«Ahora mismo la piratería en el Índico está contenida, pero la labor del día a día sigue ahí. Si las fuerzas militares se fuesen hoy, al día siguiente estarían otra vez en pie». Así lo indicaba ayer en Ferrol el comandante de la fragata Álvaro de Bazán (F-101), José Enrique Delgado, a su llegada a la ciudad tras seis meses de despliegue como buque de mando de la flota de la OTAN SNMG-2.

Dejó claro el representante de la Armada que la caída de los ataques en los últimos tiempos se debe a la actuación de las fuerzas militares, tanto de los aliados como de la UE. Asegura que los propios somalíes «están muy agradecidos» por esta labor y «no quieren que nos vayamos». Repitió, no obstante, que «la situación está contenida y esperemos que en el futuro Somalia sea capaz, por sí misma, de controlarla».

El comandante de la F-101 recordó que el último secuestro de un barco fue «en mayo del 2012» y que «este año solo ha habido dos intentos de ataque por parte de los piratas, los dos repelidos e incluso en el último hubo detenidos». Pero, por el momento, la presencia de unidades navales de la OTAN y la UE en el Índico continúa siendo necesaria.

La F-101 zarpó de Ferrol el 4 de octubre y ha estado fuera de su base casi medio año. Ejerció como buque de mando de la OTAN hasta que fue relevada por la Cristóbal Colón (F-105), también con base en Ferrol.

Dos etapas

En una primera fase se hizo cargo de la misión antiterrorista Active Endeavour en el Mediterráneo. A principios de diciembre, se integró en la misión Ocean Shield contra la piratería de la Alianza Atlántica, independiente de la Atalanta de la UE, aunque en coordinación.

En este último marco llevó a cabo patrullas por el corredor internacional de tránsito recomendado por la cuenca de Somalia. El mando embarcado ha participado en reuniones con autoridades locales y la dotación prestó asistencia médica a la población civil, además de colaborar en el adiestramiento de las Marinas de los Estados de la región.

También proporcionó auxilio a un pesquero iraní y a otro yemení cuando navegaban a la deriva, además de proceder a la evacuación médica de un marino ucraniano por medio de su helicóptero embarcado.

Recaló en diferentes puertos tanto en Asia como en África y el 22 de diciembre recibió la visita a bordo del presidente del Gobierno, Mariano Rajoy.

El comandante José Enrique Delgado subrayó el «esfuerzo y capacidad de respuesta» de una dotación que ayer tuvo un emotivo recibimiento de familiares y amigos en Ferrol. Y recordó la complejidad de operar en el Índico «porque es un escenario enorme, toda Europa cabría dentro del Índico... Parece sencillo tener controladas las embarcaciones que tienen la tentación de actuar como piratas, pero no lo es».

Somalilandsun - MUSLIM institute organized a Round Table Discussion "Rebuilding Somalis" to discuss different aspects in which international community can play its role in rebuilding Somalia.

In the round table discussion Ali Sheikh Abdullai Chargde Affairs Embassy of Somalia Said that Somalia was a beautiful and peaceful country in the world before the civil war. After 1991, central government was dissolved and the entire situation changed. When the central government was demolished, warlords started civil war to capture the resources. UN peace keeping missions and international community came in Somalia to help the people who were facing the civil war and drought but the attacks on them by armed groups forced them to leave Somalia. After that no one looked back and severe human crisis in Somalia and hundreds of thousand people hit by famine and civil war. Somalia is also known in international community due to pirates, but the root cause of pirates is the absence of central government, lack of education and economic problem in Somalia. Illegal fisheries and dumping in the waters of Somalia gave rise to piracy. So handling the piracy needs to demolish the root causes which require providing the people legal economic opportunities and stopping the illegal fisheries as well. Somalia has strategic importance in the regions but peace is main thing to utilize its importance.

Talking about the role of international community in Somalia, he said that today we don't need financial assistance only, we need infrastructure, educational, political, diplomatic, commercial and capacity building supports as well. It is very difficult for us to rebuild Somalia ourselves alone. African Union, OIC, UNO, EU and other organizations are helping the Somalia. Many countries have taken the initiatives to reopen their embassies in Somalia and we will encourage Pakistan and other countries as well to do so. He told that Tayyip Erdogan, the PM of Turkey visited the Somalia in 2011 along with his family, businessmen and other delegations and is involved in constructing infrastructure including roads, costal ports, airports etc. in Somalia. He paid thanks to Pakistan that a big number of Somalia's students are getting scholarships here for completion of studies.

Dr. Marjan Lucas a Dutch Expert on Somalia said that we should help Somali people but at the end it should be Somali people who should own their land. In Netherland, there are a big number of Somali communities and that is why I took interest in Somalia and worked for it. 1991 war is the base of all the problems of Somalia. Somalia faced long period of dictatorship and then became victimized of Cold War as well. Therefore the situation ended on the 1991 war. Today pirates are connected to the domestic problems in Somalia and dealing with piracy needs not only power but solution to internal problems of Somalia like economy and justice are necessary to deal with piracy and European Union recognizes this factor as well. Tayyab Erdogan took good initiative and came to Somalia and talked to people directly and started helping them. International community has to look inside the country and take part in solving the problems. Only helping the govt. economically is not enough to rebuild the Somalia. Somali people should not lose hope for good future. Women in Somalia are very strong and they take care of their families in very tough time. Somali people settled abroad also help their people in Somalia which is a very good sign for bright future. She further said that when we talk about a nation in problem, we need international community to help because no nation can progress in isolation.

Audio link His Excellency Mr Ali Said Faqi Ambassador of Somalia in Brussles Appreciated the MUSLIM institute for organizing Round Table Discussion on Rebuilding Somalia. He said that today international community should take active part in building Somalia. People need infrastructure, schools, hospitals, police, national army and other things. Turkey actively helping Somali after 2011.There is difficult situation of law and order in Somalia and dealing with armed groups needs much more attention. He said that 4th EU –Africa Summit which is going too held on 2-3 April in Brussels can be a source of attention for Somalia; he said that EU should take some practical and positive steps to help in the infrastructure development.

After the views of experts, interactive session started. During the interactive session Ali Sheikh Abdullai Said that OIC as an institution is not helping on the level it should do. But the member countries of OIC are helping Somalia a lot individually. Collective effort should be made. Answering a question about reasons of Somalia civil war, he said that dictatorship and lack of justice made the people frustrated and that caused civil war despite of fact that people had same language, ethnicity, religion and culture. Dr. Marjan Lucas answering a question said that Cold war affected Africa and Somalia was affected much more. She said that internal and external factors both are important to take into account for rebuilding of Somalia. She said that EU & other countries should help Somalia not for the sake of any business opportunities but on the humanitarian basis.

The round table discussion was attended by professors of universities, foreign diplomats and members of research organizations.