The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[CougarKing]

Not surprising considering the sheer number of pirate attacks and the number of merchant ships that need protecting in such a vast area.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34224712/ns/world_news-africa/

NAIROBI, Kenya - International naval forces will never be able to completely secure the vast area of ocean where Somali pirates are hijacking ships off East Africa, the commander of the EU Naval Force's counter-piracy efforts said Tuesday.

In the latest attack, pirates captured the Greek-flagged tanker Maran Centaurus on Sunday while it was carrying 275,000 metric tons of crude oil, the ship's owners said. That is equivalent to about 2 million barrels of oil worth roughly $150 million, said Ben Cahill, head of the Petroleum Risk Manager service at PFC Energy.

The naval commander said the Maran Centaurus was traveling east of an area that the EU Naval Force advises tankers to steer clear of, so that it wouldn't necessarily have expected to have been attacked. The Associated Press earlier incorrectly quoted Rear Adm. Peter Hudson's comments to mean that the ship was traveling outside a recommended maritime corridor.

"The news of a few days ago of a 300,000-ton tanker being seized is illustrative of the problems in protecting and policing an area of the world's oceans that amounts to an area of about 1 million square miles," said Hudson, the commander of the EU Naval Force's counter-piracy operations.

Hudson also said the fact that pirates are now attacking ships as far as 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) off the Somali coast presents a large challenge and that the EU force will never fully secure such a large area. The EU Naval Force's strategy in the smaller Gulf of Aden is to lengthen the amount of time it takes pirates to get on board so that a warship or helicopter can be dispatched to the scene.

"The difficulties in an area as large as it is in the Indian Ocean with the short number of assets that we have is that ... the pirate can keep going and keep going and keep going until it's successful in getting on board, because there's nothing there to stop it," he said.

Tempting targets
Hudson said oil tankers like the Maran Centaurus can be tempting targets.

"She's a big ol' girl, almost a quarter million tons. They're not speedy, they sit low in the water ... so a determined pirate like this one can be successful," Hudson said in Kenya during an extended trip to East Africa.

As pirate activity has increased off East Africa, some ships have begun carrying armed guards. The EU Naval Force said Tuesday that a Spanish fishing vessel with a private security team on board fired warning shots at pirates during an attack Sunday, fending off the hijack attempt.

However, fuel tankers like the Maran Centaurus do not have armed security because of how flammable the cargo is, a determination Hudson said he agrees with.

"At the moment the consensus is, and I think quite rightly, let's be very wary before we bring military groups, armed guards, civilian guards onto fuel tankers full of fuel and gas," he said.

Bigger tankers like the Maran Centaurus are too large to use the Suez Canal and must sail south around Africa to Europe or the U.S., said Samuel Ciszuk, an analyst for IHS Global Insight. But if attacks increase, those tankers will have to steer clear of a large part of the northwest Indian Ocean and southwest Arabian Sea, adding days to the trip.

The operating costs will then rise, not only for fuel and wages for the crew but insurance premiums, Ciszuk said.

Pirate haven
Somalia's lawless 1,880-mile coastline has become a pirate haven. The impoverished Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning government for a generation and the weak U.N.-backed administration is too busy fighting an Islamist insurgency to go after pirates. Pirates now hold about a dozen vessels hostage and more than 200 crew members.

 

[CougarKing]

The Portuguese doing their part against piracy:

Portuguese navy thwarts Somali pirate attack
AFP
Fri, Nov 20, 2009

LISBON, PORTUGAL - The Portuguese navy thwarted an attack on a local fishing boat by pirates off the coast of Somalia, officials said on Thursday.

Fishermen raised the alarm when five pirates tried to hijack their boat some 100 nautical miles (220 kilometres) to the north of Port Bassasso, Portuguese navy officials said in a statement.
A group of Portuguese officers from the Alvares Cabral vessel arrived on the scene by helicopter accompanied by a Spanish navy plane and arrested the five would-be hijackers, the statement said.
This operation "shows pirates that NATO and its partners are coordinated and ready to prevent pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden," it added.
The UN's International Maritime Organization's (IMO) says that from January to September of this year, 160 acts of piracy were reported off the coast of Somalia, including 34 hijacked vessels and more than 450 people taken hostage.

