Somali Pirates Make A Big Mistake

The U.S. 5th Fleet information folks have released information about an incident yesterday in which Somali pirates mistook a German Navy ship for a commercial merchant vessel. Forces from seven nations ended up coordinating efforts to pursue a pirate skiff after the pirates opened fire on the German oiler Spessart.

According to a news release, security forces aboard the ship returned fire on the suspected pirates during the initial attack and then the Spessart pursued the skiff.

Other naval ships and aircraft joined the pursuit, including a Dutch frigate, a Greek frigate, a helicopter assigned to a Spanish warship, a Spanish P-3 maritime patrol aircraft and two Marine Corps helicopters from the USS Boxer.

A German boarding team eventually disarmed the seven suspected pirates and transferred them to a German frigate.

The full release is posted here.

Rwanda 1994: No MIST in the Mists

The description I cited of the capabilities of a Military Information Support Team come from an Army Field Manual written in October 1994 -- just months after the start of the Rwanda genocide.

This got me to thinking about how, at the time of the genocide, there had been discussion of whether the United States should deploy broadcast jamming capabilities to block the hate broadcasts in Rwanda that were blamed for fomenting much of the bloodshed.

The National Security Archives at George Washington University has published various declassified official U.S. documents related to the genocide --- one of which is worth recalling: the one in which Frank Wisner, the number three official at the Pentagon at the time, acknowledged internal discussions about the feasibility of countering the hate radio. He replies to Sandy Berger, then deputy to National Security Adviser Tony Lake, that undertaking the initiative to “jam” the radio would be “ineffective and expensive” and says a “wiser” activity would be to assist the “relief effort”.

In it, Wisner also says "international legal conventions complicate airborne or ground based jamming....Commando Solo, an Air National Guard asset, is the only suitable DOD jamming platform. It costs approximately $8500 per flight hour..."

Information Ops in Africa: What's A MIST?

Thanks to Globalsecurity.org, and its listing of U.S. Army Field Manuals, I was able to find this definition of a Military Information Support Team, as mentioned in the brief description of Operation Objective Voice in the AFRICOM Posture Statement.

It is in the Psychological Operations Appendix of FM 90-29, which mainly deals with Noncombatant Evacuation Operations (NEO):

The military information support team (MIST) is a rapidly deployable, mission-tailored team. It has the media capability of a small town (mini- AM/FM radio station, 1-kilowatt television station, modest newspaper or leaflet production capability, and three to six tactical loudspeaker teams) which can deploy on little more than one C-141 aircraft. Large-scale sustained operations require a larger deployment package.

We have no details on the exact capabilities or objectives of AFRICOM's MIST teams.

However we must assume internet operations are now included.

The FM 90-29 appendix also contains this definition:

PSYOP are defined as operations planned and executed to convey selected information and indicator to foreign audiences to influence their ambitions, motives, objectives, and reasoning. They ultimately influence the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and individuals. The purpose of PSYOP is to induce or reinforce foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the unit's objectives.

WebOps in Northern Africa

In the search for further information about Operation Objective Voice, AFRICOM's "proactive effort where multiple agencies partner with African governments to broadcast messages to counter extremist propaganda," we have determined at least one web site exists with Africa Command backing that covers issues in Northern Africa:

This comes from the "about us" page on the site:

The Magharebia web site is sponsored by the United States Africa Command, the military command responsible for supporting and enhancing US efforts to promote stability, co-operation and prosperity in the region.

The Magharebia web site is a central source of news and information about the Maghreb in three languages: Arabic, French and English. The goal of Magharebia is to offer accurate, balanced and forward-looking coverage of developments in the Maghreb.

Six days per week, the site captures the top news from across the region as reported in local and international media. It also features analysis, interviews and commentary by paid Magharebia correspondents in the region.

Magharebia coverage is distinguished by an in-depth knowledge of local issues - the key players, events and sensitivities that can trigger significant developments - tempered by a cross-regional perspective. It identifies trends, solutions and successes that can serve as models for progress throughout the region.

Operation Objective Voice (Africa): "It Is Making A Difference"

During his recent appearance before Congress to discuss AFRICOM, the commander, General Ward, was asked about Operation Objective Voice. Unfortunately, there was little detail offered -- just an assessment that the Operation is bearing fruit:

REP. SHEA-PORTER: Okay. And one last question. Thank you.

