One of the most critical aspects of the Horn of Africa crisis concerns China. In fact, it has little to do with China’s merely quantitative presence in the African continent. The economic – technological presence and significance of China in Africa have already been noticed and commented, but this type of achievement, albeit important at the commercial level, has no political consequences, let alone global dimensions.

China must realize that its presence in Africa, although necessary for the country’s needs in terms of resources, exports, commercial partners, and economic penetration, has not yet reached the level of political influence, military involvement, and determinant geo-political impact.

It is essential for Beijing to understand, when it comes to China’s global presence and prevalence, that this critical affair has little to do with the volume of exports and imports and with a veto in the Security Council votes.

In Africa, China finds itself opposed to ca. 250 years of European colonialism which led to the formation of postcolonial regimes that – in order to be totally submitted to the interests, the plans, and the needs of England and France – are by nature totalitarian, racist, criminal, corrupt, and mostly inhuman.

The interaction of all these corrupt and totalitarian regimes of Africa is – in and by itself – another dimension of colonial involvement and perfidy. Below is an example:

1. England and France (plus the US, as a neophyte in the postcolonial era) are behind the support offered to the criminal state Abyssinia (that colonial English and French scholars explained to the idiotic and ignorant Amhara rulers why it should be renamed as ‘Ethiopia’ in order to contribute to the performance of 14 genocides against the subjugated Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations).

2. England and France (plus the US) are behind the destructive work perpetrated since 1991 against the Somali Nation that does not suit the colonial plans for Eastern Africa.

3. Last but not least, England and France (plus the US) are behind the Abyssinian invasion of part of the Somali territory (in December 2006) and behind the withdrawal of the defeated Abyssinian army.

How could China outmaneuver this complot?

Rejecting the false lenses made available by Western mass media of global disinformation is a first critical step to take. China must offer itself an accurate, holistic, balanced and fair perception of the developments throughout the African continent.

Otherwise, every evaluation will hinge on false data and prefabricated images that the perfidious, criminal powers of the Colonial West have done their ingenious best to overwhelmingly diffuse and successfully ensure that their potential challenges (China, India, Russia, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Italy, the Islamic World, African Liberation movements and fronts) never get the entire picture correctly.

China and Somalia in 1900 – Equally Targeted by Perfidious, Colonial England

Demonizing rivals and targets has always been a favorable method of the colonial powers; before 100 years, in the then targeted Somalia (1899 – 1905), Mohamed Abdullah Hassan had become just the “mad mullah“; he was not “mad” and his identity of mullah represents only a minor aspect of his great personality of intellectual, mystic, Islamic theoretician, social transformer and political leader and liberator.

Chinese can understand very well why the great visionary of the Somali Nation Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, honorably called As Sayid by all the Somalis, became a “mad mullah” for the criminal colonial gangsters of England.

Because he opposed the use of khat chewing which was greatly promoted and diffused by the English in order to engulf the local populations to social decay, political decadence, religious digression, and national decomposition.

China was equally targeted by the monstrous, inhuman and criminal gangsters, the English and the French, at those days. To colonize the Chinese, the perfidious colonial powers devised several methods one of which was the diffusion, throughout China, of opium produced in occupied India. China was constrained to defend its national integrity in successive Opium wars (1839 – 42, 1856 – 60); the evil English practice triggered the overwhelming reaction of the Chinese people as evidenced in events such as the Taiping Revolution (1850 – 64) and the Boxer Revolution (1899 – 1901).

To help Somali readership be better acquainted with the English Anti-Chinese hysteria and felony, I merely state here that the aforementioned glorious event is only conventionally called “Boxer Revolution.” In fact, the Boxers were called by themselves after the noble association that they had established, namely “Boxer Revolution” (Yihe tuan). Boxers is a pejorative term that could not have been devised but by a monstrous and criminal elite of gangsters like that of England.

Mohamed Abdullah Hassan: “Mad Mullah” or the Somali Boxer?

For both, Chinese and Somalis, to learn better the common identity of their righteous cause, I can merely say that Mohamed Abdullah Hassan (the ‘mad mullah‘ of the English colonial gangsters) was a …. Somali Boxer.

And the splendid ideals, the humanist goals, the peaceful mind, and the noble vision of the Righteous Harmony Society Movement in China were absolutely identical with those of the Saalihiya Order which was diffused among the Somalis by Mohamed Abdullah Hassan.

Mohamed Abdullah Hassan was criminally labeled “mad” by the English because he did not accept that evil and hypocritical “missionaries”, under the pretext of “help” offered to Somali orphans at Daymoole, should be allowed to attempt to diffuse – in a most immoral, shameful and camouflaged way – their Christian faith.

In the same way, the Boxers’ rightful denunciation of the disastrous work made in China by Western missionaries was labeled by the English as ‘Anti-Christian’.

For the viciously Anti-Christian, Freemasonic regime of England, which caused the greatest possible damages to Catholic Christianity (notably through their Anglican heresy), it is just ludicrous to introduce pejorative terms for other nations, parties and persons who happened to have attempted what the English did try for themselves in the first place, namely to stay apart of foreign control, foreign faith, and external influence.

This is the natural evilness of the English historiographers, intellectuals, diplomats and journalists:

If the “mad” mullah had accepted the duplicitous, concealed and criminal effort of the “missionaries” to Christianize Somalia, he would not be ….. “mad.”

Today, this “logic” threatens Somalia, China, and the entire world. It is the same inhuman attitude displayed before 100 years in both, China and Somalia; to speak frankly, it is the paranoia of the rapist who tries to appear as possibly innocent and credibly righteous.

What about today’s English regime of Inhuman Freemasonry?

Will they accept the Somali sheikhs Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Turki, and Mukhtar Robow to …. leave Somalia for a while, move to England, visit the poor, unemployed and needy English, and proselytize them to Islam “that would solve all their problems”?

Just like the “missionaries” at Daymoole, Somalia, who made the local orphans say in 1897 that “they belonged to the clan of the (Christian) Fathers”, today’s impoverished English may wish to belong to the Nation of the Muslims. What about a scenario like this?

The use of the pejorative adjectives was never a matter of sparing concern among the English and the French colonials and within the circle of the world mass media that they have been customarily bribed and unreservedly corrupted.

