The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[old medic]

Successful in World War II, armed convoys are weighed as a solution to Somali piracy crisis

TODD PITMAN Associated Press Writer
4:44 PM CDT, April 16, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-af-piracy-convoys,0,4437442.story

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.S. employed them during World War II: armed convoys on the high seas to protect Allied shipping lanes from German subs. Could the same work with pirates?

Some maritime experts say escorting the more than 20,000 ships that transit the Horn of Africa every year would be impractical, outstripping available military resources and at a cost that would be too high. But the tactic is being revisited, and NATO is considering it.

"It's true that it's more expensive to convoy, but it's worth the money," said Peter D. Zimmerman, an American professor emeritus at King's College in London. "There is a clear and present danger, and it's extremely corrosive to the maritime system to allow these pirates to operate with impunity."

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe. It's one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, and these days among its most dangerous.

Piracy is skyrocketing in the region and at least 79 attacks have been reported this year, compared with only 21 in all of 2003, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Pirates are now holding more than 280 foreign crewmen on 15 ships — at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.

The crisis has spawned fresh debate on how to stop it, but options are slim. Commercial vessels are loathe to travel with armed security aboard because they fear violence could escalate. And in many cases, they have no choice since carrying arms is illegal in many ports.

During World War II, Allied warships deployed to protect merchant vessels crossing the Atlantic after Nazi submarines began sinking them with impunity. Today, the threat is different with modern-day warships facing lightly armed, agile pirate skiffs that are not trying to destroy vessels, but seize them for ransom.

Cyrus Mody, of the International Maritime Bureau, said there are only 15 to 20 warships deployed in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia's eastern coast at any one time — a fraction of what is needed to guard tens of thousands of ships, even in convoys.

At the Pentagon, officials dismiss the use of convoys, partly because of the high number of personnel such a mission would entail. Also, the military has been adamant that ship security be the responsibility of shipping companies.

One senior defense official said privately that it would be impossible, with the number of U.S. and coalition ships available, to both escort convoys and patrol the gulf at the same time.

The U.S. Navy has destroyers in the region, but they do not run convoys, according to Lt. Stephanie Murdock, a spokeswoman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain. She declined to give details or say why, and the military does not traditionally discuss future operations.

Cmdr. Chris Davies, a spokesman at NATO's Northwood maritime command center outside London, said NATO has looked into the idea but has not gone further.

"It hasn't been ruled out, but it's not something we've explicitly done," Davies said. "It's a proven method, and it is something we may well do given the circumstances."

He declined to discuss specific tactics, but said NATO is recommending cargo ships take proper defensive measures such as keeping a good lookout, and if approached, run at full speed and use evasive maneuvers and fire hoses to repel anyone who tries to board.

Pirates target the most vulnerable vessels — slow-moving ships with decks low enough for them to climb onto, Davies said.

Mody said convoys could even increase risks "because that would require ships to wait in designated collection areas for long periods of time, either drifting or moving very slowly, thus exposing them to pirate attacks."

Though no figures are available, a Nairobi-based diplomat said about 10 percent of traffic in the Gulf of Aden is already using escorts for smaller convoys. Averaging four to six ships, some are protected by private maritime security companies, he said on condition of anonymity because he not authorized to speak to reporters.

Those security companies are expensive. But Zimmerman, former chief scientist for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, points out that if piracy becomes more common, costs are likely to rise regardless because marine insurance premiums will go "way up."

Most hijackings are resolved by shipping companies, which pay million-dollar ransoms to get their ships and crews back, then recoup the money from insurance companies.

Protecting larger convoys of up to 50 ships would bring other challenges, said Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, the managing director of London-based firm Dryad Maritime Intelligence Ltd.

"You need ships in the middle and a screen of ships on the outside," he said. "To do it properly, you need an awful lot of warships to protect the outer screen."

Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House, said that in the Indian Ocean the divergent routes and speeds of ships also makes convoys impractical.

"You've got at least 20,000 ships a year going through the Gulf of Aden coming from all different parts of the world," he said. "It's not practical if you're going from India to Kenya to go in a convoy with a ship going from the Middle East to South Africa."

On one sea lane in the Gulf of Aden, the U.S. Navy's Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain has already set up a "transit corridor" that, though not considered a naval convoy, is aimed at protecting ships by providing military security and advising ships of similar speeds to depart together at specific times.

According to a memorandum issued by the office Tuesday, naval and air forces "will be strategically deployed within the area to best provide protection and support to merchant vessels."

Peter Smerdon, a Nairobi-based spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program, said there was talk of extending such corridors south along the coasts of Somalia and Kenya, but that it was "only discussion" at this time.

European warships have since 2007 escorted larger vessels carrying food aid for the U.N. World Food Program, but usually only one ship at a time and on longer journeys to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, Smerdon said. The only convoys they've escorted are smaller ships, usually traveling three at a time, which offload food directly in Somali ports.

 

[CougarKing]

So do any of the rest of you think that the measures described in the article below will be that effective?