Operation Objective Voice, getting our message, our ideology across, our goals for democracy. How strong a message are we delivering there right now? Are you able to actually have an impact, or is it still a challenge to communicate like that?

GEN. WARD: I think the assessment that we get and how we see those pieces of information that are transmitted through Operation Objective Voice, when those things appear in other media on the continent, it lets us know that people are paying attention, the Africans are paying attention, and then as we get reactions from our embassies -- because we do that in very close coordination with the embassies and the country teams, their public diplomacy sections -- that we get the assessment that it is making a difference, they are listening, and it does cause them to see what goes on from a perspective that reflects that that we would intend for it to be.

So I think it is making a difference. And our partners, the ambassadors, the country teams, as well as the nations, think it is a very good program that we we are involved in.

REP. SHEA-PORTER: Thank you. And I yield back.

AFRICOM "Voice" Ops

Thanks to Scott Morgan at Confused Eagle who saw our request for any info on Operation Assured Voice and sent us a link to a 2006 article by General Charles Wald, former European Command Deputy Commander who mentioned EUCOM anti-terrorist operations, including OAV and the work of military information support teams.

"Military information
support teams are a great
example of interagency
cooperation to conduct
information operations. Provided to Embassies
to support their public diplomacy efforts,
these teams are normally made up of four to
six uniformed military psychological operations
specialists who deploy and work side
by side with the country team. Skilled in
mass communications and marketing, they
perform assorted information activities, from
setting up community outreach programs and
youth sports leagues to training host-nation
military personnel in the conduct of information
operations.

All their work is directed at
improving the security environment in the
host nation and reducing support to extremist
elements. Deployments typically last from
90 to 120 days and are valued by the country
teams as a tool for supporting ongoing
Embassy public diplomacy.

The Web site initiatives consist of Southeast
European Times (addressing audiences
in the former Yugoslavia, as well as Albania,
Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Turkey) and
Magharebia (for audiences in the Maghreb
countries of Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia).
Run in partnership with the State Department
and U.S. Embassies, these two sites allow the
USEUCOM commander to communicate to
foreign audiences using news and information
about their regions and providing accurate,
balanced coverage about key players, events,
and issues.

In contrast to extremist ideology
propagated throughout the Internet and other
media, these sites present positive themes. The
principal topics include the rule of law, open
and unbiased media, civilian control of the
military, and creation of strong, accountable
institutions in both government and business.
Six days a week, the Web sites feature
regional news as reported in local and international
media. They also include in-depth
analysis, interviews, and commentary from
local correspondents on key regional issues.
Southeast European Times is published in nine
languages and Magharebia in three. According
to Internet industry sources, Southeast European
Times is now a major source of regional
information. It averages over 5 million hits
a month from within the area, with average
visits exceeding 20 minutes. Similar numbers
are being realized for Magharebia, despite its
relatively recent launch in late 2004.

All of these efforts are enhanced
through collaboration with private industry.
USEUCOM partners with local and regional
public relations and marketing firms to
research target audiences. These firms provide
expertise regarding their own societies, and by
conducting market research and focus groups
they help the command assess attitudes and
behavior of host-nation populations without
the stigma that might come from surveys conducted
by uniformed U.S. military personnel."

A Mysterious AFRICOM Operation?

After several busy days occupied on matters in another region, I had a chance to revisit AFRICOM's website and saw they had posted what was called the 2009 AFRICOM Posture Statement, summarizing testimony before Congress by General William Ward, the commander.

There were references to the well-known Combined Joint Task Force in the Horn of Africa and to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM-TRANS-SAHARA.

What caught my eye was this one:

OPERATION OBJECTIVE VOICE (OOV),
known previously as OPERATION ASSURED VOICE -
AFRICA (OAV-A), is an operation that strikes at the heart
of violent extremist ideology. OOV is a proactive effort
where multiple agencies partner with African governments
to broadcast messages to counter extremist propaganda.
Military Information Support Teams, in conjunction
with DOS public diplomacy, have demonstrated success
in several countries including Nigeria, Mali, and Kenya.
We continue to work with participating nations, Embassy
Country Teams, and DOS to enhance this program.

I don't recall hearing anything about this effort previously. Anyone have any information?