It is certainly more convenient for them now to avoid the term “mad” and put all the stakes on adjectives and nouns like the following: “hard line”, “fanatic”, “radical”, “extremist” and “terrorist.”

China Cannot Afford Anymore the Fallacious Western Interpretations of Events

Simply, this situation cannot be afforded anymore by China. Because all the Somali “hard liners”, “fanatics”, “radicals”, “extremists” and “terrorists”, namely the sheikhs Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Turki, and Mukhtar Robow, are today’s Somalia’s Righteous Harmony Society Movement.

Today’s Somalia’s Boxers Movement provides for peace, concord, serenity, national integrity, cultural authenticity, resolute commitment to Somalia’s re-edification and rehabilitation. To the full consternation of the English, French, and American colonials.

To focus on some isolated cases of literal implementation of Sharia Law in Kismayu and elsewhere is certainly purposeless.

These people suffered tremendously at the times of the Abyssinian occupation for which the evil colonial regimes of London and Washington are fully responsible.

These people saw the criminal gangster Jendayi Frazer shamelessly consider the Ogaden 2007 Genocide as an internal affair of the monstrous racist regime of Abysssinia; you cannot expect them to react like Confucius or some Greek Stoic philosophers. They view the excesses of their jurisdiction as the much needed underscoring of their opposition to the evil deeds of the Anti-Somali colonials; this is a sentimental stance, not a political approach. It will not continue for long after the so loathed AMISOM soldiers go, and the perspective of free constitutional elections comes closer.

China has many reasons – beyond a definite historical solidarity – to stretch a hand to the Somali Opposition, establish a contact with them, and thus acquire a firm basis in Eastern Africa. This I will extensively analyze in a forthcoming article.

Note: China Boxer Rebellion Mocking Card. Scarce Litho-postcard from the time of the Boxer Upraise in China, 1900. Mocking postcard depicting western soldiers, quarrelling. A Chinese smiling. Used as postcard in 1900. Faults at upper margin. Scarce. From: http://collect.at/wordpress/?p=1509

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Aramaeans have been for millennia the moving force of vast empires, like the Achaemenidian Persian, the Arsacid Parthian, and the Sassanid Iranian empires, as well as the Islamic Caliphates, particularly the Abbassid empire of Baghdad. Great Central Asiatic empires like the Kushan and the Uighur empires owe their strength and socio-economic interconnectedness to the use of Aramaic writing and language that helped diffuse many, different backgrounds’ religions, notably Mithraism, Manichaeism, other Gnosticisms, Buddhism, and Nestorian Christianism.

Due to their extensive islamization, the Aramaeans — in great numbers — lost their language and identity, as the majority among them adopted exclusively Arabic language after their islamization. Even worse, over the past five (5) centuries, the depopulated Christian Aramaeans, as the bulk of the Aramaean Nation (since few Aramaean Gnosticists, only the Mandaeans, have survived down to our days), have been targeted by the colonial West, France and England, and more recently the pro-European part of the American establishment.

The result is that the outright majority of the Mesopotamian Aramaeans fled away during the last two decades of the Ottoman Empire and the posterior period of rise of the colonial structures of Iraq and Syria that were systematically directed by the criminal colonial powers and their local puppets, the besotted agents of Pan-Arabism and Islamism, against the Aramaean Christianity. The recent deterioration of the situation of the Aramaeans of Iraq reflects only one stage of the Aramaean Genocide which has been carried out at two distinct levels, physical and spiritual.

Sending a dramatic Letter — Appeal to the President-elect Barack Obama, the chairmen of the three major Aramaean organizations, notably Gabriel Sengo, Chairman of the Arameans of Aram-Naharaim Organization, Gabi Gallo, Chairman of the Aramaic Democratic Organization, and Aboud Gouriye, Chairman of Platform Aram, highlight in a summarized form the troubles of the multi-targeted Christian Aramaeans of the Middle East.

I republish herewith the Letter — Appeal, as it emanates from those who should the primary concern for President-elect Barack Obama.

Aramean Organisations Sent a Letter to President-elect Barack Obama: Help the Persecuted Aramean People of the Middle-East, Focusing on Iraq

Nr.: 2008-11-26/6
Netherlands, 26th of November 2008
Subject: Re: Your overwhelming election as 44th president of the United States of America

The Most Honourable President-elect of the United States of America
His Excellency Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
United States

Dear Mr. President-elect,

We, the undersigned, the Arameans of Aram-Nahrin Organization, the Aramean Democratic Organization and Platform Aram want to congratulate you with your impressive and overwhelming election as the 44th president of United States of America.

We wish you much success and wisdom and we hope that under your leadership the United States of America will become a beacon of prosperity, stability, equality and justice for everyone.

Your Excellency, we would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the fragile situation of the Indigenous Aramean people of Mesopotamia, in ancient times called Aram-Nahrin in Aramaic and Aram-Naharaim in Hebrew.

The Aramean people (not to be confused with ‘Armenians’) have been present for thousands of years in this part of the world, also known as the Cradle of Civilization. The Aramean people speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Abraham, Moses and Jesus, through which they have made a very important contribution to world civilizations. [1] This ancient Semitic people, now divided into several denominations and spread throughout the Middle East, amount to approximately 8 million people worldwide.

History testifies that the Aramean people are peaceful minded, living according to the ten commandments, showing respect, dignity and love to their neighbours and always respecting the law of the countries in which they reside. They show others the example of love and brotherhood. In contrast to other peoples they never resorted to the path of intolerance, fanaticism and violent uprising. On the contrary their motto has always been: loving and respecting your neighbour like yourself!

Unfortunately, the Aramean concept of peaceful cooperation based on equality and mutual understanding is not cheered by everybody in the complex and turbulent area of the Middle-East; which has been the scene of battles and conflicts for hundreds of years between various groups and peoples whose dictionary seems to lack words like peace, brotherhood and respect. Our terrible experience is that many of these groups seem rather to resort to the path of intolerance and fanaticism.

This very path of fanaticism and intolerance has been the cause of discrimination against our nation, exclusion, extortion, ethnic cleansing, genocides[2] and continuous persecutions for hundreds of years right up until today.

