The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[geo]

On this matter, I am more on the side of the French in how they have dealt / handled the hostage situation on that sailing yaght.  It's unfortunate that the master of the ship did lose his life in an exchange of fire between French commandos & the Somali pirates - but that is a price that has to be paid if international shipping is to be allowed uninterrupted transit

 

[Michael OLeary]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_piracy_ships

Officials: Navy has amphibious assault ship ready

  By ANNE GEARAN, AP Military Writer Anne Gearan, Ap Military Writer  – Fri Apr 10, 9:02 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Navy is moving a huge amphibious ship closer to the scene of the pirate hostage standoff off Somalia.

Defense officials say the USS Boxer will be nearby soon. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss sensitive ship movements.

The Boxer is the flag ship for a multination anti-piracy task force. The Boxer resembles a small aircraft carrier. It has a crew of more than 1,000, a mobile hospital, missile launchers and about two dozen helicopters and attack planes.

Two other Navy ships are expected to remain much closer to the pirate-held lifeboat. The USS Bainbridge is in sight of the lifeboat; the USS Halyburton is nearby. The Bainbridge uses drones to keep watch on the lifeboat. The Halyburton has helicopters.

 

[tomahawk6]

The image of a modern destroyer 200m from a lifeboat with 4 pirates and 1 hostage doesnt favor the USN,what is it day 3 ?

 

[Old Sweat]

This is the difficult part. There is no doubt that the USN could resolve this incident in any number of bloody ways. The challenge is to resolve it without costing the hostage his life. The conventional wisdom is to wait the pirates out. The difficulty is getting inside the brains of a few thugs from a different culture. Western criminals would probably opt to take their chances with the legal system. It is an open question what these folks will do. However waiting provides the best chance for a successful resolution.

Even if they eventually murder the hostage, that is not an automatiic signal to blow the boat out of the water. These people may have considerable intelligence value, and in any case international law takes a dim view of a disproportionate response, especially in retaliation.

On a slight tangent, it will be interesting to see how well the administration handles the negotiations and the subsequent events regardless of the fate of the hostage. Given the less than firm hand seen in international relations to date, this incident may be the test within the first six months predicted before the inauguration. Cripes, maybe it will be a modern version of the War of Jenkin's Ear. At least, that's just my opinion.

For a short explanation of the War of Jenkin's Ear see:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/jenkins_ear.htm

 

[Michael OLeary]

Bring on the Synchronized Sniper team.    >

 

[tomahawk6]

We are way too pc to properly deal with the pirate threat. As long as you keep giving the bully your lunch money he wont stop holding you up. Kick him where it hurts and then he will leave you alone.

 

[George Wallace]

Well.  We have seen escalation on the part of the West.  There was no Naval contribution, in any official capacity, to safeguard shipping as little as twelve months ago.  Now we see several Navies patrolling these waters.  The fact that the pirates have continued, and not been intimidated by these forces, can only lead us to believe that the "West" will step up their methods a notch.  If we progress, in the same fashion as we do in Riot Control, we will see Naval Forces proceed through several steps before they ultimately resort to using "Deadly Force".  At that time, the threats of piracy will pretty much be eradicated in the Region, as long as a 'Standing' Fleet patrols the area.  Until such time, we will continue to see the pirates brazenly play 'Cat and Mouse' with the 'West'.

 

[rn_sapper]

To start off, i am a land lubber by the fact that I have never been deployed on a ship in my past.

One question that has not been addressed (yes I have read the entire thread) is "why does not a ship in internatoinal waters break out an arms locker and defend them selves from attack?" I am sure that the two bit "Pirates" would think twice if a supertaker had a couple of 50 cal spread on their beam.

I have been on several trans atlantic/pacific  sailing trips and we have always had some arms on board. Why not the big vessals?

 

[tomahawk6]

Merchant ships as a rule dont have weapons. Piracy is considered the price of doing business and the ship's owner always pays a ransom for the release of the ship,cargo and crew. This explains the lack of violence by the Somali pirates. Its business,there isnt a political agenda. Now if it was alqaeda boarding your ship thats a different story.

 

[Yrys]

Growing sophistication of pirates, BBC News,  Saturday, 11 April 2009

Somali pirates guard the crew of the
hijacked Ukrainian vessel MV Faina

There seems to be no end to the attacks on foreign ships by Somali pirates. Several vessels and their
crews are being held off the coast of Somalia; pirates are holding an American hostage far out in the
Indian Ocean. On Saturday, there were two other attacks - one of them successful, with pirates seizing
a tug boat.

