Modern Day Piracy

[buglerbilly]

Modern Piracy – Response of the International Community

Comment by German Navy Vice Admiral (retd.) Lutz Feldt

The European Commission decided in 2008 to analyse possible and known threats to Europe and its population as part of an extensive programme. The results of these analyses are to provide the required information to deduce the necessary consequences to develop programmes and projects to counter the threats in the medium and long term. The fields of interest which are being analysed are the fight against drugs, illegal small arms proliferation, threats by nuclear, biological and chemical agents, as well as the safeguarding of particularly threatened sea areas. These fields of interest are overlapping to some extent, however, it is also necessary to carry out the analyses and the evaluation separately in order to, subsequently, gather what belongs together at the bottom line. The fact that the decision to analyse the imperiled sea territories would receive such a dramatic topicality, at least to the originators, was not clear one year ago – although piracy already was a major global threat at that time.

The assignment placed the focus on the sea lanes from the Strait of Malacca and Singapore across the Indian Ocean to the Gulf of Aden and the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Both sea areas find themselves in the spotlight for good reasons and the daily threat to crews and their ships, unfortunately, have gained notoriety. When dealing with this threat, one quickly discovered that, next to these two key sea areas, there are other places in the world in which the threat to sailors and their ships is just as urgent. However, due to selective perceptions, these threats are currently not in the spotlight. They include the Gulf of Guinea, the South China Sea and, still, the Caribbean.

The reason for European involvement in the improvement of maritime security is based upon the awareness that approximately 90 per cent of global trade is carried out at sea. Therefore, Europe and Germany (the latter being a particularly export-oriented nation) strongly depend on the security of this vital transit. Europe is a strongly maritime-oriented continent surrounded by the seas and always having depended upon them. Maritime Europe is a fact. Therefore, countries in distant regions perceive it to be adequate and right that we, as a key user of these sea lanes, contribute to the security of the latter. This also includes Asian nations, which have already been involved in these security matters for quite a long time.

Pushed by increasing pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden since 2005, the International Maritime Organisation, a sub-organisation of the United Nations responsible for all maritime matters, has tried with a number of conferences to induce the countries of the West Indies, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea to take joint action. Within this ‘pending case’ the Security Council of the United Nations has then highlighted the urgency to act by means of numerous resolutions. These resolutions were laid out on immediate action for the re-establishment of the security of vital sea lanes. The primary cause for piracy at the Horn of Africa is the lack of any governmental authority in Somalia and an unstable situation in Yemen. Consequently, NATO and the European Union have simultaneously planned and initiated operations of naval forces.

At first, one of the fundamental tasks of the European naval operation “ATALANTA” was to escort the shipments for the World Food Programme heading to Mogadishu to support the population of Somalia. This has remained one of the tasks and it can be observed that, at least as far as it concerns the maritime part, the logistics chain in now secured. Nevertheless, the mission of the naval forces of operation ATALANTA is far more comprehensive and the Security Council has provided a stalwart mandate to implement the law at sea which has been adopted by the NATO and the EU operations. However, it remains a fact which is considered to be critical: its operative approach is a reactive, and an offensive fight against piracy is not intended, although this would be endorsed by the mandate. Therefore, the question rightly is how will the current approach stop the highly professional, flexible and brutal pirates. Yet, considerations and an already-issued mandate of a military operation on shore have to be viewed critically. The fact shouldn’t be ignored that, ultimately, the aim is to enable self-dependent action by the governments in Somalia as well as in Yemen.

Piracy obviously has many causes and pirates are recruited from entirely different social and cultural origins. The most manifest cause for the increase of piracy in this sea area is the collapse of any governmental authority, which in the first place enables any sort of criminal activity on shore or at sea to this extent. Due to the inaction of all aggrieved parties, just as on shore, the methods of these activities at sea have dramatically increased in the course of the years. Even when considering the fact that piracy, contraband trade, flows of refugees as well as drug traffic and the transport of small arms of all calibres has a long tradition in this part of the world and has been generally tolerated, the current extent and the open-ended question of who pulls the strings is very distressing.

But also illegal fishing within the country’s economic zone and territory, repeatedly emphasised by the Somali side, is part of the issue. In this context, the question of the credibility of the European operation comes up: as long as the European fishing industry participates in illegal fishing, this does not contribute to improving trust in the region. Also, the illegal ocean dumping of pollutants of all kings, as a consequence of the power vacuum, is repeatedly being cited, however, so far this has not been proven. Hence, the motives are complex, but in the end the crime pays off and, at least hitherto, the risk is minimal.

However, the questions about the idleness of the adjacent states and the international community remain open. Since 2002, an international task force has been deployed to this sea area. Since then, the German Navy and parts of the Joint Support Service (Streitkräftebasis) have successfully operated against the terrorist threat, including during several tours under German command.

The terrorists’ liberty of action and the use of former training camps in Somalia has been successfully confined and prevented. A significant side effect has been the limitation of the increase of contraband, drug trafficking and piracy. However, when the parliament did not include the fight against drug trafficking into the mandate for reasons of political opportunity, and every criminal became aware that the mere presence of international forces would not affect their criminal acts, the latter dramatically increased. This has been clearly proven by the statistics of the International Maritime Bureau and the Piracy Reporting Centres in Kuala Lumpur.

In addition, until about one year ago, the loss of goods through piracy had been considered statistically insignificant and the concerned associations did not see any need for action regarding the governments. The ship owners and charterers could have seen that this purely economic assessment was and remains wrong by using the example of the Strait of Malacca and of Singapore. However, this would have required a different thinking and course of action in line with better communications. The knowledge of the threat was available. The possibilities and capabilities to encounter the negative development equally existed – namely in the affected sea area. What was missing was the request for a corresponding mandate by the ship owners and charterers as well as the will of the politicians to issue such a mandate. In this particular case, as in other cases, the point that no requirement for risk provisioning has been expressed by the military side within the Ministry of Defence has to be made in favour of the responsible politicians.

Each payment of a ransom has been, and remains, a further brick in the wall of recruitment and the successful accomplishment of attacks on international shipping. To counter this development, a large-scale and coordinated effort is required. Currently, the EU and NATO each deploy a task force to the threatening sea area which, furthermore, is patrolled by two US-led task forces. Nationally led task forces with a limited period of operation have also contributed to the international effort. Russia, China, Japan, India, Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia have been, or still are, present with maritime patrol aircraft and ships.

It distinguishes all nations that they are willing to cooperate and that the necessary coordination works successfully. The pragmatic approaches in the mission area, the common international basic understanding of navies and the awareness of pursuing a common purpose prove to be of value. The number of ships and aircraft in the area of operation varies and the mere number of units reveals little about their effectiveness in terms of the common objective. However, it is also important to take a look at a globe or at an atlas to bring to mind the enormity of the geographical area.

At this point, some notes on the capabilities and the legal basic parameters. An interested layperson may ask why such large vessels are used to encounter pirates operating on such small boats. The big advantage for the pirates is and remains that they operate off a home shore, that they can chose the location and the time of their attack and that they are “normal” fishers and sailors as long as they do not attack - a fact which they use for their own protection. Their superior knowledge of the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb as well as of the seas off the entire Somali coast, which now the German Navy has also acquired, supports the mission accomplishment.

Operating in these waters since February 2002, the units are able to make a reliable risk assessment of the intensive shipping traffic of the old dhows that are used for trade and fishing in the area and have modern engines as well as all means of communication at their disposal. To provide security to international shipping, the naval forces – generally consisting of frigates, cruisers or, in the case of the US, the well-suited dock landing ships (LSDs) – offer all necessary capabilities but, in particular, provide required long-endurance at sea due to their size.

A protection by means of the so-called convoy system in pre-planned routes is the adequate approach with the available number of forces. However, the use of armed ship-based helicopters is one of the key capabilities for this task. These helicopters have always been a significant capability of the frigates and an integrated key element of the crew. Nevertheless, the effective fight against piracy and long-range protection, in particular, requires maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). If they have the excellent intelligence and surveillance as well as a data transfer capabilities, such as the P-3C Orions of the German Navy, they play a significant role, especially for the surveillance and warning before attacks occur. In the case of a reactive mandate, these capabilities are of particular importance and their number plays a key role for the success of the effort.

Next to these military capabilities, the essential questions for the legal framework and the legal status of the participating forces remain. These are complicated questions. Much is arguable and the bindingness of the international marine law is very variable due to conventions which have not been ratified by all nations. The German Navy has a very clear-cut legal situation for its contribution to Operation ATALANTA based on article 24. However, this does not include other operations and tasks and requires urgent clarification.

There is another aspect within the matter of the legal situation and of security which has to be considered. It is the issue of civil security providers and the repeatedly debated arming of crews. Operation ATALANTA offers captains of merchant vessels to embark trained soldiers, armed or unarmed.

Even the Yemeni Coast Guard, altogether too small and not sufficiently equipped and trained to control its own territorial waters, offers small security teams to be embarked on merchant vessels. However, this is something different than the service of civil security companies.

At any rate, the danger of escalation and the related risk has to be opposed to the expected increased security. Pirates want to press money, they take hostages and they capture ships and their cargo. They have also fired at shops and wounded crew members. All this is bad enough. Resistance and civil security providers are an incalculable risk for the lives of the crew and, from my point of view, are no solution to this threat situation.

The last question that remains is that of the link to international terrorism. This question can only be answered by the intelligence services. Considering the methods of the attacks it appears to be quite definite that the pirates are the executors and the actual initiators and persons pulling the strings remain on the shore. Who they are is difficult to say. But if, as we assume, they are part of the clans of Somalia the solution has to be searched for and found together with them of, at least, with parts of them. This is the civil part of the problem solving process und is as urgent as the military part.

The European Union (in particular France, the United Kingdom and Italy) as well as the United States work on this matter. Yet, many tasks still lie ahead. But the responsibility for maritime security remains in the hands of the governments of the respective regions. All foreign assistance is only welcome to the extent as it is recognised as a basic principle. In this respect the process of opinion formation and coordination of the respective nations is a prerequisite for the assistance by third parties. In Southeast Asia this process has been successful, at the Horn of Africa is still is in the early stages.

Concluding, I would like to draft the following theses:

1. The use of naval forces to provide maritime security is necessary and will be successful at sea, however, without achieving an absolute security of international shipping.

2. The issued mandate of Operation ATALANTA is too reactive. Therefore, the outcome of this is a significantly longer duration of the operation.

3. Each national and regional initiative to assume responsibility within the own territorial waters and beyond must be supported politically and in practice. In this context “in practice” includes assistance for training and equipment.

4. Each nation which deploys ships and aircraft for the fight against piracy has to model its national law in a way to provide the capacity to arrest and sentence pirates. This is also demanded by the United Nations.
The different operations and the ships of single nations in the sea area have to be coordinated in order to have a maintainable effort and result. The next step should be a cooperation. Thereby, the operation offers the opportunity of collaboration beyond the existing alliances and coalitions. This will soon be required elsewhere.

5. Ship owners have to reassess their crew structures. Simple tasks, such as the look-out, permanent security patrols on the top deck and improved information on the respective situation in the sea area, significantly reduce the risk of a successful attack. I advise against the arming of the crew and the use of civil security personnel.

6. It is all about taking the initiative. This can only be achieved in a well-coordinated cooperation between the responsible parties of the region, the United Nations, the European Union and the North-Atlantic defence community as well as the ship owners.

7. The example of Southeast Asia, the local cooperation of the nations in the region, in the field of navigation as well as of external security, proves that there are solutions to this problem. This could serve as a role model.

----
By Vice Admiral (retd.) Lutz Feldt

(Translated by defpro.com, Nicolas von Kospoth)

[Weasel]

I thought I would post this here, as it is wasted over at DT. I was tired of listening to people talk about how they "should" arm merchantmen and woohoo, gungho all the way stuff that doesn't solve anything.

Just quietly, I am disturbed at how a Maersk Captain can @#$$@# frak up so badly as to be abducted by pirates and the attention he received from US Congress. I guess the reason I'm disturbed, is that he was a peer and Maersk had a great reputation for being the smartest players in the field. Guess that has atrophied.

cheers

w

I think perhaps that people are missing the point here. Piracy is very much like "bad behavior" outside an English night club. The solution is (or was) to put security cameras up. All this did was move the problem away from the security cameras. So too with patrols and piracy. The behavior literally evolves away from the patrols.

The other key point is training or lack of. The best asset a tanker has doing 8 knots, is not armed guards, or even an escorting destroyer. It is it's mast height and the crappy 10cm radar sitting on top. At a minimum it gives you an 18NM horizon that a pirate simply does not have. The problem is that the merchant game is all about money. So the Nav equipment is the cheapest that can be purchased, yet still satisfy regulations. Cheap Nav equipment and economic drivers also mean you are not going to get armed guards to be a common occurance.

Having said that insurance companies can drive regulation. So it would follow that an insurance company can lower the premium on a vessel that is equipped with a good, better, best radar and lower again if the crew are trained how to use it properly to identify and avoid pirates. That means creating 3 or even 5 passage plans in advance to compensate for varying situations and actually keeping a good look out as per the rule of the road.

Even at 8 knots you always have the upper hand as the pirate cannot see you and you can see him, simply because his horizon is 6NM even with a radar. But there is also another asset that the pirate doesn't have and that is called energy. Merchantmen are marathoners, pirates are sprinters.

If you follow this approach then you can target escort missions to spots where the merchantman cannot avoid the confrontation. This makes the military operations more efficient and more likely to bag a couple of pirates, who for the life of them can't figure out why they are not catching as much game as they used to. i.e. Plays on their frustration.

It follows that if you are in a ship that can do 27 knots with the same 3 to 1 horizon advantage then it is nearly impossible to intercept and even if you did make an interception you (the pirate) would burn more fuel than you could afford. Increasing speed in a Bangkok Taxi creates a "business decision event" for the pirate. The old hands know how many minutes they can chase at 60knots and the green horns are left floating for days wandering what happened.

Anyway, that is the approach I would suggest for Socotra and it's surrounds. The TSS coming up around Djibouti and Yemen, funnily enough is where you need patrols as it limits maneuver. The Horn of Africa and the Strait between Socotra and the mainland is not really an issue.

It really is all about energy and maintaining it. The nature of the terra firm and the tidal currents there allow you to spot the guy and lead him one way and then use maneuver to make him think about his hard fuel choice. In other words, know the tides in key bottlenecks and use those tides against the pirate. If he's a green horn he'll be in the strait where the current is just that .5 of a knot faster. Sucker him in to commiting and then go the other way. Even a 1 knot current against a speed boat equates to an exponential increase in fuel consumption. Do the math. At 60 knots he burns , say 10 gallons a minute. At 61 knots he burns say 12 gallons a minute and so on.

As to turning into a threat desribed by Gf. There are 101 ways to skin a cat, but my preference was to always turn away and make him do the work. A pirate on your stern suffers a huge time penalty (from his perspective) and therefore fuel burn if you make a 5 degree alteration of course. It adds something like 5 minutes to his boarding attempt. As the range decreases you zigg and zagg, drawing him out , making him work and funnily enough, in any sort of seastate sometimes you draw away from him and then "do a Bismark" when he is at the limit of his horizon to shake him off.

This really isn't rocket science. Just watch Animal Planet and a Cheetah trying to chase down a Wilderbeast or a Gazelle. The Cheetah has a bigger kill zone radius then the lion because of it's speed, but pirates don't have the eyesight of the Lion or the Cheetah.

My 2c

and you can apologize to the cook for breaking his plates in the morning.


cheers

w

[buglerbilly]

Good post perhaps you need to take up re-educating people, Maersk included...........

I've had a number of dealings with them over the years and I'd agree with your comments.......:speechless

[Riđđu]

Really interesting comments here. I suppose part of the problem is that many freighters fly a flag of convenience and use the cheapest crews around. Maritime authorities in these countries don´t want to tighten their regulation nor support the changes in IMO unless they absolutely have to.

[Weasel]

Really interesting comments here. I suppose part of the problem is that many freighters fly a flag of convenience and use the cheapest crews around. Maritime authorities in these countries don´t want to tighten their regulation nor support the changes in IMO unless they absolutely have to.

hey thanks Bug, Riddu.

Must admit to a PTSD moment after writing that post. anyway re education: Yeh, tried that. No one too interested in listening. But perhaps people here can take it for what it is worth and run with it. Instead I focused on systems theory, which is basically the methodology I used to break down the pirate tactics, and wrote a few things on it.

I did do a stint at James Cook University (??) ( the one in townsville, Australia)... teaching newbies how to be fishermen... holy crow... looked at the curriculum and spent the first 30 minutes of the class listing the questions they would be tested on... "If you do not know this, you will fail the course"... afterwards I said "right, lets get on with teaching what you really need to know so you don't end up fish food. you know things like TRS avoidance... if you do this you will die, if you do this, you will live, etc, etc."

Apparently it was a great success. But no, didn't broach the subject of pirates and fighting for your life on a slippery deck.

mmmm... not to keen to delve in the deep dark past of weasel but funnily enough it is the 13 or 15 year old "pirate" (aka kid with a gun trying to make a buck) that you surprise doing your rounds while at anchor off Brazil that is the little frakker who is going to kill you.

cheers


w

[Tim]

mmmm... not to keen to delve in the deep dark past of weasel but funnily enough it is the 13 or 15 year old "pirate" (aka kid with a gun trying to make a buck) that you surprise doing your rounds while at anchor off Brazil that is the little frakker who is going to kill you.


Jeez mate, there must be a hell of a story behind that...

Saw your post over at DT, unfortunately as you said people get excited and start proposing things like making a Royal Marine contingent available for "hire" to commercial vessels (I wish I was joking). Quality seems to have taken a bit of a beating on DT in the last six months... anyway, it was interesting to read something informed and realistic about the subject, rather than the usual "Rambo on a battleship" tripe.

[Weasel]

Jeez mate, there must be a hell of a story behind that...

Saw your post over at DT, unfortunately as you said people get excited and start proposing things like making a Royal Marine contingent available for "hire" to commercial vessels (I wish I was joking). Quality seems to have taken a bit of a beating on DT in the last six months... anyway, it was interesting to read something informed and realistic about the subject, rather than the usual "Rambo on a battleship" tripe.

Actually not much to tell, but we were all friends when we were buying the stuff back in port that the gang had stole off the boat 2 days before. It wasn't me ( as I don't speak good Portuguese), but he gave one of our crew a great discount when the kid or one of his cohorts realized the AB was from the boat where they had "killed an officer dead"... lol.

I just laughed my head off when I saw the skip full of gear roll up in a truck on the wharf and was informed I looked pretty good for a dead guy. In hindsight, I guess it was getting pretty hairy as I was becoming apathetic to it all.

life goes on, right?

cheers

w

[SteveJH]

Actually not much to tell, but we were all friends when we were buying the stuff back in port that the gang had stole off the boat 2 days before. It wasn't me ( as I don't speak good Portuguese), but he gave one of our crew a great discount when the kid or one of his cohorts realized the AB was from the boat where they had "killed an officer dead"... lol.

I just laughed my head off when I saw the skip full of gear roll up in a truck on the wharf and was informed I looked pretty good for a dead guy. In hindsight, I guess it was getting pretty hairy as I was becoming apathetic to it all.

life goes on, right?

cheers

w

Sounds a bit like a close call.....

If you don't mind, what do you do for a living?

[Weasel]

Sounds a bit like a close call.....

If you don't mind, what do you do for a living?
No, not really. It either ends up bad or it doesn't.

I bum around on forums for a living.

cheers

w

[ARH v.3.1]

He works as a pornographer and is afraid to admit it.

[Unicorn]

No he works in politics, but people shun him in the pub, at parties, in the street, etc, so he tells people he is a pornographer, it's a more socially acceptable profession.

Unicorn

[Weasel]

No he works in politics, but people shun him in the pub, at parties, in the street, etc, so he tells people he is a pornographer, it's a more socially acceptable profession.

Unicorn

oh, no... I'm in trouble.

It is well known that I can't keep up if true blue Aussie wit. So I won't try.

But I will say that I am a little offended at the politician jab; after all doesn't "politician" mean "deceiver" in Greek?

(sniff)

cheers

w

[buglerbilly]

Getting back on track.............y'all might want review the linked papers from NATO............under the title of "Maritime Security - Sink or Swim"..........

http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2010/Maritime_Security/EN/index.htm

[buglerbilly]

NATO Fears Pirates Moving to South Red Sea

July 22, 2010

Associated Press



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The commander of NATO's counter-piracy flotilla said Wednesday that Somali pirates squeezed by a multinational armada in the Gulf of Aden may be shifting some operations to the southern Red Sea where naval forces lack clear authority to stop them.

In addition to one recent attack in the area, Commodore Michiel Hijmans said there have been "a lot of false alarms" where mariners believed pirates were pursuing them, including occasions where shots were fired.

"We are very cautious and we're worried that there might be more attacks in that area," Hijmans said aboard the Dutch frigate De Zeven Provincien after it anchored in Dubai.

Foreign navies have U.N. Security Council approval to hunt pirates in Somalia's territorial waters with advance notice using "all necessary means." But the Red Sea lies beyond that area of jurisdiction, creating a possible new front for pirates to operate.

Hijmans' vessel is the flagship for the NATO counter-piracy force operating off the Somali coast. It works alongside separate U.S.-led and European flotillas, as well as patrols from India, China and Russia. The international patrols are credited with thwarting attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, a corridor between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean that is home to some of the world's busiest sea lanes.

But international naval forces are reluctant to aggressively pursue the pirates around the tip of Yemen and through the choke point at the southern end of the Red Sea because they would be passing entirely through other nations' waters, Hijmans said.

"You have to be very careful what you do in the territorial waters of another country," he said. "I don't have a mandate to operate with helicopters and ships inside the territorial waters" of countries such as Eritrea and Yemen.

Pirates attacked the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Motivator on July 4 in the northern part of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The chemical tanker was carrying lubricating oil and had a Filipino crew of 18.

Hijmans said that was the only confirmed attack so far in the southern Red Sea believed to be carried out by Somali pirates who may have traveled to the area under the cover of darkness.

"It was a change in tactics by the pirates," he said.

The bulk of international counter-piracy patrols operate in the Gulf of Aden, where they provide convoys and maintain a transit corridor to protect merchant vessels heading to and from the Suez Canal at the top of the Red Sea.

Pirate attacks in the area have dropped by nearly two thirds since the start of the year, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

But the maritime watchdog cautioned that attacks elsewhere, particularly off Somalia's eastern coast in the wider Indian Ocean, are on the rise as pirates shift their operations elsewhere and gain the ability to travel further out to sea.

