Japan readies to join Somalia anti-piracy patrols

[Coventina]

Source: Reuters

TOKYO, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Japan ordered its navy on Wednedsday to prepare for deployment off Somalia after months of agonising about how to join international anti-piracy patrols there without breaching its pacifist constitution.

Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada's order follows China's dispatch of warships to the region last month, joining a growing flotilla of at least 14 ships from the United States, India, Russia, the European Union and others aimed at curbing piracy.

"The pirates in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's shores are a threat to the international community including Japan, and is an issue we must deal with urgently," Hamada told top defence officials.

Deciding on a naval dispatch has been a headache for Japan, whose military activities overseas are tightly restricted by its post-World War Two pacifist constitution.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSSP402470

[theoldman]

1. It's high time the Japanese did their part in promoting peace

in other parts of the world. We have been footing the military bill for them for too long.

[GregD]

2. It's high time something be done about the illegal duming that led to this!

The story I have heard is that the Italian Mafia is taking waste from European sources and dumping it in the waters off Somalia because there is no government to stop them.

From: http://foolocracy.com/2009/01/european-dumping-of-toxic-waste-of-somalia-helped-create-pirates/
It appears that most of the dumping is connected to the Italian mafia, which has found that it costs only $2.50 a ton to dispose of toxic waste of the coast of Somalia instead of $250 a ton at legal European dumps.

Although no one is claiming that any government is responsible for the act, none of the world’s governments will do anything about it either.



http://www.reddit.com/r/environment/comments/76spb/un_confirms_toxic_waste_being_dumped_off_somali/
UN confirms Toxic Waste being dumped off Somali coast : Al Jazeera
This is far from being a new problem, in an article from 2001 the writer calls Somalia the World's Most Attractive Illegal Hazardous Waste Dumping Site and the pollution at that time was already over a decade old.

The toxic mess came to light when a 2004 tsunami washed tons of unknown waste onto Somali beaches.

I'd be pissed too if they were doing this!



More articles here:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=&oq=somali&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS258US258&q=somalia+dumping+waste

[Nihil]

3. They're after pirate whales?

:hide: