New UN envoy hails Somaliland as ‘island of relative peace and stability’ in insecure region

On his first visit to Somaliland as head of UNSOM, Special Representative Nicholas Kay meets with President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo at his office in Hargeisa. Photo: AU-UN IST/S. Price

13 June 2013 – The new United Nations envoy for Somalia arrived today in Somaliland, which he said has remained “an island of relative peace and stability” and could provide lessons for peace consolidation throughout the wider region.

“We are…here to learn and to support initiatives that will lead to sustainable peace, stability and prosperity in Somalia and beyond,” said Nicholas Kay, head of the new UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) as he arrived in Hargeisa, Somaliland this morning.

In his first visit to the region since assuming his duties as head of the Mission on 3 June, he met with President Ahmed Mahamed Mohamud (Silaanyo) and officials of the Somaliland Administration.

He was received by Dr. Mohamed Abdillahi Omar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, who accompanied Mr. Kay to the mass graves in Hargeisa, in commemoration of the worst human rights violations of the Siyad Barre regime, which occurred between 1984 and 1988.

On his arrival, he said: “I have come to Hargeisa early in my new assignment in order to make it clear to the authorities and people of Somaliland that the United Nations supports their aspirations for peace and prosperity.”

“Somaliland has remained an island of relative peace and stability in an insecure region and we believe that there are lessons that can be learned here about stabilizing the whole region,” he continued, noting Somaliland’s efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and to entrench democracy through holding periodic elections.

“We are also aware of the challenges that Somaliland faces in institutionalizing a formal system of justice alongside the traditional one and we look forward to working together to reinforce the rule of law,” Mr. Kay said, stressing that the Mission stood ready to support constructive engagement between Somalia and Somaliland.

Noting that this was the first of many visits to Somaliland and that he intends to have a close and fruitful relationship with its people and authorities of the region, he said the UNSOM office in Hargeisa will be proactively engaging the administration and civil society to explore areas of further cooperation.

The mandate of UNSOM is to support the building of national capacity, peacebuilding, with a focus on good governance, security sector reform, rule of law, human rights, providing “good offices” for mediation and political reconciliation and coordination of international assistance.

Meanwhile, the Security Council was briefed this afternoon by Assistant Secretary-General Tayé-Brooke Zerihoun on the situation in the Juba regions of Somalia.

Following those closed door talks, Mark Lyall Grant of the United Kingdom, which holds the Council’s presidency for the month, read out a statement expressing Council members’ concern at the deterioration in the security situation in the Juba regions, particularly in Kismayo, and at the resulting impact on the civilian population and the humanitarian situation.

“The Members of the Security Council called on all parties to refrain from any action which may threaten peace and stability in the Juba regions and to engage with the Federal Government of Somalia in a constructive manner to achieve a peaceful resolution to the current crisis and to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation,” he said.

Further, Council members underlined their support for the development of an effective federal system of Government, in line with the Provisional Constitution and in respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia, in order to ensure a constructive and sincere partnership between the Somali Government and local and regional administrations.

“The members of the Security Council welcomed the commitment of the Federal Government of Somalia to lead reconciliation efforts in the Juba regions with the support of UNSOM, IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] and other appropriate actors,” he said, adding that Council members urged that this be taken forward expeditiously.

Security Council members underlined the availability of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to assist the Government of Somalia in peacefully resolving the situation.

They also underlined the importance of the issues in the Juba regions not distracting from the urgent need to end the threat posed by Al-Shabaab and bring, security and prosperity to the Somali people, the overwhelming majority of whom are committed to peace through dialogue.

“In that context, the members of the Council underscored their support for AMISOM [African Union Mission in Somalia] and reiterated their willingness to take action against those who undermine the peace and reconciliation process in Somalia,” the Council president concluded.

Source: UN News Center

Edward Snowden: Russia offers to consider asylum request

Vladimir Putin's spokesman says any appeal for asylum from whistleblower who fled US will be looked at 'according to facts'

by Miriam Elder in Moscow, The Guardian,

Edward Snowden, who has said he might seek asylum in a country with 'shared values', such as Iceland. Photograph: The Guardian/AFP/Getty Images

Russia has offered to consider an asylum request from the US whistleblower Edward Snowden, in the Kremlin's latest move to woo critics of the west.

Snowden fled the United States before leaking the details of a top-secret US surveillance programme to the Guardian this month. He is currently believed to be in Hong Kong, but has reportedly changed hotels to keep his location secret.

Fearing US retaliation, Snowden said at the weekend that "my predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values", citing Iceland as an example. He defended his decision to flee to Hong Kong by citing its relative freedom compared with mainland China.

Snowden is not known to have made any asylum requests, including to Russia. Yet speaking to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said: "If such an appeal is given, it will be considered. We'll act according to facts."

Peskov's comments were widely carried by the Russian media, which have largely ignored Snowden's revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) was secretly empowered with wide-reaching authority to collect information from the US mobile provider Verizon and to snoop on emails and internet communications via a data-mining programme called Prism. Russia's feared security services are widely believed to maintain similar powers.

