Millennial Challenges: Managing the Somali Terrorists, Smugglers and Pirates on land and Sea- The Surveillance Tour

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Re: Managing the new breed of Somali terrorists, human smugglers and Pirates on land and Sea.

Educating the US congress, especially the Africa Subcomitte about global terrorism and especially about developments in the Horn of Africa region is going to be the most serious challenge of the Mellennium.

At present, it is becoming clear that some members of the Subcomittee are allowing themselves to be misinformed by sympathisers with the Sleeper Cell Terrorirsts like Jeffrey Gettlman of New York Times whose report is put in the archives of the US congress without any modicum of deliberations to verify his misinformation campaign.

It appears, terrorists who killed 74 people at Ogaden are being masquaraded in this report as misguided gangsters with serious sympathy from the likes of Donald Payne. One wonders, if Donald Payne is having sympathy to these criminals due to his own challenges in his own native state of New Jersy where such criminals abound. This trnasference of sympathy for gangsters and criminal terrorists doe not hold well in all communities. Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia find this level of incompetence unacceptable from a US Congressman and his research team led by Ted Dagne, a known sympathiser with regional terrorists based in Asmara, Eritrea.

As the US Congressional Africa Subcommittee is busy misinforming itself about realities on the ground in the Horn Region with its misguided HR2003. HR 2003 should be demanded from the rougue terrorist nations of Somalia and Eritrea and not Ethiopia by any strech of imaginateion. The real terrorists, human smugglers and pirates off the Coast of Somalia are busy in their criminal activities under the cover of HR2003, they can do more damage as this bill is requiring the US not to collaborate with Ethiopian against global terrorism.


Donald Payne and Chris Smith have to visit with the NATO US Navy Commander, to appreciate that the Gettlemen Report, which Donald Payne considers as real intelligence is a fabrication by the New York Times Insurgency Team.

One wonders if Donald and his Congressional Africa Subcommittee and now the US Congress will be briefed about these disparities in what they consider to be human right violations.

Is forceful human smuggling a human rights violation? Is Piracy- destruction of property and robbery at sea- a human rights violation?

We heard clearly that Donald Payne- the congressional representatives that is pushing HR2003 does not think Property right is a human right issues.

It is amazing how one group of people whose to own as it relates to property rights, which Donald Payne does not even recognize to be a human rights issues when he blocked the amendment to include restoration of stolen property by the Military Junta whose representatives he is currently representing in Congress.

This is such a shame that the US Congress as currently seems to be misguided by Donald Payne and his Subcomittee cannot see through this charade of Criminals coming through the back door and trying to misguide the US Congress.

All the same, this is a unique time in history, that people with money and access to resources can even fool the US Congress and rules and standards are bypassed to pass a resolution without the appropriate balance and check.

The reality is that we have an explosive Horn of Africa situation, with Somalis terrorizing their communities in the East and the Sudanese aggravating human genocide in the West.

The recent violence on the UN-AU forces in Darfur is a clear indication that the Horn will be on fire soon.

The US and the UN should focus their energies on managing the fire instead of encouraging the criminals by handing them with explosives and opportunities for more violence and mayhem.

This is a situation that can turn around. The Recent African Elder's Council led by Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter, etc should be encouraged and supported. Will the policy makers see what the rest of us can see coming.

Please read on the attached report.

1. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74567
2. http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN141125.html
3. http://www.somalilandtimes.net/

Source: IRIN

1 October 2007
1. YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: Worries over increasing African exodus to Yemen

Photo: UNHCR/K.McKinsey

Small fishing boats, like this one in a busy Somali commercial port, carry up to 125 people when used to smuggle migrants from the Somali coast across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen

SANAA (IRIN) - The Somali consulate in Yemen’s southern province of Aden has said it is worried about the increasing number of smugglers’ boats being used to ferry African migrants, mostly Somalis, from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. It also expressed concern about the deaths of Somalis and the squalid conditions in which survivors live.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 28 September said that in September alone 50 such boats had reached Yemen from Somalia carrying 4,741 people, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians - a 70 percent increase on the same period last year when 30 boats arrived with 2,961 people.