Our nation is facing difficulties in many areas of the Middle-East, however their situation in Iraq is most severe, in particular in the Mosul area where a mass exodus took place in late September; after killings and threats by the forces of intolerance and fanaticism. In several letters to the government of Iraq and the United Nations we have tried to ask for their attention for the dire situation of our people[2]. In spite of measures taken by the central government, the situation of the Aramean indigenous nation of the Middle-East remains very precarious in the Mosul area.

The marginalization, persecution and exclusion of our nation for hundred of years and their fragile situation in our days, where they are threatened with ethnic cleansing from the land of their forefathers, is not exclusively due to the forces of fanaticism and intolerance, but it has its roots in the spiritual colonial practices of the Western missionaries and diplomats in the 16th and 19th centuries whereby nationalism and fanaticism was brought to the Middle-East. [2] In addition to this, we believe that the genocide of 1915 [4] which claimed the lives of around 600.000 Arameans of different denominations, would have been less severe if the Arameans were united and were not stuck with the hatred that was implemented by the outsiders in the name of “assistance,” “education” and “faith.”

Your Excellency;

The motto of your election campaign was ‘change,’ a term heard and understood very well by people from all walks of life. This not only attracted the attention of young people, of those living on the fringes of society, and of those who have been marginalized and ignored, but this also gave hope to many throughout the world.

From our side, we hope that this change, under your leadership, not only will be implemented in the United States but will also have its effects on other peoples and nations, who are living in a very weak and fragile situations throughout the world, including the Aramean indigenous nation of Aram-Nahrin, also made known as “Assyrians” or Chaldeans in some media; who at this moment face terror and destruction in Iraq, in particular in the Mosul area.

We hope that the situation of many weak, excluded and ignored nations, including Arameans, throughout the world will became a part of the spearhead of US foreign policy in order to facilitate more justice, equality, peace and brotherhood for many all over the world.

We are looking forward to working with your administration and we would be honored to provide you, where needed, with genuine information regarding the Aramean Indigenous Nation of Aram-Nahrin who has been continuously present for thousands of years in this part of the world. Again we want to underscore our best wishes to achieve the noble goals you have so clearly expressed during the election campaign.

Respectfully Yours,

Gabriel Sengo
Chairman
Arameans of Aram-Naharaim Organization

Gabi Gallo
Chairman
Aramaic Democratic Organization

Aboud Gouriye
Chairman
Platform Aram

Footnotes:

[1] The contribution of the Aramean nation to world civilizations is well-summarized by a world- renowned Eminent Oxford University Scholar Professor Sebastian Brock, a specialist on Aramaic (Syriac) and Hebrew, who said “Almost all societies are dependent upon the use of writing, but very few peoples realise that the great majority of the world’s scripts can be traced back to a common ancestor, an alphabet invented in the Middle East four thousands years ago, which was subsequently refined by the Phoenicians and the Aramaeans who spread it throughout the known world. It is thus without doubt one of the greatest gifts of the Aramean peoples to world culture.” (Hidden Pearl volume I: Page 27)

“…Nevertheless it is undeniable that the simple Aramaic alphabet of 22 letters has had the most extraordinary impact on the development of alphabetic writing systems throughout the world. Indeed, it is very hard to imagine how human culture and scientific learning could have progressed without (the Aramaic language).” (Hidden Pearl volume I: Page 58)
(Hidden Pearl: http://www.aramnaharaim.org/English/film_arameans.htm)

[2] 29-8-2007: Letter to the Iraqi Government: http://www.iraqichristians.org/English/Letter_Iraqi_Government_29_8_2007.htm
22-4-2008: Letter to the Iraqi Government:
http://www.iraqichristians.org/English/ArameanOrganisations_Protection_leaders_Iraq_25_4_2008.htm
10-5-2008: Letter to the United Nations:
http://www.iraqichristians.org/English/ArameansOrganisations_UN_Iraq_Help_10_5_2008.htm
31-10-2008: Letter to the United Nations:
http://www.iraqichristians.org/English/Aramean_Organisations_Letter_UN_31_10_2008.htm

[3] The result of this was that a part of our nation started identifying itself as “Chaldeans” (since the 16th century) and another part as “Assyrians” (since the 19th century). Roughly speaking, this division was due to the spiritual war between the Western political and spiritual colonial powers, that is to say the war between Catholics and Protestants, which was battled out at the cost of the Aramen nation, thereby planting doubts regarding their ethnic origin; with the result that a kind of spiritual genocide was committed against our nation.

A divided nation is obviously a weak nation. Through this division we have been made vulnerable to the hostile environment of the Middle-East where we are threatened with extinction and ethnic cleansing. The events which took place in Mosul, Baghdad and other areas in Iraq, where our nation was forced to leave their homes and heart, are vivid proof of our assertions.

[4] Aramean Genocide: Aramean Physical and Spiritual Genocide: The discussion around the genocide of 1915 is for an important part concentrated on the Armenian question and is called ‘Armenian genocide’. This is not fair, for not only the Armenians have suffered, but also the Aramean Indigenous Christian nation of Mesopotamia as well as the Greeks have suffered under these horrible acts, which cannot be described by pen and paper.

Contrary to the Greek and Armenian Genocides, the Aramean genocide consists of both Physical and Spiritual genocide.

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By — Dr. Megalommatis Muhammad Shamsaddin

Several recent developments in the Iraqi Turkmenia seem unrelated to one another, but they definitely constitute parts of an overall deterioration plan that is expected to be unfolded over the next 2 — 3 years.

In this article, I included reports about three seemingly unrelated to one another developments — which are very must interconnected on some hidden agendas.

1. The severe degradation of the Human Rights conditions in the cruel KRG area in Northern Iraq (see below: The Kurdish Terror Showed Their Ugly Face Once Again, By Raiding of A Turkmen House)

A report composed by Mofak Salman makes state of a joint operation carried out by a group of U.S. force and the Kurdish security forces that are known as Asayish who have raided the home of a Turkmen citizen Nazim Suleiman Begoglu in the Turkmen city of Kerkuk.

This group is totally uncontrolled by either the Talabani militias or the Barzani death squads; it cooperates in close coordination with the Halabja based criminals who intend to impose Al Qaeda terror regime throughout territories taken from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey that they will call ‘Islamic Caliphate‘ in commemoration of Saladin’s legacy.

