EU Forces Conduct Their First Mainland Raid In Somalia

Up to 10 European Union ships are on patrol off the Horn of Africa

Somali Piracy: EU Forces In First Mainland Raid -- BBC

EU naval forces have conducted their first raid on pirate bases on the Somali mainland, saying they have destroyed several boats.

The EU forces were transported by helicopter to the pirate bases near the port of Haradhere.

Anti-piracy forces have been reluctant to attack mainland bases, fearing for the crew of captured ships.

Somalia-based pirates have seized vessels across the Indian Ocean and demand huge ransoms for their release.

They are believed to be holding about 17 ships and 300 crew.

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My Comment: One has to wonder what took the EU so long to react.

More Prisons For More Somali Pirates

New Pirate Prison In Somalia Aims To Relieve International Overload -- CNN

Somali pirates captured on the high seas and prosecuted in other countries are now being transferred to a new prison in Somalia. It's a significant change for countries combating piracy but are seeing their own jail systems overwhelmed as the U.S. and other countries continue to catch and turn over pirates to countries willing to prosecute them.

The prison, located in the self-governed northern part of Somalia, accepted its first detainees at the end of March, according to U.S. State Department officials. The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime is paying for the transport and the prison facility, according to U.S. State Department officials.

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My Comment: Will these new prisons deter Somalis from piracy .... I doubt it, especially after reading this paragraph from this CNN report ....

.... "The pirates know what the odds are when they get into the business - four out of 10 pirates that go out on the water die. With that mindset, prosecution is not going to be a deterrent," Bruton said.

Indeed.

EU Approves Attacks On Somali Pirate Land Bases

Somalia Pirates: EU Approves Attacks On Land Bases -- BBC

he European Union has agreed to expand its mission against Somali pirates, by allowing military forces to attack land targets as well as those at sea.

In a two-year extension of its mission, EU defence ministers agreed warships could target boats and fuel dumps.

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner says the move is a significant step-up in operations, but one that also risks escalation.

Up to 10 EU naval ships are currently on patrol off the Horn of Africa.

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More News On The EU Expanding operations Against Somali Pirates

Inland Somali pirate bases to be targeted -- The Telegraph
EU extends range of its anti-piracy patrols, allowing strikes inside Somalia -- Washington Post/AP
EU authorises warships to hit Somali pirate lairs -- AFP
EU Navy cleared to attack pirates on land -- Global Post
EU ships to hit Somali pirates' land bases -- Defence Management
EU extends Somalia counter-piracy operation by two years -- Reuters
EU Extends Counter-piracy Operations Off Somalia By Two More Years -- RTT News
EU to back strikes on Somali pirates -- News24

UK Ships To Have Armed Guards To Counter Somali Piracy

Photo: It is up to the flag state of the vessel whether or not armed guards are allowed.

Somali Piracy: Armed Guards To Protect UK Ships -- BBC

Ships sailing under a British flag will be able to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, the prime minister has announced.

David Cameron says he wants to combat the risks to shipping off the coast of Somalia, where 49 of the world's 53 hijackings last year took place.

Under the plans, the home secretary would be given the power to license armed guards for ships.

No ship carrying armed security has yet been hijacked, the government claims.

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More News On UK Ships To Have Armed Guards To Counter Somali Piracy

UK ships will be able to carry armed guards - Cameron -- Reuters
Armed guards on UK vessels to counter piracy -- Financial Times
Armed guards to defend British ships from pirates -- AFP
Armed guards to protect UK ships from pirates -- AOl.com
U.K. Ships Allowed Armed Guards Against Piracy, Cameron Says -- Bloomberg

My Comment: About time.

Why Somalia's Piracy Problem Will Not Go Away

Somalia's Piracy Problem: Robbery on the High Seas Too Lucrative to Refuse -- Spiegel Online

There are hundreds of pirates serving time in prisons in northern Somalia. But for every one arrested, there are several people willing to fill the gap. A visit to a pirate jail reveals that, despite the risks, many Somalis are still being drawn to the sea by dreams of ransom, revenge and repute.

Omar Abdullahi, 45, knew the patrol boat routes. He knew the coast guard's equipment, and he knew their salaries were a meager $45 (€32) a month. That was all he made, too, despite being head of the Las Qoray outpost. At sea, he saw how easily the pirates in their fast boats got away from his fellow coast guardsmen. And, on land, he saw how they could afford expensive cars and fancy houses.

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My Comment: Yup .... it's all about the money, coupled with little if any risk.