Peskov's comments on potential asylum opened the floodgates on support for Snowden. Robert Shlegel, an influential MP with the ruling United Russia party, said: "That would be a good idea."

Alexey Pushkov, head of the Duma's international affairs committee and a vocal US critic, said on Twitter: "By promising asylum to Snowden, Moscow has taken upon itself the protection of those persecuted for political reasons. There will be hysterics in the US. They only recognise this right for themselves."

He continued: "Listening to telephones and tracking the internet, the US special services broke the laws of their country. In this case, Snowden, like Assange, is a human rights activist."

Russia has a roundly poor reputation for human rights and freedom of speech, with people regularly persecuted for their political beliefs. Dozens have been arrested for protesting against Putin, and the president's top critics continue to face the decision of whether to flee the country or end up in jail.

The country's own whistleblowers suffer harrowing fates. Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who revealed a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme involving officials from the interior ministry and tax police, was arrested and later died in jail after being refused medical attention. His body also showed signs of torture. Alexey Navalny, a prominent anti-corruption activist, is currently on trial on charges widely believed to be politically motivated.

Yet Russia is often among the first countries to offer support for whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing in the west. Julian Assange, the head of WikiLeaks, found many a champion among Russian officials and was given a programme on Russia Today, the Kremlin's English-language propaganda television channel.

Putin has made a concerted effort to woo those who forsake the west. This year, he loudly welcomed Gérard Depardieu after the French actor declared his desire to renounce his citizenship in protest at France's high tax rate. Putin granted the actor Russian citizenship and other Russian officials have given him flats around the country, including in Grozny, the postwar capital of Chechnya.

Somaliland: Foreign Minister Hostile To UNSOM Presence

While the Head of new UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), Nicholas Kay, hailed Somaliland as an ‘island of relative peace and stability’ in a visit to the region on Wednesday 12 June 2013, Foreign Minister Dr Mohamed Abdilahi Omar declared UNSOM'S presence in Hargeisa not in the best interest of the country.


For the first time a high level meeting with a visiting dignitary has ended without a joint press briefing.

This is as a result of the visiting UN Special Representative for Somalia Ambassador Nicholas Kay leaving the presidency refusing to answer questions from journalists who had been patiently waiting for the joint press conference.

Reasons behind the not usual outcome became apparent after a briefing by the foreign minister Dr Mohamed Abdilahi Omar in which he informed that the newly established United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia –UNSOM shall not be operating in the country.

"Amb. Nicholas Kay has been informed that Somaliland shall not be hosting UNSOM offices in the country" said Dr Omar.

According to the Foreign minister this conclusion ensued after discussions between President Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo and Amb. Nicholas Kay at the presidency in which it became apparent that the mandate of UNSOM is specific to Somalia thus has nothing to do with another Sovereign Country like Somaliland.

Elaborating on the decision to bar UNSOM from Somaliland Dr. Omar said, "With its current mandate UNSOM is against the sovereignty of Somaliland, its constitution and peoples will"

The Hargeisa authorities succinctly detailed this sentiments to Amb. Kay orally and through a position paper (accessed by Somalilandsun , see below) and it is expected that the Ambassador's diplomatic acumen shall facilitate a reversal of the UNSOM mandate by the Security Council if the United nations remains desirous of political engagement with the country it is yet to recognize.

On the issue of usual UN development and Humanitarian interventions president Silanyo and his team who urged for an increase in UN Aid were in acquiescence with Amb. Kay that these interventions in the continue as before through individual agencies like UNDP, WHO, FAO, UNHABITAT, UNICEF etc.

On the Somaliland government's ban of UN flights on its airspace Dr Omar informed that until on-going negotiations are concluded only Humanitarian flights shall be allowed while all others operated by UNHAS remain debarred.

Following these developments it is not yet clear if the Amb. Nicholas Kay led UNSOM team shall conclude its pre-arranged two days itinerary in the country.

Below the position paper submitted to UNSOM

              Government of Somaliland

Subject: Position letter

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General

United Nation, UNSOM

13 June 2013

Dear Ambassador Nicholas Kay,

I am grateful for your decision to visit Somaliland at such an early stage in your tenure as Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General. My government hopes that your appointment will result in a further deepening of the cooperation between Somaliland and the United Nations. To facilitate this, we would like to state our positions clearly and to share with you our views on how relations between the UN and Somaliland might best develop.

As you know, we are guided by the reality that Somaliland is independent. Our people decided in 1991 to end the voluntary union with Somalia which began in 1960 after we obtained our independence from Britain. That decision was endorsed in a referendum in 2001, and in subsequent general elections, in which our people have voted in favour of parties supporting independence. For the people and government of Somaliland, there is no going back. More importantly, it constitutes a contradiction to our constitution which states we are an independent country.

We understand that UNSOM's political role is to rebuild a federal Somalia through a comprehensive and integrated international support, while it seeks to open a sub-office in Somaliland. This ignores the reality of Somaliland's existence and functioning as an independent state since 1991 and the self-determination rights of our people. Since the purpose of such an office is to extend the remit of the federal government to Somaliland, my government is of the view that a UNSOM'S presences in Hargeisa will not be in the best interest of our country. Therefore, we cannot allow UNSOM'S political office to function in Somaliland.