Fighting off the Somali pirates

The recent escalation in pirate attacks has highlighted the vulnerability of shipping off the coast of Somalia. Now many ships are taking their own precautions, using hi-tech equipment to keep pirates at bay.

Graphic shows anti-pirate measures that can be used on ship, plus pirates and their weapons

A beefed-up international naval presence and United Nations resolutions giving foreign military vessels greater powers to chase the pirates have created little in the way of an effective deterrent.

But a consensus is emerging that ship-owners themselves could be doing more to prevent piracy.

So is there more in practical terms that ships' captains can do to fend off the pirates?

Wire and sound

Those who have witnessed attacks say the pirates tend to sneak up on one side of a ship.

They use grappling hooks and ladders to board it at the most vulnerable point - where there is least distance between the height of the deck and the water level.

Some vessels have strung barbed wire at those points, as recommended by the International Maritime Bureau in London. In some cases, say experts, this has proved effective.

Slippery foam sprayed onto the deck can also present a further barrier to pirates taking over.

Other possible solutions include electric security fences and blasting the pirates with water from fire hoses.

While hoses can be used to knock them off balance as they try to board a ship, they are thought to be of limited use against heavily-armed intruders.

Another weapon in a skipper's armoury are loudspeaker systems - or long-range acoustic devices - which provide a clear warning and can, in some instances, damage the hearing of potential unwelcome boarders.

One manufacturer describes its product as having a 'highly irritating deterrent tone for behaviour modification'.

An obvious deterrent is the deployment of more lookouts to give ample warning of a possible attack, supplemented by beefed up camera surveillance.

Skippers are also able to deploy sensitive radar, again, alerting them to imminent danger.

Use of arms

Controversial, though, is any proposal to arm crews.

The problem with this, says Will Geddes, managing director of International Corporate Protection group, is the risk of a protracted battle with already well-armed pirates.

John Burnett, author of "Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas", says that of the 40,000 ships at sea today, most are crewed by people from developing countries.

"They've never held a gun in their lives, so you're asking them to arm themselves," he said.

"If you have guns for protection, you have to shoot to kill... even if you have the officers shoot, you're going to be shot back at and I think the chance of injury and death to the crew members, and damage to the ship, would be prohibitive."

John Burnett suggests thorough training of crew so that when they enter pirate territory, they are alert and assume that they are going to be attacked.

BBC link

 

[CougarKing]

Another update: will this mean the Bundesmarine will soon have its first baptism of fire since WW2?

 

(original article in German at link below)
  http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,619482,00.html

Bundeswehr told to sink all pirate ships

The fight against pirates is about to intensify. The Federal Government has decided to adopt a tougher stance against pirates, a politician of the governing Union party has said. The Federal Armed Forces Association demanded resolute actions to free captured ships.

Osnabrück/Passau - The Federal Government has agreed upon a tougher stance against piracy, the coalition's leading lawmaker for domestic politics, Hans-Peter Uhl (CSU) has said. "From now on pirates will be fought will all military and police means, including the deployment of anti-terrorism units", Mr. Uhl told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung" newspaper. Pirates still have restrained the German freighter "Hansa Stavanger", with five German citizens and 19 other sailors onboard. According to word that has reached SPIEGEL, the GSG9 counter terrorism unit was scheduled to free the hostages at the very beginning of the siege - however the liberation was cancelled.

"We think when pirates strike there can be only one appropriate answer: The ships of the pirates must be sunken immediately", Mr. Uhl said. Now the German Navy would need to use their firepower, because "further diffidence just makes the German state look silly". Also resolute deployments of special forces to recapture hijacked ships and frighten off pirates were called necessary. The European Union mandate for the anti piracy operation explicitely grants the right to use force of arms.

 

 

[tomahawk6]

No combat in Astan but its sink on sight for pirates ? :

 

[CougarKing]

I wonder how long the Administration will be able to play "smart diplomacy" with the pirates? Will public outrage force them to take action, or will we have to wait for 2012?:

http://newledger.com/2009/04/the-new-privateers/

Mr. Thucydides,

Regardless of who is in power in the White House, the US and the rest of the international community seem to be slowly realizing that getting to the root of the Somali pirate problem means stabilizing Somalia. This is shown by the fact that a US Congressman met with some of the internationally-recognized Somali Transitional Federal Government's (TFG) officials in Mogadishu last week, apparently in order to gauge how the US can help that entity in stabilizing Somalia; this use of diplomacy with the TFG to secure a possible local ally, as well as the use of force earlier this week in the hostage situation, shows that the current US administration will not negotiate with pirates as you suggest they will in the above post comparing it to the how a past US government initially dealt with the Barbary Pirates, prior to Jefferson's aggressive use of the USN against them.

post about Somali insurgents targetting the plane of a US Congressman who met with some Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials in Mogadishu


Therefore, with that in mind, what do you think of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (in exile in Djibouti, but which still has a militia of about 3,000 paramilitaries in Mogadishu according to the first article in the first link post below) and the 5,000 strong African Union peacekeeping force's (AMISOM) efforts there to start stabilizing the country as described in the posts below? And the US military's possible response to Somali pirates on the mainland as described in the 3rd post link below?