Somalia's Continuing Piracy Threat Against International Shipping

On The High Seas -- The Economist

EUROPEAN and NATO naval forces together with an assortment of fighting ships from other navies including China, Russia, Indonesia, Phillippines and elsewhere were supposed to disrupt piracy in the Indian Ocean and bring the number of ships being seajacked there under control. That has not happened. According to Ecoterra, a Kenya-based group which tracks Somali piracy, 24 foreign-flagged vessels are presently being held hostage in Somalia with a total of 434 hostages on board. The Europeans do not include Yemeni and Iranian vessels in their count: they say there are 17 foreign-flagged vessels with 369 hostages anchored off Somalia.

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More News On Somalia's Piracy Problem

Kenya takes in more piracy suspects from US Navy -- Reuters
Nine more taken to court as trials on piracy continue -- Daily Nation
UN Piracy Chief: More Countries Should Help Kenya Try Pirates -- Voice of America
Hijacked Japanese ship spotted at Somali pirate port -- AFP
Pirates seize Japanese ship with 20 Filipino sailors: EU -- AFP
Pirates seize ship with crew of 20 off African coast -- CNN
Somali pirates free Puntland minister -- BBC
Somali pirates free kidnapped government minister -- AP
Somali pirates kidnap Puntland minister -- Press TV
Somali Puntland Government Vows It Will Fight Pirates -- All Headline News
Brits plan private navy to fight pirates -- UPI
Anti-piracy petition gets 930,000 signatures -- Marine Log
Sailors call for urgent global action to halt piracy -- BBC
Terrorism Out of Somalia -- Carnegie Endowment
Analysis: Missed opportunities in Somalia -- IRIN
Over the Horizon: Piracy, Metrics, and Strategy -- Robert Farley, World Politics Review
FACTBOX-Ships held by Somali pirates -- Reuters

Somali Piracy News Updates -- November 18, 2009

Somali Pirates Attack U.S.-Flagged Ship for Second Time -- FOX News

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device.

A U.S. surveillance plane was monitoring the ship as it continued to its destination on the Kenyan coast, while a pirate said that the captain of a ship hijacked Monday with 28 North Korean crew members on board had died of wounds.

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More News On Somali Piracy

Maersk Alabama repels Somali pirates in second attack -- Christian Science Monitor
Pirates Attack Maersk Alabama Again -- New York Times
Maersk Alabama Evades Second Pirate Attack -- Wall Street Journal
Second pirate attack on Maersk Alabama foiled -- USA Today
U.S. ship fends off second pirate attack -- CNN
Somali Pirates : Maersk Alabama Attacked, Fights Back -- Eagle Speak

Somali pirates get $3.3M ransom, free 36 hostages -- AP
Spain pays £2m ransom to pirates for release of 36 hostages -- Daily Mail
Somali pirates take $3M in ransom; free 36 Spanish hostages held for seven weeks on tuna boat -- New York Daily News
Spanish opposition questions pirate ransom -- Financial Times

Somalia to get EU training force to counter Islamist insurgents -- Christian Science Monitor
Video: Hunting pirates from the UK -- Global Post
Greater efforts needed on land to fight piracy off Somali coast: UN chief -- China Daily
U.S. And Seychelles Piracy Walks The Plank — UAVs The Quiet Success -- Sat News
Somali piracy's economic impact -- BBC
Guidance vague on dealing with lawlessness on the high seas -- Times Online

Somali piracy threat in the Indian Ocean - a timeline -- The Telegraph

Somalia And Somali Piracy News Updates -- June 5, 2009

Somali Islamist insurgents prepare to fire a mortar round. Photo AFP

Somali Leader Vows No Surrender As New Fighting Erupts -- AFP

MOGADISHU (AFP) — Embattled Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Thursday vowed to fight insurgents to the bitter end as fresh clashes erupted in the south of the capital.

"We will fight to death until peace is assured," Sharif told reporters as his forces and hardline Islamist militants exchanged mortar shells and heavy fire in parts of the capital.

Sharif spoke after talks with clerics from a moderate but influential Sufi religious sect who pledged to take up arms to shore up his shaky administration.

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More News On Somalia And Somali Piracy

Somalia piracy crackdown shows signs of success: UN -- Vancouver Sun
Somali president: No more talks with insurgents -- Taiwan News
Somali leader vows no surrender as new fighting erupts -- AFP
Several dead in fresh Somalia clash -- Al Jazeera
Somalia: Fresh Fighting Starts in Mogadishu -- All Africa
15 die as fighting escalates in Mogadishu -- China View
Ethiopia admits reconnaisance missions in Somalia -- AFP
Ethiopia makes "reconnaissance" trips into Somalia -- Reuters
AU fails to stop war, but saves lives in Somalia -- Reuters
Somali refugees pour into Kenya by the thousands -- Reuters

Somali Leaders: Give Us The Tools, We'll Fight The Pirates

From The Danger Room:

As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates now sees it, fighting Somali pirates mean's fixing Somalia's problems on land. Speaking yesterday at the Army War College, Gates said the United States is actively looking for allies inside Somalia's weak and fractured government. And he suggested that Puntland -- which declared its autonomy in 1998 -- might be a good candidate for military assistance.

