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| Africa Horn |
| Pirates seize 4th ship off Somalia |
| 2008-08-22 |
| No, this is not a dupe... Well it is, sorta ... Pirates have seized another vessel, a German cargo ship, off the coast of Somalia in some of the world's most dangerous waters, the International Maritime Bureau said. This brought the number of ship hijackings in the vital sealane linking Asia and Europe to a record four in 48 hours, sparking fears piracy there could worsen. "There is no deterrent, so obviously for pirates, criminals and warlords, it's an easy way to make money," said Noel Choong, head of the bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur. "Nobody is going to catch you, no police ... you make so much money," he said. Hey. I think I've found the problem... "It's unbelievable, more and more of these people go out and hijack ships." He said only the United Nations could help stop the menace because Somalia has no central government. Piracy is rife off Somalia, which has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991. Maritime officials say at least 30 ships have been hijacked off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation so far this year. Most of them brought ransoms of at least $10,000 ($NZ14,005), and in some cases much more. A lot of that money is now in the hands of pirates in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. Wealthy pirates have attained near-celebrity status in the area, buying expensive homes and cars and taking additional wives following this year's sharp increase in attacks at sea. In the latest case, pirates seized a German cargo ship with nine crew on board late on Thursday, Choong said. Just hours earlier, Somali pirates hijacked an Iranian bulk carrier and a Japanese-operated tanker. A day before, they seized a palm oil tanker, Bunga Melati Dua, belonging to Malaysian national carrier MISC. The four ships had a total of 96 crew on board. Last week, Somali pirates hijacked two other ships, a Thai cargo ship, the MV Thor Star, and a Nigerian tug boat, the MT Yenegoa Ocean. Local gunmen are also holding a Japanese-managed bulk carrier, the MV Stella Maris, that was hijacked on July 20. Choong said multi-national naval coalition forces had sent a warship to track the hijackers. How about ya kill em instead? Naval forces from the United States, France, Germany, Pakistan, Britain and Canada are operating in the Gulf region. MISC, the Malaysian shipping firm, said it had made first contact with its ship, which had 39 crew - 29 Malaysians and 10 Filipinos - on board."MISC was informed that there had been a casualty on board involving one of our Filipino crew members during the boarding of the vessel by the hijackers. We are unable to confirm this incident," it said. The company declined to comment. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #13 Whahahhaha...yep, the Jackass bunch. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-22 18:50 |
| #12 #9: Meanwhile these LADS, at one time the finest on the coninent, sit with their thumbs up their bums in Simon's Town. Besoeker, I thought they had been relegated to feeding the penguins of False Bay? |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-22 15:24 |
| #11 I guess if it were US flagged ships it might be our problem, but the instinctive reaction to defend Panamanian and Greek shipping just isn't there for some reason. |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-08-22 15:22 |
| #10 From Strategypage... August 11, 2008: On August 8th, a U.S. Navy amphibious ship, the USS Peleliu, while cruising off the north coast of Somalia, got a distress call from a merchant ship ten kilometers away. The merchantman was under attack by pirates in speed boats. The Peleliu promptly dispatched three armed helicopters, which caused the pirates to flee. The merchant ship suffered some damage from bullets, plus an RPG rocket that landed in the superstructure, but did not explode. This year, Somali pirates have shifted their operations to the far north, on the Gulf of Aden (which separates Somalia from Yemen, in southern Arabia). Over 80 percent of the pirate attacks are now taking place in the Gulf of Aden, where heavy Red Sea traffic provides a larger number of potential victims. While other pirate plagued nations have navies and coast guards that can battle the piracy problem, Somalia is without any central government, or seagoing military forces. So the international community has been sending more and more warships to patrol the coast. For the last three years, an international naval patrol, CTF 150 (Combined Task Force 150, operating out of Djibouti) has patrolled the entire 3,000 kilometer long coast. But with only about fifteen ships (from half a dozen nations), the CTF 150 has been able to slow down the pirates, but not stop them. The USS Peleliu is not part of the patrol, but was just passing through the area. Fortunately, the 39,000 ship normally carries about 30 helicopters, six Harrier jets, and a battalion of marines, so it had the means to deal with pirates. Moreover, unless this coastal patrol force was willing to send troops ashore to kill or arrest the pirates in the land bases, the pirates will keep playing hide-and-seek with the naval patrols, and continue to attack ships and get away with it. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-08-22 15:02 |
| #9 Meanwhile these LADS, at one time the finest on the coninent, sit with their thumbs up their bums in Simon's Town. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-08-22 14:07 |
| #8 Darth is correct. So is 3dc. An ARCLIGHT strike through one village that harbored pirates would do the trick. Because the "G" and "H" models of the B-52 don't have the iron-bomb capacity of the old "D" models, use four- instead of three-aircraft flights. You might kill a few crewmembers from whatever captured ship is in port, but you'd certainly send a strong message that piracy not only doesn't pay, but that a pirate ship in your port will bring retaliation. From what I've read, most of the pirates are from the Puntland autonomous province of Somalia. Maybe an ARCLIGHT strike down through the center of the capital of Puntland would also be useful. Talk about "shock and awe", how about "shock and fear"? It's long past time we do something like this. The arab world needs to learn to respect the West. Nothing garners respect like an ARCLIGHT strike. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-08-22 12:30 |
| #7 A couple of helicopter gunships sinking every ship in a couple of harbors might get the point across. |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-08-22 11:35 |
| #6 Nothing an effective navy couldn't fix. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-08-22 11:34 |
| #5 Sounds like a well camoflaged "Q" Ship is needed Here. (loaed to the gunwales with Marines, ROE? "Kill them all.". |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-08-22 11:30 |
| #4 Nothing a few Arc-light strikes wouldn't fix. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-08-22 11:17 |
| #3 Just flatten the port and all the homes around it.. Make being a pirate something your neighbors hate so much that they will just kill you on sight. done. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-08-22 11:03 |
| #2 He said only the United Nations could help stop the menace because Somalia has no central government. You have to be freeking kidding me - the UN can't even solve the combination to the men's toliet. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2008-08-22 10:54 |
| #1 Calling Blackwater. Time to pitch the gig to the insurance and maritime companies. If the 'sovereign' governments of the world won't deal with the problem because of self imposed restraints, that opens the door for letters of mark and reprisal from other sources. Just remind the employer that there are severe penalties for early withdraw. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-08-22 10:52 |