The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[JBoyd]

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

Meanwhile the main problem remains.

Updated 4 minutes ago

American captain rescued, pirates killed, U.S. official says

(CNN) -- The captain of the Maersk Alabama was freed Sunday after being held captive since Wednesday by pirates off the coast of Somalia, a senior U.S. official with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The official said Capt. Richard Phillips is uninjured and in good condition, and that three of the four pirates were killed. The fourth pirate is in custody. Phillips was taken aboard the USS Bainbridge, a nearby naval warship.

Earlier Sunday afternoon Maersk Line Limited, owner of the Maersk Alabama, said the U.S. Navy informed the company that it had sighted Phillips in a lifeboat where pirates are holding him.

Phillips was spotted another time earlier in the day, the Navy said.

On Saturday, the FBI launched a criminal investigation into the hijacking of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship by Somali pirates, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI's New York field office, which is responsible for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region, the officials said.

The Maersk Alabama reached port in Mombasa, Kenya, on Saturday. Crew members aboard the freed cargo ship described how some of their colleagues attempted to "jump" their pirate captors.

A scuffle ensued and one of the sailors stabbed a pirate in the hand in the battle to retake the container ship, one of the sailors told CNN.

Snippets of information are starting to emerge about how the Alabama's crew managed to retake the ship after it was hijacked by pirates Wednesday about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

Crew members smiled broadly as they stood on the ship's deck under the watchful eyes of security teams. Although the crew was kept away from the media, CNN's Stan Grant got close enough to ask crew members what happened after the pirates climbed aboard the ship.

One crew member said he recalled being awakened around 7 a.m. as the hijacking began. View a timeline of the attack and its aftermath »
Don't Miss

    * In the Field Blog:  Snippets of fear and bravery
    * Source: Pirates repel sailors attempting to reach captain
    * Ex-crew member: Captain prepared for pirate attack
    * WPVI:  Crew member's fiancee: 'Feels like a dream'

"I was scared," Grant quoted the man as saying.

Some of the crew managed to hide in a secure part of the Alabama as the pirates stormed the ship, the sailor said.

As the sailors described their clash with the pirates, a crew member pointed to one shipmate and said, "This guy is a hero. He and the chief engineer, they took down the pirate. ... He led him down there to the engine room and then they jumped him."

The shipmate added that he stabbed the pirate's hand and tied him up.

"Capt. Phillips is a hero," another crew member shouted from the deck of the freed ship.

Since Phillips was captured Wednesday, the destroyer USS Bainbridge has been in the area of the lifeboat, trying to free him.

An attempt by Phillips to escape from the 28-foot covered lifeboat was thwarted by a pirate, who dove into the Indian Ocean after him. Phillips' captors appear to have tied him up afterward, Pentagon officials said.
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The Alabama resumed its course on Thursday for Mombasa, its original destination, carrying food aid and an armed 18-person security detail.

Maersk president and CEO John Reinhart told reporters Saturday that the crew will stay on board in Mombasa while the FBI conducts an investigation.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html

 

[tomahawk6]

Evidently he jumped out of the lifeboat which gave the opportunity to the shooters to take the pirates out. The fourth pirate was on the Bainbridge as a negotiator.






"We can't all be heroes. Some of us have to stand on the curb and clap as they go by."
Will Rogers

 

[Old Sweat]

Here is the link to the story on CTV.CA. The comments are interesting as there is almost 100% support for the US action as opposed to buying the captain's freedom and allowing the pirates to escape.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090412/pirate_standoff_090412/20090412?hub=TopStories

 

[NL_engineer]

The US Navy spokesman (on CNN Now) said that the pirates were shot from the USS Bainbridge.  The stories that the Captain jumped out of the boat doesn't seem to be true.

 

[tomahawk6]

The SEALs were inserted by C-130 at night 36 hours before the conclusion of the incident. They and their boats dropped into the ocean and then made a stealth approach to the Bainbridge. I give the skipper all of the credit and little to Obama. Obama didnt order a rescue,rather he authorized action if it was needed to preserve the life of Captain Phillips.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

T-6, that takes a pretty sharp axe to split that hair, IMO.

 

[tomahawk6]

I know that Bruce. No different than the rules a SWAT team operates under. When things go well the man at the top gets the credit - unless you are George W.

 

[Yrys]

Same subject (rescue of Captain), others articles on BBC News :

US captain rescued from pirates

US Navy on captain's rescue (2 min 21 audio file)

HEAR ALSO on the Navy link

    * Family 'relieved' at captain's release (00.34)
    * Captain 'leader of men' says CEO (01.36)
    * Crew delighted by captain's rescue (00.37)
    * Captain's courage praised (00.48)


How Captain Phillips was rescued

US officials have been giving details about how Captain Richard Phillips was freed,
in an operation which left three of the pirates who seized him dead.