LINK to VIDEO

-------------------

Pirates seized by NRP Alvares Cabral (SNMG1 flagship)

Nov 30th - AP

Monday Nov. 30, 2009, Portuguese Naval Marines from the frigate 'Alvares Cabral', guard a group of Somali pirates, during a joint operation with Seychelles and EU forces in the Somali Basin, off the Seychelles, Sunday Nov. 29, 2009, against a pirate group that had attacked the-Spanish flagged fishing vessel 'Ortube Berria'. Involved on the operation, besides the NATO flagship, were the Seychelles Patrol Boat 'Andromache' and two Maritime Patrol Aircraft's from the EU Task-Force also operating in the area on counter-piracy mission. The aircrafts detected and tracked the pirate attacking group composed by a mother-ship and two smaller attack skiffs.(AP Photo/Carlos Dias, NATO)

LINK to VIDEO

 

[The Bread Guy]

Shared under Copyright Act for fair use, research and information purposes.

Somali pirates freed for lack of prosecution
PressTV (IRN), 18 Dec 09 15:12:32 GMT
Article link

A group of Somali pirates arrested for attacking two cargo ships were released due to a lack of prosecution by any country.

The 13 suspects were captured in the Indian Ocean two weeks ago.

The EU naval forces seized nine automatic weapons, grenades, and other ammunition on board their skiff.

"The European Union has tried in vain since their arrest to find a country which would agree to prosecute them,” the defense ministry statement said.

“The defense ministry regrets that the European Union has not found a suitable solution."

The Republic of Seychelles and Kenya, which have signed a contract with the EU to assist in the capture and prosecution of suspected pirates, did not want to prosecute the 13 members in custody.

Legal legislation regarding the pirates' arrest has obstructed efforts in the prosecution and the control over piracy in the Gulf of Aden, also known as Pirate Alley.

There have only been a few pirate prosecutions outside Africa.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from Bloomberg:

NATO may deploy an Awacs radar plane to hunt pirates in the seas off Somalia as attacks on merchant ships spread further into the Indian Ocean, the head of the alliance’s military committee said.

Commanders are seeking to back up a five-ship counterpiracy task force with one of the airborne warning and control system surveillance planes, possibly sharing it with the allied International Security Assistance Force fighting in Afghanistan.

“It would not be inconceivable, for example, having a dual use of Awacs maybe located somewhere in the region and being able to perform missions for ISAF and missions for counterpiracy,” Italian Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola, the committee chairman, said in a Bloomberg Television interview in Brussels today ....

 

[The Bread Guy]

This, from the Canadian Press:

The military says a Canadian warship rendered help to a vessel held captive by Somali pirates for nearly two months.

Crew aboard the HMCS Fredericton say they moved in Monday afternoon after learning a ransom had been paid to pirates on board the MV Kota Wajar, and the ship was being released from their control. The Fredericton responded as it was the closest NATO or coalition warship to the vessel.

Officials say a naval boarding party conducted a security sweep to verify all the pirates had left.

A medical specialist then assessed all 21 crew members onboard and found them to be in good health.

After determining the ship was fit to sail, the boarding team left fresh food and water for the crew before departing ....

More news background on the Kota Wajar here (Google News search).

 

[Journeyman]

The military says a Canadian warship rendered help to a vessel held captive by Somali pirates for nearly two months.

So, (cynically), is this Canada's return to a belovedly mythical "Canadian peacekeeper" role?


I'm surprised the article didn't read:

Badguys depart; Canadian military steps in to offer bandaids
Jack Layton applauds the absence of force used by Canadian Forces.
Subsequent commentary by Steven Staples found to be irrelevant; Sunil Ram now claims to have been a key advisor to the Gulf of Aden TF Comd; Scott Taylor comments that the entire mission was done wrong; and Al Gore miffed at not getting credit for having invented anti-piracy operations.
Pictures at 11.

 

[CougarKing]

More bad news involving pirates.

Somali pirates seize 2 ships
AP

By EILEEN NG, Associated Press Writer Eileen Ng, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 29, 6:15 am ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Pirates seized a British-flagged chemical tanker and a Panamanian-flagged carrier off Somalia's coast and were holding 45 crew members Tuesday, a maritime official said.

