Thursday and warned teachers not to hold class, said Abdulahi Jamal, a teacher.
"I was too afraid to open my shop this morning," said Ahmed Mo'alin, a shop owner at Mogadishu's Bakara market. "If the parliament session had opened, the insurgents would have attacked, and then the retaliatory fire could have hit us."
It's not clear when the session will be rescheduled.
Dalha said unidentified gunmen have killed nine members of parliament and injured 13 others during the last five years. Many members prefer to live in safer environs in the U.S., Europe, Gulf states and African capitals like Nairobi in Kenya and Kampala, Uganda.
"We parliamentarians are at risk, at grave risk," Dalha said. "We are targeted for being part of the government, and the government has no strong forces to protect us."

Awaited Somali Parliament session rescheduled by Mohammed Omar Hussein (Somaliweyn)
The session of the Somali parliamentarians which was today expected to be held for the first time in twenty years in the Somali national assembly house was adjourned to some other days to come due to some technical hindrances.
“It was in the minds of everybody that today the first Somali parliamentarians’ session will for the first time take place in the former national House after a period of two decades, but unfortunately this has not happened due to some technical errors and we hope that it in the coming few days it will be held in a successful atmosphere” said Yussuf Adan a Somali lawmaker updating Somaliweyn website the reason behind the adjournment of the session of the parliamentarians.
Sheikh Adan Mohammed Noor the speaker of the Somali national assembly addressing the press yesterday inside the House has been showing inconvenience about the session to take place today.
The speaker of the Somali parliament has been showing great concern over the engine which will provide light in the session hall and hailers to reach the parliamentarians at the backbenches, but added that there are enough parliamentarians to fill the seats.
The executive committee of the Somali parliament has several times announced that the session will take place in the former building of the Somali national house, but have all ended up in vain.

Djibouti delegation in Mogadishu to mediate Somalia leaders (garoweonline)
A delegation from the government of Djibouti is in the Somali capital, Mogadishu to find ways of ending the standoff between Somali lawmakers which seems to derail the work of the UN-backed transition government.
Led by Minister for Religious Affairs, Hamud Abdi, the team arrived in Mogadishu on Wednesday and are reported to held meetings with the Somali officials including Prime Minister Omar Abdi Rashid Sharma'arke
On Thursday, the team held talks with Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and speaker Sheikh Adan Madobe, the two protagonists at the centre of heated dispute between various groups of Lawmakers, in Villa Somalia.
Government officials told Garowe Online that the Djiboutian minister is trying to bring together the two feuding leaders to solve the crisis that even the international community failed to solve.
“The Djiboutian delegation met with President Sheikh Sharif and urged him to reopen the parliament so that the lawmakers debate on motions including government accountability,” said a Somali transition government minister.
“The plan of this delegation from Djibouti is to save the (Somali) government from collapse,” said a lawmaker who requested not to be named. The lawmaker added that progress is made so far in bringing together the two leaders.
Speaker Madobe is said to have told the Djiboutian delegation that he is ready step aside if the lawmakers vote him out. Djiboutian president has reportedly spoken with the two Somali leaders through the phone on Thursday.
In the past few days, Somalia’s president held series of meetings with his backers in the parliament in an effort to marshal support for the ouster of Sheikh Madobe from the speakership. He wants the position for his right hand man, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, who is the current Finance Minister.
The international community has voiced strong concerns about the deteriorating state of affairs of the fragile government, which was formed more than a year ago in Djibouti through a power-sharing arrangement.

5 headless bodies found in rebel-held Mogadishu by Mohamed Olad Hassan (AP)
Five headless bodies have been found in a rebel-held area of Somalia's capital, and residents said Wednesday they suspect the Islamist militant group al-Shabab killed the men because they had helped construct the parliament building.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but al-Shabab has beheaded individuals in the past that it accused of spying for the U.S.- and U.N.-backed Somali government.
Hardline militants in Somalia give out harsh punishments such as stonings and amputations to people it accuses of crimes. Militants have also banned movies and modern music, saying that those types of entertainment are un-Islamic.
Islamic insurgents control much of Mogadishu and have been trying to topple the fragile government for three years. Somalia has not had an effective government for 18 years.
Relatives and friends say the men have been missing for the last five days.
"We suspect they were executed by al-Shabab militants because they had in the past received phone threats accusing them of helping to construct the former Somali parliament premise," said a resident who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.
The al-Qaida-linked militants consider any Somali who works for the fragile government or with the African Union as apostates.
"To slaughter a human being as an animal is a flagrant and brutal violation against international law," said Ahmed Mohamed Ali, the head of a Somali human rights group. "Those behind such remorseless and shocking attacks will be brought to justice one day."
Elsewhere, clashes in central Somalia killed 12 people, mostly combatants, residents said.
The fighting pitted al-Shabab rebels against fighters from Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama, a moderate Sufi Muslim group that recently signed a power-sharing peace deal with the government.

Former Chief of Somali NSS faces lawsuit for torture (HiiraanOnline)

Somalia: Off Again, on Again Radio by Mohammed Ibrahim (NYT)
Two radio stations in Somalia were shut down by the transitional government on Tuesday because they had stopped broadcasting music after threats from Islamist insurgents, but the stations were allowed back on the air hours later. The quick turnaround appeared to expose a difference of opinion in the government, which had earlier warned of shutdowns. Security agents had ordered the stations closed Tuesday, but the Information Ministry, citing the freedom of the press, countermanded the orders. Islamic insurgents had demanded the stations stop playing music because they deemed it un-Islamic. The warning about music is part of a broader assault on the influence of Western culture and ideology that the Islamists fighting the government hope to purge from the country.

SOMALIA: Journalists under fire (IRIN)
There are few countries in the world more dangerous to be a journalist than Somalia, where nine were killed in 2009, and 22 since 2005.
Only Iraq ranks higher on the Committee to Protect Journalists' Impunity Index a list of countries where murders of media professionals are frequent and are not investigated.
Faced with constant threats and intimidation, many Somali journalists have fled into exile; those that remain live in constant fear of attack. There is a widespread concern the country's relatively new free press could soon vanish altogether.
Independent media only emerged in Somalia after President Siyad Barre's government collapsed amid civil war in 1991, putting an end to state control of news.
"In the beginning it was if we have been liberated: you could write and say what you wanted without worrying about the government arresting you," said Mohamed Abdulkadir, a veteran journalist who launched a newspaper when Barre fell.
Abdulkadir said journalists were not targeted in the early years of the civil war. "No one threatened or harassed us. But now things have changed."
"The worst abuses began in 2006," he said, explaining this was the year Islamists in the form of the Union of Islamic Courts seized power in Mogadishu, prompting Ethiopia to send in troops to back the ousted transitional government.
Daud Abdi Daud, who heads an organization that fights for the rights of journalists and is currently based in Nairobi, said: "Since 2005, 22 journalists and people from the media have been killed in Somalia; in 2009 alone nine journalists were killed."
He said more than 150 Somali journalists were currently in exile. "Those left in Mogadishu are in hiding."
Omar Faruk Osman, a journalist based in Mogadishu, has been arrested, intimidated and harassed more times than he cares to remember - for doing his job.
Osman, the secretary-general of the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUJOS), and the president of the Federation of African Journalists (FAJ), told IRIN: "I have been arrested in Belet-Weyn, Jowhar, and three times in Mogadishu. Being arrested has almost become part of a reporter's life in Somalia but now we are being killed because of our profession."
He said this was the reason why many others were in exile. "They did not choose to be in exile; they have been forced into it."
Media outlets closed
As fear of an all out war between the internationally-backed troops of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Islamist insurgents grows, so does the pressure on journalists to take sides.
On 3 April, Hizbul-Islam, one of the most prominent insurgent groups, ordered Mogadishu radio stations to stop playing music . Many complied. The TFG reacted by ordering the four stations based in the area it controls to stop broadcasting altogether.
Although it quickly rescinded the move, journalists were left feeling squeezed.
"We are getting it from both sides. All sides want to use the media as their mouthpiece." said Faruk.
The insurgents' attitude is: "You are either with us or against us. But we are with the people and our job is to report what is happening not what one side wants," he said.
Osman said important gains made during the past 20 years by the private and independent and free media "is on the verge of being lost" as Islamists have closed down most media outlets in the southern areas they control.
The Mogadishu media is under assault from all sides, he added, calling on the international community to show support and solidarity with the media. "Up to now all we have seen is lip service."
He said it is to the credit of a few brave journalists still in the city that the media is still operating. "The real heroes are those still in Mogadishu under the gun, but working."
Danger
Ali Sheikh Yassin, deputy chairman of the Mogadishu-based Elman Human Rights Organization (EHRO), told IRIN that journalists were in even "more danger now than at any time in the past".
"In the past they used to be warned but now they are just killed," Yassin said.
"Unfortunately, many of the radio stations will not be able to operate. The current environment is very dangerous. There is a real possibility that private, independent media will cease to exist," said Yassin.
"There will be no one to report the daily atrocities and the humanitarian crisis their [insurgents'] activities create," he added, noting that parties to the conflict would welcome the added impunity.
"Without the independent media and the brave journalists, no one would know about the suffering of the Somali people and what is really happening to them."