Eighty-nine African migrants had died in September and 154 had gone missing and were presumed dead, it added.

On 26 September five boats carrying 600 Somalis and Ethiopians arrived in Yemen; one person had died and 22 had gone missing, UNHCR said. Of the latter, four Ethiopians had died on board one of the boats due to asphyxiation, while 18 others had been thrown overboard, passengers told the UNHCR.

The smugglers had also beaten passengers with iron bars, belts and plastic tubes and some had been stabbed, the UNHCR added.

The UNHCR also expressed concern about Yemeni coastguards firing at the smugglers’ boats, which had caused deaths among passengers.

So far in 2007, 43,897 African migrants have arrived in Yemen. At least 356 others have died and 272 are missing presumed dead, according to the UNHCR.

Shelter

Somalia’s consul-general in Aden, Hussein Haji Ahmed, told IRIN the smuggling of African migrants resumed in earnest in September after a lull of a few months due to rough seas.

Ahmed said survivors had gone to various parts of Yemen in search of a better life. “Most stay without shelter in Aden’s al-Basatin district, where there are over 15,000 Somali refugees.”

He said aid groups, as well as the UNHCR, had provided the new arrivals with basic food and medicines.

“But they’re in desperate need of shelter. I met many of them in al-Basatin and found their [living] conditions very bad. Some had been stabbed by the smugglers, others needed psychological treatment after being mistreated while on their way to Yemen.”

Ahmed explained that while the living conditions of Somalis in Yemen were generally not dissimilar to those in Somalia, Somalis lacked peace in their own country.

Photo: Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN
More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions in Aden’s al-Basatin district

“But peace alone is not enough for a person seeking a better life. That is why some Somalis risk their lives by agreeing to be smuggled to Gulf countries where they face as many problems as they had at sea,” he said.

In a bid to build up Yemen’s capacity to deal with the illegal migrants the UNHCR said it would train coastguards and immigration officials on refugee issues, humanitarian law and rescuing people at sea.

The UNHCR is planning to set up a second reception and registration centre in Ahwar on the Yemeni coast. The centre will include a health facility to be run by Médecins sans Frontières.
_________________________

2. Germany's Commerzbank to open Ethiopia office
Mon 1 Oct 2007

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Germany's Commerzbank announced plans on Monday to open a branch in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

The move comes before a one-day visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Horn of Africa nation this week.

"Commerzbank considers Africa as a rapidly emerging economic opportunity and plans to enhance its links with the African market," the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement.

Germany is the biggest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, one of the country's key foreign exchange earners.

It bought 36,399 tonnes of coffee worth $86 million in 2005/06 compared with 50,115 tonnes valued at $117.6 million in 2006/07, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

During her visit to Ethiopia, Merkel is expected to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and address the 53-member African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

Officials said she would also visit South Africa and Liberia.
____________


Source: Somaliland Times, Somaliland
3. NATO US Navy Commander Speaks Exclusively To S/land Times

September 22, 2007

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon

Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Times conducted on Friday night a telephone interview with the commander of NATO's Standing Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, who recently embarked with a force of NATO ships which set sail on 30 July 2007 to make an historic 12,500 nautical mile circumnavigation of the African continent on a two month deployment from August to October this year as part of NATO’s commitment to global security.

The commander of SNMG1, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, talked to SL Times from on board the flag ship of the NATO multinational force, the USS Bainbridge sailing off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

The multinational force comprising one cruiser, four frigates and a tanker from six different NATO nations, USA, Canada, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Portugal are on the last leg of their tour of the African continent and will be spending under two weeks deployed around the Horn conducting ‘presence operations’ and the red sea, finally heading to the Suez.

Interview with Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon
Iinterviewed by SL Times Editor: Rashid Mustafa X Noor

Sl Times: Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon, thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk to you.

