THE ZAC SUTHERLAND UPDATE
Zac's Blog
My name is Zac Sunderland and I am 17 years old. I departed 14th June 2008 from Marina del Rey, California in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by yacht.
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Further tales from our long haired solo sailor !
Photo : Jen Edney,
Caption : Well, that be ME !!!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Update & Drawing Winner
Hello All,
Zac is getting rested and filled in on all the ins and outs of Durban and South Africa.
He was taken out for a large and delicious steak last night and has grocery shopped, lined up a rigging inspection and engine service and is preparing this morning for a news interview.
He is busy but enjoying taking it all in. I asked him about the weather and he said that it is very hot and humid.
He is wearing a shirt for the first time since leaving Mauritius!
For the blogger who asked about sunscreen, I did ask...he usually isn't out in the sun for long periods of time and so has never burnt but has a good tan for sure!
As mentioned earlier this week, we have had our drawing from the names of calendar buyers to see who won the signed poster. Ben did the honors...
After this shot he spread them all over the living room but that is another story.
The winner of an autographed poster and head shot is Mr. John Weber!
The poster will be sent out Monday morning - enjoy!
We will have another drawing on Saturday the 20th. For every calendar you purchase this week, your name will be entered into a drawing for a signed poster and head shot.
Cheers,
Marianne
posted by Zac at 9:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, December 12, 2008
Hello and Good Night
Latest Position: 12/13/08 29 54.430S 31 01.200E - Point Yacht Club, Durban, South Africa
After another harrowing day at sea with ships, currents lightning and no sleep Zac is safely in port.
We received one final phone call, "Hi Dad, I'm in and I'm going to bed." He arrived about 4:00am with the help of a group of faithful followers from PYC and especially Phillip Strauss whom our family met while cruising in Mexico 7 years ago.
Lots of long stories for sure!
Zac will have a busy day today meeting and greeting and getting settled. For now we will all have a good night's sleep.
Cheerfully,
Marianne
posted by Zac at 9:49 PM
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Visit www.zacsutherland.com
YouTube Videos http://www.youtube.com/zacsvideos
Blog http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/
Email zacsworldadventure@yahoo.com
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Mike Perham aged 16, the youngest person to sail across the atlantic solo now has his eye's on an even more adventurous challenge.
To become the youngest person to sail around the world solo in an open 50 racing yacht.
Aaaaargh! - 13 12 08
Well, I hardly know how to start, but here goes. After sailing out of Gran Canaria for ten hours in a 20-30 knot wind under a beautiful moonlit night, the Autopilot conked out again! It suddenly miscalculated by 70 degrees and sent Totallymoney.com into an unexpected gybe.
So the gremlins are still there. I really felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. So much time, money and effort has been spent on this problem already I couldn’t believe I was going to have sail back and do it all over again.
Now I’m waiting for a specialist from the AP company to have another crack at it today. Hopefully there’ll be a real solution this time. Unfortunately it’s the only AP I have and it would be dangerous to sail without it, otherwise I would have just kept going!
Stay tuned and hopefully we’ll get this problem sorted once and for all later today.
100% Fit Again! - 12 12 08
Well, we’re all set! Totallymoney.com is 100% set after a couple of test sails revealed that the clutch that fed the ballast tanks wasn’t working properly.
Las Palmas is fantastic in that it there is a huge ship repair industry here, so there are so many places to repair bits of kit like this. The mechanics are top rate and turned around all our repairs within a few hours. One guy didn’t even charge us for his fantastic workmanship when we needed to get some new bearings fitted.
This has been a very frustrating time, but of course, it’s much better to sort these things out now than have them out at sea, away from any machine shops. But finally the boat is ready and I am totally raring to go! I should be setting sail very shortly, within the next few hours. I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting but do hang in there and keep the comments coming, I really appreciate them all and once I’m back on the ocean I’ll start my pen-pal relationship with you all again, promise!
http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Somali president sacks prime minister
Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:44am EST
BAIDOA, Somalia, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Somalia's President Abulahi Yusuf sacked his prime minister on Sunday, saying he had failed to bring security to the chaotic country.
"I have dismissed Prime Minister Nur Abdi and will appoint a new one within three days. His government failed to extend the federal system and security to the nation," Yusuf told members of parliament at a meeting attending by media.
Hassan Hussein Nur Adde has been prime minister for one year but and has been embroiled in a spat with President Yusuf over Yusuf's rejection of some cabinet ministers.
They have also disagreed on the direction of peace talks held in Djibouti, where moderate opposition signed an agreement allowing them to join government.
A respected Somali rights group said this week that fighting in the Horn of Africa country had killed more than 16,200 civilians since the start of last year, when allied Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists out of power.
Some 1 million people have been uprooted, and 3.2 million -- more than a third of the population -- need emergency aid. The chaos has also helped fuel an explosion of piracy offshore. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Wangui Kanina; Editing by Matthew Jones)
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLE374226._CH_.2400
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Indian navy 'captures 23 pirates'
The Indian navy says it has arrested 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates who tried to storm a ship in the Gulf of Aden.
A navy spokesman said it had responded to a mayday call from MV Gibe, flying under the Ethiopian flag.
Several countries have warships patrolling the gulf amid growing international concern about piracy.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said better intelligence was needed for a land attack on pirate bases to be considered.
Mr Gates, speaking at a security conference in Bahrain, also called for shipping companies to do more to protect their vessels travelling through the Arabian Sean and Indian Ocean.
Arms cache
The Indian government said in a statement that the captured pirates had a cache of arms and equipment, including seven AK-47 assault rifles, three machine guns, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The pirates would be handed over to the appropriate authorities, the statement added.
Last month, India's navy said it had sunk a pirate "mother vessel" off Somalia.
But it later emerged that the vessel was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been seized by pirates off Yemen.
Better intelligence
Mr Gates told the security conference: "The need for increased maritime security and potentially new and better means of co-operation has been highlighted by the recent high-profile acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.
"As with terrorism, piracy is a problem that has serious international implications and should be of particular concern to any nation that depends on the seas for commerce."
Mr Gates said most ships could outrun the pirates and they should take more preventative measures, like pulling up their ladders when at sea and perhaps placing armed guards on board.
When asked by the BBC if the US intended to attack the pirates' land bases, Mr Gates replied that the US and its allies would first need to acquire better intelligence on who is behind the ongoing attacks on shipping.
He said he believed that just two or three Somali clans were responsible and that the individuals involved needed to be targeted accurately to avoid killing innocent civilians.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7781436.stm
Published: 2008/12/13 14:56:07 GMT
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India to deploy aircraft against pirates: report
1 hour ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) — India is to station a naval surveillance aircraft in the Gulf of Aden to boost its anti-piracy efforts in the region, a newspaper report on Sunday quoted a military officer as saying.
The plans come after an Indian warship on patrol in the region captured 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates trying to hijack an Ethiopian flag-bearing merchant vessel.
"Our plan is to base a maritime reconnaissance aircraft at Djibouti," the Times of India quoted the unnamed senior naval officer as saying.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the report.
The navy said that on Saturday its warship Mysore had dispatched helicopter-borne commandos to help the MV Gibe, which had sent a distress call as it came under fire from two pirate boats.
The commandos captured 23 pirates and recovered a large cache of arms including assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher along with loaded magazines, cartridges and grenades, a navy statement said.
New Delhi first deployed warships in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest but most pirate-infested shipping lanes in the world, in October after a merchant vessel with Indian crew was taken hostage by pirates.
Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members.
Last month, India's anti-piracy tactics were questioned when the International Maritime Bureau said an Indian ship had destroyed a Thai fishing trawler instead of a pirate vessel as the navy claimed.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6ifiCNXQulaqbJItAnB3rPfm1CQ
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December 11, 2008, 23:59
Who will stop Somali pirates?
The Russian Navy is to maintain a regular presence near Somali waters in 2009. The news comes as representatives of 40 countries hold a UN-sponsored conference to discuss more measures to crack down on piracy in the area. Meanwhile, vessels are being hijacked almost every week.
