On Somalia Piracy, US Questions Regulating Mercenaries, Egypt Says Crime is Crime

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, July 14 -- Amid controversy about the use of mercenaries to face off against pirates off the coast of Somalia, the US State Department's Donna Hopkins on July 14 told Inner City Press “there's a robust international effort [about] the use of armed security, private or not, and how it should be regulated, if at all.” Video here, from Minute 13:30.

Earlier in the month, the chairman of the UN's Working Group on mercenaries told Inner City Press that a draft convention to regulate private military contractors is being opposed by large states.

Apparently, even with Blackwater having renamed itself Xe Services and moved to the Middle East, the US is still opposed to regulating mercenaries, including on the high seas.

Hopkins is formally the Coordinator of the Counter Piracy and Maritime Security Bureau of Political Military Affairs at the US State Department, and chairs “Working Group Three” of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia. Denmark's Legal Adviser Thomas Winkler declined to say if the use of armed security is good or bad, but added that no ship with armed guards has been hijacked.

Another Contact Group member, Egypt's Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister and Counter Terrorism Coordinator Ashraf Mohsen, adopted an even harder line. Inner City Press asked if the Contact Group has done anything about illegal fishing or the dumping of toxic waste.

“Some will try to justify criminal behavior,” Mohsen said, citing poverty as an excuse for stealing, injustice as a rationale for killing. “Crime is crime... Piracy is a form of criminal behavior. Any justification is unacceptable.”

As if to counteract this position, Mary Seet-Cheng of Singapore said that piracy cannot be solved at sea. The UK's Chris Holtby chimed in about efforts on the rule of law in Somalia, the development of its Exclusive Economic Zone. He did not mention outside involvement in what purported to be Somalia's own Law of the Sea filing. And so it goes at the UN.

Blackwater Was Defended, Rewarded by UN Security Chief Starr, Questions Mount

By Matthew Russell Lee, News Analysis
www.innercitypress.com/undss1blackwater081209.html

UNITED NATIONS, August 12 -- The questions emerging about military contractor Blackwater, now known as Xe Services LLC, extend to the top of the United Nation's security department. Public and private documents show that Gregory B. Starr, who earlier this year moved from the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service to head the UN's Department of Safety and Security, was the official responsible for continuing and defending Blackwater's contracts, even after the company's involvement in killing civilians in Iraq in 2007.

Now Blackwater founder Erik Prince is being personally accused of murder. At the UN, Inner City Press has repeatedly asked that Starr finally give his first press conference since assuming his UN post more than three month ago.

In September 2007, Blackwater contractors were involved in the killing of at least 17 civilians in Iraq. But six months later in April 2008, as acting head of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Starr assessed Blackwater as "essentially I think they do a very good job."

Over protests, Blackwater's contract with the U.S. government was extended: "'I have requested and received approval to have task order six -- which Blackwater has to provide personal protective services in Baghdad -- renewed ... for one year,' the head of diplomatic security, Gregory Starr, told reporters."

Ironically, after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Starr to replace former Security chief David Veness, who resigned in light of failures leading to the deadly bombing of UN premises in Algeria, the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries held a closed door session in New York, and took evidence on abuses by Blackwater.

The Working Group's Chairperson-Rapporteur, Shaista Shameem, said that "it is crucial that the United States Government, as a major client of these companies, demonstrates its commitment to ensure full accountability of private military and security contractors for any possible violations of international human rights and humanitarian law."

In a major book on the subject, Starr is quoted that "it might be the case that Blackwater can't be held accountable... Starr and his colleagues argued that Blackwater was 'constitutionally immune' from such lawsuits."

There are questions that the UN's new head of security should answer. Watch this site.

Footnotes: other DSS questions that Starr should publicly address include what training is given to DSS officers to deal with distraught but non-violent staff members, the Security Risk Assessments required for the UN's relocation under its Capital Master Plan, and what will be done about the DSS pre-determined promotions scandal....

And see, www.innercitypress.com/undss1blackwater081209.html