The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[NL_engineer]

WRT Germany - a lot has to do with the reuinfication of the two German states

Not anything that said country did in the past, that keeps coming up when they send troops abroad?

 

[geo]

FWIW, the German people & the politicians have had a bellyfull of war (at least as instigators) and while they are prepared to do peacekeeping (as the Canadian political band played for SOOO long), warfighting is something they still have trouble getting their mindset wrapped around.

 

[CougarKing]

Looks like Blackwater's Patrol ship McArthur will be having company if more PMCs do enter the picture.

ESCORT SECURITY VESSELS

Available for charter. Ex-Naval patrol boats, crewed by ex-military personnel, with relevant operational experience for global contracts - short or long term.

http://commercial.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=101865

Escort Ships

Izax Offshore can supply 6 of these vessels for Escort / Patrol / Guard Duties . These vessels can be mobilised anywhere in the world and have fully trained crews

http://commercial.apolloduck.com/display.phtml?aid=101552

or   

For Sale: small frigate

we are selling one second hand frigate. The ship would make a great candidate for protection of convoys in areas, where pirate's menace must be expected. She is for sale only to buyers, that can provide an end-user certificate from their authorities. The price is for ship without any military equipment.

http://commercial.apolloduck.com/display.phtml?aid=101862

 

[dapaterson]

For Sale: small frigate

http://commercial.apolloduck.com/display.phtml?aid=101862

Why didn't you post this BEFORE Christmas?  Which would you rather find under your tree - socks and shirts, or a frigate?

 

[geo]

DAP...
It's prolly a case of the frigate was returned to the vendor after Xmass

Must be a case of "Wrong colour" or "wrong size"

 

[CougarKing]

If you're a sorry-looking pirate, never mess with the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Malaysian helicopter saves Indian ship from pirates

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked on Thursday, foiling the new year’s first attack by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden off the chaotic African nation of Somalia.

“This was a New Year’s gift to the owners of the Indian tankers. If the Malaysians had not arrived their ship would have been certainly hijacked," said Noel Choong of the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting centre.

The Malaysian rescue comes as more and more countries are sending warships to join a multi-national naval force to protect commercial vessels passing through one of the world’s most important sea routes. On Christmas Day, a German helicopter similarly saved an Egyptian ship off Somalia, a lawless country that has become a breeding ground for pirates who have raked in millions of dollars in ransom from hijackings.

The Indian tanker carrying a full load of oil was steaming toward the Suez Canal when it was attacked by two skiffs, one of which carried seven pirates dressed in military-style uniforms, said Choong.

“They came close to the ship and started firing machine guns, hitting the bridge and the accommodation area," Choong told The Associated Press.

He said the pirates, believed to be Somalis, tried to board the vessel several times while “firing repeatedly" but failed.

The captain increased the ship’s speed to maximum, made evasive maneuvers and sent an SOS, which was received by a Malaysian frigate, KD Sri Indera Sakti, only 15 nautical miles away, he said.

The frigate dispatched a Fennec light military helicopter, which arrived within minutes, said Choong.

On spotting the helicopter the pirates stopped firing and fled. There were no injuries to the crew but the tanker sustained some damage, Choong said.

Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said the U.S. Navy had no immediate information about a pirate attack.

The Malaysians, who are part of the multi-national task force, also saved a Chinese ship less than two weeks ago.

More than a dozen warships are now patrolling the vast gulf. Countries as diverse as Britain, India, Iran, the United States, China, France and Germany have naval forces in the waters.

According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 times in the Gulf of Aden in 2008, out of which 42 resulted in successful hijackings.

Choong said 14 ships are still in the hands of pirates with more than 240 hostages. “Despite the increase in naval activities pirates are still managing to find loopholes to attack and hijack ships because warships cannot be everywhere at the same time," said Choong.

The pirates have been given a free hand to operate because of more than a decade of turmoil in Somalia. The nation of about 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 and then turned on each other.