The two hijackings late Monday showed that pirates are relentless in their pursuit of quick money from ransom and that ship owners need to take extra precaution when sailing in the Horn of Africa, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The waters off Somalia are teeming with pirates who have hijacked dozens of ships for multimillion-dollar ransoms in the past two years. An international naval force now patrols the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Choong said the U.K.-flagged tanker, St James Park, was the first merchant vessel to have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in nearly six months.

The St James Park, a UK-flagged chemical tanker. On December 29, 2009, Somali pirates hijacked the UK-flagged tanker in the Gulf of Aden on the same day they released a Singapore-flagged container ship, pirates and maritime officials said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Derek Lilley/Handout

He said the ship issued a distress message Monday, seeking help after it was attacked.

The distress call was picked up by the Greek rescue and coordination center in Piraeus, which in turn relayed the message to the International Maritime Bureau and other agencies, he said.

The maritime bureau could not establish communication with the vessel but was informed by the ship's owner early Tuesday that the tanker has been hijacked, Choong said.

The spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force, Cmdr. John Harbour, said the St James Park was seized while in the Internationally Recognized Transit Corridor in the Gulf of Aden that is patrolled by the international naval coalition.

The St James Park set sail from Tarragona, Spain, and was headed for Tha Phut, Thailand, he said. The tanker has 26 crew members from the Philippines, Russia, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Poland, India and Turkey, Harbour said.

The ship was last reported to be heading toward the northern coast of Somalia, and the E.U. Naval Force was monitoring the situation, he added.

Choong said pirates last hijacked a Yemeni fishing boat in the Gulf of Aden on Dec. 18, but the St James Park was the first merchant vessel to have been taken in the busy waterway since July 8.

He said three hours after the St James Park was hijacked that a Panamanian-flagged carrier with 19 crew members was also seized by pirates off the southern coast of Somalia on Monday. The ship is managed in Greece, he said.

The International Maritime Bureau is still waiting for the official reports from both ship owners and couldn't give further details, Choong said.

In another development, pirates released the Singapore-flagged container ship Kota Wajar on Monday, the E.U. Naval Force said. The vessel was hijacked in mid-October in the Indian Ocean north of the Seychelles islands with a crew of 21 on board.

A French navy helicopter escorts a Singaporean tanker in the Gulf of Aden on January 4.  (AFP/File/Stephane de Sakutin)

Choong said the latest incidents brought the number of attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia to 214 this year, with 47 vessels hijacked and 12 still in the hands of pirates with 263 crew, he added.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991 as regional warlords vie for power, and impoverished young men have increasingly taken to piracy in recent years in hopes of a big ransom payoff.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091229/ap_on_re_as/piracy

In this image made available by NATO Friday Dec. 18, 2009, Marines from the Standing NATO Maritime Group one (SNMG1) flagship, the Portuguese navy frigate NRP (AP Photo/ CPO Carlos Dias, NATO, Ho)

 

[The Bread Guy]

This, from the Internet Haganah blog:

Jihadi OSINT effort directed towards US Navy

The J-boys are itching for a fight and using the al-Faloja forum to collect open source intelligence about the activities of the US Navy, particularly it seems in the Gulf region. See:

http://www.alflojaweb.com/vb/showthread.php?t=97753

Note among other things the discussion of navigation aides (e.g. MaxSea software) on page 2. All this raises a few questions:

* What can you do with a dhow packed with jihadis in the Gulf of Aden at 3 o'clock in the morning?

And on a related note...

* Can GPS signals be forged in order to send inexperienced mariners east and out into the Indian Ocean when they mean to be heading north towards Yemen?

HT: a reader
Posted on 04 January 2010 @ 02:29

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from RIA/Novosti (a Russian news agency):

A new task force from Russia's Baltic Fleet will join international efforts to fight piracy off the Horn of Africa, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Tuesday.

The task force led by the Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate will replace the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer from Russia's Northern Fleet, the spokesman said, adding that Russian warships would continue regular patrols near the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden in 2010.

"This is due to continued pirate attacks on peaceful civilian vessels, and also a real threat for sailors who are Russian nationals," the spokesman said.