2. The aggravation of the Ankara — Baghdad relationship over Kerkuk’s identity (see below: Turkey Feels Uneasy on Talabani’s Kirkuk Visit Statement)

The clash of interests between Turkey and the pseudo-president of Iraq, local agent of the Freemasonic interests of England, France, and the pro-European part of the US establishment, is truly grave; it is impossible to alleviate the existing nervousness between Ankara and Baghdad that Western institutions like the ICG try to assuage in order to avoid a dynamic Turkish reaction that would destroy their evil plans.

The fact that Ankara did not welcome the statement of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that he and Turkish President Abdullah Gul would travel to Kerkuk shows that Turkey will never accept any role for any ‘Kurd‘ in Oil-rich Kerkuk, capital of Turkmenia.

In fact, if visiting Kerkuk, Talabani risks leaving the place dead — and not due to Turkmen reaction but because of the plans of his uncontrolled subordinates.

3. The chaotic situation among the so-called ‘Kurdish‘ groups, militias, paramilitary and extremists (see below: Scores die in Iraq suicide blast)

The terrible events of last Thursday, when the target was a ‘Kurdish‘ restaurant on the way between Kerkuk and ca. 60 people died in a suicide attack, reveal that there is a silent opposition among the so-called ‘Kurds‘ and that their plans are to first support the creation of an independent ‘Kurdistan‘ (in order to obtain there full control of the situation) and then use the under machinated preparation ‘country’ for their benefit — which obviously means Al Qaeda’s benefit.

The perpetrators of the terrible Kerkuk events are members of the Ashayish militias who are tele-guided from places outside Iraq’s territory — in Talabani’s and Barzanis’ unbeknownst.

Uncontrolled Asayish: the Al Qaeda Cell

The longer Talabani and Barzani are allowed to fallaciously represent a territory that is not theirs and a population that in its outright majority rejects them with the utmost resignation, the better for the Asayish it is. American military and Secretary Gates seem to are deeply involved into this game, openly collaborating with the Asayish and thus offering them significant credibility among the imbecile and gullible thugs of both, Talabani and Barzani.

In an earlier article entitled ‘US-Ally “Al Qaeda”, White and Gray ‘Kurdistan’, Turkey, Iran, and the ICG Report‘ , I stated the following:

‘According to this plan, the remnants of the Ilkhanid Mongols, after having lived for centuries among the various local peoples of the Zagros mountains and amalgamated among them, will be used (portrayed as ‘Kurds’) to form an Islamist regime that will simply make the (currently visible but gullible and idiotic) Talabani and Barzani puppets vanish. The otherwise odd pattern of an Islamist leadership allied with the Frankish West and the West’s allies in the East, notably Armenia, has been attested already before 700 years — the times of the evil and barbaric Ilkhanid dynasty’.

In another article entitled ‘ICG Report, Turkey, Iraq, ‘Kurdistan’, and the Nefarious, Age-Old Franco-Mongol Alliance‘, I specified the following:

‘It will be comical to imagine that in case this state is formed, it will be ruled by Talabani and Barzani; these idiotic and pathetic pseudo-leaders are expendable trash that will be soon forgotten. Neither the Iranian nor the Turkish parts of the (truly speaking inexistent) Kurdistan will be allowed to provide the leadership of the evil state under formation.

The forthcoming iniquitous leader of Kurdistan will emanate from the restricted realm of Al Qaeda in the Iraqi Kurdistan, Halabja, which is so scrupulously protected by the imbecile Talabani puppet, and so mysteriously forgotten by the (otherwise feverishly ‘reporting‘ about anything) Freemasonic Western mass media. Those who are today uncontrolled in the Shinirwe mountain will spread apocalyptic terror in the Middle East when they will rule in a black colour flagged Kurdistan.

Ankara should monitor very carefully the developments in Shinirwe because Turkey is the primary target. Behind all the trash about a ‘Kurdistan‘, which is another French Anti-Turkish conspiracy, is hidden an ages old but momentarily forgotten, Franco-Mongol alliance. And the real force within a ‘Kurdistan‘ will be as Anti-Turkish as only an Ilkhanid can be’.

In the light of the aforementioned, I called for immediate delineation of borderlines separating Turkmen, Aramaeans, Yazidis and others in Central and Northern Iraq, characterizing this as the only solution for ultimate peace and multi-lateral development in tyrannized Mesopotamia (‘Save the Tyrannized Yazidis of Iraq from Al Qaeda and Gangsters Talabani — Barzani!‘). More particularly, I stressed the following:

‘The animosity against the Yazidis, who live in Iraq in their outright majority, is therefore double, ethnic and religious. It is absolutely sure that the formation of an Iraqi authority, called Kurdish Regional Government, directly threatens the very existence of the Yazidi Nation’.

(More on the Yazidis could be found here: ‘What the Ominous ICG Report Did Not Say about the Fabrication of the so-called Nation of Kurds‘).

All this gets better illuminated in the light of the tragic events of Kerkuk. These events are not isolated; they will be continued; they will be pursued with greater frequency and this has to be anticipated. The uncontrolled Asayish will eliminate the corrupt and coward pseudo-leaders Talabani and Barzani, as soon as they will have played their ‘historical’ role: to help establish a ‘Kurdish’ state which will the superior level of Freemasonry-inspired Islamism. Then, it will truly be too late to react.

Operate as if America does not exist…

The only power that can react now against these evil plans is the Turkish army; the local groups are too weak and too divided in order to attempt a major project. And the current Turkish political leadership is too ignorant or too corrupt to conceptualize the apparently fragmentary events that are majestically interconnected indeed.

The moment for the Turkish military to eliminate the unrepresentative Islamists is approaching; it will be a brief moment that has to be duly seized. If not, everything will collapse, Turkey will face a serious existential threat, and any late reaction, despite the eventually good intentions, will be detrimental of consequences.

There is one golden rule for the Turkish military to act either in Turkey or in Northern Iraq: to operate in concordance with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and to proceed as if America does not exist. The correct timing for action will be precisely when America will be impotent to react; that moment is very nigh, and when it happens, it will be obvious to all.

