UN to fight piracy

Somali Pirates Flashback: UN Resolution vs Rogue Pirates -- 12.17.08

UN Security Council Resolution on Somalia

The Security Council of the United Nations, acting under Article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations, adopted

• Resolution 733 (1992) on January 23, 1992,
• Resolution 751 (1992) on April 24, 1992,
• Resolution 1356 (2001) on June 19, 2001,
• Resolution 1425 (2002) on July 22, 2002,
• Resolution 1725 (2006) on December 6, 2006,
• Resolution 1744 (2007) on February 20, 2007,
• Resolution 1772 (2007) on August 20, 2007 and
• Resolution 1844 (2008) on November 20, 2008;

UN Security Council adopts resolution on fighting Somalia piracy

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the international community to actively take part in the fight against pirates operating in waters off Somalia.
The U.S.-drafted resolution was fourth of its kind adopted by the council since June with the aim to step up international fight against Somali pirates.









United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addresses the UN Security Council ministerial meeting to solve the problems of Somali piracy, at the UN headquarters in New York Dec. 16, 2008.

In pictures: Mogadishu life

Booming business

But a few people do have enough confidence in Somalia’s future to take the trouble to do up their shops and houses.

There has also been a boom in telecommunications, with three phone companies competing to sign up new customers.

While parts of Mogadishu are calm, many people live in makeshift camps.

These 842 families stay in a former school.

Life in Somalia: Personal stories

Nimo:
Khat dealer

"The government should regulate khat - it's bad. I wish I had another job"

Abdi:
Refugee

"I see a dark future for my children. There are no schools or health services"

Halima:
Refugee

"I am too busy looking for food to think about the peace process"

Bashir:
Gunman

"The gun rules Somalia today - my gun is how I support my family"

Facts on Somalia

Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Years of fighting between rival warlords and an inability to deal with famine and disease have led to the deaths of up to one million people.

Comprised of a former British protectorate and an Italian colony, Somalia was created in 1960 when the two territories merged. Since then its development has been slow. Relations with neighbours have been soured by its territorial claims on Somali-inhabited areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.

• Population: 9 million (UN, 2008)
• Capital: Mogadishu
• Area: 637,657sq km (246,201 sq miles)
• Major languages: Somali, Arabic, Italian, English
• Major religion: Islam
• Life expectancy: 47 years (men), 49 years (women)
• Monetary unit: 1 Somali shilling = 100 cents
• Main exports: Livestock, bananas, hides, fish
• GNI per capita: n/a
• Internet domain: .so
• International dialling code: +252

Country profile: Somalia

1. Scene of arguably Africa's worst humanitarian crisis: a third of the population is dependant on food aid
2. No effective government since 1991
3. A UN-backed transitional government emerged in 2004
4. The self-proclaimed state of Somaliland and the region of Puntland run their own affairs

Piracy symptom of bigger problem

The risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day .
Based on a BBC report:

1. Somalia is one of the poorest, most violent, least stable countries anywhere on Earth.
2. Piracy is in essence a law and order issue, and in Somalia there is virtually no authority to carry out the kind of policing that could effectively disrupt pirate operations.
3. The outside world has for too long seen Somalia only in terms of threats to their own security.

Somali Pirate Thugs (Terrorists?) Vow to Fight Americans

The Pirates strike:

Standoff With Pirates Shows U.S. Power Has Limits

The situation continues as the stand-off goes on:

Somalia in the News Again : Pirates Attack

Somalia was back in the News. This time for Piracy targeted at an American ship for the first time. This is the first time America was drown into the piracy issue perpetrated by Somalians.

A civilian army of entrepreneurs and expatriates offers hope in this East African nation, bloodied by warring clans.

Somalia appears to be the very definition of what we call a failed state. The last time this desert country possessed anything approaching a "normal" government, with tax collection, social services, and law enforcement, was under a bloody dictator named Siad Barre. After Barre was driven out by a national rebellion early in 1991, political power over most of Somalia fell into the hands of feuding warlords, who, like grand dukes from the European Middle Ages, deployed their private armies to battle for power even as hundreds of thousands of other Somalis were dying of hunger. Outside intervention, often with good intentions, has done little to help—and has usually made things worse.

Draped around the Horn of Africa, its coasts washed by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Gulf of Aden to the north, Somalia is for the most part an arid land with only two permanent rivers, one of which dries up intermittently. The country is largely flat, except for the low but rugged mountain ranges of the north. Some of the salient features of the landscape and its inhabitants were enumerated a century ago by nationalist leader Mohamed Abdullah Hassan, known to his enemies as the Mad Mullah: "I like war, and you do not," he wrote in a threatening note to the British colonial authorities then occupying the northern part of the country (the Italians colonized the south). "The country . . . is no use to you. If you want wood and stone you can get them in plenty. There are also many ant heaps. The sun is very hot."

WHERE IS SOMALIA?

The world’s weakest states are the most exposed when crisis strikes. In the fourth annual Failed States Index, FOREIGN POLICY and The Fund for Peace rank the countries where state collapse may be just one disaster away.

Map of Failed States

Life in Somalia

Whenever we hear about Failed States the first country that comes to mind is Somalia and a slew of African countries. Somalia always seems to be at the top of the list and always seems to fit the necessary criteria of a failed state no matter what happens.

What is a Failed State?

The term failed state is often used by political commentators and journalists to describe a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government. In order to make this definition more precise, the following attributes, proposed by the Fund for Peace, are often used to characterize a failed state:

• loss of physical control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force therein,
• erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions,
• an inability to provide reasonable public services, and
• an inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community.