Somali piracy has been transformed from something very basic into something far more sophisticated
in recent years. The pirates have graduated from being simple fishermen with rickety boats and
maybe a couple of rusty guns into high-tech operators armed with modern weapons travelling in
expensive speedboats. They have been able to do this because they have earned so much money from
ransom payments.

Last year, more than 40 ships were captured, and with ransoms ranging from $500,000 (£341,120) to
$2m, they have made a fortune. One pirate, Yassin Dheere, recently said he had made $250,000 from
a single incident.

Hostage hunting

Some of the money has gone on fast cars, new houses and lavish wedding parties, but much of it has
been spent on equipment. One reason why the pirates can now operate hundreds of kilometres out to
sea is that they can afford faster, more robust boats and satellite tracking systems.

Pictures of pirate villages show fishing boats left disintegrating on the beaches, abandoned by their
former owners who now take to sea in speedboats, hunting for hostages rather than fish. Despite the
existence of a United Nations arms embargo against Somalia, the pirates have had no trouble in
getting their hands on large quantities of military equipment.

After 18 years of civil conflict and no effective central government, the country is awash with
weapons, easily purchased in the markets. The longer piracy goes on, the more experienced they will
become, devising ever-more ingenious ways of seizing enormous ships with their precious cargoes.

And as the pirates themselves say, piracy will only end in Somalia once the country gets an effective
and stable government.

 

[Yrys]

Somali pirates seize another boat

US warships are heading to the area
following Capt Phillips' capture

Somali pirates have hijacked a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden with 16 crew members on board - 10
of them Italians. Maritime industry sources say the tug was towing two barges at the time of the
attack at 0800 GMT. The crew are said to be unharmed.

Meanwhile pirates holding a US captain hostage have warned that using force to rescue him could
result in "disaster". They said they hoped to put Capt Richard Phillips on a larger vessel. US ships
are on their way to the area. He is being held by four pirates in a lifeboat hundreds of kilometres
off Somalia.

In other developments:

    * Sailors on a Panama-flagged bulk carrier repulsed a pirate attack with water hoses. Nato officials
      on a nearby Portuguese warship said an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade landed in the
      commanding officer's cabin

    * On Friday, one Frenchman and two pirates were killed in a rescue operation by French troops on
      another vessel captured off Somalia. Four others, including a child, were freed from the yacht


Growing concern

Earlier reports suggested that a group of Somali elders were preparing to mediate between American
officials and the pirates for Capt Phillips' release, but there has been no news of any progress.

The US national was taken hostage on Wednesday after pirates hijacked his ship, the Maersk Alabama,
as it sailed towards the Kenyan port of Mombasa carrying food aid. After a long struggle, crew
members regained control of the ship. It is thought Capt Phillips offered himself as a hostage in order
to save his crew.

The Maersk Alabama arrived in Mombasa late on Saturday. "He's a hero," one crew member shouted
as the ship moored, referring to Capt Phillips.

The BBC's Karen Allen at the port says there is unprecedented security. FBI agents are on board the
ship. Maersk President and Chief Executive Officer John Reinhart told journalists the ship was now a
crime scene and the crew would have to stay on it during the investigation. They would all be
repatriated as soon as possible, he added.

There has been rising concern in the US over the fate of the captain - Defence Secretary Robert
Gates told reporters in Washington on Friday that his safe return was a "top priority". FBI experts
are helping negotiate his release, but analysts have said the process could be lengthy.

Capt Phillips tried to escape on Friday by jumping overboard and swimming towards a nearby US
ship, but was recaptured. Reports in the US say the pirates are demanding a ransom of $2m for
his safe release. The US Navy destroyer, USS Bainbridge, is at the scene of the confrontation with
other American warships on the way.

Stories circulating in Somalia claim that extra pirate ships are also making their way towards the
area. The pirates say they hope to transfer Capt Phillips to a bigger and better-protected vessel.

The Pentagon is also said to be considering other options, including possible military force, US
sources say. But the Somali pirate commander warned against any forcible intervention. "I'm afraid
this matter is likely to create disaster because it is taking too long and we are getting information
that the Americans are planning rescue tricks like the French commandos did," Abdi Garad said.

French ordeal

The attacks have renewed international focus on hijackings in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Florent Lemacon, the owner of the French yacht and father of the child who was on board, was killed
during the rescue operation. French Defence Minister Herve Morin said on Saturday that officials
"cannot rule out" that Mr Lemacon was killed by French fire. But he said the raid was "the best possible
decision," and that an investigation would determine what happened on board the Tanit. The four
released hostages - Mr Lemacon's wife Chloe, their three-year-old son Colin, and two other adults -
are due to arrive in Paris on Sunday, he said.