However, we wish to continue engaging with all UN humanitarian and development agencies, whose support to Somaliland's development is much appreciated. We would like to see an increase in UN development assistance in line with Somaliland's National Development Plan. This will allow Somaliland to consolidate its already considerable democratic and institution-building gains. It will also help us to retain ownership over our development path. But we ask that in order to address Somaliland's specific needs adequately, the UN development programs should be managed from Hargeisa not from Mogadishu.

UN support for the consolidation of Somali federal government institutions should be undertaken with full consideration of its potential impact on Somaliland. The recent issue over airspace management clearly demonstrates the risks involved in forgoing a holistic, conflict-sensitive approach. We suggest that UNSOM should take all measures to safeguard Somaliland's achievements in accordance with the principle of "do no harm".

The Dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia provides a neutral, level playing field for the two governments to discuss cooperation on areas of mutual concern such as security, as well as to clarify their future relations, in accordance with the approach endorsed again at the most recent London Conference. The resumption of bilateral discussions in Ankara on 13 April was also welcomed by the international community at last month's conference, and received strong support in the recent report issued by the UN Secretary-General.

Somaliland views the Dialogue as an integral component of international efforts to foster peace and stability in the Horn of Africa. There may come a time when your "good offices" may be needed in order to help us maintain momentum in the Dialogue, and we would welcome your assistance with this. We would like to emphasize that, from our perspective, the purpose of the Dialogue is not to negotiate Somaliland's place in a Somali federal structure. Rather, the Dialogue should proceed in accordance with the terms agreed by the two governments in Ankara, Dubai and Schevening, and must respect the independence of Somaliland.

Finally, it is important to clarify that Somaliland views Somalia as a neighbour, and one with which good relations are crucial.

Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration.

Mohamed A Omar
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Republic of Somaliland

Egypt frets, fumes over Ethiopia’s Nile plan

AARON MAASHO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES - Ethiopans walk in the source of the Blue Nile in northern Ethiopia. Ethiopia has begun diverting the Blue Nile as part of a giant dam project

By Griff Witte, E-mail the writers

GIZA, EGYPT — Since long before the Pyramids towered above the rich soil of this riverside town, Egyptians have given thanks to the muddy waters of the Nile.

“Plants, animals, humans,” said Ibrahim Abdel Aziz, a 45-year-old farmer, “we all come from this river.”

But trace the Nile about 1,400 miles upstream and there’s a rising colossus that threatens to upset a millennia-old balance. There, in the Ethiopian highlands, one of the world’s largest dams is taking shape.

For Ethiopia, the dam promises abundant energy and an escape from a seemingly permanent spot in the lowest rungs of the world’s human development index. But for Egypt, the consequences could be dire: a nationwide water shortage in as little as two years that causes crop failures, power cuts and instability resonating far beyond even the extraordinary tumult of the recent past.

For a country facing daily domestic crises in the aftermath of its 2011 revolution, the dam is a foreign threat that Egypt can ill afford. And that may be the point. Analysts say Ethiopia is seizing on Egypt’s distraction and relative fragility to plunge ahead with plans that have long been on the drawing board but have always been thwarted by Egyptian resistance.

To Egyptians accustomed to thinking of their country as a powerhouse of the Arab world, the idea of bowing to a historically weaker African rival has been a sobering reminder of their nation’s diminished clout. It has also been an early test for the year-old government of President Mohamed Morsi — one that critics say he has badly mishandled.

“Now the options are very few,” said Talaat Mosallam, a retired major general in Egypt’s army. Diplomacy is the first, but Cairo’s leverage is “at rock bottom,” he said, and if talks fail, Egyptian military commanders may decide that “it is better to die in battle than to die in thirst.”

Indeed, the prospect of a water war has become a regular feature of Egyptian newscasts and front pages in recent weeks, ever since Ethiopia announced that it was diverting the river’s course immediately after a meeting between Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Morsi in late May.

The announcement, which marked a milestone in the dam’s progress, was seen here as a humiliating slap and an indication that Ethiopia has no intention to negotiate over the dam’s construction.

Morsi responded last week by convening an emergency meeting of leaders from across Egypt’s political spectrum, a move that backfired wildly when the presidency decided to broadcast the session live on television without telling most of the participants.

Thinking that they were conspiring in secret, the politicians hatched plans to arm Ethiopian rebels, launch a whispering campaign about Egypt’s military might and send fighter jets to knock out the dam with one swift shot.

Morsi has not been so explicit, but he warned in a Monday night speech that “all options are open” in protecting the river, which accounts for 95 percent of Egypt’s water needs. The country, he told a crowd of cheering supporters, is ready to sacrifice blood to ensure that “not one drop” of the Nile is lost.

In an interview with state media on Tuesday, Hailemariam dismissed that as warmongering meant to distract from Egypt’s domestic issues.