On Tuesday Yemeni coastguards were put on high alert after pirates hi-jacked two boats carrying 22 fishermen. The waters of Yemen are only a few hours away from Somalia - the heartland of modern day piracy.
More than 40 ships have been hijacked in the area this year alone.
“As far as Yemeni waters are concerned, they are all safe and ships can sail through them safely. The real danger comes from Somali waters, which are far from here. We advise ships to sail away from there,” a coastguard said.
Yemen has become a base for international warships patrolling the troubled seas.
The Russian frigate Neustrashymy has been escorting convoys since October.
“While sailing the oceans, we’ve received several SOS calls from unguarded merchant ships. We responded to the calls and defended them against piracy. We accompany all ships in the convoy regardless of their flag,” said the Neustrashymy’s captain, Oleg Gorinov.
The Neustrashimy is equiped with anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, and carries a helicopter. Such warships are a tough nut to crack for pirates. They usually use small and fast motor boats. Surprise is their main tactic.
“They start shooting into the air near the ship to terrorise the crew and then they start threatening the ship with their RPG weapons. When the crew sees this intense fire, they surrender because they don't want any damage to the ship, which might cost a lot,” head of Yemen coastguard, Ali Rasa, says.
Somali pirates have earned an estimated US$ 30 million in ransoms this year. The shipowners almost always pay and pirates increase the sums demanded.
The US is now calling on the international community to fight piracy not only at sea, but on land.
So far the Somali government has failed to stop the criminals, which means that a quiet day in harbour is a rare thing for both warships and coastguards.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/34619
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Petraeus Urges Security Forces to Target Trade Behind Terrorism
By Camilla Hall
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Security forces should focus more on crushing illegal trade in weapons and drugs and tackling pirates to combat global terrorism more effectively, General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, said today.
“The revenues from some of these activities are in essence the oxygen that keeps various movements alive,” Petraeus said at a security meeting in Bahrain. “These activities must be curtailed if international efforts to combat terrorist financing and thus terrorism are to succeed.”
As part of a speech to delegates from more than 20 countries, Petraeus urged international cooperation on air and air defense systems, maritime protection, intelligence sharing, protection of infrastructure and training.
“Extremist networks remain resilient and indeed robust in some areas and we must not relax the pressure on them,” he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aRSelnN.GBjw&refer=africa
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135 container ships stand idle
Around 135 cellular ships totalling 300 000 TEU capacity are currently believed idle, according to the latest Alphaliner count (December 8), up from around 270 000 TEU two weeks ago and 150 000 TEU one and a half moths earlier.
They represent 2.5% of the existing cellular fleet in TEU terms.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :2008/12/12
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7078
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10.12.2008
German Cabinet Approves Plan For EU Anti-Piracy Force
More German naval troops may be headed to the Gulf of Aden
The German government says the German Navy should be allowed to participate in a European Union effort to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden. But questions persist about the scope and effectiveness of the mission.
The proposal to back the EU's Operation Atalanta was approved on Wednesday December 10 by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet and will now face a parliamentary vote on December 19.
It would see as many as 1400 German Navy soldiers and one warship go to the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia as part of a joint EU effort to stem increasing piracy in those waters.
Previously, German warships originally deployed as part of the anti-terrorist Mission Enduring Freedom or the NATO initiative Allied Provider have been involved in deterring suspected pirates.
Operation Atalanta is the first EU-wide naval mission and comes as criminals on the high seas have made commercial and passenger traffic on one of the world's major waterways increasingly unsafe.
Cruise liners want protection
Cruise companies are demanding armed escorts
With around a dozen ships, including a massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker, still currently in the hands of pirates, German travel organizers have been demanding protection.
"We would like every cruise ship to be given an escort," the head of the German Travel Association, Hans-Gustav Koch, told the AFP news agency.
Koch said that cancelling or re-routing cruise liners was prohibitively expensive.
The government's tourism expert, Ernst Hinsken of the conservative Christian Social Union, also said that cruise ships should be accorded the same treatment as merchant vessels under Operation Atalanta.
But he also said passengers could be flown for short stretches to avoid unnecessary risks.
On Tuesday, the Hapag-Lloyd cruise company announced it was evacuating tourists from the SM Columbus for its journey through the Gulf of Aden and flying them on to resume their round-the-world cruise in safer waters.
Fogged in
The opposition says the operation is wide-open to abuse
But Operation Atalanta is coming in for critical scrutiny from Germany's opposition parties, which say the plan is enshrouded in a "nebulous fog."
The Greens are supporting the mission with reservations.
"We expect the government to ensure that NATO and EU states consolidate their forces," Deputer Parliamentary Spokesman Juergen Trittin and security expert Winfried Nachtwei said in a statement.
"The parallelism, confusion and conflicts between Allies engaged in three separate operations are a sign of impoverishment," they wrote.
Meanwhile, the Left Party is opposing Operation Atalanta outright.
"The proposal would restrict the Bundestag's oversight function," the party's security spokesman, Paul Schaefer, told DW-WORLD.
"The 1400 navy soldiers it includes, it is said, are more than the mission will require. But that means that they, together with German soldiers involved in Enduring Freedom and NATO's Allied Provider missions, could be moved back and forth at will, contrary to the principles of a parliamentary army," Schaefer continued.
There has also been popular criticism that allocating some 43 million euros ($55.7 million) in public finds in part to protect luxury cruise ships wastes public money.
"The whole approach is wrong," said Schafer. "The main problem in Somalia is not piracy, but rather the instability and lack of infrastructure in the entire country. A few warships off the coast cannot solve those issues. So the mission wastes taxpayers' money, regardless of whether the German Navy is used to defend supply ships or cruise liners."
All of those objections will be put forth when the German parliament, the Bundestag, votes on the proposal next week.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3863634,00.html
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Navy to christen latest SSN this weekend
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Dec 10, 2008 14:11:46 EST
The Navy plans to christen its newest Virginia-class attack submarine, the New Mexico, in a ceremony this weekend in Hampton Roads, Va.
Cindy Giambastiani, the wife of retired Adm. Ed. Giambastiani, will swing the traditional bottle of champagne Saturday to officially give the ship its name, according to a Navy announcement. The keynote address at the ceremony is to be delivered by Republican Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico.
New Mexico is the sixth Virginia-class attack submarine, and the latest built half by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., and Northrop Grumman’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. But it’s just the second Navy warship to bear the name. The first New Mexico was a battleship that earned six battle stars for its service in World War II; it provided shore bombardment for the Marine Corps landings at Guam, Saipan, Okinawa and elsewhere.
The New Mexico’s prospective captain is Cmdr. Mark Prokopius.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_ssn_christening_121008w/
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Russian warship to visit Nicaragua on Dec. 12-15
11:59 11/ 12/ 2008
MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Admiral Chabanenko missile destroyer and two support ships will pay a visit to Nicaragua from Friday through Monday, a Navy spokesman said on Thursday.
"After crossing the Panama Canal, the Admiral Chabanenko and two support ships will visit the port of Bluefields in Nicaragua on December 12-15," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.
The Udaloy class destroyer made a round trip through the Panama Canal on December 6, becoming the first Russian or Soviet warship to enter the waterway since World War II, and is currently anchored at the Rodman Naval Station in Panama.
The destroyer also participated last week in the VenRus-2008 joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercise in the southern Caribbean as part of a task force from the Northern Fleet, led by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky. (Nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky visits Toulon- Image Gallery)
Dygalo earlier said that Russia currently has three naval task groups on tours of duty in the world's oceans.
Another naval task force from the Northern Fleet, comprising the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and the Admiral Levchenko missile destroyer, as well as two support ships, began last Friday a tour of duty in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, a task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet, comprising the Admiral Vinogradov, an Udaloy class missile destroyer, a tugboat, and two tankers, left its main base in Vladivostok on Tuesday to take part in joint naval drills with the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean.
Russia announced last year that its Navy had resumed and would build up a constant presence throughout the world's oceans.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081211/118800449.html
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Navy commander questions land attacks on pirates
By LOLITA C. BALDOR – 1 day ago
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet expressed doubt Friday about the wisdom of launching attacks against Somali pirates on land — a proposal the U.S. is circulating to the U.N. Security Council.
