HORN OF AFRICA UPDATE: South Korean Naval Commandos Kill 8 Pirates, Free Hostages; Private Military Contractors Training Private Anti-Pirate Forces?

South Korean sailors from the Cheonghae Naval Unit conducting an antipiracy drill in 2009- Militaryphotos.net

Six days after the MV Samho Jewelry was boarded and seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, South Korean commandos stormed the cargo ship, killing 8 pirates and rescuing the 21 member crew. Taking part in multinational anti-piracy patrols in the region, the destroyer Choi Young was dispatched by South Korea to intercept the hijacked vessel.

The Samho Jewelry was carrying chemicals from the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka when the pirates attacked. A vessel from the same company shipping oil from Iraq to the USA- the Samho Dream- was hijacked by pirates last May and it's crew was released 217 days later only after a largest-of-its-kind ransom payment of US$9.5 million.

"Our special forces stormed the hijacked Samho Jewelry earlier today and freed all hostages," said Colonel Lee Bung-Woo, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"During the operation, our forces killed some Somali pirates and all of the hostages were confirmed alive," Lee told reporters on Friday. Another JSC spokesman said eight pirates were killed.

The military said Friday's rescue followed a brief gunbattle Tuesday, when the destroyer encountered pirates who had apparently left the South Korean freighter to try to seize a nearby Mongolian vessel.

The South Korean commandos aboard a speedboat and a Lynx helicopter were dispatched to rescue the Mongolian ship.

Tuesday's firefight left several pirates missing and believed killed although their bodies have not been found, spokesmen said. Three commandos were slightly hurt.

The rescue took place 800 miles off the northeastern coast of Somalia, according to the Joint Chiefs.

ELSEWHERE IN THE HORN OF AFRICA: Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater USA, is reportedly backing an effort by South African Private Military Contractors to train 2000 Somalis for a land-based private army that would protect officials from Somalia's fragile Transitional government as well as combat pirates and the al-Shabaab Islamic militia.

Prince reportedly brokered the deal between officials in the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern nations and South Africa's Saracen International to fill the security vacuum in the lawless region.

Presently an African Union peacekeeping force is propping up the internationally recognized Somali Transitional government that only controls parts of the capital city of Mogadishu. Last month, the AP reported that the Somalia project encompassed training a 1,000-man anti-piracy force in Somalia's northern semi-autonomous region of Puntland and presidential guards in Mogadishu, the ruined seaside capital. The story identified Saracen International, a private security company, as being involved, along with a former U.S. ambassador, Pierre Prosper; a senior ex-CIA officer, Michael Shanklin; and an unidentified Muslim donor nation. Prosper and Shanklin confirmed they were working as advisers to the Somali government.

Since then, AP has learned from officials and documents that Prince is involved and that a second 1,000-man anti-piracy force is planned for Mogadishu, where insurgents battle poorly equipped government forces.

This has some analysts fretting over what they call 'the privatization of war', which in a region that has been racked by famine, prolonged civil wars, lawlessness, piracy and terrorism for the last 20 years seems like a rather petty and abstract complaint.

I mean, really? Suddenly, employing some battle-hardened South Africans (or Brits, or Aussies, or Americans) with extensive military backgrounds to break the impasse and restore some sort of order is bad?

Worse than multiple civil wars dragging on for decades at a time that's killed millions?

Worse than multiple famines triggered by said civil wars and ethnic cleansing that's killed millions more?

Worse than rampant piracy that threatens to choke off the Red Sea to commercial maritime traffic to all nations?

Worse than yet another failed state playing host to yet another Islamic terror group that can operate with impunity?

I mean, it's not as though Saracen is usurping a Democratically elected government- there has essentially been no functioning central government in Somalia since 1991.

Food for thought.

PUNTLAND- The autonomous reigon of Puntland- where a number of pirate raids have been launched from- said it was breaking with Somalia's Transitional Federal Government 'until a legitimate Federal authority is in place in Mogadishu'.

The decision was made during a special cabinet meeting in the Puntland capital Garowe, said a government statement received by AFP in Nairobi.

It said the Mogadishu government "does not represent Puntland in international forums" and called on "the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) to reconsider its position and support for the TFG at the expense of other Somali stakeholders".

And it criticised "the lack of participation, consultation and representation of the Puntland Government during the 2008-2009 Djibouti Peace Process which led to the formation of the current Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia."

The statement also slammed "the marginalization of Puntland from the international community's initiatives and funding intended for the reconstruction and development of Somalia as a whole."