Scores die in Iraq suicide blast

A suicide bomber has killed at least 55 people in a Kurdish restaurant, about 5km north of the city of Kirkuk (a Turkmen city) in northern Iraq.

More than 100 people were also wounded in the explosion on Thursday, police said.

A suicide bomber has killed at least 55 people in a Kurdish restaurant, about 5km north of the city of Kirkuk (a Turkmen city) in northern Iraq.

More than 100 people were also wounded in the explosion on Thursday, police said.

Iraqi and US security forces have sealed off the area.

The bombing near the ethnically mixed city came during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The restaurant was full of people eating lunch, with more people present than usual due to the four-day holiday, Jamal Tahir, police chief of Kirkuk, said.

‘Among the dead are women and children as the bomber blew himself up inside the family section,’ Ahmad Saleh, an Iraqi journalist who was near the scene of the blast, told Al Jazeera.

‘The restaurant is a very popular one and has many foreign workers. Government officials also go there frequently,’ he said.

Ethnic tensions

Kurdish official said Arab tribal leaders were in the restaurant at the time of the attack, having lunch with members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the party of Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president.

They were due to attend a meeting with Talabani after the lunch to discuss ways to defuse tensions among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen in the Kirkuk area.

One official from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was killed, a spokesman said.

The reason behind Thursday’s bombing was not immediately clear.

Kirkuk, the centre of Iraq’s northern oil fields, has seen fewer attacks than other regions in Iraq but remains the focus of years of competition and political wrangling among ethnic groups, including Arabs and Kurds, with rival claims to the city.

Both groups want control Kirkuk, the Kurds as part of a breakaway territory with the surrounding Tamim province and their own self-ruled region in northern Iraq.

The Abdullah restaurant where the attack occurred is on the main road from Irbil to Kirkuk and is popular with Kurdish officials moving to and from the nearby Kurdish region.

It is affiliated with another Kurdish restaurant of the same name which was attacked by a car bomb in 2007. Six people died due to that blast. (Aljazeera)

Turkey Feels Uneasy on Talabani’s Kirkuk Visit Statement

Ankara did not welcome the statement of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that he and Turkish President Abdullah Gul would travel to Kirkuk, Milliyet daily reported citing presidential office sources.

Talabani’s declaration was interpreted as efforts by the Iraqi party to include Kirkuk in Gul’s planned Baghdad visit, the report said.

According to reports on Friday, Talabani was reported as saying he and Gul were planning to visit Kirkuk together on Dec.20.

Turkish Presidential sources had earlier confirmed that a visit to Iraq was on the agenda, adding there was no clear date. However sources did not mention a possible visit to Kirkuk during Gul’s planned trip.

The announced visit may be postponed if Turkish President Abdullah Gul, who currently has an ear infection, is not cleared by doctors to fly, the newspaper also said.

The proposed visit is seen as the part of recent efforts to boost bilateral ties between Turkey and Iraq. Turkey has intensified direct contacts with both the Iraqi central government and the regional Kurdish administration in northern Iraq to discuss possible measures that can be taken in the fight against the terror organization PKK. (Hurriyet)

The Kurdish Terror Showed Their Ugly Face Once Again, By Raiding of A Turkmen House — By Mofak Salman, Turkmeneli Party Representative for Both Ireland and United Kingdom

On the 5th of November 2008 a group of U.S. force accompanied by Kurdish security forces that are known as Asayish have raided the home of a Turkmen citizen Nazim Suleiman Begoglu in the Turkmen city of Kirkuk, district of Althbat ‘.

According to the member of the family who was present in the house during the raid, the U.S. force, accompanied by a group of Kurdish security forces ‘Asayish’ broke doors in the house at around half an hour after mid-night.

They entered the house after smashing the main gates and doors then they arrested two of their sons Nabil Nazim Suleiman, aged thirty years and his brother Zakaria Nazim Suleiman of twenty-eight years respectively and who worked in a shop selling electrical appliances in downtown Kirkuk.

During the raid on the Turkmen home by the US occupied forces that accompanied by the Asayish. The Asayish were wearing Balla Clava, with a Kurdish flag on the arm of their uniform and they spoke with a different Kurdish accent.

The Asayish and American forces destroyed their furniture, contents of the house, smashed doors and windows and randomly fired bullets using automatic machine guns inside the house in order to terrify the innocent unarmed Turkmen family.

They moved all the members of the family into a single room and they tied their hands behind their backs and faced to the wall. The children and the females were body searched and this is utterly unacceptable in the culture and the tradition of the Islam and the in the Turkmen culture especially. This criminal act was implemented on the hand the Asayish and US forces despite the assurances that were given from the central government and officials not to raids the homes of the citizens without having warrant issue.

According to the information that has been released, the raided forces have requested from the frightened Turkmen family to show them their savings and jewelry, the family did so under the force of a gun. As the result of this US forces and Asayish stole their savings and jewelry during the raid and this matter should be urgently investigated by the US occupied forces in Kirkuk who are mainly responsible for the safety, security and the stability.

After the incident the Turkmen family have approached the police in Kirkuk, political organizations and the Kirkuk governor Mustafa Abdullrahman who is a Kurd and being appointed by the USA forces for help and assistance. A promises and assurance were given to the Turkmen family by the Kirkuk governor to investigate the incident and to secure their release but unfortunately no proper action has been taken to secure their release.

The arbitrary arrests of the two brothers, Zakaria and Nabil Nazim Suleiman Begoglu by the Asayish and US occupied forces are a clear violation of human rights. They are still detained and being imprisoned by the occupied forces and no one knows where they are imprisoned. The most striking thing is that, the family of the detainees have not been given any reason for their arrest and have not been given access for a lawyer.

Turkmen of Iraq call upon the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri AlMaliki, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Journalists Union, all Iraqi and international organizations defending the human rights and freedom to move immediately to the authorities of the Iraqi government at the highest levels for the protection of the Turkmen, Arabs and Assyrian from the Kurdish oppression that are carried by Kurdish terror forces that is known as Asayish in North of Iraq and also calls for the removal of the Asayish from Turkmen city of Kirkuk and to be replaced with forces from the central government and consisting of Arabs, Turkmen, Assyrians and Kurds.