Somalia war 'not jihad,' concludes Islamic conference in Puntland (groweonline)
A week-long Islamic conference that was held at Masjid Al-Huda in Garowe, the administrative capital of Somalia's stable northern state of Puntland, ended on Wednesday evening with a substantive outcome and a public appeal from the well-respected Somali Islamic scholars in attendance.
The Muslim scholars, from all corners of Somalia including breakaway region of Somaliland, gathered to discuss the history of Islam in Somalia and the methods of Da'wah, or the peaceful preaching of Islam across the population.
Among the top names in the conference include Sheikh Ali Warsame Hassan, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, Sheikh Abdullahi  Dahir Jama, Sheikh Abdinasir Haji Ahmed, Sheikh Mahammed Idiris Ahmed, Sheikh Abdiqadir Nur Farah, Sheikh Yussuf Adan, Sheikh Ahmed Haji Abdirahman
Representatives from the Government of Puntland, including Cabinet ministers and members from Nugal provincial and district authorities, attended the closing ceremony of the conference.
Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, who is currently on an official foreign trip, addressed the conference by speaking over the phone.
After the ceremony, the Islamic scholars jointly issued a 12 point communiqué that highlights the current scenarios facing Somalia, and condemning many un-Islamic practices used to fuel the escalating conflict and also warning the people.
They called on the Muslims to strictly follow the Islamic way of life and adhere to the ways in which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used in reaching out to the population.
Authorities in Somalia were urged to implement the Islamic Shari'ah Law in the areas they control.
The Islamic clerics warned of legitimizing shedding Muslim blood in the "disguise of fighting for Islam" and also tagging a Muslim person as an infidel without taking the due process.
"Somalis are Muslims and they need to be calmly corrected in terms of their faith, culture and behavior. So, it is not acceptable for these groups fighting in Somalia to judge each other and other people as apostate," reads the communiqué issued at the conclusion of the Islamic conference in Garowe.
The clerics also agreed that the war that is going on in Somalia is an "incitement"
rather than a holy war (jihad), as claimed by the Islamist insurgent factions like Al Shabaab.
Acts of piracy along the Somalia's coastline was also condemned in the communiqué, terming it "dangerous and shameful to Islam" and also degrading the people's way of life.
The Somali Islamic scholars proposed a large reconciliation conference to be held inside Somalia, which would bring together all the Islamic scholars to discuss the way forward in the bid to find a lasting solution for the swelling problems that face Somalia at the moment.
While in Puntland, the scholars held discussions with different people, including students, women's groups and the business community to enlighten society about Islam and related religious issues.
This annual conference comes at an appropriate time in Somalia' s turbulent history, as armed factions waging war in the name of Islam have created divisions among Muslims, both in Somalia and around the world, and have attracted foreign fighters to wage war inside Somalia.
Somalia's Western-backed interim government is headed by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who is a former chairman of the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled Mogadishu and other regions in 2006 until being thrown by Ethiopian troops, which sparked today's insurgency.
The main insurgent groups fighting the government include Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, both which are splinter factions of the ICU from 2006.
Both groups claim they want to impose Shari'ah law throughout Somalia and to overthrow the current interim government in Mogadishu, which enjoys the backing of AU peacekeeping troops. They accuse the government's top leaders of being "puppets" of the West.
Somali insurgent groups have often dismissed the declarations of the country's most respected Islamic scholars, who were in attendance at the Garowe Islamic conference.
Its not clear what impact the conference's message will have on the ongoing insurgency, but observers say the conference's message has reached the public and is a counter-weight against the radical message of Islamist insurgents .

Islamic conference in Puntland discusses history, Daw'ah in Somalia (garoweonline)
A week-long Islamic conference currently underway at Al-Huda Masjid in Garowe, the administrative capital of Somalia's stable norther state of Puntland, has featured a number of respected scholars and a deeply felt message.
The conference brings together famous Somali Islamic scholars, led by Sheikh Ali Warsame and Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah, from different regions of Somalia including breakaway Somaliland.
The Muslim scholars have gathered to discuss the history of Islam in Somalia and the methods of Da'wah, or the preaching of Islam and the invitation of non-Muslims to the Muslim faith through Islamic knowledge and sharing the message Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought to mankind and Jinn from Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
" The aim of this conference is to benefit, bless and bring the people together so that they can better understand the religion [of Islam]," said Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah, who is often referred to as the Grand Mufti of Puntland.
" This will have a huge impact on the people's life because they will interact and ask Sheikhs questions," Sheikh Abdulkadir added, while elaborating the theme of the conference.
While understanding Islam and the methods of Da'wah is the conference's underlying theme, the scholars said Islam's rich and Divine history would be highlighted in a bid to clarify many perceptions.
For centuries, Islam has been the most widely practiced religion in the Horn of Africa sub-region, including Somalia. Islam entered the war-torn country within first ten centuries of the Gregorian calendar by Arab traders and preachers.
Somalia stands out clear as the only country in the world that is 100% Muslim, the scholars said.
Up until the 1960s, the majority of Somalis practiced the Sufi sect of Sunni Islam that had garnered much wider respect amongst Somalia's nomadic clans.
However, this began to gradually change since the 1970s, after the introduction of Salafi sect of Sunni Islam in Somalia by Somali students, who graduated from Islamic universities in Saudi Arabia.
This gradual transformation of Somalis from a level of limited Islamic knowledge in the past to a sophisticated comprehension of Islam today, through learned knowledge and practice from Islamic universities in the Middle East and Africa, laid the foundation for today, where Somalia is torn apart by forces pulling either secular law or Shari'ah law.
This struggle, which remains at the epicenter of today's global politics, plays out in the violent sense in Somalia on a daily basis, as the opposing forces, composed of Somalis with foreign backers on each side, fight to the death to impose its own law.
Historically, i n the late 1980s, political Islam gained its early footholds in Somalia with the injection of Salafi ideology and agenda, which the scholars argued  has led to the creation of Islamist political factions, such as the Al-Itihad Al-Islamiya ("Islamic Union") faction.
In the late 1980s, political Islam gained its early footholds in Somalia with the injection of Salafi ideology and agenda, which the scholars argued  has led to the creation of Islamist political factions, such as the Al-Itihad Al-Islamiya ("Islamic Union") faction.
In mid-2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) dramatically changed the balance of power in Somalia when they seized the national capital Mogadishu from CIA-backed warlords.
Today, Al Shabaab, the military wing of the then-ICU, is waging an insurgency to overthrow the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and to install an Islamic state governed by Shari'ah law.
The scholars suggested that the Islamist insurgent groups, namely Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, are propelled by Salafi ideology to promote literal translation of Islamic literature and to create an Islamic state by overthrowing any government that does not apply Shari'ah law in a Muslim country.
Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad, the chairman of the Mogadishu-based Somali clerics umbrella, said the conference comes at an appropriate time for the people to understand the religion better and to avoid mistakes that continue to disintegrate the society and fuel conflicts.
He said clerics still play a crucial role in disseminating comprehensive religious teachings that would allow the current society to cope with changing situations at home and around the world.
The Islamic conference in Garowe is part of a series of events that took the Somali Muslims scholars to different parts of Somalia.
While in Puntland, the scholars will hold discussions with different people, including students, women's groups and the business community to enlighten society about Islam and related religious issues.
The conference is being aired by all major radio stations across Somalia. Somali websites are also linking the conference to the large Somali Diaspora living around the world.
This unique Islamic conference comes at an important moment in Somalia's turbulent history, as armed factions waging war in the name of Islam have created divisions among Muslims, both in Somalia and around the world, as the Muslim world faces military occupations, cultural imperialism and self-destruction.
Many Somalis hope that the Islamic conference underway in Puntland, Somalia, can contribute positively to the debate over Islam and its role in politics and society.