“I don’t think they will take that option unless they go mad,” he said. The same day, the Ethio­pian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the nation “will not even for a second” stop the dam’s construction.

 ‘A disaster for Egypt’

The standoff reflects the critical importance of controlling the region’s water resources at a time of rapidly rising populations. Egypt and Ethiopia each have more than 80 million people, double the population that existed just 30 years ago. By 2050, the combined population of the two countries is expected to rise by 100 million, even as climate change could reduce the supply of water.

Nonetheless, Ethiopia has said repeatedly that the Grand Renaissance Dam won’t cause a problem for Egypt. Ethiopian officials say the dam will be used to generate electricity, not to irrigate fields, meaning that all the water will eventually make its way downstream to Egypt.

Those officials see the dam as a chance to make right a colonial-era wrong that has preserved most of the Nile’s water for Egypt while leaving little benefit for upstream countries.

Egypt may be the gift of the Nile, as the Greek historian Herodotus once remarked, but the Nile is not Egypt’s alone. Eleven countries share the basin of the world’s longest river, which winds through much of East Africa before emptying into the Mediterranean in northern Egypt.

Ethiopia has won the majority of those countries to its side with the promise of electricity exports for a region that desperately needs new sources of energy. It has even offered to sell some of the dam’s 6,000 megawatts to Egypt.

Far from being soothed by Ethiopia’s promises, however, Egyptians have become increasingly panicked. And with good reason, according to former Egyptian water minister Mohamed Nasr Allam.

Allam said that if Ethiopia goes ahead with its plans to build the dam on the Blue Nile — which accounts for the majority of the Nile’s flow after converging with the White Nile in Sudan — Egypt could lose a quarter of its water.

“It will be a disaster for Egypt,” Allam said. “Large areas of the country will be simply taken out of production.”

Experts see the greatest peril for Egypt when Ethiopia fills the massive reservoir behind its dam, a process that could begin in 2015 and last as long as six years. Even afterward, however, the creation of the dam will mean that Egypt no longer has direct control over its primary water source, a troubling prospect for a country that receives negligible rainfall and is considered the world’s largest oasis.

Allam said Egypt should try to persuade Ethiopia to lower the 550-foot height of the dam, which would mitigate the effect. Ultimately, he said, international powers, including the United States, may be called in to help mediate.

A regional power struggle

The U.S. State Department has said that Egypt and Ethiopia, both American allies, should resolve the dispute through dialogue. But that dialogue would come at a time when Ethiopia’s influence in the region appears to be rising and Egypt’s is waning.

Hani Raslan, who heads the Nile Basin studies department at Cairo’s al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said it is no coincidence that Ethiopia announced plans to massively expand the dam and forge ahead with its construction just weeks after Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in early 2011.

“Ethiopia has aspirations to be a regional power at Egypt’s expense,” Raslan said. “It is taking advantage of the instability after the revolution, especially now that there’s a weak Muslim Brotherhood president with no experience whatsoever who is not in sync with the institutions of the state.”

That’s a common sentiment on the streets of Egypt, and on the Nile, where fishermen, farmers and boat operators remember the country’s pre-revolutionary history with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

“When Mubarak was running the country, we didn’t hear about electric outages or fuel shortages. And no one would dare say that they would cut the water of Egypt,” said Abdel Arabi, 39, who sat on a tour boat watching sundown’s rays glint off the Nile as birds swooped in for the evening’s final catch.

For Abdel Aziz, the 45-year-old farmer, Ethiopia’s plans mean that his extended family of 28, which supports itself on a quarter-acre of corn, okra and eggplant fields, may go hungry.

“The water goes down, and it goes up,” he said. “But now it may go lower and never come back again.”

If it does, he said, there’s no question of the outcome: “An even bigger revolution, worse than the last one.”

Terrorists change behavior after leaks, lawmaker says

A top Republican lawmaker claimed Thursday terrorists have already started to change their behavior after a self-described NSA whistleblower leaked information about classified U.S. surveillance programs to various media outlets, saying the leaks may make it "harder to track bad guys."

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., declined to provide specifics on what terrorists he was referring to, only saying there are "changes we can already see being made by the folks who wish to do us harm, and our allies harm."

He also said the revelations might "make it harder to track bad guys trying to harm U.S. citizens in the United States."

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden made headlines worldwide after he leaked information about two NSA programs that collect millions of telephone records and track Internet activity.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong in May and has granted some interviews since then, saying he hopes to stay there and fight any charges that may yet be filed against him.

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, said he's concerned that Snowden fled to Hong Kong because of China's history of spying on the U.S.

"It seems unusual that he would be in China and asking for the protection of the Chinese government ... but we're going to investigate," Ruppersberger said.

Rogers added, "Clearly, we're going to make a thorough scrub of what his China connections are."

Rogers and Ruppersberger spoke to reporters after a closed committee briefing with the NSA's director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who said he hopes to declassify details of dozens of attacks disrupted by the programs. Alexander said officials don't want to "cause another terror attack by giving out too much information."