earlier thread post about the Somali Transitional Federal Government efforts to negotiate with Islamic insurgent forces, plus article about AU efforts to reinforce AMISOM strength

earlier thread post on the background about how the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was forced into exile

earlier thread post about the US military considering options against the pirates, including aiding Somali TFG forces and giving them Coast Guard training/resources

These are just the first steps to helping the Somalis start helping themselves, while also simultaneously hitting at the root of the problem which has allowed the piracy problem to thrive: the virtual lawlessness in Somalia that has existed there in since the 1990s. Stabilizing Somalia is a far more proactive and effective solution than just merely sinking some pirate boats and bombing a few pirate villages only to have more pirates replace them in a few years because the environment there allows them to thrive. The international community-namely the 1st world nations- does not necessarily have to send an actual force there; the AU has already done that, though the TFG and the AU's efforts to stabilize the country will only work if we in the West support their efforts through other means such as funding and training. Perhaps there can even be some parallels to Afghanistan, since that conflict was to prevent that nation from being used as a haven for terrorism, in the same way that Somalia is currently a haven for piracy.

Furthermore, for those here who roll their eyes at the thought of intervening in Somalia for altruistic reasons, another incentive to do so would probably be preempting the possibility that the TFG might also be willing to accept help from China instead, turning them into yet another "proxy state" in the same way a number of African nations like Sudan have come under Beijing's influence.

And here are two more articles:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/165954

Somali PM asks for more help to fight pirates
Freed US captain reaches Kenya; Somali premier willing to share info to fight pirates
MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED Associated Press Writer
AP
Somalia's prime minister says his government has identified many pirate leaders and would be willing to share that information with other countries, including the United States, to get the resources needed to go after them.

Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, speaking Thursday to The Associated Press in an exclusive interview, said the pirates have become so wealthy and powerful that they threaten his government.

"We have information on who is behind this, who is involved," Sharmarke said in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi. "There is a lot of money flowing in ... we are following very closely how money is distributed here."

He was referring to the fact that Somali pirates can earn $1 million or more in ransom for each hijacked ship. Forty-two ships were hijacked by Somali pirates last year, and so far 19 have been taken this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates' assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against pirates.

"These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped," Clinton said in Washington.

Clinton did not call for military force, although she mentioned "going after" pirate bases in Somalia. She urged the U.S. and others to "explore ways to track and freeze" pirate ransom money and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons and communications equipment.

Sharmarke said the Somali government was presenting a plan to envoys from the European Union, the United States and a regional authority to fight pirates by building up military forces and establishing intelligence-gathering posts along its coastline.

"The best way to actually deal with this is to prevent (the pirates) from going into the waters," Sharmarke said. "We are planning to establish at least ten or more observation posts on the coastline."

Still, it was not clear how this plan could cover the 1,900-mile (3,100-kilometer) Somali coastline, since his government controls only a few square blocks of the capital, Mogadishu, with the aid of African peacekeepers.

Donors have also been reluctant to fund a government with little accountability but the recent spike in piracy attacks may change that. Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen captive on 15 ships — at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.

Meanwhile, the American sea captain held hostage for five days by pirates reached port in Kenya on Thursday, hours after his crew held a joyous reunion with their families at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

Capt. Richard Phillips of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama cargo ship was brought into Mombasa harbor aboard the USS Bainbridge, which docked to the music of "Sweet Home Alabama" — the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit that includes the words "I'm coming home to you."

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, gave himself up as a hostage to ensure the safety of his crew. He was freed Sunday by Navy SEAL sharpshooters who killed his three captors.

Phillips planned to spend Thursday night on the Bainbridge, according to Maersk shipping line spokesman Gordan van Hook. He would not say when Phillips planned to fly home but a charter plane is reportedly on standby at Mombasa airport.

There were hugs, tears and a massive sense of relief when the crew of the Maersk Alabama finally reunited with loved ones after arriving at 1 a.m. Thursday at Andrews.

One crewman, carrying a child toward the terminal, shouted, "I'm happy to see my family!" Another exclaimed, "God bless America."

Also Thursday, another U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, arrived in Mombasa, its bridge damaged by rocket-propelled grenades and its windows shattered by gunfire after a pirate attack Tuesday.

The Liberty Sun's 20 American crew members crew successfully blockaded themselves in the engine room and warded off the attack with evasive maneuvers. The ship had been carrying food aid for Africans.

The European Union said Thursday it is boosting its anti-piracy fleet off the Somali coast to 11 ships, with the addition of three Swedish frigates in May. Its main task is to escort cargo ships carrying U.N. World Food Program aid to hungry Somalis.

Nearly a dozen countries, including the United States, have anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe. More than 20,000 ships cross the vital sea lane every year.

— — —

Associated Press writers contributing this report include Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia; Tom Maliti in Mombasa, Katharine Houreld, Michelle Faul, Malkhadir M. Muhumed and Todd Pitman in Nairobi, Kenya; and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels.

Piracy symptom of bigger problem

By Roger Middleton

The risks of piracy mean little to people accustomed to violence

Searching for satellite images of the pirate village of Eyl in Somalia, you are confronted not with palaces and piles of arms but a few crumbling houses and rows of battered boats along the beach.

Even here, where pirate millions first reach Somalia, desperate poverty is everywhere and insecurity is the norm.

US President Barack Obama has said that Somali piracy must be brought under control. But the world's attention is for the most part fixed on the ocean, while the real challenges lie ashore.

What we are seeing in the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean is just the visible tip of a complex web of challenges inside Somalia, a web that reaches across the country, the region and the world.

Somalia is one of the poorest, most violent, least stable countries anywhere on Earth.

It suffers from severe drought and its people face hunger and violence on a daily basis. This is not a new situation, Somalia, especially the south, has been in this state for many years.


The risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day

What is new is that the world is now once again concerned with the goings on of this collapsed state.

Somalis have learnt to live in circumstances under which many might be expected to give up.

In the face of overwhelming adversity they have created thriving businesses, operating entirely in the informal sector, and hospitals built and maintained with money sent home by the diaspora.

However, people who have been forgotten by the world and who hear of toxic waste being dumped on their beaches and foreigners stealing their fish have difficulty being concerned when representatives of that world are held to ransom.

And for many who have grown up surrounded by constant insecurity and bloodshed, violence and the risk of death are unexceptional hazards.

For this reason the current attempts to fight piracy from the sea are only dealing with symptoms. They do not address the reasons why young men are prepared to risk their lives chasing ships around the ocean.

Deadly country

Somalia's poverty leads many to flee, seeking a better or safe life abroad

Piracy is in essence a law and order issue, and in Somalia there is virtually no authority to carry out the kind of policing that could effectively disrupt pirate operations.

What government there is in Somalia has bigger problems.

The ongoing battle with the hard line Al Shabaab militia that controls Kismaayo and the deep south threatens not just the security of the state but has made Mogadishu one of the deadliest places on earth.

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad heads a fairly broad coalition but his opponents have men, weapons and money and are in a fierce struggle to gain control of the country.

When the internationally recognised government is fighting for control of its own capital city, combating pirates must seem a somewhat lower priority.

Even in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland in the north east, from where most pirate attacks are launched, the local government is contending with massive problems.

Boats laden with desperate refugees fleeing the war in Somalia leave almost daily, heading towards Yemen.

The smugglers often dump their human cargoes in the sea to avoid capture and leave them to drown.

Even for those who make it to the other side, life as second class citizens in already poor Yemen is dire.

No engagement

Military solutions do not address the root causes of the piracy

Somalia has spent almost 20 years in a state of civil war, and shifting alliances, international interventions and a steady supply of unemployed young men and cheap guns have acted against any tendencies towards stabilisation.

In a country where the average income is estimated at around $650 (£435) - Somalia is too anarchic for accurate statistics - the lure of up to $10,000 for a successful pirate raid is obvious.

The chronic instability of most of the country and the attendant daily threats to life mean that the risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day.

Pirate bosses have little difficulty recruiting to fill any gaps in their crews. In this context a solution based on security systems and guns will not address the root causes of Somali piracy.

There are ways that navies from around the world can plaster over the problems of Somalia but as long as a state with grinding poverty, hunger, no law enforcement and no effective government sits beside a rich trading route, piracy will continue.

The outside world has for too long seen Somalia only in terms of threats to their own security.

Targeted missiles and interventions have been used to remove threatening individuals or groups but there has been no serious engagement with the political and developmental problems that allow those threats to take root.

If there is a silver lining to the piracy issue it may be that a deeper, broader and more imaginative engagement with Somalia develops.

Piracy is difficult for the nations of the world and disastrous for sailors - but for millions of Somalis the problems of their homeland are catastrophic.

Roger Middleton is coordinating a new project at the think-tank Chatham House investigating the economic dimensions of conflict in the Horn of Africa.

BBC article link

 

[MarkOttawa]

A post at The Torch:

Wimping out with pirates
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/04/wimping-out-with-pirates.html

I wonder what the Canadian policy is for any pirates we might capture:

"NATO frees hostages from pirates, new ship seized"...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

And the ROKN has been busy as well:

South Korean navy repels Somali pirate attack: military
AFP

Fri Apr 17, 1:58 pm ET

COPENHAGEN (AFP) – South Korean naval forces drove away pirates who were trying to board a Danish-registered ship in waters off Somalia, the military and the vessel's owner said Friday.

The incident occurred Friday about 110 kilometres (70 miles) off the coast of Yemen, said a Joint Chiefs of Staff official in Seoul as well as shipowner Shipcraft in Copenhagen.

The Munmu the Great destroyer, carrying a crew of 300, received a distress call from the ship which reported it was being chased by a pirate boat, said Army Colonel Lee Hyoung-Kook, a JCS official who oversees the deployment.

ROKS Munmu the Great (DDH 976)

The 2,500-ton ship Puma -- carrying a generator from Singapore to Germany with a crew of three Danes, four Filipinos and five British security guards -- was about 55 kilometres from the South Korean destroyer.

"The crew of the Puma, upon seeing Friday six pirates in an outboard motor boat approaching at full speed, began to zig-zag to keep them from boarding, and fired a distress flare in their direction," said Shipcraft director Per Nykjaer Jensen.

That gave them just enough time for the Puma to call for help from international naval forces in the area, he told AFP.

The South Korean destroyer dispatched its Lynx anti-submarine helicopter, which arrived at the scene in just over 20 minutes, Lee said.

"The pirates gave up (their) attempt to board the ship and turned away when the helicopter threatened to fire," he said.

Jensen agreed that the helicopter's arrival saved the Puma from being seized, but he added: "We are really frustrated by these intolerable conditions whereby the pirates more often than not get away with impunity."

The South Korean destroyer began operating this week to help fight piracy off Somalia, where several Korean ships have been seized.

Up to 20 foreign warships now patrol the waters off the Somali coast to safeguard major shipping lanes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090417/wl_as...Icwc0fQHIlvaA8F

 

[a_majoor]

US efforts to end piracy today should be contrasted with the efforts that the US employed against the Barberry Pirates in the early years of the Republic.

The sad fact of the matter is the so called transitional government is unable to enforce sovereignty in its proclaimed territory, and groups like the African Union are equally ineffectual (just look to Darfur or Zimbabwe for telling examples of how well their self help efforts are doing). When "we" make diplomatic overtures to these groups or the U.N. "we" can tell ourselves that "we" are doing something, even though nothing is really happening. Today, appearance is all important.

As for the act of rebuilding Somalia, look how Western efforts to do similar rebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan have been met. Do you really expect the EU, China or anyone else will pony up the tens of thousands of combat troops and billions of dollars to do the job since the Anglosphere nations are already fully engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan? For that matter, if you really want to look at root causestm, who is going to stop the Chinese fishing fleets from their huge illeagal harvest or all and sundry dumping waste off the Somali coast?

Yes Somalia is a huge problem, but unless there is a big change of heart in the West, no one is going in there to spend blood and treasure to rebuild. Destroying the pirate nests will buy some time, and when we finish the job in Mesopotamia and Afghanistan, then we can look to fixing the other problems. IF Edward is right, then India might become the "Imperial Power" that polices Africa and they will do the job to whatever extent that is compatible with their resources and national interest.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

I wonder what the Canadian policy is for any pirates we might capture:

Here's your answer: "Nato said a Canadian warship caught the pirates before releasing them after the gang attacked the MV Front Ardenne. The alliance said the pirates had been released because they could not be prosecuted under Canadian law."

Full article here courtesy of the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8006827.stm

 

[MarkOttawa]

More from CP (usual copyright disclaimer):

Canadian warship HMCS Winnipeg chases pirates in Gulf of Aden
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jUOStOY5-rJXhQQyhEvpDCeKQ_Rg

NATO warships - including a Canadian warship - and helicopters pursued Somali pirates for seven hours after they attacked a Norwegian tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

The high-speed chase only ended when warning shots were fired at the pirates' skiff, NATO spokesmen said Sunday.

Seven pirates attempted to attack the Norwegian-flagged MV Front Ardenne late Saturday but fled after crew took evasive manoeuvres and alerted warships in the area, said Portuguese Lt. Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, aboard a warship in the Gulf of Aden, and Cmdr. Chris Davies, of NATO's maritime headquarters in England.

"How the attack was thwarted is unclear, it appears to have been the actions of the tanker," Davies said. Fernandes said no shots were fired at the tanker.

Davies said the pirates sailed into the path of the Canadian warship HMCS Winnipeg, which was escorting a World Food Program delivery ship through the Gulf of Aden. The American ship USS Halyburton was also in the area and joined the chase.

"There was a lengthy pursuit, over seven hours," Davies said.

The pirates hurled weapons into the dark seas as the Canadian and U.S. warships closed in. The ships are part of NATO's anti-piracy mission.

"The skiff abandoned the scene and tried to escape to Somali territory," Fernandes said. "It was heading toward Bossaso we managed to track them ... warning shots have been made after several attempts to stop the vessel."

Both ships deployed helicopters, and naval officers hailed the pirates over loudspeakers and finally fired warning shots to stop them, Fernandes said, but not before the pirates had dumped most of their weapons overboard. NATO forces boarded the skiff, where they found a rocket-propelled grenade, and interrogated, disarmed and released the pirates.

The pirates cannot be prosecuted under Canadian law because they did not attack Canadian citizens or interests and the crime was not committed on Canadian territory.

"When a ship is part of NATO, the detention of person is a matter for the national authorities," Fernandes said. "It stops being a NATO issue and starts being a national issue [emphasis added]."

The pirates' release underscores the difficulties navies have in fighting rampant piracy off the coast of lawless Somalia. Most of the time foreign navies simply disarm and release the pirates they catch due to legal complications and logistical difficulties in transporting pirates and witnesses to court.

Pirates have attacked more than 80 boats this year alone, four times the number assaulted in 2003, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau. They now hold at least 18 ships - including a Belgian tanker seized Saturday with 10 crew aboard - and over 310 crew hostage, according to an Associated Press count [more details at this CNN story].
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/19/pirate.attack.foiled/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

More on privateers:

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2009/Q2/view566.html#Wednesday

I have inquiries asking my opinion on issuing letters of marque and reprisal as a means of suppression of piracy. In other words, create privateers.

Privateers and marque and reprisal were ended in the Declaration of Paris. The US did not participate and has not endorsed the Declaration, but we have several times said we would adhere to that provision. The result is that there is no mechanism for dealing with prizes: there haven't been Admiralty Courts that determine what goods are contraband and subject to seizure and sale for more than 100 years. While creating privateers as a means of piracy suppression might work, it wouldn't be as simple to accomplish as it first appears. What evidence is to be accepted when a privateer brings an accused pirate to court? The pirates claim to be fishermen whose boat has been seized by pirates, and the privateer ought to be arrested and made to pay compensation. What court tries this? Who pays the lawyers? (You may be sure there will be highly paid lawyers involved; that's more inevitable than piracy,)

Poul Anderson made use of the concept in The Star Fox and a whacking good story it was. It's unlikely to happen here. This is not a political environment that would encourage such actions.

Rep. Ron Paul has introduced a Marque and Reprisal bill into Congress to deal with air piracy. He has a similar effort regarding sea piracy. As I said, it's not likely; but it is one interesting path.

The means for piracy suppression exist. The question is the will. Clearly if there were no Somali mother ships there would be no Somali piracy. Of course that would destroy the living of the few Somali fishermen able to eke out an existence. Vigorous patrolling and inspection of mother ships for contraband (assault rifles, RPG's) and confiscation of such ships is one possibility.  If there were a reasonable chance that any given mother ship would be inspected that would change the piracy business plan.

 

[CougarKing]

  Anti-piracy operations off Somalia are producing an unprecedented degree of international maritime cooperation, providing the American and Chinese navies a rare opportunity to work together after a recent high-profile confrontation, the chief of U.S. Naval Operations said in Beijing. Adm. Gary Roughead said he would discuss boosting ties through base visits and joint search and rescue exercises during talks this week with his Chinese counterpart, Wu Shengli. The U.S. admiral’s visit comes amid China’s buildup of its naval prowess and after Chinese vessels last month harassed a Navy surveillance ship in the South China Sea.
[Washingtonpost.com, April 19, 2009]

Just a notable quote from the Washington Post.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Torch post with Canadian Navy video and PM's reaction:

Catch and release video
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2009/04/catch-and-release.html

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CougarKing]

This is a photo made available by NATO CC-MAR HQ Northwood, England, taken from the Dutch vessel, HNLMS De Zeven Provincien off the Somali coast on Saturday, April 18, 2009, which they claim shows Dutch marine commandos with 20 fishermen that they freed from the Yemeni flagged dhow which had been seized by Somali pirates earlier in the week. The Dutch frigate was responding to an earlier distress call from a Marshall Islands flagged tanker, it followed the pirates who were on a small white skiff which proceeded to the dhow it was believed to be using as a 'mother ship'. The pirates boarded the dhow and Dutch marine commandos followed soon after, freeing 20 fishermen whose nationalities were not known. There was no exchange of fire and Dutch forces seized seven Kalashnikov rifles and one rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Seven Somali pirates were detained, but were eventually released. The seven could not be arrested or held because they were seized by Dutch nationals and neither the pirates, the victims nor the ship were Dutch.
(AP Photo/NATO/OTAN)

Handout image made available by Belgium's Home Affairs Office crisis centre shows Belgian-registered ship Pompei sailing towards Somalia April 19, 2009. Gunmen from Somalia seized a Belgian dredging vessel and its 10 crew, including seven Europeans. The Pompei was hijacked early on Saturday about 600 km (370 miles) from the Somali coast en route to the Seychelles. It has two Belgian, four Croatian, one Dutch and three Filipino crew on board. A pirate source who said he was on board the Pompei said they would sail it to Haradheere, a stronghold of the sea gangs. REUTERS/Belgium's Home Affairs Office crisis centre/Handout

Canadian Navy sailors escort a ship near Somalia, 2008. NATO naval ships foiled a pirate attack on a Norwegian tanker, catching up with the would-be hijackers on Sunday after a seven-hour pursuit. (AFP/File/Simon Maina)

 

[CougarKing]

More good news:

2 ships fight off attacks; Pirates free food ship
04/21/2009 | 07:35 AM

NAIROBI, Kenya – Somali pirates in speedboats opened fire Monday on two cargo ships in the latest hijacking attempts in the notorious Gulf of Aden. Another band of brigands freed a food aid freighter but only after receiving a $100,000 "reward" from Somali businessmen.

The latest attack occurred at midday when pirates fired shots at a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged cargo ship, the MV New Legend Honor, said Cmdr. Chris Davies, from NATO's maritime headquarters in England.

