More Piracy Near Somalia

[omarali50]

The Somali story smells strange, but who knows.
The interesting question to me is whether there is any real rift between NATO and Pakistan? And whether GHQ is about to "win" in Afghanistan? Because if they are (with or without NATO's cooperation), its really really bad news for Pakistan. Primarily because such a victory would be terrible news for ordinary Afghans and then for ordinary Pakistanis (and eventually, for GHQ, but they may not see that yet). Then there is the secondary (and the in the greater scheme of things, relatively minor) issue of liberals hanging from lamp-posts...Pro-army websites make no secret of their expectations that after the US is driven out of the region, there will be a lot of lamp-posts with a lot of infidel agents hanging from them.
You can go to rupeenews to see what I mean.

[AdamG]

Interesting perspective from the bad guys' side.

Reading music

Jay Bahadur’s plan was simple. Fly to Somalia to cover the March 2009 elections in Somaliland as a freelancer, then come home to Toronto and hopefully find a job in journalism.

He studied Somalia a bit as an undergrad at the University of Toronto, and after graduating in 2007 he enrolled in a freelance journalism course; he figured he could work the trip into the class somehow.

Things did not go according to plan — but, in retrospect, they probably couldn’t have worked out better. For a class assignment on how to pitch freelance stories, Mr. Bahadur assembled an idea — to embed with the pirates of Somalia — and handed in his homework. It was October 2008. He left for Africa in January 2009. And today, he is on tour promoting his debut non-fiction book, Pirates of Somalia.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07...little-piracy/

Globe & Mail review

NPR interview

and the author's blog
http://jaybahadur.blogspot.com/

Mod's Note: See also Post 621 on an earlier post on the author and book.

[Dayuhan]

Interesting perspective from the bad guys' side.

Telling comment:

“But the truth is that fishing was never a big part of the Somali economy; it was seen as ignoble and very few of them actually had their livelihoods destroyed. The early fisher-pirates simply realized that going after commercial ships worked; it made money.”

[davidbfpo]

Found via an observer of such things:

This videotape shows Russian Navy commandos on a Somalian pirate ship shortly after the pirates had captured a Russian oil tanker. The Euro Union navy that patrols these waters would not interfere because they feared there could be casualties.

All explanations are in Russian with a single exception of when a wounded pirate says something in English. All conversations between the commandos are in Russian. If you don't understand Russian, the pictures speak for themselves.

The soldiers freed their compatriots and the tanker. The Russian Navy Commandos moved the pirates back to their own (pirate) ship, searched the pirate ship for weapons and explosives, and then they left the ship and exploded it with all remaining pirates hand-cuffed to it.

The commandos sank the pirate ship along with the pirates and without any court proceedings, lawyers etc. That is, they used the anti-piracy laws of the 18th and 19th centuries where the captain of the rescuing ship has the right to decide what to do with the pirates. Usually, they were hung.

Link to video:http://true-turtle.livejournal.com/85315.html

[davidbfpo]

CIMIC is a NATO Civil-Military website, behind a registration wall, that has various sections, including Anti-Piracy and has a running log of incidents. Worth a peek regularly:https://www.cimicweb.org

The original focus was Afghanistan.

[AdamG]

Interesting perspective from the bad guys' side.

Reading music

Jay Bahadur’s plan was simple. Fly to Somalia to cover the March 2009 elections in Somaliland as a freelancer, then come home to Toronto and hopefully find a job in journalism.

He studied Somalia a bit as an undergrad at the University of Toronto, and after graduating in 2007 he enrolled in a freelance journalism course; he figured he could work the trip into the class somehow.

Things did not go according to plan — but, in retrospect, they probably couldn’t have worked out better. For a class assignment on how to pitch freelance stories, Mr. Bahadur assembled an idea — to embed with the pirates of Somalia — and handed in his homework. It was October 2008. He left for Africa in January 2009. And today, he is on tour promoting his debut non-fiction book, Pirates of Somalia.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/07...little-piracy/

Globe & Mail review

NPR interview

and the author's blog
http://jaybahadur.blogspot.com/

Mod's Note: See also Post 621 on the main thread for Somali Piracy:http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=5621

[davidbfpo]

At last a lengthy account of some of the hostages held in Somalia.

Have you heard of the Iceberg 1? I hadn't, although aware that hostages were being held and from the start of the article:

She set sail from Aden in the spring of 2010, the start of a long journey that should have seen her deliver a cargo of electrical equipment to England. Then, barely ten miles out to sea, the Iceberg 1 suffered a fate all too predictable for a slow-going cargo craft in the Gulf of Aden: she was hijacked by Somali pirates.

Unlike the scores of other vessels snared there in recent years, though, no ransom has been forthcoming to free her crew of 24, nor has a foreign navy tried to rescue them. Instead, nearly two and a half years later, they are still in captivity on the high seas - seemingly abandoned by the ship’s owners, and with the dubious distinction of being the longest hijack case in modern maritime history.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...i-pirates.html

Name & shame the owners, who have done almost nothing:

is owned by Dubai-based Azal Shipping & Cargo, whose management have been accused of leaving the crew to their fate. Until last month, Azal had declined to even meet with the hostages’ families, who say they have also refused to pay wages in absentia for the sailors, many of whom are the main breadwinners in their households.

[davidbfpo]

A sorry tale of rivalry, power and a "strategic corporal" thanks to FP Blog, with a long article on a UAE funded attempt to counter piracy on land in Puntland:

In June of this year, my bow-hunting friend, a group of four dozen South African mentors,and 500 newly trained Somali recruits pointed their armada of 70 shiny Toyota Land cruisers, a small fleet of high-powered rigid inflatable boats, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft towards the coast of Somalia -- the heart of pirate country.

This once-motley group, the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF), had been trained by African, British, South African, and U.S. foreign contractors for two years; in May 2011, they began setting up forward operating bases in remote coastal areas of Eyl, Hafun, Bargal, and Qaw. By June 2012, they were ready for the full invasion wave.

The final irony is in the last sentence:

Meanwhile, pirate chief Isse Yulux seems to be doing fine: he's even offered to pay the salaries of the remaining PMPF officers.

Link to article first and then photos:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ates?page=full and http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...es_of_puntland

On SWC we often desire local partners willing and capable of doing the hard work, yes even when paid by outsiders, but there must be something in the Somali air and air-conditioned rooms nearby that destroys hope.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to CIMIC for the link to an official Puntland statement rejecting an allegation made by ABC that the PMPF was a 'private army':http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/...cy_Force.shtml

[AdamG]

WASHINGTON — It seemed like a simple idea: In the chaos that is Somalia, create a sophisticated, highly trained fighting force that could finally defeat the pirates terrorizing the shipping lanes off the Somali coast.

But the creation of the Puntland Maritime Police Force was anything but simple. It involved dozens of South African mercenaries and the shadowy security firm that employed them, millions of dollars in secret payments by the United Arab Emirates, a former clandestine officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and Erik Prince, the billionaire former head of Blackwater Worldwide who was residing at the time in the emirates.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/wo...n-somalia.html

[roger erickson]

Why does this sound so similar to ... well, to EVERYTHING we read in the press?

just one example paraphrase:

"WASHINGTON — It seemed like a simple idea: In the chaos that is [Washington, DC], create a sophisticated, highly trained [economic] force that could finally defeat the pirates terrorizing the [finance] lanes off the [Wall Street] coast.

But the creation of the Puntland [Parttime Regulatory Farce] was anything but simple. It involved dozens of [retired political] mercenaries and the shadowy [lobbyist] firms that employed them, millions of dollars in secret payments by the United [Grab Campaignirates], a former clandestine officer with the Central Intelligence Agency, and the [Princelings], the billionaire former [employees] of [the too big to fail banks] who [were] residing at the time in all the [key policy agencies]."

[davidbfpo]

The figures collected by the IMB (international Maritime Bureau), are a vital barometer of pirate activity:

Somali related incidents 2013: Six reported incidents including one hijacking.

Current crew / vessels held by Somali pirates: hostages - 71 / vessels - 5

Link:http://www.icc-ccs.org.uk/piracy-rep...cynewsafigures

[davidbfpo]

At long last freedom for a mixed group of sailors:

The Albedo, a Malaysian-flagged container ship, was originally captured in November 2010 with a crew of 23 from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Iran and Pakistan.....were finally released on Saturday, bringing to an end one of the longest-running Somali piracy cases. The 11 crew members of the MV Albedo were facing their first hours of freedom after three years and seven months as hostages, during which their pirate captors often used torture

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...captivity.html
This report is supplemented by a South African video report, which suggests a different story about their escape / release:http://www.enca.com/exclusive-pirate...es-fly-freedom

[AdamG]

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Three Somali pirates were killed in a fight over the ransom paid to free the German-American journalist who was released this week after two years and eight months of captivity, a police official said Friday.

The gunfight broke out in the central town of Galkayo late Thursday when some of the pirates who held Michael Scott Moore attacked their comrades, accusing them of conducting a secret deal with negotiators, said Mohamed Hassan. A top pirate commander was among three people killed after Moore was freed on Tuesday, he said, adding that one camp of pirates accused the other of betrayal.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-killed-somal...100409198.html

[davidbfpo]

Two posts in this thread in 2014, that is a sign I suppose.

It must be conference time, needless to say not in Somalia, as we have this:

The High Risk Area off the Somali coast has seen over 700 attacks by pirates since 2009, but last year there were only 11 pirate incidents and no ship hijackings. No ships have been hijacked in the area since the start of January 2013. Toward the end of 2011, seven ships were being hijacked a month.

Security experts can point to no one reason for the quiet in the Somali Basin, but suggest several factors have combined to reduce the threat over the past year. Among these are the presence of three international naval task forces in the area, the extensive use by ship owners of armed private security guards, and improved best security practices for sailing through high risk waters off east Africa.

Link:http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.ph...ticle&id=37870

I read with amusement the hints that Al-Shabaab is now known to have had a greater role, if only as levying a tax on ransom payments. IIRC most pirates came from areas, such as Puntland, where Al-Shabaab was not in power.

[SWJ Blog]

Millionaire’s Private Navy Ready to Take on Somali Pirates

Entry Excerpt:



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