- AP / The Star -

 

[old medic]

Aso seeks MSDF dispatch off Somalia
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200812270052.html

Prime Minister Taro Aso on Friday pressed for ways to swiftly dispatch Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels to thwart pirates off Somalia, but he faced reluctance from his coalition partner and even his defense chief.

"I have instructed the defense minister to further accelerate discussions on how to allow the SDF to quickly participate in counter-piracy measures," Aso told a Cabinet meeting Friday.

However, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada questioned the effectiveness of rushing to send MSDF vessels to the seas off east Africa to protect only Japanese vessels.

"If we only (protect) Japanese ships, how effective would it be from the viewpoint of international collaboration?" Hamada said at a news conference the same day.

Members of the Liberal Democratic Party's junior coalition partner, New Komeito, have also raised concerns over what would be an unprecedented dispatch for dealing with pirates.

The government has been fretting over its inability to take prompt action while other nations, including China, have rushed to protect their vessels from pirates.

Japan is the only Group of Eight nation that has not sent naval vessels off Somalia.

One option available for Japan is to use Article 82 of the Self-Defense Forces Law for a maritime security operation to protect Japanese lives or properties.

Under the law, the defense minister can order a dispatch to deal with armed foreign vessels, or unidentified vessels, if the situation is deemed to exceed the capability of the Japan Coast Guard.

Another option, already being pushed by the government, is to send MSDF vessels under a new general law that would allow the SDF to protect not only Japanese ships, but foreign commercial vessels as well.

The government plans to submit a bill for the general law during the ordinary Diet session next year.

The envisioned law would also allow SDF vessels to engage in counter-piracy operations elsewhere.

It would define piracy as a crime, which is currently not stipulated in domestic laws, and allow SDF vessels to intervene in acts of piracy targeting foreign ships that are not carrying Japanese nationals or cargo.

But even if the government submits the bill, deliberations are unlikely to start in earnest until April at the earliest, after the passage of the fiscal 2009 budget.

Dispatch orders under the SDF Law have been issued only twice.

One was in 1999, to allow the SDF to pursue two suspected North Korean spy ships spotted off the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. The other dispatch order was issued in 2004, when a Chinese submarine intruded into Japanese waters.(IHT/Asahi: December 27,2008)

 

[geo]

"If we only (protect) Japanese ships, how effective would it be from the viewpoint of international collaboration?" Hamada said at a news conference the same day.

Umm... shouldn't it be a case of YOU look after my ships and I will look after your ships......
Piracy is a golbal problem & should be dealt with on a global basis... If this fella only wants to protect his own ships (the same way as the germans appear to be doing (read about their trap and release programin post #463) then this fella has his head stuffed sooo far up his a$$ that he can't see daylight.

 

[CougarKing]

Good job to Le Marine Nationale/the French Navy!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090102/twl-uk-somalia-piracy-sb-a7cf3b4.html

France hands pirates to Somalia as more attacks foiled
Friday, January 2 05:50 pm

Rampant piracy off Somalia's coast has alarmed nations around the world worried about threats to global trade and warships have rushed to curb the hijacks, typically carried out by a handful of well-armed bandits in small speedboats.

It was the audacious seizure of a Saudi oil tanker with two million barrels of crude hundreds of miles at sea in November that shocked shipping firms and calls for action mushroomed.

The French frigate that captured the pirates was patrolling as part of a European Union anti-piracy naval task force under British command set up last month, the first such naval operation of its kind.

"The French navy handed over to us the eight Somali pirates they seized," Abdullahi Said Samatar, Puntland's security minister, told Reuters. "We urge all other countries to fight pirates and then hand them into Puntland."

Even though the semi-autonomous region of Puntland has run its affairs for years with relative independence from the chaotic south of Somalia, it has became a base for pirates earning millions of dollars in ransoms.

While some analysts say Puntland officials are complicit in the attacks, authorities in the poor, arid region deny any involvement and say 96 pirates are now in jail there.