The Neustrashimy completed an anti-piracy mission in February 2009. The upcoming deployment will be the Neustrashimy's second tour. The frigate's armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles, SA-N-9 Gauntlet SAM, a 100-mm gun, torpedoes and depth charges. The frigate also carries a Ka-27 ASW helicopter.

The Russian task force comprising the Admiral Chabanenko and a support ship arrived in the Gulf of Aden in late November for Russia's anti-piracy mission ....

 

[a_majoor]

The USN brings high tech pirate catchers into the fight.  As a historical note, after the defeat of Napoleaon the Royal Navy mothballed many of the huge "Line of Battle ships" in favor of Frigates to deal with pirates and slavers. Perhaps history repeats itself yet again...

http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-pirate-catcher-uss-independence.html

A New Pirate Catcher: The U.S.S. Independence
by Dymphna


Update: Welcome, Instapundit readers!




Meet the USS Independence.



Form and function combine to produce this beauty, a “littoral combat ship” (LCS). Andrea Shea King calls it “the pirate catcher”; that name will do quite nicely. Notice that amazingly tight turn! This is an amphibious race car, surely?

And just as surely John Paul Jones and Alfred Thayer Mahan are smiling down on this sight even now. Ms. King's reader, SG, the person who sent her the photos and captions, echoed my own feeling when he said:


Ironic that with all that high tech built in, the ship reminds us of the Merrimac ironclad from Civil War days.

In addition to a number of profesional images of the ship, SG supplied plenty of information about her. Here's one caption from Ms. King's post:


Littoral means close to shore, and that’s where these very ships will operate. They’re tailor-made for launching helicopters and armored vehicles, sweeping mines and firing all manner of torpedoes, missiles and machine guns.

These ships are also relatively inexpensive. This one’s a bargain at $208 million, and the Navy plans to build 55 of them.

This tri-maran is the first of a new fire breathing breed, ready to scoot out of dry dock at a rumored 60 knots. It’s like a speedy and heavily armed aircraft carrier for helicopters.

Wouldn’t our early government have loved to possess even one of these tri-marans? Imagine the fear the LCS would have engendered in the hearts of Barbary pirate governments, Muslims who were parasites on other countries, demanding tribute and enslaving anyone they managed to capture on the Mediterranean.

These purpose-built “pirate-catchers” will be an excellent deterrent to the chronic pestilence of Somali parasites who have captured so many ships and made the cost of doing business both dangerous and expensive. Following in the steps of their forebears, they contribute nothing, they create nothing (unless you count fear and mayhem), and they refuse to abide by any system of law.

What is puzzling — and I hope knowledgeable readers will give us some information on this issue — is why there hasn’t been a concerted effort by various governments, working in cooperation with one another to bring these pirates to justice. I realize that some of them, like the suicidal British, have rules in place that prevent them from effectively addressing the problem, i.e., captured pirates are returned to their home countries rather than made to walk the plank — or whatever is the modern equivalent of deep-sixing these thieving murderers.

But what about China? They pay the ransom for their ship, its cargo and crew. How Chinese is that?

For Christmas, the future Baron gave me a most readable account of America’s early experience with the Barbary pirates. Unlike Europe, whose countries cynically paid the heavy tribute to these thieves, the United States chafed under the injustice. Now freed from England, our new nation no longer had the protection of her estranged mother country. In addition, when Napoleon successfully overthrew the monarchy, he broke France's diplomatic ties with America. We’d sided with the royals, after all, so we were another enemy.

Tripoli: The United States’ First War on Terrorism is a good rendition of our early experience with the Barbary pirates…
- - - - - - - - -
In a way, our conflict with these jackals served us well since it permitted the early building of our Navy (and those soldiers of the seas, the Marine Corps). Had necessity not intervened via the depredations visited on our merchant shipping off the coast of North Africa, we might have twiddled our thumbs for a generation or so while the State Department attempted to call all the shots.

Parallels abound between our first encounter with the Barbary pirates and this one. For example, there doesn't appear to be any concerted cooperation among the many countries who suffer financial loss and endangerment to their citizens due to the interference of the pirates. Why is that? After all this time, why do the pirates continue to succeed? Why is there no military offensive against them?

