By Aaron Richardson- Talk Radio News Service
IMF says they will assist Tanzania and Kenya with millions of dollars to help with rising food costs and infrastructure needs; even though billions are still owed. (0:17)
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Correspondent Michael Ruhl’s investigative report into the recent pandemic of piracy off of the Horn of Africa. The report focuses on why the piracy is taking place and what can be done to stop it. It includes perspectives from Somali Ambassador-at-large Abdi Awallah Jama, George Mason University Political Science Professor Hazel McFerson, Maersk-Alabama Captain Richard Phillips, and CENTCOM Commander General David Petraeus. (07:30)
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
The lack of a coordinated international response might have emboldened pirates off the coast of Africa to step up their terror, according to Retired Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff. This comes on the heels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing the Obama Administration’s new approach to the situation in Somalia, which includes the U.S. seizure of financial assets.
Cosgriff believes that a coordinating authority among the nations with maritime interests in the region could help present a unified front against pirates.
“With so many different players on the field, it’s a bit like an all-star game without an authoritative coach. There are differing rules of engagement, national approaches, and limits on what they want their warships to do.” Cosgriff said it’s a challenge “to have the right ship from the right navy in the right place at the right time to do what you want to do.”
Cosgriff is former commander of the US Naval Forces Central Command. He held a talk at the Middle East Institute, at which he addressed the possible courses of action which could be taken against maritime piracy in the nearly 400,000 square mile region along the Somali coast.
“Doing nothing, or being ineffective at what we do, strikes me as bad policy,” said the commander, who addressed five possible courses of action that could be taken to curb the lawlessness:
• Do Nothing: Companies which traffic goods off of the African Horn would pay ransoms and treat piracy as a cost of business.
• Arm the Crews: Ship crews would be expected to maintain their own security through hiring private security forces or arming their mariners.
• Flood the Zone: International naval coalitions and unofficial patchworks of navies “with significant maritime interests” would patrol the region.
• Go in on ground – Light: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground aimed at equipment and infrastructure within known pirate camps along the Somali coastline.
• Go in on ground – Heavy: Tactical airstrikes and troops on the ground to flush out the pirate camps, seize property, and not allow the pirates to bare the fruits of their actions.
Cosgriff emphasized the importance of a coordinated international response in whatever route was selected, because it is an “international problem in the great global commons known as the sea.” A coordinated response would provide a uniform framework in which to react to pirates when they engage in hostility, according to Cosgriff. He said that since the U.S. is a global maritime leader, it should take a leading role in the solution.
“Whatever lies ahead, we have to take care… that the cure is not worse than the disease,” he said.
Cosgriff acknowledged that piracy is a business, and doesn’t believe that it is rooted in simple poverty and desperation, although he acknowledged those as contributing factors. “The overall problem is that of organized criminal clans,” groups which he said, “try to extend seaward the rule of the gun which pertains in much of Somalia.” He continued, “in short, piracy pays.”
Somalia has faced ongoing violence and lawlessness since the government collapsed in 1991.
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Piracy is nothing new in Somalia. Every day pirates run free off of Somalia’s nearly 2,000-mile coastline and find haven within this African country which is slightly smaller than Texas. The problem has long been of concern to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations, but it has been gaining special attention once again because of the targeting of American citizens. The hostage situation with American ship captain Richard Phillips caused a nation to hold its breath, and many were in shock when U.S. Congressman Donald Payne (D-NJ) escaped a mortar attack aimed at his airplane in Mogadishu on Monday while the congressman was meeting with government officials.
Maritime piracy has been a lucrative business since the collapse of the Somali government in 1991 and in the thirteen governments to exist since. It can provide quick income for the uneducated and impoverished, and has become a fact of life for companies trading around the Horn of Africa.
The United States has not had full diplomatic ties with Somalia since 1991. Somalia now has a U.S. “Ambassador-at-large” with no formal office in the U.S. from which to work. The Ambassador-at-large, Abdi Awaleh Jama, believes that the violence comes from a “poverty of leadership” in Somalia. Jama said the leaders at the regional and national level don’t serve communal interests but rather favor specific clans or family members.
“The dominant paradigm now is the clan paradigm… not the nation paradigm,” Jama said. He continued, “When there is no law and order, you take the law into your own hands.” Jama said the natural resources in Somalia have been seized by certain clans and used to hold down opposition within the rest of the country.