Officials have thrown out widely varying numbers of the attacks they say the broad surveillance of Americans' phone and online usage has thwarted. On Wednesday, Alexander said dozens have been stopped. Ruppersberger said the surveillance "has thwarted 10 possible terrorist attacks," then amended that number to be in line with Alexander's statement. In the initial days after the disclosures of the programs, officials cited one case.

The disclosures raised privacy concerns as Americans -- some of them members of Congress -- learned for the first time the extent of surveillance powers granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to help U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies track terrorists.

Investigators have been trying to determine which facilities the 29-year-old Snowden visited during his intelligence career to decide how much classified data he had access to as a computer systems analyst for the NSA and earlier for the CIA, according to two congressional staffers. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe the investigation publicly.

"It's clear he attempted to go places he was not authorized to go," within the classified systems, Rogers said. He called Snowden "a fairly low-level individual, but because of his position in the IT system had access to certain pieces of information that, candidly, he did not understand, or had the full scope of what these programs where, who decided on his own he was going to release this information."

FBI Director Robert Mueller defended the programs in testimony to Congress on Thursday. In what is likely his final appearance as FBI director before the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller said that terrorists track leaked information "very, very closely" and that because of leaks "we lose our ability to get their communications" and "we are exceptionally vulnerable."

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat, said, "It's my fear that we are on the verge of becoming a surveillance state."

In defending the programs, Mueller called attention to the run-up to the 2001 terrorist attacks, saying that if the controversial surveillance efforts had been in place back then, they might have uncovered the hijackers' plot. The 9/11 Commission found that among the major U.S. failures before the attack was that agencies didn't share information they already had about suspected terrorists with the FBI.

"If we had had this program, that opportunity would have been there," Mueller said.

"I am not persuaded that that makes it OK to collect every call," Conyers replied.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

British sailors on 'anti-piracy' mission to Somalia in former navy warship are arrested off Senegal just five days after being impounded in Tenerife

Farcical: The gunboat Defender, pictured impounded in Tenerife, was being crewed by four British ex-servicemen on an 'anti-piracy' mission,  It has now been seized by Senegalese authorities

• Defender is a 127 ft former Oman navy fast attack Gunboat
• Crew of four is led by former Royal Navy submariner Chris Enmarch
• It had already been impounded by Spanish authorities in Tenerife
• But just five days after giving them the slip it was seized off Senegal

By Daily Mail Reporter

Four have-a-go-hero Brits sailing a converted warship to Africa on what they describe as an 'anti-piracy' mission have been arrested off Senegal.

Armed marine commandos boarded their decommissioned fast attack gun ship Defender, which has two fearsome-looking cannons, and took them into custody in Dakar.

The Senegalese authorities said the four - all ex-UK servicemen - were detained on suspicion of 'illegal activity'.

The group, led by former Royal Navy submariner Chris Enmarch, had already had the 127ft Defender impounded in the Canary Islands.

The Spanish were suspicious that the vessel was registered as a pleasure craft and confiscated their British flag and ordered them to remain in port in Tenerife.

But after five weeks on the island the crew gave the authorities the slip - only to be impounded a second time five days later.

The group are reported to be heading to the pirate-infested Gulf of Guinea where they planned to offer security to oil rigs.

They insist they are 'not mercenaries' and their boat has no working weapons or ammunition.

They left Cornwall on April 16 and before departing Mr Enmarch, from Penryn, said they were going on an anti-piracy mission.

He said they were heading to Senegal 'to discuss with the authorities the possible use of the Defender as a deterrent against illegal fishing boats.'

Defender, which is no longer on the UK Ships Register, was built in Lowestoft in the mid-1970s for the Sultan of Oman's navy in the Gulf and decommissioned in 2002

 The crew, which also includes Andrew Bayliss from Saltash, Cornwall, first ran into trouble off Tenerife on April 23 when their ship blew a gasket.

They were forced to stop in the resort of Los Cristianos where they were boarded by Spanish Civil Guard officers who refused them permission to stay there.

The vessel was then escorted 50 miles to a berth in the island's Santa Cruz port by a Spanish navy warship.

Officials are understood to have been suspicious that the formidable looking vessel, which flies the British flag, was registered as a pleasure boat.

The Spanish ministry of defence said an inspection revealed 'irregularities in the paperwork of the boat and its crew, as well as deficiencies in safety equipment'.

Mr Enmarch, 53, who bought the boat in 2011, was fined 40,000 euros because its waste systems did not meet standards set for pleasure vessels.

The ship's British pendant was removed and it was placed under the custody of armed Civil Guards.

One report in Spain said the Defender was actually en route for Nigeria.

Mr Enmarch accused the Spanish authorities of making a 'fuss about nothing' and said the cannons on his boat were 'just for show and totally unusable'.

But in the early hours of May 31, while the guards were called away, the Defender set off with the fine allegedly outstanding and five days later it was intercepted off Senegal.

Colonel Abdou Thiam, spokesman for the Senegal Army, said the ship was being held in Dakar and four British former members of the armed forces had been arrested.