U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters that striking pirate camps presents problems because it is difficult to identify them and the potential for killing innocent civilians "cannot be overestimated."
In a wide-ranging interview at his 5th Fleet headquarters, Gortney said such strikes are an effort to go for an easy military solution to a problem. He says the better solutions are to improve the security, stability and government in Somalia, and to clear up legal hurdles so that militaries that capture pirates can detain them and bring them to trial.
Currently, most foreign navies patrolling the Somali coast have been reluctant to detain suspects because of uncertainties over where they would face trial, since Somalia has no effective central government or legal system.
The draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposes that all nations and regional groups cooperating with Somalia's U.N.-backed government in the fight against piracy and armed robbery "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia."
Bush administration officials in Washington say that while the proposal would give the U.S. military more options in confronting the pirates, it does not mean the U.S. is planning a ground assault.
Gortney said progress is being made in the international effort to stem the recent spike in pirate attacks on commercial vessels off the Somali coast.
He said he is seeing progress in efforts to change the legal requirements so navies can detain and send captured pirates to trial. And, he said, more shipping companies are adding security personnel.
Since the end of August, Gortney said, coalition ships have disrupted potential pirate attacks 50 times, throwing guns overboard and sinking small skiffs. But in many instances they had to release the people on the ships because of the legal hurdles.
At the UN, the proposal is running afoul of some Security Council members such as South Africa and Indonesia that have often voiced sovereignty concerns about a major initiative, particularly by the council's major Western powers.
Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa told reporters Friday the U.S. plan could conflict with the U.N.'s "Law of the Sea" treaty, which sets rules and settles disputes over navigation, fishing and economic development of the open seas and establishes environmental standards.
"I still have a problem with this onshore business," he said. "We have a regime that governs the law of the seas ... and we cannot simply willy-nilly and as we please set that aside as a situation dictates."
The Law of the Sea Convention was concluded in 1982 and went into effect in 1994. As of last month it had been ratified by 157 nations — including Somalia, Indonesia and South Africa — but not the United States.
The treaty recognizes sovereign rights over a country's continental shelf out to 200 nautical miles and beyond if a country can substantiate its claims. Former President Ronald Reagan opposed U.S. participation because of a provision on deep seabed mining, while Senate Republicans contended the treaty would subject the U.S. military and economy to a hostile international bureaucracy.
Last year, though, it won backing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and President George W. Bush pushed unsuccessfully for Senate ratification. They worried that the melting of the global ice cap would trigger a rush of claims by Arctic countries, including Russia.
Natalegawa emphasized that any solution to Somalia's piracy boom must also include a peace process.
"The parties need to be sitting down somewhere, somehow and just to talk. And then we have a peace to be kept, for peacekeeping operations," he said. "But now we are having countries, as they wish, (deciding) to just pick and choose an a la carte question — which piece that they want to be discussing. That is why we are in like a Catch-22, like a vicious circle."
In other comments to reporters, Gortney also rejected the idea of establishing a naval blockade along the Somali coast, saying it would be an act of war. Officials, he said, would have to "call it something different." And even so, he said, the size of the coastline would require so many ships that "it would be very, very difficult."
He said that despite the 12-14 naval ships patrolling the area, it would take 62 to reasonably protect that coastline.
Associated Press Writer John Heilprin contributed to this report.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkvR7y2C_1UFBQv7tnE4K10EeregD951ASV80
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Published: 11/12/2008 20:23:15
Explosive arms deal documents
PAUL KIRK
JOHANNESBURG - Former President Thabo Mbeki, the man who was in overall charge of the arms deal, favoured arms merchants known for their tendency to pay bribes and then agreed to pay inflated prices for equipment that the military simply did not want.
Damning documents obtained by The Citizen last week show that Mbeki ignored his own experts who had ruled that a rival Spanish warship offered better military value than the exorbitantly expensive German product the Navy eventually bought.
The contract should therefore have been awarded to the Spanish who convincingly won the frigate contract using the procurement formula the Department of Defence had agreed upon.
Mbeki has never launched any action for defamation against the media who published claims that he pocketed a $20 million bribe from the German frigate consortium. These claims were first made in a report compiled by US- based risk-analysis company Kroll.
Kroll had obtained this information from a senior National Intelligence Agency official, who subsequently died in a car crash.
The documents may well open the way for Spanish company Bazan to launch legal action against the state. However, The Citizen has not been able to contact Bazan’s representatives.
By awarding the contract to the Germans, Mbeki ignored the Constitution, which lays down that procurement must be done in a way that is fair, transparent and cost-effective.
Terry Crawford-Browne, the SA president of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, told The Citizen that he was studying the documents.
Crawford-Browne said: “It’s clear that throughout the deal we favoured people who were known to pay bribes. What people must realise is that prices are inflated in order to cover the costs of bribes. The taxpayer pays for corruption, not the arms merchant.”
Former chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods, said that while serving as chair of Scopa he had seen clear evidence that the arms dealers who had won contracts as part of the controversial arms deal had inexplicably inflated their prices when supplying equipment to the SANDF.
Woods said: “The government has thus far tried its best to whitewash the arms deal, but I don’t believe they have succeeded. These latest documents simply prove serious irregularities in yet another aspect of the arms deal.”€Â
Woods resigned as chair of Scopa after the ANC used its parliamentary majority to prevent the Heath Special Investigating Unit from being part of the arms deal probe.
The unit, chaired by Judge Willem Heath, was the sole law enforcement body that had the legal powers to set aside the arms deal contracts that had already been signed.
During the acquisition process for the jet fighters and trainers for the South African Air Force, the recommendations of the SAAF were ignored and former Defence Minister Joe Modise forced the SAAF to buy BAe jet trainers rather than the cheaper Italian aircraft the SAAF actually wanted.
Modise also forced the SAAF to buy Gripen fighters despite the fact that they had no need for them. The existing Cheetah C fighters had just been taken into service and were scheduled to remain in use for at least another decade.
These aircraft have now all been effectively grounded as the SAAF, crippled by the acquisition costs of the Gripen and Hawk, cannot afford to operate their only supersonic fighter jet. Effectively, South Africa has no air force at present.
Fana Hlongwane was, at the time of the Hawk and Gripen deals, Modise’s special advisor and close personal friend. Hlongwane was the subject of a series of search-and-seizure raids earlier this month when the Scorpions raided his homes and offices seeking evidence of arms deal bribery.
Hlongwane owns a fleet of luxury cars and several mansions, all purchased after BAe won the Hawk and Gripen contracts.
The documents obtained by The Citizen show that the German warships offered slightly better military performance than the much cheaper Spanish ship, which was ruled to have “the best mobility, operability, growth potential, layout, accommodation and habitability features”.
In June 2008 an SA Navy legal services report was leaked to the media showing that the navy was not able to operate the exorbitantly expensive German frigates because of financial constraints.
Andrew Feinstein, the ANC representative on Scopa, was demoted by his party after backing Woods and demanding that the Heath Unit probe the deal.
Feinstein said: “It seemed to me that we favoured those who were prepared to pay the biggest bribes, regardless of the real value of the equipment.”
http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=85294,1,22
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Armed guards would deter Somali pirates-US Navy
Fri 12 Dec 2008, 18:31 GMT
By Andrew Gray
MANAMA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Shipping firms should use armed security guards much more to protect their vessels against pirates off Somalia, the top U.S. Navy commander charged with tackling the problem said on Friday.
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said more cooperation between navies, a legal basis for detaining and trying pirates and stabilising Somalia would also help to crackdown on the piracy, which has surged in the region in recent months.
But Gortney expressed scepticism about going after pirates on land or targeting them with air strikes, even though a draft U.N. Security Council resolution drawn up by Washington seeks authority for such actions.
"I see people trying to look for an easy military solution to a problem that demands a non-kinetic solution," Gortney told reporters travelling with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at his headquarters in Bahrain.
"If you're going to do kinetic strikes into the pirate camps, the positive ID and the collateral damage concerns cannot be overestimated.