In the introduction to Tripoli author David Smethurst says:


Because the United States lacks a strong army and navy, President Adams appoints four consuls [to North Africa’s pirate governments -D] to maintain the fragile peace. One of them is William Eaton, a thirty-four-year-old soldier-diplomat and the personification of the young country — independent-minded and aggressive. This is his story.

Notice his use of the present tense here, a good indication his acccount will be a story, not just another history book. Smethurst decision to focus on Eaton's experiences works admirably to give both one person's view while also permitting the author to step back and pan his camera over the larger events that by turns propel Eaton into action or complicate his efforts to bring an end to the criminal activities of the Barbary states and to foster America’s position. He faces off against the perfidious French and the lying, wily Dey of Tunis.

Eaton was sent by President Adams with a specific mission: to buy the peace in order to maintain the flow of American commerce. Eaton understood this pragmatism, but he didn’t like it. When Thomas Jefferson was George Washington’s Secretary of State he’d pushed Congress to “repel force with force”, but instead they bought the peace by paying ever-increasing tribute and lavishing “presents” (ordered by each Dey) on the pirate governments. In turn, the Barbary states competed with one another for the ‘best’ gifts, often making outlandish, unattainable demands on a cash-strapped America.

If you want to see history come full circle, or to glimpse how Muslim countries view “diplomacy”, then you’re going to enjoy Tripoli. It’s well-researched and the bibliographic sources give you many opportunities to delve further. Smelthurst also went the extra step, following the fortunes of the main players after they returned to America.

 

[Rifleman62]

This will continue to go on and on as long as the stupid UN catch and release policy is in effect.

 

[CougarKing]

Pirates fighting amongst themselves:

Associated Press link

NAIROBI, Kenya – A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn an oil supertanker and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the anti-piracy force for help, a negotiator said Monday.

A group of pirates showed up in two speedboats just before a $5.5 million ransom was to be dropped by parachute onto the Maran Centaurus, according to a Somali businessman responsible for the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

The crude oil onboard, estimated to be worth some $150 million at the time it was hijacked, is so flammable that smoking is forbidden on deck. Two helicopters chased away the attackers seeking a cut of the ransom after the pirates onboard called frantically for help.
"It's really remarkable: You have the criminals calling on the police to come and help them," said pirate expert Roger Middleton from London-based think tank Chatham House, who said it was the first time he could recall such a situation.

The stand off began Sunday, nearly two months after the supertanker was seized on Nov. 29 about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) off the Somali coast. After weeks of wrangling, the pirates had finally settled on a $5.5 million ransom for the tanker, the Somali businessman said.

Cmdr. John Harbour, the spokesman for the European Union Naval Force, said the arrival of the rival pirate gang prompted the pirates onboard the tanker to call for assistance from the anti-piracy force. He could not say whether assistance was provided or confirm the amount of the ransom, but said the Greek warship FS Salamis had been nearby monitoring the situation.

(...)

 

 

[CougarKing]

On the heels of the recent release of another ship, the pirates at it again:

From AFP

BRUSSELS (AFP) - A North Korean-flagged and Libyan-owned cargo ship was hijacked Wednesday south of the Yemeni coast, the EU's anti-piracy naval force said.
The pirate attack happened in the Gulf of Aden north of the internationally recommended transit corridor, the European Union Naval Force (NAVFOR) said.

"There are no reports of the composition or nationalities of the M/V RIM (general cargo vessel) that has now altered course and is heading towards the Somali Basin," the NAVFOR statement said.


Somali pirates operate in the area and normally hold ships and crew for ransom.


The 4,800-tonne cargo ship, North Korean flagged and owned by White Sea Shipping of Libya, was not registered with the Horn of Africa Maritime Security Centre, NAVFOR said.


A NATO US ship, the USS Porter, which works closely with the EU naval force, and a helicopter from USS Farragut confirmed that the Libyan vessel had been hijacked.

Coalition forces were monitoring the situation.


Greek police said Tuesday that Somali pirates had released a Greek-owned cargo ship after a ransom was air-dropped onto the ship.