Sources identified Mr Enmarch and Mr Bayliss as two of the arrested men.

Mission: Defender was on her way to the Indian Ocean to help tackle the problem of piracy off the African coast (file picture)

A second Army spokesman said the ship had been detained over suspected 'illegal activity' but refused to disclose further details.

The Foreign Office said: 'We are aware of the arrest of four British Nationals in Senegal. We stand ready to provide consular assistance.'

The 135 tons Defender, which is no longer on the UK Ships Register, was built in Lowestoft in the mid-1970s for the Sultan of Oman's navy in the Gulf and decommissioned in 2002.

After buying the ship in 2011 Mr Enmarch told the Maldon Chronicle newspaper: 'Defender's task will be to deter any pirates intent on boarding the many ships that pass the East African coastline.

'One look at her should be enough to send them looking for easier targets.

'She will be manned by handpicked ex-Royal Marine Commandos and run as a professional naval ship, obeying the rules of engagement.

'Our primary task will be to protect oil platforms which are towed close to the coast of East Africa, and a number of oil companies want to hire Defender to look after their interests.

'We are not mercenaries; this is strictly a business venture similar to other British private protection firms which operate in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Netanyahu helps dedicate upgraded Holocaust exhibit at Auschwitz

PETER ANDREWS/Reuters - Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks at "The Book of Names", which contains the names of 4.2 million Jews killed during the Holocaust, at the opening of the Permanent Exhibition SHOAH at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in Oswiecim.

By William Booth

OSWIECIM, Poland — For decades, the Communist-era memorial to Jewish victims at the barracks known as Block 27 in the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex of Nazi death camps stood dilapidated and mostly ignored.

“No one visited. They opened the doors, that was it,” said Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s vast and authoritative Holocaust memorial museum and research center.


Key artifacts had gone missing. The history presented in the signage was inaccurate at best and was dominated by Soviet propaganda.

The modest, two-story site was designated the “Jewish pavilion” in memory of the 1 million Jews who were killed at the complex in Nazi-occupied Poland. But, Shalev said, “there was hardly any mention of the Jews.”

In 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tasked Yad Vashem with redesigning the memorial. On Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the current prime minister, joined Polish dignitaries and a handful of Holocaust survivors to dedicate a new permanent exhibition in Block 27, called “Shoah,” part of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

“I am standing here today with great pain and great pride,” Netanyahu said. “The leaders of the Allies knew full well what was happening in the death camps. They could have acted, but they didn’t. We, the Jews, know exactly what the lesson is.”

Israel, Netanyahu said, cannot rely on any other country to protect it or to protect the world’s Jews.

He said the murderous anti-Semitism of the Nazi Germany era has been replaced in modern times by religious fanaticism, alluding to Iran, which Israel has accused of trying to create a nuclear arsenal to threaten the Jewish state.

“This is a regime that is building nuclear weapons with the expressed purpose to annihilate Israel’s 6 million Jews,” Netanyahu said. “We will not allow this to happen. We will never allow another Holocaust.”

After the war, the Poles decided to keep the extermination camps at the Auschwitz II and Birkenau essentially untouched. At Auschwitz I, they granted to some of the nations of Europe a barracks building, for it to memorialize what had happened to their citizens here, and so there is an Austrian block, a Hungary block, and on and on. Block 27 was designated the “Jewish block.”

When the Israelis decided to remake Block 27, they were faced with several challenges. The barracks are small, only about 10,000 square feet, and the enormity of the Holocaust — in facts, figures, emotion — is huge.

“Our challenge was to create a new language to explain to the visitor the more comprehensive idea of the Holocaust,” said Shalev, who served as curator of the exhibit.

Or as the Holocaust survivor Aharon Appelfeld put it: “to deconstruct the horror — into images and sounds.”

One of the most moving elements in the exhibit, said visitors on this first day, is a room filled with pencil tracings of children’s drawings, selected and etched by Israeli artist Michal Rovner.

The drawings were collected from diaries and other artifacts, all drawn by the children taken to the camps — and presented at waist level, where a child might scrawl on the wall. In the spare white room, the drawings depict increasingly disturbing images.

First, there are crude renderings of happy times — a girl with a flower or a family celebrating the Sabbath. Then there is a soldier brandishing a weapon and taking a girl into a forest, and the soldier returning alone. Later, trains arriving at the camps, then gallows, graves.

The artist spent a year studying the archives of children’s drawings, and their reproductions are very spare, very simple. The curator of the exhibit spoke of their tenacity and fragility, “like hovering souls.”

Another powerful image is created by the monumental “Book of Names,” which stands about 6 feet tall and measures 46 feet long and contains the printed names, home towns, dates and places of birth and death of 4.2 million Jews who died during the Holocaust, gathered over the past 60 years by researchers at Yad Vashem.

There are empty pages yet to be filled, as Yad Vashem is still collecting names from old census data, reports by families and other research. In three years, the center expects to have documented 5 million names. The others might be lost to history.

The new exhibit at Auschwitz is part of a slow but steady reassertion here in Poland that the tragedy of World War II was suffered not only by the Poles but also by their Jewish neighbors.