US Navy spokesman Vice-Adm William Gortney said the pirates were shot because
Capt Phillips' life appeared in "imminent danger". Snipers on a nearby US warship
observed a pirate was pointing a gun at the captain's back, and decided to fire.
Capt Phillips was not hurt in the gunfire which killed the pirates.

At the time of the operations, a fourth pirate was on board the warship, the USS
Bainbridge, which was tracking the lifeboat in which the captain was being held.
He was taken into military custody.

Tied up

Capt Phillips had been held hostage in the lifeboat since Wednesday, when pirates
attacked his ship, the Maersk Alabama. He had agreed to become a hostage so that
his crew could go free, the crew said. US officials said he had been kept tied up in
the lifeboat.

Negotiations involving Somali elders had been going on throughout Sunday to secure
the captain's release, and one of the pirates was taking part in the talks on board the
USS Bainbridge. Vice-Adm Gortney said the pirates were armed with AK-47 assault
rifles and small-calibre pistols.

US President Barack Obama had given clear orders to shoot if Capt Phillips' life was
in danger, he said. Snipers determined that one of the pirates had trained an AK-47
on the captain and seemed about to fire, Vice-Adm Gortney added. The snipers fired
on the pirates for several minutes. Capt Phillips was unhurt despite being just a few
metres away from his captors during the shooting. He was then taken on board the
Bainbridge, and later moved to the USS Boxer where he underwent a medical
examination.

 

[Snakedoc]

BZ to the SEAL team and glad this incident ended with Capt. Phillips alive.

 

[Yrys]

Lessons From the Barbary Pirate Wars(200 years ago), NY Times

Rescue Fuels Debate Over Arming Crews,April 12 2009 , NY Times

Somali Pirates Seize Five Ships in 48 Hours, April 6 2009, NY Times

Piracy at Sea, April 8 2009, NY Times

WITNESS: "Hi, is that the Somali pirates?", April 12 2009, Reuters

Often, though, the pirates are friendly and helpful, though they detest use of the p-word.
"We never kill people. We are Muslims. We are marines, coastguards -- not pirates," one said.

Rewards of buccaneering far outweigh the risks for Somali pirates, April 13 2009, The Times


Same subject (rescue of Captain), other article on NY Times :

In Rescue of Captain, Navy Kills 3 Pirates

Crew members of the Maersk Alabama celebrated after hearing that their captain,
who had been held hostage by Somali pirates, had been rescued.

...
Just after dark on Sunday, snipers on the U.S.S. Bainbridge saw that one of the pirates
was pointing an automatic rifle at Captain Phillips, and that the captors’ heads and
shoulders were exposed from the capsule-like lifeboat. President Obama had previously
authorized the use of force if the commander on the scene believed the captain’s life was
in danger, so they fired, Admiral Gortney said. The lifeboat was about 100 feet from the
Bainbridge when the shots were fired, a little after 7 p.m. Somalia time (seven hours
ahead of Eastern time). The vice admiral said he did not know Captain Phillips’s location
at the time the shots were fired, but given the length of the lifeboat, he was less than 18
feet from the snipers’ targets.

Captain Phillips was pulled out of the water — details were not clear on whether he had
jumped in — and was transported to the Bainbridge, where sailors delivered him a note
from his wife, Andrea. “Your family is saving a chocolate Easter egg for you,” she wrote,
according to Vice Admiral Gortney. “Unless your son eats it first.”

Richard Phillips, right, the captain of the U.S.-flagged cargo ship Maersk Alabama,
after his rescue on Sunday with Cmdr. Frank Castellano, the commanding officer
of the Navy destroyer Bainbridge.

According to John Reinhart, the Maersk Line president and chief executive, Mr. Phillips told
him by telephone: “I’m just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who
have brought me home.” President Obama, making his first comments on the situation,
praised Mr. Phillips’s “selfless concern for his crew,” who had been freed when the captain
let pirates take him off his cargo ship. “His courage is a model for all Americans,”
Mr. Obama said.

But American officials acknowledged that the deadly ending of this incident, which began
on Wednesday, could lead to more confrontations with Somali pirates, who are currently
holding more than 200 hostages. “This could escalate violence in this part of the world,”
Vice Admiral Gortney said. Mr. Obama added that the United States needs help from other
countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable, The Associated
Press reported.

Only three of the original four captors were in the lifeboat when Mr. Phillips was rescued.
Admiral Gortney said that a small Navy vessel had made multiple trips back and forth
between the Bainbridge and the lifeboat, carrying food and water to Captain Phillips and
the pirates and delivering clean clothes to the captain.

