Civilization Walks the Pirate's Plank

by CAROLINE GLICK

A Somali pirate and a former US defense secretary are flying to London for vacation. One of them is stopped at immigration at Heathrow airport and arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes. Which one do you think it was?

On Tuesday, Somali pirates, sailing in little more than motorized bathtubs, armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and sustained by raw fish and narcotics, successfully hijacked the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker the size of a US aircraft carrier. The tanker was carrying some $100 million worth of crude oil. News of its capture caused global oil prices to rise by a dollar a barrel.

The next day, Somali pirates attempted to hijack the Trafalgar, a British frigate, but were forced to flee by a German naval helicopter dispatched to the scene. They did manage to hijack a Chinese trawler and a cargo ship from Hong Kong. They nearly got control of an Ethiopian ship, but it, too, was saved by the German Navy that heeded its call for help in time.

Read entire article here.

Another modern day pirate story here.

Pirates? You're Kidding, Right? Wrong!

by William Pentland
(Forbes.com)

On April 4, 2008, the luxury French yacht Le Ponant was crossing the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia when a swarm of speed boats surrounded the 32-cabin, three-masted vessel. A band of Somali pirates stormed the yacht, hijacking the vessel and taking all 30 of its crewmembers hostage.

A week of intense negotiations followed, ending with the release of the hostages to French military officials on April 11 in exchange for an undisclosed ransom. Shortly after the exchange, a team of French commandos tracked the pirates to a remote location in the Puntland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia. The commandos overtook them on an open stretch of desert road, attacking from helicopters and capturing six of them.

Somalia is only the latest hot spot in a worldwide renaissance of sea piracy that began a decade ago. The growth of global commerce in the past two decades crowded the oceans with cargo vessels, dry-bulk carriers and supertankers loaded with every good imaginable. The world currently transports 80% of all international freight by sea. More than 10 million cargo containers are moving across the world's oceans at any one time.

Read entire article here.

Somalia confirmed as piracy capital

Piracy off the coast of Somalia rose nearly 200 percent in 2008 compared to the year before, with bolder attacks over greater distances, an international piracy monitor said Friday.

Somalia and the Gulf of Aden were the worst areas for piracy in 2008, according to the annual report from International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center (PRC).

It said 42 vessels were hijacked there and 815 crew members taken hostage -- more than any place else in the world.

The increased ability of pirates to sail farther out to sea, coupled with the inability of the Somali government to respond, led to what the report called an "unprecedented" rise in piracy in the area.

Read entire article here.

Nine countries sign deal to fight Somali piracy

Nine countries from the region most affected by Somali piracy on Thursday signed a deal enhancing cooperation in the fight against piracy in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

A code of conduct was signed by eight coastal nations as well as Ethiopia during a special meeting convened in Djibouti under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

"This Djibouti code of conduct is the first regional agreement between Arab and African countries against acts of piracy against ships in the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean," Koji Sekimizu, head of the IMO's maritime safety division, told an AFP reporter at the meeting.

The document provides for the creation of three information centres in Mombasa, Dar es Salaam and Sanaa and a training centre for anti-piracy units in Djibouti.

Read entire article here.