WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (UPI) -- On Dec. 29 Ukrainian maritime authorities in Odessa set the port's Maritime Security (MARSEC) status at Level 2. The reason for the action is unknown. Odessa is Ukraine's fifth-largest city and its most important trade entrepot.
The United Nations International Maritime Organization's International Ship & Port Facility Security Code contains three levels of maritime security.
At Level 1 the designated port and ships operate under normal parameters.
Under MARSEC, Level 2 increased security measures will apply for as long as authorities assess that there is a heightened risk of a security incident.
MARSEC Level 3 regulations are enforced for the period of time when authorities determine that there is a probable or imminent risk of a security incident.
The Marine Safety Environmental Protection Department based in Monaco reports that ships making port calls in Odessa are required to act upon MARSEC level 2 security regulations and take additional security measures on board the vessel prior to and during its visit to the port.
The alert could be related to terrorism, health issues or the ongoing dispute with Russia over natural gas prices.
Last month health authorities in Odessa confirmed a swine case of Siberian plague. On Dec. 26, the Ministry for Emergency Situations reported that a piglet had died in an Ivanovka Raion village. The next day the regional veterinary laboratory confirmed diagnosis of Siberian plague in the dead animal. After cremating the carcass, local sanitary and epidemiological specialists undertook anti-epidemic measures to contain the infection. In December Ukrainian health authorities also confirmed cases of bird flu in the country.
Terrorism and energy may also have caused the change in security status. Odessa's oil processing facilities and Yuzhny oil port are now an internationally important oil terminal for transporting Russian hydrocrabons to Europe, connected to the European Union's networks by strategic pipelines. As the pipelines transport Russian gas and oil, Chechen militants might be considering targeting them.
Ukrainian authorities gave no reason for the security upgrade
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Peter Pace has just concluded a fact-finding trip to the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Pace told reporters covering his trip that the Bush administration would shift increasing security responsibilities to Iraqi forces over the coming months. The number of U.S. troops departing Iraq in 2006 will depend on how U.S. commanders evaluate the situation on the ground.
The United States Department of State Bureau of International Information Programs reported that Pace intimated that the U.S. total force level -- depending on an improving security situation -- could shrink to as few as 100,000 before the end of the year.
Pace was on his first trip to the Middle East since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs on Sept. 30. The Gulf Daily News quoted Pace as saying one-third of Baghdad already is under the complete control of Iraqi forces, adding that the first U.S. troop reductions would occur through the end of March.
Besides Iraq, Pace visited Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar, Afghanistan and Djibouti.
Amid rising violence between government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrillas, Sri Lankan police have detained 50 suspects for questioning after taking 900 people into custody during extensive house-to-house searches in the capital Colombo.
Authorities suspect that besides possible ties to the LTTE, the detained men are also associated with criminal gangs.
The arrested men are being processed at eight centers in Colombo. The Dec. 30 searches involved 4,400 heavily armed police and troops in a seven-hour operation, Australian Broadcasting Corporation Asia Pacific TV reported.
International monitors of the fragile four-year-old ceasefire between the government and the LTTE note that the search operations followed a significant upsurge in violence that threatens the ceasefire.
The government alleges that LTTE guerrillas killed more than 40 soldiers in December, most recently when at least 11 soldiers were killed in Jaffna peninsula in the north of the country when their vehicle hit a landmine.
Sri Lanka remains under a state of emergency, which gives broad powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods without trial. More than 60,000 people have been killed since civil war erupted in Sri Lanka in 1983.