On Saturday night, the Navy fired warning shots at the lifeboat, followed by a brief exchange
of fire, the official said. Hours afterward, the one pirate who was reportedly injured boarded
the supply boat and surrendered to Navy personnel. Around the same time, the Navy managed
to attach a line to the lifeboat and began towing it away from shore. Mr. Phillips was being
held in a covered part at the back of the lifeboat, the official said, and one pirate typically
stayed with him under cover. The lifeboat had gotten as close as 20 miles to shore, drifting
after running out of fuel, off Gara’ad, Somalia.

In Somalia, Abdirahman Muhammad Faroole, president of the Puntland region, where some
of the pirates were thought to be from, said that on Sunday afternoon, American officials
whom he’d been talking to throughout the crisis abruptly told him to stop pursuing negotiations
with tribal elders affiliated with the pirates. Mr. Faroole was told the Americans “had another
action,” and said it was no longer necessary for him to work with the elders, he said.

The Justice Department will be reviewing evidence to decide whether charges will be
brought against the surviving pirate, a Justice Department official told CNN.

In Underhill, Vt., Captain Phillips’s hometown, Alison McColl, a Maersk official assigned
to Mr. Phillips's family, said, “This is truly a very happy Easter for the Phillips family.”
“Andrea and Richard have spoken and you can imagine their joy and what a happy moment
it was for them,” Ms. McColl said. Some drivers going by the Phillips household were
honking their horns as they drove by out of support and happiness.

One of the Phillips’s next door neighbors, Becky Tierney, age 31, closed her eyes as she
expressed relief about Mr. Phillips’ fate. “We are so glad that he is safe and we are so glad
that this is over," she said. "This town has never been through anything like this, not even
close.

The pirates — allegedly demanding $2 million in ransom — seized Mr. Phillips on Wednesday
and escaped the cargo ship in a motorized lifeboat. A standoff between the pirates and the
United States Navy then ensued until Saturday when negotiations between American officials
and the pirates broke down, according to Somali officials, after the Americans insisted that
the pirates be arrested and a group of elders representing the pirates refused.

The negotiations broke down hours after the pirates fired on a small United States Navy vessel
that had tried to approach the lifeboat not long after sunrise Saturday in the Indian Ocean. The
Maersk Alabama, a 17,000-ton cargo vessel, pulled into port at 8:30 Saturday evening in Mombasa,
Kenya, with its 19 remaining American crew members. “The crew was really challenged with the
order to leave Richard behind. But as a mariners they took the orders to preserve the ship,” said
Mr. Reinhart, President of Maersk. When the crew members heard that their captain had been freed,
they placed an American flag over the rail of the top of the ship. They whistled and pumped their
fists in the air, The Associated Press reported.

More than 250 hostages are being held by various Somalian pirate groups, including the 16 crew
members of an Italian tugboat captured on Saturday. One pirate named Ali, in Galkaiyo, Somalia,
said the American Navy rescue won’t discourage other Somali pirate groups at all. “As long as there
is no just government in Somalia, we will still be the coast guard,” he said, adding: “If we get an
American, we will take revenge.”

Reporting was contributed by Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti in Washington, Serge F. Kovaleski
from Underhill, Vt.; and employees of The New York Times from Somalia.

 

[George Wallace]

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

I must be listening to different news than you.  It seems that all the major news outlets are carrying statements like this:

CNN on Somoli Pirate situation:

CNN reporter Stan Grant said Sunday that in the last year alone, Somali pirates have been able to net tens of millions of dollars by capturing cargo and other vessels off the Somali coast and demanding high ransom payments for hostages.

Rebel factions have battled for control of the country since that time, and it is within that lawlessness that the pirates are able to operate.

Somali pirates are relatively free to conduct such activity with little fear of retribution, Grant told CTV Newsnet, because Somalia has been without a central government since 1991.

 

[Yrys]

I must be listening to different news than you.

Probably same as mine.

From Piracy at Sea ( April 8 2009, NY Times) :

Somali officials said piracy started about 10 to 15 years ago as a response to illegal fishing.
The country's tuna-rich waters were plundered by commercial fishing fleets soon after its government
collapsed in 1991. Somali fishermen turned into armed vigilantes, confronting fishing boats and
demanding they pay a tax. In 2008, more than 120 pirate attacks occurred in the Gulf of Aden,
far more than in any other year in recent memory. Experts said the Somali pirates netted more than
$100 million, an astronomical sum for a war-racked country whose economy is in tatters.

From Rescue Fuels Debate Over Arming Crews (April 12 2009 , NY Times) :

John S. Burnett, who was himself attacked by pirates in 1992 and wrote the book “Dangerous
Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas,” said piracy currently poses an irresistible
economic temptation to Somali fishermen, increasing their earnings from perhaps $50 a month
to many thousands of dollars.