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, fuelling the lawlessness which has
allowed the pirates to thrive. Pirates typically hold the ships and crews until large ransoms are paid
by the shipping companies. Last year the firms handed over about $80m (£54m).

Efforts to stop the pirates have so far had only limited success, with international naval patrols
struggling to cover the vast areas of ocean where pirates operate.

MAJOR PIRATE INCIDENTS
Ukrainian ship MV Faina seized on 25 September 2008, held until 5 February 2009
Saudi tanker Sirius Star held for two months from November 2008; a $3m ransom was negotiated
At least 15 pirate attacks reported to International Maritime Bureau during March 2009
The 32,500-tonne Malaspina Castle, UK-owned but operated by Italians, seized on 6 April 2009.


Profile: Captain Richard Phillips

 

[Yrys]

Gunboat diplomacy : The merits of a 19th Century approach to piracy

Palmerston did not hesitate to send
in the gunboats


Could 19th-Century plan stop piracy?

International efforts to thwart Somali piracy would appear to be floundering. Perhaps words from
the 19th Century could offer a solution, writes the BBC News website's world affairs correspondent
Paul Reynolds.

If the navies of the world need some advice on ways to stop piracy off Somalia, they could look to
Lord Palmerston, British Foreign Secretary in 1841. "Taking a wasps' nest... is more effective than
catching the wasps one by one," he remarked.

Palmerston, the great advocate of gunboat diplomacy, was speaking in support of a British naval
officer, Joseph Denman. Denman had attacked and destroyed slave quarters on the West African
coast and had been sued by the Spanish owners for damages.

It was British policy to try to destroy the slave trade, but this sometimes ran into legal complications.
The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that
he "cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are
such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution... "[He] is of the opinion that the blockading
of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be
considered as sanctioned by the law of nations."

Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy
carried on with its anti-slavery operations. James Walvin notes in his book Black Ivory: "Between
1820 and 1870 the Royal Navy seized almost 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 slaves."

With Somali piracy still threatening shipping, it sounds as if modern navies need a few Captain Joseph
Denmans, or the like-minded American, Commodore Stephen Decatur. Sent to attack the Barbary
pirates off North Africa in 1815, Decatur simply captured the flagship of the Algerian Bey [ruler]
and forced a capitulation. When the Bey later tried to repudiate the agreement, the British and Dutch
bombarded Algiers.

No such action against the "wasps' nests" along the Somali coast is possible today, even though
the UN Security Council has authorised the use of the "necessary means" to stop pirates on the
high seas and hot pursuit into Somali territorial waters.

Law of the sea

However, the resolutions that made these actions permissible (1838 and 1846) also contain
restrictions. Everything has to be done in accordance with "international law" and this is
interpreted as complying with the conditions of the International Law of the Sea Convention.

This convention, in article 105, does permit the seizure of a pirate ship, but article 110 lays
down that, in order to establish that a ship is indeed a pirate vessel, the warship - and it
may only be a warship - has to send a boat to the suspected ship first and ask for its papers.
This is hardly a recipe for a Denman - or Decatur-type action.

Add to this legal restriction the relative lack of warships in the seas off Somalia - more than
there were, but still insufficient - and the reluctance to tackle the pirates in their home bases,
throw in the chaos in Somalia, where there is no effective government, and you have perfect
conditions for piracy. Even if they are caught, they are simply handed over to Kenya whose
legal system is not designed to deal with them.

The German navy transported another batch of captured pirates to Kenya recently. But nobody
knows how long they will be in custody there. And the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia issue
a damning report last December in which it castigated ship owners for paying ransom. "Exorbitant
ransom payments have fuelled the growth of [pirate] groups," it stated.

The report also expressed concern about "the apparent complicity in pirate networks of Puntland
administration officials at all levels." Puntland is a self-declared autonomous region of Somalia,
right at the tip of the Horn of Africa.

Since writing in December last year about the legal problems involved, I have had a lot of
e-mails from people angry at the ineffectiveness of the measures taken so far and proposing
their own solutions.

These include:

    * Convoys. Already done in the case of aid ships going into Kenyan and Somali ports
    * Arming the crews. The crews might not want this, though in the latest case the American
      crew of cargo ship Maersk Alabama did fight back
    * Arming merchant ships with heavy guns. Ship owners might not want to risk an engagement
      at sea
    * Luring pirates into attacking apparently unarmed ships which then declared themselves as
      warships. Would this be in "accordance with international law"?
    * Other ideas suggested would appeal to officers Denman and Decatur

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

 

[OldSolduer]

Is it my neanderthal brain, or am I missing something? Why do the left wing types continue to defend these criminals?