"They're irregulars -- they don't wear uniforms," said Gortney, who commands the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and oversees a coalition of navies fighting piracy off Somalia.
Gortney said the solution lay in bringing stability to the African state but that would not happen soon. Governments and shipping companies had to look for other answers.
"I'm a firm believer ... (in) armed security guards, because that's what we'd do ashore," he said. "You're working against criminal activity. That's what I'm pushing."
Gortney said some companies were using teams of security guards but others had concerns, including worries about the legality of carrying weapons when they pulled into ports. He said he believed such issues could be overcome.
Scores of attacks in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent months have pushed up insurance costs, earned Somali pirates tens of millions of dollars in ransom and prompted foreign navies to rush to protect merchant shipping.
A NATO anti-piracy mission in the area is coming to an end but Gortney said he believed the alliance would return and the European Union agreed on Monday to launch naval operations off Somalia involving warships and aircraft.
Gortney said the risk to shipping from Somali pirates was still relatively small
"Statistically from January to the end of November ... just in the area north of Somalia, your chances of getting pirated were 0.14 percent," he said.
But he said even one attack was unacceptable.
"We almost romanticise pirates now as a result of, well, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' (movies) -- I can't get away from it, my miniature schnauzer's name is Captain Jack Sparrow," he said.
"But these are really criminals at sea." (Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN12446831.html
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Somalia backs US plan to hunt pirates
Thu 11 Dec 2008, 12:53 GMT
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government has welcomed a call by the United States for countries to have U.N. authority to hunt down Somali pirates on land as well as pursue them off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.
A surge in piracy this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has driven up insurance costs, brought the gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and prompted foreign navies to rush to the area to protect shipping.
Diplomats at the United Nations said the U.S. delegation there had circulated a draft resolution on piracy for the Security Council to vote on next week.
A draft text seen by Reuters says countries with permission from Somalia's government "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace" to capture those using Somali territory for piracy.
"The government cordially welcomes the United Nations to fight pirates inland and (on) the Indian Ocean," said Hussein Mohamed Mohamud, spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf.
"We're also willing to give them a hand in case they need our assistance," Mohamud told Reuters in the capital Mogadishu.
Somalia has seen continuous conflict since 1991 and its weak Western-backed government is still fighting Islamist insurgents. The chaos has helped fuel the explosion in piracy: there have been nearly 100 attacks in Somali waters this year, despite the presence of several foreign warships. The gunmen are holding about a dozen ships and nearly 300 crew.
Among the captured vessels are a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million of crude oil, the Sirius Star, and a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying some 30 Soviet-era tanks, the MV Faina.
Many of the pirates are based in Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. An official there said he was sceptical whether the international community would take action.
"We are not happy because the United Nations never implements what they endorse," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, Puntland's assistant fisheries minister, told Reuters in Bosasso.
"We urge them to fight the pirates on land and in our waters. We would also like them to empower our security forces so that we can participate in the global war on piracy too."
There are already several international naval operations off Somalia, including a NATO anti-piracy mission. The European Union agreed on Monday to launch anti-piracy naval operations in the area, involving warships and aircraft.
The U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told an international meeting on piracy in Kenya on Thursday that the pirates were "threatening the very freedom and safety of maritime trade routes, affecting not only Somalia and the region, but also a large percentage of world trade".
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4BA0GE.html
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US Asks for Korea's Help in Afghanistan
Sunday, December 14, 2008 11:52:19
The U.S. has officially asked Korea to help stabilize and restore a war-torn Afghanistan.
A U.S. State Department official said that in a Security Policy Initiative meeting Saturday, Seoul and Washington discussed on a wide range of possibilities, emphasizing the need to send police and military trainers to Afghanistan.
He said Washington has made no requests in particular but discussed other options including reconstruction, development and public security.
The U.S. also tapped the possibility of cooperating in dispatching a Korean naval destroyer to Somalia to protect Korean fishing and cargo ships from pirates.
http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/newsview_sub.php?menu=1&key=2008121401
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UN envoy says world has ignored piracy long enough
3 days ago
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N.'s special representative for Somalia says the world has ignored piracy long enough.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah spoke at an international conference on piracy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Representatives from 40 countries are meeting about how to solve the rampant banditry off Somalia's lawless coast. They are expected to address the media after the close of the two-day meeting Thursday.
Somali pirates have brought in an estimated $30 million in ransom this year.
The pirates' focus has been the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, where 20,000 merchant ships a year pass on the way in and out of the Suez Canal, the quickest route from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j17RaekrnzP0Sp9is3amCrloJ8DAD950DNB00
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U.S. tries to reassure Karzai with visit to warship
Fri 12 Dec 2008, 19:31 GMT
MANAMA (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited a U.S. aircraft carrier this week as the U.S. military tried to reassure him about air strikes he has bitterly denounced for causing civilian casualties.
Karzai paid a visit Thursday to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which launches bombing missions on insurgent targets in Afghanistan from the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Navy said.
In one of a string of recent strongly worded complaints about international military operations, Karzai said last month he would bring down U.S. warplanes bombing villages if he could, before they dropped bombs on Afghan villages.
Afghanistan has suffered its worst violence this year since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban Islamist government in 2001, with at least 4,000 people killed, around a third of them civilians.
Afghan officials have blamed NATO and U.S. forces for scores of civilian deaths. Western forces say they go to great lengths to avoid such casualties and have blamed the Taliban and other insurgents for hiding among innocent people.
"President Karzai was able to see first hand the professionalism demonstrated by our personnel and gain a better understanding of how we do operations," U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said in a statement released Friday.
Gortney, head of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, who accompanied Karzai on the visit, said the Afghan leader had not raised his concerns about the air strikes.
"He was there ... fact-finding and quite frankly was very grateful for our support," Gortney told reporters travelling with visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates at his headquarters in Bahrain.
(Reporting by Frederik Richter and Andrew Gray; Editing by Louise Ireland)
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnTRE4BB685.html
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Japan Sends Officials To Somalia's Neighbors To Tackle Piracy
Thursday December 11st, 2008 / 10h02
TOKYO (AFP)--Japan's coast guard said Thursday it was sending officials to Somalia's neighbors to help tackle rampant piracy as rising unrest causes headaches for the shipping industry.
The three officials will head to Yemen and Oman from Friday through December 19 "to support training of coast guards there and to get information on what further support they need from us," Japan Coast Guard spokesman Takashi Matsumori said.
It is the first time the Japan Coast Guard has sent officials to the region, although it has conducted joint drills with Southeast Asian countries to fight piracy in the Malacca Strait.
Lobbyists for Japan's maritime industry have urged the country to follow the lead of European states and help patrol the troubled waters off Somalia.
But such an operation will not be easy for Japan as it has been officially pacifist since World War II. The government would need to approve legislation to allow such a mission.
"We have studied the possibility of sending a patrol boat to countries near Somalia but gave up after considering the long distance from Japan and difficulties in working with foreign military organizations," Matsumori said.
Pirates have seized dozens of ships, some owned by Japan, off Somalia this year. The ships are sometimes held for weeks and generally released after governments or owners pay large ransoms.
Some Japanese ships have taken a route around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Red Sea, dealing a major financial burden amid the global financial crisis.
Somalia has been without an effective central authority since 1991, when the ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre set off a deadly power struggle that has defied more than a dozen peace initiatives.
Thursday December 11st, 2008 / 10h02 Source : Dowjones Business News
http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/japan-sends-officials-to-somalia-s-neighbors-to-tackle-577654
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Experts debate China's role in Somalia mission
By Zhang Haizhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-12 07:44
Chinese military strategists and international relations experts are debating whether China should dispatch its navy to the troubled waters off Somalia.
The debate was first kicked off by Major-General Jin Yinan of the National Defense University, when he told a radio station last week that "nobody should be shocked" if the Chinese government one day decides to send navy ships to deal with the pirates.
The general's views came after two Chinese ships - a fishing vessel and a Hong Kong-flag ship with 25 crew aboard - were seized by Somali pirates in mid Nov.
Jin gave no sign that such a naval mission was under immediate consideration, but he said China's growing influence has made it likely that the government might use its forces in security operations far from home.