“Poor fishermen know now that hijacking ships is far more lucrative than hauling up a half-empty fishing net,” Mr. Burnett said in a telephone interview from Zurich. The Internet, he said, has
ensured that word of the success of some pirates in collecting large ransoms has spread to the
entire fishing community, whose livelihood has already been threatened by overfishing.

From Rewards of buccaneering far outweigh the risks for Somali pirates (April 13 2009, The Times) :

Life is cheap in a war-ravaged country, devastated by two decades of civil war,
where warlords and Islamist militias hold sway. The fastest way to a job is to own an AK47,
the only qualification needed to join one of the armed gangs that run protection rackets and
man roadblocks.

Putting to sea offers a much better wage than the $10 or so a day a militiaman might earn.
More than $3 million each has been paid out for two of the pirate’s biggest prizes in recent
months, making the rewards far outweigh the risks.

I don't see how a stable government overthere would be able to bring earnings from the actual
50$ a month to the levels these people have from piracy without the actual illegality ...
(not sure if I'm clearly expressing myself here)

 

[CougarKing]

The lifeboat that Maersk-Alabama captain Richard Phillips is held hostage in is seen in this U.S. Navy handout photograph taken by the Scan Eagle UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) taken April 9, 2009 over the Indian Ocean. Phillips was freed from captivity at the hands of Somali pirates in a dramatic ending to a five-day standoff with American naval forces, the U.S. Navy said on April 12, 2009. REUTERS/Official U.S. Navy photo/Handout (SOMALIA MILITARY CONFLICT SOCIETY IMAGE OF THE DAY TOP PICTURE)

This image provided by the U.S. Navy taken from video shows the container ship Maersk Alabama in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, April 9, 2009. The freighter's Capt. Richard Phillips was taken hostage Wednesday by pirates who tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged vessel. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

This image provided by the U.S. Navy taken from video made with an unmanned aerial vehicle shows the USS Bainbridge approaching a 28-foot lifeboat, bottom right, from the U.S.-flagged container ship Maersk Alabama on Thursday, April 9, 2009 in the Indian Ocean. According to the Navy, the cargo ship's Capt. Richard Phillips was being held by Somali pirates aboard the lifeboat when this video was made. (AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

A member of a special Navy escort walks down a stairway of the US merchant ship Maersk Alabama at a dock in the Kenyan coastal city port of Mombasa. US forces rescued an American container ship captain held by Somali pirates in an operation in which three pirates were killed, according to the US Navy.
(AFP/Roberto Schmidt)

Maersk-Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips ® stands alongside Cmdr. Frank Castellano, commanding officer of USS Bainbridge after being rescued by US Naval Forces off the coast of Somalia. Phillips was held hostage for five days by pirates.
(AFP/US Navy)

In this image made from video provided by the U.S. Navy, Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, right, is welcomed aboard the USS Bainbridge on Sunday, April 12, 2009 after being rescued by U.S. naval forces off the coast of Somalia. Philips was held hostage for four days by pirates.
(AP Photo/U.S. Navy)

 

[CougarKing]

I must be listening to different news than you.  It seems that all the major news outlets are carrying statements like this:

CNN on Somoli Pirate situation:

On researching further, I found that the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia was actually forced into exile in Djibouti just last January when Islamic opposition forces retook the city of Baidoa from them, as detailed in the article excerpt below, although the African Union Peacekeeping force that supposedly supported it is still in Somalia. I never disputed that there is still much anarchy in Somalia since the 1990s which allowed the pirates to operate today; however, I still assert that during the short time the Ethiopian Army was in Somalia since 2007, before they withdrew, the Somali Transitional Federal Government had the breathing room to get started in the few areas of the country that the Ethiopian forces occupied. They obviously can't exercise much control while in exile now in Djibouti.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99995400

Somali Government In Exile; Islamists Take Over
by Gwen Thompkins

Morning Edition, January 29, 2009 · Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since 1991, but this week, the transitional government collapsed completely. A group of radical Islamist fighters overran the seat of government in the town of Baidoa and declared Shariah law.

Somali government leaders are gathered in the neighboring country of Djibouti. If they want to return to Somalia, chances are they will have to fight their way in.

The exiled leaders plan to choose a new president in the coming days, but Musa Jama, a Somali textile trader, says he's not optimistic.

Musa was a supporter of the last president of the transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf. Two years ago, Yusuf arrived in Somalia's capital city, Mogadishu, in triumph — courtesy of the Ethiopian army. The Ethiopians had broken an Islamist movement that briefly controlled Somalia's capital and much of southern Somalia.

Today, nearly all of the government's territory is in the hands of an Islamist insurgent group called al-Shabab. The Ethiopians have pulled out. Yusuf is gone.