------------  reports, news and views from the global village with an impact on Somalia -------------------

Somali Hip-Hops artists with No to Al-Shabab New Album
Somali hip-hop artists hit back at Al-Shabab by Biniam N.
For Century, Somalis used poetry and songs to send messages to powerful rulers in there country. Now Somali rappers in Kenya are using the same method to speak out against al-Shabab who they said are using the religion to wage war in there country.
The 11 Members called Waayaha Cusub are currently in exile in the neighboring country Kenya uses its lyrics to encourage fellow Somalis to stand up to the al-Shabab Group.
In Nairobi, The Village where many Somalis live, the group distributed about 7,000 free copies of there newly released album titled “No to Al-Shabab”.
Founder of the Band Mr. Abdulahi says the Album shows what the Al-Shabab is doing against there own peoples.
Al-Shabab is now in control of the Western part of Mogadishu and much of the country side. The rebels are joined by foreign militants and they are using the country as a heaven to plot attack in the region and beyond.
Recently, the insurgents already banned Music in the areas that they control and allow only the Quran recitation to be heard in the Radio and other Medias. See VIDEO

Somalia: Day of big joy as Kenya falls to Somalia
Kenya: Day of big shame as Kenya fall to Somalia by Francis Mureithi & Abdulrahman Sherif (DailyNation)

New dispute surfaces between President, Finance Minister (garoweonline)
Somalia's interim government is embroiled in a bitter struggle for survival as upwards of 300 MPs seek to elect a new parliament Speaker. But a new dispute brewing between President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and Finance Minister Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden is worsening an already volatile situation, Radio Garowe reports.
Inside sources tell Somali news agency Garowe Online that Finance Minister Sharif Hassan has been secretly encouraging Somali MPs to pressure the resignation of parliament Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed "Madobe," who has been in power since Feb. 2007.
The sources add that the Finance Minister opposes parliamentary oversight and accountability regarding the management of government funds. Some MPs have already accused the Finance Minister of financial mismanagement, saying that the salary of lawmakers, troops, and civil servants is "missing."
African Union troops (AMISOM), who guard the Villa Somalia presidential compound in Mogadishu, were instructed to "forbid Cabinet ministers from entering the President’s office," according to reliable sources that chose not to be named in print for security reasons.
Accordingly, Cabinet ministers were instructed to hold their meetings at the office of Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake, according to AMISOM sources quoting Finance Minister Sharif Hassan.
Somali Information Minister Dahir Ghelle, who is a close friend of President Sheikh Sharif, was reportedly denied entry into the president's office by AMISOM peacekeepers.
When the President found out, AMISOM commanders informed him that the order to forbid Cabinet ministers came from the Finance Minister.
President Sheikh Sharif was "reminded" by the AMISOM commanders his previous statement declaring that AMISOM troops "should obey" the orders of the Finance Minister, who has been a close ally of the President until now.
The international community has expressed worry regarding the parliamentary dispute, where some 300 MPs led by some of Mogadishu's notorious ex-warlords, MP Mohamed Qanyare and MP Muse Sudi Yalahow, have called for a new Speaker's election.
Government delegations from Ethiopia and Djibouti have arrived in Mogadishu to mediate among Somalia's top government leaders.
Its not clear what happens next, but Finance Minister Sharif Hassan is playing a leading role in dividing the Somali transitional federal parliament in order to avoid financial accountability, which he fears will expose widespread corruption at the Ministry of Finance.
Somalia's current interim government is the 15th attempt by the international community to restore national order since the collapse of the central government in 1991.
Islamist insurgents have vowed to overthrow the government, which they accuse of being a puppet of the West. The Islamists want to create a new Islamic government for Somalia and impose their own version of Shari'ah law.
Upwards of 21,000 people have been killed since the insurgency began in early 2007.

UN-backed group supports Somali Government’s peace overtures to rivals (UN)
A United Nations-backed group supporting peace and reconciliation in Somalia today welcomed efforts by the country’s transitional Government to reach out to opposition groups willing to join the peace process.
The International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG) said in a communiqué issued in Cairo that it was particularly encouraged by the signing on 15 March of an agreement between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ahlu Sunna wal Jama, an opposition faction previously opposed to the transitional authority.
“The ICG recognises this agreement as a possible blue print for future cooperation with other groups and calls for the TFG to intensify its outreach efforts to those committed to peace and stability,” the communiqué noted after the Group’s latest meeting, held under the chairmanship of the UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah.
The ICG stressed that all Somali Transitional Federal Institutions (TFIs) must be protected and supported and should not be politicised or undermined by activities from within. It called on all elements of the TFIs to end divisions and demonstrate their unity to restore peace and provide support to the population.
The communiqué noted the support of Japan and the European Union (EU) for the reorganization of Somalia’s police force, as well as the launch of a training mission for the security forces by the EU, Uganda and the United States.
It also voiced support for the efforts of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), thanked Uganda and Burundi for continuing to contribute troops and urged other African Union member to provide soldiers to the mission.
The ICG strongly condemned the violent actions of extremists which have led to continued suffering among the civilian population. In addition it condemned attacks on human rights workers, judges, journalists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and called for the respect of human rights by all parties.
The Group denounced continuing acts of piracy off the Somali coast and called for further international cooperation to deter and combat the crime, and to establish job generation projects so that young people do not have to resort to piracy to earn a living.

Tanzania to repatriate 57 illegal Somali migrants (Pana)

A group of 57 Somali nationals who entered Tanzania illegally last month are to be repatriated after paying fines for the offence, it was officially anno unced here Thursday.
Tanzania's Immigration Department was making arrangements for their transporta tion from the southern Iringa Region, where they were arrested and charged in court for entering the country without proper travel documents.
According to police and immigration sources, the Somalis were arrested together with another group of 19 Ethiopians at Tanangozi village while heading to the Malawi border. The Somali group included six children who were not fined by the court.
Iringa regional immigration officer Ally Suleiman said the accused were ordered to pay a fine of 30,000 Tanzanian shillings (approximately US$30) each or serve a three-year jail term in lieu.
Since they had already spent a month in custody, the fines were commuted to Tsh. 24,600 per person and all obliged accordingly.
Suleiman said the Ethiopians failed to pay the fine and were serving their sentence in jail.

