Dr. Wolassa Kumo
Introduction

Fixed capital has long been considered as an engine of growth both as a factor of production and as an embodiment of technological progress. Countries that had made sustained accumulation of fixed capital were able to achieve higher and sustained economic growth and development while those who had not lagged behind. For instance, economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa has been severely constrained by inadequate saving and investment, among other things. The average annual gross domestic saving rate by 41 sub Saharan African countries during the period 1980-2010 was as little as 14.3% of GDP while the average fixed investment was 20% of GDP for the same period. Therefore, sub-Saharan Africa’s burgeoning debt was not primarily meant to finance investment as the saving- investment gap was only about 6% of GDP during the past three decades.

Sub Saharan Africa’s dismal average economic growth of about 3.8% during the past three decades was therefore a direct consequence of low saving and low investment. The Sub Saharan Africa average saving and investment rates pale in comparison to the saving and investment rates of the newly industrialized and emerging Asian economies, such as China, whose saving and investment rates of over 40% of GDP ensured real economic growth rates of over 10% during the same period, i.e. 1980-2010.

Average annual growth in Africa reached above 5% during the past decade following the commodity price boom since the early 2000s but was dampened by the global economic and financial crises during 2008-2009. Growth rebounded in 2010 and is projected to reach 5.5% in 2011 making sub Saharan Africa the second fastest growing region in the world following Asia.

However, heavy dependence on growth driven by improved commodity terms of trade subjects the sub continent to vagaries of global demand uncertainty. Unless improved commodity terms of trade translates into higher saving and investment, the sustainability of the current improved growth performance will be at stake. Equally important is the continuation of economic and political reforms that are required to enhance the participation of the private sector in economic development, and also improve productivity and investment efficiency.

This brief paper presents an overview of investment efficiency, savings and economic growth in 41 sub Saharan African countries for the past three decades using data from the IMF, World Economic Outlook Data Base, April 2011. Six countries have been excluded from the analysis for lack of consistent time series data. These are Djibouti, Liberia, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Investment Efficiency in Sub Saharan Africa

There are two broad concepts of efficiency: allocative efficiency and technical or production efficiency usually measured by total factor productivity. Some empirical analysts use these broad concepts of efficiency to assess inefficiency in aggregate investment in terms of excess investment demand that captures the deviations of actual investment from the desired investment. These approaches usually use nonparametric methods, such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), as well as, parametric methods including multiple linear or non- linear regression models.

In this brief article, we use a simple approach based on marginal productivity of capital, known commonly as the Incremental Capital Output Ratio (ICOR) to measure investment efficiency in 41 sub Saharan African countries for the period 1980-2010. ICOR is the ratio of investments in some previous period or periods and growth in output in subsequent period or periods measured at constant prices.

Growth in output is not attributed only to investment in fixed capital. It could be due to growth in productivity (partial or total factor productivity), increased use of labour input or improvement in the level of education of the labour force (growth in human capital), and/or improvements in productive capacity utilization. However, changes in fixed investment still explain a significant portion of growth in output particularly in developing countries with limited fixed capital stock and therefore the efficiency with which this input is utilized provides a useful clue about the correlation between the later and economic growth.

The higher the ICOR, the lower is the implied investment efficiency. That is fixed investment is more efficient if fewer dollars are required to generate a unit growth in output. The average ICOR for sub Saharan Africa for the period 1980-2010 was 5.23 and was comparable with the ICOR for of about 5 during the 1980-2003 period. This implies that fixed investment in sub Saharan Africa is pretty efficient and the level of investment efficiency in the sub region is comparable with that of China during the early two decades of its rapid industrialization. This is not only because the sub region is capital scarce but also because there have been marked improvements in business climate and political environment during the past two decades. Therefore, no wonder that foreign direct investment surged in Africa from less than US$15 billion in early 2000s to over US$80 billion in 2007 before the inflow was hit by the global financial and economic crises of 2008-2009.

While average investment efficiency in sub Saharan Africa is high, performance varies from country to country. The 41 countries in sub Saharan Africa can be classified into three groups based on their ICOR performance for the period 1980-2010: (a) those with ICOR value of 1-5, (b) those with 6-9, and (c)) those with ICOR values of above 10.

The majority of the 41 counties (i.e. 25 countries) in the sub region recorded higher investment efficiency during the past three decades. These countries include both the least developed countries with very low fixed capital stock base, as well as, some middle income economies with higher level of capital stock. These best performing countries with ICOR value of 1-5 are: Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, DRC, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinean Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Most of these countries are not only face extreme capital scarcity but have also shown some progress in opening up their economies during the past 3 decades.

The countries with medium investment efficiency level of ICOR 6-9 include: Benin, Burundi, Cape Verde, Eritrea, Mauritius, Sierra Leone, and Swaziland. Mauritius is among the Upper Middle income countries and top reformers in the sub region. Lower investment efficiency may imply an over investment in the economy where marginal investment needed to generate a unit output was greater during the past three decades than during the earlier years of its economic expansion.

Investment efficiency was the lowest in the following countries during the past three decades: Angola, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa and Tanzania. All of these four countries have experienced some form of economic and political upheavals during the past three decades. Preliminary data analyses showed that South Africa’s ICOR was comparable with that of China for the post-Apartheid period, but the number was very high for the pre 1994 period, i.e. 1980-1994 pulling the country’s overall performance significantly down. Investment efficiency was very low during the Apartheid rule in South Africa, due to global isolation and heavy state control over the economy. Thus if we exclude the pre 1994 period South Africa’s investment efficiency will fall within the first group of best performers. Poor performance by Angola, Cote d’Ivoire and Tanzania reflects the continued impacts of civil war and socialist mode of production in the case of the later which contributed to wasteful investment.

Investment required to achieve a minimum growth threshold of 7 percent

While Africa’s growth performance is the second best in the world at present, the continent still lags behind other regions in terms of socioeconomic development. Over 380 million people in Africa today live below poverty line, while youth unemployment is as high as 70% in some countries. Most economies are still heavily dependent on rain fed subsistence agriculture with extremely limited investment on irrigation. Weak economic structure reinforces poverty and poses a major risk to the sustainability of the current growth fuelled by commodity price boom.

