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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Ethiopia sacks the president of Somali Region | Somalilandpress.com
AFRICA
Ethiopia sacks the president of Somali Region
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The Ethiopian federal government has sacked the president of the Somali regional state according to reports in the regional administrative capital Jigjiga.
The ouster of Abdi Mohamud Omar comes on the heels of growing local, regional and international accusations of widespread abuses in the region.
Mr Omar has been accused of torturing, killing and the disappearance of hundreds of Somali civilians in the restive region in eastern Ethiopia.
He is said to have been using the notorious and often lawless paramilitary Liyu Police and until recently no evidence of the abuses has reached the outside world. The Liyu police operate in the same manner as Sudan’s janjaweed militia who are said to be responsible for much of Darfur’s unrest.
Swedish Television released last month video evidence smuggled out of Ethiopia documenting and revealing gruesome human disaster of staggering proportions. Many villages in the Dagahbur district were leveled to the ground during 2010 operations.
This year the Liyu police also carried out summary detentions and execution of civilians in Gashaamo, Harshin and Baligubadle towns. Human right groups said, more than 50 civilians have been executed by the group led by Mr Omar.
The international court of justice has not so far issued a warrant for his arrest for his roles to known and well documented abuses despite new evidences.
According to reports in the region, the Ethiopian government equally plans to scrap up the Liyu Police militia and replace them with the regular federal army.
The exact motives behind the sacking of the Somali State premier is not clear but he was recently summed up to Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian government fears the growing anger over Abdi’s rule and his militia might further fuel reprisals and help create new armed groups in the conflict-ridden region. Since his appointment the conflict spread into new regions that was relatively stable prier to his appointment two years ago.
This is some what a damage control for the government under its new leadership. No one has been appointed so far but his deputy, Abdifatah Mohamud Hassan is the acting state regional president.
All the leaders of the region has been ousted by Addis Ababa even before completing their terms unlike the other federal states in Ethiopia.
The latest effort to bring the government and the rebel ONLF group to a round table collapsed last week in the Kenyan capital. The Ogaden group accused Addis Ababa of blocking negotiations by urging them to accept the Ethiopian federal constitution as precondition for further mediation.
Bordering Somalia and Somaliland, the Somali regional state is one of nine federal states in Ethiopia and is mainly inhabited by ethnic Somalis.
The footage below shows Abdi Mohamud Omar visiting villages where hundreds have gone missing just hours before and after his visit. People who spoke against his crimes have disappeared all together and relatives of the missing civilians have urged the international community to arrest Mr Omar. They say they deserve justices and their voice should be listened to like the people of Libya, Syria and South Sudan who for many years lived under repressive regimes.
Somalilandpress
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Somalia’s fishermen make a comeback - Somali Breaking News & Video Community
Somalia’s Fishermen Make A Comeback
Somalia’s fishermen have long struggled to make a living, in the face of piracy and illegal fishing by foreign trawlers. Increased demand for fresh fish is making the industry lucrative once more, but fishermen say they need more protection from the government. Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri reports from Mogadishu.
Somali pirates free ship after nearly 2 years - WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 -
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - A pirate commander in Somalia says that a cargo ship was freed after being held captive for nearly two years.
Hassan Abdi said Saturday that a $600,000 ransom was paid for the MV Orna on Friday. But he said six hostages are still being held by the pirates on land. Pirates shot and killed one of the ship's crew members in August over delayed ransom payments.
Abdi said that other ships towed the vessel away because it had run out of fuel.
The MV Orna, which is owned by a UAE company, was hijacked 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles in December 2010.
Indian Ocean pirate hijackings are down drastically this year thanks to improved on-board defenses, but pirates still hold six ships and some 170 crew members.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Hamburg Court Hands Down Somali Pirate Sentences - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Lasting 105 days, one of the longest trials in postwar German history ended on Friday with the judges sentencing 10 Somali pirates to between two and seven years each behind bars.
Prosecutors charged the men with attacking the MS Taipan in the Gulf of Aden, some 900 kilometers (560 miles) off the Somali coast, in April 2010.
The crew of the Taipan, which sailed under a German flag, fled to a secure room within the vessel and cut power to the engines. Dutch naval forces from an anti-piracy vessel boarded the container ship after its captain issued an SOS and overwhelmed the Somalis, who were handed over to German authorities several months later.