Dangerous divisions in Sudan (IRIN)
This month's chaotic elections have widened divisions within the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement (SPLM), according to analysts, who warn of risks to a referendum on southern secession, to future relations between two potentially independent states, and to the very stability of Sudan as a whole.
The January 2011 referendum, which will give southerners the opportunity to form a new independent country, is one of the most important provisions of a 2005 accord (CPA) that ended decades of war between Khartoum and the southern-based SPLM insurgents. The peace deal has entered its final stage, but its southern co-signers could be entering a critical final chapter as well, with wide-ranging implications.
"Southerners have reason to celebrate being able to vote, but the rancour and divisions within the SPLM are growing just as it needs to pull together," warned the latest Small Arms Survey report. [http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/pdfs/HSBA-SWP-20-Armed-Violence-Southern-Sudan.pdf]
"If half the resources and energy - both Sudanese and international - had gone into reconciliation activities as have been devoted to "democratization", Sudan's future might seem more promising," the report from the Geneva-based research group said.
"I think this process has had serious implications for the SPLM at a moment when it really can't afford to be divided," said Maggie Fick, a Juba-based Southern Sudan researcher for the Enough project, a US advocacy group critical of Khartoum.
North-South split
The most visible of the fault lines running through the SPLM, and perhaps most relevant to the future of all Sudanese, lies between its northern and southern wings, or "sectors". For years, the two have pursued different, but supposedly complementary goals: the northern sector has worked to unite opposition forces against the Khartoum government to forge a so-called "New Sudan".
The southern sector has been more involved in achieving varying degrees of self-determination for the south, for Abyei (an oil-rich county which straddles the north-south border), and for the states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, which although lying on the northern side of the border, fall under the aegis of the SPLM's southern sector.
The two sectors have co-existed since the late SPLM leader John Garang established them in 2005. But as the New Sudan focus dimmed following Garang's death that same year - and as the prospects of southern secession grew sharper - the party's twin movements appeared increasingly disjointed.
During the lead-up to the elections - critically important for the northern sector, but seen by some in the south as little more than a bump on the road to the referendum - strong disagreements between the two camps broke into the open.
"This is an ideological difference in the first place," said one SPLM member in Khartoum. "Some people in the southern sector do not think beyond the borders of Southern Sudan."
Amid growing complaints that the co-governing National Congress Party (NCP) had rigged the elections in advance, SPLM Secretary-General Pagan Amum, seen as sympathetic to the northern sector, promised in late March that the SPLM would join other opposition parties should they announce a total boycott of all the polls in the north - presidential, legislative and gubernatorial.
But after a meeting chaired by Salva Kiir, the president of Southern Sudan's autonomous government, the SPLM announced it would only pull out of the national presidential race and from polls in Darfur. Buoyed by protests from SPLM gubernatorial candidates in the north, Amum then later declared that the northern sector was pulling out of the elections altogether. Kiir refused to endorse this move.
"There were strong voices around [Kiir] that thought good relations with [President] Bashir would be good for the referendum," says Samuel Okomi, director of the South Sudan Youth Participation Agency, a civil society NGO. "The northern sector is feeling that they are just being used and will be dumped later on."
For his part, Yasser Arman, head of the party's northern sector and, until his withdrawal, its presidential nominee, played down talk of an election-related split between him and Kiir. "We go way back, and we have a very strong relationship," Arman told reporters.
But to Fouad Hikmat, Sudan analyst for the International Crisis Group, a full-on split looks imminent. "The SPLM northern sector will separate from the south," he said. "They know the south is heading for secession."
"This is very dangerous for Sudan's stability," said Hikmat, who thinks a new rebellion could arise from the ashes of the SPLM's northern wing and that it would be joined by SPLM elements in Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan. Many in these states are disgruntled at having been fobbed off - as part of the CPA negotiations - with a vague "popular consultation" instead of also being given the option to secede in a proper referendum.
"Self-determination calls will rise in the rest of Sudan if the south secedes and a new northern movement is created with an alliance of armed groups in the Blue Nile, Southern Kordofan, Darfur and eastern Sudan," he said.
Fick fears the implications of an SPLM split for the south, where she said any national divisions could weaken the party's bargaining position.
A range of contentious issues relating to the CPA and the referendum are up for discussion between the SPLM and CPA over the coming months. Some, such as the demarcation of the north-south border, need to be resolved before the referendum can take place. Others relate to how a future independent south and Khartoum would work together. These include how they would share their oil revenue and other resources, their international debts and their infrastructure.
"This is a time when unity within the SPLM is totally essential if they are going to succeed in negotiations with NCP," Fick said.
Up for discussion are a range of thorny issues.
Other divisions
Also up for grabs is political space within the south itself. "If elections and the referendum are conducted as planned, there will be a new political dispensation in the South, and anything could happen," said a December 2009 report from the International Crisis Group.
Tensions between the SPLM and former party members who ran as "independent" candidates for state governorships - powerful positions that control access to often lucrative resources - threaten to boil over. Allegations of vote rigging have already arisen in four different states - Unity, Northern Bahr al-Ghazel, Western Equatoria, and Central Equatoria - where strong challengers are contesting against the SPLM nominees, and in some cases victory has already been declared well ahead of any official compilation of results.
Some fear such electoral bickering could quickly degenerate into something far more serious. The South has a long history of inter-ethnic conflict, with many groups used as proxy forces by Khartoum during the war. Many of these militias, still controlled by powerful political figures, were never properly demobilized or fully re-integrated into the official standing armies. "Among the Khartoum-backed militia members who subsequently declared allegiance to the SPLA [Sudan Peoples' Liberation Army], long-standing grievances against the Southern army and the GoSS [Government of Southern Sudan] remain," said the Small Arms Survey.
Quite apart from southern electoral politics, and allegations of the north and southern factions deliberately destabilising areas for political ends, relations between and within the varied communities and regions in Southern Sudan are often strained by competition for natural resources such as water, grazing and land; as well as by cattle-raiding, local power rivalries, disputes over marriages and vendettas.
In 2009, inter-ethnic clashes claimed more than 2,500 lives in Southern Sudan and displaced almost 400,000 people. At least 400 have died so far in 2009, displacing some 60,000, according to the UN.
The Small Arms Survey report warned that "anger at what is seen as an exploitative, corrupt, unrepresentative, and ill-performing Juba government is widespread and growing."
"The SPLM needs to put a lid on the instability, or else the NCP could use it as an excuse to try to postpone the referendum, and if that happened, the SPLM has threatened to unilaterally declare independence," warned Claire Mc Evoy, manager of the Survey's Sudan project and co-author of the report.
"That could easily lead to another armed conflict between north and south," she added.

The first U.S.–African Union High Level Bilateral Meetings opened at the United States Department of State April 21 with the goal of broadening the U.S.–African Union (AU) relationship and deepening the level of engagement between both parties.