Much of Somalia has been mired in violence and anarchy since 1991, giving pirates an opportunity to flourish in the Horn of Africa nation's lawless waters. The armed marauders often use small skiffs to attack larger, slower moving ships, which they then hold along with their crews for multimillion-dollar ransoms.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

UK Forces Free Cargo Ship From Pirates

October 26, 2010

Associated Press

BERLIN - Rescue forces using a ship, a plane and a helicopter freed a German cargo vessel being held by Somali pirates off eastern Africa on Monday, but the hijackers got away, officials said.

None of the 16 crew members aboard the Beluga Fortune, which was seized by Somali pirates about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) east of Mombasa, Kenya, on Sunday morning, was harmed in the ordeal, Verena Beckhusen, a spokeswoman for the shipping company Beluga-Reederei, told The Associated Press.

The German military and the international anti-pirate mission Operation Atalanta helped free the Beluga Fortune, the shipping company said, adding that the commercial vessel was now on its way to South Africa as planned.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was relieved by the rescue. He especially thanked the British military for its efforts and called the case a "good example for international cooperation in the fight against piracy."

Germany's foreign and defense ministries declined to give further details about how the rescue occurred.

But Nils Stolberg, the director of the Beluga-Reederei, said in an email to the AP that a British frigate, a surveillance plane and a helicopter were involved in freeing the German cargo ship. Stolberg said the rescue was peaceful because by the time the military entered the Beluga Fortune the pirates had already fled.

Stolberg also said one of the main reasons the military forces succeeded was that the Beluga Fortune's crew had trained for an emergency situation like this many times over the years.

"They sent out an emergency call, barricaded themselves in a special security room, shut off the fuel supply and the bridge and informed the military," Stolberg said. "This way the pirates could not bring the ship under their control or take the sailors at ransom."

While the Bremen-based company worked together with the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin to inform the German, Russian and Filipino family members of the crew, the German military and the anti-pirate mission evaluated the situation on the ground by deploying ships and a surveillance plane.

Somali pirates have long been active in the region, and they currently are holding 19 vessels with 428 hostages, according to the EU Naval Force.

On Saturday night, pirates seized a liquefied gas tanker 105 miles (165 kilometers) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin, said officials in Singapore, where the ship is registered.

The MV York was traveling from Mombasa to Mahe in the Seychelles with 17 crew when pirates commandeered it, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.

The authority said Sunday it was working with the ship's owner, York Maritime Co., and government agencies to recover the ship.

The 5,076-ton MV York had one German, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos aboard, the EU force said in a statement.

Somalia has lacked a fully functioning government since 1991, which makes it difficult to prosecute suspected Somali pirates. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently said options under consideration to do that more effectively include creating a special international court.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Paul and Rachel Chandler released by Somali pirates after 388 days

Paul and Rachel Chandler, the retired Kent couple kidnapped from their yacht by Somali pirates more than a year ago, have been released unharmed.


Paul Chandler and his wife Rachel Photo: AFP

By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi 7:58AM GMT 14 Nov 2010

They are now under the protection of local government officials close to Somalia’s border with Ethiopia, and are expected to fly to safety in Kenya later on Sunday.

It is understood that a ransom was paid. The Foreign Office could not confirm that, and officials said that they were “investigating” the reports. A spokesman for the Chandlers’ family could not immediately be reached.

Sources in the Somali town of Adado, 220 miles northwest of Mogadishu, said that Mr and Mrs Chandler were “safe and well” and would be offered food and a shower at the home of the town’s governor, Mohamed Aden Tiiceey.

“We have them,” Mr Aden Tiiceey told The Daily Telegraph.

“The pirates have officially handed them over us. They will be able to wash, and eat something small, and then we will be sending them home.”

The couple, from Tunbridge Wells, was given mobile telephones as soon as they were freed and made calls to their family.

Armed pirates have held Paul, 60, and Rachel, 57, for a year and three weeks, since they were seized in the dead of night as they slept aboard their yacht off the Seychelles, 800 miles east of the African coast.

They have been moved around a series of makeshift camps across Somalia’s rugged hinterland, living in rag tents, eating tinned spaghetti and goat meat, and under the constant watch of armed men – many of them teenagers.

Both have had bouts of ill health, and images of Mrs Chandler, an economist, released earlier this year showed her looking thin and weak.

She lost a tooth when she was hit with a rifle butt, and both have earlier reported being “caged like animals” and fearing that they would be “killed and abandoned here in the desert”.

Mr Aden Tiiceey, Adado’s governor, said they were both “tired but well” on Sunday, and it is expected that they will undergo medical checks as soon as they arrive in Nairobi.

Negotiations to free the couple dragged on as Somali clans and pirate leaders argued over the expected ransom, and agreed deals were ripped up at the last minute.

It is unclear why discussions were successful at this point, although it is understood that a fresh ransom was offered early last week.

The British government has a strict policy of not paying kidnappers, and it is thought that the money was raised from family and friends.

Mr and Mrs Chandler both retired early and sold their home in Tunbridge Wells to buy their 38ft yacht, the Lynn Rival, and to sail the world.

They and their family repeatedly warned the pirates that they were not wealthy, and would not be able to raise the original £4 million ransom that was demanded. It is understood that the final amount paid was a fraction of that sum.

Mr and Mrs Chandler were being held 160 miles north of Adado, and were driven through the night to arrive in the town for the official handover at dawn on Sunday.

They are expected to be flown to Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, for a brief meeting with the country’s president, Sheikh Sharif, before continuing on to Nairobi.

[buglerbilly]

Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship disrupts pirates

A Military Operations news article

15 Nov 10

The pic is interesting, look how the smaller boat is carried amdiships the larger one............one way of doing it I suppose.........

A Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship has disrupted a group of pirates operating in the west of the Indian Ocean.


Royal Marines raiding craft boarding and searching a Somalian pirate vessel
[Picture: LA(Phot) A J MacLeod, Crown Copyright/MOD 2010]

During a patrol of the waters between the Somali coast and the Seychelles yesterday, Sunday 14 November 2010, RFA Fort Victoria was alerted to a suspicious vessel in the area.

The ship intercepted the suspected pirate boat - which was identified as a whaler often used by pirates in the Indian Ocean - and sent armed members of the ship's company to investigate.

During a search of the vessel, ammunition and other piracy-related paraphernalia were discovered by the team.

Upon questioning, the suspected pirates admitted to having thrown their weapons overboard as the ship approached. They claimed to have been at sea for 45 days.

Their engines had failed, their food had run out and they were using their boarding ladder as a mast for a makeshift sail - their only means of propulsion.

The remainder of the piracy-related paraphernalia was confiscated and the pirates were subsequently returned to Somalia.

Captain Rob Dorey, Commanding Officer of RFA Fort Victoria, said:

"The combined actions of all onboard have saved merchant ships from being pirated and made the area just a little safer today.

"In many ways the pirates were lucky that we found them as they would not have survived indefinitely. However, most importantly, we have removed one more pirate group from the Somali Basin and destroyed their whaler so it cannot be used again."

RFA Fort Victoria is part of NATO's counter-piracy mission, Operation OCEAN SHIELD.

[ARH v.3.1]

"The combined actions of all onboard have saved merchant ships from being pirated and made the area just a little safer today.

"In many ways the pirates were lucky that we found them as they would not have survived indefinitely. However, most importantly, we have removed one more pirate group from the Somali Basin and destroyed their whaler so it cannot be used again."

Sounds like the better option would have been to leave them adrift...

[buglerbilly]

Chandlers: pirates boast of plans to 'reinvest' ransom in more kidnappings

The pirates who held the British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler boasted last night that they would spend the ransom money on staging more kidnappings.

By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi 9:00AM GMT 16 Nov 2010

Members of the gang, who held the British couple for more than a year, said they would use their estimated £500,000 bounty to “reinvest in our business”, to increase their reach in the Indian Ocean.

Others are planning to put part of their windfall towards “celebration purchases” such as new houses or cars, they said.

The admission came as the war-ravaged east African country’s beleaguered government confirmed that it had paid a substantial tranche of the ransom itself, topping up contributions from friends, family and the Somalian community overseas.

It is understood that some of the hostage takers have personal and family ties to Britain, even keeping a close eye on how the news was being reported in the British media.

One of the kidnappers was quoted as joking only a few days ago that he was planning a trip to Britain.

The couple were making their way from the Seychelles to Tanzania in their 38ft yacht, Lynn Rival, in October last year when they were captured by Somalian pirates.

They spent the following 13 months being held in remote camps deep inland, while family and friends attempted to raise the cash to secure their freedom.

A total of about £500,000 was passed through negotiators to the gang’s leaders on two separate occasions, most recently on Sunday morning, when the Kent couple was finally released.

The bounty will now be shared by as many as 40 different individuals, from guards and cooks to senior financiers likely to be outside Somalia.

“There will be some celebration purchases, maybe a vehicle, maybe a better house,” a senior member of the pirates, who gave his name only as Yusuf, told The Daily Telegraph via contacts in Mogadishu.

“But most of us have to pay off debts, and we need to use the money to reinvest in our business, to find new boats to go back to the ocean.”

Sharing spoils has evolved into a complex accounting process as ransoms have soared for the pirates.

It is understood that disagreements between the pirates over who would earn what held up negotiations to free Mr and Mrs Chandler at crucial points during their 388 days as hostages.

The largest share of the money, Yusuf said, would be sent outside Somalia to the shadowy moneyman who initially fronted the funds to put the gang to sea.

That could be between 30 and 50 per cent of the ransom, according to reports, including one presented to the UN Security Council earlier this year.

Suppliers who provided fuel and water for the pirates’ time at sea, and paid for food and bribes to local officials once Mr and Mrs Chandler were brought ashore, take another large share.

The men who led the attack on the yacht, earn a greater share than those who acted as their prison guards once they were on dry land.

“For the low-down people, I will not tell you what they get, it is private, but I am sure it is not as much as you people think,” Yusuf said.

Calculations based on a £1.2 million ransom have shown that foot soldiers can earn as little as £8,000 – still a fortune in a country where average annual income is below £300.

Yusuf refused to give his real name for fear of being hunted down by Somalia’s government, which claims it funded the last tranche of the ransom to by the couple’s freedom.

Mohamed Abdullahi-Omaar, Somalia’s foreign minister, confirmed that the government had arranged a “substantial” contribution, but he would not say how much or from where.

"I would prefer not to discuss that, given that there are other hostages involved still here in Somalia,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“We will always try to do whatever we can to help all of them, it's our duty. But with regards to Mr and Mrs Chandler, I cannot comment on that, because comments can have an effect on life and flesh and blood of other people.”

One Somalian government source claimed that the contribution had been at least £60,000.

Both Mr Abdullahi-Omaar and British Government officials denied earlier reports that British aid money had found its way into the ransom payment from funds meant for Somali development.

Britain has sent £30 million in aid to Somalia in the last year but the donations are channelled through UN agencies and recognised charities rather than given to the government.

“We channel all our aid through UN agencies and well established and trusted charities,” said a spokesman for the Department for International Development.

“None of it goes through the Somali government. No part of the UK aid budget has been used to help secure the Chandlers' release, nor to benefit pirates.”

[buglerbilly]

Paul and Rachel Chandler: British mercenaries hired to take on the Somali pirates

The Government is in secret talks to send taxpayer-funded British mercenaries to war torn Somalia to confront the pirates attacking commercial shipping and behind the kidnapping of Paul and Rachel Chandler.


The controversial plan will see the ex-special forces team sent to train Somali nationals to take on the pirates along the country's lawless coastline Photo: AFP/GETTY

By Jason Lewis, Investigations editor 9:00PM GMT 20 Nov 2010

A Sunday Telegraph investigation can reveal that senior Foreign Office officials have held detailed discussions with a British security firm employing former members of the Special Boat Service (SBS) about setting up and running the operation.

The controversial plan – indirectly funded with aid money from British taxpayers – will see the ex-special forces team sent to train Somali nationals to take on the pirates along the country's lawless coastline.

The revelation comes days after the release of the Chandlers, from Tunbridge Wells, who were held hostage by Somali pirates for more than a year after being captured on their yacht while on a retirement sailing holiday.

Acting as "mentors" the ex-SBS men will be allowed to accompany the new crews on patrols going into action in armed encounters with the gangs.

The plan is particularly sensitive because previous attempts to train Somali military recruits have seen them swap sides and join the pirates or Islamic insurgents, taking their weapons and equipment with them.

Operating in fast boats capable of outrunning the pirates' converted fishing vessels, the plan is to retake the coastline and prevent the pirates from putting to sea or returning to shore with kidnap victims.

The operation is seen as essential to protect shipping navigating off the Horn of Africa. Ships currently rely on protection from international naval vessels – including Royal Navy frigates – which are spread too thinly.

Piracy has become so commonplace that conveys of ships are asking for naval escorts through the area while some shipping firms are hiring armed guards to protect their vessels, crews and cargo.

So far this year there have been 164 piracy incidents, with 37 vessels hijacked, around 700 seafarers taken hostage and 12 people killed or injured.

The decision to call in ex-special forces soldiers earning up to £1,500-a-day is highly controversial.

The Foreign Office involvement with 'soldiers of fortune' is reminiscent of the Sandline Affair which saw the department accused of sanctioning the activities of a private military company, Sandline International, breaking an arms embargo to ship weapons to Sierra Leone.

The Foreign Office is leading the way on the plan through its chairmanship of the United Nations Working Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

Working group number one, which is overseeing 'military and operation co-ordination', is headed by Chris Holtby, the FCO's Deputy Head of Security Policy.

An internal UN document prepared by Mr Holtby says: "Crimes such as human trafficking are happening with impunity ... security is the key issue."

It adds: "If the authorities ... are not yet able to stop kidnappings, it may be possible to send trainers".

The report, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, outlines the overall plan to get better "intelligence against pirate bases ashore" and to be "prepared to take action against them".

It says any enforcement has to be done in accordance with international law.

Disagreements between the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) and the authorities in Puntland, the region further north along the coast, have delayed the proposal for a "Somali Coast Guard unit equipped with 8 fast patrol craft and 96 personnel and coastal observation teams".

This would be supplemented with a 130-strong battalion of marines for "reconnaissance, surveillance and offensive action".

They are arguing about where the boat crews should come from. The fear is that training local men and handing out equipment, if the crews were not vetted properly, might "exacerbate the existing problem" if those men then joined the pirates.

The Puntland authorities, who are not internationally recognised, want to control the Coast Guard and send their own men to man the patrols and have objected to "the TFG selecting a commercial partner to work with to establish a Coastguard".

But Mr Holtby's report adds: "ensuring accountability" would be "a major requirement for attracting donor support" and that the "consultants", who presented details on plans for a pilot coastguard scheme with the Somali TFG Defence Minister,"recognised the need for due legal process".

An earlier, privately funded, attempt to train a coast guard unit in the region using ex-SAS trainers failed when the money from international donors ran out.

This was followed by three serving Coast Guard members being arrested and jailed after hijacking a Thai fishing trawler that they were supposed to be escorting and demanding a £500,000 ransom. The men claimed their wages had not been paid.

Now Mr Holtby has been involved in discussions with British 'business risk consultants' Drum Cussac, which already supplies armed security teams to shipping companies, to train the new Somali coastguard.

Last night the firm refused to comment, but it is understood it has been hired by the TFG with the international community agreeing to foot the bill.

The money will come from $25 million the US Government have promised to the antipiracy project.

Britain, which has so far not committed "specifically counter-piracy" money, will also contribute from "overlaying of benefits from counter-terrorism, counter-trafficking, migration, development/rule of law" funds.

Drum Cussac, which describes itself as 'the market leader in antipiracy and maritime security', is headed by former Scots Guards officer Jeremy Stampa Orwin.

Mr Stampa Orwin's previous firm Lifeguard shared offices with Sandline and, according to a Parliamentary report, until 1998, had "from time to time" co-operated "with but is otherwise operationally separate".

Drum Cussac says it can 'supply a full range of armed services for the protection of vessels in transit through high risk waters and for static operations or survey work in areas of high threat'.

'Our armed option', it says, 'has been designed to provide fully legitimate, properly licensed and trained teams to deploy on board vessels. Our teams are experienced UK nationals and are equipped with new and modern weapons systems.'

Senior Whitehall sources confirmed Foreign Office officials had met with the security firm involved but insisted it was at the request of the Somali Government. The meetings, the source said, were in line with the strict Government rules on dealing with such firms.

However it was acknowledged that donor cash, including British taxpayers money, would "indirectly" pay for their operation.

Abdallah Boss Ahmed, until recently the Somali defence minister, confirmed he had approved the plan.

He said: "The concept ... involves the contracting of specialist private companies to train, equip and mentor vetted Somali recruits to operate effectively and with respect for ... Human rights in retaking control of (the) ... Somali coast and associated territorial waters."

[Unicorn]

Better use of Taxpayer funds would be to hire these people to guard ships passing through the area, let a few pirate groups disappear while attempting to hijack a ship and the piracy problem would diminish.

Unicorn

[Milne Bay]

................................ let a few pirate groups disappear while attempting to hijack a ship and the piracy problem would diminish.

Unicorn

Apparently the Russians agree with your policy.
Perhaps all apprehended pirates should be sent to the Russians for processing.

[Riđđu]

An un-named Muslim country funds anti-piracy militia in Somalia... like Bug allready posted before me: http://www.w54.biz/showthread.php?327-Back-to-Somalia&p=11440&viewfull=1#post11440 :thanx



1,000-man militia being trained in north Somalia
By KATHARINE HOURELD
The Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya -- In the northern reaches of Somalia and the country's presidential palace, a well-equipped military force is being created, funded by a mysterious donor nation that is also paying for the services of a former CIA officer and a senior ex-U.S. diplomat.

The Associated Press has determined through telephone and e-mail interviews with three insiders that training for an anti-piracy force of up to 1,050 men has already begun in Puntland, a semiautonomous region in northern Somalia that is believed to hold reserves of oil and gas.
But key elements remain unknown - mainly who is providing the millions of dollars in funding and for what ultimate purpose.

Pierre Prosper, an ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues under former President George W. Bush, told AP he is being paid by a Muslim nation he declined to identify to be a legal adviser to the Somali government, focusing on security, transparency and anti-corruption.
Prosper said the donations from the Muslim nation come from a "zakat fund," referring to charitable donations that Islam calls for the faithful to give each year. The same donor is paying for both training programs.

Somalia hasn't had a fully functioning government since 1991 and is torn between clan warlords, Islamist insurgent factions, an 8,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force, government forces and allied groups. Given that mix, the appearance of an unknown donor with deep pockets is troubling, said E.J. Hogendoorn, a Nairobi-based analyst with the International Crisis Group.

"We don't know if this unknown entity is operating in the interests of Somalis or their own self-interest," he said in an interview. "If it's a company, there has to be a quid pro quo in terms of (oil and gas) concessions. If it's a government, they are interested in changing the balance of power."

The new force's first class of 150 Somali recruits from Puntland graduated from a 13-week training course on Monday, said Mohamed Farole, the son of Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole. The son, who is a liaison between the government and journalists and diplomats, told AP the new force will hunt down pirates on land in the Galgala mountains.

The range lies 125 miles (200 kilometers) north of the nearest main pirate anchorage but is home to an Islamist-linked militia that complains it has been cut out of energy exploration deals. The Islamist militants led by Mohamed Said Atom have clashed with government forces several times this year. A March report by the U.N. accuses Atom of importing arms from Yemen and receiving consignments from Eritrea, including mortars, for delivery to al-Shabab forces in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab is Somalia's biggest insurgent group and has ties with al-Qaida.

The president's son emphasized the force was dedicated to anti-piracy, but said that he hoped greater security in the region would bring more investors into "public-private partnerships" with the government. "You cannot have oil exploration if you have insecurity," Mohamed Farole said. "You have to eliminate the pirates and al-Shabab." Energy exploration has started mainly just south of the mountains, although the amount of estimated reserves is unknown, or at least not publicly divulged.

Michael Shanklin, who was the CIA's deputy chief of station in Mogadishu 20 years ago, told AP he is employed by the unidentified donor country as a security adviser and liaison to the Somali government. Prosper said he is encouraging the Muslim donor nation, which insists on keeping its identity secret, to become more transparent.

The new force will be equipped with 120 new pickup trucks - which have already arrived - and six small aircraft for patrolling the coast, Farole said. No other force in Somalia, including the Mogadishu-based central government or African Union peacekeepers, has air assets. Prosper said the Muslim nation is also donating four armored vehicles. A photo provided by diplomats and taken at Mogadishu's airport show two armored trucks made by Ford with gunner's turrets. In recent weeks, Shanklin and Prosper met several Nairobi-based diplomats to discuss the contract between the Puntland and Mogadishu governments and a private security company called Saracen International, Prosper said in written replies to questions from AP. Prosper said Saracen is doing the military training and is being paid by the unnamed Muslim nation. Saracen is not providing the militia with any weapons, he said.

Uganda-based Saracen International was named in a March letter written by the Somali president's former chief of staff, Abdulkareem Jama, and obtained by AP that described training for the presidential guard. And it was named in a Nov. 18 statement from Puntland's government announcing the anti-piracy training. Bill Pelser, the chief executive of Saracen International, said it is "definitely a mistake or a misrepresentation."

Pelser denied being involved in the training program in Puntland or the one for the presidential guard in Mogadishu, saying he merely made introductions for another company called Saracen Lebanon (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/lebanon.html?nav=el). Lebanese authorities have no record of a company called Saracen. Pelser did not respond to requests for contact information for Saracen Lebanon. Pelser is a former South African special forces soldier. Like many of his staff, he used to work for Executive Outcomes, a South African mercenary outfit credited with helping defeat rebel forces in Sierra Leone in return for mineral concessions.

Prosper declined to say how much the donor country has spent on the programs. Two Nairobi-based security analysts calculate it has already spent around $10 million on equipment, salaries and other costs. The analysts asked for anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the press.
Somalia's vast swaths of lawless territory host training camps for hundreds of foreign fighters aiding al-Shabab. Lying across the narrow Gulf of Aden from Yemen, Somalia is a haven for figures seeking to escape a U.S.-funded crackdown on terrorist networks in Yemen.

Whoever controls a well-trained, well-equipped and consistently paid military force is in a strong position to make a bid for filling the power vacuum in Somalia. Farole declined to comment on his father's political future but noted that since his father became Puntland's president, he chased many pirates out of the region and ensured regular payments for soldiers in a country where many desert because the central government is too disorganized or corrupt to pay them.