Admiral Mahon: It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

Sl Times: Sir, where are you speaking from at present, and where about is your fleet sailing in the Indian Ocean?

Admiral Mahon: I am talking to you from on deck the flag ship of the ‘Standing NATO Maritime Group 1’ (SNMG1), the USS Bainbridge, and we are somewhere off the Somali coast in international waters, though I cannot explicitly say, but somewhere between the southern portion off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.

Sl Times: How far will you be from the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: I cannot say, but what I can say is that we are in international waters off the Somali coast.

Sl Times: How long will you be in this particular area?

Admiral Mahon: We will be present in the Indian Ocean for the next coming 10 days and will set sail for the Gulf of Aden from thereon to maintain a ‘presence operations’ in the Red Sea and then sail through the Suez Canal back into the Mediterranean.

Sl Times: What exactly will you be doing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: Our naval force will be conducting surveillance and ‘presence operations’ off the Somali coast in international waters. What this basically means is monitoring what is going on in these waters and compiling a picture of the movement of vessels, shipping patterns and activities over this period of time.

Also, at this crucial point in time, where there is a humanitarian crisis in Somalia there is a great need to secure the Somali coast of piracy, since there are grave concerns for the safety of shipping carrying aid to Somalia as a result of acts of piracy occurring in these waters on regular basis.

And, as you are aware of this, the threat of piracy is real in these waters and life threatening for millions of Somalis dependent on humanitarian aid. The presence of our vessels will deter any criminal maritime activities being carried out and attacks of piracy on ships carrying humanitarian aid, as well as on merchant vessels.

Sl Times: So you are out there, basically, to catch Somali pirates?

Admiral Mahon: No. On the contrary, we are not. As I said, purely, we have a ‘presence operations’ and that is all.

Sl Times: If you happen to come across ‘Somali pirates’ on the verge of hijacking a ship carrying humanitarian aid or commercial goods, what will you do?

Admiral Mahon: We will act according to the international maritime laws and conventions which directs all states and countries the legal obligation to counter piracy and gives any war vessel of any state on government service the right of seizure and arrest of persons and vessels carrying out piracy or criminal activities on the high seas.

We are legally obliged to act according to the international laws and conventions relating to pirates and piracy.

Sl Times: Will your vessels be traversing into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: No, we have no intention of our vessels sailing or entering into Somali territorial waters. Unless, otherwise, that is we are formally invited by the host government.

Sl Times: If you receive a formal invitation from the current government in Somalia, will you sail into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: I take your question as being political in tone; I have to say, no, we will have to wait from Brussels to get the go ahead for this.

Sl Times: Will you make any contact or correspondence with the governments in Somalia and Somaliland while you are sailing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: No, we cannot have direct contact with any government without Brussels acknowledgement.

Sl Times: I take you will not be calling on the port of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden?

Admiral Mahon: No, Sir.

Sl Times: Will you be calling on Djibouti?

Admiral Mahon: No, we will not be visiting port of Djibouti.

Sl Times: Is this a one-time thing with the NATO task force circumventing the African coastline or are we going to see more of this?

Admiral Mahon: No, this is not a one-time thing by the multinational forces of NATO. NATO has made a commitment to global security and closer collaboration with African countries.

Forging closer maritime links with African countries is our top priority at NATO, which will further help to build greater maritime awareness to global security.

Sl Times: Rear Admiral, It’s been a pleasure talking to you, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Admiral Mahon: Thank you.

1.http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74567

2. http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN141125.html

3. http://www.somalilandtimes.net/


Source: IRIN

1 October 2007
1. YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: Worries over increasing African exodus to Yemen

Photo: UNHCR/K.McKinsey

Small fishing boats, like this one in a busy Somali commercial port, carry up to 125 people when used to smuggle migrants from the Somali coast across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen

SANAA (IRIN) - The Somali consulate in Yemen’s southern province of Aden has said it is worried about the increasing number of smugglers’ boats being used to ferry African migrants, mostly Somalis, from the Horn of Africa to Yemen.