Has Obama Gone Kill Crazy With His Predator Drones? by Takahiro Sasaki (Countercurrents.org)
Today we are engaged in a deadly global struggle for those who would intimidate, torture, and murder people for exercising the most basic freedoms. If we are to win this struggle and spread those freedoms, we must keep our own moral compass pointed in a true direction. - - Barack Obama
It’s become a rarity in the last year to find intelligent and well-informed citizens whom still deem Barack Obama a saintly man. I will personally admit that I was duped by the media into believing that Obama was different from his predecessor and truly sought alternative methods of bringing about peace. It didn’t take long for me to experience a feeling of disillusionment when familiar images and headlines of pandemonium in the Middle East came pouring through the circuits of my television. It became so blatantly obvious that our Nobel winner was only perpetuating the 21st century’s first holocaust. I think what awoke this naïve nation the most is Obama’s current unbridled use of lethal technology upon the dispossessed Middle Eastern population.
Try to visualize for a moment a world where your children have to live in constant fear of being annihilated by unmanned aerial vehicles that patrol the skies day and night. Well that world you just imagined exists right here on planet Earth in a country known to us as Pakistan.
According to the New American Foundation, a Washington, D.C. think tank, civilian casualties are estimated at 1 in 3. It doesn’t stop there; Pakistani authorities assert that of the 44 Predator drone attacks in 2009 only five targets were correctly identified. The outcome of this clumsy robotic marksmanship was 700 civilian causalities. That’s why it must come as no surprise that the Air Force will be steadily increasing the fleet of drones in the Middle East through 2013. At least General Atomics must be delighted. Pakastan is not the only country that has been bombarded by drone warfare. These aerial vehicles are spreading like a plague across the globe, infecting countries such as Somali, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen and most likely others. The drone problem has become so repulsive that a respected Guardian journalist referred to the “Obama Doctrine” as the “Kill Doctrine,” alluding to his use of drone warfare.
Some may argue that Obama is nothing more than a powerless pawn that gives eloquent speeches to calm a confused nation. Even if this may be true the word Obama was originally meant to symbolize hope, freedom, peace, and change. The creators of this word intended only positive attributes to be associated with Obama in order to unite an American population toward common goals. They certainly did not want it to be marred by evil and torture as became of the word Bush. Unfortunately these spreading Predator assaults are only tarnishing a word that corporations pumped billions into. Today we see no visible end in these cowardly assaults on humanity. So just take a minute to ask yourself, what does the word Obama mean to me?
Takahiro Sasaki is involved in international politics and writing has always been a hobby of his. He has two beautiful daughters and currently lives in Japan with his family. Takahiro writes occasionally for www.ithp.org but has requested that his work be spread far and wide.

Is the accidental killing of civilians by US forces, in places like Somalia,
an unavoidable part of the war on terrorism? by Charles Ray (HELIUM)
In modern warfare, which is increasingly fought in areas of civilian habitation, civilian casualties are an unfortunate, though often unavoidable, consequence. This is a particularly acute problem in the war against terrorists who frequently use noncombatants and civilian facilities as shields against US forces, as the Taliban do in Afghanistan.

Two Soldiers Apologize for Army Helicopter Gunning Down Iraqi Civilians by Robert Weller (allvoices)
A video tape taken by helicopters involved in attack that killed at least 12 civilians, including two Reuters employees, and wounded two children, have apologized to the Iraqi people.
Here is the letter from Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army, and Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army. Both were on the ground nearby and were immediately ordered to the scene.
They commented after Wikileaks posted the video of the July 2007 Baghdad shootings online. They Army admitted the tape was authentic, but said the soldiers had done nothing wrong.
AN OPEN LETTER OF RECONCILIATION & RESPONSIBILITY TO THE IRAQI PEOPLE
>From Current and Former Members of the U.S. Military
Peace be with you.
To all of those who were injured or lost loved ones during the July 2007 Baghdad shootings depicted in the “Collateral Murder” Wikileaks video:
We write to you, your family, and your community with awareness that our words and actions can never restore your losses.
We are both soldiers who occupied your neighborhood for 14 months. Ethan McCord pulled your daughter and son from the van, and when doing so, saw the faces of his own children back home. Josh Stieber was in the same company but was not there that day, though he contributed to the your pain, and the pain of your community on many other occasions.
There is no bringing back all that was lost. What we seek is to learn from our mistakes and do everything we can to tell others of our experiences and how the people of the United States need to realize we have done and are doing to you and the people of your country. We humbly ask you what we can do to begin to repair the damage we caused.
We have been speaking to whoever will listen, telling them that what was shown in the Wikileaks video only begins to depict the suffering we have created. From our own experiences, and the experiences of other veterans we have talked to, we know that the acts depicted in this video are everyday occurrences of this war: this is the nature of how U.S.-led wars are carried out in this region.
We acknowledge our part in the deaths and injuries of your loved ones as we tell Americans what we were trained to do and what we carried out in the name of "god and country". The soldier in the video said that your husband shouldn't have brought your children to battle, but we are acknowledging our responsibility for bringing the battle to your neighborhood, and to your family. We did unto you what we would not want done to us.
More and more Americans are taking responsibility for what was done in our name. Though we have acted with cold hearts far too many times, we have not forgotten our actions towards you. Our heavy hearts still hold hope that we can restore inside our country the acknowledgment of your humanity, that we were taught to deny.
Our government may ignore you, concerned more with its public image. It has also ignored many veterans who have returned physically injured or mentally troubled by what they saw and did in your country. But the time is long overdue that we say that the value of our nation's leaders no longer represent us. Our secretary of defense may say the U.S. won't lose its reputation over this, but we stand and say that our reputation's importance pales in comparison to our common humanity.
We have asked our fellow veterans and service-members, as well as civilians both in the United States and abroad, to sign in support of this letter, and to offer their names as a testimony to our common humanity, to distance ourselves from the destructive policies of our nation's leaders, and to extend our hands to you.
With such pain, friendship might be too much to ask. Please accept our apology, our sorrow, our care, and our dedication to change from the inside out. We are doing what we can to speak out against the wars and military policies responsible for what happened to you and your loved ones. Our hearts are open to hearing how we can take any steps to support you through the pain that we have caused.
Solemnly and Sincerely,
Josh Stieber, former specialist, U.S. Army, 1st Division
Ethan McCord, former specialist, U.S. Army, 1st Division

British Smokescreen for the Media and Public
Clegg: Britain's special relationship with US is over and it's embarrassing hearing our politicians talk about it by Daily Mail Reporter
The 'special relationship' between Britain and the United States is over and politicians in Westminster need to realise it, Nick Clegg said today.
The Liberal Democrat leader said Barack Obama's administration 'understood the world had changed' and the UK's leaders needed to end their 'slavish' devotion to Washington.
His comments come just two days before he is due to join Gordon Brown and David Cameron to discuss foreign affairs in the second of the three TV debates.

In a speech to the Foreign Press Association in London, Mr Clegg said it was time to challenge the 'conventional wisdom' that had lasted since the Suez crisis about the UK's relationship with the US.
He added another reason why 'this fundamental linchpin of the UK-US relationship' needed to change was because 'that's what the Americans themselves say'.
Mr Clegg said: 'I think it's sometimes rather embarrassing the way Conservative and Labour politicians talk in this kind of slavish way about the special relationship.
'If you speak to hard-nosed folk in Washington they think 'it's a good relationship but it's not the special relationship'.'
The US believed it was 'not the relationship around which we would organise our world view'.
Mr Clegg said: 'If they are moving on, why on earth don't we? If President Obama and his team have understood the world has changed, why don't Conservative and Labour politicians understand that has happened as well?
'That is why I will continue to ask ... difficult questions about foreign policy assumptions the other parties don't want to question at all.'
Mr Clegg also warned against 'sabre rattling' over Iran's nuclear ambitions and repeated his pledge to offer a referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Union when the issue next arose.
The Lib Dems have ruled out replacing Trident with a like-for-like system and Mr Clegg said the UK should consider 'not having a continuous at sea deterrent'.
On a campaign visit to Wiltshire earlier today Mr Clegg admitted to feeling nervous about the debate, which follows his opinion poll-topping performance last week.
He said: 'I think I would have to be made of stone not to be a bit nervous and a bit apprehensive.
'But I'm also looking forward to it. I really enjoyed the last debate.'