The main exhibition at Auschwitz is the state museum, which is now applauded by Jewish scholars as being accurate and presenting the full story of the Holocaust in Poland.

The remaking of Block 27 is part of that revision. “It is remarkable in the sense that it represents the reassertion of the Jewish story, long ignored, even here,” said Marian Turski, chairman of council at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

When visitors exit the Block 27 barracks, they do so through a simple side door. And there right in front of them are the rusting barbed-wire fences erected more than 60 years ago.

Dawladda Ethiopia Oo Si Rasmi Ah Daboolka Uga Qaaday Inay Baxday Heshiiskii Saamiga Qaybsiga Biyaha Ee Wabiga Niilka Ee La Kala Sexeeday Sanadkii 1929-kii

Dawladda Ethiopia Oo Si Rasmi Ah Daboolka Uga Qaaday Inay Baxday Heshiiskii Saamiga Qaybsiga Biyaha Ee Wabiga Niilka Ee La Kala Sexeeday Sanadkii 1929-kii

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Dawladda dalka Ethiopa ayaa daboolka ka qaaday inay gebi ahaanba ka baxday heshiiskii lakala sexeexday xilligii gumaysiga ee 1929-kii, ee nidaamka saami qaybsiga biyaha webiga Niilka xaqa u siinayay inay isticmaalaan inta ugu badan wadamadda Masar Iyo Suudaan, waxaanay ku andacootay dawladda Egtiopia in aanu heshiiskaasi ahayn mid u cuntamaya waxaanay ku tilmaamtay mid wakhtigiisii uu soo gebageboobay oo aanay u hogaansami doonin.      

 

Dhinaca kale, Dalka Egypt, ayaa isna dhiniciisa gaaashaanka ku dhuftay go aankan ay dawladda Ethiopa ku qaadacday heshiiskii saamiga qaybsiga wadaaga biyaha webiga Niilka ee lakala sexeeday sanadkii 1929-kii, waxaanay dawladda Masar ku hanjabtay inay qaadayso tub kasta oo ay alabaadda ugu xidhayso kuna hakinayso biyo xidheenadda waaweyn ee ay dawladda Ethiopa ka dhisayso biyaha webiga Niilka.     

 

Si kastaba ha ahaatee, biyaha webiga Niilka ayaa lafdhabar weyn u ah oo ay noloshoodu ku tiirsan tahay gebi ahaanba dadka reer Masar oo dhan oo tiradooda lagu qiyaaso in ka badan Afar iyo Siddeetan Milayan oo qof gaaraya 84-ta Milyan waxay gebi ahaanba ku tiirsan yihiin webiga Niilka.    

 

Heshiiskaa ay qadacday Dawladda Ethiopia ee lakala sexeeday sanadkii 1929-kii ayaa xaq u siinaya wadamadda Masar iyo Sudan oo kaliya inay biyaha webiga Niilka ka samaysan karaan Biyo xidheeno, waxaana jirtay inay hore isugu dayeen wadamadda ku yaala bariga Afrika ee uu maro wabiga Niilku inay waxka badal ku sameeyaan heshiiskaa hore ee duugoobay.

Somaliland Says No to UNSOM

President Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud (Silanyo) meeting with  UN envoy to Somalia and head of UNSOM Ambassador Nicholas

By Goth Mohamed Goth

President Ahmed Mohamed Mahamoud (Silanyo) today met with UN envoy to Somalia and head of UNSOM Ambassador Nicholas Kays in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

President Silanyo and Ambassador Nicholas Kays had lengthy discussion on issues relating to the workings of the world body (UN) in Somaliland; they also took the opportunity explored ways to enhance future bilateral relation between the UN and Somaliland.

Ambassador Nicholas Kay’s left Somaliland with empty hands this after the Somaliland government bluntly refused UNSOM the permission to open offices in Somaliland,the UN envoy is expect to leave in the very same private plane which had earlier brought him to Hargeisa from Galkayo where a UN charted plane is currently  waiting for him.

Somaliland minister of foreign affair and international relations Dr. Mohamed Abdillahi Omer also confirmed that the ban on UN planes is still in place expect on those involved Humanitarian work such as bring medicines.

Somaliland has much to learn from past mistakes such as the presence of the UNOPS office in Somaliland which had tried to undermine Somaliland national aspiration at every turn ,this time around it seems Somaliland leaders didn’t fall for the plot.

Somalilandpress.com

Here is the official UN Press Release

UNITED NATIONS ASSISTANCE MISSION IN SOMALIA (UNSOM)

For Immediate Release

PRESS RELEASE 02/2013

New UN Envoy Arrives in Hargeisa

Hargeisa, 13 June, 2013 – The new Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary–General (SRSG) Nicholas Kay arrived in Hargeisa, Somaliland this morning to meet with His Excellency President Ahmed Mahamed Mohamud (Silaanyo) and officials of the Somaliland Administration. This is SRSG Kay’s first visit to Somaliland since he assumed his duties as head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) on June 3.