It also expressed concern about the deaths of Somalis and the squalid conditions in which survivors live.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 28 September said that in September alone 50 such boats had reached Yemen from Somalia carrying 4,741 people, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians - a 70 percent increase on the same period last year when 30 boats arrived with 2,961 people.

Eighty-nine African migrants had died in September and 154 had gone missing and were presumed dead, it added.

On 26 September five boats carrying 600 Somalis and Ethiopians arrived in Yemen; one person had died and 22 had gone missing, UNHCR said. Of the latter, four Ethiopians had died on board one of the boats due to asphyxiation, while 18 others had been thrown overboard, passengers told the UNHCR.

The smugglers had also beaten passengers with iron bars, belts and plastic tubes and some had been stabbed, the UNHCR added.

The UNHCR also expressed concern about Yemeni coastguards firing at the smugglers’ boats, which had caused deaths among passengers.

So far in 2007, 43,897 African migrants have arrived in Yemen. At least 356 others have died and 272 are missing presumed dead, according to the UNHCR.

Shelter

Somalia’s consul-general in Aden, Hussein Haji Ahmed, told IRIN the smuggling of African migrants resumed in earnest in September after a lull of a few months due to rough seas.

Ahmed said survivors had gone to various parts of Yemen in search of a better life. “Most stay without shelter in Aden’s al-Basatin district, where there are over 15,000 Somali refugees.”

He said aid groups, as well as the UNHCR, had provided the new arrivals with basic food and medicines.

“But they’re in desperate need of shelter. I met many of them in al-Basatin and found their [living] conditions very bad. Some had been stabbed by the smugglers, others needed psychological treatment after being mistreated while on their way to Yemen.”

Ahmed explained that while the living conditions of Somalis in Yemen were generally not dissimilar to those in Somalia, Somalis lacked peace in their own country.

Photo: Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN
More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions in Aden’s al-Basatin district

“But peace alone is not enough for a person seeking a better life. That is why some Somalis risk their lives by agreeing to be smuggled to Gulf countries where they face as many problems as they had at sea,” he said.

In a bid to build up Yemen’s capacity to deal with the illegal migrants the UNHCR said it would train coastguards and immigration officials on refugee issues, humanitarian law and rescuing people at sea.

The UNHCR is planning to set up a second reception and registration centre in Ahwar on the Yemeni coast. The centre will include a health facility to be run by Médecins sans Frontières.

_________________________

2. Germany's Commerzbank to open Ethiopia office
Mon 1 Oct 2007
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Germany's Commerzbank announced plans on Monday to open a branch in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

The move comes before a one-day visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Horn of Africa nation this week.

"Commerzbank considers Africa as a rapidly emerging economic opportunity and plans to enhance its links with the African market," the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement.

Germany is the biggest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, one of the country's key foreign exchange earners.

It bought 36,399 tonnes of coffee worth $86 million in 2005/06 compared with 50,115 tonnes valued at $117.6 million in 2006/07, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

During her visit to Ethiopia, Merkel is expected to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and address the 53-member African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

Officials said she would also visit South Africa and Liberia.
____________
Source: Somaliland Times, Somaliland
3. NATO US Navy Commander Speaks Exclusively To S/land Times

September 22, 2007

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon

Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Times conducted on Friday night a telephone interview with the commander of NATO's Standing Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, who recently embarked with a force of NATO ships which set sail on 30 July 2007 to make an historic 12,500 nautical mile circumnavigation of the African continent on a two month deployment from August to October this year as part of NATO’s commitment to global security.

The commander of SNMG1, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, talked to SL Times from on board the flag ship of the NATO multinational force, the USS Bainbridge sailing off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

The multinational force comprising one cruiser, four frigates and a tanker from six different NATO nations, USA, Canada, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Portugal are on the last leg of their tour of the African continent and will be spending under two weeks deployed around the Horn conducting ‘presence operations’ and the red sea, finally heading to the Suez.

Interview with Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon
Iinterviewed by SL Times Editor: Rashid Mustafa X Noor

Sl Times: Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon, thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk to you.