I Won't Vote for You If You Vote to Escalate War by David Swanson (Afterdowningstreet.org)
Congress is about to consider whether to vote for another $33 billion, not to continue but purely to escalate the level of war in Afghanistan by sending more troops and contractors. A No vote needs to be rewarded, and a Yes vote punished. So I am committing to vote for the reelection of any incumbent who votes No and against any who votes Yes. Here's a whip list: http://defundwar.org
The peace movement shrank dramatically when a Democrat was elected president and the wars became "good wars." But it's been crawling its way back. After a small but impressive campaign against the June 2009 war supplemental, one would have expected a larger campaign against this spring's escalation supplemental. After all, the war in Afghanistan has worsened as a result of last year's escalation, the "this is the last supplemental" excuse looks even dumber the second time, the shine has worn off the new president in Washington, and a No vote just leaves the war at its current level (no "abandoning the troops" scares possible).
Instead, the peace movement's message is muddled, with some organizations -- in a time worn tradition of self-destruction -- promoting an amendment to the supplemental that would ask the president to please create a plan to leave by any future date whatsoever, but not hold him to it if he changes his mind. Of course any gesture in the direction of ending a war would be helpful on its own, but as an amendment -- even assuming it does not pass -- it will give spineless congress members an excuse to vote Yes for the money ("But I voted for the timetable!"), just as it has already given organizers an excuse to neglect the campaign against the funding.
Iraq is offered as an example of a war that was ended by rhetoric rather than the power of the purse. The main flaw in this argument, of course, is that the occupation of Iraq has not ended and appears unlikely to. Needless to say, there is good work to do on media, education, counter-recruitment, international solidarity, etc., etc. But cutting off the money is an approach worthy of not being eternally undermined. And, while all variety of tactics are to the good, when the weaker ones don't damage the stronger ones, there are a couple of major reasons to focus on defunding as a critical tool, among others, for ending wars.
First, the power of the purse is also the power of our representatives in the House of Representatives, and if they abandon their control over wars to presidents, then wars may never end. An amendment dripping in deference to royalty, allowing a president to decide when to end a war, and whether to change his mind -- as if he weren't free to do all that prior to passing the amendment -- may do more harm than good even if it doesn't help fund an escalation.
Second, the power of the purse has been used to good effect in the past, when Congress was less deferential and, not coincidentally, governance was better in many ways. Here are some examples from Senator Russ Feingold :
"On numerous occasions, Congress has exercised its constitutional authority to end military engagements. Here are just a few examples:
"Cambodia – In late December 1970, Congress passes the Supplemental Foreign Assistance Appropriations Act prohibiting the use of funds to finance the introduction of United States ground combat troops into Cambodia or to provide U.S. advisors to or for Cambodian military forces in Cambodia.
"Vietnam – In late June 1973, Congress passes the second Supplemental Appropriations Act for FY1973. This legislation contains language cutting off funds for combat activities in Vietnam after August 15, 1973.
"Somalia – In November 1993, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act includes a provision that prohibits funding after March 31, 1994 for military operations in Somalia, except for a limited number of military personnel to protect American diplomatic personnel and American citizens, unless further authorized by Congress.
"Bosnia – In 1998, Congress passes the Defense Authorization Bill, with a provision that prohibits funding for Bosnia after June 30, 1998, unless the President makes certain assurances."
There have been some good discussions of this topic on peace activist list serves, and Ralph Lopez gave me permission to quote this excellent contribution, showing that not only were funds cut off for the Vietnam War, but numerous attempts were made to do so, making the ending of funding a prominent part of the discussion. Lopez writes:
"It is true that previous attempts at stopping wars involved repeated and numerous attempts by Congress. What stands out is that almost all of these attempts involved cutting-off funding. Vietnam was not stopped overnight. It took many tries and a building of public pressure to make it happen. All true. But let's have a look at the history of those heroic attempts:
"1970 H.R. 17123 ('McGovern -Hatfield')
Prohibited the obligation or expenditures of funds 'authorized by this or any other act' to 'maintain a troop level of more than 280,000 armed forces' in Vietnam after April 30, 1971 unless the president finds that up to a 60-day extension is needed in case of a clear and present danger to U.S. troops. Between April 30 and December 31,l971, limited expenditure of funds to 'safe and systematic withdrawal of remaining armed forces'
"1970 H.R. 19911 ('Cooper-Church', Enacted)
Prohibited using any funds authorized or appropriated in this or any other act to finance the introduction of ground troops or U.S. advisors in Cambodia.
"1971 H.R. 9910 ('Cooper-Church')
Stated that the repeal of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution had left the U.S. government without congressional authority for continued participation in the Indochina war. Required that on or after enactment of this act, funds authorized in this or any other Act can be used only to withdraw U.S. forces from Indochina and may not be used to engage in hostilities in North or South Vietnam, Cambodia or Laos except to protect withdrawing forces.
"1971 H.R. 6531 ('Chiles')
Prohibited expenditure of any funds authorized or appropriated under this or any other act after June 1, 1972 to deploy or maintain U.S. armed forces or conduct military operations 'in or over Indochina' except to protect U.S. forces during withdrawal, or provide protection for endangered S. Vietnamese, Cambodians, or Laotians.
"1971 H.R. 6531 ('Cook')
Prohibited expenditure of funds authorized or appropriated in this or any other law nine months after enactment to support U.S. troops or conduct U.S. military operations 'in or over' South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, or North Vietnam, subject to a commitment from the N. Vietnamese gov't to release U.S. prisoners of war.
"1971 H.R. 8687 {'Nedzi-Whalen')
Prohibited expenditure of any funds authorized or appropriated in this Act after December 31, 1971 to deploy U.S. military personnel or conduct military operations in or over South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos; if the President determines that U.S. military personnel cannot be withdrawn safely.
"1971 H.R. 8687 ('Gravel')
Prohibited expenditure of any funds authorized or appropriated under this or any other law to 'bomb, rocket, napalm, or otherwise attack by air any target whatsoever' within Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam or Laos unless the President determined it necessary to ensure the safety of U.S. forces withdrawing from Indochina to set another date within that fiscal year.
"1972 H.R. 15495 ('Cranston')
Required withdrawal of all troops and stated that 'No funds shall be authorized, appropriated, or used' to maintain any U.S. military forces in South Vietnam after October 1, 1972, that U.S. involvement 'shall terminate' after a verified ceasefire agreement, the release of U.S. Prisoners of War and an accounting for all missing POWs.
"1973 H.R. 7447 ('Addabbo')
Prohibited the Defense Department from transferring $430 million in H.R. 7447 from other defense programs for U.S. military activity in Southeast Asia, including the cost of bombing raids over Cambodia, and paying for increased costs due to devaluation of the dollar.
"1973 H.R. 7645 ('Case-Church')
Prohibited obligation or expenditure of funds 'heretofore or hereafter appropriated' to finance the involvement of U.S. military forces in North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia or to provide direct or indirect assistance to North Vietnam 'unless specifically authorized hereafter by the Congress.'
"1973 H.J.Res. 636 (Enacted)
Prohibited obligation or expenditure of any funds in this or any previous law on or after August 15, 1973 to directly or indirectly finance 'combat in or over or from off the shores of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia.'
"Singularly missing from any of these attempts is any bill which granted no-strings funding while begging the president to give a timetable for withdrawal of some sort sometime next year, subject to many escape clauses. Those bills which did not involve the cut-off of funding during Vietnam went even further, requiring complete withdrawal by a certain deadline. And in 1970 Congress tried and nearly succeeded in revoking the Gulf of Tonkin War Powers Resolution.
"When Congress cut-off supplemental war appropriations, Nixon found money elsewhere. When Congress prohibited combat operations in Vietnam, Nixon switched to bombing and sending troops to Cambodia. The lesson is the stubbornness and intransigence of an executive branch bent on war, even against a Congress that fights it with passion, quite unlike now. The conclusion is inescapable: this Congress is not trying to stop this war, and the McGovern bill provides political cover whether Rep. McGovern intends it this way or not, and I'm sure he doesn't.
"They know how to stop it if they want to. Many of our leaders now were among those who voted for these cut-offs for the Vietnam War, including, in the case of Case-Church, Joe Biden, Robert Byrd, Daniel Inouye, David Obey, the latter two of whom can singlehandedly block the war appropriation in their capacities as Chairs of the Appropriations Committee of each chamber. Friends and colleagues, for more information on this refer to the Congressional Research Service report: ' Congressional Restrictions on U.S. Military Operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, and Kosovo: Funding and Non-Funding Approaches .'
"Nowhere, no-how did the Vietnam war-stoppers say, 'Mr. Nixon, we'll give you more money for war again, if you promise us a withdrawal plan next year, if it's okay with you.' What we do know for certain is they'll go back to their districts after voting for Afghanistan war funding and say 'Why should anyone challenge me? I'm against the war; I voted for a withdrawal plan.' And that will be good enough for most people whose kids are not bleeding in the sand or suffering from brain-rattle injuries, who'll just keep going on with their lives until the issue is focused like a laser.
"In passion for peace, "ralph" I can't say it any better.