Jama, who does not fault the sitting Somali president for the country’s condition, said that pirates flourish off the expansive coast because the rule of law has not existed in Somali society in the past decade. When such anarchy is combined with the overflowing poverty, a situation will develop where people will seize “any opportunity they have to make money,” said Jama.
Officials within the Somali government have defended the so-called pirates as being a “coast guard” who protect the country’s resources. Jama dismisses that claim.
“These are criminals who want to make quick money, and who want to just use force, in the name of saving Somalia,” he said. “They are only there to enrich themselves, and to use that gimmick that they are defending Somali resources, which is wrong.”
Joel Carny, an expert from Refugees International, said that Somalia “really hasn’t had a central government that has functioned in so long.” He believes this has led to “warlordism” and opportunity for clan-based regional politics to develop. He called Somalia “an environment in which everyone has to fend for themselves.”
According to Carny, approximately two million Somalis have been displaced due to the violence in the past decade and three million are in need of emergency assistance.
Somalia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Elmi Ahmed Duale, acknowledged in a phone conversation that the violence was taking place and said the government cannot hide it. He hopes for a resolution.
The international community has taken this issue very seriously. The United Nations has had peacekeepers in Somalia at various times since 1991, and most recently the African Union has dedicated resources through AMISOM, their official Mission to Somalia. In February 2009, the United Nations Security Council authorized AMISOM to stay in Somalia for another six months, which places peacekeepers on the ground through August. The United Nations says the goal of this mission is to help establish order and secure human rights.
Recent Somali elections were marked by violence to the point that they had to take place in neighboring Djibouti. Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was elected in January, and shortly thereafter, Ahmed appointed a new prime minister.
Carny is doubtful of the new government’s ability to establish order but thinks that the international community should give the new president a chance. Carney said, “Lets see if [the government] can establish a viable authority… that can at least establish security inside the capitol and then spread from there.” Carney said, however, that “anyone who’s pessimistic about Somalia is probably going to be right.”
Jama wants the United States to help Somalia build a “proper coast guard,” which would replace vigilantism that currently runs the shorelines.
Both Jama and Carny acknowledged that most of the social problems in Africa are rooted in the colonial past, but Carny believes that Africa must move on. “We’re not going to redraw the boundaries in Africa,” said Carny. He suggested that Somalia could be governed regionally through “some kind of Federalism,” as a credible solution for ethnically diverse nations prone to social conflict, civil war and genocide.
“For better or for worse, these countries have to live and work their way out of consequences. When you get good leadership at the national level… things can turn around fairly quickly,” Carny said.
Listen to the audio report here.
By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service
Correspondent Michael Ruhl reports on the security and humanitarian crisis presently plaguing Somalia. Ruhl interviews Somalia’s Ambassador-At-Large to the U.S., Abdi Awaleh Jama, and also speaks with Joel Carny from Refugees International.
Read the full article here
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Version 1 [00:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Version 2 [02:00m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Version 3 [03:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download2.5 million people will contract HIV this year, a disease that is “preventable” according to Elizabeth Pisani, author of “The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels, and the Business of AIDS” at a discussion of her book at the Center For Strategic and International Studies today.
Pisani disagrees with the idea that AIDS is a worldwide problem saying, “There is no global HIV epidemic.” She said that parts of Africa, or 10 percent of the world’s population, have 66 percent (40 million people) of reported cases of HIV. She said that the rest of the HIV epidemic is prevalent in people who “sell sex,” gay men, and drug injectors.
She focused on the multitude of interest groups that will not help in the fight to prevent HIV. She said those in the UN will lose money, politicians will lose votes, religious groups will “compromise their morality,” and AIDS activists do not want to bring this problem back to its “bad days.”
Pisani added that the religious “sacred cows” against prevention of HIV are miscalculated. She said the feeling among the religious that providing condoms is a way of promoting sex is misguided. She said, in her experience, carrying condoms “doesn’t make it any easier to get laid.” She also said that the notion that providing needles promotes injection is untrue as well.
In the U.S. , Pisani said that HIV is “a gay male disease.” She said that prevention in America must be focused on that group.
In regards to to treatment of HIV, Pisani stated that she supported treatment, but “We can’t do it without doing better at prevention.”
As the 10th anniversary of the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) by President Bill Clinton nears, Commissioner for the rights of non-Muslims in Sudan, Joshua Dae Diu, spoke at the Hudson Institute about the progress Sudan has made.
“Religion is still a major problem in Sudan. South Sudan has become a secular system where freedom of religion is allowed, while the north is still not allowing non-Muslims to practice their religion,” Diu said.