Admiral Mahon: It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

Sl Times: Sir, where are you speaking from at present, and where about is your fleet sailing in the Indian Ocean?

Admiral Mahon: I am talking to you from on deck the flag ship of the ‘Standing NATO Maritime Group 1’ (SNMG1), the USS Bainbridge, and we are somewhere off the Somali coast in international waters, though I cannot explicitly say, but somewhere between the southern portion off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.

Sl Times: How far will you be from the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: I cannot say, but what I can say is that we are in international waters off the Somali coast.

Sl Times: How long will you be in this particular area?

Admiral Mahon: We will be present in the Indian Ocean for the next coming 10 days and will set sail for the Gulf of Aden from thereon to maintain a ‘presence operations’ in the Red Sea and then sail through the Suez Canal back into the Mediterranean.

Sl Times: What exactly will you be doing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: Our naval force will be conducting surveillance and ‘presence operations’ off the Somali coast in international waters. What this basically means is monitoring what is going on in these waters and compiling a picture of the movement of vessels, shipping patterns and activities over this period of time.

Also, at this crucial point in time, where there is a humanitarian crisis in Somalia there is a great need to secure the Somali coast of piracy, since there are grave concerns for the safety of shipping carrying aid to Somalia as a result of acts of piracy occurring in these waters on regular basis.

And, as you are aware of this, the threat of piracy is real in these waters and life threatening for millions of Somalis dependent on humanitarian aid. The presence of our vessels will deter any criminal maritime activities being carried out and attacks of piracy on ships carrying humanitarian aid, as well as on merchant vessels.

Sl Times: So you are out there, basically, to catch Somali pirates?

Admiral Mahon: No. On the contrary, we are not. As I said, purely, we have a ‘presence operations’ and that is all.

Sl Times: If you happen to come across ‘Somali pirates’ on the verge of hijacking a ship carrying humanitarian aid or commercial goods, what will you do?

Admiral Mahon: We will act according to the international maritime laws and conventions which directs all states and countries the legal obligation to counter piracy and gives any war vessel of any state on government service the right of seizure and arrest of persons and vessels carrying out piracy or criminal activities on the high seas.

We are legally obliged to act according to the international laws and conventions relating to pirates and piracy.

Sl Times: Will your vessels be traversing into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: No, we have no intention of our vessels sailing or entering into Somali territorial waters. Unless, otherwise, that is we are formally invited by the host government.

Sl Times: If you receive a formal invitation from the current government in Somalia, will you sail into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: I take your question as being political in tone; I have to say, no, we will have to wait from Brussels to get the go ahead for this.

Sl Times: Will you make any contact or correspondence with the governments in Somalia and Somaliland while you are sailing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: No, we cannot have direct contact with any government without Brussels acknowledgement.

Sl Times: I take you will not be calling on the port of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden?

Admiral Mahon: No, Sir.

Sl Times: Will you be calling on Djibouti?

Admiral Mahon: No, we will not be visiting port of Djibouti.

Sl Times: Is this a one-time thing with the NATO task force circumventing the African coastline or are we going to see more of this?

Admiral Mahon: No, this is not a one-time thing by the multinational forces of NATO. NATO has made a commitment to global security and closer collaboration with African countries.

Forging closer maritime links with African countries is our top priority at NATO, which will further help to build greater maritime awareness to global security.

Sl Times: Rear Admiral, It’s been a pleasure talking to you, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Admiral Mahon: Thank you.


http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=74567

2. http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN141125.html

3. http://www.somalilandtimes.net/


Source: IRIN

1 October 2007
1. YEMEN-HORN OF AFRICA: Worries over increasing African exodus to Yemen

Photo: UNHCR/K.McKinsey
Small fishing boats, like this one in a busy Somali commercial port, carry up to 125 people when used to smuggle migrants from the Somali coast across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen

SANAA (IRIN) - The Somali consulate in Yemen’s southern province of Aden has said it is worried about the increasing number of smugglers’ boats being used to ferry African migrants, mostly Somalis, from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. It also expressed concern about the deaths of Somalis and the squalid conditions in which survivors live.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on 28 September said that in September alone 50 such boats had reached Yemen from Somalia carrying 4,741 people, mostly Somalis and Ethiopians - a 70 percent increase on the same period last year when 30 boats arrived with 2,961 people.