"There is a diplomatic agreement whereby the Somali authorities are committed to prosecuting and punishing (pirates)," Christophe Prazuck, a spokesman for the French armed forces, said.

"RESISTANCE IMPOSSIBLE"

Diplomats say trying pirates abroad is seen as problematic by some nations as they may face the prospect of extraditing the guilty to Somalia, where piracy carries the death penalty.

France has been particularly active in the fight against pirates and has arrested 29 in four operations since last April, some of whom are in France awaiting trial.

Besides the EU warships, the United States, China, India, Malaysia, Turkey and Russia all have frigates in the waters off Somalia and Japan is considering following suit.

The French navy nabbed the gunmen after it received a distress signal Thursday from the Panamanian-registered cargo ship S. Venus that was being pursued by the bandits.

"Resistance was impossible when faced by a well-armed warship," Prazuck told LCI television, adding they had found a rocket launcher, rifles and boarding ladders on the pirate's vessel.

Greece's merchant marine ministry said that EU forces had foiled an attack on a Greek-flagged oil tanker Friday.

The "Kriti Episkopi," with 29 crew, was en route to Greece from Iran when it issued a distress signal as pirates attempted to board the vessel, the ministry said.

A Malaysian military helicopter also scared away Somali pirates attacking an Indian ship in the Gulf of Aden on Thursday, but gunmen seized an Egyptian merchant ship with 28 crew the same day.

In Moscow, local news agencies said ships from the Pacific fleet sailed to east Africa where the Russian destroyer Neustrashimy (Fearless) is patrolling Somali waters as part of the international efforts to stem the attacks.

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou in Athens, Conor Sweeney in Moscow, Crispian Balmer in Paris; Writing by David Clarke; Editing by Giles Elgood)

 

[Dogboy]

You know I had that Idea years ago
get a old nave patrolship to hunt Pirates.
but what about having a bait ship ??
a old cargo can with a hidden littel secrit on bord
you hit that thing once and youd think twice about bording another.

 

[CougarKing]

You know I had that Idea years ago
get a old nave patrolship to hunt Pirates.
but what about having a bait ship ??
a old cargo can with a hidden littel secrit on bord
you hit that thing once and youd think twice about bording another.

You should look up the term "Q-ship" under World War One history if you want to explore that "bait ship" concept further.

:-\ Somehow, I don't think today's navies would be willing to dedicate a full crew and a vessel for that task just to capture some Somali pirates when current means are already working.

 

[CougarKing]

Another Bravo Zulu to Le Marine Nationale!!!!

French warship captures 19 Somali pirates
Mon 5 Jan 2009, 6:37 GMT
[-] Text [+]

The Jean de Vienne is a F70 type anti-submarine frigate of the French Marine Nationale. She is the third French vessel named after the XIVth Century admiral Jean de Vienne. Her complement is 20% female. On 04. of january 2009 this ship saved from pirates a croatian a tanker Donat owned by the Tankerska plovidba from Zadar and a cargo ship from Panama called Vulturnus in the waters near Somalia.

PARIS (Reuters) - A French warship captured 19 Somali pirates on Sunday when it came to the rescue of two cargo ships threatened in the Gulf of Aden, the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy said.

The French naval vessel "Jean de Vienne" was on patrol off the Somali coast as part of a European Union anti-piracy force when it came to the rescue of a Croatian cargo vessel and a Panamanian ship crossing the Gulf of Aden.

The 19 Somali pirates, armed and equipped with equipment to board the vessels, were captured and have been handed over to Somali authorities, the statement said.

The incident came three days after another French vessel captured eight Somali pirates who attacked a Panamanian registered vessel.

Piracy off Somalia, one of the world's busiest shipping areas, has soared over the past year, earning the pirates millions of dollars of ransom payments and pushing up maritime insurance rates.

The European Union set up an anti-piracy naval task force under British command last month involving warships and aircraft from several nations in the first such naval operation of its kind.