Notes

[1] Turkmen: The Iraqi Turkmen live in an area that they call ‘Turkmenia‘ in Latin or “Turkmeneli‘ which means, ‘Land of the Turkmen.” It was referred to as ‘Turcomania‘ by the British geographer William Guthrie in 1785. The Turkmen are a Turkic group that has a unique heritage and culture as well as linguistic, historical and cultural links with the surrounding Turkic groups such as those in Turkey and Azerbaijan. Their spoken language is closer to Azeri but their official written language is like the Turkish spoken in present-day Turkey. Their real population has always being suppressed by the authorities in Iraq for political reasons and estimated at 2%, whereas in reality their numbers are more realistically between 2.5 to 3 million, i .e. 12% of the Iraqi population.

[2] Turkmeneli is a diagonal strip of land stretching from the Syrian and Turkish border areas from around Telafer in the north of Iraq, reaching down to the town of Mendeli on the Iranian border in Central Iraq. The Turkmen of Iraq settled in Turkmeneli in three successive and constant migrations from Central Asia, this increased their numbers and enabled them to establish six states in Iraq.

[3] Asayish is an unrecognized and illegitimate force that is utilized by both Kurdish parties to terrorize innocent civilian people. They are used to kidnap and kill people who defy the Kurdish aspiration for establishing a Kurdish state.

Mofak Salman can be contacted here: msalman@eircom.net

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by Dr. Megalommatis Muhammad Shamsaddin

A shameful and disreputable representative of America’s most racist elites, who is a former ambassador to several African countries, gave – a few days ago – two speeches in order to embellish the role played by America in Africa. This inimitable person is Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.

To go through his two speeches, one may momentarily imagine that Africa reached such development and prosperity that is going to adhere to the ….. European Union.

This is the role of the missionaries of evil: they promise eudemonia and they deliver pestilence. The representatives of hypocrisy and prefab disaster see positive development everywhere, even where unspeakable degradation is obvious to all the locally concerned people who after all are the ultimate reality to be taken into consideration.

Read the criminal lies of the apostle of hypocrisy and the defender of the utmost criminality, Phillip Carter III!

Try to find in his speech the persecuted Nubians of Sudan who are asked to leave their homelands so that the Sudanese dictator builds a dam in the Nile; try to read a reference to the massacred Ogadenis of the criminal, terrorist pseudo-state ‘Ethiopia’ which gave Hitler an unsurpassed lesson on how inhumanity works! Search for a denunciation the well financed by colonial England and the pro-English American establishment warlords of Somalia!

In vain! Phillip Carter III has no time for them, and after all, they don’t disturb him at all; they serve him and his invisible masters. And their target to exterminate a great number of African masses through various methods.

Phillip Carter III hates Africans, and more particularly the Hamites and the Kushites of the North and the East.

Why?

Ask him!

Search in his speeches for a sentence in which Phillip Carter III condemns the racist Amhara and Tigray elites that propagate the criminal and inhuman program of ‘Ethiopianism‘, aiming at the cultural, national or physical extermination of a dozen of Kushitic African nations!

You will find nothing!

Why?

Because they are his (and his invisible masters’) servants.

Do your ingenious best to find in his speeches a clause for the independence of Darfur, the self-determination of Oromia, and the liberation of Kabylia from the Pan-Arabist pestilence of the colonial regime of Algiers, the puppets of the French…..

Again nothing!

Make an effort to detect the idea Phillip Carter III has about the oppressed tribes of Nigeria that struggle for independence! Attempt to imagine what this false prophet of American help intends to deliver to the multi-divided Afars and how he plans to terminate the criminal involvement of Rwanda and Uganda in Congo.

You will find nothing; all Phillip Carter III cares about is how he will identify new gangsters of nations like Meles Zenawi, new puppets like Kibaki, and new renegades like Rayale and AbdillahiYusuf of Somalia.

He will call them ‘new leaders of Africa“, and they will prove to be the latest gangsters.

At a certain moment, you will find his comical words about ‘democratic institution building’; this shows what excellent skills the disreputable ambassador has in Science Fiction.

It is up to you to denounce the felony Phillip Carter III; in fact, every African and every Human must.

Protest against his fallacious purposes, write to express your indignation; call his office (Bureau of African Affairs (AF) 6234) in the State Department: 202-647-2447 (http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/112065.pdf). I republish here his two speeches, and his official biographical sketch.

Do not let him believe that you don’t know him — as one of America’s foremost enemies of Africa.

The United States’ Unprecedented Commitment to Africa, 2000 to 2008 and Beyond
Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

The World Affairs Council of Arizona
Washington, DC
November 20, 2008

Good evening and thank you.

Since 1918, the World Affairs Council has opened the door for local citizens to engage in diplomacy through education and awareness of international issues — and through hosting global leaders.

The U.S. Department of State is proud to partner with you — and looks forward to continuing this successful relationship.

I would like to note that the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs is celebrating our 50th Anniversary this year. Created in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the bureau sought to change what had been a traditionally Eurocentric policy view of Africa.

We at the State Department are proud of the anniversary, and look forward to working with our sub-Saharan partners and organizations like your own, to advance Africa’s future as we transition into our next half century.

U.S. Policy in Africa

Over the past eight years, the United States has made an unprecedented commitment to Africa — this current Administration has gone further than any previously in engaging and assisting the continent. We are working with our sub-Saharan partners to pioneer a new era of growth and development in Africa.

The partnerships and programs forged during the past eight years have supported significant African progress — and have laid a foundation for sustaining that support in subsequent administrations.

Tonight — I would like to highlight these partnerships and programs — but also sneak a peak — towards the future and potential of the continent in the 21st century.

Over the past eight years, the United States has changed its approach to Africa. As part of our broader mission to build and sustain a network of democratic states that respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system – we have partnered with African leaders, governments, and civil society organizations to combat disease, build peace, expand prosperity, and improve governance.

We have defined success not just in the narrow terms of resolving specific crises, but in the broader sense of supporting Africans in building institutions and adopting policies that sustain long-term growth, freedom, and justice.

The U.S. commitment to Africa reflects a recognition that our success and security increasingly depend on conditions in distant lands, and that we are at greater risk if Africa is a place where extremist ideologies are fostered, states are failing, and violence and instability spread across borders.