It said it "welcomes, supports and endorses the new U.S. Dual-Track Policy which is based on realities on the ground in Somalia" and called for a conference to speed up national reconciliation.

Unlike neighbouring Somaliland, Puntland, which was founded in 1998 by former transition president Abdullahi Yussuf Ahmed, did not secede from Somalia but has its own government bodies at Garowe.

While it's rumored that some government officials in Puntland take a cut of ransoms paid out to pirates, the Saracen project is reportedly using a pool of recruits from Puntland. Local reports also indicate that Saracen is aiding in the construction of a new Naval facility outside the coastal village of Bandar Siyada.

Photo- Guuleed

SOMALILAND- It could be that there's a country newer than South Sudan waiting in the wings. Somaliland declared its independence from the rest of Somalia during the 1991 Civil War and has managed to avoid the chaotic slide into lawlessness and anarchy that has characterized the rest of Somalia. It has managed to set up a functioning government and legals system, hold regularly scheduled elections and circulate its own currency- although for whatever reason the international community has been reluctant to recognize it as an independent state [I was actually made aware of Somaliland in the 1997 editon of Fielding's World's Most Dangerous Places; apparently Somaliland stood out because it wasn't as dengerous as the rest oF the country- NANESB!].

Surveys indicate that Somaliland holds considerable oil and mineral reserves, but because of it's unrecognized status, foreign companies are unable to extract those resources while Somaliland itself lacks the expertise on a local level to set up large scale drilling or mining operations. Presently, it's main source of income is exporting livestock, remittances from abroad and allowing Ethiopia to use the port of Berbera.

And they also view the rampant piracy in the region as one more problem that jeopardizes their bid for international recognition as a sovereign state. The de facto government in Somaliland has offered to put the port at Berbera at the disposal of the international navies that are patrolling the Red Sea and Indian Ocean as part of their stepped up campaign against Somali pirates as far back as 2008.

More recently, they have arrested and jailed pirates fleeing into Somaliland waters, handing out sentences of 15 years each. Last month, they arrested six Russian pilots violating territorial airspace and suspected of attempting to deliver military supplies to the Puntland reigon in defiance of a blanket arms embargo on all of Somalia (it is thought the supplies were destined for the Saracen project in Puntland). Puntland and Somaliland are involved in an ongoing border dispute as well. The Russians were released after being given a suspended sentence and fine at the end of December.

While far from perfect, this resilient and fairly orderly enclave along Somalia's northern coast could be what the international community needs to serve as a counterweight to the out of control piracy and al Shabaab militias that have taken over elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.

All That Glitters: ATM in UAE Hotel Distributes Gold Bars

I. So. Freakin'. Want. This. [Actually I could've really used something like this when gold was running between $200 and $400 an ounce- NANESB!]

A luxury hotel in the United Arab Emirates has made available to its guests an ATM Machine that dispenses gold bars and customized gold coins. The machine, designed by German businessman Thomas Geissler, contains an internal computer that updates gold prices every 10 minutes while the exterior actually has a thin plating of gold. Geissler had decided to debut the machine in the United Arab Emirates because of the increasing demand for gold in the region.

Customers and guests at Abu Dhabi's Emirates Palace hotel can purchase coins or 10g bars (some with the Hotel's logo etched on them) by inserting drachma- the local currency- into the machine and choosing from a number of items on a touchscreen menu.

Geissler said that his Gold to Go company is close to completing a machine that would be able to accept credit cards as well. After debuting the golden ATM in the Emirates, Gold to Go installed at least a half dozen more machines in Germany as well as one each in Italy and Spain.

There are also plans to install gold ATMs in the USA at locations in Las Vegas and Florida, although Geissler hasn't disclosed the exact location yet.

Germany's Reichstag Dome Closed off in Face of 'Credible' Terror Threat

German authorities have closed the top of Berlin's Reichstag building and stepped up security after an informant and Western intelligence agencies have passed along intelligence regarding a suspected Islamic Jihadi plot to storm the Reichstag building and take hostages while demanding Germany's withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Germany's interior minister raised the country's threat level and the FBI forwarded intelligence to the Germans warning that an Indian crime lord residing in Pakistan and with ties to radical Islamic groups could be dispatching operatives to Germany to take part in attacks against targets in that country.

According to the information, two operatives are already in the Berlin area while 54 year old Dawood Ibrahim- on the run from authorities in India since a spate of 1993 bombings in Mumbai that he was allegedly the mastermind of which killed 257- will attempt to smuggle the remaining members of the cell into Europe via the United Arab Emirates.

