Tuesday May 14, 2024

The Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa issued an urgent warning to shipping today in a still unfolding situation.

Somali pirates are believed to have taken control today of a fishing boat. In the past, EUNAVFOR Atalanta has warned that attacks on merchant ships appear to take place within 12 days after reports of dhow hijackings.

Today’s report says that a fishing vessel was hijacked approximately 69 nautical miles east of the Somalia coast or approximately 120 nautical miles southeast of Eyl, Somalia.

Security consultants Neptune P2P Group quotes the report from MSCHOA detailing that a skiff manned with six to seven pirates carrying Kalashnikov rifles attacked the vessel before seizing it. The ship’s AIS tracker is not currently active.

“The frequency and scale of piracy attacks has significantly risen over the past year,” Neptune P2P writes in its assessment. “It is likely that these incidents will continue to rise in frequency and scale as their operations become more profitable. The PAGs expanding their operations up to 1000nm off the Somali coast.”

Atalanta estimated at the beginning of May that at least two or more pirate action groups (PAGs) could be sailing off the Somali coast, at the area around Socotra and 500NM east off the island in the ASea. Last week they warned that two PAGs or more are active in the area of Socotra Island and 500NM East of Socotra.

This was followed by a report of a suspicious approach to a product tanker last Friday when the vessel’s security guards exchanged gunfire with the pirates. The Spanish frigate Canarias responded and located the pirates. They provided medical treatment and confirmed that the six individuals who had conducted the piracy raid were arrested. They were being taken to the Seychelles, which has a legal agreement that permits the prosecution of pirates captured by warships operating in the area.

According to Neptune P2P, there have been 19 confirmed successful hijackings since November 2023. Atalanta records a total of 31 incidents as of the end of April and before the approach Friday and today’s hijacking.

Tuesday May 14, 2024

Amid the vibrant colors and rhythmic beats at SIMAD University’s main campus, a group of boys dressed in traditional white danced energetically, their movements in sync with the heart-pounding drumbeats of Somali folk music.

The scene unfolded against a backdrop of traditional Somali food and horses as part of the university’s cultural week, which began Saturday.

Dahir Hassan Arab, rector of SIMAD University, a non-profit university based in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, highlighted the significance of the event in his opening remarks, noting that the cultural week is designed to deepen students’ appreciation and understanding of Somali culture.

“We aim to instill pride in our students and remind them of the richness of Somali heritage. There is no nation superior to another; it is the hard work and preservation of culture that distinguishes us,” Arab told the audience of students and faculty.

He added that the week-long event is both a celebration and an educational experience.

Hassan Abdifatah, president of the Student Government Association of SIMAD University, explained the importance of reviving and preserving Somali culture. “As Somalis, we have a rich and unique culture. It would be shameful to see it fade away. It is our responsibility to remind our peers of our cultural heritage. This week is exceptional for all of us,” Abdifatah told Xinhua.

The students are key participants and beneficiaries of the event.

Zakariye Mohamed, one of the students, expressed his enthusiasm for showcasing the cultural diversity of Somalia.

“We are presenting various aspects of our culture from all regions of Somalia. We can’t let the current generation forget the beautiful traditions that we inherited from our grandfathers,” he said.

Mohamed added that as a young man, he has benefited from learning things he did not know before, like how to perform Somali folk dances.

Maryama Yusuf, a student from the law faculty, was also thrilled about her participation in the cultural week.

“This is my first time attending the cultural week at SIMAD, and it has been truly enlightening. I have learned about the various traditional foods and even how to use eating utensils that are specific to our countryside,” she said.

As the cultural week continues, students feel like they have learned something new that will make them appreciate their customs even more.

The event is an immersive experience where the air is filled with the aromas of Somalia’s national dishes, together with the sounds of folk music and cheerful conversations, creating a vibrant and unified atmosphere.

By preserving their culture through such events, the students of SIMAD University ensure that the beauty and history of Somalia will continue to inspire generations to come.

Tuesday May 14, 2024
by Nick Turse

The 22-year-old woman and her child were civilian casualties of a U.S. drone strike, but the Pentagon won’t return the family’s messages.

Tuesday , 14, May, 2024 {HMC}  The United States did not offer compensation to the family of a woman and her 4-year-old daughter who were killed in a 2018 drone strike in Somalia, according to a new Pentagon report on civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations.

The analysis, issued almost a year after its congressionally mandated deadline, shows that the Pentagon made no ex gratia payments during 2022, despite setting aside millions in funds for making amends.

The April 1, 2018 attack in Somalia killed at least three — and possibly five — civilians, including 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her 4-year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse. A U.S. military investigation acknowledged the deaths of a woman and child but concluded their identities might never be known.

For more than five years, the family has tried to contact the U.S. government, including through U.S. Africa Command’s online civilian casualty reporting portal, but never received a response. Last year, I traveled to Somalia and spoke with seven of their relatives.

“They know innocent people were killed, but they’ve never told us a reason or apologized,” Abdi Dahir Mohamed, one of Luul’s brothers, told me last year. “No one has been held accountable.”

The Pentagon report — which was due on May 1, 2023, but was only released in late April — concluded that U.S. military operations in 2022 resulted in no civilian casualties. It also notes that the Defense Department did not make any ex gratia payments to civilians harmed in its operations in 2022 or the families of those killed in strikes from previous years. This follows one ex gratia payment made in 2021 and none issued in 2020.

“It is deeply disappointing that, despite significant funding and many requests from victims, the Department failed to offer even a single payment in 2022,” Annie Shiel, the U.S. advocacy director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told The Intercept. “With the millions of dollars authorized by Congress, the Defense Department could have made hundreds of payments to civilian victims and survivors — including to the families in this case,” a reference to Luul and Mariam’s case.

The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.

After more than 17 years of drone strikes and commando raids in Somalia, the U.S. has carried out 288 declared attacks. U.S. Africa Command claims to have killed just five civilians in that period, including Luul and Mariam. (The military has never referred to the mother and daughter by name.) Airwars, the U.K.-based airstrike monitoring group, says the real number may be more than 3,000 percent higher.

In 2022, the Pentagon issued a blueprint for improving how it addresses noncombatant deaths called the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan. This was followed, last December, by long-awaited instructions establishing “policies, responsibilities, and procedures for mitigating and responding to civilian harm.” It directed the armed forces to address people and communities on the receiving end of military operations, including by “expressing condolences” and providing ex gratia payments to next of kin.

Congress appropriates millions of dollars annually — $15 million since 2020 — for the Defense Department to compensate families of civilians killed or injured in U.S. attacks, but the Pentagon has shown an aversion to confronting its mistakes. The military rarely makes compensation payments, even in cases as clear-cut as the 2018 strike in Somalia.

In late 2022, elected officials sent multiple letters to the Pentagon calling for amends to be made to victims of U.S. attacks. In December 2023, two dozen human rights organizations — 14 Somali and 10 international groups — specifically called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to compensate Luul and Mariam’s family. This year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn; Barbara Lee, D-Calif.; and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., joined the effort.

The Defense Department missed the May 1, 2024, deadline for releasing its 2023 civilian casualty report.

“The 2022 report was almost a full year late, and the 2023 report is already overdue,” said Shiel. “That means we have no public visibility into whether DoD finally began making payments last year as it worked to implement the action plan, which commits the Department to improving how it responds to civilian harm.”