Somali PM starts salary pay for the disabled national army troops
Listen Nairobi (Alshahid) -A change in tactics by Somali pirates has alarmed international maritime firms and triggered a rise in the price of insuring shipping sailing off the East African coast. Large numbers of Somali pirates are now reported to be operating from captured merchant vessels far out in the Indian Ocean, making the task [...]
Five hostages starved to death on ship hijacked by Somali pirates
Listen Mogadishu (Alshahid) -The successful apprehension of Somali pirates off Lakshadweep by Indian Navy and Coast Guard on Sunday has brought along a tragic story of hostages. At least five crew members of the three Thai trawlers hijacked by pirates have been reported to have died of hunger and sickness after the owner of the [...]
UN council OKs big increase in AU Somalia force
Listen United Nations (Alshahid) – The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday authorized a boost in the African Union’s peacekeeping force in Somalia from 8,000 to 12,000 troops to shore up the country’s government against Islamist insurgents. The force, known as AMISOM, currently consists of soldiers from Uganda and Burundi. Uganda is expected to provide the [...]
Pirates’ Catch Exposed Kenya Route of Arms to volatile Sudan
Listen Khartoum (Alshahid) — It was September 2008 and a band of Somali pirates made a startling discovery. The Ukrainian freighter they had just commandeered in the Gulf of Aden was packed with weapons, including 32 Soviet-era battle tanks, and the entire arsenal was headed for the regional government in southern Sudan. The Ukrainian and [...]
Who Should Lead Us, Politicians Or Professionals?
Listen To actualize benefits of the new constitution, Kenyans must have good leaders. But what is a good leader? To develop counties, we are told to forget politicians and get professionals, our newest version of good leaders. But are politicians inherently bad and professionals good? In themselves, politics and professions are innocent, only men corrupt [...]
Questions over Anti-Piracy Court in Kenya
Listen At the end of last week, Kenya opened a special court to try suspected pirates operating from Somalia in the Gulf of Aden The Court, which is funded by a number of international organizations and States including the UN, the EU, Australia and Canada, is a significant step in the fight against piracy. All States [...]
Special court to try suspected pirates opens in Kenya.
Listen Mombasa (Alshahid) – A special court in Kenya has been initiated to try suspected pirates, the UN Office of Drugs and Crime said Friday The court, one of its own kinds, opened on Thursday in Mombasa, was built by the U.N. office’s Counter-Piracy Program. Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany and the United States [...]
Somali pirate cook saves hostages, then disappears
Listen Constanta (Alshahid) – The pirate cook smuggled food to the terrified hostages held by his gang off the Somali coast. He bought them cell phone cards. And when the pirates started talking about harvesting their organs for cash, he sneaked them guns. The hostages killed the pirates and escaped. But now the life of [...]
Somalia mayhem: It is America’s fault.
Listen The piracy, persistent violence and general growth of illegal activity (including smuggling and Islamic terrorism) in Somalia have proved very difficult to cope with. In the past (before the European colonialists showed up in the 19th century) a form of order was imposed by having more reasonable (and often non-Somali) powers hold the coastal [...]
Dutch court jails five Somali pirates for five years
Listen Rotterdam (Alshahid) – Dutch court on Thursday sentenced five Somali pirates, the first to stand trial in Europe, to five years in prison for attacking a Dutch Antilles-flagged ship in 2009. “The court sentences the defendants to a prison sentence of five years,” said court president Jan Willem Klein Wolterink. “The defendants went to [...]