African countries will not be able to address this fundamental economic challenge with current growth rates of 5% or less. They should achieve a minimum of 7% annual growth rate individually or collectively for the coming two decades to make a dent on poverty and unemployment. With an average ICOR of 5.23, the sub Saharan Africa region therefore requires a minimum fixed investment of 35% of GDP over the coming two decades collectively or by each country. Given the current actual average regional fixed investment rate of 20% of GDP, the desired investment rate of 35% over the coming two decades seems insurmountable, but not unrealistic. China’s economic growth during the past three decades was fuelled by fixed investment of over 40% of GDP. China’s massive investment was financed by extraordinarily high household and public savings which at times reached 50% of GDP. The major challenge for Africa, in this respect, is a culture of low savings, which we expound in the following section.

Saving-investment gap in Sub Saharan Africa

When domestic household and public savings fall short of the fixed investment needs of a country, this leads to a saving-investment gap. This gap is exacerbated when export earnings of a country fall short of import demand leading to a second, foreign exchange gap. Most developing countries in Sub Saharan Africa are often characterized by both gaps. Except five countries, i.e. Botswana, DRC, Gabon, The Gambia, Namibia, and South Africa, the rest of 41 sub Saharan African countries had an average saving -investment gap ranging from 1% to nearly 30% of GDP during the past three decades.

The saving-investment gap, however, significantly varies across the countries in the sub region. Countries that faced relatively lower saving-investment gaps ranging between 1-5% in the sub region during the period under review include Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Swaziland and Uganda. The lower gap by some countries reflects increased savings from oil revenues, while lower gap by others simply mean lower level of investment.

Countries in the sub region with the average saving investment-gap of 6-10% during the stated period include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African republic, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius. Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia, while those with average saving-investment gap of above 11% include Cape Verde, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Mozambique, Seychelles and Togo.

The poor performance of the sub region in terms of the saving-investment gap reflects two major challenges: First, most countries are characterized by low saving and low investment and hence are at the risk of being trapped in vicious circle of poverty if the they do not raise their saving and investment rates immediately; and second if they raise their investment levels without a concomitant increase in domestic savings they may be trapped in vicious cycle of debt which could undermine the value of their investments, provided money borrowed is invested in economic development. Since the recent economic crisis proved that most of the aid pledged by non-African donors is unlikely to be delivered, the only sustainable solution to Africa’s development challenge is aggressive domestic resource mobilization for development. This could be supplemented by foreign direct investments, if the countries in the sub region speed up the current economic and political reforms.

Concluding remarks

Africa is rising. After 5 decades of civil strife and economic stagnation, the first decade of the 21st century shone a new light on the continent. Africa is no more a hopeless dark continent. Like its diamonds in the West, South and at the center, the continent is shining.

It is also shining as a second fastest growing continent in the world. However, there is no time for complacence as Africa is still the least developed continent in the world plagued with high level of poverty, unemployment, political instability and corruption. To sustainably address these fundamental socio economic challenges the region should at least grow by 7% per annum for the coming two decades. However, this is unlikely to be achieved with the current investment rate of 20% and the saving rate of 14% of GDP.

While the return to investment in Africa is high, it is such low levels of investment and saving that are holding the continent back. Given higher returns to investment, Africa’s economic transformation will depend on radical shift in the saving culture of its people, further economic and political reforms, and accelerated fixed investment.

   Dr. Wolassa Kumo
1. Introduction

Sub Saharan Africa is a home to 47 of the 53 countries in the continent. In 2009, based on GNI per capita, the World Bank classified countries into four categories: (a) low income, with GNI per capita of $995 or less; (b) lower middle income $996 – $3,945; (c) upper middle income, $3,946 – $12,195; and (d) high income, $12,196 or more. During the same year, 31 of the 47 countries in Sub Saharan Africa were low income economies. These countries include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The rest of the sub Saharan African economies belong to middle income and higher income groups. About 10 countries have been classified as lower middle income economies. These include: Angola, Cameron, Cape Verde, Congo Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Lesotho, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, and Swaziland. These are predominantly oil rich economies which recorded fastest economic growth during the past decade. Among the remaining six countries: Gabon, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa are upper middle income economies while Equatorial Guinea is the only non OECD high income economy from the African continent and is the richest country in Africa owing to the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves in early 1990s. With the third largest oil reserve discovered in the African continent, Equatorial Guinea is regarded as the “African Kuwait.”

Clearly, the sub Saharan African economies are heterogeneous and hence the old “Least Developed Country” (LDCs) classification does not reflect the reality on the ground anymore and must be abandoned with immediate effect. According to this outdated classification, many lower middle income countries are still classified as LDCs, while they have already surpassed the GNI per capita threshold. It is absurd to keep Equatorial Guinea in the least of LDCs due to the economic vulnerability and human development index while it has already achieved the high income status. Apart from this, many of the current low income economies have recorded remarkable economic growth since 2001 and hopes are high that they will catch up soon. The LDC classification holds connotations of backwardness and hopelessness for a continent which already suffers from huge image problems. Presenting a positive image about Africa is as important as the inflow of the development funds. Therefore, UNCTAD and other organizations that repeatedly emphasize about the LDC characteristics of sub Saharan Africa must adopt the more positive approach. At present , most sub Saharan African countries are either emerging middle income or developing low income economies, and as such must be classified accordingly.

The remaining parts of the article is organized as follows: section 2 scrutinizes the trends in real GDP growth in low income and lower middle income sub Saharan economies for the past decade. Section three reviews the challenges of commodity driven economic growth in these countries while the last section concludes the article.

2. The real GDP growth in low income and lower middle income sub Saharan economies

Many low income and lower middle income sub Saharan African economies recorded remarkably higher economic growth between 2001 and 2009. Based on the size of the annual average percentage change in GDP at constant prices between 2001 and 2009 (calculated based on the IMF World Economic Outlook Database, April 2010) the Sub Saharan African economies can be categorized into six groups: (a) those with real GDP growth above 10%, (b) those with 7.0-9.9%, (c) those with 5.0-7.0%, (d) those with 3.0-5.0 % , (e) those with ! 3%, and (f) those with !1% of GDP growth rates during the stated period.

