Tuesday - August 16, 2011

Flash Mobs At Sea

Location detail: Around 60nm WNW of Al Hudaydah, Yemen
Type of Attack : Boarded
Narrations: 11.08.2011: 1115 UTC: Posn: 15:09N - 041:55E, Around 60nm WNW of Al Hudaydah, Red Sea.
A bulk carrier underway noticed a mother ship at a distance of 0.5nm. Suddenly three skiffs appeared from behind the mother ship and approached the bulk carrier at high speed - one from port side, one from starboard side and one from astern. The vessel commenced evasive manoeuvres. The pirates were able to hook on their ladder and board the vessel. The Master ordered all the crew to retreat into the citadel and called the CSO, who informed the navies in the region. Later a warship arrived and marines boarded and searched the vessel. No pirates found. Crew and ship safe.

Location detail: Gulf of Aden
Type of Attack : Fired Upon
Narrations:09.08.2011: 0226 UTC: Posn: 13:08.8N - 048:41.6E, Gulf of Aden.
Five pirates armed with RPG and guns in a 12 meter white plastic skiff chased and fired upon a general cargo ship underway. Onboard security team fired warning shots resulting in the pirates moving away. A warship in the vicinity carried out a search in the area.

Location detail: Around 20nm ENE of Assab, Eritrea
Type of Attack: Fired Upon
Narrations: 06.08.2011: 1505 UTC: Posn: 13:07.2N - 043:04.9E, Around 20nm ENE of Assab, Eritrea, Red Sea.
Twelve skiffs with five to eight pirates in each skiff approached a bulk carrier underway. As the skiff closed in, guns and ladders were noticed. Warning flares were deployed by the onboard security team. The skiffs continued to approach the vessel at 17 knots. At a distance of around 300 meters, on the command of the Master, the onboard security team fired warning shots resulting in most of the skiffs falling back and circling the vessel. Two skiffs continued to chase the vessel and returned fire. The skiffs and the security team exchanged fire and after 30 minutes and numerous approaches the skiffs aborted and moved away.

Looks like the Somali pirates are trying attacks en masse to overwhelm shipboard security. So far, it isn’t working. While piracy off of Malaysia and off of the West African coast has seen some success, the Somalis are still batting 0. Now that the insurance companies have jacked up the rates enormously, and declared nearly half the Indian Ocean a high-risk zone, the combination of rough seas from a long monsoon season and the presence of armed security on many merchantmen has ground pirate victories almost to a halt. That doesn’t mean that all the hijacked ships and crews have been released, just that the pirates aren’t bringing home any new ones right now:

(report from mid-July) Pirate attacks on the world’s seas totalled 266 in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) revealed today.

More than 60% of the attacks were by Somali pirates, a majority of which were in the Arabian Sea area said the report, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships. As of 30 June, Somali pirates were holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding ransoms of millions of dollars for their release.

“In the last six months, Somali pirates attacked more vessels than ever before and they’re taking higher risks,” said IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan. . “This June, for the first time, pirates fired on ships in rough seas in the Indian Ocean during the monsoon season. In the past, they would have stayed away in such difficult conditions. Masters should remain vigilant.”

In the first six months, many of the attacks have been east and north-east of the Gulf of Aden, an area frequented by crude oil tankers sailing from the Arabian Gulf, as well as other traffic sailing into the Gulf of Aden. Since 20 May there have been 14 vessels attacked in the Southern Red Sea. “It is necessary that shipboard protection measures are in place as they sail through this area,” said Mr Mukundan.

But although Somali pirates are more active – 163 attacks this year up from 100 in the first six months of 2010 – they managed to hijack fewer ships, just 21 in the first half of 2011 compared with 27 in the same period last year. This, the report says, is both thanks to increased ship hardening and to the actions of international naval forces to disrupt pirate groups off the east coast of Africa.

Don’t worry about those poor pirates going hungry and having nothing to do. Right now they’re busy stealing half or more of the millions of tons of food aid the UN is shipping the Poor ‘n Starvin’ in that fly-bitten land:

Thousands of sacks of food aid meant for Somalia’s famine victims have been stolen and are being sold at markets in the same neighbourhoods where skeletal children in filthy refugee camps can’t find enough to eat, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The UN’s World Food Program for the first time acknowledged it has been investigating food theft in Somalia for two months. The WFP said that the “scale and intensity” of the famine crisis does not allow for a suspension of assistance, saying that doing so would lead to “many unnecessary deaths.”

And the aid is not even safe once it has been distributed to families huddled in the makeshift camps popping up around the capital. Families at the large, government-run Badbado camp said they were often forced to hand back aid after journalists had taken photos of them with it. Ali Said Nur said he received two sacks of maize twice, but each time was forced to give one to the camp leader.

“You don’t have a choice. You have to simply give without an argument to be able to stay here,” he said.

The UN says more than 3.2 million Somalis — nearly half the population — need food aid after a severe drought that has been complicated by Somalia’s long-running war. More than 450,000 Somalis live in famine zones controlled by al-Qaeda-linked militants, where aid is difficult to deliver.

An official in Mogadishu with extensive knowledge of the food trade said he believes a massive amount of aid is being stolen — perhaps up to half of aid deliveries — by unscrupulous businessmen.

The percentage had been lower, he said, but in recent weeks the flood of aid into the capital with little or no controls has created a bonanza for businessmen.

The official, like the businessmen interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals.

The AP could not verify the official’s claims. WFP has not said how much food aid it believes is being diverted.

At one of the sites for stolen food aid, about a dozen corrugated iron sheds are stacked with sacks. Outside, women sell food from open 110-pound sacks, and traders load the food onto carts or vehicles under the indifferent eyes of local officials.

Stolen food aid is not new in Somalia — it’s the main reason the U.S. military become involved in Somalia during the country’s 1992 famine, an intervention that ended shortly after the military battle known as Black Hawk Down. There are no indications the military plans to get involved in this year’s famine relief efforts.
...
In Mogadishu markets, vast piles of food sacks are for sale with stamps on them from the World Food Program, the U.S. government aid arm USAID and the Japanese government. The AP found eight sites where aid food was being sold in bulk and numerous smaller stores.

Among the items being sold were corn, grain, and Plumpy’nut — a specially fortified peanut butter designed for starving children.

Somali government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman said the government does not believe food aid is being stolen on a large scale but if such reports come to light, the government “will do everything in our power” to bring judicial action.

The AP investigation also found evidence that WFP is relying on a contractor blamed for diverting large amounts of food aid in a 2010 U.N. report

Eight Somali businessmen said they bought food from the contractor, Abdulqadir Mohamed Nur, who is known as Enow. His wife heads Saacid, a powerful Somali aid agency that WFP uses to distribute hot food. The official with extensive knowledge of the food trade said at some Saacid sites it appeared less than half the amount of food supplied was being prepared.

Attempts to reach Enow or his wife for comment were not successful.

Plumpy’nut? What on earth is that?

Pronounced Plum-pea-nut, Plumpy’nut is a miracle worker. Known across Africa simply as Plumpy, it’s the magic goo that saves children’s lives by the millions. It is what is known as RUTF, a Ready To Use Theraputic Food. It is all natural, needs no cooking, needs not water to be added, has a shelf life of years, and children love the taste. It allows aid workers, totally overwhelmed in their health centers, to simply distribute the packages and ward off several malnutrition without the presence of hospitals or even doctors. A few 3.5oz packs of Plumpy and some clean water are all it takes to save lives.

When an Antonov An-12 airlift took off from Marseilles, heading for a famished region of Niger, it carried several tons of oil and sugar, supplies you would expect would be used to feed starving people. But it also carried tons of a 92g, 500-calorie foil sachet that is a household name in hungry countries and almost unknown in well-fed ones.

The sachets are packed with Plumpy’nut - known to millions of hungry and formerly hungry children as Plumpy - a peanut-butter food for the acutely malnourished which may have transformed the way hungry people are treated. The French newspaper Libération called it “this magic potion”.

The ingredients of this revolution are simple: peanut paste, vegetable oil, milk powder, vitamins and minerals, combined in a foil pouch with red lettering and an apostrophe shaped like a peanut. Cut the corner of the pouch, feed to a severely malnourished child two to three times a day for about 40 days, and the child will usually be up and about. Normally, a quarter of severely malnourished children do not survive, even in clinical conditions. With Plumpy’nut, death rates can be cut by half.

Because it contains a range of vitamins – A, B-complex , C, D, E, and K – and minerals calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, iodine, sodium, and selenium, in 92-gram packets that deliver 500 kilocalories of highly specialized nutrition, Plumpynut works where local food and even family food fails. This is because, past a specific stage of malnutrition, children are unable to digest “regular” food and need intense nutrition.

Plumpy’nut is a patented food, and the patent is owned by Nutriset. While they have allowed local production in many of the really awful African nations, they have held on to their legal rights in all other world markets. This has lead to some ethical problems, as other folks feel that a monopoly on a humanitarian product is a bad idea, and if the stuff was produced by numerous companies the price would drop (it costs about $1 a day for the 3 packets needed to feed a starving child). Nutriset feels that quality control would become an issue, and that black-hearted commercialism could lead to the substitution of harmful ingredients, like the Chinese did when they added Melamine to exportable foodstuffs. Even though Plumpy’nut would make a superb backpacker food or MRE, Nutriset sells their product only to hunger relief agencies.

Read more

PS - in case it’s been a long time since Chemistry class, what Americans call a Calorie is what science terms a kcal, or kilocalorie. Thus a pack of Plumpy’nut does actually contain 500,000 calories, but to us that’s only 500 Calories. 1 calorie is not much energy: it’s the energy required to heat 1cc (1/5 tsp) 1 degree Centigrade.

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 08/16/2011 at 11:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Pirates, aarrgh! •  
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   Monday - July 25, 2011

What, Again???

Food aid for Somalia could be flown into country within a week

The international effort to bring humanitarian relief to 3.7 million Somalis who need urgent help to beat drought and famine is being hampered by al-Shabaab’s refusal to let most agencies into their territory.

The al-Qaeda-inspired insurgents backtracked on an earlier promise to allow access.

But the United Nations said it was planning to fly food into areas held by the Islamists despite the ban.

“There are 2.2 million people yet to be reached,” said Josette Sheeran, the head of the agency.

“It is the most dangerous environment we are working in in the world. But people are dying. It’s not about politics, it’s about saving lives now.”

Jane, you ignorant slut. It’s always about politics, first, last and forever. It’s not about saving lives at all, and never was. The warlords will take your food, feed themselves, then steal the rest and sell it for weapons the instant you turn your back, while starving their opposition. That story hasn’t changed in Africa in 60 years or more.

WFP was one of the many organisations that al-Shabaab effectively forced out last year after imposing strict conditions of operation including no foreign female staff.

The group also taxed aid convoys.

Regis Chapman, the head of WFP’s operations in Somalia, said that food deliveries would soon start into the limited parts of Mogadishu controlled by the internationally-backed government.

He added that “within a week to 10 days” WFP would be sending food into areas controlled by the Islamists.

The Red Cross on Sunday said that it had delivered 400 tonnes of food to 24,000 people in Gedo province, the first time it had taken supplies into al-Shabaab’s territory since 2009. More than 2 million Somalis in the worst affected areas, including two famine zones, live in al-Shabaab territory and cannot be reached by international aid.

They are among more than 11.5 million people in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia who need urgent help to keep them from starving after at least two years with no rain.

Stop wasting your money. Let them all starve. It won’t make any difference even in the short run. There are always tens of millions starving in Africa. Or suffering from some dread disease. Or being cleansed ethnically. Or being molested by flamingos. Whatever. It’s what Africa does, because Africa is actually Hell. It’s their job.

You can’t feed the people because the other people are such heartless malicious bastards that they use starvation as a political and military tool. They always have, and they always will. Stop wasting your money. Wait. This is the UN we’re talking about. So it’s MY money they’re wasting. Stop even faster in that case.

Maybe they should petition those Somali pirates in their own midst to use some of those hundreds of millions in ransom money to, you know, BUY some food for once.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/25/2011 at 03:34 PM   
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   Tuesday - July 05, 2011

Not Exactly Port Royal Jamaica

File this one under “Well duh, no kidding”, but the island itself is rather fascinating.

15-23 million years ago, when the Red Sea was barely even a river, and the Himalayas were just little hills, the island of Socotra was already old. And lonely. Situated 150 miles past the very point of the Horn of Africa, and 200 miles south across the Arabian Sea from Yemen, Socotra is one of the closest Ends of the Earth, but also one of the least accessible. High seas and Monsoons make it hard to get to, and for the longest time there hasn’t been all that much there. It is not a volcanic island but a continental one, a tiny piece of Africa lost at sea, riding the very edge of the African plate as it twists away from the Arabian plate. This is the land where the Dragon’s Blood Tree still thrives, and one of the most alien looking places on the entire planet.

It is also home to the lowly begonia, a flower whose worldwide popularity began with a single flat of them taken by botanists when Victoria reigned.

Halfway up the rocky path to the ancient cave, I had a sudden glimpse of how the world must have looked twenty million years ago. Stark against the skyline was a strange mushroom-shaped growth about fifteen feet tall, with tangled branches and a canopy of spiky green leaves. It was a dragon’s blood tree—born, according to legend, from blood shed in a battle between an elephant and a dragon. In a distant age, ancestors of the tree (botanists tell us that it is in the same taxonomic order as lilies and tulips) carpeted the earth from Russia to Morocco.

Those great forests are long vanished. But here on the island of Socotra, bounded by the Arabian Sea to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south, the dragon’s blood still mantles the high plateaus and the misty valleys, hidden between the crags of the Hajhir Mountains.

Since the earliest times, people have known Socotra as a place apart. Herodotus wrote that this was where the immortal phoenix came to be reborn twice every thousand years. The frankincense burned in the temples of ancient Egypt and Greece grew here, guarded, so it was believed, by flying snakes.

The island isn’t unknown, there just isn’t any great reason to go there. It’s been known about forever. Literally.  While Lucy was down in Olduvai Gorge grubbing around for ... grubs, her cousin Ricky and his friends built themselves a sailboat and set off over the eastern horizons, getting the hell out of Africa ASAP. First stop, Socotra Island. 1.4 million years ago.

Human ancestors left Africa not only by land but also by sea, recent findings of Russian archeologists on Socotra island show.

Homo habilis: Sinbad the First

Russian scientists found stone artifacts, which belong to Oldowan culture and date back 1.4 million years. The main sensation is geography the Socotra island, now belonging to Yemen, is located in the Gulf of Aden 200 km away from the closest point on the African coast, and Oldowan culture originates from Tanzanian Olduvai Gorge.

Now the challenge is in understanding how Oldowan stones, which belonged to Homo habilis, arrived to Socotra. No anthropologist has even been so brave to imagine that this ancient half-monkey-half-human being could not only follow antelopes, but also travel to neighbouring islands by sea.

However, large amount of discovered stones indicates that ancient men were natural-born sailors. Socotra had been an island long before the stones appeared there, so human ancestors couldn’t have got there by land.

Yup, they had to get there on boats. Through rough seas. Even when Ice Ages lowered sea levels, the water is just too deep. It’s way too far to swim. And that’s about the most exciting thing that has ever happened there. Ever. No wars, no great military campaigns, no heroes, no fabled golden cities. Just a few people living there, getting by with a bit of fishing and a bit of date farming, doing a bit of trading with the rare ship that stops by. Since forever. The greatest claim to fame Socotra has is it’s singular biodiversity; more than a third of the plants and animals on the island are indigenous and exist nowhere else on earth. Even the people there are linguistically and genetically isolated from the rest of the world. It’s no garden of paradise, but the 80 mile long island is home to about 45,000 inhabitants. After eons of isolation, Yemen put in an 11,000 foot heavy duty runway in 1999, and now Socotra is somewhat open to the world. 12 years later though, and there is still barely any tourist industry, even though the rough-hewn island enjoys a more temperate climate than the desert lands to the north and west, has a large network of ancient and interesting caves in it’s windswept karst cliffs, and all that unusual flora and fauna. Maybe it’s because the island only has two roads.

So much for the travelogue. Today that bit of trading means supplying the Somali pirates, and that nice runway with it’s daily flights to the mainland has people thinking that they’ve discovered something like a Missing Link; an information and finance channel that links pirate activity back to mainland sources in the more “civilized” world. As if Yemen counts as civilization.

LONDON (Reuters) - Somali pirates have been using Yemen’s remote Horn of Africa island of Socotra as a refueling hub enabling their attack craft to stay restocked for longer periods at sea and pose a greater hazard to shipping, maritime sources say. Despite an international naval presence in the region, seaborne gangs have been exploiting political turmoil in Yemen to pick up fuel, and possibly other supplies including food, sources told Reuters.

“Socotra has been used for months if not longer,” said Michael Frodl, with C-LEVEL maritime risk consultancy and an adviser to Lloyd’s of London underwriters, citing intelligence reports he was privy to. “It is perhaps the most important refueling hub for hijacked merchant vessels used as motherships, especially those operating between the Gulf of Aden and India’s western waters, mainly off Oman and increasingly closer to the Strait of Hormuz.” “A hijacked merchant vessel, unlike a hijacked dhow, has a voracious thirst for fuel and needs a very well stocked refueling station,” Frodl said.

A Yemen government official said authorities around a month ago had captured 20 people believed to be pirates on the island and handed them over to authorities in Yemen’s nearby southern port city of al-Mukalla on the mainland. A source said separately the 20 people had been on a regular commercial ship, but added that 16 Somali pirates were taken into custody in recent days and were being detained on Socotra.

“There was a lot of piracy north of Socotra during the north east monsoon and it is likely they have been using the island,” the source said. “Pirates use the beaches on the mainland not too far from Mukalla to collect fuel, and presumably other equipment.”

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) watchdog said the pirate support systems had to be promptly stopped.

“Socotra is strategically located because it is right up there against the Gulf of Aden and also along the eastern seaboard of Yemen,” said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan.  “If it is true that the pirates are using Socotra, then it is an extremely disturbing development and it requires immediate investigation.”

I have hardly run any Somali pirate stories in the past couple of months, because there really haven’t been any. Between the rough seas of the monsoon season and the seemingly universal defensive steps taken by large merchant ships, the Somali pirates are about 0-30 in their hijacking attempts. Every time they get near a ship they get shot at, and if they’re so fortunate as to get a ladder up the side of one they get hung up on the coils of razor wire that guard the decks. Losing! It’s just not working any more. Or at least right now. Good! Effective piracy still occurs far to the east in Indonesia, though that’s mostly robbery instead of hijacking, and now West African piracy is ramping up mugging ships off the coasts of Benin, but the Somali pirates are all ... at sea. Gee, too bad.

I’d hate to see war come to Socotra Island. That probably won’t be necessary. Nothing I’ve read says the Somali pirates are setting up a pirate town there. With just one airstrip and only 4 or 5 villages, I’d hope a small military presence and a few Coast Guard cutters would be enough to keep the pirates at bay.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/05/2011 at 08:50 AM   
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   Friday - June 17, 2011

Pathetic

another “Navy stops pirates” story that is hardly worth typing up:

   

On the morning of 10 June, the EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Niedersachsen detected a suspected Pirate Action Group (PAG) whilst conducting a routine patrol in the Southern Somali Basin.

The PAG, which is suspected of carrying out a number of attacks on merchant vessels in the area, consisted of a fishing dhow and 2 attack skiffs.  Small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG)s were also seen on board.

As the Dhow was considered to be a real threat to shipping in the area, the German warship decided to disrupt the vessel but fears for the safety of the hostages on board prevented the Niedersachsen from taking direct action against the vessel.  Instead, to remove the Dhow’s ability to launch further attacks, the warship opened fire on the 2 attack skiffs sinking them in the process.  Without attack skiffs, it is highly unlikely that the suspected pirates could successfully board a vessel.

Having lost its skiffs, the Dhow changed course and made its way back toward Somalia.

This disruption has undoubtedly hampered pirate action and avoided highly probable attacks on merchant shipping and vulnerable vessels in the area.

So a great big, nearly 200 yard long German frigate with helicopters, missiles, and CIWS couldn’t deal with a pokey little wooden fishing boat, and instead shot up it’s two little fiberglass motorboats.

Gosh.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/17/2011 at 02:05 PM   
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D’oh!

Somali pirates say they have evacuated 19 crew members from a hijacked ship that caught fire Wednesday.

The Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Orna caught fire in the pirate stronghold of Harardhere, on Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast.

VOA’s Somali service talked to a regional piracy expert, Andrew Mwangura, who says the ship was still on fire Thursday afternoon local time. 

A pirate said he and his colleagues were trying to put out the fire. No cause had been determined.

The ship’s crew remains held by the pirates.

Last December:

At midday on 20 December, the MV ORNA was pirated in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 nautical miles North East of the Seychelles.

The attack was launched from 2 attack skiffs, with pirates firing small arms and rocket propelled grenades at the merchant vessel. The vessel was stopped and boarded by at least 4 pirates. The crew is co-operating and no damage is reported.

The MV ORNA is a Panama flagged, UAE owned bulk cargo vessel with a dead weight of 27 915 tonnes. The number of crew onboard is unknown

So the pirates managed to set fire to one of the nearly two dozen ships they are holding for ransom. Oopsie daisy! Guess they won’t get much in ransom for it now. Pity. This is almost as much fun as self detonating terrorists!

Posted by Drew458     on 06/17/2011 at 01:42 PM   
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   Saturday - June 04, 2011

The True Cost Of Piracy

Want to know who is really profiting from the Somali pirates? The UK is. Because UK based Lloyd’s of London provides the insurance to merchant shipping, and they have just jacked the rates up 30,000 percent. Yeah, you read that right. 300x increase. What used to cost $500 now costs $150,000. And the size of the Pirate Risk Danger Zone has been increased to encompass almost the entire western half of the Indian Ocean, and includes the whole west coast of India. Needless to say, India is not happy. Neither will you be because the cost of everything going through that area by ship (ie oil) will reflect that additional cost. Wonder how much extra tax windfall Whitehall is getting out of this?

India is lobbying Lloyd’s of London to reverse its expansion of the area judged prone to pirate attacks to cover almost all of the nation’s west coast after insurance costs surged as much as 300-fold this year.
...
The Joint War Committee, which assesses insurance risks, extended the zone in December about 900 miles east as the hijacking range grew.

A reversal by Lloyd’s would reduce insurance costs after some premiums skyrocketed to as much as $150,000 per voyage from $500, the Indian National Shipowners’ Association said, hurting shippers’ earnings.
...
“Typically ships bought insurance for the three days they were moving through the Gulf of Aden—now they have to pay for the additional 10 days” through the Indian Ocean, said Sean Woollerson, an insurance broker at London-based Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc (JLT), which specializes in shipping. The larger zone means about 28,000 more journeys a year are liable to higher premiums than the 22,000 made in the old zone, he said.

India’s government and shipping companies gave evidence last month to the Joint War Committee that shows increased Indian naval patrols have driven the pirate threat away. The government will continue to press for the decision to be overturned, Mohandas said in his New Delhi office.

“The freight markets are not in the rosiest of states so if there are additional premiums then obviously you get squeezed,” said A.R. Ramakrishnan, managing director at Essar Shipping
...
The efforts of more than 20 navies, including the U.S., U.K. and China, failed to prevent a record surge in pirate attacks last year. Pirates cost shipping companies as much as $12 billion in 2010, according to the London-based International Chamber of Shipping.

Hamilton, Bermuda-based Frontline Ltd., the world’s biggest supertanker operator, last week said diverting to avoid pirates in the area costs about $100,000 per trip in extra fuel.

I’m pretty sure that $12 billion includes higher insurance costs, added fuel costs, time constraints, ship defense expenses, etc. I have no clue how much in tax money it took to keep 20 navies worth of military ships at sea patrolling the area. Probably 5 times that much?

The piracy insurance costs for the old zone that impacted the 22,000 ships was around $3.3 billion in earnings for insurance companies. The new zone will add an additional $4.2 billion annually in insurance costs to shippers in the region. The 300% increase in insurance costs due to piracy has to date, hurt the region more than it has hurt the global market. That might change though as the piracy zone continues to expand, and in all cases those costs eventually get passed down to the consumer.

This guy is only talking about the added costs relative to the west coast of India, which more than half of that nation’s shipping sails through.

Right now the Somali pirates are having their holidays while the Indian Ocean is having monsoon season and heavy seas. But when the storms let up in another few weeks ...

Posted by Drew458     on 06/04/2011 at 10:16 PM   
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   Thursday - May 19, 2011

Attack of the Acronyms

The crew of a Navy helicopter launched from the destroyer Bulkeley fired upon and is believed to have killed four pirates who were in the process of attacking a crude oil carrier while it was transiting the Gulf of Oman on Monday, according to Combined Maritime Forces.

The interdiction took place at 10:35 a.m. local time. The Norfolk, Va.-based Bulkeley, assigned to Joint Task Force 150, had received a mayday call from the German-owned, Panamanian-flagged crude carrier Artemis Glory, which said it was being chased and attacked by pirates.

Bulkeley responded to the mayday call, first heard by a Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship and relayed to Combined Maritime Forces, by launching an SH-60B Seahawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Squadron Light 48, Detachment 4, to investigate. When it arrived on station — a command spokesman could not provide the distance or transit time — the crew saw four individuals in a skiff firing at Artemis Glory, using small arms.

The helicopter crew opened fire on the skiff under what command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Sam Hearn of the Royal Navy said was the principle of “extended unit self-defense” on behalf of the crude carrier. All four pirates are believed to have been killed, Hearn said. Hearn said he did not know which weapon system was employed but noted that the SH-60B is equipped with a single M-240 machine gun.

Officials do not believe the helicopter was fired upon by the pirates, Hearn said.

Hearn said Bulkeley did not pick up the bodies, and could not say whether the skiff was sunk. Once it was determined that Artemis Glory was out of danger, the ship continued on its way, Hearn said. The ship is transporting a cargo of crude oil from Saudi Arabia to China.

The M-240 is our standard 7.62 NATO (.308) air cooled medium machine gun. Typical mounting on a helicopter uses a door gunner. The Seahawk does have several hardpoints, so it could easily mount small missiles like the Hellfire as well. Either armament has approximately equal range to an RPG and only slightly greater than an AK-47, so this was not a stand-back-at-a-safe-distance-and-shoot engagement; the Seahawk crew did the job in an up close and personal manner. It is entirely possible that the helicopter came under fire, whatever officials choose to believe. It was certainly within range.

But I do like the outcome. I don’t know if there is a new SOO (Save Our Oil) doctrine in play, or if the fact that this VLCC tanker was taking oil to our new financial overlords in China contributed to the action, but the pirates were caught shooting at a merchant ship and the Navy blasted them right out of the water. And left their bodies to rot and sink, while the tanker went on its merry way. Nothing to see here, move along. Next!

I had thought that Extended Unit Self Defense, EUSD, only applied to American military vessels. Extending the concept to foreign flagged merchantmen is something new. And it’s about time.

The Bulkely is getting a lot of anti-pirate action on this cruise. I wonder if they get to paint little Jolly Rodgers kill flags on the side of the ship’s bridge after each take down?

Go Navy!

Posted by Drew458     on 05/19/2011 at 08:05 AM   
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   Tuesday - May 10, 2011

Armchair Warriors

Human Events sends me an email telling me all about the new Guns & Patriots column.

Hey great. Cool. Fine. I’m always up for a quick read on 2A stuff and stories about various gunny goodness.

This one is a bit of a daydream though. What’s the best gun for killing Somali Pirates?”

The scourge of pirates off the coast of Africa is a problem as old as the United States.  For historical context, ‚”…to the shores of Tripoli…” in the Marines’ Hymn specifically refers to the Barbary Wars in which the USA went to war against the Barbary pirates off the coast of North Africa.

It is my assertion that the way to end the piracy is to end the pirates themselves.  When the cost of doing business becomes too high, the smarter of the pirates will find some new trade in which to engage.  The less intellectually gifted will feed the fish.

Understand that I do not believe there is a need to send in the Marines to handle this problem, though they could certainly address the issue with their usual panache.  Rather, if the shipping companies merely employed small teams of properly armed security contractors, the issue would sort itself out.

So, if you were putting together a security team to guard a ship moving through the area, with what weapons would to equip them?

So the author feels that his pick of a selection of small arms will do the job. And in truth they would be a whole lot better than nothing. But I think he didn’t quite make the historical connection, even though he tried to put things into a historical context.

This is what we used to defeat the Barbary Pirates:

Ok, this is actually a British 32 pounder, but ours looked quite similar

Against a slow and large wooden ship at fairly short distances, a 32 pound iron ball flying at the speed of sound is quite effective. However it rather pales against fiberglass speedboats jumping about in the waves. And it doesn’t really have the range; by 400 meters the round iron ball is pretty much spent in terms of velocity.

So, while the above article does select a .50 BMG sniper rifle, even that is only going to be minimally effective against a small boat at distances over a mile. And that’s the crux of my counter-post: when dealing with pirates, your target is not the pirates themselves, but their ships and boats. And the only idea that makes sense is to be able to sink them before they can get close enough to shoot their RPGs at you. That means you have to take them out at a range of at least 2 miles. And to do that on the cheap - because pirates simply aren’t worth any multi-million dollar weapon system investment, there’s only really one answer:

You betcha. A good old 40mm Bofors dual mount. It’s the classic Anti Aircraft gun from WWII, but they can shoot across the waves just as well as they can shoot up in the air. The 40mm is about as tiny as a naval cannon can get: it’s a 2 pounder. But a dual mount like the one pictured can put 8 or more of those 2lb shells down range in just a couple seconds, and with proximity fuses close enough will get the job done. 1 or 2 near hits will shred a speedboat full of pirates, and a dozen direct hits will sink any dhow sized mothership they may be using.

