Saturday, November 29, 2008

Legal Hurdles In West Slow Pursuit Of Pirates

Two Britons and an Irishman were rescued Friday after jumping overboard from a ship seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Eric Cabanis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

From The New York Times:

BERLIN — Somali pirates firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades hijacked yet another ship in the Gulf of Aden on Friday, this time seizing a chemical tanker. A German military helicopter from a nearby warship arrived in time to pull three security guards out of the water, but not soon enough to prevent the hijacking of the ship and the rest of the crew.

The latest attack, in which even trained security personnel aboard could not deter the pirates, demonstrated the urgent need for coordinated action by governments from Cairo to Berlin. But the bureaucratic and legal hurdles facing international institutions and national governments have so far defeated most efforts to deal with the nimble crews of pirates in speedboats, whose tactics have grown bolder as their profits have paid for better weapons and equipment.

Read more ....

My Comment: The legal obstacles are there because of political decisions .... i.e. lack of will to confront the pirates .... from our elected leaders.

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