Ali Said Omar, who directs the Center for Peace and Democracy in south-central Somalia, says he thinks all Somalis are waiting to see what will come out of Djibouti.

"That's the only hope we have now," he says. "And, if that fails, it's like the Shabab will rule Somalia."

A Growing Movement

Ali says he left Mogadishu for good last year when he got caught in gunfire outside a mosque. If the insurgency has taught the world anything, he says, it's that Islamist leadership in Somalia is a sign of the times.

After all, Somalia is a Muslim nation and there has been a popular Islamist movement toward a more conservative read of the Quran. Islamists credit themselves with getting the unpopular Ethiopian army to quit Somalia. That's probably why Somalia's internationally backed government is reinventing itself.

In Djibouti, government leaders have nearly doubled the size of their parliament to include moderate Islamists. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, a moderate, is now favored to become the next president. But Ali says it's unclear whether any moderate can lead all the disparate clans of Somalia.

"Many things will depend on the first message that president releases. If it becomes a message of unity, a message of hope — like Obama did in America, you know — if it becomes like that message, then everybody will say, 'We need a government,'" Ali says.

Many Groups At Odds

And yet, muscling back into Somalia may prove impossible. The government has al-Shabab to contend with — a group the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida.

But al-Shabab reportedly has its own problems. There is said to be dissension in the ranks, as not all who fight say they are properly compensated. And Ali says there aren't enough Shabab fighters to govern all of Somalia. In most of the places it conquers, the militia leaves only a few people around to collect money from local businesses.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the United Nations special representative for Somalia, says the Shabab don't know how to live in peace. But he also says there are many other groups doing battle in Somalia.

"The violence we have now in Somalia, what violence is it? Is it political? Is it religious? Is it business? Because the conflict has been so long it is very difficult to pin [down]," he said recently.

What's more, there's no guarantee that any group will ever take the biggest prize of all: Mogadishu. Somalia's capital is dominated by powerful clans that have their own militias. Moderate Islamists also keep fighters there. And Mogadishu's big business owners, like those who run the nation's multimillion-dollar telecommunications and money transfer industries, employ hired guns.

And another link which confirms AMISOM's mandate there had been extended. Still, their role and presence  there now seems questionable, especially since the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia they were supposed to support is now in exile in Djibouti. And since AMISOM's number of troops had been described in an 2nd article excerpt of my post about this on the previous page, as not large enough to stabilize the country.

http://www.operationspaix.net/spip.php?page=chronologie&id_mot=458&date=2009/03

12 mars 2009
Le Conseil de paix et de sécurité de l’UA (CPS) a prorogé hier de trois mois le mandat de l’AMISOM. L’ambassadeur du Bénin au CPS, Edouard Aho-Glélé, a indiqué que l’organe a aussi « décidé de demander au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU de lever l’embargo sur les armes en faveur du gouvernement de transition afin qu’il puisse s’équiper et assurer les besoins sécuritaires du pays ». Le CPS a également souhaité des troupes supplémentaires pour la force africaine.

 

[Yrys]

BREAKING NEWS:

Somali insurgents fire mortars at the plane of a US congressman visiting Mogadishu

No further informations from  http://news.bbc.co.uk/ at the moment.

Mod : They have now post this article :

US politician targeted in Somalia

Donald Payne was escorted by
African Union peacekeepers

A US congressman has had a narrow escape on a visit to Mogadishu after Somali insurgents
fired mortars towards his plane as it was about to take off. Airport officials told the BBC one
mortar had landed at the airport as Donald Payne's plane was due to fly and five others after
his plane departed.

Mr Payne had just met leaders of Somalia's government in the capital. He had discussed
ways that the international community might be able to help war-torn Somalia.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says Mr Payne had just held a half-hour
news conference at the presidential palace in the capital when the attack happened, according
to airport officials.

Abukar Hassan, a police officer at Mogadishu airport, told Reuters news agency: "One mortar
landed at the airport when Payne's plane was due to fly and five others after he left and no-one
was hurt." Three people were wounded when one of the mortars hit a nearby neighbourhood,
residents told Reuters.

Mr Payne had met President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid
Ali Sharmarke, among other Somali officials. The New Jersey Democrat said it was his first
visit to Somalia since the early 1990s, when the country last had a stable government.

Fragile government

During his brief stop in one of the world's most dangerous cities, Mr Payne was escorted by
African Union (AU) soldiers, who are deployed in Somalia on a peacekeeping mission. Radical
Islamist guerrillas committed to toppling the fragile transitional federal government control
parts of the capital and much of central and southern Somalia.