Merchant of Death Update

The wife of an alleged Russian arms dealer is repudiating charges made by the United States that he has provided weapons to some of the world's worst warlords and dictators.

According to VOA, Alla Bout testified in a Thai courtroom Tuesday that her husband Viktor ran a legitimate air cargo business until it folded in 2001.

Bout is facing extradition to the U.S. to stand trial for conspiring to sell weapons to Colombia's FARC rebels. He was arrested last March in Bangkok following a sting operation by undercover U.S. agents.

Bout has denounced the allegations as nothing more than "rumors and lies," and says his ongoing detention violates the rule of law and human rights.

The 41-year-old Russian is suspected of trafficking weapons to conflict zones in Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East, earning him the nickname the "Merchant of Death."

The former Soviet air force officer is believed to be the model for the lead character in the 2005 Hollywood film "Lord of War."

Al-Shabab Influence Diminishing, Not Increasing in Somalia?

A former U.S. diplomat and a leading analyst on Somalia says the power and influence of the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab group are diminishing, not increasing as some U.S. intelligence officials have recently warned.

VOA Nairobi Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports that in an article featured in this month's Sentinel magazine, published by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Ambassador David Shinn says it is far from clear whether al-Shabab, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, is continuing to attract support for its radical agenda and expanding its reach and influence in Somalia.

Shinn, who twice served as U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, says he believes Ethiopia's troop withdrawal in January has hurt al-Shabab's image as a group fighting for Somali nationalism under the banner of Islam.

"Now that the Ethiopians have for the most part left Somalia, it has really undercut the al-Shabab argument and my guess is that you are going to see a decrease in interest by those Somalis, who may otherwise be tempted to join, because the main purpose for joining has basically disappeared," Shinn said.

Shinn acknowledges his argument in the Sentinel runs somewhat counter to latest U.S. intelligence reports.

Last week, several high-level intelligence officials told a Senate committee while the Ethiopian withdrawal may have removed a key rallying point for al-Shabab, it was recruiting Somalis from the United States and other countries and still expanding its operations. The officials also suggested that al-Shabab and its long-time ally, al-Qaida, may soon announce a merger.

But the former diplomat says recent developments in Somalia suggest that many of al-Shabab's grass roots supporters in the past two years have been nationalists, who have little enthusiasm for al-Shabab's ultra-conservative ideology and ruthless tactics.

With Ethiopia gone, he says, moderate Islamists leaders and clan elders, who traditionally have had the most influence in Somalia, appear to be no longer intimidated by al-Shabab. Clerics and clan leaders have publicly declared their support of the U.N.-backed government of moderate Islamist President Sharif Sheik Ahmed.

Shinn also says the majority of Somalis do not approve of al-Shabab's association with al-Qaida or their strict interpretation of Islam, which include a ban on playing music and stoning to death girls and women accused of committing adultery.

Naval Flotilla Hampers Somali Pirates Ability To Mount Attacks As Marines Move Into Place

The director of the International Maritime Bureau in London, Pottengal Mukundun, said the presence of ships from 17 international navies in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea area has not deterred Somali pirates from trying to hijack vessels.

But, according to a report by VOA Nairobi correspondent Alisha Ryu, he said the increased naval patrols have severely hampered the pirates' ability to mount successful attacks.

"In October and November, one attack in three succeeded as a hijacking. This year, they are looking at around one attack in seven. Now, that is quite a big difference. They are finding it more and more difficult to get on board the ships, which means that they are incurring the cost of keeping the mother ships out at sea without positive results," he said.

Pirate mother ships are vessels that act as launching pads for the small and nimble skiffs used by pirates to approach and hijack ships.

The skiffs helped Somali pirates carry out more than 120 attacks last year. They successfully seized 42 ships, including a supertanker laden with oil and a freighter carrying a cargo of Russian-built tanks and other weapons. The average ransom for crew and vessel had jumped to more than $1 million, driving up shipping and insurance costs and threatening to disrupt global trade.

The international community responded by sending dozens of warships to the region to escort commercial vessels through vulnerable shipping lanes and to prevent attacks. Various navies have captured pirates and seized their vessels and weapons.

NATO member states carried out the first anti-piracy mission off Somalia between October and December, 2008. The European Union is now spearheading a year-long effort, working with the navies of such countries as China, Russia, India, and South Korea.

Meanwhile the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer has arrived in the Gulf of Aden region to takeover as flagship for Combined Task Force (CTF) 151.