The U.N. is quietly investigating to see if the creation and outfitting of the new military force violates an arms embargo, according to a U.N. representative who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly. The embargo forbids the importation of arms, military equipment or any support to any armed group in Somalia, including to any Somali government, without authorization from the U.N.'s sanctions committee. There is an exemption for support for counter-piracy operations, provided the Security Council was notified and gave permission. In the case of the new military force, the Security Council was not notified.

[Marc 1]

Love this bit:

The U.N. is quietly investigating to see if the creation and outfitting of the new military force violates an arms embargo, according to a U.N. representative who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak publicly.

Absolutely - I mean, heaven forbid that this new force actually make significant progress against the pirates.... It's far more important to enforce a UN embargo... Maybe the UN will employ several thousand peacekeepers at a cost of billions of dollars to ensure that the new force cannot infringe the human rights and way of life of the pirates.

[Gubler, A.]

Absolutely - I mean, heaven forbid that this new force actually make significant progress against the pirates.... It's far more important to enforce a UN embargo... Maybe the UN will employ several thousand peacekeepers at a cost of billions of dollars to ensure that the new force cannot infringe the human rights and way of life of the pirates.

Come on mate this is the UN here... Its just looking after the interests of the majority of its members: maintain the right of dictatorships to rule over their impoverished subjects.

[buglerbilly]

I have had the UN described to me as a "bunch of useless c#*ts" but as I described back a c#*t actually serves a half useful purpose so cannot possibly be connected to the UN.............

[buglerbilly]

Navy frigate saves tanker from pirates

January 5, 2011 - 6:14PM

An Australian navy frigate has thwarted a pirate attack on a UK-flagged chemical tanker in the Arabian Sea.

The guided-missile frigate HMAS Melbourne steamed to the aid of the tanker CPO China after it was boarded by pirates on Monday night Australian time, the Defence Department said.

HMAS Melbourne was more than 260 kilometres away when alerted to the incident but covered the distance in a little over six hours.

While en route its helicopter raced ahead to the CPO China and "was able to deter the pirates from attempting to take control of the ship".

"As a result the pirates aborted the attack and left the vessel when Melbourne arrived on the scene," Defence said in a statement on Wednesday.

Earlier, the tanker's crew had locked themselves into a stronghold from where they could maintain control of the ship.

The crew also remained in satellite communications with the outside world after the pirates boarded.

Someone in this shipping company has their head screwed on tight...............:thumbsup

HMAS Melbourne is serving with the Combined Maritime Force's counter-piracy mission.

Australian frigates are regularly deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations to provide maritime security.

Australia's Middle East Commander Major General John Cantwell said a key objective was to assist the international community in reducing acts of piracy.

"Our men and women aboard HMAS Melbourne deserve recognition for their role in providing maritime security and countering piracy in the Arabian Sea," he said in a statement.

"This is one of those occasions where their efforts have become highly visible."

© 2011 AAP

[buglerbilly]

OpEd: Navies Can’t Defeat Piracy ... You Savvy?


Somali pirates in a fast skiff attack a merchant vessel in May 2010.

An (old) approach to fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia

09:16 GMT, January 10, 2011 defpro.com | Experts in the years before the 1970s were convinced that something such as piracy could not experience a renaissance after its zenith in the 18th century was ended by the technological progress of nations and their growing control of the world’s oceans and sea lanes, supported by the increasing effects of globalisation. Safe havens for pirates became rare and a noteworthy presence of piracy only sparked into life in very limited and politically unstable areas. With the collapse of all state authority in Somalia and the increasing local power of terrorist and fundamentalist Islamic groups, the coastal areas of the Horn of Africa became a perfect breeding ground for piracy.

The ultimate goal of piracy is to carry out raids that are particularly profitable. In this light, Somalia was naturally predisposed for pirate activities due to its explosive combination of political instability and its proximity to one of the world’s economically most important sea areas. The waters off the Horn of Africa represent a significant junction of international sea lanes, being the node for all maritime traffic coming from and going to the Eastern coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, as well as the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Not being able to solve the political problems of war-ravaged Somalia, the international community of states confines itself to protecting the vital sea lanes by naval task forces. NATO, the EU and United States-led operations, as well as smaller (multi-)national efforts, attempt to protect ships, repel pirate attacks and show their determination and military force with the hope of discouraging Somali pirates from continuing their dangerous business. However, despite regular announcements of successful interventions and of convoys of the UN World Food Program which safely reach their destination, the multi-national forces have so far not found any solution to effectively curtail piracy on the Horn of Africa.

According to the regularly updated information of Ecoterra Interational (6 January), at least 44 vessels and one barge are currently kept in the pirates’ hands, with at least 781 hostages or captives waiting for their release (EU NAVFOR confirms the existence of 650 hostages). With only few exceptions, the nations and ship owners generally have to resort to paying high ransoms to free their ships, crews and other hostages, thereby affirming the pirates in the success of their actions. In addition to the hundreds of million dollars that have already been paid to criminal Somali syndicates, the deployment of naval vessels and reconnaissance aircraft to the regions costs even more, not to mention the billions of dollars in development aid for the weak Somali government.

The latter is the international community’s only hope for a diplomatic ending of anarchy and further radicalisation in the region, as the author has already pointed out in an earlier article (see http://goo.gl/GKXOW). However, the increasing power of radical Islamic groups, such as Al-Shabaab, Hezb al-Islamiya and others, and the generally unpromising socio-political situation, make a diplomatic solution within the foreseeable future very unlikely.

LESSONS OF HISTORY

It has never been wasted time to look at history to find answers for today’s problems. Therefore, if piracy off the coast of Somalia cannot be tackled by conventional means, the political leadership should take a look at two historical examples of very similar and successful actions against piracy.

The preferred example of today’s analysts, politicians and military leaders has been the concerted naval action of local countries against piracy along the Strait of Malacca. However, neither the geographical nor the political and social conditions can be compared to the situation on the Horn of Africa. There are two more suitable parallels in history: the efforts of ancient Rome’s Pompey against piracy in the Mediterranean Sea and those of Woodes Rogers in the West Indies of the early 18th century.

POMPEY

During the 1st century B.C. the aspiring Roman Republic (soon to become the Roman Empire) saw its trade with the Middle East and, in particular, with Egypt threatened by pirate fleets. For centuries these pirates found safe havens in Anatolia and the extensive North African coast and had freely attacked and sacked coastal cities in Greece, Asia and Italy. Furthermore, vital corn supplies from Egypt and Pontus were required to nourish the Roman population. Therefore, any military operations against pirates in the Mediterranean Sea were extremely popular and brought fame and fortune for those who ventured to fight the pirates. However, these individual actions never succeeded in solving the problem.

Having been a Consul of Rome, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (today also known as Pompey) was asked to finally disrupt the Mediterranean piracy and to secure the important trade routes. Pompey knew that this task could not be accomplished exclusively by military power, although he established a naval force, reportedly consisting of up to five hundred ships, and started to push back the pirates bit by bit towards Cilicia, the ancient centre of piracy.

However, despite these initial military achievements, which began to produce panic among the pirates, Pompey also started to negotiate with his enemies. The key element of his strategy was to offer the pirates an alternative to their current life. They could choose between imminent destruction and a peaceful life as farmers or fishermen. Many accepted to be resettled by Pompey and, in the course of only a few months, all noteworthy pirate activity in the Mediterranean Sea came to an abrupt ending. Thus, by understanding and responding to the pirates’ nature, by offering an alternative and talking to his enemies, Pompey accomplished this incredibly challenging task.

WOODES ROGERS

More than seventeen hundred years after Pompey rid the Mediterranean Sea of the threat of large pirate fleets (at least for a decade) the colonial powers were burdened by pirates who intercepted ships, laden with resources exploited in the new world, on their routes to large colonial ports and to Europe. They also increasingly often attacked colonial towns in which they expected to find further riches, generally acting with unspeakable brutality. Many notorious pirate leaders achieved questionable fame and created the historical background for the romantic view that novels and movies created of piracy in the Caribbean.

Supported by wars between colonial powers, piracy temporarily even received a semi-legal character due to the Letters of Marque issued to disrupt the West Indies trade of the respective country’s enemies. However, it was a fallacy that piracy could be controlled.

After piracy had flourished in the West Indies for two hundred years, having produced a long series of uncountable crimes, suffering and economic losses, England decided to bring law and order to the Caribbean islands. Woodes Rogers, a former privateer and old acquaintance of many pirates who roamed the area at that time, was named Governor of the Bahamas in 1718, a young British colony and, at that time, the most significant hub for piracy (as Tortuga and Jamaica had been in the past). He immediately began to implement his carrot-and-stick policy. Personally knowing his adversaries and their way of life, he issued an ultimatum which divided the pirates. The better and more experienced pirates chose to accept Roger’s proposal and sailed to Madagascar or other distant places in the world, while mavericks and those who saw no way out preferred to pick up the fight. The latter could be easily tracked down and captured or killed by the Royal Navy, which had generally expanded its efforts against piracy in the Caribbean Sea during the past decades. With only few exceptions, piracy did not burden the Bahamas after Roger’s skilful intervention.

CONCLUSION

Both the Mediterranean Sea during the time of the Roman Republic, as well as the West Indies during the 17th century, were only controlled to a limited extent by the then leading powers and represented a perfect breeding ground for local warlords and ambitious adventurers. Similar to the current situation in Somalia, the result of these political, social and geographical conditions in both regions offered profitable prospects for large-scale piracy. Although it is unlikely that Rogers studied and followed the example of Pompey, both had a very similar approach. Both either new their adversaries very well (even personally, in some cases) or entered into a dialogue with the pirates. The show of force was an important element; however, more important, both divided the pirates and, thereby, reduced their strength and effectiveness.

The resulting question is, whether a similar approach could be adopted against the Somalia piracy. There is already a significant naval presence that evidently influenced and continues to influence the way and the area in which the pirates operate. However, as yet, it did not achieve the ending of piracy on the Horn of Africa. On the contrary, the pirates expanded their area of operations to the south and east, and the number and value of captured ships obviously still makes their undertakings worthwhile.

In April 2009, US Congressman Ron Paul suggested the reintroduction of “Letters of Marque” in support of the fight against piracy. However, this approach would have created a questionable legal and ethical situation. In particular, it would further increase the divide between the Muslim world and the western world, as it could be used for propaganda and for the recruitment of young fundamentalists.

Rather, the western community should seek suitable partners in Somalia and start a dialogue. So far, this is exclusively limited to the internationally accepted Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu. The change must come from within Somalia, but naturally with strong and targeted financial support and guidance by western powers. It is unlikely, that such an approach can be officially adopted by a western government or multi-national organisation. As it requires a significant amount of money, influence and logistics, there are only few countries that could stem such an enterprise.

Independent of the specific means, which would be used to accomplish these aims, the two above outlined historical examples suggest that any successful approach should be based on:

• finding a suitable partner in Somalia, who is familiar with the pirate and militant networks;
• creating a rift within the pirate community by providing social and economic alternatives;
• continuing to show considerable force in international waters;
• using former pirates to locate, persuade or fight the remaining pirates.

It is self-evident that this is an extremely challenging approach in a country such as Somalia, which has not seen peace and stability for the past two decades. However, first, it would significantly reduce the burden for the deployed naval forces and, second, it would provide a worthwhile opportunity to increase the international community’s influence in Somalia.

In any case, the present situation is not acceptable. Whether the above approach is reasonable or even realistic may be questioned. However, the first step for any effective and sustainable solution will always be to seek a dialogue and to provide alternatives.

----
By Nicolas von Kospoth, Managing Editor

[McFriday]

Navies can't defeat Piracy?

I would have thought the example of the Second Barbary War is more relevant than the ineffective and not very appropriate ones mentioned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Barbary_War

Cheers,
Mac

[buglerbilly]

‘Private Navy’ Is Close To Kick-Off

An insurance broker’s plan to create a “private navy” to combat Somali piracy is close to being launched.

(Published 08 Jan 2011)

Ship-owners could be asked to back the project as early as late January or February with private military-escort vessels sailing alongside merchant ships by mid-2011.

A reputable flag state prepared to register the 18 patrol boats has been lined up, shipowner support is being canvassed and preparations made to secure funding for the vessels and crew.

Sean Woollerson of the Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) insurance-broking group says there are still issues to overcome but the key task of securing government and military support to give the project “legitimacy” is almost there.

The venture, now branded as the Convoy Escort Programme (CEP), estimates it needs only £15m ($23.5m) to buy secondhand vessels suitable for use as patrol boats and the rest of the infrastructure.

Greek salvage entrepreneur George Tsavliris is already seeking support from fellow shipowners and Bimco has indicated a willingness to help facilitate the project.

Woollerson estimates that if the CEP attracts 27% of the merchant traffic transiting the Gulf of Aden — up to 32 vessels on any one day — the service will cost shipowners no more than their present outlay on physical security and additional war-risks insurance premiums.

The concept is that shipowners will buy the armed-escort service packaged with seven days of war-risks cover from Ascot Underwriting’s Lloyd’s syndicate 1414, backed by Chartis, the insurer created from the rebranding of American International Group. They will therefore not need to pay the normal additional premium required to transit pirate-infested waters.

“We have a unique framework. The concept is that shipowners will not be paying any more than at the moment and maybe a lot less. But they will be afforded proper protection and the presence of the escorts will be a great morale booster for the seafarers,” said Woollerson.

The patrol boats will have a flat decked area suitable for launching rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) but will not have fixed machine-gun positions or other armaments so a wide range of working craft are suitable.

But the 150-strong security team that the CEP plans to deploy will be heavily armed to deter or take on pirates attempting to hijack a merchant ship.

“We are moving in the right direction and securing the legitimacy we see as essential. We will be an independent company with shipping-industry representation and harnessing the critical mass of the industry,” added Woollerson.

“We have taken on board everyone’s concerns. Once we have ticked all the boxes, we will go to the shipping industry to say this is what we have designed and to seek support.

Woollerson says there are potentially funds available from the European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) as well as national governments and such public funding would be his preference.

But private-industry funding or a mix of public and private is also possible.

Although the CEP has been promoted by hull broker Woollerson, a JLT partner, the concept is that it will be available to other brokers and shipowners.

Woollerson would also like to see it involved in trying to remove the causes of Somali piracy through land-based initiatives.

“I see the CEP as a self-destructing company. Maybe in many years’ time we will no longer be needed and could donate the tonnage to a Somali coastguard,” he said.

[Milne Bay]

S Korean warship pursues hijacked vessel

By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Posted 1 hour 13 minutes ago ABC News

South Korea has ordered one of its warships to chase a cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

The 11,500-tonne South Korean freighter was seized by Somali pirates last week after leaving the United Arab Emirates bound for Sri Lanka.

All 21 crew are reportedly uninjured but are being held hostage.

South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, has ordered a warship to pursue the freighter and rescue the crew.

The cargo ship has been located but sources say it will take at least two days for the warship to catch it.

On board the destroyer, Choi Young, are 300 South Korean navy troops including commandos trained in hostage rescue.

The picture is of her sister ship of the same class.

[buglerbilly]

Did Blackwater Founder Fund Somalia’s Pirate Fighters? [Updated]

By Spencer Ackerman January 20, 2011 | 4:21 pm | Categories: Mercs



Just because Erik Prince recently sold off Blackwater, the infamous security company he founded, doesn’t mean he’s out of the private-security game. He may have put up seed money for a different firm to form militias in Somalia to battle pirates and Islamists.

The New York Times cites a confidential African Union report claiming Prince is “at the top of the management chain” of Saracen International, a South African security company that’s trying to work with both the embattled Somali government and the breakaway region of Puntland. In Puntland, Saracen is putting together a 1050-strong anti-pirate militia, something the international community has greeted with caution. And in Mogadishu, it wants to do what western militaries don’t: protect government officials, train the rump Somali army to fight the Qaeda-aligned al-Shebaab insurgency — and maybe do a little Shebaab-fighting of their own.

The African Union report, says the Times, claims Prince put up the “seed money” for Saracen to explore a business deal with the Somali government. Other backers of Saracen, according to the paper, include the government of the United Arab Emirates, where Prince decamped last year ahead of selling Blackwater. Reportedly, Somalia hasn’t yet decided to hire Saracen, which the Times describes as run by a former officer in an “apartheid-era internal security force notorious for killings of opponents of the government.”

If true, it would be a remarkable turn of events. In December, Prince sold Blackwater to a team of investors (including a longtime family adviser) in a deal reportedly worth $200 million. While the firm’s new owners intend to continue seeking U.S. government security contracts, Prince indicated in the media that he was sick of the enterprise. Vanity Fair described Prince in a January 2010 profile as exhausted with leading an “overseas Praetorian guard for C.I.A. and State Department officials.” Prince told conflict journo Robert Young Pelton, “I’m getting out of the government contracting business” before leaving for Abu Dhabi.

That was a business that made Prince a lot of money — Blackwater earned over $1.5 billion in the last decade — but also made Prince its most controversial face. Blackwater guards shot civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan; downed steroids and narcotics; and used the names of South Park characters to take rifles from the U.S. military intended for the Afghan police. Blackwater set up shell companies to win government contracts while avoiding the P.R. taint of its name. And it worked with the CIA on a never-quite-launched effort to assassinate terrorists.

If Prince really is involved in the Saracen deal, it would update an earlier Blackwater effort to battle pirates off the Somali coast. In 2008, Blackwater announced it was “ready to assist the shipping industry,” with a .50-cal-equipped pirate-hunting ship fashioned out of an oceanographic research boat. Alas, those plans got knocked off course as crewmembers began suing the company for discrimination. Did Prince want one more shot at the pirates and the terrorists — and the government paychecks?

Updated, 4:30 p.m.: Prince spokesman Mark Corallo tells the AP that Prince has “no financial role” in the anti-piracy effort but wants to “help Somalia overcome the scourge of piracy.” But the AP confidently reports that Prince is involved in standing up the militia, which will “also go after a warlord linked to Islamist insurgents.”

Photo: U.S. Navy

[Milne Bay]

S Korean warship pursues hijacked vessel

By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Posted 1 hour 13 minutes ago ABC News

South Korea has ordered one of its warships to chase a cargo ship hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

The 11,500-tonne South Korean freighter was seized by Somali pirates last week after leaving the United Arab Emirates bound for Sri Lanka.

All 21 crew are reportedly uninjured but are being held hostage.

South Korea's president, Lee Myung-bak, has ordered a warship to pursue the freighter and rescue the crew.

The cargo ship has been located but sources say it will take at least two days for the warship to catch it.

On board the destroyer, Choi Young, are 300 South Korean navy troops including commandos trained in hostage rescue.

The picture is of her sister ship of the same class.

S Korean commandos save crew from pirates

By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy

Posted 55 minutes ago

South Korean commandos have stormed a ship hijacked by Somali pirates, rescuing all the crew and killing eight pirates.

The South Korean military says its special forces stormed the chemical freighter about 1,300 kilometres north-east of Somalia.

The South Korean skipper of the freighter suffered a gunshot wound to the stomach during the raid, but his condition is not believed to be life-threatening.

The South Korean navy had been ordered to chase the hijackers across the Indian Ocean in a bid to free the crew and regain control of the freighter.

The ship was hijacked after leaving the United Arab Emirates.

[buglerbilly]

JANUARY 22, 2011, 6:23 A.M. ET.

Malaysia Captures Pirates in Raid .

Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Malaysia's navy was holding seven Somali pirates Saturday who were apprehended in the second dramatic commando raid within hours on ships near the African coast, authorities said.

The operations gave both Malaysia and South Korea dramatic successes in the battle against pirates who have long tormented shipping in the waters off the Horn of Africa. The Royal Malaysian Navy said its commandos wounded three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued the 23 crew members on the Malaysian-flagged chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel early Friday, shortly after the pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Aden with assault rifles and pistols.

The operation came the same day as another raid by South Korean commandos who freed a hijacked freighter, which on Saturday was sailing toward Oman under the escort of a South Korean destroyer, a company official said.

Malaysia's navy said it sent a ship and a helicopter to the Bunga Laurel, which was then 22 kilometers away, after crew members locked themselves in a safe room and activated a distress call Friday morning.

Elite security forces managed to board the ship and overpower the pirates after an exchange of gunfire, it said in a statement. No one in the rescue team or the ship's crew was injured. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he was informed that seven pirates were captured. Authorities were considering whether they should be brought to Malaysia to face trial, he said. "I am proud of our (navy), which acted with full efficiency and demonstrated courage," Mr. Najib said.

The navy ship was in the Gulf of Aden to escort vessels with Malaysian interests. The attack occurred only two hours after it had left the Bunga Laurel after accompanying it to what was considered relatively safe waters, the navy said.

It did not provide the crew members' nationalities. Representatives of Malaysian International Shipping Corp., which operates the Bunga Laurel, could not immediately be reached. Later Friday, the raid by South Korean commandos killed eight pirates and captured five others, ending the weeklong captivity of 21 crew members, including eight South Koreans, aboard the Samho Jewelry.

The wounded captain of the South Korean freighter, Seok Hae-gyun, was being treated at a hospital in Oman for a gunshot wound in the stomach by a pirate, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. Lt. Gen. Lee Sung-ho of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters in Seoul that Mr. Seok's condition was not life-threatening.

The captain helped the rescue operation by steering the vessel in a zigzag pattern to stall for time after the pirates demanded that the ship be taken toward Somalia, Yonhap said. A Samho Shipping official confirmed that the ship was heading toward Oman, but said he had no other information because of a breakdown of the ship's communication equipment. South Korea is studying whether to bring the five captured pirates to Seoul for prosecution or hand them over to countries near Somalia, Yonhap said, citing an unidentified government official. Repeated calls to South Korea's Foreign Ministry seeking comment went unanswered Saturday.

Other countries' special forces have also launched raids to save ships boarded by Somali pirates within hours of the attacks in recent months, after being assured the crew was locked in safe rooms, commonly referred to as "citadels." Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, during which time piracy has flourished off its coast, sometimes yielding millions of dollars in ransoms.

There are now 29 vessels and 703 hostages being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia. The country lies next to one of the world's most important shipping routes, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.

[buglerbilly]

Raids Reveal Harder Line Against Pirates

January 24, 2011

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya - Two daring commando raids by two nations in one day against Somali pirates show that some naval forces are taking a harder line, perhaps because nothing else they've tried has stopped the rise of lawlessness off the east coast of Africa.

The raids by South Korea and Malaysia on Friday could be a sign of more aggressive tactics to come - both by navies and by pirates responding to them. Experts say pirates could increasingly use hostages as human shields by pirates if raids become more common.

The European Union's naval force refuses to raid hijacked ships out of concern for the safety of hostages, but frustration is rising. Despite patrols by an international flotilla of modern warships, drones patrolling the Indian Ocean off the east African coast and Arabian Gulf and diverse strategies employed including the sinking of pirate boats, Somali pirates have been relentless.

They captured a record 1,016 hostages in 2010 and currently hold 32 vessels and 746 crew members of various nationalities after hijacking another six ships so far this year, according to a recent report by the International Maritime Bureau.

Eight crew members died and 13 were wounded in Somali pirate incidents in 2010, up from four dead and 10 wounded in 2009. There were no pirate killings elsewhere in the world in 2010.

The bureau said Somali pirates are operating more broadly than ever, from Oman on the Arabian Peninsula to Mozambique, more than 2,500 miles away in southeastern Africa. It also said navies have been more reluctant to intervene because pirates are using hijacked vessels to catch new prey.

Somalia's long lawless coastline snakes around the Horn of Africa and provides the perfect base for pirate dens. The country has not had a functioning government since a socialist dictatorship collapsed in 1991, plunging the nation into clan-based civil war.

South Korean commandos raided a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea before dawn Friday, killing eight Somali pirates and capturing five as they rescued all 21 crew members. The only crew member injured was the captain, who was shot in the stomach by a pirate; South Korea's military said his condition was not life-threatening.

A 4 1/2-minute video released Sunday by South Korea's military shows commandos in a small boat readying to climb onto the freighter amid gunshots. Later the commandos are seen trying to enter a door and then bringing out some hostages, with a navy helicopter shining searchlights on the vessel.

The video also shows several captured Somali pirates kneeling on the ship as South Korean soldiers carrying rifles stand nearby. The video, taken by a nearby South Korean destroyer, shows the 1,500-ton chemical carrier Samho Jewelry pockmarked with bullet holes.

Their success came on the same day that Malaysia's navy successfully rescued a chemical tanker and its 23 crew members from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. No one in the rescue team or the ship's crew was injured and seven pirates were apprehended.

Alan Cole, the head of the U.N.'s anti-piracy program at the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said the South Korean and Malaysian navies may have resorted to using the commando raids out of frustration that other strategies employed to tackle piracy were not working.

"There is a good chance that navies will increase the numbers of patrols and step up military activity to try and deal with this problem," he said.

Before Friday, some raids had been launched by other countries to save ships boarded by Somali pirates within hours of the attacks or after being assured that crew members were locked in safe rooms.

The Malaysian raid followed that approach: It occurred soon after the pirates attacked and after the crew made it to a safe room. But the South Korean raid happened a week after the Samho Jewelry was captured; it was unclear whether any of that ship's crew had reached a safe room but clearly the captain had not.

"The tradition has been to hang back and let the pirates take the ships back to Somalia. I think they decided to take tougher line purely because the pirates are becoming more daring," said David Johnson, a director at the U.K.-based risk management firm Eos.

Pirates will likely change tactics and use hostages as human shields if navies start resorting to raids, Johnson said. But he added the pirates probably would not become brutal with captives.

The EU Naval Force, which has four ships patrolling the water off the horn of Africa, said Saturday it will not raid hijacked ships because such action could further endanger hostages' lives.

EU Naval Force spokesman Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy said any time EU naval forces get too close to hijacked ships, Somali pirates have threatened to kill the hostages.

The danger of navies conducting raids on hijacked ships was illustrated by the April 2009 death of French skipper Florent Lemacon, who had been held hostage off the Somali coast in a sailboat with four other hostages.

A raid by French commandos led to an exchange of fire with the pirates that left Lemacon dead. An inquiry found that Lemacon had been killed by a French military bullet.

The maritime bureau says there was drop in the number of attacks in the Gulf of Aden, leading to the Suez Canal, because of patrols by the international flotilla warships. Attacks in that area fell more than 50 percent, from 117 in 2009 to 53 in 2010.

O'Kennedy said the real solution to ending piracy lies in creating peace and stability on land.

The weak, U.N.-backed Somali government, however, has been too tied up fighting an Islamist insurgency to fight piracy. A series of corrupt and ineffective governments plundered government coffers, leading to widespread desertions when soldiers went unpaid.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Scientist: Pirate Attacks Predictable

January 25, 2011

Seattle Times

Of the 3,500 scientists attending the American Meteorological Society meeting in Seattle this week, only one had a good reason to say: "Arrrrgh."

While his colleagues swapped probabilistic equations, James Hansen came to talk about pirates.

Hansen rolled out some math of his own Monday as he explained his work to estimate the likelihood of attacks off the Horn of Africa and other hot spots, using weather data and an understanding of pirate behavior.

"Usually, I'm doing theoretical stuff down in the weeds," said Hansen, a Seattle-area native and applied mathematician at the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, Calif. "This is the only project where I can actually show pictures of the impact," he said, projecting images of Somali boatmen armed with missile-launchers and automatic weapons.

Though news coverage of pirate attacks has waned, the problem has worsened, Hansen said. Last year, there were nearly 450 attacks, with 53 ships captured and 1,181 crew members taken hostage. The estimated economic impact of the raids is $10 billion a year.

Even knowing the general location of pirate bases and their favored target areas, it's challenging for Navy and other patrol vessels to be in the right place at the right time, Hansen said.

"The Indian Ocean is really big."

The Navy will begin testing Hansen's model next month to see if it proves useful in helping direct patrol vessels and warn commercial ships when the risk of attack is high.

"Our mission is to try to protect ships," he said.

A piracy model

The project combines data on wind, waves and currents with intelligence gathered by informants, surveillance and other means on pirate habits: how far their small skiffs can travel; their assault tactics; the timing of forays.

Running the model yields maps that show the highest-risk areas. Adding real-time information on ship traffic can identify possible pirate targets.

"It's sort of like tornado warnings," Hansen said. Everyone may know the probability of tornadoes spikes during the spring in Oklahoma. But what residents want to know is whether a twister is likely headed their way today.

The pirate model may be able to provide ship captains and security forces with that level of alert, by combining statistical odds with on-the-ground observations.

Weather is clearly important to pirates, who can't operate in rough seas, Hansen pointed out.

"These guys are running around in tiny ships."

The 2009 hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama occurred on a calm day in April, said Gordan Van Hook, senior director for innovation and concept development for U.S.-based Maersk Line Limited. Pirates held the ship's captain hostage for five days, before Navy SEALs shot and killed three of his captors.

Van Hook said Hansen's combination of weather data and intelligence sounds promising.

"It's logical," he said. "If they would publish areas that are highly likely to have pirate activity, that would be valuable."

Other technological approaches to thwart pirate attacks include enhanced tracking of vessels worldwide, combined with surveillance by satellites that can zoom in on suspicious vessels, said Guy Thomas, science and technology adviser for the Coast Guard.

Some Somali pirates now operate from large "mother ships" that extend their range as far as Indian waters, Thomas said.

Short-term response

While the ultimate solution to the pirate problem lies in economic development and political stability for volatile nations like Somalia, technologies to reduce attacks can play a role -- as long as the U.S., the European Union and other seafaring nations share information, Thomas said.

But at Monday's presentation, Hansen wasn't able to reveal any real data because U.S. intelligence about pirates is classified. The Navy would like to share the information with allies, Hansen said, but federal rules may prevent it.

© Copyright 2011 Seattle Times. All rights reserved.

[gf a.k.a. ROBOPIMP]

The principle problem is a lack of consistency at the judicial level between nations, an inability to define an international common judicial model, inconsistent ROE's for participating nations under OP ATALANTA and a failure to exercise other options such as Interpol to track the money, freeze the assets and pursue the head of the snake rather than chasing its tail.

force has its limits, it doesn't go to the core of the problem.

[McFriday]

1/ The principle problem is a lack of consistency at the judicial level between nations, an inability to define an international common judicial model,

2/ inconsistent ROE's for participating nations under OP ATALANTA

3/ and a failure to exercise other options such as Interpol to track the money, freeze the assets.

4/ and pursue the head of the snake rather than chasing its tail, force has its limits, it doesn't go to the core of the problem.

GF,
Part i/ would cause a fair bit of part 2/ wouldn't it?
Getting the International community to agree that the sun will rise to-morrow would also be difficult, so much for the common cause.

Part 3/ is very disturbing, as one would have thought this would have been the first avenue explored. It's not like law enforcement has no experience in tracking black money, may depend on whose laundering though.

Totally agree with /4, though I suspect this is a bit more like a Hydra but each head that is lopped [preferably tapped for the fear factor] will certainly cause the rest to shrivel. Cutting off the tail when possible does have its place though, it may eventually cause enough comms. traffic to trace tiers of command.

There are many things to do with the Somalia Piracy situation that just don't smell right. The "at sea" ops I don't critique for a number of reasons, primarily because although a sailor, I'm not a Navy person. Even I can see many are handicapped by ROE limitations and to be critical without knowing what actually happened would be unfair to very professional sailors [of any nation].

I'm more comfortable commenting on other aspects of crime which is why I find point /3 very disturbing and the cynic in me says whose preventing that from happening and why? I can think of many agencies I assumed would know something but their hands may be tied as well?

Chuck Norris would sort them out, in his prime that is!!

Thanks for sharing your insights,
Cheers,
Mac

[buglerbilly]

Somalia Cancels Troop-Training Project

January 28, 2011

Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somalia's government decided on Thursday to cancel an agreement with a private security company linked to the founder of Blackwater Worldwide to train Somali forces to go after pirates and insurgents, a senior official said.

Deputy Security Minister Ibrahim Mohamed Yarow told The Associated Press that the Cabinet, meeting behind closed doors, ended the agreement with Saracen International in a decision he said is "irrevocable."

The AP reported last week that Erik Prince, whose former company Blackwater Worldwide became synonymous with the use of private U.S. security forces running amok in Iraq and Afghanistan, had quietly taken on a new role in the project to train troops in lawless Somalia. Blackwater guards were charged with killing 14 civilians in 2007 in the Iraqi capital.

Yarow said his government, which controls only part of Mogadishu in a country that has seen mostly anarchy for two decades, wanted assistance, but only from companies with distinguished records.

"The Cabinet has today overwhelmingly voted against Saracen International," Yarrow said.

Lafras Luitingh, the chief operating officer of Beirut-registered Saracen International, did not immediately return phone calls or text messages from AP seeking comment.

Yarow said the contract had also envisioned reviving social services in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital which has been heavily damaged by ongoing fighting, including building health facilities.

On Jan. 21, a day after the AP report appeared, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters in Washington that the United States was "concerned about the lack of transparency regarding Saracen's funding, its objectives and its scope."

Crowley said the U.S. had made these concerns known to Somali officials.

Luitingh had told AP that his company signed a contract with the Somali government in March. He declined to say then whether Prince was involved in the project and said he was not part of Saracen. But a person familiar with the project and an intelligence report seen by AP said Prince was involved in the multimillion-dollar program financed by several Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates.

It aimed to mobilize some 2,000 Somali recruits to fight Somali pirates who are terrorizing mariners sailing far off the African coast. The force was also to go after a warlord linked to Islamist insurgents, one official said.

Blackwater gained a notorious reputation in Washington after a series of incidents.

A U.S. federal judge threw out the charges related to the 2007 Baghdad shootings on the grounds that the defendants' constitutional rights were violated. Last year, Iraq's Interior Ministry gave all contractors who had worked with Blackwater at the time of the shooting one week to get out of the country or face arrest for visa violations.

The European Union is training about 2,000 Somali soldiers with U.S. support, and an African Union force of 8,000 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers is propping up the government.

Prince, now based in the United Arab Emirates, is no longer with Blackwater, now known as Xe Services. He has stoutly defended the company, telling Vanity Fair magazine that "when it became politically expedient to do so, someone threw me under the bus."

Since the signing of the Saracen contracts, a new Somali government took office and appointed a panel to investigate the deal and others, Minister of Information Abdulkareem Jama said earlier this month.

The U.N. is quietly investigating whether the Somalia projects have broken the blanket embargo on arms supplies to Somali factions.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved

[gf a.k.a. ROBOPIMP]

GF,
Part i/ would cause a fair bit of part 2/ wouldn't it?

they're strongly connected, but can be separate. eg one nation may be willing to use kill/capture, another would only seek to capture. at capture, one would seek to return them without charge, another might seek charging under local conventions or the flag owners nation of registration, another might seek incarceration for offences caused against any of their own nationals if any exist in the ships crew


Getting the International community to agree that the sun will rise to-morrow would also be difficult, so much for the common cause.

agree, but's an international issue not just for nationals in the crew, flag owners, consignment holders, sellers etc... because the cost to protect and insure will flow on to all other trade over time


Part 3/ is very disturbing, as one would have thought this would have been the first avenue explored. It's not like law enforcement has no experience in tracking black money, may depend on whose laundering though.

the problem for some of the financial trail is that if it goes through something like islamic banking it becomes significantly more difficult to track and trace


Totally agree with /4, though I suspect this is a bit more like a Hydra but each head that is lopped [preferably tapped for the fear factor] will certainly cause the rest to shrivel. Cutting off the tail when possible does have its place though, it may eventually cause enough comms. traffic to trace tiers of command.

the downside to this is the more volatile pirate groups will change their mode of operation and lean towards violence against the crews whereas in the past they just used them as bargaining chips


There are many things to do with the Somalia Piracy situation that just don't smell right. The "at sea" ops I don't critique for a number of reasons, primarily because although a sailor, I'm not a Navy person. Even I can see many are handicapped by ROE limitations and to be critical without knowing what actually happened would be unfair to very professional sailors [of any nation].

there's a string of options but they're not all viable for each event. eg the debate on DT I mentioned that my daughters captain had no compunction in against turning a 60,000 tonne vessel around and heading towards the boats/skiffs, his view being that even if he didn't make contact, then the size of the wake would make their lives miserable for a short enough period to stop them. That didn't stop the pirates from firing RPG's at his ship, one of which penetrated and injured a crew member (thank goodness it was inert, but it caused physical damage nonetheless. The increasing use of panic rooms is another, the problem with these is that some of them are entirely cut off and the crew really have no idea if they are safe, if the vessel has been siezed and on the way to somalia. or if the vessel is still at risk.

there's a strong lessons learnt on what type of vessels are preferred to engage in piracy patrol, so there is some common military options that are occurring


I'm more comfortable commenting on other aspects of crime which is why I find point /3 very disturbing and the cynic in me says whose preventing that from happening and why? I can think of many agencies I assumed would know something but their hands may be tied as well?


govts hands are tied because they're nervous about breaching the spirit of the rule of law and be seen as excessively belligerent.

the cynic in me says that the SK specwarries would not have done the same kind of action if their Govt had not been embarrassed for a lack of response against the Norks a few months back. I suspect that regaining domestic confidence in Sth Korea had considerable weight in this action.

[buglerbilly]

There is rarely, if ever, any attempt to track funding thru the Global Banking systems.

For certain countries it is still ILLEGAL to do so, for others there is both suspicion and political opposition to any attempt to do so, and most certainly for any WESTERN nation to do so (and Interpol is viewed as Western-controlled by many).

The other problem is that there are unofficial "banking" systems that abound in certain cultures and certain nations, and any attempt to track funds thru them is bound to be ineffective.

This doesn't mean to say this shouldn't be done BUT the beneficial results expected from this may not occur for an appreciable period of time, as intelligence is accumulated, and ultimately may prove to be of no major benefit at all. Theoretically, there is a potential, factually this may be difficult to achieve.

[gf a.k.a. ROBOPIMP]

The other problem is that there are unofficial "banking" systems that abound in certain cultures and certain nations, and any attempt to track funds thru them is bound to be ineffective.


thats certainly the issue with Somalia. most of the redirection is suspected of going through islamic banking

large money does get tracked, but the problem is the pattern of frequency and then an attempt to attribute it to significant events... basically it comes to naught though if the local jurisdiction has no interest in conducting their own robust investigations - and as there's a high level of confidence that what exists as a "concept of govt" has corrupt employees who are disinterested due to being on the payrolls. as are port employees in various locations, which is how they can generally get it right about which cargo is valuable, which is carrying decent payroll and which ones carry armed contractors....

[McFriday]

GF and Bug,

Thanks for all your points of interest, very enlightening, I could prattle on about the value of even the smallest bits of intel. but feel that would be akin to the altar boy advising the priest. LOL

The Gordian Knot comes to mind and maybe we now need a modern Alexander, though I doubt even ancient Alexander would have acted if he had to wait for the consensus of his lawyers, advisers, courtiers etc.

Cheers,
Mac

[buglerbilly]

Report: Somali Pirates Torturing Hostages

February 02, 2011

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Somali pirates are systematically torturing hostages and using them as human shields, the top commander of the European Union Naval Force said Tuesday.

Pirates have recently tied hostages upside down and dragged them in the sea, locked them in freezers, beaten them and used plastic ties around their genitals, Maj. Gen. Buster Howes told The Associated Press.

"There have been regular manifestations of systematic torture," he said. If warships approached a pirated ship too closely, the pirates would drag hostages on deck and beat them in front of naval officers until the warship went away, Howes said.

"A few years go, they were very constrained and much more respectful" to hostages, he said, but now "they've shown a willingness to use violence much more quickly and much more violence."

Howes' account of the worsening treatment of hostages was based on hostage debriefings, naval intelligence and liaison with commercial shipping companies.

There could be several reasons for the change in tactics. As ransoms have risen, the Somali fishermen who began first taking ships have been edged out by more ruthless and well organized gangs. More warships and better-prepared crews mean pirates have to use more violence to stop ships -- for example, hitting a vessel with several rocket-propelled grenades -- and sometimes more violence to get to crews that have locked themselves in a safe room or "citadel."

Citadels, hidden behind reinforced doors, are typically supplied with food and drink, two-way communications and a means of controlling the ship's engines. Crew members should be able to wait there safely while their ship drifts and help from a nearby warship arrives. Howes said there had been 21 incidents in recent months when pirates boarded, found the crew locked in a citadel, and had to abandon ship.

"They know the cavalry is coming," he said.

In one instance, a ship owner told a confused pirate over the telephone that his crew had gone on vacation while they hid in a safe room below.

But as more ships use citadels, the pirates have become more determined to break them open. They've fired rocket-propelled grenades at the doors at close range, used plastic explosives, and even set three ships on fire while terrified crews huddled below decks, said Howes.

During last week's seizure of the German-owned MV Beluga Nomination, the crew holed up in the citadel for three days, desperately awaiting help. Finally, the pirates breached the citadel -- it's unclear how -- and executed a crew member, said Howes. Two others -- a Ukrainian and a Filipino -- escaped in a lifeboat and spent two days at sea before being rescued by a Danish warship, he said. Seven of the crew are now under pirate control and two are missing, Howes said.

Pirates are also using more violence because they have become more aware of the value other nations place on the lives of hostages, said Howes.

Negotiations are dragging on for longer as pirates hold out for bigger ransoms, and torturing a crew member could be one way of putting pressure on a ship owner to settle up quickly.

The realization that the hostages have value -- and not just the ship and its cargo -- means that pirates are also more frequently using hijacked ships to launch attacks.

"It's really spiked in the last six weeks," said Howes. In the six days after Christmas, 11 pirated ships had been put to sea to act as "motherships" he said.

"That was a much more deliberate and coherent deployment," than previously seen, he said.

But using larger, captured ships to launch attacks offers the pirates many advantages. It's more comfortable and safer than spending weeks floating around in a tiny skiff. The vessels also come with already captured hostages, making the warships more reluctant to intervene, and ship's equipment such as radios and radar can be useful for hunting new prey.

But there are problems for the pirates, too: They are far easier to track, so nearby ships can be warned about their presence, and they need a lot more logistical support, said Howes. Some pirated ships were abandoned after they ran out of fuel, and in recent weeks navies witnessed a bungled attempt to transfer fuel from one pirated ship to another, suggesting that keeping the ships in food and fuel might prove problematic.

Howes said the navies were studying motherships at anchor to better understand how their supply chains worked and where they might be vulnerable.

Pirates are currently holding 31 ships and more than 700 sailors hostage, he said. Somalia has not had a functioning central government for 20 years.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Pirates Hit a Gusher With Twin Oil Tanker Haul

By Adam Rawnsley February 9, 2011 | 3:10 pm | Categories: Terrorists, Guerillas, Pirates



If you think oil companies are the only ones making a killing on crude, think again. Somali pirates, the Indian Ocean’s most annoying sailors, have hit the big time again, reeling in two oil tankers in two days for what looks set to be a hefty payday.

Somali pirates snagged the U.S.-bound oil tanker Irene SL today as it sailed through the Arabian Sea near Oman. The big catch comes only a day after pirates hijacked another oil tanker, the Italian-owned Savina Caylyn, at a whopping 800 miles off the coast of Somalia.

Pirates have expressed a preference for attacking oil tankers because of the high ransom payments owners are willing to shell out to get their pricey cargo back. And in the past, they’ve commanded some record prices. The Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker hijacked by pirates in late 2008, fetched $3 million for its release, around double the going rate at the time. Last year, pirates broke ransom records with the a $7 million payout for the Greek oil tanker, the Maran Centaurus, only to surpass it with a $9.5 million ransom for South Korea’s Samho Dream.

With the Savina Caylyn potentially holding up to $63 million worth of oil and the Irene SL hauling about $200 million worth of cargo, it might be a good time to put some money in the pirate stock market.

It’s an investment with growth potential. The price of ransoms has been on the upswing over the years. Pirates took home an average of $5.4 million per ship last year — a total haul of about $238 million that year — making 2005’s average of $150,000 a ship seem like a bargain.

Statistics compiled by the International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Center show that pirates were able to hijack 49 vessels and take over 1,000 hostages last year, a slight increase over the 47 vessels Somali pirates snagged in 2009. The increase took place despite presence of anti-piracy patrols from a number of countries in the region. While piracy went down 50 percent in the Gulf of Aden near the warships patrols, pirates have spread out, according to IMB statistics, increasing their attacks in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

Consider the Irene SL and Savina Caylyn hijackings to be just a prelude of what’s to come as pirate season heats up. April and May, just a short while away, have traditionally been the most active pirating months as the end of monsoon season brings on calmer waters. The seasonal increase, combined with fears over a “piracy war” driven by allegations of pirates torturing hostages, could make for more fireworks at sea.

Photo: EU Navfor

[buglerbilly]

FEBRUARY 22, 2011, 8:16 P.M. ET.

Somali Pirates Kill Four U.S. Hostages

Text By KEITH JOHNSON

Somali pirates shot and killed four American hostages Tuesday on a 58-foot yacht seized last week in the Arabian Sea, the U.S. military said.

U.S. Navy forces trailing the yacht, the Quest, stormed the vessel after hearing gunfire on board, killing two pirates and capturing 13 more.

Two of the Americans, Jean and Scott Adam, had been sailing around the world on their yacht since 2004 and were joined for this journey by Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, veteran sailors who had previously circumnavigated the globe in their own vessel.

Somali Pirates executed four Americans on a Yacht hijacked off the coast of Oman. U.S. special forces immediately stormed the Yacht killing two pirates and detaining 13.

Negotiations for the release of the Americans were under way early Tuesday when pirates on the vessel fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the destroyer USS Sterett, one of four ships trailing the yacht, according to U.S. Central Command. Then, U.S. forces heard the small-arms fire and boarded the yacht.

Nineteen pirates took part in the hijacking, the military said, including the 13 captured, two killed in the boarding, two others found dead on the vessel and two who were already in U.S. custody. President Barack Obama had authorized the use of deadly force by the Navy.


Associated Press
In this June 11, 2005 file photo provided by Joe Grande, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle are seen on a yacht in Bodega Bay, California.

Other Somali pirates who had been in contact with their colleagues on the seized yacht told Reuters on Tuesday that the hostages were executed after the U.S. opened fire on the pirates, killing two of them.

U.S. officials denied that version of events and said no U.S. vessels fired on the Quest. Vice Admiral Mike Fox, head of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, added that the assault team didn't fire on the pirates while boarding but killed two later.

Piracy in the Indian Ocean, and especially in the waters near Somalia, has become endemic in recent years. Lawless Somalia provides a haven for pirates who roam hundreds of miles to sea, targeting potentially lucrative prizes such as tankers. The deadly showdown Tuesday could stoke further violence in the region, one pirate said.

"We will kill Americans on the spot as soon as we set eyes on their citizens—this attack will mainly harm them, not us," said Ali Hussein, a Somali pirate in the Puntland town of Garacad.

The pace, scope and cost of such attacks are all increasing, threatening the viability of a major shipping lane between Asia and the Suez Canal. There were 444 piracy attacks world-wide in the first 11 months of 2010, according to the United Nation's International Maritime Organization. In all of 2009, there were 406 and 300 in 2008.

The U.S. and Europe have responded to the rise in attacks by stepping up naval patrols; among the warships following the Quest was the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. European forces also operate a piracy task force in the Indian Ocean.

The four Americans had made part of their journey, from Thailand to the West Coast of India, with fellow sailors organized by Blue Water Rallies, a U.K.-based yachting group. The group has for 15 years helped sailors navigate pirate-plagued waters near the Red Sea, but the Quest broke away to chart its own course from Mumbai to Oman just days before it was attacked, the group said.

Mr. and Mrs. Adam met through the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. They shared a love of sailing and faith, and sold their homes in 2002 to build a yacht so they could spend six months a year sailing around the world on carefully planned voyages. They carried Bibles to distribute on their voyage. "They were adventurers who loved meeting new people," said Robert Johnston, a professor at Fuller who was close to the couple.

Fighting pirates at sea is complicated. Expanses of open water—about 2 million square miles just off the coast of Somalia—tax the ability of naval forces to effectively patrol. Naval assaults of private yachts, in particular, have proven problematic. In April 2009, a raid by French commandos on a private yacht freed some passengers but killed the yacht's owner.

Further, to successfully prosecute captured pirates, naval forces essentially need catch them in the act. And the judicial systems in nearby countries, especially Kenya and the Seychelles, are already overloaded, further complicating the legal fight against piracy.

The Quest incident "rather underscores the futility of current anti-piracy efforts and suggest the need for a markedly different approach," said Eugene Kontorovich, an expert on maritime law at Northwestern University Law School.

—Peter Wonacott, Tamara Audi and Alexandra Berzon contributed to this article.
Write to Keith Johnson at keith.johnson@wsj.com

[Unicorn]

I expect that we will see the gradual assumption by anti-piracy forces of a 'guilt by intention' mindset,, resulting in a lot more relaxed set of ROE, in turn resulting in fewer pirates clogging up courts in Kenya and the Seychelles.

.

[buglerbilly]

Pirates Add Firepower After 4 US Deaths

February 23, 2011

Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya - Pirates in Somalia said Wednesday they are ferrying ammunition and men to the 30 hijacked vessels still under their control, and they threatened to kill more captives following the violent end to a hostage standoff that left four Americans dead.

The U.S. military said that 15 pirates detained after the Americans were slain Tuesday could face trial in the United States.

The military, FBI and Justice Department are working on the next steps for those pirates, said Bob Prucha, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command in Florida. The Somalis are currently being held on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which is in the waters off East Africa.

A pirate aboard the hijacked yacht Quest on Tuesday fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. warship that had responded to last Friday's hijacking. Then gunfire broke out aboard the yacht. When Navy special forces reached the Quest, they found the four American hostages had been shot and killed.

The FBI is investigating the killings of Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle of Seattle, Washington, and Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, near Los Angeles, who had made their home aboard their 58-foot yacht Quest since December 2004.

The Adams handed out Bibles around the world, but a pirate who gave his name only as Hassan told The Associated Press on Wednesday that played no factor. He said the pirates reacted violently after the U.S. forces blocked the yacht's path.

"We had plans to either take the hostages to the inland mountains or to move onto other hijacked ships because we knew that the U.S. Navy was serious about carrying out a rescue operation," Hassan said. "The hostages pleaded with us not to harm them or take them to dangerous places. They cried when we captured them ... and asked us to release them because they were too old and couldn't endure captivity."

The killings came less than a week after a Somali pirate was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison by a New York court for the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. That hijacking ended when Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates holding the ship's American captain.

Pirates reacted angrily to the sentencing and have since vowed that they will kill hostages before being captured during military raids and being sent to face trial.

Pirates once were believed to be disgruntled and financially motivated Somali fishermen angry that international trawlers were illegally fishing Somalia's waters. Now criminal gangs dominate the piracy trade, and have begun systematically torturing hostages, including locking them in freezers.

"What we're seeing is that because of the business model the pirates have adopted is so lucrative that you're now getting organized criminal gangs involved as opposed to fishermen who just decided to have a go at piracy," said Wing Commander Paddy O'Kennedy, spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force.

"Criminal gangs are more violent than your average fisherman who's turned to piracy," O'Kennedy said.

A pirate in Somalia who gave his name as Adowe Osman Ali said fellow "soldiers" had ferried the reinforcements to hijacked ships in their hands on Wednesday in a bid to deter more hostage rescue attempts. He said after Tuesday's incident, captains of hijacked ships have been ordered to tell navies not to approach or hostages would be killed.

"In the past, 20 or so soldiers used to guard every ship but now the numbers are ranging between 60 and 70 soldiers," said Ali, a pirate in the coastal village of Gara'ad.

"We are more alert than anytime before," he said. "In the past, we allowed the foreign navies to approach us but now we have warned them to not get nearer to us."

Piracy has plagued the shipping industry off East Africa for years, but the violence used during the attacks - and the money demanded in ransoms - have increased in recent months. Pirates now hold some 30 ships and more than 660 hostages.

The average ransom now paid to pirates is in the $5 million range, a huge leap from only three or four years ago when it was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, said Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the London-based think tank Chatham House. One ransom paid last year was just shy of $10 million.

"It's really gone up, really an enormous amount," Middleton said. "If you think you can get a $9.5 million ransom, I suppose the logic is that you try any means possible to get there, and if that means scaring some crews and owners more, I guess that's what you do," he said, alluding to the recent reports of torture.

Industry experts warned Wednesday it's too soon to say whether the Americans' deaths will require a wholesale change in the way the shipping industry operates along with the militaries patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

It's still not known publicly whether prompted a pirate to fire a rocket-propelled grenade at a Navy war ship, and it's unclear whether there was an internal pirate fight or if there had been a hostage escape attempt.

"We don't know what happened yesterday so we're not going to make any knee-jerk decisions," O'Kennedy said. "But our policy remains the same. Nothing is off the table. All options are open to us as a military force."

Pirates blamed the deaths of the American hostages on the U.S. Navy, saying the pirates felt under attack.

"We warned them before that if we are attacked, there would be only dead bodies," said a man who gave his name as Abdirahman Abdullahi Qabowsade. "We have been killed and arrested illegally before, so we can't bear with such attacks anymore. We will respond to any future attacks aggressively."

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Don’t Expect The World’s Navies to Save You from Pirates

By Spencer Ackerman February 23, 2011 | 3:13 pm



The pirate infested waters off of Somalia are now patrolled by 34 warships from 15 nations, a coalition determined to stop the brigands. But the grisly murders of four Americans aboard a captured yacht shows that the anti-pirate coalition can’t protect every seafarer, even when it takes early action to free hostages.

Those, at least, are the early conclusions that the U.S. Navy is drawing. The pirates that captured the S/V Quest on Friday were about 100 miles from the Somali northern coast, midway to an Indian Ocean island called Socotra that Yemen controls. But that’s practically their backyard. Despite the efforts of the anti-piracy coalition, the pirates’ reach has actually expanded — “all the way up into the North Arabian Sea, off of the coast of India, down to Madagascar,” Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, told reporters yesterday.

Fox, who commands U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, attributed that expanded reach to a reduced monsoon season this year and increased pirate reliance on “mother ships,” larger vessels that serve as launch points for smaller ships in deeper water. But while the weather is hard to predict, using mother ships isn’t a new tactic for the Somali pirate fleet. The Indian navy sunk one in the Gulf of Aden back in 2008. Mideast-based U.S. Navy forces even captured one the following year.

And that exposes a basic weakness, as National Journal noted. Fox confessed, “with the vast distances that are involved here, you know, there’s a lot — there’s a lot of places where we are not.”

That’s a general concern. The more immediate lesson emerging from the Quest is that even when the U.S. Navy responds assertively to a hostage situation — getting into position quickly; using massive force but not being provocative; being diplomatic before getting violent — things can still turn ugly.

To be clear: there’s a lot that remains murky about what happened aboard the Quest. But according to Fox’s briefing yesterday, the response to the Quest was initially promising, reflecting years of recent experience in counterpiracy operations. Within a few days (the timeline is unclear) of learning the Quest was hijacked, four U.S. Navy ships, including an aircraft carrier (!), pursued and made contact with the yacht and began negotiations with the pirates for the safety of the four Americans aboard. On Monday, the day before the killings, two pirates boarded the U.S. missile destroyer Sterett and began face-to-face talks. As far as the rescue team knew, the hostages were still alive.

Early on Tuesday, a rocket propelled grenade hurtled from the Quest to the Sterett, followed by the sounds of gunfire — what Fox believes was the execution of the hostages. A raiding team of Special Operations Forces had yet to fire its guns or come aboard the Quest, leading Fox to tell reporters that the U.S. couldn’t have killed the hostages by mistake during the ensuing battle. That raiding team shot one pirate dead, killed another with a knife, and took the remaining 13 prisoner. Even before it boarded, Fox said, “several pirates appeared on deck and moved up to the bow with their hands in the air in surrender.”

So at least some of the pirates were negotiating — and even surrendering. The Navy brought overwhelming force: an aircraft carrier, two destroyers and a guided missile cruiser. But despite the seemingly-rational hijackers and the U.S. Navy’s big-time advantage, the pirates still killed their hostages. American sailors were unable to pull off a repeat of the successful 2009 rescue of the Maersk Alabama.

Statistics released by the Pentagon yesterday show that the pirates are increasingly lethal, not just willing to barter away their ill-gotten cargo for cash. Before the Quest, two people have died in pirate killings in the first two months of the year; eight died in 2010; and that’s twice as many as killed in 2009.

Fox warned seafarers to stay within “an internationally recommended transit corridor for merchant ships that we patrol very carefully routinely” near the Horn of Africa. But as Time’s Mark Thompson reminds, the admiral sounded the alarms about the increased pirate danger for weeks before the Quest incident. No wonder private security firms and Gulf governments are standing up anti-pirate militias.

Photo: Flickr/DVIDS

[buglerbilly]

Indian Ships May Get Armed Anti-Pirate Guards

By Adam Rawnsley March 16, 2011 | 12:30 pm



Here’s how sick the Indian government is of the pirates that increasingly menace its commercial ships: it’s mulling over a plan to authorize armed guards to protect the decks.

No firm decisions have been made yet. But it appears that rather than hiring armed private guards to protect ships flying the Indian flag, Mumbai is looking to station government personnel aboard its merchant vessels, similar to the Sky Marshals aboard its private aircraft.

The move comes amidst a series of series of reforms announced by the Indian government early this month to confront its growing piracy problem. India’s drafting a new law to prosecute captured pirates, in line with th United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. And though it’s never been shy about getting violent with pirates, India is also reportedly loosening up the rules of engagement procedures for its navy to allow a larger range of offensive actions.

India’s Sky Marshals are drawn from its elite counterterrorism police force, the National Security Guards, and deployed on select airline routes viewed as vulnerable to terrorism. But since the pirates’ vast area of operations in the Indian Ocean places a huge amount of Indian maritime traffic at risk, it’s not clear how Indian would decide which ships would get a “Sea Marshal” aboard.

Somali pirates used to be active primarily in the Gulf of Aden. But as international anti-piracy task forces like the EU’s Navfor and the U.S.-led multinational Combined Task Force 151 patrols started to mess with the piracy trade in the region, pirates simply moved eastward and into the Indian Ocean.

Since then, pirates have been creeping ever closer to the Indian coastline. A quick look at International Maritime Bureau’s 2010 piracy map shows that attacks closer to India than Somalia are hardly uncommon anymore. Last month, Somali pirates attacked a tanker only 40 nautical miles off the coast of India (armed guards on board reportedly repelled the attack).

As Somali piracy has increased in range, lethality and frequency over the years, a number of ships have turned to private security to fend off the seaborne kidnappers. It’s a solution endorsed by U.S. Central Command, too, which has called it “a great trend” and egged on shipping companies to “get more serious” by hiring the companies. The notorious mercs from Blackwater tried to get in on some of the action, but have since reportedly preferred to fight piracy on land via private militias.

It’s not clear if other countries will follow India’s lead in stationing troops aboard merchant ships. But India’s aggressive new approach to piracy, amidst increasingly violent behavior on the part of pirates, is an indication that the escalating piracy war isn’t likely to diminish any time soon.

Photo: Flickr/Deepak Gupta

[buglerbilly]

Indian MoD: Piracy Close to India’s Western Coast a Matter of Great Concern



15:21 GMT, March 16, 2011

The Indian Defence Ministry has proposed a proactive role under the United Nations flag to tackle the threat to maritime traffic from piracy.

“India is in favour of strengthening multilateral cooperation under a UN framework to meet the complex challenges of maritime security,” says the Annual Report for 2010-11 of the Ministry of Defence, laid before the Parliament today.

The report says the increased incidence of piracy in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) “is an issue of serious concern.”

“The threat of piracy and terrorism to international trade and safety of the sea lanes of communication has emerged as a major problem. “The threat of piracy emerging from Somalian waters continues to endanger the safety of the sea lanes and is a matter of concern for the international community.”

The report says, “the spread of piracy to areas close to our western seaboard has made this a cause of great concern.”

“The presence of Somali pirates in the waters around our western island territories has been an unwelcome development which requires heightened vigil… The linkages between terrorists based in Somalia and transnational organized crime is also a cause of major concern globally.”

The report says New Delhi is engaged in enhancing cooperative interactions and exchanges with various countries in the IOR to tackle common security challenges.

“The Indian Navy has been actively involved in combating maritime piracy in the region on its own and in coordination with the Navies and coalition forces of various countries in the Gulf of Aden.”

The report says the IOR is “central” to India’s maritime interests and concerns.

“India’s economic development is crucially dependent on the sea because of the criticality of sea-borne trade in an increasingly inter-linked world, as well as because of the potential of vast economic resources of the oceans… India’s maritime interest involve the safeguarding of our coastline and island territories, as also our interests in our EEZ, as well as in maintaining open and secure Sea Lines of Communication (SLOCs).”

Dwelling on the security scenario in the immediate neighbourhood, the report says our relations with China are of “crucial importance.”

“India is conscious and watchful of the implications of China’s evolving military profile in the immediate and extended neighbourhood. India’s policy is to engage with China on the principles of mutual trust and respect and sensitivity for each other’s concerns.”

The report takes note of the recent political developments in West Asia and North Africa. “The impact of these developments on the security situation in the region and on the security of energy supplies is of global concern.”

Underscoring India’s vibrant ties with all countries in the region, the report says that New Delhi will continue to engage with them on the basis of mutuality of respect and interests.

“India has also been actively involved in peacekeeping operations in Africa under the UN mandate and seeks to consolidate its relations with many countries in the region with which we have historical linkages”.

The report says that the ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus forum of ten ASEAN and eight non-ASEAN countries, including India, is an effort to establish an open and inclusive security architecture for the region.

“...India’s policy is to encourage and participate in cooperative approaches which would enable all countries in the region to counter traditional and no-traditional security challenges and to ensure that the critical sea lanes in the region are kept open, secure and free for navigation and trade.”

On the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the report implicates Pakistan “due to undiminished activities of terrorist organizations from its territory.”

“The continued infiltrations across the LoC and the existence of terrorist camps across the India-Pak border demonstrate the continuing ambivalence of Pakistan in its attitude and approach to terrorist organisations, even though such organizations pose a danger to Pakistan’s own social and political fabric.”

On Myanmar, the report says India continues to engage with its eastern neighbor and cooperation in security matters is being enhanced. “The Government of Myanmar has reciprocated India’s gestures of goodwill and friendship”. On Sri Lanka the report says India supports Colombo’s efforts to find a lasting political settlement. “India stands ready to enhance bilateral cooperation in a range of areas, including defence and security”. (PK)

[buglerbilly]

Somali pirates raise ransom stakes

Somalia's pirates are turning violent in the face of pressure from foreign navies - and proving as successful as ever, reports Colin Freeman


Heavily armed Somali pirates took 1,016 hostages last year and their brutrality is getting worse Photo: AFP

8:00AM BST 10 Apr 2011

Three months after he swapped them for a $5.4 million ransom, Budiga the Pirate still dances a wicked jig in the dreams of the crew of the Marida Marguerite. On some occasions, sailor Sandeep Dangwal remembers the day Budiga trussed him up on deck and tortured him. On others, he recalls the day Budiga stripped the ship's captain naked and forced him into the deep freeze, or the time a fellow crewman was left to hang by his wrists from a 40-foot mast.

"Budiga was the nastiest pirate devil ever," said Mr Dangwal, 26, who spent eight months as a hostage. "I still have bad dreams about that bastard now, and whenever I hear about a new ship being hijacked it upsets me. I hate to think that other people might suffer what I suffered."

Talking last week from his home outside Delhi, Mr Dangwal is the first sailor to speak out about a sinister new trend in Somalia'spiracy epidemic, in which the modern-day buccaneers are turning to the kind of brutality more associated with their medieval predecessors.

While the pirate victims of yesteryear might fear the cat o'nine tails or walking the plank, today they risk punishments such as being being "cooled" in a ship's walk-in freezer, "cooked" on a hot metal shipdeck in the midday sun, or forced to phone a distraught relative while a pirate fires a Kalashnikov in close earshot.

Previously known for treating hostages relatively well, the pirate gangs have adopted a new ruthlessness to pressure ship owners into paying ever higher ransoms, which already total hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Coupled with figures which show that the number of piracy attacks is still increasing, the trend has prompted a new level of alarm through the international maritime world. Leading figures in the British shipping industry have told The Sunday Telegraph that Western naval forces must now take far tougher action to prevent the problem "spiralling out of control".

At the same time, maritime trade unions have warned that their members may soon refuse to sail through the pirate "high risk" area - which now covers much of the western Indian Ocean. Such a move would paralyse the key global shipping route through the Suez Canal, and also threaten oil supplies from the Persian Gulf.

"It's not just about the seafarers who are unlucky enough to be hijacked, it is stressful for all sailors who transit through the area, who now face four or five days in fear of their lives," said Jon Whitlow, of the International Transport Workers' Federation. "Who would put up with that in any other line of work?"

Uppermost in the unions' minds is the fate of ships like the Marida Marguerite, a 13,000 tonne chemical container vessel that was taken last May. For the first three months, the 22 crew were treated humanely, but as ransom talks dragged on, the pirates' patience frayed.

"They took me on deck one day and tied my hands and my legs behind my back for two hours, and also tightened a cable around my genitals," said Mr Dangwal, an engine technician. "When I screamed, they tightened it more."

Others suffered even more. The ship's captain was put naked into the vessel's freezer with his underwear filled with ice, spending half an hour in temperatures of minus 17C. When the chief engineer got the same treatment, and tried running around to keep warm, the pirates hung him from the freezer's meathook. The sailor who was suspended by his wrists from the mast, meanwhile, passed out after two hours.

"There was a period when none of us thought we'd come out alive," said sailor Dipendra Singh Rathore, 22, a devout Hindu, who was so distraught that at one point he gave up praying. "I was not personally beaten much, but hearing what was happening to the others was bad enough."

According to Major General Buster Howes, the British commander of the European Union Naval Force, there are now "regular manifestations of systematic torture" by pirate gangs. There has even been one incident of "keelhauling", a 15th century pirate practice in which sailors are thrown over one side of a ship and dragged by a rope under the keel to the other.

"It is barbaric," said Bill Box, of Intertanko, the international association of independent tanker owners. "If they pull the sailor too quick, he will be ripped apart by the barnacles on the ship's underside, and if they pull him too slowly, he may drown."

While still confined to a minority of hijack cases, such brutality runs counter to the pirates' carefully-cultivated image as African "Robin Hoods". Until now, they have prided themselves on using only the minimum force necessary, claiming merely to be "taxing" passing vessels in revenge for foreign poaching of their fish stocks.

One theory is that as foreign navies have tried to crack down on the problem, the ex-fishermen who originally dominated the piracy game have been replaced by hardened militiamen, who are also more likely to stand their ground when confronted. Seven hostages have died this year in stand-offs with the 25-odd foreign warships patrolling the region, including four American yachters on the SV Questin February.

Another evolution in pirate tactics is the use of "mother ships" - hijacked vessels which allow them to range for hundreds of miles, and which serve as floating jails for hostages.

Two weeks ago, the Indian Navy launched an attack on another mother ship, a Mozambican trawler called the Vega 5, arresting some 61 pirates and rescuing 13 hijacked crew members. But up to a dozen others still remain operational, despite the multi-national fleet knowing where they are. European naval commanders insist that attacking them carries too much risk of hostages getting killed, however, such is the threat that the shipping industry says only a "military solution" is now practical.

"The mother ships represent an industrialisation of piracy, and we have to find a way of breaking the cycle," said Gavin Simmonds, head of international policy at the British Chamber of Shipping.

"The military has got to be more robust, as the consequences of leaving the situation as it is are greater than those of using greater force."

Hijacking figures appear to back the view that the anti-piracy fleet is having little effect. Last year saw a record 1,016 crew members taken hostage, compared with 867 in 2009 and 815 in 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

"The situation has not improved," said Captain Pottengal Mukundan, director of the bureau's piracy reporting centre. "Random demands are higher, and they are keeping ships for longer - some have been held for more than a year."

Some now go as far as to back a "shoot on sight" policy. Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, a Norwegian shipping magnate, said earlier this year that history proved it to be the only effective way to police areas as large as oceans. "I'm just telling it like it is," he said. "The way to solve the pirate problem is to sink the pirates and their ships."

However, any more "robust" approach would involve Western navies reassessing their current rules of engagement, which generally allow lethal force only when they are directly engaged in acts piracy, and which place some emphasis on pirates' human rights

Not surprisingly, that is a consideration that Mr Dangwal has little time for. Anything that stops Budiga claiming more victims is justified, he says. "These aren't pirates, they are terrorists. There should be no mercy."

[buglerbilly]

For NATO (and others), it’s gloves off against Somali pirates


A pirate mothership is destroyed by a Finnish EU NAVFOR warship.

International forces step up intensity of actions against piracy off the coast of Somalia

06:17 GMT, April 15, 2011 The incidents were published step by step: In the beginning of April, according to NATO’s counter piracy operation Ocean Shield, marines from the Dutch frigate Tromp boarded a pirate mothership off the Somali coast, killing two pirates when returning fire. Also around that time, the Danish Naval Command – but not NATO – informed last week, the Danish warship Esbern Snare had intercepted a pirate mothership off the Somali coast, wounding three pirates when returning fire.

You could have assumed that these two incidents have been connected. And indeed, yesterday NATO’s Ocean Shield command in Northwood, U.K. confirmed that the Alliance’s anti-piracy operation is going tough on the pirates. Instead of patrolling the sea lanes and waiting attacks and disaster to happen as they did in recent years, NATO has started offensive operations against what they call the known pirate lairs at sea, close to the coast. In fact, that means interdiction operations against known motherships – even, and that’s a new thing, against those which are known to have the original crew still on board.

Here’s NATO’s press release (published April 13) which outlines, albeit clumsily, the new offensive tactics:

| NATO Operation Delivers Severe Blow Against Armed Pirates
|
| Earlier this month, NATO counter-piracy forces delivered a severe
| blow against armed pirates off the coast of Somalia by arresting 34
| suspected pirates. The suspected pirates had previously been
| observed loading up their mother ships and skiffs with fuel and
| weapons in order to attack merchant ships further out to sea. In a
| well-planned operation, NATO warships conducted a night-time strike
| on the known pirate lairs at sea, close to the coast. As well as
| detaining the 34 suspected pirates, 34 innocent hostages, who had
| been held by the pirates, were freed unharmed by the NATO forces.
|
| Recent months have seen an increase in pirate attacks, particularly in
| the northern Arabian Sea, and with the monsoon season coming to
| an end, and the weather improving, it was seen as crucial for
| counter-piracy forces to strike to help prevent pirates getting out to
| sea to prey on merchant shipping transiting the area.
|
| Over an extended period NATO warships HNLMS Tromp, HDMS
| Esbern Snare and USS Halyburton, observed the known pirate
| camps, supported by Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircrafts
| from the EU Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) and various other counter
| piracy forces. |
| On Friday, as part of the focussed operation, crew from NATO
| warship HDMS Esbern Snare boarded a suspicious whaler and found
| it to be packed with fuel, AK47 machine guns, a ladder and rocket
| propelled grenades (RPGs) and 3 suspected pirates. The whaler and
| weaponry were seized by the warship, and after being questioned,
| the suspected pirates were taken to a nearby beach.
|
| On Saturday HDMS Esbern Snare then approached a dhow that was
| suspected to be involved in pirate activity. As the Danish boarding
| team investigated, the pirates started firing at them, who then fired
| back in self defence. In the fire-fight several pirates were wounded
| and as a result, a medical team from NATO flag ship HNLMS Tromp
| was quickly sent to the scene to render medical assistance.
|
| Shortly afterwards HNLMS Tromp spotted another suspect dhow
| heading for a known pirate camp and as she closed in to investigate,
| her boarding team was also fired upon. Gunners on board Tromp and
| the boarding team returned fire, setting fire to the dhow. Ten pirates
| tried to escape in a skiff, but were quickly captured. When a team
| from HNLMS Tromp went to the dhow to assist the innocent crew,
| they found 2 fatally wounded pirates on board. At the same time, a
| previously pirated merchant vessel – MV Albedo, lifted anchor and
| headed straight for the NATO flagship. After some well-aimed
| warning shots across her bow, Albedo returned to her anchorage.
| HNLMS Tromp then escorted the freed dhow and crew to safer
| waters.
|
| On several occasions during the operation, the NATO warships
| surveyed the anchorages and the pirate beaches. They will continue
| to do so for the next few months.
|
| Speaking after the operation, Rear Admiral Hank Ort, Chief of Staff at
| NATO’s Maritime HQ in Northwood said, “This operation has shown
| the pirates that we mean business and will not tolerate their criminal
| activities. By conducting this operation close to the shore we have
| been able to deprive some pirates of a safe passage back to their
| anchorages and deprive others of the opportunity to go out and
| attack innocent merchant ships. We are pleased with the success of
| this operation but we are not complacent as we know there is still
| much work to be done.”

(Lines in bold face marked by me, T.W.)

Now, this is an announcement. First, NATO is well aware that some allies are very uncomfortable with the idea of operations on the Somali shore – hence the somewhat strange definition of pirates lairs at sea, close to the coast. Secondly, the intention now is to prevent the pirates from going out hunting in the first place, instead of looking for them on the vast waters between the coasts of Somalia, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent. And finally: it’s a message to the pirates that their retreats are under close observation – and NATO is willing to intervene if they go out to sea.

NATO seems to be the first of the naval forces patrolling the sea lanes off the Horn of Africa to admit tougher tactics against the pirates. Other navies, however, obviously are beginning to adapt a similar approach: a Finnish warship under European Union command boarding a suspected mothership, detaining 18 pirates, blowing up the vessel (pictured above)[1]; a warship from the Combined Maritime Forces, type and nationality not released, that interdicted a pirate mothership [2]; the Australian frigate Stuart intercepting a pirate mothership.[3]

Don’t be fooled: usually, the press releases on these actions carry the headline xx hostages rescued off Somalia. Which just means: we indicted and boarded a pirate vessel, knowing there are hostages on board. And I’m wondering: If I count correctly, the various warships by now must have detained approximately 50 pirates in April alone. What are they going to do with them?

----
By Thomas Wiegold

(Courtesy by “Augen geradeaus!”, First published at http://goo.gl/YZYq7)

[buglerbilly]

Pirates to India: This Time It’s Personal

By Adam Rawnsley April 20, 2011 | 2:35 pm irates



Pirates holding a group of Indian hostages off the coast of Somalia are changing the unspoken rules of piracy, showing solidarity with captured comrades and trying to make countries even more hesitant to launch rescue raids.

Over the weekend, a group of pirates holding the Asphalt Venture, a Panamanian-flagged merchant vessel, were supposed to let the ship’s Indian crew go after receiving a $3.5 million ransom. But in a first for Somali pirates, the brigands decided they wanted to punish India for its aggro anti-pirate stance.

The pirates kept the money and released only eight hostages, holding onto seven. They then demanded India swap their 120 comrades captured by the Indian navy over the past weeks, vowing to hold onto any Indian nationals taken until then.

Thus far, expressions of pirate solidarity have been heard but not really seen. In January, pirates vowed to kill any of South Korea’s captured nationals after its commandos stormed the hijacked Samho Jewelry and killed eight pirates in the process. And shortly after U.S. Navy SEALs killed three pirates holding hostages from the Maersk Alabama in 2009, their colleagues vowed revenge against the United States. They’ve not followed through — unless you count rocket propelled grenades fired at the U.S.-flagged Liberty Sun,, but that’s hard to distinguish from a typical attempted hijacking.

The Indian government doesn’t appear to know what to do yet. On Monday, it announced that the INS Talwar, which conducts anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden, will set sail for the eastern coast of Somalia towards the Asphalt Venture. Officially, the Talwar won’t launch any swashbuckling boarding operations, as it’s just there to “keep a close eye on the situation.” Officials have ruled out using their special forces to free the hostages.

Whether the Talwar launches a raid to free the remaining hostages or not, it’s clear that some kind of threshold has been crossed here. The pirates holding the Asphalt Venture aren’t just looking to pressure a company for ransom now, but to scare off a country from launching rescue missions later. For India, already facing more pirate attacks closer to its shores, a violent end to the Asphalt standoff could make the escalating violence in piracy even worse.

Photo: DVIDSHUB

[Unicorn]

Danegeld, you get what you pay for, nothing more, and usually less.

.

[buglerbilly]

For those who might not understand this comment....................


Danegeld

The Danegeld ("Danish tax", literally "Dane's gold", pronounced /ˈdeɪn.ɡɛld/[1]) was a tax raised to pay tribute to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the geld or gafol in eleventh-century sources;[2] the term Danegeld did not appear until the early twelfth century.[3] It was characteristic of royal policy in both England and Francia during the ninth through eleventh centuries, collected both as tributary, to buy off the attackers, and as stipendiary, to pay the defensive forces.

[buglerbilly]

Raid destroys damaged Somali pirate ship

(AFP) – 1 day ago

MOGADISHU — Foreign naval forces launched a second raid to destroy a suspected pirate "mother ship" near Hobyo on the Somali coast that they had attacked 24 hours earlier, witnesses said on Friday.

"A military helicopter attacked a boat near Hobyo last night (Thursday). It opened fire on the boat and completely destroyed it but there was no casualty," Abdulahi Jama, a witness, told AFP from Hobyo.

"The boat had been attacked and damaged the night before (Wednesday) when several of its crew were killed but the chopper returned and burned down the boat which had already drifted back to shore," Ahmed Yusuf, a fisherman in Hobyo said.

Witnesses could not identify the helicopter gunship's nationality but believed it was one of the foreign navies patrolling waters off Somalia as part of an anti-piracy operation.

The attack on Wednesday evening left at least four dead and six wounded according to pirate sources who spoke to AFP.

Ecoterra International, an environmental and human rights organisation monitoring maritime activity in the region, confirmed Thursday night's attack.

"The naval helicopter gunship returned, firing two missiles and opened up with heavy nachine-gun fire ... on the vessel," Ecoterra said in a statement.

"The identity of the dhow was established by our local observers as FV AL AFINIYA, which had been trailed by the navies," the group said, confirming that at the time of the second attack no one was on the vessel and there were no further casualties.

A local pirate told AFP the targeted boat was being used by the pirates to bring supplies to another hijacked vessel moored off the coast.

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Tomorrow's Seabots and Their Magnetic Wheels

Posted by Paul McLeary at 5/3/2011 2:32 PM CDT



From the comments section, McLeary confirmed comms is a problem on ships due to all of the steel but that this problem is being worked on?

Pirate attacks more than doubled during the first three months of this year over the same period in 2010--shooting up from 36 to 77 attacks globally.

While attacks have increased, we’ve also seen an increased willingness on the part of U.S., French, Russian and South Korean special forces to get kinetic, boarding and forcibly retaking some of these pirated ships--a risky proposition given that they're facing an armed and unpredictable enemy--which makes attempts at gaining situational awarness a critical part of the operation.

In order to do that, some think it’s time to call in the robots.


Throwbot in action

ReconRobotics, Inc., maker of the Recon Scout Throwbot—a handheld 1-lb. self-righting camera on wheels that can be tossed into rooms ahead of police or special forces teams—is working with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems to develop a Throwbot with magnetized wheels that can “crawl” up the side of a ship and move around in interior spaces.

The company has been working with SPAWAR for “about six to nine months,” according to said Alan Bignall, President and CEO of ReconRobotics, who told me that the pair so far have “proven conceptually that [the robot] has the power and the fundamental capacity to climb vertical metal structures.” The next round of testing hopes to refine that ability while “taking it to the next level.” The tests that have already been completed were designed primarily to see if the magnetized robot could support its own weight and climb a vertical surface without sticking, all of which worked as planned.

Bignall said that other than the magnetic wheels, the new ‘bot is essentially the same as the Throwbot, of which there are about 1,500 models in action worldwide being used by special forces and law enforcement.

In a press release announcing the partnership, Bignall explained that the plan is “to further develop this robot and quickly bring it and the marsupial robot deployment system to market. In the future this system might also include other payloads and sensors which would increase its versatility and expand its mission profile.” The marsupial robot concept allows the operator of a larger robot to transport and deploy a smaller robot downrange using a customized, ejectable sabot.

There’s no time schedule to offer the ‘bot up to customers, since more tests have to be completed first, Bignall says, but a small, 1-lb.robot that can climb up the side of a ship and spy on pirates hiding out below deck would be a huge boost to those tasked with going aboard a hostile vessel.

[buglerbilly]

Senator Wants Tougher Stand on Pirates

May 10, 2011

Military.com|by Bryant Jordan



Any amount of money is NOT going to change shit. What you need to do is treat all suspected or actual pirates as a shoot-to-kill target.........they used to mass hang them in the 19th Century..................

The piracy boom off the Somali coast is doing more than hurting merchant shipping; it's also raising funds for al-Qaida branches running the largest terror training camps in the world, according to Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill.

Kirk, who just returned from a fact-finding trip to Somalia, Kenya and several Gulf countries, said 30 percent of ransoms paid to pirates are being funneled to camps operated by Somalia's East African al-Qaida/al Shabaab organization.

Kirk said he intends to push for more aggressive action against pirates, including a change of rules of engagement to let Navy warships take down so-called pirate "mother-ships" and for U.S. military aid to Somali forces to retake areas from al Shabaab fighters or pirates.

"Unless our policy becomes more aggressive to attack pirates, we will see a huge increase in terrorism from al-Qaida affiliates that feed off pirate ransoms," Kirk said in a statement released today. Kirk visited the African countries through most of last week and has just released a report on his findings.

While in the region he interviewed pirates held in Somali and Kenyan jails, met with officers aboard U.S. and Chinese warships and consulted with officials in Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Bahrain.

Pirate attacks have tripled over the last three years, and there are now about 23 merchant ships and over 480 western and allied sailors being held by pirates, according to Kirk. Official estimates indicate that the total cost of piracy -- including ransoms, insurance, costs of operating naval forces and imprisonment -- runs about $12 billion a year, Kirk said in his statement.

Just last month, he said, the largest ransom ever paid, $11 million, was given to pirates who captured the oil tanker Irene.

"With pirates holding two dozen major ships and hundreds of hostages, their multi-million dollar ransoms have become a major source of funding for Somali al-Qaida affiliates running the largest terror training camps on earth," he said.

Kirk said he intends to push a number of steps aimed at taking down pirate operations, including expanding rules of engagement to permit naval commanders on the scene to attack and disable pirate ships, arrest suspects and rescue hostages.

He also wants the U.S. and the United Nations to adopt a ban on ransom payments that expand pirate operations or fund al-Qaida affiliates, to blockade three primary pirate ports and shorelines; lend economic assistance to Somali communities that oppose and "convert" al Shabaab operatives or pirates; and expand prisons in Somalia and Kenya to hold new pirates operating across the Indian Ocean.

The U.S., along with some two dozen other countries, patrols the coastlines off Somalia and into the Gulf of Aden.

In September, U.S. Marines retook a cargo vessel from pirates off the Somalia coast, taking nine prisoners without firing a shot. And two years ago a team of Navy SEAL sharpshooters killed three Somali pirates to free an American ship captain they were holding hostage aboard a lifeboat.

While the U.S. Britain, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and France permit attacks on pirates who have control of their flagged ships even after pirates have taken hostages, Kirk said that most navy ships will hold back once a ship has been taken.

"Once pirates seize the crew, most nations will not engage pirates and will allow them to move the ship to the Somali coast, where the crew and ship are ransomed," Kirk says in his report.

The captured ship may then be used by pirates as a mother-ship, he said -- even using some hostages as crew. For that reason, he said, "most navies will not attack" a mother-ship.

"Only the Indian and Russian navies regularly attack and use lethal force in nearly all pirate encounters," Kirk said in the report. "There are reports that every Somali who has boarded a Russian ship has not survived the encounter."

© Copyright 2011 Military.com. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

China to Pirates: All Your Base Are Belong to Us

By Adam Rawnsley May 19, 2011 | 1:19 pm



Just how hated are the pirates of Somalia? This much: China’s top general is suggesting that the rest of the world put aside their differences, and team up to launch amphibious assaults on the pirates’ onshore havens.

In comments at the National Defense University yesterday, General Chen Bingde, the chief of general staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army, called for military action against Somali pirate bosses on land, not just against their minions at sea.

“For counter-piracy campaigns to be effective, we should probably move beyond the ocean and crash their bases on the land,” Reuters quoted Gen Bingde as saying.

That’s a much more aggressive take on piracy than we heard out of China in March. At that time, its permanent representative to the United Nations used a much more anodyne phrasing of the land-based approach, arguing for addressing it with “political, economic and judicial means.”

It’s also not the kind of statement the world is used to hearing from China in general.

Ever conscious of “national sovereignty,” China is often heard condemning military attacks rather than gunning for them. It has criticized the attacks on Libya (although they chose to abstain from a UN Security Council vote permitting them), the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden and the war in Iraq.

But piracy has a way of annoying countries into action. Like other rising economic and naval powers, China has been prompted to take on increasingly aggressive military measures as Somali pirates have menaced its merchant fleet in the Indian Ocean. In 2008, it sent a task force of warships to the waters off the Somali coast, marking its first deployment of naval power far away from its shores. Since then, China has conducted convoys to protect its shipping. Attacks still happen, though and Somali pirates are currently holding a number of Chinese nationals captured in various hijackings.

Attacks on land ports come with risks, however. Direct strikes could complicate Somalia’s battle against Islamist militants. And attempts to use private security-backed militias as proxies against pirates haven’t produced much results, either.

Whether or not it’s a good idea, China’s certainly not alone in floating the idea of attacking pirate hangouts on land, as the Wall Street Journal’s (and Danger Room alum) Nathan Hodge notes. French commandos have chased down and captured on land some of the pirates responsible for the hijacking of the Le Ponant. And the U.S. seems to be keen on the idea, too. In March, testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unloaded her frustration with the current state of counter-piracy operations. Urging more military action, she said “its hard to imagine that we’re going to be able to resolve this until we go after their land-based ports.”

Photo: DVIDSHUB

[buglerbilly]

New Data Shows Pirates Trying More, Succeeding Less

By Adam Rawnsley July 14, 2011 | 5:26 pm



Ah, pirates: so inconsistent. They’re not hijacking ships as often as they were when the resurgent piracy problem still took maritime commerce by surprise. But that’s about the only good news in a set of piracy statistics released Thursday: they’re attacking more, getting more violent, and getting more booty out of it.

There’s some bad news and some good news about Somali piracy out today. The bad news? Attacks are up. The good news? Pirates are starting to suck a little bit at converting attacks into actual hijackings.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported on Thursday that there were 163 attacks by Somali pirates in the first half of 2011. That’s down from to 100 in the first half of 2010. Pirates are also getting more ambitious in their targeting. The IMB’s report says the maritime gangsters are now venturing into choppier waters and doing some off-season pirating during monsoon season.

But even though pirates are attacking more, they aren’t able to seal the deal as much. Hijackings fell from 27 in the first half of 2010 to 21 in the same period this year.

That’s relatively good news. But the overall picture for Somali piracy is still pretty bleak. And it’s pushing a lot of countries and shippers to arm themselves in response.

Pirates might have snagged fewer ships in the first half of this year, but over time they’ve been squeezing more money out of what they catch. In 2010, pirates banked an average of $5.4 million per hijacked ship last year. Back in 2005, their average haul was just $150,000. Like Stringer Bell said: less corners, more money.

The pirate business has gotten more violent, too. Captured hostages used to enjoy at least a minimal expectation of security, but anecdotal reports have shown that the sea brigands are starting to turn on their human cargo and get abusive. In a study released in June, the One Earth Future Foundation (.pdf) noted upticks in instances of pirate sadism against captured sailors, including beatings and denial of food. Last year, pirates also went a bit 18th century and started to do short-term impressment, forcing captured sailors to help out in hijacking other ships, according to the report.

The IMB attributes pirates’ relative hijacking hardships lately to the presence of international naval forces patrolling hot spots and shippers hardening up their own security. Some of that hardening may be due to shipping firms implementing best practices — commonsense measures like increasing speed and maintaining a watch while traveling through hotspots.

But a number of countries and shipping lines aren’t content with just best practices. Some are now setting their sights on private security firms for protection. India recently mulled the idea of armed guards on its ships to deal as the pirates creep closer to its shores. Last week, Britain started opening the door for its merchant vessels to tote along private armed guards. And Thursday, China’s largest shipping line, Cosco, announced it’ll spend $12 million in part on private security to protect its fleet from piracy. Not a dumb investment considering how big the pirates’ treasure chest has grown.

Photo: EU Navfor

[buglerbilly]

Arrr! ‘Pirate Cultural Adviser’ Wanted for Euro Navies

By Adam Rawnsley August 12, 2011 | 10:02 am



Think you know a lot about Somali pirates? Familiar with the ins and outs of the shifting pirate finance markets? Then send a résumé and cover letter on over to the European Union’s anti-piracy task force. They’re in the market for an expert on pirate culture.

EU Navfor, the European Union’s naval coalition off the shores of Somalia, announced Thursday that they’d like to hire a “pirate cultural adviser” to help them get inside the heads of the Indian Ocean’s most annoying seafarers. Given how violent the maritime hijack business is these days, that’s probably a good thing.

They want someone who can give their Operational Commander information on “pirate trends and weaknesses, including their perceived role in Somalia.” Sure, they’d like to know more about pirates’ cultural and religious practices. But Navfor is also interested in the nitty gritty of how the business operates financially and tactically. A successful adviser needs to be steeped in the latest trends in the pirate business model and be aware of their tactical “modus operandi” at sea.

Who should apply? The position is open to ex-military types, people from the private security world with experience in ransom negotiation or those in the hijack insurance business. Just make sure you don’t have any firsthand experience with piracy. Successful candidates need an EU Secret clearance and any recent participation in ship hijackings could prejudice your eligibility.

Judging by the limited advice Navfor has given about pirate life before, they could use the help. Back in November, the EU task force put together a pamphlet designed to help captive sailors deal with life alongside their captors. Their thoughts? Don’t piss off the men with guns or kick up a drug habit while you’re waiting to get ransomed.

Knowing what makes pirates tick could help naval coalitions save lives in the negotiation process. That’s particularly important now as the maritime kidnap and ransom industry has gotten more dangerous. Successful hijackings have dipped from 27 in the first half of last year to 21 in during the first six months of this year. Those that do succeed, however, have yielded more bloodshed lately. Pirates killed seven and injured 39 in the first two quarters of this year, up from one killing and 16 injuries during the same period in 2010.

Photo: Walt Disney Pictures

[buglerbilly]

Piracy off west Africa increases sharply

Number of incidents in waters of Nigeria and Benin fuel fears region's pirates could pose similar risk to shipping as Somalia's

David Smith, Africa correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 August 2011 16.43 BST


US and Nigerian naval officials meet to discuss the increased risk to shipping from pirates off the coast of west Africa. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

Pirate attacks off the coast of west Africa have increased sharply, figures show, raising fears that the region could emulate Somalia as a menace to shipping.

Nigeria and Benin have reported 22 piracy incidents so far this year, including two in recent days, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said. Benin did not suffer any such attacks last year.

"I believe we are nearly at a crisis here, and if it's a crisis there has to be action," Rear Admiral Kenneth Norton, of the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa, told the Associated Press.

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, which stretches along the coasts of a dozen countries from Guinea to Angola, has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings, cargo thefts and large-scale robberies over the past eight months, according to the Denmark-based security firm Risk Intelligence.

Nigeria, Benin and nearby waters were this month listed in the same risk category as Somalia by the London-based insurers Lloyd's Market Association. Neil Smith, its head of underwriting, said: "It's always been a concern for the shipping industry. The model that's taken root in Somalia might spread to other areas."

Pirates pose a threat to commercial shipping coming into Lagos's busy Apapa Port and the thriving used car market based in Benin's commerical capital, Cotonou.

Benin collects 40% of government receipts from port activities each year. Maxime Ahoyo, its navy chief of staff, said: "Dozens of ships are already fleeing our shores due to fears of these pirates."

While lower than the 163 attacks attributed to Somali pirates in the first half of 2011, analysts say the number of attacks off Nigerian waters is under-reported because some ships carry illegal oil cargo and others fear their insurance rates will rise.

Cyrus Moody, a manager at the IMB, said: "It's definitely more than we are showing in ours stats. We are calling for vessels to report more when incidents happen. This is the only way for a realistic picture of the crisis."

West African pirates may have been encouraged by the impact of their Somali counterparts but there also important differences, analysts say. Their focus tends to be on robbery rather than seizing vessels.

Those from Nigeria have also been more willing to use violence, beating crew members with rifle butts and electric cables and shooting and stabbing those who get in the way. At least two fatalities are known to have occurred. In some cases, crew members are taken ashore and held for ransom.

Pirates from Benin have tended to steal oil cargo and then release the ship. Moody said: "The recent incidents off Benin have been very different from Somalia. They do not hijack the entire vessel as the Somalis do. The incidents are more hit and run and robberies.

"We don't believe the Somali model is being copied. Lawlessness and lack of government in Somalia allows pirates to keep vessels on the coast for months on end. We hope that won't be possible in west African countries or anywhere else."

Officials from Nigeria's navy, its maritime industry and other groups met US officials aboard the HSV 2 Swift off Nigeria's coast this week to discuss issues including anti-piracy strategies.

The US and other western nations have an anti-piracy armada patrolling the waters off east Africa, but there is no west African counterpart, leaving Nigeria and its neighbours to stop the growing attacks on their own.

Experts believe many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive. Antony Goldman, a west Africa analyst at London-based PM Consulting, said the illegal sale of oil had created "a culture of lawlessness" in the coastal zone.

He added: "In Somalia, you've got no government. In Nigeria there is a maritime capacity, but there's an issue of the extent to which the security forces are working with armed groups."

[buglerbilly]

This article is from the Small Wars Journal by Chris RAWLEY, well worth the read even if you don't agree with all of the conclusions............

http://smallwarsjournal.com/sites/default/files/827-rawley.pdf

[buglerbilly]

Pirate-Fighters, Inc.: How Mercenaries Became Ships’ Best Defense

By David Axe August 23, 2011 | 6:30 am



It was a normal morning in April last year. Normal, that is, by the crazy standards of the fishermen, ship’s crews, navy sailors and Somali pirates plying their dangerous trades on 2.5 million square miles of lawless ocean stretching from India to Kenya.

“Dave,” a 44-year-old from Wiltshire in southwest England, was standing watch on the upper deck of a commercial car carrier bound from Mumbai to Mombasa. Scanning the horizon with a pair of high-powered binoculars, the former British Royal Marine of 24 years’ experience spotted something suspicious ahead of the carrier: a small freighter matching the profile of a pirate “mothership,” a sort of floating base for heavily armed sea bandits and their small boats.

What happened next was like something out of a Hollywood thriller. But for Dave and a fast-growing number of for-profit ship guards, it was just another day on the job — and evidence of a surprising turn in the years-old, international war on piracy.

The world’s governments are waking up to the sobering fact that the gazillion-dollar warships they’ve sent to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean can’t keep up with the region’s elusive pirates. The hijackers’ simple, brutal tactics are too effective. Their business model is too attractive. And they’ve got nothing to lose but their lives.

The days are probably numbered for 10,000-ton Burke-class destroyers chasing down illiterate Somali thugs sailing in souped-up fishing boats called “skiffs.” The future of the piracy war could belong to Dave and guys like him, standing lonely guard on gigantic, fortified commercial vessels speeding through pirate-infested waters.

Destroyers are expensive and ill-suited to long, tedious piracy patrols. Armed guards are comparatively cheap and, as Dave proved that April morning, highly effective. Sure, guards come with their own limitations and complications. But hiring professional ship-protectors beats the alternative: an endless, pointless military exercise.

Dave and his three teammates from Protection Vessels International, a 3-year-old, English firm offering “safe passage for vessels, master and crew through high-risk environments,” watched as the suspected pirate mothership silently approached the car carrier. “When it got to approximately seven miles distance, we saw a small craft being launched from it and it began to approach from the port side at 23 knots,” Dave recalled. The boat carried four men, at least two of them armed with AK-47s.

That’s when the PVI guards, all former Royal Marines, knew for sure that the carrier was under attack. A hijacking could mean: months of captivity and abuse for Dave, his teammates and the ship’s crew; a multimillion-dollar ransom for the vessel’s owner; and a small but meaningful blow to an already-rickety world economy. “We immediately increased speed to 19 knots, altered course, activated the piracy alarm and informed [the authorities],” Dave told Danger Room.

They prepared for battle, “kitting up” with body armor, helmets, warning flares and rifles. At that moment the front line of the piracy war, which has claimed scores of lives on both sides and cost ten of billions of dollars in ransoms, insurance premiums and lost property, intersected the fast-shrinking span of water between his ship and the approaching pirate skiff.

[buglerbilly]

Private Pirate-Fighters Risk Attack, Detention

Posted on September 1, 2011


PVI photo.

by DAVID AXE

In December, a vessel with four men aboard eased into the port of Massawa in the East African country of Eritrea. It was an unplanned stop. The ship, operated by Protection Vessels International, a British company, had encountered rough weather and run short of fuel while sailing through pirate-infested waters around the island of Romia.

At any other time, under any other circumstances, the vessel’s fuel call would have been routine. But this was no typical ship — and times were not normal. What happened after the vessel entered Massawa is indicative of a dangerous, and sometimes confusing, new era for seafarers in East African waters.

For five years now, pirates have waged an escalating campaign of banditry and kidnapping against the roughly 25,000 commercial vessels that pass through the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean every year. Pirates, armed with guns and rockets and riding in fast fishing boats called “skiffs,” have captured an average of 40 large vessels a year. Ransoms can be a million dollars or more. Last year, eight seafarers died in pirate attacks.

Today around 30 warships from a dozen nations patrol these waters. But with nearly 3 million square miles of ocean within range of pirate enclaves, the warships are spread too thinly to prevent most attacks. Increasingly, the larger shipping lines are turning to armed guards — former military personnel, mostly — to protect vessels during their transits.

Protection Vessels International, founded in 2008, is one of the largest and busiest providers of ship’s guards. Employing several hundred former Royal Marines and British Army soldiers, PVI deploys teams — usually four men armed with guns, armor and night-vision goggles — to sail aboard vulnerable vessels, at a cost of probably around $5,000 a day, per ship.

In more than 1,000 transits in three years, PVI’s guards have defeated at least 30 pirate attacks, all without killing anyone. The guards fire flares and warning shots as a show of force.

PVI takes pride in its flexibility. “We can meet a vessel at our clients’ convenience and off load our teams and their equipment without having to call in at a port,” explained spokesman Paul Gibbins. The company owns three patrol boats that can rendezvous with commercial vessels to deliver the guards. That was apparently the mission of PVI’s vessel that called at Massawa in December.

The Eritrean authorities’ reaction to the presence of armed guards illustrates one downside to the rise of private ship-protectors. The PVI crew had managed to take on-board just a fraction of the fuel it needed when Eritrean officials detained all four men and accused them of plotting “acts of terrorism and sabotage” against the impoverished nation. As evidence, the Eritreans cited the weapons and military equipment in the men’s possession. News reports would also refer to “confusion over fuel payments.”

It took six months for PVI and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office to negotiate the men’s release. “The whole episode has been a series of unfortunate events,” Gibbins said.

The risk of misunderstandings over weapons was one reason why, early in the “war on piracy,” many shippers were reluctant to employ private guards. While the awareness and legal regimes governing armed guards have improved lately, the Eritrean drama proves that serious complications are still possible.

In addition, ship’s guards still must contend with the actual pirates. “My last transit involved a full and sustained piracy attack off Socotra,” PVI team leader Nigel Watson Clark said. “We successfully countered in a textbook response from the crew and security team … that was quite something.”

But “quite something” compared to six months in detention in Eritrea? Perhaps not.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Netherlands Increases Number of Vessel Protection Detachments

Posted by Nicholas Fiorenza at 10/10/2011 12:36 PM CDT

The Netherlands plans to deploy 50 vessel protection detachments (VPDs) to protect vulnerable ships from Somali pirates in 2012, ten times the number deployed so far this year. The Dutch cabinet is thus taking the advice of an inter-ministerial commission formed to study the issue.



The Netherlands has deployed five VPDs so far in 2011 and plans to deploy more in the coming months. If the 50 planned for next year are not sufficient, more may be drawn from the reserves or private security personnel given military status.

[Milne Bay]

Hostages freed in naval raid on pirated ship
Philip Williams

Posted October 12, 2011 08:58:07


British and US naval forces have combined to rescue 23 hostages held on an Italian ship hijacked by Somali pirates.

Eleven suspected pirates were arrested during the rescue.

The MV Montecristo was hijacked 1,000 kilometres off the coast of Somalia on its journey from the UK to Vietnam with a cargo of scrap metal.

However, the crew of 23 managed to lock themselves in a safe room where they called for help.

A British and a US warship were dispatched and helicopters were used to retake the vessel.

The 11 suspected pirates surrendered without resistance and the Italian government expressed great satisfaction with the mission.

Those detained will be handed to Italian authorities for questioning and possible prosecution.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-12/us-britain-unite-to-rescue-hostages/3547402

[buglerbilly]

Armed guards to protect British ships from pirates

British ships are to be allowed to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, David Cameron has announced.


The Italian ship Montecristo, which was hijacked by Somali pirates before being stormed by British commandos Photo: REUTERS

9:45AM GMT 30 Oct 2011

A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones.

The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become "a complete stain on our world".

He unveiled the measure after talks at a Commonwealth summit in Australia with leaders of countries in the Horn of Africa over the escalating problem faced in waters off their shores.

Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms laws.

Officials said around 200 were expected to be in line to take up the offer, which would only apply for voyages through particular waters in the affected region. It is expected to be used by commercial firms rather than private sailors - such as hostage victims Paul and Rachel Chandler.

Asked if he was comfortable with giving private security operatives the right to "shoot to kill" if necessary, Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "We have to make choices.

"Frankly the extent of the hijack and ransom of ships round the Horn of Africa is a complete stain on our world.

"The fact that a bunch of pirates in Somalia are managing to hold to ransom the rest of the world and our trading system is a complete insult and the rest of the world needs to come together with much more vigour.

"I want to help lead this process and as part of that we are going to be taking the step of putting armed guards on our ships."

Evidence from other countries with more relaxed regulations over armed guards was that their ships did not get targeted, he said.

"We are going to have to license that in a proper way, the Home Office has agreed to do that. But I think this is a big step up for our campaign against this piracy."

Other counter-piracy measures being taken include offering support from Treasury officials to Kenya to help them track down pirates' assets.

Mr Cameron also said help could be given to countries such as The Seychelles and Mauritius, both represented at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, who were acting to bring pirates to court and imprison them.

[Gubler, A.]

[B]Armed guards to protect British ships from pirates

9:45AM GMT 30 Oct 2011

Good to see their decision making is keeping up with events.

[ADMk2]

Good to see their decision making is keeping up with events.

Yep it only took 3 Royal Commissions, 13 other inquiries, 13 tons of public service paperwork and innumerable actual hijackings before a decision could be made on this.

Funny how Countries didn't seem to have a problem with military grade weapon armed private security contractors in several countries in recent years, but it's a big problem on ships under attack daily...

[buglerbilly]

7 November 2011 Last updated at 15:36 GMT

Somali pirates overwhelmed by Taiwan fishing boat crew

The crew of a Taiwanese fishing vessel have overwhelmed a group of Somali pirates who hijacked their boat last week.

The 28-member crew of the Chin Yi Wen were taken hostage while sailing off the East African coast and disappeared from radio contact on 4 November.

The six pirates were later attacked and overwhelmed by the sailors.

Several hundred people and dozens of vessels are currently held captive by Somali gunmen.

The Chin Yi Wen disappeared from radio contact while several hundred kilometres off the coast of Somalia last week.

A group of armed pirates initally took control of the boat, but were defeated when the crew fought back. According to Taiwan's Fisheries Agency, three sailors were injured, while the pirates fell into the sea. Their fate is not known.

Is that unknown after they died or before.............??? :D

The fishing crew later sought the assistance of the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), an international anti-piracy task force which patrols the area under the supervision of the UK.

The International Maritime Bureau has said that better policing and improved security have reduced successful hijackings by Somali pirates this year. Nevertheless, attacks linked to Somalia made up more than half the piracy incidents reported worldwide.

A US study found that maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7bn (£4.4bn) and $12bn (£7.6bn) a year.

[buglerbilly]

Royal Marines capture suspected Somali pirates after high-speed chase

Seven Somali men face prosecution in Seychelles after Royal Navy helps Spanish fishing vessel under attack

Nick Hopkins

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 1 December 2011 19.44 GMT


Royal Marines board one of the suspected pirate vessels in the Indian Ocean. Photograph: Reuters

The pirate vessel looks like a former ship's lifeboat/whaler to me?

Seven Somalis have been captured in an anti-piracy operation involving a high-speed chase across the Indian Ocean.

The pursuit ended when a sniper on a Royal Navy helicopter started firing at the fleeing vessels. A party of Royal Marines then boarded the ships and sniffer dogs found traces of explosive and firearms.

The men will be taken to the Seychelles for what will be a rare prosecution. The military often have to let suspects go because of the complexities of jurisdiction and evidence gathering on the high seas.

The incident took place on Tuesday when a Royal Navy ship patrolling 350 miles off the coast of Somalia was called to help a Spanish fishing vessel that was under attack.

The Lynx helicopter from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort Victoria gave chase to two vessels – a skiff and a whaler. The skiff raced away but stopped when a sniper began firing shots across its bow.

"The Royal Marines then used inflatable dinghies for boarding and the suspects were seized," said a spokesman. "No shots were fired. They are now being taken to port in the Seychelles where they will be handed over to the police."

Piracy off Somalia and around the Gulf of Aden has become a huge problem for the merchant navy in recent years. There are currently 50 ships seized and almost 800 people being held hostage.

Sailors have found themselves under attack from strafing machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Those that have been held hostage are often subjected to beatings.

The area the pirates operate in is now so vast that capturing them has proved extremely difficult. Suspected pirates often throw their weapons overboard and claim to be fishermen.

On this occasion, the Fort Victoria, which is under the command of Captain Gerry Northwood, had a UK-trained team of spaniels and labradors on board that found the explosive residue.

This will be the first case to be brought against suspected pirates since the UK and the Seychelles signed a memorandum of understanding in July 2009.

Lieutenant Alastair Thompson, a Royal Naval flight commander, said: "We could see the fishing vessel was clearly in trouble. Our actions disrupted the pirates from further attacks."

The minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, added: "Too many times in the past pirates have been captured but not prosecuted because of lack of evidence. We must ensure that pirates pay for their actions."

In September, pirates murdered a British businessman, David Tebbutt, and kidnapped his wife Judith. The couple were on holiday at an exclusive beach resort in Kenya.

Tebbutt, 58, died from a single gunshot wound to his chest. His wife has not been seen since.

[buglerbilly]

Somali Pirate Leader Sentenced to Life

December 15, 2011

Associated Press|by Brock Vergakis

NORFOLK, Va. - A former Somali police officer was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for his role as a leader in the hijacking of a yacht that left all four Americans on board dead.

Mohamud Hirs Issa Ali was the commander of a band of 19 pirates that hijacked the 58-foot Quest in February several hundred miles south of Oman. The pirates intended to bring the Americans back to Somalia where a bilingual interpreter would negotiate a ransom payment.

But the owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after being taken hostage.

It was the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in the pirate attacks that have plagued the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean in recent years. The Americans were killed after U.S. warships started shadowing the Quest and negotiations between the Navy and the pirates broke down. At one point, Ali ordered a rocket propelled grenade to be fired at an American ship, althought they don't believe Ali ordered that the hostages be shot. They have charged three other men with murder in the case.

The Navy had agreed to let the pirates take the yacht back to Somalia in exchange for the hostages, but the pirates said they wouldn't get enough money for it. Hostages are typically ransomed for millions of dollars.

"The conspirators' refusal to release the hostages, even when offered the opportunity to proceed to Somalia with the Quest, displayed a callous regard for the hostages as merely shields to avoid capture and responsibility for their crimes," prosecutors wrote in a position paper on Ali's sentencing.

Ali, who said he was a policeman for about a decade before turning to piracy in 2010 after losing his job, said through an interpreter he wanted to apologize to the victims' families, although no family members were present. He said he hoped that they would forgive him.

"I'd like to express my deep sorrow for the families and the victims for my actions. I am very, very sorry," he said.

Ali is among 11 men who have pleaded guilty to piracy in the case and was the eighth person sentenced to life in prison. A ninth pirate is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday afternoon and two others will be sentenced on Friday.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Operation Atalanta To Go Ashore?

Posted by Nicholas Fiorenza at 12/29/2011 8:25 PM CST

The EU is closed between Christmas and New Year, but the Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) newspaper reports that the EU Political and Security Committee on Dec. 20 tasked the commander of Operation Atalanta to rework the operational plan for the counter-piracy mission so that Somali pirates can be combated ashore.

This would involve changing the rules of engagement so that pirate vessels and installations can be attacked on shore and vessel protection teams can operate more autonomously from EU warships that up until now have had to be nearby. The European External Action Service has reportedly been tasked to reach agreement with the Somali authorities to support these changes, which they already do, according to the FAZ.


Photo: Djibouti PIO

Participation of German forces in more aggressive operations would require a change in their mandate, which was renewed this month. This participation currently consists of three frigates with four Sea Lynx helicopters on board and three P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft. One of the frigates will be relieved next spring by the supply ship Berlin, from which a Sea King can operate, offering greater range than the Sea Lynx.


Supply ship Berlin (© 2010 Bundeswehr/Ricarda Schönbrodt)

The FAZ reports that the British and French wish to conduct amphibious operations against pirates is opposed by the German Free Democrats, the junior partner in the German government, who fear that pirates could threaten reprisals against captured crews and civilian casualties.

On Dec. 21, the Italian tanker Savina Caylyn with a crew of 18 became the latest ship to be captured by Somali pirates.

[buglerbilly]

Ship guards need shoot to kill rules on Somali pirates, ministers say

Foreign affairs committee calls for government guidance on whether captains can authorise use of lethal force on vessels

Patrick Wintour

The Guardian, Thursday 5 January 2012

Ministers must provide clearer guidelines on whether private armed guards on UK ships can shoot to kill Somali pirates, if the risk to potential hostages and shipping is to be contained, the foreign affairs select committee says in a report today.

David Cameron has given permission to British ships operating off East Africa to use private armed guards, but the committee says the guidance on the use of lethal force is inadequate, and lacking in critical detail. He has convened a conference in London next month to build international co-ordination against piracy off Somalia.

The committee says: "The British shipping industry is worth £10.7bn to the UK's GDP, and the costs of security, insurance, re-routing have vastly increased the costs of doing business. Over $300m (£192m) has been paid in ransoms to Somali pirates over the past four years, and thousands of seafarers have been held hostage, some of whom have been subject to cruel treatment and even torture."

It warns: "The government's guidance on the use of force, particularly lethal force, is very limited and there is little to help a ship's master make a judgment on where force can be used." It suggests there must be "a visible commitment of at least one British naval vessel to one of these operations at all times".

"The government was right to permit private armed guards to defend British flagged shipping against Somali pirates, but its guidance on the legal use of force lacks critical detail. The question anyone would ask is that if a private armed guard on board a UK flagged vessel sees an armed skiff approaching at high speed, can the guard open fire? The government must provide clearer direction on what is permissible and what is not."

The risk to pirates of serious consequences is "still too low to outweigh the lucrative rewards from piracy", the all-party committee finds. Over the past four years, average ransoms have risen from $600,000 to $4.7m per vessel and ransoms paid in 2011 have totalled $135m.

The guidance should confirm that nothing in UK law or the CPS guidance requires a victim of pirate attack to await an aggressor's first blow before acting in self-defence, it says.

Richard Ottaway, the chairman of the committee, said: "It is unacceptable that 2.6m square miles of the Indian Ocean has become a no-go area for small vessels, and a dangerous one for commercial shipping. There is a clear need to take decisive action. Naval forces cannot hope to police such a large area. Ship owners must take responsibility for their own protection, and the government must let them."