You’d want to modernize the mounting a bit to allow for a downward shooting angle for close in fighting. And you’d want to modularize the whole thing, so that merchant ships would only have to weld on one or two mounts per side, and they’d stop in at South Africa, the Suez Canal, and the southern tip of India to pick up guns and Navy crews while they transit those dangerous waters, then drop them off at those points as they leave them. 8 or 12 inch and a half bolts would hold them on just fine. Probably only take 20 minutes, 3 guys, an air wrench and a light crane to mount or dismount. That way only the gun mounts are “military”, and the rest of the ship is “civilian”, so they can get around those old laws against armed merchantmen. The “rent” for the sailors doing gun crew duty would be 3 hots and a cot. Plus ammo used I guess. This would cost tens of billions less than steaming dozens of capital ships back and forth in the Indian Ocean. Everybody knows how to use a Bofors. There are tens of thousands of them rattling around the world; the gun has been popular for more than 70 years and is or has been used by just about every nation with ships. It’s got a 5 mile horizontal range, which means it ought to be able to chew any pirate speedboat or mothership to splinters long before the pirates could get within RPG range. I suppose you could also issue the Navy guys some small arms, just in case.

It would work. It would be very cost effective. Pretty soon you’d see these AA mounts on the sides of all merchant ships and ocean liners, and somebody would quickly figure out how to build dummy guns for the look of it. The locations used to mount and dismount could change regularly or as needed as the pirate threat moves around. And you could cut down the in-theater capital ships by 80%, though you’d want to move some of them to the border areas to handle wiseguy pirates who’d think the new safe places to attack would be just past the dismount areas.

Pretty quickly there wouldn’t be any more pirates. Any little boat that closes with 2 miles of a big merchant ship had better identify itself, otherwise it’s open season with no paperwork or Command approval necessary.

Posted by Drew458     on 05/10/2011 at 12:18 PM   
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   Tuesday - April 26, 2011

yes sir yes sir, two boats full

19.04.2011: 0435 UTC: Posn: 03:47S – 055:41E, around 1nm off Denis island, Seychelles(Off Somalia).

Seven pirates armed with AK47 and RPG boarded a fishing vessel doing fishing activities. Crew immediately sent a distress alert which was received by the Seychelles coast guard. The pirates took hostage four crewmembers and threatened to kill them if they refuse their orders to steer the vessel towards Somalia. On 20.04.2011 the coast guard launched an operation which resulted in the rescue of the four fishermen and the capture of the seven pirates. During the operation one crew was slightly injured. Three pirates were injured of which one died.

A presidential spokeswoman for the island nation of Seychelles says its coast guard has rescued four local fisherman whose ship had been hijacked by Somali pirates. Srdjana Janosevic says that one fisherman and three Somali pirates were wounded in Wednesday’s mission that rescued the crew of the fishing vessel Gloria. Janosevic says seven pirates were captured in the operation 150 miles (240 kilometers) north east of Mahe, the largest island of the Seychelles archipelago.

Ocean terrorists from Somalia have taken another beating from the Seychelles Coast Guard, when earlier in the week they were overpowered and outgunned by two navy vessels in hot pursuit after an SOS call about being seajacked came in from the fishing boat. Aerial surveillance, using the Indian sponsored Dornier aircraft, aided in the swift location of the boat and two navy ships were dispatched to pursue and ambush the terrorists about 150 nautical miles off the main island group of the archipelago. An apparent shoot out, initiated by the Somalis who attempted to flee, resulted in three of them being wounded while one of the four rescued Seychellois fishermen too was injured. They are receiving initial treatment on board of the navy ship and will be assessed further upon landing in a few hours at the main Seychellois sea port in Victoria.

The Seychelles government has now repeatedly demonstrated to the world that determined and robust action produced the desired results, as several seajacked boats and fishing vessels have in past months been recovered and the ocean terrorist been brought to justice.

The naval coalition can and in fact must take a leaf from the Seychelles in regard of rescue missions and their robust handling of such situations, and it is high time that the rules of engagement, as often demanded here in the past, are being changed beyond monitoring, determent and containment into offensive operations to bring the ocean terrorists down. This must include denying them land bases through appropriate action from the air and on the ground to achieve this objective. It must also be a certainty for the terrorists, that once they leave Somalia’s territorial waters, and look and act like pirates, the outcome would be swift and final for them, instead of trying to appease the weeping and politically so correct ‘advocates of human rights’, who show more compassion for the aggressors than their victims. Meanwhile, congratulations to the government of Seychelles, their brave coast guard and navy personnel and welcome home to those rescued.

[ translated from Chinese ] Seychelles Coast Guard this is the third successful rescue from the hands of Somali pirates detained Seychelles fishermen. Currently, the seven pirates are escorted to the Seychelles on the way, is expected to be 21 to shore. By then, the custody awaiting trial or serving sentences in the Seychelles, the number will reach 64 by Somali pirates.

Second Inning -

25 Apr 2011 Turkish Navy reported that F-491 TCG Giresun freed a Yemeni fishing boat from Somali pirates on 24 April 2011.

The suspicious looking fishing dhow was sighted 300 miles of the coast of Umman. and the nearest warship, TCG Giresun was ordered to intercept the boat and to inspect it. When the dhow was in sight of the TCG Giresun the VBSS team consisting of naval special forces boarded the Yemeni vessel. The pirates surrendered with out a gun fight.  The confiscated weapons were dumped to the sea.

The dhow turned out to be a Yemeni vessel, captured by the Somali pirates on 11 April 2011 to be used as a mother ship. The seven Yemeni fishermen on board were freed by the Turkish sailors.

The number of the arrested pirates was not mentioned in the official statement. But if you look to the photo below and count the heads, there are at least 16 pirates ready to be taken to the frigate on the white small boat.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/26/2011 at 08:14 AM   
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   Thursday - April 14, 2011

Not Too Surprising

Sea piracy worldwide hit a record high of 142 attacks in the first quarter this year as Somali pirates become more violent and aggressive, a global maritime watchdog said Thursday.

Nearly 70 percent or 97 of the attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia, up sharply from 35 in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur said in a statement.

Attackers seized 18 vessels worldwide, including three big tankers, in the January-March period and captured 344 crew members, it said. Pirates also murdered seven crew members and injured 34 during the quarter.

“Figures for piracy and armed robbery at sea in the past three months are higher than we’ve ever recorded in the first quarter of any past year,” said the bureau’s director Pottengal Mukundan.

