Somali pirates not scared off by Royal Navy attack
Criminals aware that odds of interception remain relatively low
David Osler - Friday 14 November 2008
SOMALI pirates are unlikely to reduce attacks on merchant shipping, despite the killing of two — and perhaps three — of their number in a recent shoot-out with the Royal Navy, an expert predicted yesterday.
While pirates are well aware that their activities potentially put their lives on the line, they look at the paucity of naval vessels in the region and calculate that the odds of success remain high, he argued.
Given the risk-reward ratio and the reality that, in Somalia,
violence can easily find you even if you don’t set out to find it, piracy still seems a good career move for many young Somali men.
The Royal Navy’s deadly engagement with pirates came earlier this week, during an exchange of fire with a dhow suspected of involvement in an attack on an undetermined vessel off the coast of Yemen. A third man died later in circumstances that remain to be confirmed.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence confirmed that an incident took place on Tuesday, when marines onboard two assault craft launched from HMS Cumberland attempted to intercept the pirate ship, after “various non-forcible methods” to stop it proved unsuccessful.
According to the MoD, the pirates opened fire first and the fatalities occurred after the fire was returned. After that, the Somalis complied in allowing the Royal Navy to board the dhow.
Russia has claimed that its frigate Neustrashimy also took part in the engagement, although the extent of its role in the incident is disputed.
An MoD statement said: “Two foreign nationals, believed to be Somali pirates, were shot and killed in self-defence. A Yemeni national was also found injured and later died, despite receiving emergency treatment from the ship’s doctor.
“It is unclear whether his injuries were as a result of the firefight or a previous incident involving the pirates. As with all shooting incidents, a post-shooting incident investigation is currently being conducted.”
The statement names the merchant ship that had been attacked earlier as Powerful, and describes it as Danish registered. Of the three vessels of that name on government and commercial databases, none is Danish flag, and neither the International Maritime Bureau nor a Royal Navy spokesman could offer any positive identification.
Roger Middleton, author of a recent report on Somalia for the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank, said that despite the casualties, he did not expect pirates to cease or even cut back on attempts to hijack merchant shipping.
“They certainly don’t want to get themselves shot. They know they are outgunned by naval forces in the area, but work on the assumption that the area covered is enormous and they have a pretty good chance of being able to carry out pirate attacks without getting caught. I don’t think it will scare them off,” he said.
Somali pirates come from a poor region in a dangerous country with a lot of fighting, and stand a good chance of getting shot at even if they sit at home without doing anything illegal, he pointed out.
From the pirates’ perspective,
weapons and boats are cheap, smuggled petrol can be procured from Yemen, and they can still make big money without being successful every time.
“Things like this [the deaths] will make them a little bit more cautious, hopefully.
What it may do is make the sight of a frigate on the horizon just that bit more frightening and make that deterrent even more effective.”
Meanwhile, Islamic insurgents have reportedly seized the strategic Somali port of Merka, leaving the way clear for an assault on the capital, Mogadishu, about 55 miles away. They were able to take the city without firing a shot after government troops fled the night before, residents said. The attack follows similar seizures of the port of Kismayo and other cities.
After being turned out of Mogadishu in December 2006 by Ethiopian troops, the insurgency has retaken much of the territory it was forced to cede at the time.
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