He was received by Dr. Mohamed Abdillahi Omar, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, who accompanied the new SRSG to the mass graves in Hargeisa, in commemoration of the worst human rights violations of the Siyad Barre regime, which occurred between 1984 and 1988.

On his arrival in Hargeisa, SRSG Nicholas Kay said “I have come to Hargeisa early in my new assignment in order to make it clear to the authorities and people of Somaliland that the United Nations supports their aspirations for peace and prosperity.”

“Somaliland has remained an island of relative peace and stability in an insecure region and we believe that there are lessons that can be learned here about stabilizing the whole region. We are therefore here to learn and to support initiatives that will lead to sustainable peace, stability and prosperity in Somalia and beyond.”

The mandate of UNSOM is to support the building of national capacity, peacebuilding, with a focus on good governance, security sector reform, rule of law, human rights, providing “good offices” for mediation and political reconciliation and coordination of international assistance.

The UN envoy said “We have noted Somaliland’s efforts to strengthen democratic institutions and to entrench democracy through holding periodic elections. We are also aware of the challenges that Somaliland faces in institutionalizing a formal system of justice alongside the traditional one and we look forward to working together to reinforce the rule of law.”

UNSOM stands ready to support constructive engagement between Somalia and Somaliland. The UN envoy further said “This is only my first visit to Somaliland of many and I intend to have a close and fruitful relationship with its people and authorities. Our office in Hargeisa will be proactively engaging the administration and civil society to explore areas of further cooperation.”

Somalia aid workers risk manipulation as in Afghanistan - expert

nternally displaced Somali girls fetch water at Sayyidka camp in Howlwadag district, south of the capital Mogadishu, May 3, 2013. A quarter of the population still need aid although a campaign to drive back Islamist militants has stabilised much of the country, the UN says. REUTERS/Omar Faruk

NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – As a senior United Nations official in Afghanistan during the 2001 invasion, Antonio Donini saw firsthand the damage done as a result of humanitarians allying themselves with warring parties.

There is a risk of the same mistakes being made in Somalia, he said, as the West throws itself wholeheartedly behind the new government.

Donini was speaking in Nairobi at the launch of his book, “The Golden Fleece: Manipulation and Independence in Humanitarian Action”, which focuses on the manipulation of humanitarian aid to achieve political, military and other objectives.

What mistakes did the humanitarian community make in Afghanistan?

After the demise of the Taliban regime [in 2001], the international community decided that the war was over, that a legitimate regime had been built around [President Hamid] Karzai.

There was a lot of pressure by donors for NGOs and the U.N. to work with this government and to work to support the government. You know: ‘The war is over. We are in a post- conflict situation. We don’t need the humanitarian principled approach any more.’

We told ourselves that the conflict was over. But of course, the conflict didn’t go away.

The war escalated, but the aid system got stuck in supporting the government. Many NGOs were double hatted, dual mandated – doing some humanitarian relief and some development work.

The U.N. was perceived as having taken sides, as being joined at the hip with the military intervention.

What parallels do you see with Somalia today?

There is a risk that the story telling in the case of Somalia might be similar. I think we should be wary of being carried away by rhetoric as was the case in Afghanistan - the rhetoric of post conflict - when in reality conditions for the continuation of conflict were very present on the ground.

You will potentially see some of the same pathologies: the subordination of the humanitarian agenda, the protection agenda, the human rights agenda even, to political objectives.

In a real post-conflict situation, it’s okay for all the arms of the international community to work together. But in a situation like Afghanistan or Somalia, where there’s an active conflict, I think it makes sense to keep the humanitarian people separate from the political agenda as much as possible.

They have to address need wherever it is and try to negotiate access with whoever’s on the ground. If you are seen as being part of a political mission that’s based in one part of the country, you will be seen as having taken sides.

As head of the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Afghanistan, were you free to work according to humanitarian principles?

We were told we must not do anything to rock the boat, that might derail the peace process and the support that we were providing to the Afghan government.

Violations were occurring. Groups were being victimised. Forced recruitment was happening in some of the militias. And we were told: ‘No, don’t raise these issues. Now is not the time.’

Why were humanitarians so blind in Afghanistan?

I think they were blinded by the perspective that peace was finally going to come to Afghanistan after 30 years of war.

With all the money coming in – and of course money orients you in certain directions –there were very few agencies who said: ‘We are not going to work with belligerents. And all the main donors, except Switzerland, are belligerents in Afghanistan.’

So very few agencies were able to maintain some kind of ethical humanitarian position in a situation where there was an enormous pressure to be part of this peacemaking agenda.

What should they have said?

It was a victors’ peace. It was bringing back the warlords that were despised by the Afghan population and that had been expelled from power by the Taliban.

 Very few voices actually spoke out to say that: ‘This is an agreement among victors. The Taliban are not part of the deal.’

Issues about justice were never put on the agenda. There was no provision in the peace deal to address the violations of the past.

I think we made a bad situation worse by this perceived – and real – alignment of NGOs with their donors and the political agendas of donors.

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation