New television programmes in the US and UK are to look at the threat of pirates off the coast of east Africa. US cable station Spike TV has announced a documentary which will follow the US navy's efforts to curb piracy. Actor-turned-present er Ross Kemp is to front a three-part series for Sky about the Royal Navy's anti-pirate patrols. Earlier this week, the American captain of a vessel was rescued by US forces after being held captive by Somali pirates in waters off east Africa. 'Ruthless' The US show, Pirate Hunters: USN, is expected to be screened in a one-hour special on the male-orientated channel in the autumn. Naval authorities have allowed camera crews to capture the action as two warships sweep waters for pirate activity. According to the head of the production company making the documentary, it could return as a mini-series. Sky's serial, fronted by 45-year-old Kemp, is scheduled to air on Sky1 in the summer. The former EastEnders star is filming at other locations around the world which are also troubled by piracy. He said: "The pirates are ruthless and wouldn't think twice about slitting our throats for a few dollars." Piracy, which has become an increasingly serious problem in the waters around the Gulf of Aden, has recently hit the headlines. Fatalities to date have been among the pirates in rescue operations. In other incidents, the successful release of hostages has been secured following the payment of ransoms. http://news.bbc.co.u k/1/hi/entertainment /7999790.stm

^Lol. Tanna waan aqaan ayeey ka tahay adeer. Lol@afkuu meelahan ku soo qori jirey. It wasn't that bad, was it? Either way ninku waa caqli miiran and would adapt to the new evironment of Burco quite easily. That's because reer Burco wey soo dhoweyn badan yihiin.

^ Walaahi maanta waad hanjabeysaa. Lol@Shideynaa. Guys, guys. Let's stop with this nitpicking politics. It serves no point really. I suggest that if you have constructive oppisition towards Somaliland/Riyaale then you should approach it more nicely. That hurts no one. PS: BTW, Burco is a great city - it's people emboy the good psyche of Somali patrioticism. Meel cidla ah kaaga tegi mayaan.

^Thanks, Emperor.

^Lol. War ninku nin la nici kara ma ahan, adeer. Balse hadduu caawa London gees ka joogo Wallee waa sidaad sheegtay oo xil baa iga saaran sidii lagu marti qaadi lahaa. Aniguse waxay ila tahay inuu London kale joogo. Hadduuse halkan ila joogo oo uusan na soo wargelin, xal baaba isuguba saaran. War Ngonge, wuxuu in badan 'sujuunimo' qaraaba kiilka iyo qaraankuba kaga gabbadaba maanta waa nin la hayo. Talow ma reerkaa tira koob isu sameeyey oo soo ogaadey in Ngonge overdue qaaraan lagu leeyahay? Illeen ninku aamusyee ma interview or review ayaa lagu sameynayaa? Wixi jira Allaa og balse hadduu illaa hadda waan nabad tagey oo oran waayey arrinku ma sahlana, sxb.

^ Ninkaa ma AT&T baa? Talow goormuu London-na yimi? Ma ka dhabbaa?

Thanks. I was watching another inside story on pirates al-Jazeera. Seems we're getting some exposure of the root causes of this piracy.

Originally posted by Norf 2: Chelsea are a bunch of divers! I know. It was evident yesterday, esp. with Drogba. Show off!

Lol. Sorry.

Couldn't be Upton Park that...SBrigde? PS: It was a tough pulling through yesterday. Amazing game.

Sounds like an ignored little kid crying 'me, me, me...I am here, look at me'. As ever, nonesense.

Frustrated, indeed. Sooner or later the truth has to be comprehended.

Norf, I guess one can take the high view and judge them so. But have you heard of the more than 100 thousand dead fish that had washed up on Somali shores some years ago? The sealed toxic tanks shoring up too? Or the many members of known family members meeting their death horribly after depleting sicknesses? Not to mention the Somali babies who are to this day being born with weird deformities. So I guess if you use this information you might understand where the stance of pro-'pirate' some hold is coming from. I am too, after all, pro pirate in some principle. But I also acknowledge the risks to life involved in undertaking such hijacking and endangering others. It's not a clear cut issue, if you ask me. PS: BTW, the rosy romanticization of piracy is a western phenomenon - it's not ours Somalis.

Sad, I know. But the risk was always present. Allaha u naxariisto.

Norf, o right bro. Will pass it through though I am a bit tied down by other things. But will do so. PS: Guys, guys. The right reaction to this is to scrutinize the MoU and try to understand what entails. What we should be concerned about is its future implications for Somalia and Somalis dependent on the sea. That is not quite extactly to say that 'we should oppose the TFG' on the whole. No. To say so is quite wrong. One cannot sweep the TFG under the carpet because of one agreement. If this agreement isn't to our advantage, then, our national duty to Somalia is to 'correct the mistakes the state may have made' through monitoring, and if possible, provide alternative options. For me, having a closer look at this MoU simply means to lend an extra independent eye to the signing party of our country, and to make sure we are not tricked into signing our own demise. I am sure the signing party of the TFG have had a long thought about how to approach this MoU in the first place, and secondly, how the signing would be translated by the naysayers. So, to assume that they haven't given this MoU it's due consideration, would be a sin on my part. So far I say, you might mean well but the other party might not have the mutual intention. So being careful would be good.

4. (1) There shall be an exclusive economic zone of Kenya.(6) (2) Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the exclusive economic zone shall comprise those areas of the sea, seabed and subsoil that are beyond and adjacent to the territorial waters, having as their limits a line measured seaward from the baselines, low waterlines or low tide elevations described in the First Schedule, every point of which is 200 nautical miles from the point on the baselines, low water marks or low tide elevations. (3) The southern boundary of the exclusive economic zone with Tanzania shall be on an easterly latitude north of Pemba Island obtained by the northern inter-section of two arcs one from the Kenya lighthouse at Mpunguti Ya Juu Island, and the other from Pemba Island lighthouse at Ras Kigomasha. (4) The northern boundary of the exclusive economic zone with Somalia shall be delimited by notice in the Gazette by the Minister pursuant to an agreement between Kenya and Somalia on the basis of international law. 5. Kenya shall, within the exclusive economic zone, exercise sovereign rights with respect to the exploration and exploitation and conservation and management of the natural resources of the zone and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, the exercise of the sovereign rights shall be in respect of --(7) Xiin, read through this please. Don't have time now. http://www.un.org/De pts/los/LEGISLATIONA NDTREATIES/PDFFILES/ KEN_1989_Maritime.pd f

Xiinoow, that's for the quotes. At least there are sane folks out there who value justice.

Xiin, thanks Awoowe. Here's another link about 'pirates' that has come into my inbox. http://www.opendemoc racy.net/article/pir acy-challenges-globa l-governance

Originally posted by Che -Guevara: It wasn't enough they took NFD. Couldn't any future viable government nullify any agreement between foriegn governments and warlord Somali govs. That's the problem, Che. In the memo, there are repeated references that really tell alot about Kenya's interests. It may be not possible to reverse this agreement, just as the Arusha agreement over the NFD. Once information is submitted, first , by the TFG to the UN (on the 13th), then the matter is sealed. The trick Kenya is using is to wait for Somalia to submit the information to the UN (dispite the fact that it is Kenya that has the technical expertise or know-how to switfly prepare their information - Somalia doesn't currently), then Kenya wants to scrutinize the Somali documentation first, and approve them if its to their interest. If not, they get the chance to repudiate the whole deal and go back to the drawing table - to draft a new agreement. IMPORTANT: if Somalia hands in the information the UN needs to approve, the whole act will seem voluntary agreement by an equal partner - that can fully deal with this kind of understandings Such agreements are tough to nullify. ALSO, important is that the source of the dispute was, as I was told by former Somali officials, due to Kenya's attempt the explore offshore oil in Somali waters. Thus, Siad Barre refused that to happen. Again, the same exploration problem existed in the Somali-Kenyan borders, namely Liboi - where I was a witness of Kenya's exploration efforts. Curtailed after the British Army engineers were abducted by Somali soldiers along the border. Anyway, that's just a quick response. I have been looking at the memo of understanding, and so far, I have made around 6 or 7 points of contention out of it, and I will let you guys read it later, Insha-Allah. General Duke iyo Sophist, thank you sxbyaal. Sophist, it's a done deal, Insha-Allah.

Read through it and responded: 'Kill them', 'Hang them', 'Haul them into court', and some such phrases litter the above discussion that I have perused. However, from where I stand, such phrases, ill thought of as they are, do indeed reflect a poor comprehension of this 'pirate' situation. The salient question is, even if ‘powerful’ states were prepared to use unrestrained force: kill who? Hang who? Court marshal who? Are we talking about man who is least concerned about such sentences? Or one who, with assured provisions of all of life's necessity through or the services the state provides, fretting at the very thought of losing such comfort? For the ‘pirates’, this is simply about survival; it's do or die, and to die will sooner or later lead to 'kill' - both in the tactical response of pirates and their hunters. So let us not be hasty and inflame the problem even further. The real solution, which may take a long time to materialize, shouldn't be taken out of the available options. Both the problem and the solution are rooted in the source, I believe. As a number of discussants have rightly pointed out, all concerned governments and shipping companies, must be willing to invest in the re-instatement of governance on Somali shores. Any other approach, as I see, will only have a temporal, and perhaps, an opposite effect.

^Thanks, Duke. I will do my bit from now on Insha-Allah. We should compare notes on it before publishing our observations (or misgivings if there are some).

We should scuritinize the contents of this memo and read between the lines. Something tells me that the hapless Somali counterparts have been had with vague 'technical language' that can be interpreted in anyway Kenya desires in the future. It's implimentation must not commence. We need Somali experts on this case ASAP.

Originally posted by Nehanda: I am actually starting to believe that Somaliland gaining its independence would be better for both the North and South. I agree. Let's let Somaliland go its own way. But on one condition: redifinition of borders acoordingly. I jiid aan ku jiidee waa gacma daalis. The South on its own a better chance at success than having to quarell over Somaliland. Let Somalilanders find out what independence means for themselves. Fair enough.

Morning folks! Leave Paragon alone. He's not what you think he is. Xalay I was told of another story amusing story doing the rounds about me. Of all the images I was assumed to resemble, the one I heard last night ayaa iga qosliyey. Marka I think that's all for now folks... the quota has finished for this season. Iga qaleeya.

^Lol. Morning sxb. Sorry mate, can't watch it. Not on facebook anymore. Post a link here, nooh?