"I believe the Chinese navy should send naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden to carry out anti-piracy duties," he said. "If one day, the Chinese navy sends ships to deal with pirates, nobody should be shocked."
"With China being a major world economy, it's very difficult to say that security problems across the world have nothing to do with us," Jin said.
While the military strategist is urging an active deployment, other scholars think the government should be cautious before a decision is made.
The Chinese military vessels should go there "only within the UN framework," said Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations with Renmin University of China.
Since July, the UN has adopted three resolutions urging the international community to respond to the piracy problem off Somalia; the EU started an anti-piracy mission earlier this week in response to the UN resolution.
"Non-intervention is the principle of China's foreign policy, which has not changed," Pang said. However, China is trying to "play a more constructive and responsible role in international conflicts and other crises," he said.
"China is now trying to balance its old principle and the new reality," he added.
China has never dispatched any troops for combat missions overseas. The Chinese army personnel joining UN peacekeeping missions are engineering and medical staff, or police, apart from peacekeepers.
"Non-intervention is in the process of slow change," Pang said, adding China is trying to cooperate with international organizations such as the UN and the African Union (AU) in solving regional and international conflicts, Pang said.
Pang added that he also had some concerns over the Chinese navy's capability.
"I don't think the Chinese navy has the capacity to counter unconventional threats far in the ocean," he said, adding supplying and refueling in the Indian Ocean are key challenges.
However, some military strategists do not agree.
Professor Li Jie, a navy researcher, said the Chinese navy has proved that it is capable of such missions.
In 2002, two Chinese vessels spent four months on a global tour, the country's first.
"Also, the UN resolutions mean that such deployment is legitimate," Li said, noting that rampant piracy is a problem not only for other countries, but also for China.
"I think we should go there," he added, acknowledging that command and communication will be challenges for such multi-national missions.
"But the mission can also be good training for the Chinese navy," he said.
However, Professor Jin Canrong of Renmin University told China Daily: "I think we should not dispatch navy ships there unless we have to do so."
Sending naval vessels to the waters off Somalia may raise some concerns and provide ammunition to "China threat" demagogues, he said.
Instead, joining a prospective UN peacekeeping force is a better choice.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-12/12/content_7297675.htm
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US navy would go after pirates if they could be tried
1 day ago
MANAMA (AFP) — The US Navy would go after pirates off Somalia if the international community came up with a process for holding and trying them as criminals, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet said on Friday.
"We would follow the same manner we use down in the Gulf of Mexico in our counter-drug efforts. It's a matter of surveillance, focused surveillance and rapid action," said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney.
But without an internationally recognised legal process for trying pirates, navies have had little choice but to release those captured, Gortney told reporters in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
At least 17 ships are now held by Somali pirates, including an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel and a Saudi-owned super-tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
US and other navies have appeared helpless in the face of a wave of seizures of ships and hostages on the high seas by Somali pirates who have then ransomed them off.
It has not been for lack of authority to act, Gortney acknowledged, noting that the UN Security Council has extended a resolution allowing navies to take action against piracy off Somalia.
"I don't need any authorities for offensive actions against the pirates. I have all I ned," he said.
"If I see a piracy event, I can engage, I can pursue, as long as I maintain positive identification on the vessel that is doing the piracy, and I can engage with lethal fire," he said.
"The problem is once I take them, and they are alive, I don't have any place to take them and hold them accountable for their action."
Since the surge in piracy in August, warships have disrupted more than 50 pirate attacks and destroyed their paraphranalia, he said.
"We've thrown over a lot of AK-47s (automatic assault rifles) and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and sunk a lot of skiffs out there," he said.
But in most instances those captured have later been released because there are no authorities in Somalia to take custody of them and put them on trial.
Gortney rejected direct attacks on pirate camps in Somalia as a solution because of the risk of killing innocent civilians or causing other collateral damage.
"I see people trying to look for an easy military solution to a problem that demands a non-kinetic solution," he said.
"If you are going to do kinetic strikes into the pirate camps the positive ID and the collateral damage cannot be overestimated. It's very difficult. They are irregulars, they don't wear uniforms," he said.
Gortney said he sees "some movement" internationally on tackling the adjudication issue internationally, and more countries are sending ships to patrol the sea lanes off Somalia.
In addition, some shipping companies have begun posting security detachments on their vessels and taken other defensive measures, which the admiral said was another key to thwarting piracy.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRvwGU__P8-s2M-gvtEsK6yA-phQ
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Mali hosts anti-al-Qaida exercises
TIMBUKTU, Mali, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. military is training the modest forces of the West African nation of Mali to counter al-Qaida terrorists hiding in its vast deserts, observers say.
U.S. Green Berets took part in an exercise in Mali recently as part of a wide-ranging plan to conduct counterterrorism training outside the Middle East, including a five-year, $500 million partnership with Algeria, Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Mali has only 10,000 people in its military and other security forces and needs to keep track of as many as 200 members of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a group that uses the northern Malian desert as a staging area and base of operations, officials say.
"Mali does not have the means to control its borders without the cooperation of the United States," Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former prime minister, told the Times.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/13/Mali_hosts_anti-al-Qaida_exercises/UPI-68881229202160/
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Middle East shipping 'riding out' the storm
One of the Middle East's leading maritime business leaders today expressed confidence that the region's shipping industry is riding out the global economic storm.
United Arab Emirates: 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
'I don't see any immediate impact of the global economic crisis on the region's maritime industry,' said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World - owners of DP World - as well as Chairman of Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Nakheel, and Dubai Waterfront Company.
'There is still heavy demand for cargo operations - both importing and exporting - between the region and the rest of the world,' said bin Sulayem after officially opening Seatrade Middle East Maritime, which has attracted international and regional shipping operators, financiers and suppliers to assess the impact of the global downturn.
Speaking after touring the exhibition, he described Seatrade Middle East Maritime as one of the world's fastest-growing events of its kind as well as one of the global industry's largest. 'The large number of companies participating in this event reflects the importance of the maritime sector in the United Arab Emirates and the region,' he added.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime, which runs until 16 December, is under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai. The Dubai event is held every two years and is ranked among the industry's top 10 largest.
A total of 313 companies from 33 countries are exhibiting at Seatrade Middle East Maritime. More than 500 delegates are also attending associated conferences including Money and Ships, the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Conference and Superyacht Solutions.
Christopher Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, the event organisers, said:
'The Dubai World chairman (bin Sulayem) is right to emphasis that this region has an important place in world shipping.'
'The Arabian Gulf is one of the most active international maritime centres and while it has always been pivotal in global energy-related transport, more recent economic growth has driven record volumes of containers and increasing bulk cargo. Strategies may need to be adjusted for the new financial era we are entering but the maritime industry will continue to be the lifeline of the regional business community,' he added.
With vessel hijacking on the increase off the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden, a special evening session of the Money and Ships conference will take place on 15th December. The session includes speakers from the security industry, legal advisors, tanker operators and seafarer organisations. Further issues to be debated include fuel, emissions and green technology; the challenge of manning; regional port and trade development; along with shipbuilding and repair.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008 is the largest maritime event of its kind in the region with a record number of exhibitors and stands. National pavilions include China, France, Germany, Holland, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Principal sponsors of Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008 include Det Norske Veritas, GEM, Dubai Maritime City Authority, NITC and Gulf Marine. Other sponsors are: ABS, BP Marine, ClassNK, Drydocks World, Emarat Maritime, Ince Al Jallaf & Co, Lloyd's Register, Topaz Energy & Marine, Rais Hassan Saadi Group, SAIFEE Trading, Royal Caribbean Cruises Line, Cloud Cruises and the Ministry of Tourism for the Sultanate of Oman.
The event is supported by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, DP World, Dubai Shipping Agents Association, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, the International Association of Ports and Harbours, the Nautical Institute, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, ImarEST, the UAE Ship Owners Association and the Supply Chain & Logistics Group.
http://www.ameinfo.com/178597.html
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How do you tackle piracy?
By Frank Gardner
BBC security correspondent, Bahrain
On the tranquil island state of Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the US Navy's powerful 5th Fleet, defence ministers, admirals and officials from 25 countries have gathered to discuss, amongst other regional problems, the thorny issue of Somali pirates.