Seventy-four-year-old Mr Payne is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's
subcommittee on Africa and global health and a former head of the Congressional Black Caucus.
The former top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, became the first high-ranking American
official to visit Somalia in more than a decade when she landed in Baidoa in 2007, but the security
situation kept her from visiting Mogadishu.

US foreign policy on the Horn of Africa nation has been overshadowed by the killing of 18 US
soldiers in Mogadishu in 1993.

Somalia, a country of about eight million people, has not had a functioning national government
since warlords overthrew President Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other.

 

[Yrys]

US crew urge Obama to end piracy

American crew members of a ship that was at the centre of a hostage drama have urged
US President Barack Obama to end the "crisis" of Somali piracy. In an emotional news
conference in Kenya, second-in-command Shane Murphy also paid tribute to their captain.

Captain Richard Phillips was rescued when American naval snipers opened fire on the
pirates holding him in a lifeboat, killing three outright. Mr Obama directly authorised
Sunday's operation off Somalia's coast. Capt Phillips is now resting after his five days
of captivity as he is de-briefed aboard a US navy ship, the USS Boxer.

A fourth pirate, who was on board another American vessel negotiating with US officials
when the captain was rescued, is in US custody. The pirates hijacked Capt Phillips' ship,
the Maersk Alabama, which was carrying food aid, in the Indian Ocean last Wednesday.

Capt Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to
safeguard his men. He was then taken hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was soon
shadowed by US warships and a helicopter.

At a news conference on Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, the Maersk Alabama's
19 crew thanked the US Navy for rescuing them and paid tribute to the courage of their
captain. Chief mate Mr Murphy, 33, said: "Everyone you see here today has the captain
to thank for their lives and their freedom but additionally it was an entire crew-wide
effort." He added: "We'd like to implore President Obama to use all of his resources to
increase the commitment to end the Somali pirate scourge… It's a crisis."

The BBC's Jonah Fisher in Mombasa says the one remaining question surrounding the Maersk
Alabama is how its crew of merchant seamen managed to fight off Somali pirates equipped
with AK-47s. The crew refused to provide an answer because they said the techniques they
used were being kept secret to help other ships resist pirate attack.

Earlier Mr Obama said Capt Phillips' courage was a "model for all Americans" and that he was
resolved to deal with the threat of piracy in the region.

Capt Phillips has spoken to his wife and family back in the US and is said to be looking forward
to celebrating Easter when he gets home. He tried to escape on Thursday night by diving into
the sea but was recaptured by the pirates.

A day after negotiations with the gang broke down, snipers opened fire on Sunday from a nearby
warship as a pirate pointed a gun at the captive, the navy said. After the pirates were shot, navy
personnel sailed to the lifeboat and released Capt Phillips, whom they found tied up inside.

The ship's owner, Maersk Line Ltd, has also praised the captain's behaviour. Chief executive John
Reinhart said Capt Phillips had told him: "I'm just the byline, the heroes are the Navy Seals who
brought me home."

In Eyl, a pirate stronghold on the Somali coast, one pirate chief reportedly threatened revenge
against Americans. "We will intensify our attacks even reaching very far away from Somalia waters,
and next time we get American citizens... they [should] expect no mercy from us," Abdi Garad told
the Associated Press by telephone.

Four French citizens, including a three-year-old boy, were freed aboard a yacht by French troops on
Friday. The yacht's owner, Florent Lemacon, was killed during the operation by French special forces,
along with two pirates.

On Saturday, pirates hijacked a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden. The Buccaneer has 16 crew members on
board, 10 of them Italians.


REACTION TO CAPT PHILLIPS' RESCUE

The sniper operation Sunday, with pirate guns aimed at Phillips, was a daring, high-stakes gambit,
and it could have easily gone awry. If it had, the fallout would have probably landed hardest on
Obama.

Jennifer Loven, Associated Press


The result - a dramatic and successful rescue operation by US Special Operations forces - left Obama
with an early victory that could help build confidence in his ability to direct military actions abroad.

Michael D Shear, Washington Post


A spate of attacks on ships off Somalia and the rescue Sunday of an American captain held hostage
by pirates have reinvigorated a long-simmering debate over whether the crews of commercial vessels
should be armed.

Keith Bradsher, New York Times


For Phillips captaining a ship turned out to mean more than safely manoeuvering around shallow shoals
or managing a crew. It meant taking on the pirates who dared for the first time in centuries to attack
an American-flagged ship.

Stephanie S Garlow, GlobalPost.com

 

[Yrys]

Obama Signals More Active Response to Piracy Threat

Crew members of Maersk Alabama arrived to talk to media at the dock
in the port of Mombasa, Kenya Monday.

WASHINGTON — President Obama vowed on Monday to “halt the rise of piracy” off the coast of Africa,
foreshadowing a longer and potentially more treacherous struggle to come, a day after Navy snipers
rescued an American merchant-ship captain held hostage on the Indian Ocean.