Two NATO warships — one Canadian, the other British — scrambled helicopters in defense, Davies said. No damage was reported to the cargo ship and the pirates escaped.

In a separate pre-dawn attack, pirates fired rockets at the Maltese-flagged MV Atlantica about 30 miles (50 kilometers) off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden, said Lt.-Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, a spokesman for the NATO alliance.

Two boats with about six pirates each attacked the ship and one skiff attempted to board it. The ship took evasive maneuvers and escaped without damage or injury to crew, Fernandes said from a warship in the area.

NATO forces have helped fend off several attacks in recent days, but have released the culprits because they had no jurisdiction to arrest them. In some cases, neither the pirates nor their targets were nationals of NATO countries.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met Monday and said they will seek authority for NATO to arrest pirates.

The U.N. announced Monday that pirates had released one ship, the Lebanese-owned MV Sea Horse. The Togo-flagged ship was captured April 14 with 19 crew as it headed to India to pick up more than 7,000 tons of U.N. food destined for hungry Somalis.

But the release was not just a humanitarian gesture.

Pirates let the Sea Horse go after two Dubai-based Somali businessmen intervened and paid off the pirates, said Somali clan elder Abdisalan Khalif Ahmed. The pair had been contracted by the World Food Program to pick up and deliver the food, he told The Associated Press from Harardhere, the Somali port where the freighter had been hauled to by pirates.

The businessmen "pledged to cover the expenses of the pirates who have been out to sea for ten days," Ahmed said.

A man in Harardhere who identified himself as Muhidin Abdulle Nur and claimed to be part of the gang that seized the freighter said the businessmen had paid "a reward" of $100,000 on Sunday.

The U.N. food agency denied any knowledge of a ransom being paid, but ships are usually freed only after their owners pay multimillion-dollar ransoms, sometimes dropped in cash from helicopters directly onto ship decks.

Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at London-based think-tank Chatham House, said since the Sea Horse had no cargo yet, it was probably less valuable anyway.

The U.N. food agency is feeding 3.5 million Somalis this year, about half the country's people. Most food is delivered by sea because flights are too expensive and roads are plagued by bandits.

Analysts blame Somalia's nearly 20 years of lawlessness for fueling piracy's rise.

Years ago, foreign trawlers began taking advantage of Somalia's civil war to fish its waters illegally and dump toxic waste there. Vigilante Somali fishermen tried to defend their shores, and later morphed into full-blown pirates.

Attacks have risen markedly in recent weeks, and brigands hold at least 17 other ships and around 300 crew.

In another sign of deteriorating security in Somalia, two foreign aid workers — one Belgian and one Dutch — employed by Doctors Without Borders were taken hostage Sunday by 25 masked gunmen.

There was no indication the abductions were related to the surge in piracy. The kidnapping of aid workers has long been a common problem in lawless Somalia.

Meanwhile, the European Dredging Association urged European Union governments to step up anti-piracy operations, warning that many more ships could fall prey to pirates.

Pirates captured the Belgian-flagged dredger Pompei on Saturday in the Indian Ocean north of the Seychelles islands. Belgian officials said Monday they have not been able to contact the ship's 10-man crew or their captors.

"Diplomatic relations with Somalia mean nothing because there is no state," said Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht. "You can't solve this via normal diplomatic channels." - AP

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/157861/2-ships...-free-food-ship

 

[The Bread Guy]

And, along the lines of CougarDaddy's argument, some of the main elements of  a strategy are highlighted in this article from the U.S. military media:

Military force is only part of the solution to the recent wave of piracy in the waters off Somalia, the Pentagon’s top military and civilian officials said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said fighting piracy will require an international effort that includes a whole-of-government approach in addition to military force.  “It’s not just a military solution here,” Navy Adm. Mike Mullen said in a National Public Radio interview today ....  “There are an awful lot of ships, and the number of Navy ships we have out there cannot cover the water,” Mullen said. “Nor would increasing that number dramatically cover the water.”

At the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., yesterday, Gates said shipping companies have a responsibility in helping to combat piracy off Somalia, noting that some companies are prepared to pay ransoms to pirates as part of the cost of doing business.  “Clearly, if they didn't pay the ransoms, we would be in a stronger position,” the secretary said .... “It’s a complex problem, and I think it involves both a maritime aspect that involves enforcement and a kinetic aspect,” he said. “But I think until we can do something to provide some kind of stability on land and some prospects for these people, it's going to be a tough problem.”

On NPR today, Mullen said more needs to be done to punish piracy. “In the end, this is a crime, and it needs to be prosecuted in a court,” he said. “The only country the United States has an agreement with is Kenya, where we have transferred pirates that we’ve captured. That part of the system has to be more robust than it is right now.”

 

[The Bread Guy]

From Germany's press agency DPA - highlights mine - shared for fair use:

NATO could curtail or scrap a planned goodwill visit of a flotilla of warships to Pakistan, Singapore and Australia in a bid to fight pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia, the alliance's spokesman said Wednesday. NATO currently has four frigates in the Gulf of Aden fighting piracy. They are set to leave the region on Thursday and visit Karachi, Singapore and Perth in a show of diplomatic goodwill, before returning to anti-piracy tasks in late June.