Over the past year, delegates were told, there had been a 300% increase in attempted and actual attacks on shipping in the region, with 17 ships and around 300 crew members currently being held for ransom off the Somalia coast.
In a keynote speech on Saturday the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, called on commercial shipping companies to do more to protect their vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden or sailing past the Horn of Africa.
Instead of stopping when challenged by pirates, he said, they should accelerate and pull up their ladders as there had been plenty of recent instances of ships outmanoeuvring the pirates.
He also suggested that another possible preventative measure could be to post armed guards onboard, but shipping sources in London were quick to dismiss this as impractical.
A leading maritime lawyer told the BBC that if insurers could prove that an armed clash with pirates constituted "unlawful use of weapons at sea" then the insurance company would be unlikely to pay up for any damage or loss of the ship and its cargo.
No shipping company, said the lawyer, would want that.
One option under discussion here in the Gulf is possible military action against pirate bases on land, since nearly everyone agreed that tackling pirates at sea is only dealing with the symptoms of the problem, not the root cause.
The US is sponsoring a draft UN Security Council resolution that would authorise - with permission from the weak Somali government - attacks on pirate land bases.
But while Mr Gates said he believed that the problem came from two or three extended Somali clans, the US did not yet have enough intelligence on which individuals were involved to go after them without causing civilian casualties.
The one thing that had been established, said US naval officers, was that there was no connection between piracy and terrorism.
Consequences
If that changed, they said, then the rules of engagement were likely to become a lot more robust.
Britain's Defence Secretary John Hutton added his own views on piracy, telling the BBC in an interview that the world was paying a price for ignoring Somalia's descent into lawlessness and that piracy was the result.
He said the nature of the threat had changed dramatically over the last 12 months and that the problem stemmed from the pirates' bases on land.
"We haven't been as involved in Somalia as we should have been. This is the consequence.
"It could get worse unless we try and resolve this problem with our regional partners and friends and allies around the world. The piracy is a manifestation of failed states.
"It could take other manifestations: terrorism, drugs, people trafficking and so on. We cannot allow these remote parts of the world to descend into this type of chaos."
International prison?
Finally, there is the question of how to prosecute those accused of piracy.
Senior naval officers from the US, France and other nations agreed here that there was an urgent need to establish an international legal framework for prosecution.
Currently navies are reluctant to arrest alleged pirates as in most cases there was nowhere to take them to stand trial.
What was needed, said some officers, was an international court, backed by the UN, with perhaps even an international prison for those convicted.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7782016.stm
Published: 2008/12/13 21:18:48 GMT
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Strong Somalia needed to defeat pirates: France
5 hours ago
MANAMA (AFP) — Piracy in the Gulf of Aden will only be defeated by a strong government in Somalia, the commander of the French naval operation in the Indian Ocean said on Sunday.
"We will not end this phenomenon unless we have a Somali government that has the means to act on its territory to fight piracy," Vice-Admiral Gerard Valin said on the sidelines of a regional security conference in the Bahraini capital.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Sunday announced he had sacked Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and his government, in the latest development in their power struggle.
Valin also hailed the European Union naval mission in the Gulf of Aden as a major step in battling the surge in attacks and hijackings by ransom-hunting Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, a crucial maritime trade route.
"It is really a leap forward, since this is the first time that a coalition has been formed with the mission of fighting piracy," he told AFP.
The EU mission Atalante, a coalition that groups eight EU countries, began operations off the coast of Somalia on December 8 to try to stem the growing piracy, including the hijacking of a Saudi super tanker last month.
Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members.
The EU and NATO have dispatched naval forces to the region, joining an already existing 16-country coalition and other national navies, but increasingly bold and well-equipped pirates have continued their attacks.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jWOS9-VuXvqeUsAWA0q-f6NJeqPQ
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Intelligence key to fighting pirates
A LACK of intelligence gathering is hampering efforts to combat the increasing problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia, a top US official warned yesterday.
Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said only by gathering more information about those responsible for the wave of attacks and hijackings of vessels would coalition forces be able to bring the situation under control.
"The need for increasing maritime security has been highlighted by the recent high-profile acts of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden," he told delegates attending the second day of the Manama Dialogue security conference.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Joseph Burns on the sidelines of the forum yesterday and reviewed the progress of bilateral relations at all levels.
They affirmed the importance of overcoming crises through dialogue. The Premier stressed the importance of dialogues and forums in achieving security and stability in the world.
Mr Gates, in his speech, dwelled on the global effects of terrorism. He said: "As with terrorism, piracy is a problem that has serious international implications and should be of particular concern to any country that depends on the sea for commerce.
"I have read that there are two or three families or clans in Somalia that account for a substantial amount of this piracy.
"With the level of information we have now, we are not in a position to do that kind of attack on a land-based source of piracy.
"If we can identify who those clans are then we can potentially target them under the auspices of the United Nations and do so in a way that minimises hurting innocent people."
Mr Gates said vessels could also better protect themselves by taking simple passive defensive measures such as speeding up if pirates try to board their ship and pulling up their ladders to deny them access.
"Given the vast coastal areas of Somalia and Kenya - more than a million square miles - there are limits to patrolling alone," he said.
"Members of the international community must work together to aggressively pursue and deter piracy.
"Companies and ships must be more vigilant about staying in recommended traffic corridors and should consider increasing their security personnel and non-lethal defence capabilities."
He made the comments on the second day of the conference, which is being attended by prime ministers, national security advisers, intelligence chiefs and military officials from around the world.
Delegations from 25 countries are attending the event, which concludes at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa today.
It has been organised by the UK-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as a forum where delegates in regional security can meet to discuss key issues.
Mr Gates warned that US adversaries would be "sorely mistaken" to test Barack Obama's resolve in the Gulf as Iran shunned a regional security conference.
"Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to 'test' the new administration would be sorely mistaken," he said.
"The president-elect and his team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the US, and our friends and allies, the moment he takes office on January 20," he said.
"I bring from President-elect Obama a message of continuity and commitment to our friends and partners in the region," he said.
He signalled that he remains concerned about Iraq's long-term stability and Iran's attempts to influence the government in Baghdad.
Mr Gates said a new agreement governing the US military presence in Iraq through the end of 2011 marks "the dawn of a new era in Iraq - where a sovereign, independent and representative government has finally taken root".
Whether Iraq plays a constructive role in the region depends in part on whether Arab states act to support its government, treating it as an equal and inviting it to take part in regional economic and political forums, Gates said.
Speaking during the first plenary session, Mr Gates criticised Iran for "meddling" in Iraq and undermining peace and stability.
"It is clear that Iran has this year tested long-range missiles that could hit any country in the Middle East," he said.
"At the same time Iran has continued with its nuclear programme that is almost assuredly geared towards developing nuclear weapons.
"The last thing this region or the world needs is a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."
Mr Gates also called for more European Union involvement in Afghanistan to help train its police and security forces and offer financial assistance to build up medical, education and road infrastructure.
However, Britain's Defence Secretary John Hutton said the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan don't pose a strategic threat to the government in Kabul and international forces deployed in the country.
He said the only tactic of the Taliban and Al Qaeda is to "outlast us" in Afghanistan.
Given the "risk and danger" Afghanistan would pose if those forces were to gain control, "we better make it our business" they don't succeed, Mr Hutton said yesterday.
There's a need for more security in Afghanistan, he added, but said there were no plans yet to increase Britain's troop level from the current 8,400.
Mr Hutton was speaking on the sidelines of the conference.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=237661&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31269
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Vulnerable vessels may get EU armed guards
David Osler - Thursday 11 December 2008
THE European Union’s EU Navfor counterpiracy taskforce will in some circumstances provide free armed guards to protect vulnerable merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, as part of its response to the explosion in piracy close to Somalia.
Sources at the mission stressed that World Food Programme ships would have first call on resources, and that the offer - which will work to the obvious disadvantage of commercial security concerns - will not be extended to all applicants. Operators should continue to explore non-lethal self-protection methods, they argued strongly.
