Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Pirates' Catch Exposed Route of Arms in Sudan Conflict


Tony Karumba/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Feb. 14, 2009 | MOMBASA, KENYA | Kenyan security officers stand guard over Soviet made T-72 tanks after they were offloaded from a Ukranian ship captured by Somali pirates.
 KHARTOUM, Sudan — It was September 2008 and a band of Somali pirates made a startling discovery.
The Ukrainian freighter they had just commandeered in the Gulf of Aden was packed with weapons, including 32 Soviet-era battle tanks, and the entire arsenal was headed for the regional government in southern Sudan. The Ukrainian and Kenyan governments vigorously denied that, insisting that the tanks were intended for the Kenyan military.
“This is a big loss for us,” said Alfred Mutua, a spokesman for the Kenyan government, at the time.
But it turns out the pirates were telling the truth — and the Kenyans and Ukrainians were not, at least publicly. According to several secret State Department cables made public by WikiLeaks, the tanks not only were headed to southern Sudan, but they were the latest installment of several underground arms shipments. By the time the freighter was seized, 67 T-72 tanks had already been delivered to bolster southern Sudan’s armed forces against the government in Khartoum, an international pariah for its human rights abuses in Darfur.
Bush administration officials knew of the earlier weapons transactions and chose not to shut them down, an official from southern Sudan asserted in an interview, and the cables acknowledge the Kenyan officials’ assertions that they had kept American officials informed about the deal. But once the pirates exposed the arms pipeline through Kenya, the Obama administration protested to the Ukrainian and Kenyan governments, even threatening sanctions, the cables show.
Vann H. Van Diepen, a senior State Department official, presented the Ukrainians with a sales contract that showed southern Sudan as the recipient, according to a November 2009 cable from the American Embassy in Kiev. When they dismissed it as a forgery, Mr. Van Diepen “showed the Ukrainians cleared satellite imagery of T-72 tanks unloaded in Kenya, transferred to railyards for onward shipment, and finally in South Sudan,” the cable said, referring to the early deliveries of the weapons. “This led to a commotion on the Ukrainian side.”
The United States’ shifting stance, on policy and legal grounds, on arms for southern Sudan is illuminated in the State Department cables, which were made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations.,..more
an. 22, 2010.
Two of the 66 captives released from Guantánamo by the Obama administration are confirmed recidivists, according to the report. Another three are suspected of turning to terrorism or insurgent activities.
The Obama-era releases break down to 38 people resettled in 16 countries such as Albania, Bermuda, Slovakia and Switzerland.
Another 26 were repatriated to Afghanistan, Algeria, Britain, Chad, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somaliland and Yemen. The Obama administration also sent two Tunisians to Italy for trials.
Transfers are currently at a standstill. The White House, for the most part, suspended plans to repatriate Yemeni captives after a Nigerian captured in the botched Christmas Eve ``underwear bombing'' attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner was linked to Yemen's al Qaeda faction.
The last two Guantánamo captives to be released were Arabs sent to Germany for resettlement in September.
Still, the deputy national security advisor reiterated that it is a White House goal to empty the controversial detention center, which opened on Jan. 11, 2002.
``The President and our military commanders agree that closing the prison at Guantánamo is a national security imperative in the war against al Qaeda,'' Rhodes said. ``The President has also made it clear that he will move toward that goal in a way that best protects the American people.''..more  Documents Confirm Shipments of Tanks to Sudan - NYTimes.com



SomaliPirate related news.











  • No comments:

    Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

    Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

    Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

    Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
    Somalia army parade 1979

    Sultan Kenadid

    Sultan Kenadid
    Sultanate of Obbia

    President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

    Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

    Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

    Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

    Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
    Sultanate of Warsengeli

    Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

    Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
    Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

    MoS Moments of Silence

    MoS Moments of Silence
    honor the fallen

    Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

    Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
    Beautiful handshake

    May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

    May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
    Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

    The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

    When our world changed forever

    His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

    His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
    Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

    Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

    Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
    Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

    Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

    Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
    Somalia

    About Us

    The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

    Blog Archive

    We Are Winning the War on Terrorism in Horn of Africa

    The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

    Terror Free Somalia Foundation