Mr. Obama, making his first live comments since the rescue Sunday, told an audience at the
Transportation Department that he was “very proud” of the United States military and other
agencies that responded to the hostage-taking. And he hailed the captain, Richard Phillips,
for his “courage and leadership and selfless concern for his crew.”

Mr. Obama’s decision to permit Navy Seals to shoot the pirates holding Captain Phillips, if that
became necessary to save his life, was the first known order by the new president authorizing
deadly force in a specific situation. For Mr. Obama, the episode ended successfully with the
precision takedown of three pirates with three bullets and the recovery of Captain Phillips g
enerally unharmed.

But the operation on the waters off the Horn of Africa may presage a more complicated challenge
for a president already trying to end a war in Iraq and win another in Afghanistan. Somali pirates
have vowed to take revenge on Americans, and they have demonstrated in recent months their
ability to seize ships from all sorts of countries with impunity. Even now, pirates in Somalia are
holding more than 200 hostages from countries other than the United States.

“I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region,” Mr. Obama said.
“And to achieve that goal, we’re going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future
attacks. We have to continue to be prepared to confront them when they arise. And we have to ensure
that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes.”

The president’s remarks came as an American congressman reportedly escaped an attack in Somalia.
...

Back in Washington, Mr. Payne’s Senate counterpart, Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat
and chairman of the Senate’s subcommittee on African affairs, said the United States government
needs to develop a “comprehensive strategy” to help Somalia stabilize and fight piracy. “For years,
Somalia’s growing instability was neglected by the Bush administration and the international
community,” Mr. Feingold said in a statement. “The new administration must not make the same
mistake.”

On a more visceral level, the rescue of Captain Phillips led to jubilation from his crew, relief from
his family and vows of bitter revenge from Somali pirates.
...

Saying they felt lucky to be alive, the crew paid tribute on Monday to the courage of their captain,
thanked the Navy for helping them and called on President Obama to do more to stamp out piracy
near the Horn of Africa, where a dozen other ships with more than 200 crew members are being
held for ransom now, according to the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau.
...

While the outcome of the standoff over Captain Phillips on the lifeboat was a triumph for America,
officials in many countries plagued by pirates said that it was not likely to discourage them. In
Somalia itself, other pirates reacted angrily to news of the rescue, and some said they would
avenge the deaths of their colleagues by killing Americans in sea hijackings to come.

“Every country will be treated the way it treats us,” Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a
Greek ship anchored in the pirate den of Gaan, a central Somali town, was quoted by The Associated
Press as saying in a telephone interview. “In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying.”

Pirates have also vowed violent revenge against French ships and sailors after French commandos
stormed a private yacht seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, an action inn which two pirates
and one hostage died while four hostages were freed and three pirates captured. “The French and the
Americans will regret starting this killing,” a pirate identified only as Hussein told Reuters by satellite
telephone on Monday. “We do not kill, but take only ransom. We shall do something to anyone we see
as French or American from now.”

The rescue of Captain Phillips required just three remarkable shots — one each by snipers firing
from a distance, using night-vision scopes, according to Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, commander of
American naval forces in the region. Within minutes, rescuers slid down ropes from the Bainbridge,
climbed aboard the lifeboat and found the three pirates dead. They then untied Captain Phillips, ending
the contretemps at sea that had riveted much of the world’s attention.

The Navy Seals acted with President Obama’s authorization and in the belief that Captain Phillips was
in imminent danger of being killed, the officials said. Two of the captors had poked their heads out of
a rear hatch of the lifeboat, exposing themselves to clear shots, and the third could be seen through
a window in the bow, pointing an automatic rifle at the captain, who was tied up inside the 18-foot
lifeboat, they said.

Shortly after his rescue, Captain Phillips, 53, was taken aboard the Bainbridge, underwent a medical
exam and was found to be in relatively good condition. He called home and was flown to the U.S.S.
Boxer, an amphibious assault ship also off the Somali coast. After being debriefed about the episode,
the captain was expected to return to the United States and his home in Underhill, Vt., perhaps by
Tuesday.
...

When four pirates attacked the ship on Wednesday, the crew escaped harm after the captain offered
himself as a hostage. Over the ensuing days, according to official accounts of the episode, the pirates
demanded $2 million in ransom for the captain’s life and made repeated threats to kill him as their
motorized lifeboat moved about 30 miles off the Somali coast. It was closely watched by United States
warships and helicopters in an increasingly tense standoff.