A representative said that cover from so-called ‘vessel protection detachments’ would only be extended where a vessel’s owner and flag state wanted this to happen.
“Vessel protection detachments have a variety of things that they can do to combat piracy. It doesn’t start with force, there are tactics and things they can advise masters to do to avoid being attacked,” he stated.
“How we go about this, what we decide is vulnerable shipping and whether or not shipowners want us to help them in that way is a matter for discussion... We are not sticking a whole load of armed guards on every vessel that goes through [the Gulf of Aden].”
Military forces will be from across EU Navfor, and will not charge for their services, he added.
Peter Hinchliffe, head of security at the Chamber of Shipping, pointed out that France has informally offered armed guards for several months, as part of its loose escorting arrangements for groups of ships.
“One of the options that was available was to ask the French, by prior agreement, to put a handful of armed guards on board. It was open to those who asked for it, on a clear order of priority. The French came first, then Europe, then others.”
A number of operators availed themselves of the option, Mr Hinchliffe confirmed, and he described what EU Navor is doing as a continuation of the French policy.
One leading private security concern welcomed the EU Navfor move. Chris Austen of Maritime & Underwater Security Consultants, an ex-Royal Navy man, commented: “I’m very happy with this. It is the job of armed forces to provide armed intervention.”
Meanwhile, there are reports that the US has circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, explicitly authorising action against Somali pirates on land and in Somalian airspace, in what is being hailed as probably the last major foreign policy initiative of the outgoing administration of George W. Bush.
The resolution is likely to tabled on Tuesday next week by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and is said to argue that nations “may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to otherwise prevent those activities.”
The move comes after the Security Council earlier this month extended authorisation for naval units to enter Somali waters with advance notice and to use “all necessary means” to tackle piracy.
However, it is already being suggested that Russia and China will prevent the resolution from being carried.
http://lloydslist.com/ll/news/vulnerable-vessels-may-get-eu-armed-guards/20017599358.htm
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Armed guards on ships could raise liability issues
David Osler - Friday 12 December 2008
A Dutch special forces stands guard near the bridge of a vessel.
PUTTING European Union military guards on vulnerable vessels in the piracy-prone Gulf of Aden may raise knotty liability problems from an insurance viewpoint, shipping sources have warned.
While their presence in itself probably would not automatically invalidate cover, the question of whether the owner is acting as a ‘prudent uninsured’ in allowing them onto his ship may arise, according to one expert. Moreover, injury or death to armed forces personnel is not covered by typical war risk policies, he added.
Meanwhile, an EU Navfor naval mission official told Lloyd’s List that at present there are no plans to follow an earlier French navy lead and make shipowners availing themselves of guards sign a contract releasing the military from almost all potential liabilities.
However, specialists stressed that even if EU protection is on a non-contractual basis, shipowners still need to check out their position with their P&I clubs.
France for some time operated loose escort arrangements in the region, and until recently provided armed guards to merchant shipping, with priority given to French vessels, followed by other EU vessels, and then those from the rest of the world.
Many companies, mainly French, took the offer up, even though shipowner grouping BIMCO advised that the strict wording of the contracts meant that this should only be done as a last resort.
Partly as a result, France then drew up a rewritten contract with less stringent terms. The facility has since been withdrawn, with the French contribution now directed through EU Navfor.
EU Navfor is prioritising guards for World Food Programme ships, but has said that in principle and subject to availability, military personnel will be available to vulnerable vessels free of charge, if certain stipulations including flag state agreement are met.
One shipping security specialist said: “When the French did this, we were particularly concerned about the contracts that were being forced upon the owner or the charterer or the master, which released the French military from all liability, and indeed, demanded returns from whoever signed the document should there be any casualties to the French forces.”
He added that although EU Navfor has verbally confirmed its plans, they have not been made explicit in any of the written material circulated to shipping interests.
Another expert added: “Our advice is what it always is; companies have to make their own risk assessment, based on prevailing circumstances on their ship and then decide what is the most appropriate thing to do.
“I know that some companies used the French offer, and clearly it is much more acceptable to take on board military personnel than hire in guards, if you have absolutely no idea whether they are any good or not.”
A war risks underwriter for a mutual commented: “If armed guards are on board, there are potentially quite serious insurance implications. Certain flag states prohibit weapons being carried on board ships as well.”
Cover would not automatically be invalidated, he believed, and shipowners resorting to armed guards may well argue that in so doing, they are simply acting as prudent uninsureds.
“An underwriter could say, well, we think you are not acting as a prudent uninsured and there would be potential implications on cover... There may be impacts on any potential claims recoveries.”
War risk insurers cover crew members killed or injured in pirate incidents. However, armed guards are not considered part of the crew of a ship.
“If you have armed guards on board, the threat escalates. There’s more likely to be a claim. I do not see many insurers particularly wanting increased exposure. We wouldn’t be covering them, absent any special agreement to do so.”
http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/viewArticle.htm?articleId=20017599815&src=rss
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Stormy waters for moving freight
By James Melik
BBC World Service business reporter
The cost of hiring a ship to move freight around the world has fallen by a staggering 99% in the past six months.
In early June, renting a bulk carrier to transport coal or iron ore would have cost $235,000 a day, whereas now it is barely $2,000.
That brings the Baltic Exchange's sea-freight index, known as the Baltic dry index, to its lowest level since 1986.
Peter Norfolk, a director at the London brokers Simpson Spence and Young, explained to BBC World Service's Business Daily that hiring a ship was a complex matter, with companies hiring and then re-hiring to third and fourth parties.
"You might rent a vessel for $100,000 a day for two or three years," he says, "and then hire it out at "$120,000 a day."
Unable to hire them out at a profit, some companies are returning their ships early.
Ship owners are now having to lay up their vessels and, apart from a skeletal crew to manage essential electrical and mechanical maintenance, other crew members are being made redundant.
China's crucial role
The collapse in price had been greatest for the biggest ships - called the Cape-size carriers, because they are too big for the Suez Canal and have to go round Cape Horn between Europe and China.
Part of the reversal has been caused by the change in the steel industry, which in the first part of the year was still growing by about 6% annually but which is now experiencing negative growth.
"For the past five years we have seen a very strong demand for industrial commodities which supported the shipping industry, but all of a sudden the situation has been reversed," says Peter Norfolk.
More than 50% of all bulk cargoes are related to the steel industry, which reflects the fundamental economic growth of most nations.
Grains are also transported by bulk carriers and countries such as China rely on imports to feed its population.
It ought to be good news for the consumer as the cost of shipping goods around the world decreases, but Peter Norfolk warns that if people can't afford to ship goods then there will be an impact on trade.
"This market relies so much on the Chinese economy", he says, "so unless there is some rebound in demand there is unlikely to be much improvement.
Relative calm
Although the market for container shipping has weakened due to the collapse in demand from Europe and America for Asian goods it remains, for the time being, a comparatively healthy sector.
At the end of September, there were 4.600 container ships moving around the world whilst only 80 were at anchorage.
However, the world's second largest container manufacturer, Singamas, says it is operating at 60% of its normal level due to the slowdown in Chinese exports.
Meanwhile, companies which have invested in shipyards to build vessels are now facing question marks over their financial viability and many of them are having to reconsider their strategy.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7777507.stm?ad=1
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Blackbeard Apt to be Al Qaeda Operative with Global Objectives
Published Dec 12, 2008, by ■ Carol Forsloff
If terrorists like Al Qaeda are planning a high profile attack, it may come this time not from the skies but from the oceans of the world.
For 300 years since his death, the pirate Blackbeard has fascinated people. These days Blackbeard is apt to be more than a local worry. If terrorists like Al Qaeda are planning a high profile attack, it may come this time not from the skies but from the oceans of the world. Indeed while world attention is being given to airlines and trains and protecting citizens from biological attack, piracy, that age-old means of taking power in strategic areas, creating fear and blockading the shipment of supplies, may end up being that major attack that Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant, says could happen any time. By taking over the high seas, terrorists could create worldwide chaos that would be exacerbated by the deepening recession gripping countries everywhere.