But NATO ambassadors are now debating whether that schedule can go ahead as planned, or whether the Asia-Pacific tour should be cut to keep the ships in Somali waters longer or bring them back sooner, James Appathurai told journalists in Brussels.

A steep rise in pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia in recent months has put increasing pressure on the international community to commit more forces to the region.

But NATO is keen to strengthen its ties with Pakistan, Singapore and Australia, all of whom are seen as important supporters of the alliance's ongoing mission in Afghanistan.

The ambassadors are also deliberating whether NATO should set up a longer-term anti-piracy mission to complement a task force sent by the European Union to the Gulf of Aden, Appathurai said.

And they are debating whether there is some way to change their ships' rules of engagement so that they can arrest pirates caught in the act of attacking passing ships.

Currently, each ship operates under its national laws, and some NATO members have no laws on piracy on the high seas. That led to a case at the weekend in which NATO ships detained seven armed pirates but were forced to release them immediately.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is "not happy with the mission they have, nor happy with the authorities they have been given," Appathurai said.

Fact sheet on EU anti-SOM-piracy TF attached, but it appears this team's hands are tied, too, according to the UK's Telegraph as of late last year:

A new EU naval task force will be unable to take tough action against Somali pirates because it must respect their human rights, its commander has admitted.

 

[a_majoor]

You can talk all you want, but pirates are not really in a listening mood....

http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_04_19-2009_04_25.shtml#1240406450

[Eugene Kontorovich, guest-blogging, April 22, 2009 at 9:20am] Trackbacks
The Administration's Pathetic Piracy Policy, or Freezing Asses

The attention focused on the arraignment yesterday of the surviving Alabama pirate in federal court yesterday should not divert attention from the absolute failure of Western efforts against Somali piracy. The situation is not likely to improve, given the anti-piracy measures dramatically promised by the Obama Administration.

(In my too-slowly-forthcoming but particularly timely essay, “A Guantanamo on the Sea”: The Difficulty of Prosecuting Pirates and Terrorists, 98 Calif. Law. Rev., I predict many legal difficulties with policing and prosecuting piracy, which I argue explains the lack of aggressive action in the field or in the courtrooms. The new anti-piracy proposals are in keeping with this.

In the wake of the sudden public attention generated by the seizure of the U.S. vessel, both the president and Secretary of State Clinton vowed to crack down on the international criminals. But the measures they promised are pathetic. The highlight of Clinton’s four-point anti-piracy plan is to “seize pirate assets.” I admit when I first heard this I thought it was a joke. Pirates do not have money in London or New York banks. Somalis are more likely to have asses than assets. The pirates put in their booty into mansions, cars, multiple wives and qwat. How will Clinton freeze that?

Apparently “freezing assets” has become part of a rote litany of soft power diplomacy, along with travel restrictions and the like. The problem with such measures — and with things like universal jurisdiction, which often rely on them as enforcement tools — is that they're much more effective against leaders of Western democracies than a variety of Third World thugs. Somali pirates, like the North Korean Politburo, are not signing up for the Grand Tour of Italy, or a trip around England’s maze gardens. Such sanctions will be largely ineffective against them.

One can only hope that when such measures are discussed the sanctions against Iran to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons, it is not meant to be such an obvious commitment to do nothing.

I am not being unfair to Clinton’s plans. The asset freeze is the most aggressive of her proposals, the rest of which include holding “meetings,” a “diplomatic team to engage” Somalia’s transitional government; and tasking other officials to “work” with the shipping industry on their self defense measures.

This is not the first time an administration has boldly announced it would put an end to Somali piracy and is not the first time in such announcements would be in vain. Last fall, after the hijacking of a Ukrainian ship, the Faina, carrying dozens of battle tanks, the Bush administration and other nations declared that the pirates have finally gone too far. Secretary of State Rice devoted considerable time and her last months in office working this issue at the United Nations. Yet those pirates got a ransom too, and the piracy epidemic has only increased.

Indeed, as I've recounted elsewhere, since the beginning of the piracy epidemic last summer the United Nations has passed five Security Council resolutions on the subject– all under its binding Chapter VII authority. No other issue, not even the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (to say nothing of the bloody civil war in Sri Lanka or the ongoing genocide in Darfur) has commanded as much of the Council’s attention. Yet the piracy epidemic has only increased apace. In the days after Obama announced that the U.S. would be getting tough on pirates, as if to mock his words several more vessels were seized, including another American ship.

All Related Posts (on one page) | Some Related Posts:

  1. The Administration's Pathetic Piracy Policy, or Freezing Asses
  2. Just an Honest Fisherman
  3. Why Crews Don't Resist ...
  8. The Piracy Problem.
  9. How to Handle Pirates:
  10. The Somali Pirates:

 

[GAP]

A more effective method would be to "Blow them out of the water if they attack".

 

[OldSolduer]

A more effective method would be to "Blow them out of the water if they attack".

We're thinking along the same lines GAP.