Eighty-nine African migrants had died in September and 154 had gone missing and were presumed dead, it added.

On 26 September five boats carrying 600 Somalis and Ethiopians arrived in Yemen; one person had died and 22 had gone missing, UNHCR said. Of the latter, four Ethiopians had died on board one of the boats due to asphyxiation, while 18 others had been thrown overboard, passengers told the UNHCR.

The smugglers had also beaten passengers with iron bars, belts and plastic tubes and some had been stabbed, the UNHCR added.

The UNHCR also expressed concern about Yemeni coastguards firing at the smugglers’ boats, which had caused deaths among passengers.

So far in 2007, 43,897 African migrants have arrived in Yemen. At least 356 others have died and 272 are missing presumed dead, according to the UNHCR.

Shelter

Somalia’s consul-general in Aden, Hussein Haji Ahmed, told IRIN the smuggling of African migrants resumed in earnest in September after a lull of a few months due to rough seas.

Ahmed said survivors had gone to various parts of Yemen in search of a better life. “Most stay without shelter in Aden’s al-Basatin district, where there are over 15,000 Somali refugees.”

He said aid groups, as well as the UNHCR, had provided the new arrivals with basic food and medicines.

“But they’re in desperate need of shelter. I met many of them in al-Basatin and found their [living] conditions very bad.

Some had been stabbed by the smugglers, others needed psychological treatment after being mistreated while on their way to Yemen.”

Ahmed explained that while the living conditions of Somalis in Yemen were generally not dissimilar to those in Somalia, Somalis lacked peace in their own country.

Photo: Mohammed al-Jabri/IRIN
More than 15,000 Somali refugees live in squalid conditions in Aden’s al-Basatin district

“But peace alone is not enough for a person seeking a better life. That is why some Somalis risk their lives by agreeing to be smuggled to Gulf countries where they face as many problems as they had at sea,” he said.

In a bid to build up Yemen’s capacity to deal with the illegal migrants the UNHCR said it would train coastguards and immigration officials on refugee issues, humanitarian law and rescuing people at sea.

The UNHCR is planning to set up a second reception and registration centre in Ahwar on the Yemeni coast. The centre will include a health facility to be run by Médecins sans Frontières.
_________________________

2. Germany's Commerzbank to open Ethiopia office
Mon 1 Oct 2007
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Germany's Commerzbank announced plans on Monday to open a branch in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

The move comes before a one-day visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Horn of Africa nation this week.

"Commerzbank considers Africa as a rapidly emerging economic opportunity and plans to enhance its links with the African market," the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement.

Germany is the biggest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, one of the country's key foreign exchange earners.

It bought 36,399 tonnes of coffee worth $86 million in 2005/06 compared with 50,115 tonnes valued at $117.6 million in 2006/07, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

During her visit to Ethiopia, Merkel is expected to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and address the 53-member African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.

Officials said she would also visit South Africa and Liberia.
___________


Source: Somaliland Times, Somaliland
3. NATO US Navy Commander Speaks Exclusively To S/land Times

September 22, 2007

U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon

Hargeysa, September 22, 2007 (SL Times) – Somaliland Times conducted on Friday night a telephone interview with the commander of NATO's Standing Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, who recently embarked with a force of NATO ships which set sail on 30 July 2007 to make an historic 12,500 nautical mile circumnavigation of the African continent on a two month deployment from August to October this year as part of NATO’s commitment to global security.