It reports that the proportion of successful hijacks has been reduced, but the new more robust patrols have been unable "to contain the growth in the overall number of attacks and the area in which pirates can operate".

The committee reports: "Even when pirates are detained by naval forces, it has been estimated that around 90% are released without charge. Gathering evidence to secure a successful prosecution for piracy is clearly challenging, but when pirates are observed in boats with guns, ladders and even hostages, it beggars belief that they cannot be prosecuted."

The committee also finds "very little is known about what happens to ransom money. It finds that the government has been "disappointingly slow to take action on financial flows relating to ransom payments, particularly given the information that could be available from British companies involved".

[buglerbilly]

For the Afficianado's.............

Foreign Affairs Committee - Tenth Report

Piracy off the coast of Somalia

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmfaff/1318/131802.htm

[buglerbilly]

U.S. Navy Frees Iranian Sailors from Pirates

By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

Published: 6 Jan 2012 18:27

The fishing dhow Al Molai looks like hundreds of similar craft plying the waters of the Arabian Sea.


A boarding team from the destroyer Kidd approaches the dhow Al Molai to free a group of Iranian sailors held hostage by pirates (U.S. Navy)

For about six weeks, the fishing boat moved around attracting little attention, its average appearance masking evil intentions.

In reality, the vessel and its crew of Iranian sailors was being held hostage by pirates. The Al Molai became a mother ship for smaller boats apparently carrying Somalis bent on attacking merchant ships.

The picture of innocence began to change Jan. 5.

The end of the Al Molai's pirate career began when the Bahamas-registered cargo ship Sunrise issued a distress call around 8:30 a.m. A group of suspected pirates in a small, 15-foot open skiff was, according to the master of the Sunrise, attacking his ship.

The nearby U.S. aircraft carrier John C. Stennis heard the radio call and dispatched the escorting cruiser Mobile Bay to move in. When an MH-60S helicopter from Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron 8, Detachment 1 operating from the cruiser approached, the six people aboard the skiff tossed a number of objects in the water.

"We suspected the objects to be RPGs [rocket-propelled grenade launchers] and rifles," Rear Adm. Craig Faller, commander of the John C. Stennis carrier strike group, told reporters during a conference call from his flagship on Jan. 6.

According to Faller, the suspected pirates surrendered to the helicopter. The cruiser moved in and sent over a boarding team, but no direct evidence was found to hold the Somalis. Despite being found about 175 miles at sea, southeast of Muscat, Oman, the skiff's sailors feigned innocence.

"They told us they were operating in the area for fun," Faller said. "We didn't think so."

Released, the suspected pirates set off on a course for an unknown destination. The helicopter followed at a distance. Soon, the small boat approached an Iranian-flagged dhow. The destroyer Kidd, patrolling in the region against pirates since mid-November, was vectored in, and its embarked MH-60R helicopter from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 71, Detachment 3, took over from the Mobile Bay's helo.

Asked by reporters on the conference call if it was clear it a pirate situation was at hand, Cmdr. Jennifer Ellinger, the destroyer's commanding officer, was confident.

"Yes, definitely," she said.

The helicopters "observed there were Middle Eastern as well as Somalis on board the craft," Ellinger said. "But when we talked bridge-to-bridge they indicated they were Iranian and there were no foreigners aboard, which we knew not to be true," she said.

The dhow's master spoke to the Americans over the radio in Urdu, a language widely spoken in Pakistan. The pirates were unable to follow along, but an Urdu-speaker aboard the Kidd had no trouble translating.

"When we talked to the master, it was clear he was under duress," Ellinger said. "He said they were physically abused, they were scared. They invited us to come over. We reassured them that we would be on the way."

According to Ellinger, the master told the pirates the Americans were coming on board and they knew they were there.

"He convinced them to surrender," she said.

The destroyer drew up to the dhow with guns manned and ready. "Basically it was a forceful approach," Ellinger said. "We asked them all to come topside and surrender their weapons."

The pirates put down their weapons but then tried to hide. When the American boarding team arrived, the master helpfully pointed out all the hiding places, and 15 suspected pirates were taken into custody without any shots being fired.

The 13 freed Iranian fishermen were ecstatic.

"We brought food and meals," Ellinger said. "They had no refrigerator, it was broken. They were relying on fishing to get food, although the pirates had some fruit and provisions."

The Iranian sailors "were extremely grateful," Ellinger said. "Their morale continued to increase as we removed the Somali pirates."

The pirates were transferred on Jan. 6 to the Stennis, where they were still being held on Jan. 7.

"The pirates are under our custody and evidence is being gathered," Faller said. "This will be referred to the interagency in the U.S. to determine what will occur."

The pirates would be treated appropriately, Faller told reporters. "As bad as they are, they deserve humane treatment like any person."

Provisioned with food and wearing Kidd ball caps, the Iranians sailed off to return to their home port.

Unaware of controversy

Faller said neither the Iranian fishermen nor the pirates seemed to have any awareness of the recent tensions between Iran and the U.S. over transits of the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway between the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea.

Shortly after the Stennis left the Gulf earlier this week, Iran's Army chief threatened the U.S. Navy and declared that the carrier would not be allowed back in. The threat was issued at the conclusion of a major 10-day Iranian naval exercise, and as new economic sanctions were slapped on Iran by the U.S. and other Western nations.

Despite the heated rhetoric from Tehran, the U.S. has sought to downplay the situation. Asked if the U.S. was exploiting the rescue of the Iranian sailors for publicity reasons, Faller was adamant.

"No sir. We didn't have a vision we'd be on a conference call tonight talking about it," he said during the conference call.

"The Navy is just doing its job out here. Conducting combat operations over Afghanistan and maintaining freedom of the sea."

No response to the rescue has been received from Iran, Faller said, although he acknowledged his forces have recently encountered Iranians.

"We have had interactions at sea with Iranian aircraft and surface ships," he said. "Those interactions have all been professional."

He did not provide further details.

Asked if the Stennis might go back through Hormuz, Faller gave the standard response.

"The Strait of Hormuz is an international strait, and by international law is subject to freedom of navigation," he said. "If it means moving back through the strait that's what we'll do. Right now it's business as usual as we focus on operations over Afghanistan."

"The U.S. Navy has been here for over 60 years," Faller added, "and we'll be here as long as we're needed. On call and ready."

[buglerbilly]

Britain Captures 13 Suspected Pirates off Somalia

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Published: 13 Jan 2012 16:17

LONDON - Britain's navy confirmed that it had captured 13 suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia on Jan. 13 in a NATO-led operation with U.S. forces.

Royal Marines boarded a dhow and captured the 13 men on board after they failed to heed warnings issued by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessel Fort Victoria and the USS Carney.

Victoria deployed a Lynx helicopter with Royal Marine snipers who provided further warnings to the suspects, but the dhow refused to stop.

Marines launched from the Victoria in speedboats and captured the craft, discovering a cache of weapons on board.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond called the operation a "clear demonstration of Britain's ability to tackle piracy that threatens our interests."

Separately, 15 Georgian sailors released by Somali pirates after more than a year in captivity returned home Jan. 13 to an emotional welcome from their families.

[buglerbilly]

Seychelles President: Don’t Manage the Piracy Problem, Solve It


A EU NAVFOR taskforce vessel sinks a skiff off the coast of Somalia.

Interview with H.E. James Michel, President of the Republic of Seychelles

06:39 GMT, January 23, 2012 defpro.com | Only a few countries are exposed, to a similar extent, to the effects of Somali piracy as is the Republic of Seychelles. Located at the southern edge of the pirates’ main area of operation in the Indian Ocean, and dependent upon safe sea lanes, the island country finds itself in the front line of a difficult struggle against the criminal fruit of a destabilised and war-ravaged neighbourhood at the Horn of Africa.

Nicolas von Kospoth of defpro.com asked His Excellency James Michel, President of the Republic of Seychelles, to portray the country’s considerable efforts to ward off this threat and to promote the Seychelles as an anti-piracy hub for its international allies. Read below the President’s statements on economic, social and political effects of piracy on the Seychelles and his hope for a more determined and effective approach to solve the problem by the international community.


defpro.com: Even as we make this interview, many captured commercial vessels remain anchored in the ports of Somali pirates and scores of captives desperately hope to be released. Mr. President, how do you assess the current development of the Somali piracy issue?

James Michel: Piracy has developed into a lucrative business model and therefore more emphasis needs to be made to target the financiers of piracy, to eliminate the criminal networks and bring to justice the main profiteers of this business.

We can fill our prisons to the brim with the Somali pirates who are at sea, but they are not the instigators, they are not earning even a drop of the vast amounts of money from the ransoms, so our efforts to capture them will not be efficient, in the overall picture, if we do not capture those who profit the most from this criminal activity.

We are in the process of setting up a Regional Anti-Piracy Prosecution and Intelligence Centre, with the support of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the UK and its Serious Organised Crime Agency, that will coordinate the tracking of financial transactions and enforcement operations. This will, in turn, assist law enforcement agencies to build cases needed to issue international arrest warrants and prosecute the financiers of piracy.

Piracy is rooted in the instability in Somalia, and that is why I have appealed to world leaders to consider taking more action in Somalia itself, in order to implement a comprehensive approach to the instability there. This is summarised in these key areas:

1) Increased commitment and support to peacekeeping forces within Somalia, particular to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces operating in Mogadishu, as well as a maritime presence for the mission that will enable the patrolling of the coast;
2) Targeted interventions against all criminal and terrorist groups to displace hubs of criminal activities;
3) Reinforcing and strengthening existing areas of stability within Somalia, with the establishment of rule of law in these areas and creation of economic opportunities as a key part of the effort;
4) Strengthening the capacity of coastal states to better defend the maritime zones, allowing for improved patrolling and surveillance capabilities;
5) And the improvement of intelligence sharing networks that will allow for a more efficient and systematic approach in targeting all angles of the criminal network, with particular attention to the financiers of piracy.


defpro.com: Due to their geographic location, the Seychelles are an important ally to those countries who are engaged in the fight against piracy off the Horn of Africa. Further, the country is itself affected by this unfortunate phenomenon. How would you describe the Government’s role in this complex situation?

James Michel: Seychelles has taken a lead in the region to highlight the scourge of piracy and has been seeking the assistance of the international community, since it is apparent that piracy is a global issue and not just a regional one.

We are committed to coordinating international efforts and seek greater participation by all countries in terms of assets, resources and to highlight the adverse effects for small island states such as Seychelles. We have also been at the forefront of prosecuting pirates by framing new anti-piracy laws and formulating partnerships with Somali authorities for the transfer of convicted pirates. We have taken these initiatives despite the tremendous strain on our limited resources.

For this reason, I have placed an emphasis on Seychelles becoming the anti-piracy hub for our international allies, who are committed to the fight against piracy. It is important to note that the anti-piracy action off the Horn of Somalia, as well as the wider Indian Ocean, has been the largest and first international operation of its kind, where the navies of the major world’s powers – the US, Russia, China, India, and EU nations – are all working together to combat this security threat.


defpro.com: How are the Seychelles security and defence forces positioned for the fight against piracy, and to what extent does the country rely on international co-operation to enhance current and future capabilities in this regard?

James Michel: Our concern for sovereignty is vital and that is why we are committed to protecting our maritime territory, as well as our fishermen, by all available means.

The Seychelles Coast Guard has been continuously deploying its ships and boats for surveillance, along with regular patrols being undertaken by the Twin Otter from the SPDF Air wing. Since February 2011 we have also had an Indian Dornier aircraft based at Mahé for assistance in surveillance efforts.

At the beginning of 2011 the United Arab Emirates donated two patrol boats and three fast boats to the Seychelles Coast Guard to add to its fleet of two patrol ships, the Topaz and the Andromache, which were donated by the Government of India some years ago. The UAE also donated and constructed a new Seychelles Coast Guard base last year. In 2011, the Government of China also donated two Y-12 aircraft for surveillance missions. The EUNAVFOR has also assisted us with their own aerial surveillance mission, with a Luxembourg maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as the French E-3F aircraft based in Seychelles. Further, the US Air Force has unmanned aerial vehicles stationed in Seychelles for anti-piracy surveillance missions.

But considering the size of our Exclusive Economic Zone of 1.3 million square kilometres, these are still not enough. We need more assets for aerial surveillance missions, as well as maritime patrols, and we are seeking greater assistance from the international community in this regard.

We have already shown the effectiveness of our Coast Guard, which has undertaken three successful rescue operations at sea where Seychellois and other national hostages were liberated from their captors and the pirates responsible were arrested and prosecuted (involving the following pirated vessels: Faith, Galate and Gloria).

We have also established a national security support system for Seychelles-based vessels, whereby armed protection teams are deployed. But some types of vessels are very hard to defend because of their small size. This is why we must continue to try and target the root causes of the problem: the instability in Somalia and the criminal financiers of piracy. We must solve the problem and not just manage it.


defpro.com: Estimates of the annual costs of piracy to the international community range from $7 to $12 billion. Could you please outline to our readers exactly how the Seychelles are being affected by piracy in terms of financial, political and social effects?

James Michel: Seychelles, being a small maritime state, has been adversely affected by piracy. Piracy is costing Seychelles an average of 4 per cent of its GDP* every year, which includes direct and indirect costs as well as losses in shipping, fishing, tourism and increased spending on maritime security.

Particularly hard hit are the local fisheries, where between 2008 and 2010 there was a drop of 46 per cent in local fishing, which is, coincidentally, also the equivalent of the rise in the price of fish on the local market during the same period. Our local fishermen, whose livelihood depends on the sea, have been the victims of piracy on several occasions and some have been taken hostage to Somalia and suffered terribly. Presently, two of our brothers, fishermen in their sixties, are being held hostage in Somalia. Since we are a very close-knit community with a small population, these events have been very traumatic, and many families and their friends have suffered.

Tourism has not been impacted overall in terms of visitor arrivals. Indeed, we had two record years consecutively, but the yachting tourism has seen a sharp drop, as yachts are not allowed to sail far from the main islands.

Also affected are local consumer prices for imported goods, which have increased due to the high costs of imports (and insurance premiums as well as risk factors), thereby affecting the Seychelles economy and cost of living.

We are a maritime nation – the sea-lanes are the highways that connect us to the world. Piracy increases our sense of isolation.


defpro.com: You have repeatedly raised the issue of piracy in different multi-national forums, for instance during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth in October 2011. What impression do you have of the international community’s willingness to take action against piracy?

James Michel: I was encouraged at the CHOGM in Perth by the willingness of Commonwealth leaders to address the issue of piracy, but in practice it is clear that the efforts of the international community are not adequate. Piracy is still rampant, despite the presence of ships and aircraft operating under EUNAVFOR, CMF, NATO and other independent navies.

Rules of engagement established by different forces are too often limited and do not allow robust responses. Regretfully, once hostages are taken, too many companies and governments are perpetuating piracy as a business transaction.

We need to tackle the root of the problem in Somalia more directly, as well as those financing this criminal activity.


defpro.com: Would you say that the political and legal framework within which multi-national fleets, such as EUNAVFOR or the Combined Task Force 151, are currently operating provides sufficient hold and flexibility to effectively tackle piracy?

James Michel: Considerable efforts have been put in by the multinational forces, and while there have been improvements in the coordination and effectiveness of multi-national operations, the results have not been commensurate. We are still at the management stage of the problem, and not at the stage of solutions.

We need to have a standard political and legal framework to combat piracy, as well as prosecute and convict pirates expeditiously in order to demonstrate an active deterrence to this menace.

While many potential attacks by pirates have been thwarted by the forces deployed, there have been numerous cases of pirates being set free because of a lack of evidence or non-acceptance by any country to prosecute them. This clearly permits them to return for another attack.

We need to, therefore, adopt new strategies and policies in dealing with piracy in order to always be one step ahead of them.


defpro.com: In mid-November, a German frigate captured a pirate mother ship with 19 pirates. As no country was willing to take charge of the criminal prosecution, the naval vessel brought the pirates back to Somalia where they are now free to launch new attacks. How can the international community overcome its current incapacity to address the problem?

James Michel: There needs to be consensus by the international community on the global nature of the problems of piracy and the need to share the burden of prosecution and conviction. As we have seen, the range of operations of the pirates has steadily increased over the last few years and it is imperative that all countries contribute their resources. Much more needs to be done by the international community regarding sharing the burden of prosecution.

Seychelles is one country that has successfully prosecuted pirates, but we are a small country that can only do so much. Already over 12 per cent of our prison population is made up of Somali pirates.

We commend those countries that have also proceeded with prosecutions. We also look forward to having fully functioning and internationally monitored prisons within Somalia so that we may transfer convicted pirates to serve their sentences there.


defpro.com: There are increasing numbers of reports about ship crews or hired security teams fighting back attempts to board their ship. This indicates a growing intensity of violence on both sides. How do you assess this trend and will it be possible to counter piracy without escalating the spiral of violence?

James Michel: As you are aware, no ship with an armed security team onboard has been pirated to date. While the safety of the crew is paramount, the growing menace of piracy has forced ship owners to adopt other means of protection at the risk of escalating violence.

We must remember that to take a ship hostage is an act of violence, and that these pirates are brandishing sophisticated weapons that are aimed to kill.

The response to these attacks, therefore, needs to be met with force as the pirates are not interested in dialogue. Failure to act with force results in months of imprisonment in poor conditions in Somalia.


defpro.com: You have warned in the past of the connections between piracy and terrorism in Somalia. Could you please elaborate on your views of this calamitous relation and the trends that you observed during recent years?

James Michel: Somalia has several paramilitary groups, and many agencies operating in Somalia have reported that payments are made to these groups by pirates – either as a form of tax or as part of an organised relationship. Some of these groups use terrorist tactics and have conducted attacks in Uganda and in Somalia, itself.

Various experts, on numerous occasions, have linked piracy to radical Islamist groups in Somalia. Furthermore, we have seen the growing level of violence adopted by the pirates, including the abuse of hostages. The kidnapping and killing of tourists in the Lamu resort of Kenya has been a worrying new phenomenon regarding the situation in Somalia. Thus, there is a very thin line between piracy and terrorism today.

It is therefore very important that all regional and international stakeholders cooperate closely to try stopping this from spreading, as both piracy and terrorism have no borders.


defpro.com: In this context, how do you assess the Kenyan military offensive and its effects on the region?

James Michel: The hijacking and killing of tourists in a resort in Kenya is totally unacceptable and a heinous and needless crime. The perpetrators need to be brought to justice. It is every country’s right to protect its sovereignty and citizens.


defpro.com: During the visit by Chinese Minister for National Defence and State councillor General Liang Guanglie in December 2011, you signed an agreement with China to develop closer cooperation in the fight against piracy. Could you please outline the exact aims of this agreement and what is your assessment of the Seychelles’ partnership with China?

James Michel: We have simply renewed our military cooperation with China. The aim of this agreement, which dates to 2004, is to increase military cooperation and boost the Seychelles’ capacities to fight the threat of piracy. We will receive training, equipment and exchange visits from China and will work towards improving our military relations.

We have also invited the Chinese navy to make more frequent port calls for rest and recuperation, and to increase their maritime surveillance in our economic area. Seychelles and China have a special relationship built on mutual respect and cooperation, which has brought about significant developmental gains.


defpro.com: Thank you very much, President Michel.

____

* The 2010 GDP of the Republic of Seychelles is estimated at USD 2.053 billion (PPP) / USD 0.919 billion (nominal).

(Photo: Bundeswehr, Christian Laudan)

[buglerbilly]

Ship of the Future to Battle Pirates

A French military vessel equipped with a variety of non-lethal defense technology could provide security in waters where pirates abound.

Mon Jan 30, 2012 12:17 PM ET

THE GIST


Last year, there were 439 recorded incidents of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas.
A new project from France is is taking aim at ocean pirates.
Its ship will launch several anti-pirate defense technologies at once.



The U.S. Navy amphibious transport dock ship USS Dubuque (background) raids a ship after it was attacked and boarded by pirates on September 9, 2010, in the Gulf of Aden. Click to enlarge this image.
William Farmerie/U.S. Navy via Getty

Blind them with light, drench them with water cannons or deafen them with sound blasts: these are some of the on-board anti-pirate features that figure in a project being developed in France.

The project was presented Thursday and Friday in Nantes in western France to some 400 delegates attending MARISK, a forum on shipping security.

A series of traps and non-lethal defenses are set to be installed on board the Partisan, a French military training vessel, in a 12-million-euro project piloted by the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

Aside from the armed guards used on some ships, the main anti-pirate defense measure currently deployed is water cannons that some crews use against aggressors but at the risk of themselves being targeted.

"The aim of this equipment is to make the boats difficult to board, to make them very hostile, unwelcoming for the pirates," said Eric Prang of Sagem, a French firm involved in the project.

Pirate attacks dropped slightly in 2011 for the first time in five years thanks to increased security, but the situation off Somalia is a growing concern, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Around the globe there were 439 recorded incidents of piracy and armed robbery last year, with 802 crew members taken hostage. Forty-five vessels were hijacked, 176 boarded and 113 fired upon. Eight crew were killed.

With grim figures like these in mind, the French project is likely to be keenly watched by shipping companies.

The anti-pirate measures on the Partisan begin with radar systems and infrared cameras that detect the danger as early as possible, allowing the crew to alert the authorities in the hope of being rescued by a warship.

If the pirates move closer to their target on board their skiffs, they can be hit with "long range acoustic devices" that blast them with pain-inducing sounds. They might then be hit with beams of blinding light.

If they are still not dissuaded, powerful remote-controlled water cannons can continue to blast them while the crew takes refuge in a "citadel", or safe room hidden in the boat.

From there the crew can use cameras to monitor the pirates and continue to sail their ship.

If despite all that the pirates manage to get on board, they will be met with tear gas canisters. The ship's corridors are plunged into darkness and flooded with smoke to disorientate the pirates.

All these defense mechanisms will be installed for testing on board the Partisan over the course of this year, with a view to bringing them to the market from 2014.

But a security official from a major shipping company at the Nantes forum said such measures would only be useful against amateur pirates.

"If you come up against hardened gangs, real pros like you get these days in Somalia, they are not going to be put off by smoke or by water cannon," said the official, requesting anonymity.

"I have already tried water cannon. That disorientated them a bit, but they still boarded the ship," he said.

"In fact, aside from armed guards, the only viable solution is speed. It's impossible to board a vessel that is doing 18 to 20 knots (33-37 kilometers per hour) if your speedboat is going flat-out," he said.

"That is why the big container ships, which can move at these speeds, are not pirated in the Indian Ocean."