Talks to free the captain began Thursday, with the commander of the Bainbridge communicating with
the pirates under instructions from F.B.I. hostage negotiators flown to the scene. The pirates
threatened to kill Captain Phillips if attacked, and the result was tragicomic: the world’s most powerful
navy vs. a lifeboat. Admiral Gortney said in a briefing in Bahrain that despite ransom demands from
the pirates, the United States had not discussed any ransom and had talked to the pirates only about
the release of Captain Phillips and the pirates’ surrender.

The Defense Department twice sought Mr. Obama’s permission to use force to rescue Captain Phillips,
most recently on Friday night, senior defense officials said. On Saturday morning, the president
agreed, they said, if it appeared that the captain’s life was in imminent danger.

By Friday, with several warships within easy reach of the lifeboat, the negotiations had gone nowhere.
Captain Phillips jumped into the sea, but was quickly recaptured. On Saturday, the pirates fired several
shots at a small boat that had approached from the Bainbridge. By the weekend, however, the pirates
had begun to run out of food, water and fuel. That apparently provided the opening officials were
hoping for. In briefings, senior officers who spoke anonymously because they had not been authorized
to disclose information said that the pirates agreed to accept food and water. A small craft was used
to deliver them and it apparently made several trips between the Bainbridge and the lifeboat.

On one trip, one of the four pirates — whose hand had been gashed during the capture of Captain
Phillips — asked for medical treatment and, in effect surrendering, was taken in the small boat to
the Bainbridge. Justice Department officials were studying options for his case, including criminal
charges in the United States or turning him over to Kenya, where dozens of pirates have faced
prosecution. Three pirates were left on board with Captain Phillips.

Meanwhile, members of the Navy Seals were flown in by fixed-wing aircraft. They parachuted into
the sea with inflatable boats and were picked up by the Bainbridge. On Sunday, the pirates, their
fuel gone, were drifting toward the Somali coast. They agreed to accept a tow from the Bainbridge,
the senior officials said. At first, the towline was 200 feet long, but as darkness gathered and seas
became rough, the towline was shortened to 100 feet, the officials said. It was unclear if this was
done with the pirates’ knowledge.

At dusk, a single tracer bullet was seen fired from the lifeboat. The intent was unclear, but it
ratcheted up the tension and Seal snipers at the stern rail of the Bainbridge fixed night-vision
scopes to their high-powered rifles, getting ready for action. What they saw was the head and
shoulders of two of the pirates emerging from the rear hatch of the lifeboat. Through the window
of the front hatch they saw the third pirate, pointing his AK-47 at the back of Captain Phillips,
who was seen to be tied up.

That was it: the provocation that fulfilled the president’s order to act only if the captain’s life was
in imminent danger, and the opportunity of having clear shots at each captor. The order was given.
Senior defense officials, themselves marveling at the skill of the snipers, said each took a target
and fired one shot.

“This was an incredible team effort,” Admiral Gortney said when it was over. “And I am extremely
proud of the tireless efforts of all the men and women who made this rescue possible.”

 

[Yrys]

Washington envisage la possibilité de juger un pirate aux ÉU, Agence France-Presse

Washington is thinking about the possibility of judging a pirate in the US

The United States study the possibility of judging on their territory the young presumed pirate
who surrendered during the liberation by weapons on Sunday of an American captain held as
hostage off Somalia.

Three of four pirates were killed in exchanges of shot. The fourth, which surrendered, was
placed in detention and " is treated with humanity ", indicated the American authorities. "The department of Justice continues to examine the proofs and the other questions to determine
if a judgment could take place in the United States ", indicated a Ministry Spokesman, Dean Boyd.

These pirates who held as hostage five days the American captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama, Richard Phillips were from 17 to 19 years old, revealed the American secretary of
Defence Robert Gates, without clarifying the age of the one who was arrested.

If he is less than 18 years old, he could be judged as a minor and see imposing a reduced
punishment. A hostage taking is potentially punished for the life imprisonment, indicated
the Ministry of Justice.

If he is not transferred in the United States, agreements exist with Kenya to translate in
front of the courts of this country of the Somalian pirates raging in the Gulf of Aden.  It is
the case for seven Somalians presumed pirates, put back(handed) by the German navy to
the kényane police to judge them for the attack of a German tanker on March 29th.

This decision had been taken on the basis of an agreement concluded between Nairobi and
the European Union to facilitate the transfer in Somalians' Kenya suspected of piracy.

 

[The Bread Guy]

This from a jihadist blogger, finally explaining why the pirates feel compelled to break the law defend their territory  : - full post attached as .pdf

.... One of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters … We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits <to be> those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas”....

 

[PanaEng]

This from a jihadist blogger, finally explaining why the pirates feel compelled to break the law defend their territory  : - full post attached as .pdf

I has been documented before as being the reason it started; but it started as simply intercepting fishing boats caught in their waters and demanding a tax which soon escalated to ransom for the boat, then to other boats and ships.