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE50400P.html

In this photo released on Monday, Dec. 8, 2008 by the French Defense ministry, and taken from French anti-submarine frigate "Jean de Vienne", two armed French Navy officers taking part in the "Atalante" escorting and protection mission, supervise a convoy of cargo ships sailing through the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's coasts, in this photo taken Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008. About 50 cargo ships travel daily through the Gulf of Aden, a strategic waterway that links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.

French forces, above, arrest suspected pirates who tried to hijack a cargo vessel off the Somali coast. Eight men were handed over to Puntland, a state in northeastern Somalia. The Premier Maitre L’Her, a French frigate patrolling the waters as part of an EU taskforce, intercepted the men after twice responding to a distress call from the S. Venus in the Gulf of Aden.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Sharing this tidbit (10 page .pdf) from the U.S. Congressional Research Service to give a bit of a sense of the numbers (highlights mine), as well as non-military policy options open to the USA.....

Summary:  Many Members of Congress are concerned about the sharp rise in pirate attacks in the strategic waterways in the Gulf of Aden off the East coast of Africa. The hijacking of a Saudi Arabiaowned oil tanker, Sirius Star, off the coast of Kenya on November 17, 2008, by pirates was another in a series of seizures that have focused worldwide attention on economic and humanitarian threats posed by pirates to the global seafaring community and the smooth flow of international trade. Given the sharp increase in the number of pirate attacks, the cost of transporting cargo in international waters could rise dramatically because of the sharp increase in ocean marine insurance rates for ships transiting the Gulf of Aden. Commercial insurers, for example, could require a special “war risk” insurance premium costing an additional ten of thousands of dollars a day. These additional costs could adversely impact international trade during the current global economic slowdown.

In addition to proposals for military deterrence and diplomatic engagements, policymakers may elect to consider adjustments to the federal statute (Title XII of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amended) that authorizes the federal government to underwrite marine war risk insurance in circumstances such as piracy. Title XII, administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, authorizes the federal government to act as an insurer or reinsurer of last resort to facilitate waterborne commerce should private ocean marine insurance markets not be able to ensure that financial losses due to war risks (and piracy) will be largely covered.

Policymakers may also elect to maintain the status quo on this statutory authority. The property and casualty insurance industry policyholder surplus is calculated to be approximately $505 billion (as of June 2008). Vessel hull and war risk premiums in the U.S. market paid to insurers totaled approximately $350 million in 2007, and the total value of cargo insurance premiums paid in that year was approximately $833 million, according to industry data. Some may contend, as a result, that the insurance industry appears to be financially capable of handling U.S. exposure to the current piracy threat and that the existing policy “backstop” will be adequate.

This report will be updated as events warrant.

 

[CougarKing]

And as much as I don't like to use Xinhua, here's an update:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/06/content_10614754.htm

Naval escort fleet to protect 15 Chinese merchant vessels from pirates 

www.chinaview.cn  2009-01-06 22:42:26   

    BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- After successfully carrying out its first escort mission, the Chinese Navy prepares to cover another 11 domestic merchant vessels planning to travel around Somalia this week.

    "We will actively provide information and necessary rescue services for those merchant ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters," said He Jianzhong, spokesman with Ministry of Transport (MOT).



    A governmental spokesman said on Tuesday that the naval task force will protect a total of 15 Chinese merchant ships between Tuesday and Saturday.

    Consisting of two destroyers and one supply ship, the naval fleet arrived in waters off Somali coast on Tuesday after a voyage of more than 4,400 nautical miles. It set sail on Dec. 26.

    Soon after its arrival, the fleet conducted its first escort service for four Chinese merchant vessels, including one from Hong Kong.

    The ship's cargo, origins and destinations were not released.

    Under command of the fleet's flagship DDG-169 Wuhuan destroyer, the four merchant vessels sailed in a line formation and passed through the warship's patrolling area.