Somali pirates have reached headline news status with their bold attacks on oil-bearing vessels and even cruise ships, including a recent one profiled as able to out-maneuver and speed away in order to avoid capture. But across the world, the boldness and desperation of the Somalis, who are largely Muslim, may be only just the proverbial tip of the iceberg that may sink the economies of the free world and then some. In fact evidence suggests that we are headed toward that iceberg and may suffer like the Titanic with not enough lifeboats for all the people seeking safety or rescue.
Piracy has been an ongoing problem throughout much of world history, ever since man learned he could float a boat, get from one place to another, and gain dominance over something or someone. Julius Caesar, it has been said, was a victim, and although Romans swiftly punished his captors and gained Caesars release, the problem of piracy continues. Now it is the Muslims, who have the longest history with piracy and virtually invented it, who are front and center all over the world and potentially planning to dominate the oceans. These modern corsairs can be ruthless, as modern history and experience with Somali pirates suggests.
On the chess board of the world, attack points for terrorists include the Strait of Hormuz leading out of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Malacca which links the Indian and Pacific Oceans,the Bab ed-Mandab passage from the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, the Panama Canal and the Panama Pipeline that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Sumed Pipeline connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Turkish Straits Bosporus linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, a major area for shipping for countries throughout the world.
Recent history shows that Al Qaeda is interested in attacking shipping and their attacks on key cities around the world reveal that they think globally. Their planned inclusion of the world’s oceans in the Global War on Terror was demonstrated by the failed attack on the USS the Sullivans as well as the successful one on the USS Cole in 2000, which was a clarion call for action before the bombing of the World Trade Towers.
The Long War Journal an article entitled “Of Pirates and Terrorists”, described what Muslim pirates might do about the Panama Canal where Al Qaeda has allegedly been making plans to establish a base and begin full piracy operations. It is thought also that terrorists are considering hijacking a ship, wiring it with explosives, and aiming it at other vessels headed towards a major port in some congested sea route area such as Indonesia or even the Port of Panama.
Perhaps Barack Obama, with his noted world vision and early experience in Indonesia, is already thinking globally about piracy and the security and welfare of the United States with regard to terrorism from the seas. It appears that the world must hope that Obama and the other leaders of the free world will note the seriousness of the problem of piracy and are preparing to prevent a major attack on the high seas or simultaneous blockades of strategic ocean channels before it is too late.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263422
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Somalia - UN Opposition To Punishing Pirates
December 12, 2008: Violence continues in Mogadishu, as pro and anti-Islamic radical clans fight for control of the city. At least one large group of pro-Islamic radical (Shebab) gunmen is wandering around central Somalia, raiding towns controlled by anti-Islamic radical clans.
Uganda and Burundi want to withdraw their peacekeeping troops from Mogadishu as soon as possible. The UN has been unable to obtain additional peacekeepers to replace the 2,000 Ethiopians that will withdraw by next month, and the 3,400 Ugandan and Burundi troops do not want to be left in the chaotic city all by themselves. Meanwhile, the Transitional National Government (TNG) has largely fallen apart. After several years of effort, and international support (especially from southern neighbor Kenya) the TNG has lost most (at least 80 percent) of the 15,000 soldiers and police that foreign aid paid to equip and train. The men have gone back to their clans and warlords, taking their uniforms and weapons with them.
Kenya has agreed to accept, and prosecute, pirates arrested off the coast of Somalia. The pirates will be tried under Kenyan law, but foreign countries will provide money to help pay for the proceedings.
December 11, 2008: The U.S. is proposing that the UN authorize members to "take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia" to deal with the pirates. Many African, and Arab, UN members oppose such a blanket permission, fearing it would lead to many Somali civilian casualties.
December 10, 2008: Somali pirates seized two Yemeni fishing ships, and 17 crew members. But seven fishermen escaped in a small boat to report the seizures off the Yemeni coast, near the port of Aden.
December 6, 2008: Islamic radical (Shebab) raided the town of 370 kilometers north of Mogadishu. There were several dozen casualties. Meanwhile, Somali pirates continue to operate far into the Indian ocean, as two speed boats tried, and failed to take a large container ship 800 kilometers off the coast of Tanzania (which is south of Somalia's southern neighbor Kenya). This is apparently the same gang that seized a Saudi oil tanker last month. The two speed boats were towed by a larger mother ship, which is patrolling the sea lanes for ships too large for the Suez canal, and that must go around South Africa. The crew of the container ship could see the mother ship, a large fishing boat, in the distance.
December 5, 2008: A Danish warship rescued seven men found drifting in the Gulf of Aden in a speedboat with a broken outboard engine. The seven were armed with AK-47s and RPGs. These were confiscated and the speedboat was sunk. The men were obviously pirates, but because they were not attacking anyone when the Danes found them, the Danes could not arrest them. The seven pirates were handed over to the Yemeni coast guard, which probably means these Somalis are out of the piracy business for good.
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/somalia/articles/20081212.aspx
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UN Army Under Attack
December 14, 2008: The UN's peacekeeping army of 112,000 troops, is falling apart. Corruption, casualties and lack of success are discouraging countries from contributing their troops. The corruption angle is interesting, as it pertains both to the corruption within the UN bureaucracy, and the corrupt atmosphere the peacekeepers operate in, and often succumb to. Casualties are expected, but the contributing countries feel a lot of their troop losses are the result of restrictive UN rules that limit what peacekeepers can do. This, in turn, is believed most responsible for a lack of success for the peacekeeping missions.
For some time, most of the peacekeeping troops have come from India and Pakistan. These two nations are not happy with the lack of volunteers from other major nations. The chief reasons for that are the same ones annoying the current peacekeepers (corruption and restrictive rules of engagement). In addition, the major military powers (with the exception of China and Russia) feel they already contribute quite a lot in the form of money to pay the peacekeepers. And the contributors are also upset at the lack of results.
The UN will spend about $7 billion on fifteen peacekeeping operations this year. This pays for a force of over 112,000 troops and support staff. It's actually a pretty cheap way of keeping some conflicts under control. The causes of the unrest may not be resolved by peacekeepers, but at least the problem is contained and doesn't bother the rest of the world too much. This is an increasingly unpopular approach to peacekeeping, except in the UN bureaucracy. Many UN members would rather send peacekeepers to where they are not wanted (by the government, usually a bad one, that is often the cause of the trouble in the first place.)
Most of the money is going to a few large peacekeeping operations. Three of the largest get over half the cash. Thus the Congo operations get 17.5 percent of the money, Darfur (western Sudan) gets 22 percent and southern Sudan gets 12 percent. Africa has the largest number of "failed states" on the planet and, as such, is most in need of outside security assistance. The Middle East is also a source of much unrest. But there the problem isn't a lack of government, just bad government. Most Middle Eastern nations are run by tyrants, who have created police states that at least keep anarchy at bay.
To further complicate matters, religion has become a touchy subject. While Islamic radicalism is more of a problem to fellow Moslems than it is to infidels (non-Moslems), most Middle Eastern governments avoid blaming Islam for these problems. Since it's increasing difficult to pin the blame on "colonialism" or "crusaders," the Middle Eastern nations encourage other UN members to just stay away from the religious angle altogether. This has made it difficult to deal with peacekeeping issues in Moslem nations, since religion usually plays a part in creating the problem. To the UN, this is just another diplomatic problem to be dealt with, not very well.
But overall, the troops and money that keep all the peacekeeping going are in danger of fading away. Frantic diplomacy is underway by the UN to try and makes things all better, but success is not assured.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20081214.aspx
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Rehab For Elderly Tomahawks
December 13, 2008: The U.S. Navy is refurbishing 165 older Tomahawk land attack missiles, for continued use in ships and submarines. These missiles are built to have a long shelf life, but once they get older, they have to be refurbished to insure reliability. It will cost about $206,000 for each missile (including 32 British Tomahawks). More recent models of the Tomahawk are equipped with sensors that report the status of many components, enabling missiles to be kept in shape with periodic maintenance and replacement of failing components. This would not eliminate refurbishment, but would make the process less frequent and cheaper.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20081213.aspx
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Regards
Snooper
NNNN
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