 

[Yrys]

Where did you see them defend the pirats ?

New Somali bid to free US captain

Somali elders have launched a fresh attempt to resolve the standoff between the US navy
and pirates holding an American captain hostage in a lifeboat. Somali sources say a group
of elders have taken to sea to arrange safe passage for the hostage takers.

The pirates have warned the US navy, which has a warship within sight of the lifeboat,
against trying to rescue Capt Richard Phillips by force. His container ship has arrived with
the rest of its crew in Mombasa in Kenya. Crew members hailed his bravery, saying he
offered himself as a hostage in order to save them when the Maersk Alabama was attacked
on Wednesday.

The ship is now being treated as a crime scene and US federal agents have been interviewing
the crew. The captain is now being held on a lifeboat said to be drifting about 30-45km (20 and
30 miles) off the Somali coast.

Shots fired

A US military official said that on Saturday the four pirates guarding him fired shots at a small
navy vessel which had approached, possibly to conduct reconnaissance. No-one was hurt and
the navy vessel turned away without returning fire, an unnamed US official told the Associated
Press news agency.

In the latest attempt to end to the stand-off, elders said to be related to the pirates set sail from
the northern Somali town of Eyl. US military officials confirmed fresh negotiations were under way.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Mombasa says the main stumbling block is the pirates' demand to be
allowed to return to land before returning the hostage. Earlier talks failed when US officials insisted
on the pirates' arrest, the New York Times newspaper says, quoting unnamed Somali officials.

Abdi Garad, a Somali pirate commander, told AFP news agency on Saturday that there was concern
the Americans were "planning rescue tricks like the French commandos did". French commandos
stormed a yacht on Friday to free hostages, but one captive was killed during the operation.

Also on Saturday, pirates hijacked a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden. The Buccaneer has 16 crew members
on board, 10 of them Italians. The crew, which also includes five Romanians and a Croat, are said
to have been unharmed. Another vessel, sailing under the Turkish flag, escaped when its crew used
water hoses to repel the pirates who had fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the captain's cabin.

A piracy expert said the hijackings did not appear to be related to the attack on the Alabama Maersk.
"This is just the Somali pirate machine in full flow," Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, founder of Dryad Maritime
Intelligence Ltd, told AP.

 

[mariomike]

"Taking a wasps' nest... is more effective than catching the wasps one by one," he remarked.

"There's no use trying to swat one wasp with a wisp of straw. A wise man would pour a kettle of hot water down the hole and scuttle the lot. That's what we've got to do. Blast them out of their bloody sheds."
"Red" Mulock of Winnipeg to his C.O., Commander Spenser Grey regarding Zeppelin raids. ref: "The Years of the Sky King" by Arch Whitehouse. pg 78.

[/quote]
* Luring pirates into attacking apparently unarmed ships which then declared themselves as  warships.
[/quote]

Q- Ships.
There's a good description of them in the Time-Life book, "The U-boats."

 

[tomahawk6]

Obama is treating piracy like a law enforcement issue rather than a national security issue. As a result we are looking pretty ineffective which will only embolden the pirates. The French are on the right track by using special forces to rescue their citizens. Ultimately the pirates wont be stopped until we destroy their bases and boats.

 

[CougarKing]

Obama is treating piracy like a law enforcement issue rather than a national security issue. As a result we are looking pretty ineffective which will only embolden the pirates. The French are on the right track by using special forces to rescue their citizens. Ultimately the pirates wont be stopped until we destroy their bases and boats.

Mr. T6, please read my post at this thread. There is already a small African Union (AU) Peacekeeping force there that is supporting the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia. They are making some progress in securing and stabilizing the country from local warlords and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) insurgents, if I can recall correctly.

Instead of just bombing the pirate havens to kingdom come, which will only solve the problem temporarily since that coastal area remains relatively lawless and more pirates will simply take their place, another more constructive solution would probably be to support that Somali Transitional Government
and the AU who are trying to stabilize the country. The West does not necessarily need to send its own troops there, but should at least continue to be supportive of the African Union trying to stabilize the country- through arms, training, airlift support and financial aid to the TFG, AU, etc- and allow the peoples of that region that to see that they can take charge of their own problems without further Western intervention. A larger AMISOM force there arguably, and a larger Somali government paramilitary force may be able to secure those pirate towns and prevent them from being used as bases from which to attack the shipping lanes further.