The CPA says that there are other citizens practicing different religions and traditions that police, judges, and other law enforcement need to remember and to allow. Diu says because of this agreement, the south has moved to allow non-Muslims to practice their religion freely throughout. The north is still an Islamic State and until the elections occur in 2009, the north has refused to change course to allow religious freedom.
“The CPA has tried to address the basic issues that plague Sudan, that is why we have one country with two systems. After six years of having these two systems, what do we do then? We must leave it up to the people in the north and south,” Diu said.
Along with the elections that will take place in 2009, a Census is being held throughout Sudan. Diu said that the Census does not cover who is non-Muslim in the Nation’s Capitol and in Sudan. Diu went on to say that the south should have argued this but they were intimidated by the northern officials. “Because of the south being intimidated by the north we are now stuck, we will have to wait another 10 years for another Census to occur. We can not wait another 10 years to get safety for non-Muslims in Sudan.,” Diu stated.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a hearing on Sudan’s unravelling peace and the challenge that the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is facing as Sudan’s election draws closer. The CPA is an agreement between the People’s Liberation Movement and the government of Sudan. It was meant to end the second Sudanese Civil War, develop democratic governance countrywide, and share oil revenues. USCIRF is concerned that the CPA is in jeopardy and that Sudan could easily slip into its third North-South civil war since independence in 1956. “The CPA is the key to Sudan’s success and peace. If it fails so will Sudan,” said USCIRF chairwoman Felice Gaer.
Elections in Sudan are set to be completed no later than July of 2009 and a referendum be done sometime in 2011. Ambassador Richard Williamson said that the election can bring new identity to the south and the south will have the opportunity to have a self-identification. Williamson said that without the elections the referendum cannot happen, and it will hinder the peace between the south and north. “The referendum is the final and most important plank of the CPA. Without it Sudan will fall back into war,” Williamson said during the hearing.
Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa (USAID) Earl Gast insisted that without a credible and loyal government in Sudan the elections will fail. “Despite of U.S. investments, preparations for Sudan’s elections are at an impasse and we are nearing a crossroads,” said Gast. Gast also said that at this point in time Sudan’s government is too deformed to be reformed and that Sudan and the U.S. need to come to a resolution before the 2009 elections.
Williamson said that the U.S. needs to call on its allies for support. Since the CPA was signed in 2005, five billion dollars have been distributed to Sudan’s relief fund. “The bulk of the five billion dollars has been spent on keeping people alive day to day. We have not been able to spend the money on helping the two million people that are still displaced, still after three years since the CPA was signed. With the help of U.S. allies, Sudan’s relief fund could help those that have been displaced, ” said Williamson during the hearing. The USCIRF is hoping that the elections will bring Sudan closer to a resolution and allow the Sudanese to live freely in their country.
This morning Senator Bill Frist (R – TN) moderated a panel entitled “American Leadership on Global Health” at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The discussion was hosted by ONE.org and focused on the progress made since President Bush approved PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), which nearly quadrupled aid to African nations.
One panel member said that while a large number of people are being treated, more are being infected. Everyone was in agreement that the focus needed to be on education for prevention purposes or else treatment would not matter. One mark of success is the expanded focus on other diseases affecting poor nations throughout Africa.
The need for more money to help ailing African countries was also discussed. Syndicated columnist Michael Gerson said, “Americans will be extremely generous when they feel they have an impact.” Sally Canfield, senior program officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation emphasized the importance of contributions from the government as well as the private sector in order to have a successful fight against issues facing poor countries.
The group also discussed the Millennium Challenge Corporation. They discussed the continued need of MCC to challenge some of the poorest countries to work toward their own prosperity. Resources are currently being dispersed among the countries that have reached certain benchmarks, such as passing women’s rights legislation.
The consensus of the panel was that only phase 1 had been completed and it was time to move to the next stage of expanding knowledge and “not creating an Africa that is dependent on US aid, but creating an Africa that is healthy enough to focus on prosperity in business.”
Radhika Coomaraswamy, United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, discusses her recent mission to Chad and the Central African Republic. Ms. Coomaraswamy’s mission was to meet and work with the governments of Chad and the Central African Republic, as well as UN agencies and non-state actors to discuss the status of children in armed conflict. Ms. Coomaraswamy was pleased to report that Chad will release all children in detention, provide the United Nations with a list of names, and work to reintegrate them into their communities. (2:09)
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