"The main problem," Gates said, "is the ungoverned space that is now Somalia. And one of the questions that I think we have to look at is, do we look at what we might be able to do with regional governments in Somalia; for example, the government in Puntland, which has more capacity than -- seems to me -- than perhaps the government in Mogadishu right now."

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My Comment: Yeah right ....

Sunken 'Pirate Ship' Was Actually Thai Trawler, Owner Says

File image of Indian navy frigate INS Tabar

From CNN:

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Fourteen sailors are still missing from a Thai trawler that was sunk last week by the Indian navy as a suspected pirate ship, the vessel's owner said Tuesday.

One crewman was found alive after six days adrift in the Gulf of Aden, and one is confirmed dead, said Wicharn Sirichaiekawat, owner of the Ekawat Nava 5.

Last week, India's navy reported that the frigate INS Tabar had battled a pirate "mother vessel" in the gulf November 18, leaving the ship ablaze and likely sunk. Wicharn said that vessel was his ship, which was in the process of being seized by pirates when it came under fire.

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My Comment: Oh oh ..... I guess the Indian Navy shot first, and asked questions later and/or decided not to ask any questions at all.

Ransoms Bring Wealth To Somali Pirate Bases

A video grab from an undated television footage shows pirates on the beach in the town of Eyl in the north of Somalia. The United Nations should send peacekeepers to Somalia urgently to stop the strife that is fuelling piracy and is being aggravated by feuding politicians, the African Union's top diplomat said on November 20, 2008. Gunmen from the chaotic Horn of Africa country grabbed world headlines with spectacular November 15 capture of a huge Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of oil, the biggest ship hijacking in history.
REUTERS/Reuters TV (SOMALIA)

From Yahoo News/Reuters:

BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) – As dawn breaks over the Indian Ocean each morning, elders in Somali pirate bases sip strong coffee and clutch mobile phones to their ears, eager to hear the latest from the gunmen out at sea.

Have any more ships been hijacked or ransom talks concluded? Any news of the Western warships hunting them?

Last weekend's spectacular capture of a Saudi Arabian supertanker loaded with oil worth $100 million has jacked up the stakes in what is probably the only growth industry in the failed Horn of Africa state.

Massive ransoms have brought rapid development to former fishing villages that now thrive with business and boast new beachside hotels, patronized by cash-rich buccaneers who have become local celebrities virtually overnight.

Investors have been attracted from around Somalia.

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My Comment: I find it amazing that a bunch of unemployed, uneducated, and starving fisherman can band together and wreck havoc on the world's international shipping, and bandoozle navies many times their size.

Pirates Who Seized Oil Tanker Anchor Off Somalia

From Yahoo News/AP:

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million in crude oil anchored the ship within sight of impoverished Somali fishing villages Tuesday, while the U.S. and other naval forces decided — for now — against intervention.

Saudi Arabia said Tuesday that it will join the international fight against piracy, and Somali officials vowed to try to rescue the hijacked Saudi oil supertanker by force if necessary.

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The Coast Off Somalia Is Now Declared A War Zone

Gulf of Aden Declared Warlike Operations Area -- Information Dissemination

Catchy title? According to Lloyd List this morning:

British shipping employers and unions have agreed to declare the Gulf of Aden a warlike operations area, in a deal that will double the pay of seafarers on many ships operated from the UK while serving close to piracy prone Somalia.

Reuters also has some comments from Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau regarding a desire to actually go to war with pirates, including some sage tactical advice.

"We want pre-emptive action against the mother ships before the pirates carry out a hijacking," said Captain Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London-based International Maritime Bureau, which monitors international piracy, referring to the ships pirates use as bases from which to launch attacks.

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My Comment: The insurers have been raising rates on ships that travel through this region for the past two years. Treating this entire region as a war zone .... which is now clearly the case .... only confirms what everyone now knows.

The result of these actions will be quickly felt by everyone in the region. No ship is going to pass within a minimum of 200 miles (or more) off the Somalia coast. As for ships bringing aid to Somalia ... this guarantees that they will now be brought in under heavy security.