Hunt of the Sea Wolves

Just because the Philippine government claimed the Abu Sayyaf was about to be wiped out and the U.S. has paid out a $10-million bounty of a few of its members, didn’t stop Yasser Igasan from wanting to take on the top position with the deadliest al-Qaida linked Islamic terror group operating in the southern Philippines, according the army officials.

A native of Jolo Island, Igasan was made leader about three weeks ago by ranking members of the terror group during a meeting at a rebel base.

http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=369149&rel_no=1

From Reuters - Africa, 7/29/07:

A South Korean cargo ship is missing in pirate-infested waters off Somalia, an official said on Friday, hours after the world’s top maritime body urged the U.N. Security Council to help it end piracy in Somali waters.

If is confirmed that the Sea Prince was seized by pirates, it would bring to five the number of foreign vessels held off the Horn of Africa nation in some of the most dangerous waters in the world.

Andrew Mwangura, director of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said the Sea Prince vanished after leaving Djibouti on May 11 carrying 2,400 tonnes of cereals for delivery in Berbera and Bosasso.

“She was expected to be in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, by this time to load another cargo,” he told Reuters by telephone. “No one knows where they are.”

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29136680.html

From Reuters-Africa, 7/29/07:

Murders of aid workers, pirate attacks, closed borders and growing violence make the distribution of relief in Somalia almost impossible, aid workers say, as conflict and drought boost needs still further.

A Somali nurse for a Western aid group and his driver were shot dead late on Wednesday, while the United Nations says nearly 5,000 tonnes of food aid are blocked at the Kenyan border and food handouts in the Somali capital Mogadishu have been on hold since a Somali soldier opened fire on a crowd clamouring for food, killing three people.

Offshore, pirate attacks have deterred all but the hardiest shippers from delivering aid, slashing by 50 percent the amount the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) can bring in by sea.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29764967.html

Comments from CIA Director Michael V. Hayden:

Al-Qa’ida sees its war against the West as the continuation of a decades, perhaps centuries-old, struggle to defend Islam from political and cultural domination by a Judeo-Christian alliance now led by the United States and Israel. Since Bin Ladin declared war on the United States in 1998, al-Qa’ida has focused primarily on attacks aimed at weakening and punishing the United States and its immediate allies.

• The group sees the United States as the main obstacle to realizing its vision of an extreme fundamentalist social and political order throughout the Muslim world.

• Although the group has suffered significant losses since 9/11, it is resilient and thoroughly dedicated to mounting new attacks on the US Homeland and our interests abroad.

Understanding the source of al-Qa’ida’s resilience is key to defeating it. With regard to the central organization headed by Bin Ladin, that resilience stems from several factors.

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/speeches-testimony/2006/DCIA_SASC_Testimony.html

From the Jamestown Foundation:

Despite these precautions, Algeria’s energy sector is still vulnerable. In particular, oil and LNG must eventually be lifted at Algeria’s ports. Algeria has plans to rehabilitate and upgrade its ports, but with the exception of Bejaia, most Algerian ports are still closely linked to their surrounding urban environments, which make securing their perimeters difficult. This is particularly true in Algiers, Oran, Arzew and Skikda. Complicating port security is the fact that Algiers and Skikda are notoriously home to supporters of Islamist terrorists, and the current head of the ex-GSPC, Abdelmalek Droudkal, has historic ties to Skikda—where Algeria’s main gas liquefaction installation is located.

The previously mentioned police official acknowledged that he does not understand why the Islamists have not tried more rigorously to target energy sector installations. He surmised that his forces’ efforts to disrupt the Islamists’ bomb-making capabilities have limited attacks in general, but admitted that he did not entirely comprehend the Islamists’ rationale for staying away from coastal energy installations. According to the official, police operations have undermined bomb-making capabilities, both through seizing bomb materials and killing or arresting technicians. The official asserted that the Islamists are able to make numerous small bombs but have limited “large” bomb resources. In his estimation, the Islamists are likely trying to conserve their resources for sensational operations similar to the April 11 attack on the prime minister’s office.

http://www.jamestown.org/news_details.php?news_id=254

According to Reuters India:Somali pirates have released an Indian merchant ship after holding it for a month, but four others are still being held, a maritime official said on Friday (June 22).

The Al Haqeeq, a dhow with 14 Indian crew members and a cargo of 800 tonnes seized close to Mogadishu on May 24, was free and its crew safe, East African Seafarers Assistance Programme Director Andrew Mwangura said.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2007-06-22T152713Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_India-304335-1.xml

From Medical News Today:

The United Nations World Food Programme appealed to Kenyan authorities to allow food assistance on 140 trucks to cross into Somalia. The WFP food is enough to feed more than 100,000 people for three months amid warnings of rising malnutrition in the South.

The WFP-contracted trucks left the Kenyan port of Mombasa and were unexpectedly stopped at the Northeast Kenyan border crossing of El-Wak since the first vehicles started arriving there on 25 May.

“The Kenyan overland route was chosen because of major problems with sea routes to Somalia plagued by pirate attacks,” said WFP Somalia Country Director Peter Goossens. “Delays in distributing food this month to 108,000 people in Gedo district risks further aggravating the alarming rates of malnutrition that are already reported there.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=75178

From the People’s Daily Online:

A Danish cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates earlier this month with five crew members aboard has run out of food and fresh water, Kenya’s maritime official said on Monday.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based Seafarers Assistance Program, said the Danica White’s water purification equipment had failed because of the breakdown of vessel’s generator.

“The vessel has run out of food and water supplies. Frantic efforts is being made to repair the generator which broke down leading to the failure of the vessel’s water purification equipment,” Mwangura said by telephone.

Mwangura said the Danica White was carrying building and construction material, adding that frantic efforts are underway to secure the release of the vessel and the crew members.

“Negotiations are still underway for the release of the vessel. Somalia Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi met the shipowners in Nairobi last week and promised to secure the release of the vessel, ” said Mwangura.

More than ten ships have been hijacked off the coast of Somalia since this year, but all the crew members for some of the freed ships have returned safely after successful negotiations between rescuers and hijackers.

The surge in piracy in the waters off the Somali coast, Africa’s longest and one of the world’s dangerous, has sparked global outcry with the United Nations calling for international action to combat Somalia’s “plague of piracy”, saying it threatened vital aid deliveries to some 1 million people.

Only a short time ago the U.S. had agreed to pay out a $10-million bounty on three Abu Sayyaf members and the Philippine government was trumpeting that the guerrilla group was gasping its last breath.

Unfortunately, the Abu Sayyaf continues to practice its trade of kidnapping and murder. According to the Philippine Information Agency on June 25:

Local villagers had hoped for a good outcome to the kidnappings of seven workers on southern Jolo island. Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) militants kidnapped the men as they were on their way to work. Some village leaders were helping police search for the missing men when news came that the guerrillas had murdered their hostages.

http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p070625.htm&no=54

 Sag Harbor, the Hamptons port-of-call playground for the ultra-wealthy, says it’s a terror target and wants federal and state funds to shore up security at its yacht-filled marina.

The village wants $100,000 from the Department of Homeland Security and another $160,000 from the state for a high-tech command center, surveillance cameras, a patrol boat and training for dockworkers.

“We’re a soft target for terrorism,” said Sag Harbor’s port director, Ed Barry. “It has been known that terrorists target areas where famous and rich people gather and where there’s a sewer plant. Sag Harbor has both.”

http://www.shiptalk.com/?itemid=2198#news