The fastest growing low income and lower middle income economies between 2001 and 2009 were Angola and Sierra Leone with annual average GDP growth rate in excess of 10%. Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s only high income economy, was also the economy that recorded the highest growth rate during this period. These three countries were the top performers in economic growth in Sub Saharan Africa during the past decade and belong to our group (a) above. We may regard these economies as the “African Tigers” although the growth in Sierra Leone must be taken with caution as it has shown persistent decline during the past few years following volatility in its mineral exports.

The second group that closely follows the “African Tigers” is group (b) with annual average growth rates ranging between 7% and 9.9%. These countries include: (a) Chad, (b) Ethiopia, (c) Mozambique, (d) Rwanda, (e) Nigeria, and (f) Uganda. The growth in Chad and Nigeria is driven by oil exports while the growth in Mozambique is anchored by mineral exports. Rwanda and Ethiopia’s growth is propelled by a fast growing service export, while Uganda’s growth is based on export of agricultural commodities. Most of these six economies are on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty in 2015 and if they sustain the current level of growth, they may graduate from the low income group in two decades or less.

The third group of medium growth low income economies include Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and also Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe from lower middle income group. These economies grew between 5.0% and 7.0% for the period 2001-2009. The growth performance of many countries in this group was dampened by the recent global financial and economic crisis that led to sharp contractions in GDP in 2009. Within this group, Ghana’s growth is expected to improve faster following the recent discovery of oil reserves.

Many sub Saharan Africa countries, however, recorded real GDP growth rates of less than 5% on average for the period 2001-2009. These countries belong to the groups (d) with average growth of 3.0-5.0% including Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameron, DRC, Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa; group (e) with average annual growth of Less than 3% including Comoros, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Swaziland and Togo; and group (f) with average annual growth of less than 1% including Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Eritrea, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

Most of the lower and upper middle income sub Saharan African economies recorded growth rates of less than 5% per annum during this period. Some middle income countries experience similar challenges to those of low income economies such as high level of unemployment, low savings and investment and lower integration to the global economy among other things.

The worst performers in economic growth during the past decade, however, are: Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Eritrea, Seychelles and Zimbabwe. Although Seychelles is one of the upper middle income economies, its growth performance during the past decade was dismal owing to tight monetary policy, currency devaluation and large current account deficit, and declining private sector investment among others. Poor economic growth performance in Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire and Zimbabwe was linked to the continued political instability in the three countries during the past decade. In fact, Zimbabwe recorded decline in real GDP for the period 2001-2009 on average as a result of which the country has now been downgraded to low income country status. However, the recent positive developments in political climate are expected to improve growth performance in Zimbabwe going forward. Eritrea, which became independent from Ethiopia in 1993, did not live up to its promises with dismal growth performance of less than 1 % for the past decade unlike its bigger neighbor, Ethiopia, which recorded over 8% GDP growth during this period on average. The five worst performers have been characterized by macroeconomic and political instability and have to work hard to turn their economies around during the second decade of the century.

Economic growth in fast growing low income and lower middle income economies was largely driven by commodity price boom. Many analysts worry that heavy dependence on commodity may expose these economies to external shocks and may severely limit the sustainability of such growth. The next section highlights the challenges of relying on commodity driven growth in sub Saharan Africa.

3. The sustainability of commodity driven growth in sub Saharan Africa

Most of the low and lower middle income African economies that recorded higher growth during the past decade were either oil or mineral exporters. Economic growth driven by the commodity price boom exposes the economies to the external trade shock where growth prospects will be dependent on exogenous, foreign demand. However, the good news is that most of the commodity exports from these countries are going to China and India and other fast growing economies with insatiable appetite for raw materials. This is unlikely to change in the immediate future. Even then the African economies should not be complacent. The fundamental structural weaknesses of these economies must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Countries must revisit their industrialization strategy not only to raise the share of manufactures in total output but also to reduce the current high and unsustainable level of unemployment in these economies. This also requires transformation of the traditional subsistence agriculture that currently supports over 70% of the population in most of the low income and some of the middle income sub Saharan economies.

Another challenge is the low level of domestic savings. In most low and middle income economies in Africa the level of domestic savings is less than 15% of GDP as opposed to 40% in China. This implies that these countries rely on foreign capital to finance domestic expenditure and investment. Given the current low level of FDI attractions, this means that most funds come either in the form of aid or loans which may complicate development efforts by leading to dependency and debt traps. Related to this is the underdevelopment of financial institutions required to mobilize domestic resources for development.

Widening current account deficits particularly for non-oil exporting low income economies is another development bottleneck. While higher oil prices will spur growth in oil rich economies, it widens the trade deficits of non-oil and mineral exporting countries forcing them to borrow or depend on aid inflows to finance investment and other expenditure. In this regard, the challenge faced by non resource rich countries is formidable.

High level skills and technological gap constitute another critical challenge to sustainable development in sub Saharan economies. At present most of the sub Saharan economies face critical shortage of high level skills required to lead technological transformation. As a result, there is a growing technological gap between Africa and the rest of the world. To sustain the current growth moment African economies must spend an increasing higher resources on high level skills generation.

Last but not least, sub Saharan Africa faces massive infrastructure gaps. Roads, railways, airports, ports, energy, water and sewerage, and telecommunication are underdeveloped. Investment in economic infrastructure not only directly alleviates poverty by improving access to the services by the poor, but also fosters investment by the private sector, which is regarded as an engine of growth and development in market economies.

4. Concluding Remarks

After decades of stagnation, many sub Saharan African economies have recorded impressive economic growth for almost a decade. The continued discovery of oil and gas and other mineral resources in several of the low income economies coupled with the sustained rise in the prices of these commodities afforded great opportunity for growth and revival. The discovery of vast oil and gas reserves in the coast of Equatorial Guinea in early 1990s, ensured sustained and fast economic growth for over a decade as a result of which the country emerged as the only African and non-OECD high income economy. The discovery of oil reserves in Angola, Sudan, Chad, Ghana, in addition to the traditional oil exporters, Nigeria and Gabon buoyed the growth performance in these economies. This also implied improved accountability by resource rich countries compared to earlier years where revenues from oil have been vastly squandered.

The recently discovered coal reserves in Mozambique are considered to be one of the largest in the world. Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are endowed with vast diamond resources while South Africa has over 40% of the World’s gold reserves. Zambia is the second largest producer of copper in the world, although its growth performance is far lower than many resource rich countries in the continent. Due to lack of political stability, the DRC has still remained one of the poorest countries in the continent with per capita income of less than US$140 in 2009 in spite of its vast mineral resources. The recent discovery of diamond in Zimbabwe provides a great shot in the arm for the economy if the rival politicians come to their senses and reintegrate the economy into the global market. Africa also has one third of the world’s cobalt, significant deposits of uranium and other strategic minerals, all of which will anchor the current growth momentum.

The expansion of service exports in place of traditional commodities by countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda must also be encouraged as should Uganda’s innovative agriculture export led growth.

However, there still remains a lot to be done to ensure that the current impressive growth in sub Saharan economies are to be sustained and become catch-up growth. One of the most important strategic measures is an urgent diversification of the domestic output and export. Improved revenues generated through commodity exports must be wisely used to improve agricultural productivity, increase the size of manufactured output and create jobs.

Apart from this, governments must create conducive climate of doing business for the private sector, both domestic and foreign, through significant reductions in bureaucratic red tapes and improved investment in economic infrastructure as sustained economic development cannot be achieved without a strong and viable private sector.

Finally, the current macroeconomic and in particular monetary and fiscal policy resilience in many low and middle income economies must be maintained in the future. In particular, lower inflation rates, exchange rate stability, lower interest rates and improved tax revenues together with improvements in the performances of financial intermediation and capital markets will ensure that this time sub Saharan Africa will take off into self sustained development.

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   By: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
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In five earlier articles titled “Opposition Party Offices Closed in Fake Ethiopia Elections, MP Dr. Jigi Demekssa Reveals,” “MP Dr. G. Jigi Demekssa Calls US, EU: Support to Fake Ethiopia Contradicts All Democratic Ideals,” “There Are No Elections but Real War in Ethiopia Today, Denounces MP Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa,” “MP Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa: Task of Every Oromo is the Elimination of the Abyssinians from Oromia” and “Sudan and the Oromo Nation are the Natural Allies against the Abyssinian TPLF Ethiopianist Tyranny,” I published the previous parts of an interview that I was honoured to have with the leading Oromo parliamentarian, Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa. With the present article, I complete the publication of Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa’s interview.

Dr. Demekssa was forced to leave his country and fight from abroad for freedom, liberation, national independence and secession of Oromia. Dr. Demekssa’s revelations should become a matter of utmost concern for international bodies, governments, statesmen and politicians, diplomats and intellectuals, journalists and Human Rights activists worldwide.

The forthcoming electoral fraud in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) is a Shame for the Mankind in its entirety. Reaction must be taken in order to hold responsible and accountable the perpetrators of the electoral fraud, who are also charged with the most odious Crime against the Mankind: the diffusion of the racist theory of Ethiopianism, the falsehood of an Ethiopian nation within which they intentionally attempt to exterminate once forever more than 15 different African nations with great past and noble traditions.

Interview with Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa — Part 6
OFDM Executive Committee Member
Head of the Political and Organizational Dept.
MP for Ethiopian Federal Parliament
Chairman of Oromo Parliamentarians Council

25.   What are the major issues in today’s Oromia? Economy? Human Rights? Environment? Development?

The Oromian economy is currently fully controlled by Males Zenawi and his adviser Nuwy Gbra Ab and their subservient puppets, the Minster of Finance Ahmed Sufian and the Minister of Industry and Trade Girma Biru. These are all TPLF gang members and have absolutely no idea about the socioeconomic realities that prevail in Occupied Oromia.

The Oromia land-grabbing is today the most preoccupying matter for all the Oromos because sizeable lots of fertile land are being sold for 100 years to Indian, Saudis, Sudanese, Europeans and other businessmen. Oromia’s surface totals more than 350000 km2, but the precipitated rhythm of these illegal and absolutely invalid transactions consists in an unprecedented phenomenon in Eastern Africa. I will give you now some examples.

Bangalore-based Karuturi Global Ltd., which is currently leasing more than 300,000 hectares (765,000 acres) of local land, sold out an area larger than the entire Luxembourg (ca. 2600 km2) for only 15 birr (US $ 1.18) per hectare per year.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, has “bought” and currently “owns” a land lot of 20,000 m2 near the town Bishoftu (Debre Zeit) in Occupied Oromia.

Last year, Ismael Omar Guelleh, the president of Djibouti, “bought” a land lot of 10000 m2 in Bishoftu in order to have a house built there, and more recently he “bought” another 30000 m2 in Bale for agricultural purposes — all in Occupied Oromia.

Furthermore, his woman, Khadra Mohammed, the first lady of Djibouti, “bought” a land lot of 20 hectares in Sebeta (Oromia) in order to set up a flower farm.

The National Bank of Egypt announced that during this year they will buy a land lot of 20000 hectares to invest in agriculture.

It is noteworthy that no less than 240 Saudi companies have applied and got the governmental license for investment in agriculture. Some of these companies have started investing and operating; in their totality, the Saudi investment companies are expected to invest US $2.5 billion in these projects for which a sizeable part of Oromian land has been unlawfully sold to them.

A German company has been working for some time in bio-fuel project that involved an area of ca. 13000 hectares.

Another German entrepreneur has been recently allocated an area of ca. 150000 ha for livestock project.

Notorious for his support to the racist TPLF dictator Meles Zenawi, the Ethio-Saudi entrepreneur Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Ali Al Amoudi Al Amoudi acquired many vast pieces of land in various parts of Occupied Oromia, notably in the periphery of Finfinnee, in the zones Arsi, Gurji (more than half the area) and Bale, and in the West Wellega district of Mansibu.
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Last year, in the first months, the TPLF Mafia lords sold unofficially to personal friends and acquaintances areas totalling 607760 hectares — all in Occupied Oromia.