Before Wednesday's attack at sea, around a dozen ships and some 250 seamen were still being held by Somali pirates, who raked in an estimated 60 million dollars last year.

 

 

[old medic]

Danish troops storm ship held by Somali pirates
EU piracy task force rescues 25 crew members in its first armed intervention during a hijacking

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/danish-troops-storm-ship-held-by-somali-pirates/article1457393/

Danish special forces stormed a ship captured by armed Somali pirates Friday and freed the 25 crew on board, an EU naval spokesman said, marking the first time a warship has intervened during a hijacking.

After the vessel Ariella sent out a distress signal early Friday, the Danish warship Absalon sent a helicopter to confirm the presence of pirates, and communicated with the crew to ensure they were in a safe location, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the European Union Naval Force.

Then Danish special forces aboard the Absalon approached the Ariella in inflatable dinghies. The forces scaled the side of the ship and freed the 25 crew, who had locked themselves in a secure room, Harbour said. The forces continued to search the vessel for the pirates.

Cmdr. Harbour praised the NATO forces for their fast reaction and co-ordination with other forces in the area.

“There's been many instances where there's been excellent co-operation and three, four or even five nations have helped deter a pirate attack,” he said. But, he added: “This is the first where a warship has been able to send forces to stop a hijacking while it was in progress.”

Warships typically do not intervene in hijackings because of the danger that crews may be hit by crossfire. Forces were able to intervene in this case because the ship had registered with naval authorities, was travelling along a recommended transit corridor and was part of a group transit, ensuring the ships had a helicopter within 30 minutes' reaction time, Cmdr. Harbour said.

Denmark rarely releases information on operations carried out by its elite forces, but the storming of the ship may have been carried out by the country's elite Frogman Corps, which were part of a NATO deployment.

“There is an operation going on down there and we're involved. It is still going on right now,” Pernielle Kroer, spokeswoman for the Danish Navy told The Associated Press.

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Ariella sent out a distress signal early Friday that was picked up by the Indian warship Tbar in the Gulf of Aden. The Indians relayed the signal to a French plane overhead, which spotted a group of armed pirates on the deck. Then the Danish troops were notified.

Other EU and American forces have intervened in pirate hostage situations, but not during the hijacking itself.

French commandos stormed a yacht last April with five hostages on board but one, skipper Florent Lemacon, was killed during the operation. American snipers also shot dead three pirates in April 2009 holding an American captain hostage on board a lifeboat after the crew of the Maersk Alabama had persuaded the pirates to leave the main ship.

Details on the nationalities of the crew on board the Arielle and its cargo were not immediately released.

Somali pirates have seized three ships this year and hold a total of nine vessels and more than 180 crew.

Piracy is one of the few ways to make money in Somalia, an arid, impoverished land torn apart by civil war. The government does not hold its own capital and can't send forces to counter the flourishing pirate bases that dot its 3,100-kilometre-long coastline.

 

[OldSolduer]

Danish troops storm ship held by Somali pirates
EU piracy task force rescues 25 crew members in its first armed intervention during a hijacking

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/danish-troops-storm-ship-held-by-somali-pirates/article1457393/

Good for them, its about time.

 

[Lex Parsimoniae]

This will continue to go on and on as long as the stupid UN catch and release policy is in effect.

It's not the UN's fault.  Most western governments are just too skittish to enforce the law.

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - Article 105

Seizure of a pirate ship or aircraft

"On the high seas, or in any other place outside the jurisdiction of any State, every State may seize a pirate ship or aircraft, or a ship or aircraft taken by piracy and under the control of pirates, and arrest the persons and seize the property on board. The courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith."

Perhaps more significant, the UN Security Council took historic action against piracy in 2008. Resolution 1816, which was decided under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and therefore legally binding on all states, called on them to cooperate in counter-piracy actions off the coast of Somalia. The resolution authorizes operations inside Somalia's territorial waters to deny that area as a safe haven for pirates who operate outside the 12-mile limit.  It also provides for disposition and logistics of persons-under-control detained as a result of counter-piracy operations.