He said there was a “dramatic increase in the violence and techniques” used by Somali pirates to counter increased patrols by international navies, putting large tankers carrying oil and other flammable chemicals at highest risk to firearm attacks.

A further 45 vessels were boarded, and 45 more reported being fired upon.
...
In a recent show of force, the Indian navy captured 61 Somali pirates on a hijacked ship off India’s west coast.

Elsewhere, nine incidents were reported off Malaysia, including the hijacking of a tug and barge off Tioman Island.

Five incidents were recorded for Nigeria and three attacks against vessels in Lagos.

I am not sure if “floating burglary” counts as piracy. In Indonesia and off the west coast of Africa, most of the reported criminal activity is of bandits who break into ships in port, but there have been hijackings in those areas too.

The numbers above are for the January to March period; since then there have been at least a dozen more attacks. When I look through the ICC reports one thing stands out: ships that can defend themselves even a little bit don’t get robbed or hijacked. Here’s one that did, and got away from a whole swarm of pirates:

A passenger ship underway noticed a group of about 20 skiffs near the port bow at a distance of 3nm. Five skiffs were seen to break out from this group and head towards the vessel. At a distance of around 600-700 meters the armed security team noticed around five to seven pirates armed with RPG and guns were seen in each skiff and instructed all crew members to stay inside the ship. As the skiffs approached closer the security team fired warning shots and the skiffs moved away. At the same time three more skiffs approached the vessel from the starboard side at a distance of 800 meters. The security team noticed arms on board these skiffs and fired warning shots when the skiffs closed to a distance of 600 – 300 meters. The pirates aborted the attempted attack and moved away. Master informed a warship in the vicinity and all ships in the area via VHF channel16.

And here’s one that didn’t:

About ten pirates armed with weapons boarded a general cargo ship underway. The ten crew members went into the citadel and requested for assistance. Pirates managed to get access into the citadel and took hostage the crew members and took command of the vessel.

The passenger ship was just outside the Straits of Hormuz, just beyond the Persian Gulf in the Gulf of Oman. This is just about the busiest shipping lane in the world; with all the world’s navies patrolling the area, you’d think it would be wall to wall coverage, armed to the teeth. Yet a whole squadron of pirates lay in wait like a gang of muggers in an alley, and once informed, the navies did not engage in a turkey shoot.

The bulk carrier was several hundred miles to the east, 30nm off of Ras al Masirah along the Omani coast east of Yemen.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/14/2011 at 07:46 AM   
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   Tuesday - April 12, 2011

drew,lyndon and all bmews regs. remember your blood pressure before reading

This honestly is a coincidence.  Not normally here this early. Caught this in the morning paper and knew I couldn’t ignore it.

What the heck do ya make of this?

He said he was unconvinced that they had enough evidence to convict the pirates – even though they were heavily armed, were carrying hostages and had confessed

RULE BRIT .... OH COME ON PEOPLE. SING ALONG.  RUUUULE BRI-TANNIA, BRI-TANNIA RULED THE WAVES .....I CAN’T HEAR YOU!

What a load of rubbish this is.  No wonder pirates are so successful.  Word in the newspapers reports that they are becoming more violent too.

This is most definitely an RCOB story.  And btw, with regard to the one Drew posted on another pirate capture.  The article didn’t say what our guys did with the black bastards.  Probably read em Miranda rights or something else ridiculous.

Here ya go. Look at this. You may want a calming drink first.

HMS Nursemaid:

Shame as Navy seizes 17 armed Somalis, gives them halal meat and nicotine patches… then sets them free!

By TOM KELLY and PAUL REVOIR

When a Royal Navy warship captured a crew of Somali pirates, it seemed like a rare chance to strike back at the ruthless sea gangsters.

The 17 outlaws were armed with an arsenal of AK 47s and rocket-propelled grenades, and had forced hostages on a hijacked fishing vessel to work as slaves for three months.

But instead of bringing them to justice, the British servicemen were ordered to provide the pirates halal meals, medical checks, cigarettes – and in one case even a nicotine patch – before releasing them in their own boats.

The extraordinary treatment – revealed in a Radio 4 documentary to be broadcast tonight – came at a time when Somali piracy is causing mayhem to shipping in the Indian Ocean.

More than £60million was paid in ransoms last year and pirates currently hold 30 ships and nearly 800 hostages.

HMS Cornwall is one of two Royal Navy frigates patrolling two and a half million square miles of ocean to try to capture pirate ships.

The apparent breakthrough came in February when the captain of a merchant ship crossing the ocean radioed to say he had seen something suspicious.

A helicopter was scrambled and spotted a Yemeni fishing vessel which had been hijacked by pirates and was being used as their ‘mother ship’ to attack other vessels.

Armed Royal Marines launched boats and swooped on the pirates, who were found with nine AK 47s plus rocket-propelled grenade launchers and boarding ladders.

The five slave crew from the fishing vessel were released and the 17 pirates initially detained on board the warship.

Commander David Wilkinson, Cornwall’s captain, said: ‘This team admitted their intention was to commit piracy activities.’

But after compiling the evidence against them and submitting it to his superiors he was ordered to ‘set up arrangements for putting them ashore in Somalia’.

Before being freed, the pirates were given a medical check-up in accordance with UK law and food which included a halal option to take into account religious needs.

After showing they were compliant, some were given cigarettes, and one was given a nicotine patch on medical advice because his tobacco withdrawal had caused his heart rate to soar.

Close to shore, the British servicemen set them free in two skiffs which they had earlier seized from the gangsters – with no food and just enough fuel to get them to land.

MP Henry Bellingham says said the Government is reviewing the ‘catch and release’ approach to piracy

As they stepped off the warship, Commander Wilkinson told the head of the pirate gang: ‘If you are a leader, go back and lead for good.

‘If you are going to carry on in this trade, expect to find me and my colleagues waiting for you. And if I see you again, it’s not going to go well.’

Commander Wilkinson added that he believed the order to free the pirates was the ‘right decision’ because he was not convinced bringing them back to the UK would have been a deterrent.

He also said he was unconvinced that they had enough evidence to convict the pirates – even though they were heavily armed, were carrying hostages and had confessed.