According to recommendations made by specialists and experts, the disproportionate sales of Oromian land at incredibly low fake prices, which occur without involving preconditions and special agreements, can end up in irreparable disasters.

•   – Land deals must be assessed in the light of the often complex overall package they are part of, including commitments on investment, infrastructure development and employment — the “land grab” emphasized by some media is only part of the equation;

•   – Land leases, rather than purchases, are predominant in Africa, and host country governments tend to play a key role in allocating them;

•   – Land fees and other monetary transfers are generally small (for instance, three dollars to $ 12 per hectare per year in Mali and Ethiopia), not least due to the difficulty of setting land prices in absence of well-established formal land markets;

•   – Host country benefits are mainly seen in the form of investor commitments on investment levels, employment creation and infrastructure development

•   – Although the structure of current land deals suggests that these commitments may be difficult to enforce.

More analytically: http://www.inwent.org/ez/articles/155062/index.en.shtml
(an in-depth analysis by Lorenzo Cotula and Sonja Vermeulen)

For all of us, the Oromo Nation who are the undisputed proprietary of all these land lots, as well as of the territory of Occupied Oromia, the aforementioned — and similar, past or future — transactions of the undemocratic, totalitarian TPLF government are illegal and absolutely void. The unlawful foreign and Abyssinian owners will certainly lose their monies in this shameful affair, because the transactions will be cancelled. They cannot deal with a tyrant and illegal tenant of our land.

26.   How happy are you with the stance of the Europeans, statesmen, politicians, academia, and intellectuals toward the grave violations of Human Rights in Abyssinia?

Western countries have created fake colonial borders which caused a real political volcano in many African countries across the continent. Until we finally change these colonial borders, the political volcano will continue erupting every now and then, producing genocides, massacres, atrocities and all sorts of calamities.

It is essential to note that the problems between the Tutsis and the Hutus in Rwanda and Burundi have not in fact been created by these two nations, but they are the direct result of the colonization, and the unlawful, immoral and shameful relationship established between the former colonizers and their proxies, today’s fake leaders who are forced to rule tyrannically and within unacceptable and impossible borders that by themselves generate troubles because they represent nothing. Due to the colonialism and its side effects, the Oromo Nation does not have a most deserved position among the UN General Assembly members, but has disappeared, divided among Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

For Western politicians and diplomats, guys like Meles Zenawi, who are ready always to disregard and undermine the interests of diverse subjugated nations and disrespect the interests of the entire African continent, are useful and functional; that’s why they praise them so much. The Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change is an example; the shameful, catastrophic and utterly Anti-African positions supported by the Tigray Mafia lord Meles Zenawi fully exposed his corrupted personality.
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Even in the 21st century, the Western countries failed to demonstrate a genuine interest in the democratization of African countries that they condemned to undeserved tyrannies in the first place. I have shaped the idea that they must imagine that Democracy, Freedom, National Independence and Progress are ideals and concepts good only for themselves, not the rest. When it comes to Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania, the Western governments are interested only generating conflicts, wars and destruction. That is paranoid and inhuman.

27.   What could they do in your opinion?

Ethiopia is indeed a land of silence and human rights violations, as I said in a Complaint Statement that I submitted to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Africa Department. The world community has forgotten all our appeals, and today the Oromos are among the voiceless nations at the margin of the international society. I can use the description I made for the HRW to specify what the Western countries could do:

“Meles Zenawi has killed tens of thousands of innocent Oromos and other nations in Ethiopia. Meles is much more brutal than Omar Al Bashir of Sudan, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Milosevic of Yugoslavia, and Idi Amin Dada of Uganda. The difference is he wants to play a different card at different time to show as if he is Western-friendly. He is the most silent killer ever. While we expect him in the Hague, the support European power’s definitely discourage the struggle for justice and democratic reformation in Africa and else where.

Innocent Oromo individuals are being killed in cold blood and denied the honor to get normal burial, some of the dead are left in the forest for hyenas and wild beasts to feast on them. This is what happened in Ciro town in Western Hararge two years ago, the Gara Suufi massacre.

Oromo students who staged for peace protests against the injustice being committed against their people were beaten severely, denied their graduation certificate, dismissed from school and shot dead in the school compound – for no crime committed until today.

There are more than 40000 Oromo political prisoners in Ethiopia, most of them were tortured, shot dead or disabled forever in the same prisons. Oromo intellectuals, business men, farmers and civil servants are detained, tortured and humiliated in a way which can be related to systematic eradication of this big nation.

The most shocking tragedy of this regime is that elected parliamentarians and members of other political parties were subjected to executions and other acts of inhumane treatment. For instance, Mr. Adane was an elected member of the Ethiopian parliament representing the Oromo Peoples Congress Party (OPC). A week after the election of May 2005 a police shot and killed Mr. Adane in Arsi Negele town.

Oromo refugees in Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Kenya are under unprecedented suffering after fleeing their land, deported in contrary to international convention, and persecuted for the last 18 years of TPLF regime. In Somalia (Bossaso), 65 Oromos were brutally murdered and more than 100 others were injured in this incident. Among international news outlets, Reuters reported that at least 20 were killed and over 100 were injured. Some other sources have also reported that about 250 homes have been burned. Back in November 06, 2007, 10 Oromo refugees were reported to have been executed in their apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, and killed others are punished by death sentence.

As a way to stay on power, the TPLF regime is putting different ethnic groups against each other almost continuously everywhere in Ethiopia, a land known by tolerance and coexistence for centuries is getting the vice-versa reality. As example, I can mention the Benishangul Gumuz civil war against civil Oromo natives which caused thousands of victims”.

These are few examples of the Human Rights violations being committed against the Oromo Nation and ignored by world community. The Western countries can do everything that it takes to put an end to this situation.