    Surging piracy off the Somali coast has increasingly threatened internationals shipping. A total of 1,265 Chinese merchant ships passed through the Gulf of Aden last year. Seven were attacked by pirates.

    One Chinese fishing ship, Tian Yu 8, and its 18 crew members were hijacked on Nov. 14, 2008. They are still being held by pirates.

    The MOT announced Chinese merchant ships may ask for protection by applying to the China Shipowners' Association (CSA) and China Maritime Search and Rescue Center (CMSRC).

    According to the commander of the Chinese Naval expedition, Real-Admiral Du Jingchen, the main task for the warships is to dispel pirates with their presence.

    "We have started our escort mission and will conduct careful deployment and close contact with the vessels to secure their safety by strictly abiding by the U.N. resolutions and international laws," said Real-Admiral Du.

    The fleet is carrying about 800 crew members including 70 soldiers from the Navy's special forces along with weapons such as missiles, canons and helicopters.

    For the first phase of the escort mission, the fleet will patrol the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters for about three months, followed by possible replacement warships as needed.

Another report stated that even Taiwan/ROC ships can be protected by the PLAN warships in the Indian Ocean, which will definitely get Taipei's attention and possible disdain.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/06/content_10613544.htm

BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Ships from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan can request the escort services of the Chinese mainland's navy fleet in Somalian waters, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a regular press conference here Tuesday.

    Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are all part of China. The Chinese government attached high importance to the safety of overseas Chinese, and the escort flotilla in Somalian waters will also protect ships from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Qin said.

 

[Infanteer]

This thread has been renamed as per a user request to be an all-encompassing thread on the threat of modern piracy.

Cheers,
Infanteer

 

[CougarKing]

Yet another update:
Hasn't it already been leading that NATO member navies' ships there from the beginning?

US to Lead New Anti-Piracy Naval Force
January 08, 2009
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - A new international naval force under American command will soon begin patrols to confront escalating attacks by Somali pirates after more than 100 ships came under siege in the past year, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

But the mission - expected to begin operations next week - appears more of an attempt to sharpen the military focus against piracy rather than a signal of expanded offensives across one of the world's most crucial shipping lanes.

The force will carry no wider authority to strike at pirate vessels at sea or specific mandates to move against havens on shore - which some maritime experts believe is necessary to weaken the pirate gangs that have taken control of dozens of cargo vessels and an oil tanker.

Pentagon officials described it as a first step to create a dedicated international structure - combining military force, intelligence sharing and coordinated patrols - to battle piracy from lawless Somalia.

The sharp spike in pirate attacks caused a "situation where there were competing priorities" between counterterrorism missions in the region and protecting merchant ships, said Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman in Washington.

There currently are more than a dozen warships in the vast expanse off the coast of Somalia, from naval giants such as the U.S., Britain and Russia, emerging powers such as China and India and regional forces such as Iran.

The announcement on the new mission - issued by the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain - said more than 20 nations are expected to take part.

U.S. Navy officials declined to list the nations, but suggested it would likely comprise many of those already in the region.

It's highly unlikely, however, that nations such as Iran would agree to operate under U.S. command. But Lt. Stephanie Murdock, a 5th Fleet spokeswoman, said the new force would "work with any nation that wants to join."

The announcement said the new force will be headed by U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Terence McKnight.

The new force underscores the urgency to act after a stunning rise in pirate assaults off the Horn of Africa last year: At least 111 ships targeted and 42 of them commandeered, including a Ukrainian cargo shop loaded with tanks and heavy weapons and a Saudi oil tanker with $100 worth of crude.

At two more ships have been hijacked this month, leaving about 15 vessels and about 300 crew members in pirate hands, according to the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

Most of the attacks have occurred in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The waters have increasingly become scenes for showdowns between well-outfitted merchant ships and pirates swarming the hulls on skiffs and armed with light weapons and grappling hooks - and often asking for millions in ransom from owners if they manage to take control.

On Christmas, a German military helicopter responded to a distress call from an Egyptian cargo vessel under siege from pirates, who fled when the chopper arrived.