Here are other, more recent articles that detail their progress:

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=83880

SOMALIA: Ex-insurgents to merge with security forces - minister

NAIROBI, 10 April 2009 (IRIN) - In an effort to secure Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and ensure the population's safety, the recently elected National Unity Government has announced plans to integrate former insurgents into the security forces.

"We want to make sure the population go about their activities without fear of being attacked or robbed,” Omar Hashi, the Minister of Security, told IRIN on 9 April.

The effects will be felt within days, Hashi said, beginning with the reorganisation of the security forces.

"We inherited the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] forces and we are combining them with our own forces [former insurgents]," he said.

A civil society source in Mogadishu, who requested anonymity, told IRIN there was suspicion and mistrust between the former TFG forces and the former insurgents, who now form the backbone of government security forces.

The source said the government had to find a way of integrating the two.

This time, the source said, it may be different. "This government enjoys much more support than any in the past. It is something even those opposed to it have to acknowledge."

Pockets of calm

Hassan Mahamud, a local journalist, said Mogadishu residents were enjoying rare calm.

"The guns, at least the big ones, have been silent for now," he said. "People are returning from the displaced camps and there is hope that things will get better."

However, Mahamud said many residents were nervous the calm may not last if the government's effort at reconciliation with the opposition did not succeed.

Hashi said the government was determined to bring stability back to Mogadishu.

"Mogadishu is our number-one priority," he said. "Our plan is to get full control of the city between 15 to 30 days to allow for the free movement of people."

Hashi said upon reorganising and retraining the security forces, the government would expand its security programmes to other parts of the country.

The announcement comes as elders and religious leaders in the city continue their mediation efforts between the government and insurgents.

Flexibility

"We are in contact with both sides and we are hopeful that we will find a common ground,” said Mohamed Hassan Haad, chairman of the Hawiye elders' council. 

This is not the first time a new government has said it would secure Mogadishu. Previous administrations have tried and failed.

The sources said the talks between the government and some insurgent groups were crucial to the plan's success.

Hashi said the government would "make sure the talks succeed and I am sure the other side does not want to prolong the suffering of the population".

ah/mw

http://www.kyivpost.com/world/35156

African Union calls for quick reinforcement of Somalia force
9 February, 15:31 | Reuters

NAIROBI, Feb 9 (Reuters) - A small African Union peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu must be reinforced fast to capitalise on the arrival of a new Somali president, the AU said on Monday.


Nicolas Bwakira, the AU's special representative for the Horn of Africa nation, said Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's election at United Nations-led talks in Djibouti provided a rare opportunity for peace in the country, which has been at war for 18 years.

"Now that there is an expanded parliament and a new president, we feel we have to accelerate the implementation of AMISOM activities," Bwakira told Reuters in an interview.

The AU force in Mogadishu, AMISOM, currently has about 3,200 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi.

Bwakira said the AU would help Ahmed reach out to the warring parties, and would also provide funding to pay the salaries of 2,700 paramilitaries to boost security in the bomb-wrecked city.

At a news conference at police headquarters in Mogadishu on Monday, Ahmed called for international aid and urged civilians uprooted by two years of fighting to return home.

Insurgents fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace on Saturday, hours after Ahmed returned to the city after being feted at an AU summit in Ethiopia.

Bwakira said Uganda and Burundi would deploy two more battalions of 850 men before the end the of month, bringing AMISOM's strength to 5,100 -- although still short of the planned 8,000.

Nigeria still said it was sending a long-delayed battalion too, but needed logistical support, he said.

Many countries have been loath to send troops to a nation where two years of fighting has killed more than 16,000 civilians and driven another 1 million from their homes.

Ahmed was the more moderate of two leaders of a sharia courts group that brought some stability to Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia in 2006, before Washington's main regional ally, Ethiopia, invaded to oust them.

Ethiopia's military withdrew last month, clearing the way for Ahmed's election in Djibouti a week ago.

He is opposed by hardline Islamist rebels including the al Shabaab group, which Washington accuses of links to al Qaeda.

 

[tomahawk6]

You cant be serious. :rofl:
Piracy is the only industry that Somalia has at the moment and the AU isnt going to mess with the islamists that have the upper hand in that place. Its pure fiction Cougar that there is a working government in place.

 

[CougarKing]

You cant be serious. :rofl:
Piracy is the only industry that Somalia has at the moment and the AU isnt going to mess with the islamists that have the upper hand in that place. Its pure fiction Cougar that there is a working government in place.

Did you even read those articles? The Somalia Transitional Federal Government is just getting started and they have the support of the AU.

 

[Old Sweat]

CNN has just reported the captain has been released. No other details are available.

Meanwhile the main problem remains.