Oromo Parliamentarians: 13 MP’s have been forced to exile, but the world community, including the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), keep silent. The Western countries can stop their silence and act according to the ideals that they have long declared as theirs.

I therefore ask again the World Community to make high pressure on Meles Zenawi and force him to stop these evildoings. I call the World Community to respond to all these tragedies, according their solemnly declared humanitarian and democratic principles.

In parallel, I also call the Oromo Diaspora and all Oromo freedom fighters to underscore that starting by Monday a new face of our struggle for National Liberation must begin and all the Oromo leaders must come to the front of this national struggle. All the Oromos who belong to fronts, movements and parties must be mobilized at all levels for this struggle. Every division must stop now and forever. We need to deploy the best coordinated effort at all levels, political and diplomatic, military and socioeconomic; the struggle for the National Liberation of Oromia must become our only concern, and the action must prevail over theoretical talking. Oromia shall be free!

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   By: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
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In four articles titled “Opposition Party Offices Closed in Fake Ethiopia Elections, MP Dr. Jigi Demekssa Reveals,” “MP Dr. G. Jigi Demekssa Calls US, EU: Support to Fake Ethiopia Contradicts All Democratic Ideals,” “There Are No Elections but Real War in Ethiopia Today, Denounces MP Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa,” and “MP Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa: Task of Every Oromo is the Elimination of the Abyssinians from Oromia,” I published several parts of an interview that I was honoured to have with the leading Oromo parliamentarian, Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa. In the present article, I publish the fifth part of Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa’s interview which will be completed with the next article.

Dr. Demekssa was forced to leave his country and fight from abroad for freedom, liberation, national independence and secession of Oromia. Dr. Demekssa’s revelations should become a matter of utmost concern for international bodies, governments, statesmen and politicians, diplomats and intellectuals, journalists and Human Rights activists worldwide.

The forthcoming electoral fraud in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) is a Shame for the Mankind in its entirety. Reaction must be taken in order to hold responsible and accountable the perpetrators of the electoral fraud, who are also charged with the most odious Crime against the Mankind: the diffusion of the racist theory of Ethiopianism, the falsehood of an Ethiopian nation within which they intentionally attempt to exterminate once forever more than 15 different African nations with great past and noble traditions.

Interview with Dr. Getachew Jigi Demekssa — Part 5
OFDM Executive Committee Member
Head of the Political and Organizational Dept.
MP for Ethiopian Federal Parliament
Chairman of Oromo Parliamentarians Council

21.   Do you expect developments in the Sudan (South, Darfur, Kordofan, etc.) to affect Abyssinia?

Yes, any change in the Sudan can affect or exercise pressure or influence on Ethiopia; unfortunately, the Sudanese government has failed so far to realize the secret cooperation between the US, EU governments, and the racist Abyssinian tyranny, which poses a major threat for Sudan’s existence, and consists in a real conspiracy for the outright majority of the East African peoples and ethno-religious groups.

More precisely, to give you an example, at the moment, the TPLF regime has been involved in the South Sudan, acting as an agent for the US, and providing training, logistic and political support to groups that want to secede from Khartoum and offer South Sudan’s rich natural resources to Western companies, multinationals and conglomerates. The criminal Tigray Mafia that rules the colonial state of Ethiopia plans to extract some profit in the process.

Despite the fact, the Sudanese government has not reacted as it should in order to protect the Sudan’s national interests. Sudan could effectively and irreversibly outmanoeuvre the US, EU and Ethiopian machination and energetically demolish Ethiopia by offering great support to the OLF.

In fact, the Oromo Nation and the peoples of Sudan share a common Hamitic — Kushitic History, Culture, and above all, socioeconomic and political interests of the utmost importance.

Contrarily, neither the peoples of Sudan nor the Oromos and the other Hamitic — Kushitic or Nilo-Saharan peoples of the Ethiopian colonial tyranny have anything in common with the outcast Abyssinian tribes who — with the help of the colonial France and England — expanded in the late 19th century at the detriment of so many nations and ethno-religious groups.

Quite unfortunately, and despite the existing common need for cooperation and concert between Khartoum and the Oromo political leadership, the government of Sudan has properly speaking sold the Oromo Nation to the enemy of all the African nations in the name of the present, delusional stability and sustainable development that several intruders portrayed to the Khartoum authorities as real, thus deceiving the Sudanese.

Without freedom and liberation of the Oromos and without the emergence of an independent “Kushitic Republic of Oromo Ethiopia,” there will never be peace, stability and sustainability in the wider Horn of Africa region. This reality must be made understood to the Western governments that have caused so many troubles to the entire African continent.

22.   Do you expect developments in Kenya (collapse of the governmental alliance) to affect Abyssinia?

The government of Kenya is a most corrupted authority; to judge upon its nature, there is not much difference between them; for PNU and ODM, what is at stake is neither constitutional nor political differences, but their respective leaders’ personal financial interests and their greed for money which leads them to corruption.

If you remember, after the last election and the subsequent death of thousands of people, what counted in the agreement for the coalition government were not the real hot issues, namely the people who lost their lives, Kenya’s possible democratization or the equitable socioeconomic development of the country, but about the different ministerial positions and the resources one can control from each of them.

People all over the world imagine Kenya is a peaceful country in East Africa, but there hasn’t been any significant development there because of the corruption. If at a certain moment the ODM decided to leave, this could lead to the breakdown of the coalition government. There would be a major political and constitutional crisis of course, but still Kibaki’s government would continue ruling the country.

Bonaya Adhi Godana (born September 2, 1952, in Dukana, Kenya and murdered April 10, 2006, in an air crash in Marsabit, Kenya) was Kenya’s foreign minister from January 1998 until 2001. From 2002 till his death in 2006, he was the deputy leader of the opposition KANU party. Except him, 13 other influential persons, doctors, generals and MP’s were also killed in that air crash. President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity announced that it “would continue ruling as if nothing happened”. According to different sources, the air crash was machinated by the Ethiopian and Kenyan security forces in close cooperation in order to eliminate the well educated, smart, and politically highly influential Oromos from the Kenyan government. The cause of the air crash was never really investigated by third parties that would issue an objective and impartial report. In Kenya, the corruption has become an inherent part of the culture starting from the presidential palace and reaching the small shop keepers.