According to the US Navy, CTF 151's mandate is to deter and disrupt piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea and currently includes naval forces from the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark and Turkey.

"We've had a great deal of success in deterring piracy to this point," said Rear Adm. Terence McKnight, commander, CTF 151. "Now we're going to continue our mission on Boxer, which continues our line of extremely flexible platforms. Boxer has a lot to offer in the fight against piracy."

Units on board the Boxer include combat helicopters, assault craft and a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). The MEU itself has helicopters as well as what is termed a "Battalion Landing Team."

Darfur: Enough is Enough!

For several years now, we have heard a succession of world leaders lament the ongoing tragedy in Darfur. Their latest response: an arrest warrant for Sudan's President. Sudan's response: kick out international aid agencies.

Now this: news reports say four United Nations peacekeepers, three Nigerians and one Rwandan, were wounded, one critically, when gunmen attacked their vehicle in Western Darfur. The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission said the ambush took place Monday evening near the town of El-Geneina in West Darfur.

A spokesman for the peacekeeping force, Noureddine Mezni, said that Western Darfur has seen a rise in banditry and other small-scale attacks in recent weeks, but that Monday's attack is more worrisome.

"This time our peacekeepers were targeted," he said. "Before it was an issue of carjacking or breaking into the houses of our personnel or NGOs compounds. But this time it is a serious incident, and we strongly condemn this escalation and we are trying our best to identify the perpetrators and to take the necessary action against them."

How long can this sort of thing go on before the international community takes real action -- not paper moves like issuing an arrest warrant?

Last December we wrote about the recommendations for tough action reportedly proposed to former President Bush by an advisor:

--jamming all communications in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. This would include all telephone calls, all cellular service, all Internet access. After two days, having demonstrated Sudan’s vulnerability, the United States could halt the jamming.

--apply progressive pressure to Port Sudan, from which Sudan exports oil and thus earns revenue. The first step would be to send naval vessels near the port. The next step would be to search or turn back some ships, and the final step would be to impose a quarantine and halt Sudan’s oil exports.

--The United States could target Sudanese military aircraft that defy a United Nations ban on offensive military flights in Darfur. A tougher approach would be to warn Sudan it will lose its air force — and then if it does not comply, to destroy all its military aircraft on the ground.

I don't see why it necessarily has to be the United States alone that undertakes the jamming, the blockade or the aerial action. A coalition would be preferable.

But the question is: when will the international community say enough is enough?

Drugs and Guns in Guinea-Bissau and West Africa

It is not known how much of a role the illegal international drug trade had in boosting tensions between Guinea-Bissau's president and the military before Sunday's and Monday's assassinations of General Batista Tagme Na Waie and President Joao Bernardo Vieira.

But last Friday in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the US State Department cited increased drug trafficking in Guinea-Bissau and its vulnerability to money laundering and financial crime as sources of systemic corruption.

The report says, "Drug traffickers transiting between Latin America and Europe have increased their use of the country. Guinea-Bissau is often the placement point for proceeds from drug payoffs, theft of foreign aid, and corrupt diversion of oil and other state resources headed for investment abroad."

Douglas Farah is a Washington, DC–based consultant on international drug trafficking issues. He points out in an interview with the Voice of America that Bissau and other West African countries have fallen prey to hostile Latin American drug lords, who are using Africa's Atlantic coast airstrips as transit points for smuggling cocaine to Europe.

"Guinea-Bissau is not an isolated case any longer, unfortunately in West Africa. You have Guinea-Conakry. You have Sierra Leone. You have Liberia. You certainly have Nigeria, all major transit points for drugs moving into Europe and into other markets in Africa itself," Farah noted.

He says that this week's flare-up and assassinations in Bissau should signal other countries in the neighborhood that when resource-weak governments grow vulnerable and dependent on funding from outside kingpins, they endanger the safety and security of their own citizens.

"This should be a lesson or a warning to other African states, where the drug trafficking trade has penetrated so deeply that if you don't eradicate this type of corruption, this inflow of illicit funds that completely undermines already weak states, you can end up very easily down the road to widespread assassinations, to unredeemable corruption. I think if you see competent states like Mexico and Colombia almost caving when the drug traffickers move in there in a serious way and concentrate on them, those tiny countries with no functioning institutions are far more challenged. And if they don't unite to take this on, I think Guinea-Bissau will be the first of many," he cautioned.

While West African landing strips have opened a "new avenue" of wealth for drug suppliers from the Caribbean to reach their lucrative markets in Europe, Douglas Farah believes that European governments need to become more deeply engaged in stopping the three-way commerce.

"It's essentially a European problem now because those drugs are not going to the United States. They're going to Europe. And Europe has to step up and take a much more active and aggressive role if they want to control that avenue of entrance into their continent," he says.

Farah believes that European governments need to acknowledge that their continent's appetite for a thriving drug market is spurring the Latin American penetration of the transatlantic trade.

"It's a testament to how lucrative the traffic is. If you still make an enormous profit going from Latin America to West Africa and then north to Europe, I think it's a whole new route that the law enforcement community in the European countries were not thinking about and were not dealing with, and as water runs downhill to the easiest possible terrain, that's how drug trafficking will move into Europe, in the US markets, or wherever the new market exists. And so they will find the seams in the global structure and move there. And we're always playing catch-up with them," Farah pointed out.

He urges Guinea-Bissau's former colonial ruler Portugal and other European countries to become more engaged in trying to stem the drug cartel's African transit operations. Regrettably, Farah says he does not put much hope in Africa's regional and continent-wide bodies like ECOWAS and the African Union taking similar action any time soon.

"I think that they're overwhelmed. I don't think that they've shown any will to take any action in the best of circumstances. And I think in this circumstance, where they're overwhelmed with everything else and already imbued in a culture of corruption and government weakness that there is any likelihood that they will take any significant action," he said.

In the past three or four months, the US government has stepped up its efforts to curb the drug trade from Central and South America. Farah cites as the principal reason for this Washington's desire to stop enriching the Latin American cartels "that are of great concern to the United States." He observes that the United States does have allies in Africa who are working to rid the continent of what he calls helpless "narco-states" like Guinea-Bissau, but those partners are in the minority.

"I think there are elements in almost every country, good people and uncorrupted people who are fighting uphill battles to stem the tide. But I don't think that there has been a systematic, organized regional response to this, and I doubt there will be simply because the corruption is so great there," he noted.

Leadership Bloodbath in West African Narco-State

Military leaders in Guinea-Bissau say they will respect constitutional order after mutinous soldiers killed President Joao Bernardo Vieira. The assassination occurred just hours after the country's military chief died in a bomb blast.

VOA West Africa Correspondent Scott Stearns reports soldiers loyal to the slain army chief attacked the presidential palace, killing President Joao Bernardo Vieira as he tried to escape. They blame the president for a Sunday bomb attack that killed the head of the joint chiefs of staff, General Batista Tagme Na Waie.

Soldiers set up checkpoints at strategic locations around the capital. Reports from Bissau say the streets are empty with banks, markets, and shops closed. Private radio stations are back on the air after being closed by the military overnight.

Senior officers are calling for calm, saying the situation is under control and the military is acting as the "stabilizer of public order." In a statement broadcast on national radio, military leaders said they would not tolerate what the called "looters and troublemakers. The statement said: "The army, faithful to its duty, will respect constitutional order and democracy."

Constitutional succession would mean National Assembly Speaker Raimundo Perreira taking power before elections within 60 days.

Prime Minister Carlos Gomis, Jr. met with military chiefs and is expected to make a statement later in the day.

African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping is consulting with regional leaders on how best to address the crisis. An A.U. statement described the killings of President Vieira and General Waie as "cowardly and heinous attacks."

President Vieira was re-elected in 2005 following a civil war that drove him from office after 19 years in power. But he failed to repair relations with the nation's military.

He survived a failed coup attempt in November when soldiers attacking the presidential palace were pushed back by security forces after a three-hour battle. That fighting led the interior ministry to recruit a 400-man militia to protect the president.

But those militiamen were disbanded when the armed forces command linked them to an assassination attempt on General Waie last month.

Now both men are dead, with the president's body at Bissau's main hospital and the general's body at an air base outside the capital, as the country faces another violent change of power - the latest in a series of army mutinies and coups since independence from Portugal in 1974.

Regional diplomats say instability has been made worse by Latin American drug gangs using remote airstrips along Guinea-Bissau's coastline to smuggle cocaine to Europe.