New Year's Day saw pirates seize another Egyptian cargo vessel with 28 crew, while a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked and a French warship thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship and captured several pirates.

Just a day later, crewmen on a Greek-flagged oil tanker used high pressure water cannons to fight off a pirate ambush.

The U.S. Navy and other nations have international authority to battle pirates in the open seas and come to the aid of vessels under attack. But forces have been stymied on how to respond to ships under pirate control, fearing an all-out assault could endanger the crew members held hostage.

"This task force does not does have any greater rules of engagement," said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a 5th Fleet spokeswoman. "It does, however, bring a greater focus to counter-piracy operations under one command."

But it also carries the suggestion that it could one day take stronger measures. The force's flagship, the USS San Antonio, is an amphibious ship capable of bringing hundreds of Marines ashore.

This is the type of action needed to truly rattle the pirates, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center.

"Right now there is no major deterrent," he said. "The military maybe chases away the pirates, but they regroup and come back for another attack on another ship. Piracy will continue until their networks and bases are hit."

On Thursday, the new president of a breakaway Somali region of Puntland, Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, promised to crackdown on piracy. Puntland is a pirate hub, where local authorities have been accused of helping them and taking a cut of the huge ransoms.

 

[CougarKing]

The end of the supertanker hostage drama?

Somali pirates say released Saudi supertanker

1 hour ago

NAIROBI (AFP) — Somali pirates said Friday they had freed a Saudi-owned supertanker, whose capture nearly two months ago wreaked panic in international shipping and spurred the world into tougher anti-piracy action.

The 330-metre Sirius Star, owned by the shipping arm of oil giant Saudi Aramco, was seized far off the east African coast on November 15, in what was the pirates' most daring attack and largest catch to date.

"All our people have now left the Sirius Star. The ship is free, the crew is free," Mohamed Said, one of the leaders of the pirate group, told AFP by telephone from the pirate lair of Harardhere.

"There were last-minute problems but now everything has been finalised."

Sahafi Abdi Aden, speaking from the same town on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast, also said the hijacking was over.

"I am in Harardhere now and the issue of the Sirius Star was resolved peacefully. I cannot go into the details of the agreement but I can say that the ship is free," he told AFP.

"No member of the crew or of the pirates was hurt during this hijacking."

The amount of the ransom paid for the ship's release was not yet known. Pirates had told AFP days after seizing the Sirius Star they wanted 25 million dollars (18 million euros) for its release but the latest reports indicated that the demand had been lowered to around 3.5 million.

The Sirius Star was manufactured in South Korea and delivered last year. It is believed to be worth around 150 million dollars and its cargo was estimated at the time of the hijacking at 100 million dollars.

The crew of the Sirius Star is made up of 25 people from Britain, Croatia, Saudi Arabia,the Philippines and Poland, where the ship's captain hails from.

Pirates operating off Somalia's coast, in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, have carried out more than 130 attacks in 2008 alone, turning the region into the world's most dangerous waters.

The capture of the Sirius Star, which is carrying close to a fourth of top world producer Saudi Arabia's daily output, sent shockwaves through the world's shipping industry.

The Gulf of Aden is a key maritime trade route, where thousands of ships bottle-neck into the Red Sea before heading to the Suez canal, linking Europe to Asia.

Following the Saudi tanker's hijacking, some companies decided to change their itineraries and send their ships on the longer but safer route around the southern tip of Africa, via the Cape of Good Hope.

With Somalia's pirates, a rag-tag army of fishermen and former coastguards armed with RPGs, speedboats and grapnels, threatening world trade, the international community was jolted into action.

The European Union launched its first ever joint naval operation in a bid to deter pirates in the Gulf of Aden and escort UN food aid shipments to war-wracked Somalia.

The UN Security Council also adopted resolutions empowering foreign navies to tackle piracy and further plans are afoot to ensure all legal provisions are made for pirates to be arrested and prosecuted.

