Pirates Of The Horn Of Africa

WRITTEN BY Francesco Fornari

A Business Worth 50 Million Dollars

80 ships were seized in 2008, hundreds of hostages taken in the pirate attacks

Nur is a common name, but it is just as likely that it is not his real name; he has been living for some time on the coast of Kenya near Lamu, one of the last standing examples of Islamic architecture, not far from the Somali border.

He is a little over forty years old, he speaks broken English and is constantly chewing on “khat,” leaves from a plant that grows in some areas of Kenya and Ethiopia which cause a mild state of euphoria and are commonly used in Somalia.

The Responsibility to Protect: Whom from What?

WRITTEN BY Edward Luck

Undoubtedly the responsibility to protect is a hot item. Endorsed and explained in two detailed paragraphs (138 and 139) of the unanimously adopted Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit, it has since been reaffirmed by the General Assembly (resolution 60/1) and the Security Council (resolutions 1674 (2006) and 1706 (2006)), and the subject of a major speech (SG/SM/11701) and a major report (A/63/677) of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

A bleak year for piracy

WRITTEN BY Captain Pottengal Mukundan

Unprecedented rise in maritime hijackings

2008 has been a bleak year for piracy. The figures of the annual report we have released surpass all figures for hijacked vessels and hostages taken recorded by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) since it began its worldwide reporting function in 1992. In 2008 there was a total of 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide, showing an increase of more than 11% from 2007 when 263 incidents were reported. In 2008, 49 vessels were hijacked, 889 crewmembers were taken hostage and a further 46 vessels reported being fired upon. A total, of 32 crewmembers were injured, 11 were killed, 21 went missing and are presumed dead. Guns were used in 139 incidents (in 2007 they were just 72).

Intelligence in the Fight Against Piracy

WRITTEN BY Hans Tino Hansen, Karsten von Hoesslin

With one of Africa’s longest coastlines stretching for 3300 kilometres, Somalia enjoys a strategic location in the Horn of Africa. Vital world trade flows around this failed state, torn from within by belligerent clans, warlords and Islamist jihadists. Despite this strategic location, Somalia is a fast changing entity whose unfolding events upset the international community. Getting reliable intelligence is difficult, but it is a crucial component to understanding Somalia’s security issues.

Media under attack in Somalia

WRITTEN BY Nicola Filizola

Interview with Omar Faruk

Freedom of speech and freedom of information in Somalia are under serious danger. Said Tahlil Ahmed, director of the independent HornAfrika Radio was brutally killed with a shot to the head in Mogadishu last 4 February. His name is already the second in the list of journalists who have been murdered in 2009. The reporter is only the last victim of a long series of assassinations, harassments, attacks and kidnappings that have been occurring in the country for the last couple of years.

See you in Mogadishu

WRITTEN BY Anna Mays, Francesco Candelari, Nicola Filizola

INTERVIEW with Mohamed Aden Sheikh

It was the month of November 1991. Mohamed Aden Sheikh, one of the most versatile Somali men and former representative of the Somali government, was publishing his first book in a Western country.

Countering the Spread of Nuclear Terrorism

WRITTEN BY Anita Nilsson

Terrorism in the modern world has renewed attention to security issues, prompting a profound re-thinking in the international approach to nuclear security. If we look back 10 years, at that time it was recognized that nuclear material had to be protected against theft. States were clearly in agreement on this issue and measures for the protection of nuclear material were adopted. Subsequently, nuclear facilities also became the object of international agreement. These agreements were incorporated into revisions to one of the IAEA’s standard reference document for nuclear security, INFCIRC/225, The Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and Nuclear Facilities.

Legal Disputes

WRITTEN BY United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Somalia is not party to any of the relevant international treaties and does not have any modern domestic legislation directly applicable to piracy or environmental protection. However, the countries currently providing naval forces to combat piracy at sea off Somalia are parties to one or more of the relevant treaties. In addition, neighboring countries such as Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen and Tanzania are also parties to some or all of these treaties, and these countries have enacted the legislation necessary to implement one or more of the treaties.

From land to Sea

WRITTEN BY Giuseppina Maddaluno, Giacomo Mascoli

An all-encompassing approach

Contemporary piracy is a booming criminal activity, not only because of its high profitability with an extremely positive cost-benefit balance for the perpetrators, but also due to the acute vulnerability of the targets, lack of awareness and specific countermeasures along with the highly underreported nature of the crime. Since the beginning of 2008 UNICRI started to develop the idea of a programme taking into account the Institute’s competences in crime prevention and knowledge management, and its expertise in the establishment of an effective public / private partnership to counter crime.

Iraqi Elections

WRITTEN BY Staffan de Mistura

INTERVIEW with Staffan de Mistura

In his last unscheduled visit to Iraq last 6th of February, UN’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Iraqi people for the largely violence-free elections and restated the UN’s commitment to the country. The results achieved by the post-Hussein system are important, but the way to go before Iraqi can claim genuine freedom and security is still very long and impervious. In terms of respect of the human rights, and social justice, the country is ranking low: the most recent UNANMI’s report covering the period 1 January – 30 June, 2008 highlights substantial improvements in security conditions, with a marked drop in violent, high-visibility, high-casualty attacks by militias or criminal gangs, but the human rights situation in the country still remains of concern.

What makes news newsworthy?

WRITTEN BY Tony White

NATO Standing Force in the Gulf of Aden

INTERVIEW with Tony White

In order to provide counter piracy support in the Gulf of Aden, and to ensure the delivery of the Humanitarian Aid intended to the territory of Somalia, NATO escorted World Food Program vessels off the coast of Somalia, from October to December 2008. This mission was assigned to the NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 and was acting under the name of Operation Allied provider. Following the request of the Secretary General of the United Nations on 25 September 2008, the operation took place in support of UNSC resolution 1814,1816, and 1838.

Insurance World

New coverage for new threats

Shipping companies report only a fraction of the actual cases for fear of their ships being impounded for long periods or because they simply do not want to pay the resultant higher insurance premiums. The last developments off the coast of the Horn of Africa, have triggered a veritable media frenzy. Clearly, piracy is not a new phenomenon. However, the frequency and scale of recent acts of piracy are a real cause for concern, especially those off the coast of Somalia, currently the most perilous waters in the world.

GIS & Satellite

WRITTEN BY Josh Lyons

Applications for Piracy-Monitoring

Without a central government, for nearly two decades the people of Somalia have had to cope with natural disasters, civil war and humanitarian crisis as best as they can, often resorting to informal and illegal economic activities for survival. Although the origins of Somali maritime piracy remain obscured, it is likely that this was a response of Somali fishermen to the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing within their territorial waters by foreign companies who sought to capitalize on the lack of a national coast guard in the 1990s.

Restorative justice

WRITTEN BY Lisa Rea, Theo Gavrielides

Restoring Victims and Communities

What do the following news stories have in common? The Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme responsible for the biggest corporate securities fraud in history, the Austrian rape and murder case of Josef Fritzi whose daughter was enslaved for 24 years, and the Irish Republican Army shooting two British soldiers and injuring four others in March 2009, breaking the peace outside Belfast?