A Mild Verdict
The court found the 10 pirates guilty on charges of kidnapping and conducting an attack on maritime traffic.
The men's ages range from 19 to 50 but remain unverifiable, since they did not all know their exact date of birth.
"I was born under a tree," one of them had replied when asked about his place of birth.
The three youngest were given two-year sentences, while the other seven were given sentences of six to seven years.
The court ruling in Germany's first piracy trial in around 400 years will come as a disappointment to public prosecutors, who had called for sentences of six to 12 years for the seven oldest of the accused and four to five and a half years for the two youngest.
Their defense lawyers had variously argued for acquittals, reduced sentences and for the case to be dropped.
Critics also described the expensive, potentially precedent-setting trial as a waste of taxpayer money.
Roots of Piracy
At the opening of the trial, defense lawyers issued a joint statement saying the real cause of piracy in the region was political unrest in Somalia and over-fishing of its waters by Western nations.
In personal statements, the defendants appealed to the court for leniency, citing the humanitarian situation in Somalia. Millions in the wartorn country are threatened by acute food shortages and a lack of basic necessities.
"My home country has fallen apart," said one of the defendants through his interpreter. "I ask the judge to be fair."
The second to the last day of the trial, the defense lawyers declared that a case like this never should have been permitted to take place in Germany in the first place. "We are presuming here to apply law according to our German ideas on people whose living situations we cannot even begin to imagine," said Rainer Pohlen, the lawyer for the youngest defendant.
The court, however, disagreed, finding claims that the defendants had been coerced into the kidnappings to lack credibility. In the ruling, leading judge Bernd Steinmetz said the court had been "certain that all 10 defendants should be convicted." He said the pirates had hoped for a ransom payment of at least $1 million. Looking at the defendants, he said: "Each of you had been expecting a share, even if just a small one."
Representatives of German shipping companies supported the decision to try the Somali pirates in Hamburg. "Piracy is a crime, and criminals belong in court," Ralf Nagel, the head of the German shipowners' association (VDR). Nagel said that because the ship had German registry, the trial had to be held in Germany.
ANZEIGE
The crew of the Taipan, which sailed under a German flag, fled to a secure room within the vessel and cut power to the engines. Dutch naval forces from an anti-piracy vessel boarded the container ship after its captain issued an SOS and overwhelmed the Somalis, who were handed over to German authorities several months later.
A Mild Verdict
The court found the 10 pirates guilty on charges of kidnapping and conducting an attack on maritime traffic.
The men's ages range from 19 to 50 but remain unverifiable, since they did not all know their exact date of birth.
"I was born under a tree," one of them had replied when asked about his place of birth.
The three youngest were given two-year sentences, while the other seven were given sentences of six to seven years.
The court ruling in Germany's first piracy trial in around 400 years will come as a disappointment to public prosecutors, who had called for sentences of six to 12 years for the seven oldest of the accused and four to five and a half years for the two youngest.
Their defense lawyers had variously argued for acquittals, reduced sentences and for the case to be dropped.
Critics also described the expensive, potentially precedent-setting trial as a waste of taxpayer money.
Roots of Piracy
At the opening of the trial, defense lawyers issued a joint statement saying the real cause of piracy in the region was political unrest in Somalia and over-fishing of its waters by Western nations.
In personal statements, the defendants appealed to the court for leniency, citing the humanitarian situation in Somalia. Millions in the wartorn country are threatened by acute food shortages and a lack of basic necessities.
"My home country has fallen apart," said one of the defendants through his interpreter. "I ask the judge to be fair."
The second to the last day of the trial, the defense lawyers declared that a case like this never should have been permitted to take place in Germany in the first place. "We are presuming here to apply law according to our German ideas on people whose living situations we cannot even begin to imagine," said Rainer Pohlen, the lawyer for the youngest defendant.
The court, however, disagreed, finding claims that the defendants had been coerced into the kidnappings to lack credibility. In the ruling, leading judge Bernd Steinmetz said the court had been "certain that all 10 defendants should be convicted." He said the pirates had hoped for a ransom payment of at least $1 million. Looking at the defendants, he said: "Each of you had been expecting a share, even if just a small one."
Representatives of German shipping companies supported the decision to try the Somali pirates in Hamburg. "Piracy is a crime, and criminals belong in court," Ralf Nagel, the head of the German shipowners' association (VDR). Nagel said that because the ship had German registry, the trial had to be held in Germany.
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