Yet Somalia's modern-day buccaneers have continued to grow in number and audacity, reinvesting ransom money into better equipment and apparently benefitting from an expanding network.

The capture of the Sirius Star also raised the spectre of an environmental disaster, should the hijackers decide to turn the ship into a weapon or foreign navies attempt to release it by force.

Somali pirates still hold 16 vessels and more than 300 crew members.

Among them is the MV Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 33 battle tanks which was seized in September last year.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/artic...MbzTYTM3SR1sW4Q

 

[sm1lodon]

I would like to see the ships carry some armaments for defense against small motorboat equipped pirates.

Just a few machine guns and people on watch would do it. Like personal defense, it isn't the police's problem, it's YOUR problem.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound, euro, or dollar of cure.

 

[CougarKing]

I take it that Spain is just sending this contingent more as part of NATO/the EU?

Spain to send frigate, plane to stop Somali pirates
Fri Jan 9, 2009 11:55am EST

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will send up to 395 military personnel and a patrol plane to the waters off Somalia to defend merchant ships from pirates, the government said on Friday.

The force, which will include a frigate and a supply ship, will be part of a European Union task force set up last month to counter a wave of pirate attacks. Spain's parliament has yet to approve the mission.

"The European Union has taken an important step forward and Spain is going to participate fully in it," Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega told reporters after the government's weekly cabinet meeting.

The task force is under British command and uses warships and aircraft from several nations.

Foreign navies have rushed to the busy shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa to try and curb the attacks, which have brought the pirates millions of dollars in ransoms and sent shipping insurance costs soaring.

Last September, Spain sent a military aircraft and some 90 crew to patrol waters off the coast of Somalia.

This week, Chinese warships began an anti-piracy mission in the seas off Somalia, while NATO ships started operations to combat piracy off the Somali coast in late October.

There were nearly 100 pirate attacks in Somali waters last year, with about 40 ships taken, including a Saudi tanker holding $100 million worth of crude oil.

The Saudi supertanker was released on Friday on payment of a $3 million ransom, an associate of the pirates said.

(Reporting by Sarah Morris; editing by Sophie Hardach)

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/id...E5084Q520090109

   

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

From CTVNews.net
Five Somali pirates drown with ransom share
Updated Sat. Jan. 10 2009 7:32 AM ET

The Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported US$3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and port town resident said Saturday.

Pirate Daud Nure says the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff in the Gulf of Aden that ended Friday.

He said five people died and three people reached shore after swimming for several hours. Daud Nure was not part of the pirate operation but knew those involved.

Jamal Abdulle, a resident of the Somali coastal town of Haradhere, close to where the ship was anchored also confirmed that the boat sank and that the eight's portion of the ransom money that had been shared between dozens of pirates was lost.

U.S. Navy photos showed a parachute, carrying what they described as "an apparent payment," floating toward the tanker. The Sirius Star and its 25-member crew had been held since Nov. 15. Its cargo of crude oil was valued at US$100 million at the time.

The capture was seen as a dramatic demonstration of the pirates' ability to strike high value targets hundreds of miles offshore.

On the same day the Saudi ship was freed, pirates released a captured Iranian-chartered cargo ship, Iran's state television reported Saturday. It said the ship Daylight was carrying 36 tons of wheat when it was attacked in the Gulf of Aden Nov. 18 and seized by pirates. All 25 crew are in good health and the vessel is sailing toward Iran, the TV report said.

The U.S. Navy announced this week it will head a new anti-piracy taskforce after more than 100 ships were attacked last year. NATO and the European Union already have warships patrolling the Gulf of Aden and have intervened to prevent several ships from being captured.

More than a dozen ships with about 300 crew members are still being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, including the weapons-laden Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina, which was seized in September.

The multimillion dollar ransoms are one of the few ways to earn a living in the impoverished, war-ravaged country. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991 and nearly half of its population depends on aid.

Shark food!