23.   Do you expect developments in Somalia (rise of the Shabaab in the South) to affect Abyssinia?

The Somali Shabaab and other groups do not have any relations with the racist and tyrannical Tigray administration of Ethiopia. The Somalis have been without government for ca. 20 years; their struggle to re-establish a national government in Somalia is absolutely rightful because every country and every nation have the right to form their own parliament, government and other institutions. In this case, the US and the Abyssinian dictator Zenawi wanted to put in place a puppet government to serve their interests and catastrophic plans for the entire region. The fake transitional federal government (TFG) of Somalia cannot bring any positive result for the brave Somali nation.

24.   Do you expect developments in Eritrea (War with Abyssinia or Djibouti) to affect Abyssinia?

For Eritrea, a war with Djibouti is unnecessary; it can trigger regional destabilization and cause great damage for all the countries in the area, not just for one. The Abyssinian dictator Zenawi carried out a provocative propaganda for the dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti. The Eritrean government is not made of fools who want to trigger a war with Djibouti. Sometimes, the conflicts are due to external machinations and countries are pushed to war by the third parties, as it happened in the case of the First Gulf War between Iraq and Kuwait. This is an unnecessary development that leads to impasse and disaster. Similar disputes and developments in the Horn of Africa region are promoted by lobbies and establishments that deploy every effort to divert and cancel the rightful struggle of the region tyrannized nations for freedom and national liberation. If unpredicted developments happen, we will be in front of a totally different situation.

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An explosive situation prevails aboard MV FAINA; according to converging information, crew members attacked — unsuccessfully — some pirates, in an effort that clearly reflects the impossibility of a human being to be help hostage of such a piracy for 1800 hours without a major international reaction.

Quite unfortunately and extremely inhumanely, the MV FAINA crew members have become — precisely like the pirates themselves — the victims of an incredible conspiracy against Somalia, the Somali Nation, and the entire Horn of Africa region.

   Ukrainian Merchant Vessel – MV Faina as observed from the guided-missile cruiser the USS Vella Gulf

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The negotiations have been carried out in a deceptive way in order to offer the NATO admirals the timing they had planned; the pirates and their negotiators cannot realize that some guys among them have been deceived and have therefore cultivated illusions as regards the final outcome.

On the other hand, the crew members, their physical and psychological resistance, and their lives are the least concern of the criminal gangsters who impersonate respectable admirals and generals, politicians and diplomats, PR specialists and well known statesmen – all hidden behind the anonymity.

There is little to be done in order to avoid the terrible hit prepared against the prefab ghost of piracy that became an apocalyptic hot air balloon about to go burst over the western part of the Indian Ocean. This possibility of successful exit, I will analyze in a separate article. Here I publish the latest Ecoterra Press Release update, issued a few hours ago.

74th Update 2008-12-09 13:52:38 UTC

Ecoterra Intl. – Stay Calm & Solve it Peaceful & Fast !

Ecoterra International — Update & Media Release on the stand-off concerning the Ukrainian weapons-ship hi-jacked by Somali pirates.

We also can make sea-piracy in Somalia an issue of the past – with empathy and strength and through coastal and marine development as well as protection!

New EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: +254-738-497979
East African Seafarers Assistance Programme – Media Officer: +254-733-385868

Day 76 – 1799 hours into the FAINA Crisis – Update Summary

Efforts for a peaceful release continued, but the now over two months long stand-off concerning Ukrainian MV FAINA is not yet solved finally, though intensive negotiations have continued.

Crew members on the arms laden cargo ship held by Somali pirates attempted to overpower two of their captors, prompting the hijackers to threaten to punish the men on Tuesday. Speaking to AFP from the MV FAINA cargo they hijacked on Sept 25 and have held off the coast of Somalia ever since, a spokesman for the pirates said the incident took place late on Monday. ‘Some crew members on the Ukrainian ship are misbehaving. They tried to harm two of our gunmen late Monday’, said the pirate, who declined to give his name. ‘This is unacceptable, they risk serious punitive measures. Somalis know how to live and how to die at the same time, but the Ukrainians’ attempt to take violent action is misguided’, the spokesman added. He said two of the pirates were taken by surprise when a group of crew members attacked them.

‘Maybe some of the crew are frustrated and we are feeling the same but our boys never opted for violence, this was a provocation’, the pirate spokesman explained. More than 120 attacks by Somali pirates have been reported this year alone in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean but all the hijackings have so far been resolved peacefully through the payment of ransoms. The pirates of FAINA have lowered their ransom demand to US$3.5 million and told AFP late last month that an agreement had already been reached for the ship’s release. In recent days, some sources have reported frustration among the pirates over delays in the ransom payment.

The operation to release the crew of the FAINA is continuing, Vasyl Kyrylych, chief of the foreign ministry press service, told a news briefing at the ministry, according to the Ukrainian press agency. “The pattern for setting the hostages free is being carried out now. We hope to witness successful completion of the release operation soon”, he said. Pirates captured the FAINA with 17 Ukrainian citizens among its crew off Somalia on September 25. The FAINA is under surveillance of several US ships whose objective is to prevent unloading of the military hardware. As reported, the pirates and the ship-owners reached agreement on November 30 on releasing the dry cargo ship with defence technologies aboard. Local observers had spotted the vessel delivering the ransom to MV CAPT. STEFANOS and believed it was a vessel concerning MV FAINA. After MV CENTAURI and MV CAPT. STEFANOS were released FV FAINA remains solely at the coastal stretch off Harardheere.

Ukraine expressed on Tuesday its desire to join the European Union’s naval task force protecting ships in the Gulf of Aden against Somali pirates.

Ecoterra Intl. renewed it’s call to solve the FAINA and the SIRIUS STAR cases with first priority and peaceful in order to avert a human and environmental disasters at the Somali coast. Anybody encouraging hot-headed and concerning such difficult situations inexperienced and untrained gunmen to try an attempt of a military solution must be held responsible for the surely resulting disaster.