The commander of SNMG1, U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Michael K. Mahon, talked to SL Times from on board the flag ship of the NATO multinational force, the USS Bainbridge sailing off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

The multinational force comprising one cruiser, four frigates and a tanker from six different NATO nations, USA, Canada, Holland, Germany, Denmark and Portugal are on the last leg of their tour of the African continent and will be spending under two weeks deployed around the Horn conducting ‘presence operations’ and the red sea, finally heading to the Suez.

Interview with Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon
Iinterviewed by SL Times Editor: Rashid Mustafa X Noor

Sl Times: Rear Admiral Michael K Mahon, thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk to you.

Admiral Mahon: It’s a pleasure to talk to you.

Sl Times: Sir, where are you speaking from at present, and where about is your fleet sailing in the Indian Ocean?

Admiral Mahon: I am talking to you from on deck the flag ship of the ‘Standing NATO Maritime Group 1’ (SNMG1), the USS Bainbridge, and we are somewhere off the Somali coast in international waters, though I cannot explicitly say, but somewhere between the southern portion off the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean.

Sl Times: How far will you be from the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: I cannot say, but what I can say is that we are in international waters off the Somali coast.

Sl Times: How long will you be in this particular area?

Admiral Mahon: We will be present in the Indian Ocean for the next coming 10 days and will set sail for the Gulf of Aden from thereon to maintain a ‘presence operations’ in the Red Sea and then sail through the Suez Canal back into the Mediterranean.

Sl Times: What exactly will you be doing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: Our naval force will be conducting surveillance and ‘presence operations’ off the Somali coast in international waters. What this basically means is monitoring what is going on in these waters and compiling a picture of the movement of vessels, shipping patterns and activities over this period of time.

Also, at this crucial point in time, where there is a humanitarian crisis in Somalia there is a great need to secure the Somali coast of piracy, since there are grave concerns for the safety of shipping carrying aid to Somalia as a result of acts of piracy occurring in these waters on regular basis.

And, as you are aware of this, the threat of piracy is real in these waters and life threatening for millions of Somalis dependent on humanitarian aid.

The presence of our vessels will deter any criminal maritime activities being carried out and attacks of piracy on ships carrying humanitarian aid, as well as on merchant vessels.

Sl Times: So you are out there, basically, to catch Somali pirates?

Admiral Mahon: No. On the contrary, we are not. As I said, purely, we have a ‘presence operations’ and that is all.

Sl Times: If you happen to come across ‘Somali pirates’ on the verge of hijacking a ship carrying humanitarian aid or commercial goods, what will you do?

Admiral Mahon: We will act according to the international maritime laws and conventions which directs all states and countries the legal obligation to counter piracy and gives any war vessel of any state on government service the right of seizure and arrest of persons and vessels carrying out piracy or criminal activities on the high seas.

We are legally obliged to act according to the international laws and conventions relating to pirates and piracy.

Sl Times: Will your vessels be traversing into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: No, we have no intention of our vessels sailing or entering into Somali territorial waters. Unless, otherwise, that is we are formally invited by the host government.

Sl Times: If you receive a formal invitation from the current government in Somalia, will you sail into Somali territorial waters?

Admiral Mahon: I take your question as being political in tone; I have to say, no, we will have to wait from Brussels to get the go ahead for this.

Sl Times: Will you make any contact or correspondence with the governments in Somalia and Somaliland while you are sailing off the Somali coast?

Admiral Mahon: No, we cannot have direct contact with any government without Brussels acknowledgement.

Sl Times: I take you will not be calling on the port of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden?

Admiral Mahon: No, Sir.

Sl Times: Will you be calling on Djibouti?

Admiral Mahon: No, we will not be visiting port of Djibouti.

Sl Times: Is this a one-time thing with the NATO task force circumventing the African coastline or are we going to see more of this?

Admiral Mahon: No, this is not a one-time thing by the multinational forces of NATO. NATO has made a commitment to global security and closer collaboration with African countries.

Forging closer maritime links with African countries is our top priority at NATO, which will further help to build greater maritime awareness to global security.

Sl Times: Rear Admiral, It’s been a pleasure talking to you, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

Admiral Mahon: Thank you.