Saturday, April 16, 2011

As Indonesian Elite Force Apparoaches Somalia. Navy successfully tests prototype ocean-going laser weapon

JAKARTA,  - Indonesia has dispatched an  elite military force to Somalia to rescue 20  Indonesian sailors who were hijacked by Somalian pirates together with their ship a month ago.
Despite a media blitz in Jakarta, the Indonesian government had actually to cancel the hard option as the Kopassus and the Korp Marinir units were en route to the site where MV Sinar Kudus was held by Somali pirates.
The force dispatched numbers to 401 personnel consisting of a combined unit of Kopassus and Korps Marinir (Marine Corps). The media had apparently been taken by surprise by what had been disclosed by Air Marshall (Rtd.) Djoko Suyanto, the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security.
This story has not been made public by the government until Friday. There are two considerations that may have become the underlying reasons for Djoko Suyanto, former Indonesian Defense Force (TNI) Commander, to open the fact to public through media.
First, public opinion has cornered the government in the people’s eyes as being weak and slow-moving. Second, the 3.5 million US dollars ransom money has actually been in the process of delivery to the pirates as the condition for the release of the sailors.
"The directive from the President was that the safety of the seamen is the priority," said Suyanto, saying that the government was not as meek as what had been depicted by some quarters in the public through media.
Suyanto said the government was formally notified of the case by afternoon March 17, 2011, less than 24 hours after the vessel was taken over by the pirates. After a five-day preparation, on March 23, 2011, TNI sent off two naval ships to Somali waters through Colombo, Sri Lanka.
On March 30, 2011, hundred personnel of the two TNI elite units that had been dispatched by air arrived at Colombo and boarded the two Indonesian naval ships which then charged at full speed going towards Somalia that day.
"We sent our boys by air to Colombo to keep them fresh," Suyanto said.
TNI had calculated that the two warships would approach the operation zone at the Somali waters by April 5, 2011. But suddenly the pirates, which had used MV Sinar Kudus as their command ship for directing hijacking operations on other vessels, moved it to berth on a ground position not anymore on the high seas on April 2, 2011.
"We had in fact expected to meet them on the high seas. Yet, surveillance missions were conducted to follow the ship," explained Suyanto, adding that the surveillance missions had been launched by using helicopters from the two warships.
From the aerial surveillance missions, TNI knew that MV Sinar Kudus had been taken by their Somali pirates in Puntland and hidden among eight other vessels of various flags. The blitzkrieg scenario, however, was cancelled as MV Sinar Kudus remained standstill and never went out of the area.
"We had expected that the ship, being used as a mother ship, would go out into the high seas again but it stayed there," said Suyanto, explaining that an attack on the high seas would have a better chance for success and less risk for the captivated seamen.
Suyanto made it clear that there have been communication between the pirates and the owner of MV Sinar Kudus in a bargaining fashion on the amount of ransom that could eventually be delivered to Somalia.
MV Sinar Kudus with 20 Indonesian crew, was captured by Somali pirates around 320 miles north east of the island of Socotra, Somali Basin, on March 16, 2011. The bulk cargo ship was on its way to Suez, Egypt, from Singapore, when it was attacked.
The crew stated that 30 to 50 pirates had boarded and taken control of the vessel. MV Sinar Kudus, owned by PT Samudra Indonesia, was carrying ferronickel from Pomala in West Sulawesi and on its way to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Somali Government’s Support
The dispatch of rescuing mission by TNI to Somalia may certainly have been done in secret and out of the formal knowledge of the Somali government. However, the Somali Ambassador in Jakarta, Muhamod Olow Barow, gestured a friendly approach on a military mission should the Indonesian government opt to resorting to that hard option.
Ambassador Barow said last Wednesday what the best way to rescue the 20 Indonesian crew members held hostage by Somali pirates was through negotiation for which his government was ready to help. "Other countries such as Malaysia and India negotiate first and foremost with the pirates. If that doesn’t work, then they take military action."
Barow added that the number of groups negotiating the release should be kept to a minimum to avoid having the pirates increase their ransom with a certain group. He further said Somalia would support whatever option, including military action, Indonesia chose to free the crew.
"We are ready to provide intelligence information," Ambassador Barow said in response to questions posed by media.
In the sea piracy context, the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur announced last week that Somali pirates had become more violent and aggressive in the recent months.
Up to 70 percent or 07 of the attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia, up sharply from 35 in the same period last year. Globally, there have been 142 piracy cases in the first quarter of 2011, according to the global maritime watchdog.
Attackers seized 18 vessels worldwide, including three large tankers, between January and March and captured 344 crew members. Pirates also murdered seven crew members and injured 34 during the period.
Somali pirates hijacked 15 ships from January to March 2011 and were holding captive 596 crew members on 28 ships as of March 31, 2011.
Navy successfully tests prototype ocean-going laser weapon


Science fiction became science fact when the U.S. Navy barbecued an outboard motor off the coast of California.

This was no pleasure-boating mishap: It was the first successful test of a high-energy laser and proof that a weapon using that technology could protect Navy ships or immobilize pirates.

The laser, mounted on a Navy warship, was able to destroy an outboard motor on a small boat bobbing 'more than a mile away,' according to Michael Deitchman, director of air warfare and weapons at the Office of Naval Research. The Navy is carefully guarding specific details of last week's test but the video is a popular stop on YouTube.

'We can really, kind of, get the attention of an attacking boat,' Deitchman said.

And the power of the laser can be adjusted for distance -- what the experts call 'tune-ability' -- from just a bright light to a small hole in the bow to the destructive beam that torched the outboard motor in the test. A laser weapon could be used to disable pirate boats off the coast of Africa or to keep suspected terrorist vessels far away from Navy ships.

There has been talk about lasers since the middle of the 20th century and decades of research about how to make an effective weapon. Deitchman says the successful test proved to scientists with the Navy and Northrop Grumman that the technology has potential.

Previously, lasers had been tested either in the air or on land. The humidity and up-and-down swells of the Pacific introduced a whole new set of variables.

In this case, the laser was linked into what was already on board. 'We were able to integrate into the existing tracking and targeting system,' Deitchman said.

And this 'proof of concept test' kicks the project along to Navy and Defense Department decision-makers who will decide whether to move ahead with additional tests and development.

'What we are doing is saying, 'Here's what's possible,' ' Deitchman said.

Source: CNN

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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

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