Q-How do you see piracy and related activities in the Somali waters?

A- In fact the real pirates - means criminal gangs who go after merchant ships on innocent passage - are young boys, who are brainwashed, and they got involving in these very bad activities due to lack of alternatives and hunger. Not to be mixed with the legitimate right of Somalia to defend its waters against criminal activities by foreign gangs like illegal fishing, dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, weapons smuggling, and trafficking in drugs and humans, piracy has increased for the past 10 years, and much of the money gained from these activities has played a major role even for some governing administrations in Somalia.  

Q- Do you think that the Somali waters will be pirate-free on day?

A- No, and currently there is nothing like true piracy in Somalia, because the matter has changed into a business, in which some countries in the world particularly from Europe are gaining fabulous profits.

Q- What is this profit they are gaining?

A- First and foremost, the so called pirates are closely working with foreigners, who have their own agenda in creating the world's largest armada  around the Horn of Africa. Secondly, since ransom can be paid legally and there is no law, which allows to jail the people in the ransom business, the vice has become a win-win-businesses for all sides. In most cases the ransom money is paid through the insurances of the hijacked vessels, mostly based in the UK and some from the USA, which in turn increased their premiums and earn today therefore much more as if piracy would not exist. Piracy lawyers clearly state that if the pirates get let, me say, $2 mio all the others get over $5 mio for lawyer services and all the others involved.       

Q- How do you see the naval armada with which you have a good relationship? 

A- It is perfectly true that I have a good relationship with the international community and many navies, but this does not mean that Somalia does allow them to kill or to arrest Somalis. It is first and foremost the duty of the Government of Somalia to deal with Somali criminals and to deal with all such cases. I advised the foreign navies many times to just stay away from the Somali waters and to strictly observe the UNSC resolution 1851 with all its stipulations. The resolution itself is flawed, because it was enacted without the Somali parliament. Former President Abdullahi Yussuf consented just personally on 09th December 2008 by a letter to form the base for this resolution,. This was just two weeks before he left the office on 24th December 2009 and the resolution is based on his letter, which actually today nobody can present. I asked the UN and others, but nobody can present that letter, while the vast majority of the Somali parliamentarians even never heard about this alleged consent of the Somali government.

Q- Are you saying that the forces in the Somali waters are on an illegal mission?

A- Personally and in general I believe that they are in the wrong mission, in the first place, because Somalia and the Somali government is tasked to solve its own problem. If other nations can help, fine, but only under the control of the Somali government. And in addition the navies act illegally if they are acting based on UNSC resolution 1851, because the required consent touching on issues of the sovereignty of Somalia was not approved by the Somali parliament, the navies do not inform the Somali government as required by this resolution and the Somali government therefore also can not give consent to the actions. Even strikes against real terrorists, which I personally welcome, thereby become actually illegal deeds and crimes committed for example by the  US-Americans on Somali soil.

Q- Are you criticizing the Somali parliament and the government of Somalia?

A- No, indeed I am not criticizing today's Somali government, but with the clandestine dealings a door in the back of the Somali people was opened by a former president to foreign interference and today you can expect any enemy to sneak in and anything can happen against the Somali people and Somalia. Secondly I don’t’ think that the US-Americans or Europeans should interfere in the Somali water boundaries. The Americans and for a long time some Europeans say that Somalia would have only a 12 miles zone and anything outside this 12-mile-zone would be a free-for-all. But Somalia with its maritime law of 1972 has like Liberia and Sierra Leone and for example also Peru  200nm as territorial waters - and in addition the water areas up to 200nm from the coast are also protected as Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by the United Nations Common Law on the Sea (UNCLOS), which was ratified by the Somali parliament and to which Somalia is a full signatory. Also the African Union fully recognizes the 200nm EEZ of Somalia and officially asked others to stay out of it.

Q- What do you think is wrong with the law of the sea?

A- There is nothing wrong with the law of the sea, but Somalia is among those countries which have territorial waters of  200nm. This actually was a precedent for today's UNCLOS regulations. When you look at UNCLOS, the African Union has approved the existence of a 200nm EEZ for Somalia, but the AU is under pressure from the Americans and Europeans that Somalia should give up its 200nm territorial waters and should reduce it to 12nm territorial waters - to be paralleled with the regulations of the Europeans and Americans who claim only 12 nautical miles. But you see the hypocrisy when you realize that the US-Americans then themselves demand in addition to their 12nm a 40nm special interest zone. Giving up on our 200nm territorial waters or EEZ would give smooth access to foreign vessels to harvest the abundant Somali marine resources close to the Somali coast on which Somalia's future depends.

Q- What have the Somali people benefited from the UNSC resolution 1851?

A- Nothing. Absolutely no benefit has derived from this resolution or the other United Nations Security Council resolutions on Somalia. In my view they have only allowed foreign interests to creep up to Somalia and benefited only foreign interests while they escalated the problems for Somalia and the Somali people. I have made contacts with the Somali pirates and ordinary fishermen, and it is very clear to me that the French forces in the Somali waters give protection to the French vessels, which are robbing the Somali marine resources particularly the Tuna fish. But also others like Koreans and Spanish do this, though they do not have naval soldiers on their fishing vessels. And with reference to Human Rights I say that many arrests even under the UNSC resolutions were not legal. There are many Somali people who were killed on the Somali seas by foreign navies and nobody has talked about them. Without informing the Somali government and the UN and without having the consent from the Somali government actually no foreign navy can conduct any operation under UNSC 1851. But they simply do whatever they like and that is illegal. The pirates should be caught before they are killed, but of recent it is just shoot to kill. We all know that the foreign countries are contesting for the Somali marine resources, but the most surprising issue is that there is now an economical war between the founders of the foreign mastered pirate gangs in the Somali waters.      

Q- When is the termination date of UNSC resolution 1851?

9/12/2009 is the termination date, but I believe that this time it must be brought before the Somali legislators in the presence of the president of Somalia Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Q- What are you advising the Somali parliament?

A- Let them be God fearing and stick to patriotism, and to brush aside personal interests. I am advising them that they maintain the 200nm territorial waters and the 200nm EEZ as it stands. Most of the African countries anyway have a 200nm EEZ and to have authority over the 200nm territorial waters means also that Somalis will take responsibility for what happens in this vast area. In future there will anyway be no free-for-all territory left on thee seas of our planet and it is food for thought also for many other countries, who still suffer under their old colonial rulings.

Many thanks for your time with Somali Section of Radio Moscow's World Service honorable Ismail  Haji Noor.

You are welcome  your interview was a pleasure.

By Dahir Alasow