Equipment the German cell allegedly requires for the possible Reichstag attack reportedly had to be brought in from the Balkans, while an informant said that at least four other men were in the advanced stages of training at an al Qadea camp in Pakistan.

Mail Bomb Sweep Halts Air Frieght Shipments From Yemen

Reports are circulating that authorities in the Arabian peninsula were tipped off to last week's parcel/airfreight bomb plot by a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and Al Qaeda member who wanted safe passage home from Yemen.

Both explosive devices, one discovered in Dubai and the other in the UK, were concealed in printer cartridges and contained the plastic explosive PETN- the same materiel the Christmas Day 'underwear bomber' attempted to unsuccessfully detonate on board a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit late last year. The devices were wired to cell phones, timers and power supplies and were likely powerful enough to bring down the airliners carrying them and were in boxes addressed to Chicago, IL-area synagogues. It was unclear if the bombs were supposed to be detonated on board the aircraft or when they arrived on their destination.

Authorities in Yemen detained and released a 22 year old college student suspected of mailing the bombs when they concluded her identity was used by another individual on invoices recovered at the San'a Fed Ex office. They are also looking into two language schools in San'a that the suspected masterminds might have been associated with.

An official with Qatar Airways said that at least one of the explovisve-laden parcels arrived from the Yemeni capital to the airline's Doha, Qatar hub on a passenger flight before it was discovered in the United Arab Emirates.



Investigators in the UAE are also trying to trace the serial numbers on the phone and printer cartridges. The airflight plot was discovered nearly two months after the crash of a UPS cargo plane on approach to Dubai International Airport that killed the plane's two crew members. Officials from the UAE's General Civil Authority concluded that a fire in the cargo hold filled the cockpit with smoke that likely caused the September crash, although they don't belive it was a bomb that downed the cargo plane. The ill-fated UPS flight was carrying a large quantity of Lithium batteries, which may not have started the fire, but could explode if the fire had spread to them.

Meanwhile, Canada, the UK and Germany have halted airfrieght shipments from Yemen.

Explosives Bound for USA Discovered on Cargo Flights

Suspicious parcels discovered in airfreight shipments by authorities in the UK and United Arab Emirates prompted a terror alert in which UPS planes were grounded in Newark and Philadelphia.

Federal investigators were inspecting the contents of the grounded planes at Newark's Liberty airport and Philadelphia International based on concerns over a terrorist threat originating from Yemen.

The Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is suspected, and investigators are looking into whether the packages were part of a dry run for a future mail-bomb plot. A UAE official told the Associated Press late Friday that an "explosive device" in Dubai was found in a courier company's regional hub.

FedEx reported earlier that a suspicious package was found at its Dubai facility.

Another package, found on a UPS plane at East Midlands Airport in central England, contained what looked like a toner cartridge with white powder and wires coming out of it.

The Thursday night discoveries prompted U.S. authorities on Friday to sweep a UPS plane in Newark, N.J., two UPS planes in Philadelphia and two UPS trucks in New York City.

The planes in Philadelphia are still being investigated. The Newark flight and New York trucks have been cleared [snip].

Given the origin of the packages, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula "is at the top of the list" of suspects, a U.S. official told Fox News.

"Since two of the suspicious packages that were intercepted were addressed to religious institutions in Chicago, all churches, synagogues and mosques in the Chicago area should be vigilant for any unsolicited or unexpected packages, especially those originating from overseas locations," Chicago FBI spokesman Ross Rice said.

Federal law enforcement officials said the suspicious device that resembled a toner cartridge was removed from the a flight in a distribution center at East Midlands Airport in the U.K.

A crew member aboard a UPS plane arriving to Philadelphia from Paris later notified authorities on approach about a suspicious package. The crew member described a possible radiological component to the package, the incident report said. The two occupants safely exited the aircraft after landing in a remote area of the airport.

A second UPS plane was isolated near the UPS terminal at the Philadelphia airport before take off, the report said.

A third UPS plane, which arrived at Newark Liberty Airport from East Midlands in the U.K., was investigated, but UPS says it was cleared and proceeded on to Louisville, KY.

Two UPS trucks in Brooklyn and Queens, N.Y., were also investigated and cleared, officials said.

Law enforcement officials also are investigating a suspicious packages in Portland, Maine. No word on whether that package has any links to UPS or Yemen.

"As an additional safety measure, FedEx embargoed all shipments originating from Yemen," Maury Lane, spokesman for FedEx told Reuters.