Germany Drops Prosecution Over Air Strike Death Of 142 Afghans
German prosecutors drop case against Kunduz airstrike colonel (DeutscheWelle)
The prosecution of the colonel who ordered the controversial Kunduz airstrike has been closed. The attack killed up to 142 people, many of whom were civilians. 
German state prosecutors on Monday said they had closed the case against Colonel Klein, the officer who ordered the controversial airstrike near Kunduz in September 2009.
According to the prosecution, neither Klein nor any of the other officers present before the attack were in a position to know that there were still civilians at the site at the time of the airstrikes. ....
Colonel Klein had, therefore, not acted in violation of either the international or German criminal code, the prosecution said. Ordering the airstrike on two fuel trucks that had been hijacked by Taliban insurgents did not qualify as an illegal method of warfare.
On September 4, 2009, Klein had requested a NATO airstrike against the two trucks fearing they would be used to attack a German troop base nearby.
NATO mission remains unpopular
The attack, and the subsequent revelations that many civilians were among the 142 dead, triggered a wide debate in Germany. The participation by the Bundeswehr in the NATO mission in Afghanistan is widely unpopular in the country.
The Kunduz airstrike is also currently the subject of a parliamentary board of inquiry which, in the course of the week, is to question Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg.
The inquiry is focusing on whether the government has been transparent about the events in Kunduz or whether there have been attempts to cover up possible wrongdoing by German officers.
A surge of attacks on German troops in Afghanistan, and the death of seven soldiers over the last two weeks, have also reignited the controversy over whether the Germany military should be part of the NATO mission.
A memorial service for four German soldiers killed last week is scheduled for Thursday and a government spokesman has announced that Chancellor Angela Merkel will take part. She is expected to reconfirm the government's commitment to and support of the troops in Afghanistan.
The announcement of the suspension of the investigation into Colonel Klein was welcomed by Defense Minister Guttenberg. He said it provided "the greatest possible legal security" for German soldiers in Afghanistan.

Civil Rights Leader Dorothy Height Dies by goldenmean (BIN)
The death of Dr. Dorothy Height on Tuesday, April 20, sparked a slew of statements from government and community leaders. Height was a civil rights leader and advocate for social justice.
The NAACP called Dr. Height “the beloved matriarch of the civil rights movement,” in a statement from NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock, adding that “the nation has lost a stalwart champion for civil rights and gender equality.”
Dr. Height was the only woman working side by side with the “Big Six” civil rights leaders to secure civil rights legislation duringt the 1950s and 60s. Dr. Height never was denied entry to Barnard College but went on to earn a master's degree in psychology at NYU and lobby President Kennedy to sign the Equal Pay Act in 1963. Her voting program, “Wednesdays in Mississippi,” brought hundreds of young women together to register to vote.
President Barack Obama issued a statement on Dr. Height’s death, calling her the “godmother of the civil rights movement and a hero.” Stated President Obama:

“Ever since she was denied entrance to college because the incoming class had already met its quota of two African American women, Dr. Height devoted her life to those struggling for equality. She led the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, and served as the only woman at the highest level of the Civil Rights Movement - witnessing every march and milestone along the way. And even in the final weeks of her life – a time when anyone else would have enjoyed their well-earned rest – Dr. Height continued her fight to make our nation a more open and inclusive place for people of every race, gender, background and faith. Michelle and I offer our condolences to all those who knew and loved Dr. Height – and all those whose lives she touched.”

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan made the following statement on the death of Dr. Height:

"I was deeply saddened by the passing of Dorothy Height. Dr. Height understood that the civil rights movement started at the schoolhouse door. During the civil rights movement, she organized women of many races and faiths to support the freedom schools in Mississippi. She maintained her commitment to education by working closely with several of my predecessors in efforts to increase parental involvement in schools and close the achievement gap. President Obama and I believe that education is the civil rights issue of our time. Today, we lost a great partner in our work to reform schools.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson also released a statement on the passing of Dr. Height:

“I join our nation in mourning the passing of Dr. Dorothy I. Height, a bold and compassionate voice for women and people of color across our country. In this age of rancor, divide, and scorched-earth politics, her selfless advocacy, her quiet brilliance and her deep-seated love of community and family will be sorely missed. Dr. Height was an icon of unswerving compassion, awesome intellect, rapier wit, and dashing style. Not only was she a private counselor to U.S. presidents and lawmakers, but she was also a personal mentor to so many who followed her lead in fighting for equal rights. The headquarters of the National Council of Negro Women is only steps away from the EPA headquarters. That building – a bulwark of struggle, achievement and hope – stands as a monument to Dr. Height’s accomplishments and her committed work toward an equal and just society for all. Her most noted legacy, though, is the legion of mentees who will follow in her steady march for equality and justice for all Americans.”

SHAME ON AUSTRIA
Political persecution in Austria (vgt)
On 21 May 2008, special units of the Austrian police arrested 10 leading campaigners from the country's successful animal protection movement. The activists, among them a former research assistant at the University of Cambridge, were put on remand. The Ministry of the Interior boasted they had hunted down a criminal gang responsible for numerous cases of arson, gas attacks and bomb threats.
However, the imprisoned people insisted that the prosecution files they were eventually given access to contained absolutely no evidence of any criminal offence but rather a description of their campaigning for changing laws and business policies. One of the prisoners went on hunger strike and stayed without food for 39 days. Fierce criticism came from many well-known personalities and organisations, including Amnesty International and the Green Party.
After more than three months, a senior state prosecutor ordered release of the activists, saying the time spent in custody must be in proportion to the expected sentence. This drove away most of the public attention, but the case wasn't over. In February 2010, the state prosecution announced that enough evidence had been found to put 13 animal protection activists, including the ten who had spent three months in custody, on trial.
Four of the activists have released their charge sheets on the internet. The worst fears have been fulfilled. There is nothing in the charge sheets that could be seen as evidence of criminal behaviour. Rather, the activists' supposed membership in a criminal organisation is deduced from an extensive list of expressed opinions and political activities, such as organising demonstrations and public conferences.
The trial is expected to last 6 months. The activists are facing up to 5 years imprisonment and will have to pay over €35,000 each for defence lawyers, which will not be reimbursed even if the trial results in acquittal.
This cannot be tolerated. Austria must not be allowed to terrorise its citizens with financial ruin and imprisonment because of their political activities.
CAMPAIGN
A big international campaign against the persecution of animal protection activists in Austria has been launched. The campaign has a website, in which the background of the human rights scandal is exposed in 22 different languages and readers are encouraged to send a protest letter to the Austrian politicians.
A chain campaign with at least one public protest in one country taking place every week supports the cause.
There are two ways in which you can support the campaign:
1. Please spread the website www.shameonaustria.org (or your language version which you will get by selecting your language in the top menu) wherever you can - emails, blogs, websites, social network sites etc. Please help us achieve the target of 100,000 visitors and 10,000 emails sent!
2. If you can, take part in the chain campaign by organising a creative protest action in your country. Write an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
This campaign is extremely important not only for the persecuted activists but also for the future of the animal protection movement in Europe and elsewhere.
Illegitimate state attacks must stop everywhere !