Participating states have three options: either seek to try the pirates in front of their national courts, hand them over to Somali authorities, or hand them over to a third party state.  No option is legally simple:

1.  Successfully trying pirates in western courts will be difficult, as courts would likely decline jurisdiction.  Add that to the risk that the pirates could then seek asylum in western nations under international humanitarian law.

2.  On the other hand, handing the pirates over to Somali authorities raises the issue of Somalia’s record of human rights violations. In light of this dilemma, many detained pirates could end up being set free.  Sort of a Afghan detainee saga redux.

3.  No third party state is keen to have them although Kenya has signed MOUs with some nations.  Human Rights uncertainty surrounds the whole Kenyan legal system too.

The solution to the piracy problem in Somalia is not at sea.  Maritime operations can, in the best case, achieve a temporary reduction in piracy activity, but not its eradication.  The eradication of piracy requires the re-establishment of a functioning Somali state, reasserting control over its territory, including its coastal areas.

 

[The Bread Guy]

From ITAR-TASS news agency:

The Russian Navy's Neustrashimy frigate participated in the operation to free a Slovenian cargo vessel from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

The Neustrashimy intercepted a boat with seven pirates when those attempted to get aboard the Ariella vessel belonging to a Slovenian company. The incident took place 160 kilometres off Somalia's northern coasts.

The high-speed boat was on the way to help other pirates who a few hours earlier seized a vessel flying the flag of Barbados. The Ariella crew managed to send a distress signal, and it was decided that marines from the Danish ship Absalon that was 10 miles from the site would get aboard the Ariella. The operation was successful. The Danish marines returned control of the cargo vessel to the crew. Pirates who were aboard escaped ....

More from RIA-Novosti.

 

[MARS]

Most western governments are just too skittish to enforce the law.

That is not entirely the case.  More practical considerations that we are dealing with over here are twofold:

1.  the throughput capacity of willing nations (those who have agreed to prosecute pirates) to handle the pirates we handover to them.  These are not necessarily first-world nations with a robust capacity to handle lots of cases at once; and

2.  the fact that the amount of evidence you are required to provide is a lot.  We (Combined Maritime Forces; the NATO Force and the EU Force) don't know until we actually present the evidence to the willing nation if it is sufficient.  If it is not, then you have all of these pirates in custody and no where to have them prosecuted.

Those two issues combine to make it a precarious decision for a nation (through a particular ship's CO) to take pirates into custody when the outcome (and the time off station) is unclear.

Cheers,

MARS

 

[Lex Parsimoniae]

That is not entirely the case.

I believe that it is.  UNCLOS allows for us to prosecute pirates in Canada ("The courts of the State which carried out the seizure may decide upon the penalties to be imposed, and may also determine the action to be taken with regard to the ships, aircraft or property, subject to the rights of third parties acting in good faith") yet we choose not to.  Purely a political choice although it could be debated whether it would be possible to gain a conviction in a Canadian court.  Other nations (US, India, and France for example) have prosecuted pirates and/or used lethal force to deal with them. 

The US have used two approaches (see points 1 and 3 in my original post) to dealing with captured pirates.  The pirates seized by USS Winston S. Churchill in 2006 were transferred to Mombasa and later convicted in a Kenyan court and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.  However, here is a recent quote from U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who is prosecuting the surviving pirate from the Maersk Alabama case: "Piracy on the high seas is a threat against the community of nations. Today's indictment alleges criminal conduct that extends beyond the attack against the captain and crew of the American-flagged Maersk Alabama. Modern-day pirates who wreak havoc off faraway coasts will be met with modern-day justice in the United States."

As I stated in my original post, this isn't a simple situation and the solution isn't at sea.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Courtesy of NATO (full release attached):

On Sunday 28 February 2010 the NATO flagship HDMS ABSALON undertook direct action to disrupt the piracy in the Somali Basin by scuttling a pirate mother skiff, one of the large, open boats that pirates use to transport and support their attack teams to offshore hunting areas. The ABSALON is the flagship of NATO’s current counter-piracy operation Ocean Shield off the Horn of Africa.

The mother skiff was scuttled by use of specialist teams from ABSALON after it was intercepted by ABSALON’s boarding team. It had been located earlier in the day having just left a well known pirate camp located on the eastern Somali coastline, fully loaded with pirate equipment and supplies ....