Clearing-house:

News from other abducted ships ———-

The Greek ship-owner’s company Chartworld Shipping Corporation (Athens) finally confirmed that the Greek ship MV CAPT. STEFANOS with a Ukrainian citizen as a crew member, one Chine and 17 Filipino seafarers, captured by Somali pirates September 21, was set free following 11 weeks of captivity. The crew members’ state of health is estimated as satisfactory, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry informed. According to the ship-owner’s information, presently the released ship is heading for Brindisi port (Italy).

With the latest captures and releases still at least 15 foreign vessels with a total of around 335 crew members (of which 91 are Filipinos) are held and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which are observed off the coast of Somalia, have been reported or reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 123 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded to far for 2008 with until today 51 factual sea-jacking cases (incl. the presently held 15). Several other vessels with unclear fate (not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail.

The First Victim of War is the Truth!

Did pirates attack Aussie cruise ship? A traveler on board the Australian cruise ship MV Athena says owners are trying to cover up news of a pirate attack. Pirates did attack a cruise ship carrying 400 Aussies off Somalia, says an Australian passenger, but the cruise company — which claimed that the 52 boats reported to have approached the ship were manned by ‘friendly’ fishermen — is trying to cover up the incident, the passenger says. The Melbourne woman, who remains on board the MV Athena and does not want to be named, said passengers who informed relatives back home of the attack had been given “a real dressing down” by the ship’s crew. Classic International Cruises Australia, which owns the Athena, has said there was no substance to reports that dozens of pirate boats attacked the ship and tried to board it on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the company said the boats turned out to be fishing vessels whose crew were “very friendly”. However, the Melbourne woman who contacted wire service AAP said there was no doubt the ship was the target of a co-ordinated pirate attack as it passed through the Gulf of Aden, separating Yemen and Somalia. She said the crew had ordered passengers to stay indoors after small motorboats surrounded the vessel. Observers using binoculars on the bridge reportedly counted between 30 and 40 small boats to the port side and 12 to starboard at the height of the incident, she said. “Less than an hour later the master of the vessel, Captain Antonio Morais of Portugal, confirmed to listeners that two attacks by pirates had taken place”. Crew members used blasts from high-powered water cannon to drive back the pirates who clearly wanted to board the Athena, the woman said. She said the official line now being put around the ship was that “as no shots were fired by the assailants it was merely a reconnaissance mission by those in the motorboats rather than an attack as such”. And yesterday, two days after the attack, Captain Morais again addressed passengers to stress that “no attack” had occurred.

Other related news ——

The United Nations will convene a two-day international conference in Nairobi, Kenya, to discuss the rampant piracy off the coast of Somalia. The gathering, hosted by the Kenyan Government, will begin on 10 December, when technical experts will discuss the issue. The following day, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, and Moses Wetangula, Kenya’s Foreign Minister, will co-chair a ministerial-level meeting. Some 140 representatives from 40 countries are expected to attend the event, which will be addressed by President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya. “It is clear that the problem of piracy is linked to the need for peace and stability in Somalia itself’, said UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah. ‘We hope that this high-level Conference will lead to greater international attention and cooperation between countries, regional and international organizations’. He said the gathering is very important and timely given the increasing threat of piracy in Somali waters which threatens the safety of trade routes. “We hope that this high-level Conference will lead to greater international attention and cooperation between countries, regional and international organizations”.

Spain could delay sending about 200 military personnel to participate in the international anti-piracy naval operation off the coast of Somalia, Spanish daily ABC reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed military sources. Defence Minister Carme Chacon has decided not to seek authorisation from parliament on Wednesday to send the Spanish ship SPS Victoria to the Somali coast, which means it will not set sail on Jan. 8, as was expected, ABC said. The sources cited by the newspaper said the ship may now join the task force in the second phase of the anti-piracy operation, called Atlanta. EUNAVOR operation ATALANTA began today with only two ships from France and Britain and two surveillance planes from France and Spain.

Germany has led calls for a debate on a UN special pirate court for those caught by the European mission, given that the EU will not transfer prisoners to countries with the death penalty, potentially leaving it with pirates on its hands. “The EU is reviewing agreements whereby suspects could be taken by third countries that are willing and in a position to launch criminal proceedings”, said Mr Steinmeier and added: “Moreover we are in favour of reviewing whether the United Nations could use existing international courts or found a new one to conduct such criminal proceedings”.

A task force from Russia’s Pacific Fleet left its main base in Vladivostok on Tuesday for a tour of duty in the Indian Ocean, a fleet official said, according to the Russian news agancy RIA. The task force comprises the Admiral Vinogradov, an Udaloy class missile destroyer, a tugboat, and two tankers. “The current tour of duty will demonstrate the ability of the Russian Navy to protect the country’s interests in the world’s oceans”, said Capt. 1st Rank Roman Markov, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet. According to the official, the task force will pay a visit to the Indian port of Mormugao and participate in the joint naval exercises INDRA-2009 with the Indian Navy in January. INDRA is a biennial Russian-Indian exercise aimed at practicing cooperation in enforcing maritime law and countering piracy, terrorism, and drug smuggling. INDRA-2009 is the fourth such exercise since 2003. The task force will also conduct joint exercises with a task force from Russia’s Northern Fleet, led by the Pyotr Veliky (Peter the Great) nuclear-powered missile cruiser, which will arrive in the Indian Ocean after a current tour of duty in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. Following the exercises, the Admiral Vinogradov will replace the Neustrashimy (Fearless) missile destroyer from Russia’s Northern Fleet in the Horn of Africa to protect commercial shipping from pirate attacks off the Somali coast. Vice Admiral Konstantin Sidenko, commander of the Pacific Fleet, earlier said that Russian warships from the fleet would make several long-range training sorties in the South Pacific and Indian oceans in 2009, and participate in a number of exercises involving live-firing drills. Russia announced last year that its navy had resumed and would build up a constant presence in different regions of the world’s oceans.

A more romantic environment of piracy: The Capture of the Pirate Blackbeard by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1718