You are online, working on a project and you think to yourself why not download a few songs from You Tube. I know you are not supposed to do that but hey what's the big deal, after all it is already on You Tube. But hold up your illegal enjoyment of music will cause a whole lot of headaches if the RIAA and MPAA get their way.
Before you can even begin the download, your connection shuts off. Mandatory censorship programming on your Internet connection has determined that you haven't paid for your download. Next you can't access your Internet connection, it is still active but you can't access it. Why? In the background, a government program is running, checking all your files to make sure that none of them infringe on copyright. If it finds what it determines to be a copyright infringement, the program remotely deletes it from your computer. 
Welcome to the future where Big Brother works for the Music/Movie Industry and who knows who else because why stop there?
If the government meets recent RIAA/ MPAA demands, you'll be forced to install spyware on your computer that trawls through all your data, searches for content that might infringe copyright, and deletes it from your machine remotely. To put it bluntly, the RIAA wants the government to spy on its citizens in the name of protecting copyright. 
The RIAA and MPAA have submitted a plan to the Office of Intellectual Property Enforcement. It's basically a plan that they want the government to enact, and it's terrifying.
* spyware on your computer that detects and deletes infringing materials;
* mandatory censorware on all Internet connections to interdict transfers of infringing material;
* border searches of personal media players, laptops and thumb-drives;
* international bullying to force other countries to implement the same policies;
* and free copyright enforcement provided by Fed cops and agencies (including the Department of Homeland Security!).
Consider the following, all taken from the entertainment industry's submission to the IPEC.
"Anti-infringement" software for home computers

There are several technologies and methods that can be used by network administrators and providers...these include [consumer] tools for managing copyright infringement from the home (based on tools used to protect consumers from viruses and malware).

In other words, the entertainment industry thinks consumers should voluntarily install software that constantly scans our computers and identifies (and perhaps deletes) files found to be "infringing." It's hard to believe the industry thinks savvy, security-conscious consumers would voluntarily do so. But those who remember the Sony BMG rootkit debacle know that the entertainment industry is all too willing to sacrifice consumers at the altar of copyright enforcement.
Pervasive copyright filtering

Network administrators and providers should be encouraged to implement those solutions that are available and reasonable to address infringement on their networks. [This suggestion is preceded by a list of filtering methods, like protocol filtering, fingerprint-based filtering, bandwidth throttling, etc.]

The entertainment industry loves widespread filtering as a "solution" to online copyright infringement — in fact, it has successfully persuaded Congress to push these technologies on institutions of higher-education.
But this "solution" is full of flaws. First, even the "best" automated copyright blocking systems fail to protect fair use. Worse, these techniques are unlikely to make any lasting dent on infringing behavior, but will instead just invite the use of more encryption and private "darknets" (or even just more hand-to-hand sharing of hard drives and burned DVDs). But perhaps the most pernicious effect may be that copyright protection measures can be trojan horses for consumer surveillance. In an age of warrantless wiretapping and national censorship, building moresurveillance and inspection technologies into the heart of the Internet is an obviously bad idea. In the words of the Hollywood movie, "if you build it, they will come."
There's a technical term for this in policy circles. I believe it's "Totally insane."
Sources
The Entertainment Industry's Dystopia of the Future
www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/entertainment-industrys-dystopia-future
www.boingboing.net/2010/04/15/big-contents-dystopi.html
gizmodo.com/5517850/riaampaa-want-government+mandated-spyware-that-deletes-infringing-content-automatically
Google's New Transparency Tool: A Window Into Government Surveillance (ACLU)
We've known for a long time that electronic privacy law is woefully outdated. But what we haven't known is how often the government is taking advantage of this fact to engage in a shopping spree in the treasure trove of personal information being collected by companies like Google.
So we're happy to see Google's just-released Government Requests tool, which is the company's attempt to shine some light on how often governments around the world request user information (and content removal) from Google. The ACLU has called for this type of disclosure for years and we applaud Google for taking this important first step to help Congress and the American people understand what's really going on and why it's time to demand a privacy upgrade that includes more transparency around when and how the government demands information from Google.
Google's Government Request Transparency Tool: What It Says — And What It Doesn't
Google's new tool displays the number of "user requests" that Google received from various governments from July to December 2009. According to the tool, the company received thousands of such requests from the U.S. government during that period — thousands of requests digging into the intimate details of individual lives that are captured in emails, search histories, reading and viewing logs, and the like. And if Google is receiving thousands of requests every six months, how many more are going out to Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and the thousands of other online services that we use every day?
But that number may understate the actual case for three reasons. First, Google's tool only tracks requests that are received as part of an official criminal investigation — which would exclude, for example, the infamous DOJ subpoena asking for millions of users' search queries, something that was not part of an official criminal investigation. Second, Google's tool only counts the number of requests it receives, not the number of user records that were requested. So that single DOJ subpoena seeking millions of records would only counts as a single request! Finally, Google is barred by law from disclosing the number of requests it receives pursuant to National Security Letters, although we know that upwards of 50,000 of these secret government requests are issued every year. All told, the requests that show up in Google's tool are just the tip of the iceberg.
So this is a great first step in increasing transparency — but it is only a first step. We hope that Google will continue to improve this tool to shine more light on how many non-criminal requests for user records it receives, break those down by type, provide more information on how many users were or would have been affected by those requests, and explore ways to disclose how it has responded to those requests (which is admittedly difficult to do).
Demand Your dotRights — Demand Transparency As Part of Electronic Privacy Reform!
The ACLU believes that transparency is an essential part of electronic privacy reform. As technology continues to evolve, our best hope of keeping privacy up to date is to ensure that we know how the government is using (or abusing) the current law to demand access to our personal information. That's why we think a "Wiretap Report for the Internet" is a key element to modernizing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
But we need your help to get Congress moving and get the privacy update we need. Please support our efforts to ensure that privacy isn't left behind as we move into the modern world by asking Congress to update ECPA! (PDF).

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We do not send pictures with these reports, because of the volume, but picture this emetic scene with your inner eye:
A dying Somali child in the macerated arms of her mother besides their bombed shelter with Islamic graffiti looks at a fat trader, who discusses with a local militia chief and a UN representative at a harbour while USAID provided GM food from subsidised production is off-loaded by WFP into the hands of local "distributors" and dealers - and in the background a western warship and a foreign fishing trawler ply the waters of a once sovereign, prosper and proud nation, which was a role model for honesty and development in the Horn of Africa. (If you feel that this is overdrawn - talk to people who lived in Somalia in the 70s and 80s and come with us into Somalia and see the even more cruel reality today for yourself!)
- and if you need lively stills or video material on Somalia, please do contact us.

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