To challenge these potential risks, the United States has committed to fostering growth and development in Africa. At the 2005 Gleneagles G-8 Summit, President Bush announced that the United States would double its assistance (bilateral and multilateral) to sub-Saharan Africa from a base of $4.4 billion in 2004 to $8.7 billion by 2010.

By increasing investments in health and education, stimulating growth, improving the investment climate, and making trade work for Africa — the U.S. is on track to meet that pledge.

Programs and Initiatives

I would like to highlight some of the programs initiatives that have spurred African growth and development.

Millennium Challenge Account (MCA)

The Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) is a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants — not loans — to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results. Of the 18 compacts signed to date – eleven totaling over $4.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a program that rewards reforming African countries with U.S. trade preferences — this initiative has helped to reduce barriers to trade, increase exports, create jobs, and expand business opportunities for African and U.S. entrepreneurs.

With 41 countries presently qualified, AGOA has helped increase two-way trade between the U.S. and eligible African economies to over $50 billion — more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA.

Agriculture and Food Security

The United States is also the world’s largest donor of food aid, providing over $5.5 billion to fight global hunger in 2008 and 2009. The Presidential Initiative to End Hunger in Africa (IEHA) is a multi-year initiative launched in 2002, providing a total of $1 billion for 2006-2010, and aims to increase agricultural growth and raise rural incomes.

PEPFAR

The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative.

When President Bush launched PEPFAR, approximately 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Today, PEPFAR supports lifesaving treatment for over 1.7 million people worldwide, care for 6.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 12.7 million pregnancies, allowing nearly 200,000 children to be born HIV free.

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)

The President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) was established in 2005. The U.S. has committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions.

Africa Education Initiative

In 2002, President Bush established the Africa Education Initiative (AEI), a multi-year $600 million initiative focused on increasing access to basic education in over 40 Sub-Saharan African countries through scholarships, textbooks, and teacher training programs. By 2010, AEI will have trained nearly one million teachers, provided 550,000 scholarships for girls, and distributed 15 million textbooks.

Peacekeeping

The United States has been the most important contributor to African force generation efforts through our Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program and large scale provision of peacekeeping equipment. Since 2005, the United States has directly trained nearly 60,000 African peace keepers in 22 countries. Of these troops, over 82% have deployed to African Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Terrorism

The Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership is a multi-year effort, funded at about $150m per year, to leverage and coordinate military, law enforcement, development, and public diplomacy elements to enhance the capacity of the trans-Sahara region to deter and defeat terrorism, and counter extremist ideology. We are seeking to build on the success of this program with a parallel East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative, to counter the terrorist elements that destroyed our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam ten years ago, and continue to threaten regional stability.

Conclusion

Over the past eight years, a renewed commitment to the African continent has been started or carried forward in large part on a fundamental, bipartisan agreement of what needs to be done — such as brokering peace agreements, training African peace keepers, PEPFAR, or MCC. While much has been accomplished, the United States Government will continue to build on the foundation laid by this and previous administrations. We still have a way to go — but with greater security, disease prevention, and political and economic freedom, the African continent of the 21st century can strive to reach its potential.

Thank you very much.

Released on December 3, 2008
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Address to the First Annual International Conference on Africa
Phillip Carter III, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

The Africa Initiative Project,
Arizona State University, Tempe AZ
November 21, 2008

Good afternoon and thank you all for being here. I would like to thank Arizona State University for hosting us this afternoon — and especially The Africa Initiative Project for bringing us together for their first annual conference.

This conference is very important – it not only allows for a deeper understanding of African history – but contemporary U.S.–Africa Affairs. Combining a rich historical perspective – with an interdisciplinary vision and awareness for the future – provides a great means to address challenges on the African continent.

We at the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs are also celebrating an important milestone this year – our 50th Anniversary. Building upon a half century of accomplishment, the Bureau looks to the next fifty years with great hope and excitement.

U.S. Policy in Africa

Over the past eight years, the United States has made an unprecedented commitment to Africa — this current Administration has gone further than any previously in engaging and assisting the continent. We are working with our sub-Saharan partners to pioneer a new era of development in Africa.

This afternoon, I would like to highlight our policy priorities on the continent.

Democratic Institution Building

The first defining priority is Democratic Institution Building — we are engaged in supporting the rise of freedom and democracy throughout sub-Saharan Africa. During the past two decades, progressive democratic reform has adapted to local values, customs, and practices. Outgrowths of democratic, well-governed states that adhere to the rule of law, support the will of their people, and contribute responsibly to the international system are developing.

We have partnered with these nations to build democratic institutions, conduct free and fair elections, and govern justly. These outcomes mark an important historical shift. In the past four years alone, there have been more than 50 democratic elections throughout Africa. Almost three-quarters of sub-Saharan nations are now classified by Freedom House as ‘Free’ or ‘Partly Free’ – up from less than half in 1990.

Despite significant progress, recent elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe have hindered these advances. These elections, marked by voting irregularities, contestable results, and post election violence, demonstrate that the path to democracy is often challenging.
Notwithstanding these impediments, the United States will continue to work with our international partners to support democratic institutions, promote free and fair elections, and expand freedom and prosperity for the benefit of all.

For example, we will continue to strongly support the democratic transition in Liberia — and to strengthen democratic institutions in post-conflict countries, such as the DRC and Burundi.

Although conflict resolution is an essential part of our foreign policy objectives, we believe that to sustain long term peace and stability on the continent – it is not enough to just end wars – but we must move beyond post-conflict transformation to consolidate democracies.

Economic Growth and Development

Our second foreign policy priority is the expansion of Economic Growth and Development.

At the 2005 Gleneagles G-8 Summit, the United States committed to doubling its assistance (bilateral and multilateral) to sub-Saharan Africa from a base of $4.4 billion in 2004 to $8.7 billion by 2010 — We are on track to meet that pledge.

To accelerate growth in Africa, the United States implemented the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a revolutionary foreign assistance program that seeks to reduce poverty through sustainable economic growth by awarding sizeable grants — not loans — to countries that practice good governance, seek to take responsibility for their own development, and are committed to achieving results. Of the 18 compacts signed to date since the programs inception in 2004, eleven totaling over $4.8 billion have been signed with sub-Saharan African countries – Senegal and Malawi are in the process of developing compacts – and another eight African nations have MCC threshold programs to help them qualify for full compact.

The United States Government has also enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a program that rewards reforming African countries with U.S. trade preferences — this initiative has helped to reduce barriers to trade, increase exports, create jobs, and expand business opportunities for African and U.S. entrepreneurs.

With 41 countries presently qualified, AGOA has become a cornerstone of our trade and investment policy in Africa — it has helped increase two-way trade between the United States and eligible African economies to over $50 billion — more than six times the level in 2001, the first full year of AGOA.

Programs such as MCC and AGOA are strengthening African economic health and underscore our cardinal interest in the continent’s economic affairs. Not surprisingly, in 2007, sub-Saharan Africa experienced a growth rate of 6.5% – one of its highest in decades.

Disease

The third U.S. foreign policy priority in Africa is the fight against Disease. As the leading cause of death on the continent, disease is one of the greatest challenges to Africa’s future. Rising to meet this challenge – the United States is partnering with sub-Saharan nations to target the prevention, care and treatment of disease — most especially HIV/AIDS, malaria and neglected tropical diseases.

To address the severe and urgent HIV/AIDS crisis, President Bush led the world into action with The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). PEPFAR is the largest commitment ever by a single nation toward an international health initiative. Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has already provided $18.8 billion in HIV/AIDS funding, with a reauthorization of up to $48 billion for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria over the next five years.

When President Bush launched PEPFAR, approximately 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving antiretroviral treatment. Today, PEPFAR supports lifesaving treatment for over 1.7 million people worldwide, care for 6.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during nearly 12.7 million pregnancies, allowing nearly 200,000 children to be born HIV free.

Responding to the malaria crisis, the President launched the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) in 2005. The U.S. has committed $1.2 billion in new malaria funding to reduce malaria-related deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries. In 2007, the Malaria Initiative reached more than 25 million people with effective prevention and treatment interventions.

In the fight against what we call ‘neglected tropical diseases,’ – the President – in February 2008 – announced a five year – $350 million initiative to eliminate the burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) as a major threat to health and economic growth in the developing world. Focusing on seven major diseases, from snail fever to hookworm, this initiative aims to provide integrated treatment for more than 300 million people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Through the prevention and treatment of disease, programs such as PEPFAR and PMI are touching the lives of millions. In collaboration with our regional partners, we will continue to develop sustainable healthcare infrastructure so African nations can address these challenges through their own national institutions.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution represents our final foreign policy priority on the continent. In the past seven years we have seen the end of major conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, North-South Sudan, Ethiopia-Eritrea and Angola. Although the current peace is fragile in several of these countries — and challenges persist in Darfur, Eastern Congo and Somalia — Africa has demonstrated a trend toward conflict resolution and stability.

I would like to highlight three distinctive areas demonstrating this trend – peacekeeping, counter-terrorism and maritime safety.

Firstly – through our participation in the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI), the United States, along with our G8 partners, is committed to building global peace and security by training and equipping 75,000 peacekeepers worldwide by 2010. The United States has been the most important contributor to African force generation efforts through our Africa Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (ACOTA) program and large scale provision of peacekeeping equipment. Since 2005, the United States has directly trained nearly 60,000 African peacekeepers in 22 countries. Of these troops, over 82% have deployed to African Union and United Nations peacekeeping missions.

Secondly – to combat terrorism, the United States is pursuing a multidisciplinary regional approach in the trans-Sahara region, as well as the Horn of Africa.

The Trans-Sahara Counter-terrorism Partnership is a multi-year effort, funded at about $150m per year, to leverage and coordinate military, law enforcement, development, and public diplomacy elements to enhance the capacity of the trans-Sahara region to deter and defeat terrorism, and counter extremist ideology. We are seeking to build on the success of this program with a parallel East Africa Regional Strategic Initiative, to counter the terrorist elements that destroyed our Embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam ten years ago, and continue to threaten regional stability.

Lastly – the United States is also partnering with African nations to support progress in strengthening maritime security — particularly — anti-piracy measures – in sub-Saharan Africa. The ability of African nations to control their coastal waters is critical to regional trade and economic growth – control of sovereign natural resources, including fisheries – the delivery of critical humanitarian assistance to Somalia – and efforts to stem the trafficking of drugs, weapons, and humans on the continent.

Conclusion

In closing, the United States Government is committed to work with our African partners to promote democratic institution building, conflict resolution, economic growth and development, and the prevention, care and treatment of disease throughout the African continent.

When African nations cultivate freedom, prosperity and justice, their populations are more likely to reject extremist ideology, build strong economies that benefit all people, and replace disease and despair with healing and hope. These are unwavering priorities of the United States Government today, tomorrow and in the months and years ahead.

Thank you very much.

Released on December 3, 2008
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Phillip Carter – Official Biographical Sketch

Phillip Carter was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of African Affairs in August 2008. He previously served as Ambassador to the Republic of Guinea. Mr. Carter has also served as the Director for West African Affairs and the Deputy Director in the Office for East African Affairs at the U.S. State Department.

Prior to that assignment, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, Madagascar and DCM in Libreville Gabon. Before his arrival in Gabon in 1997, he was an international financial economist in the State Department’s Office of Monetary Affairs in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. During this period, he dealt with international debt and capital matters and served as the Department’s point-person on International Monetary Fund issues with Africa.

From 1992-1994, he served as the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Prior to Bangladesh, Mr. Carter was the Economic and Commercial Officer in Lilongwe, Malawi for three years. From 1987-1989, he worked in the Department’s Office of Caribbean Affairs as a desk officer responsible for bilateral matters concerning the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Eastern Caribbean, as well as regional economic issues such as the Caribbean Basin Initiative. From 1982-1986, he served as the Deputy Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Winnipeg, Canada and as vice consul at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Mr. Carter received a Masters degree in International and Development Economics from Yale University and earned a Bachelors degree in Economics and History from Drew University where he was a member of the International Economics Honor Society (Omicron Delta Epsilon). He is the recipient of a Superior Honor Award, The Franklin Award, and several individual and group Meritorious Honor Awards. He speaks French and Spanish. A member of the Senior Foreign Service, Phillip Carter holds the rank of Counselor.

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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

   [Enlarge]

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