The decision to release the pirates was made by the UK’s Maritime Component Commander based in Bahrain after considering UK policy and law.

Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham said the Government is reviewing the ‘catch and release’ approach to piracy.

‘It is not going to happen in the future unless there isn’t any other alternative.’

The Sea Gangsters is on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 8pm.

DAILY MAIL

“If you are going to carry on in this trade, expect to find me and my colleagues waiting for you. And if I see you again, it’s not going to go well.”

Right.  Bet the pirates were shaking with fear at that threat.

Posted by peiper     on 04/12/2011 at 04:59 AM   
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   Monday - April 11, 2011

Don’t Ask, And The Navy Won’t Tell

Guided missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87), flagship of the Singapore-led Combined Task Force (CTF) 151, freed a dhow from suspected pirates in the Arabian Sea, April 10.

The FV Nasri was initially sighted on April 9, by an Australian Maritime Patrol Aircraft. USS Mason, being the nearest warship, was tasked immediately to close and investigate.

Mason and its embarked helicopter located the Nasri early on the morning, April 10. The helicopter’s crew saw 16 personnel, a motored skiff, a ladder and several oil barrels on board. The personnel on the dhow complied with verbal warnings to stop, and assemble on the deck where they could be clearly seen.

The boarding team from Mason searched the dhow and found weapons and other common piracy paraphernalia, such as ladders and excessive fuel drums. They identified 11 of the men as suspected pirates, and five as members of the dhow’s crew.

Pirates are known to use the crew of captured vessels as hostages and also to operate their vessels as mother-ships from which to launch further attacks.

The Nasri was returned to its crew and departed the area.

Republic of Singapore Navy Rear Admiral Harris Chan, Commander, CTF 151, was delighted with the coalition effort and said, “the success of this operation is a testament to the operational readiness of CTF 151 and its units. As USS Mason has demonstrated, we are able to respond swiftly to disrupt any pirate activity, and will continue in our efforts to ensure the security of maritime activity in this region.”

So the 5 hostages got their little dhow back and went on their merry way. And the 11 pirates ... ?

I wonder if we have new material for those sharks in the latest Snickers ads?

Posted by Drew458     on 04/11/2011 at 09:05 PM   
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   Sunday - April 03, 2011

Rolling Rolling Rolling

UAE Special Forces stormed a hijacked Dubai-bound ship yesterday, rescuing the crew and arresting all the pirates who had seized it.

Special counter-terrorism units, with support from the Air Force and Air Defence, as well as the US Fifth Fleet, stormed the MV Arrilah-I, a bulk carrier en route from Australia to Jebel Ali, the Armed Forces General Headquarters said in a statement.

The ship was hijacked in the Arabian Sea, east of Oman, early on Friday.

The military said the vessel was now headed towards Emirati shores, guarded by UAE Special Forces. The pirates will be handed over to the Ministry of Interior once they arrive in Dubai.

The Armed Forces said the rescue showed the UAE’s commitment to acting “firmly” in the face of piracy, adding that the country would “not succumb to such threats”.

The 37,000-tonne ship is owned by the Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company and the National Gas Shipping Company, two subsidiaries of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).
...
Pirate attacks are estimated to cost between US$7 billion (Dh25.7bn) and $12bn annually in losses to the global economy, according to a December study by the One Earth Future Foundation.

See, even the arabs can take down pirates if they feel like it. And muzzies have no compunction at all about killing fellow muzzies. They simply apply their “religion”, and it’s “Hassan chop!”

Meanwhile, at the other end of the continent, certain people have no compunction at all about killing anyone. As the battle for the presidency rages on in the Ivory Coast, word gets out about a head chopping massacre. At least 1000 dead in the streets, whacked into chunks by barbaric animals for the “crime” of ... of nothing really. Just being in the way I guess. Typical africa.

Machete thugs hack to death 1,000 in just one town as Ivory Coast battle rages

A thousand civilians have been found massacred in a small town in Ivory Coast amid worsening civil conflict in the West African state.

The victims were discovered by aid agency workers in Duekoue. Some had been shot and others hacked to death with machetes.

It was not clear last night who carried out the attacks, but the area is thought to be in the control of supporters of Alassane Ouattara, who won Ivory Coast’s election late last year. President Laurent Gbagbo has refused to step down.

Red Cross spokesman Dorothea Krimitsas warned: ‘There is a risk this kind of event can happen again.’

Last night 10,000 refugees crowded into Duekoue’s Catholic church, guarded by 1,000 United Nations peacekeepers.

Yeah, and?? Then what happened? You don’t ever ever hear a story out of Africa that starts “10,000 refugees hid out in a church” without the follow-on “where they were all burned to death by opposition forces while useless blue helmets stood around picking their asses”.  So far ... that news hasn’t been reported. Keep your fingers crossed.

Col. Chaib Rais, the U.N. military spokesman, told The Associated Press that nearly 1,000 peacekeepers at Duekoue “are protecting the Catholic Church with more than 10,000 (refugees) inside and we have military camps in the area.”

But he said “I have no special report of (mass killings).”

Rais said there was fighting in and around the town on Sunday and Monday, between forces loyal to the rival leaders.

On Monday, fighters loyal to Ouattara took Duekoue.

ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said “communal violence” erupted there, apparently on Tuesday.

International and Ivorian Red Cross teams visited Duekoue Friday and saw a “huge number of bodies,” estimated at more than 800, she said.
...
Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday saying it had documented abuses, with the vast majority perpetrated by forces loyal to Gbagbo against real or perceived Ouattara supporters, as well as against West African immigrants and Muslims.

“The documented abuses include targeted killings, enforced disappearances, politically motivated rapes, and unlawful use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators,” the statement said. “These abuses, committed over a four-month period by security forces under the control of Gbagbo and militias loyal to him, may rise to the level of crimes against humanity.”

Africa ... it’s where you want to take your next vacation. NOT IN TEN MILLION YEARS THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!

Oh - the bit of info that should not be lost in the story of this atrocity? The UN “peacekeepers” already control the town where this atrocity occurred. So, WTF are they good for? Why did this happen? Did they forget that they’re there to protect people, not just treat the local underage girls like whores while stuffing their pockets with whatever they can steal or extort?

JOHANNESBURG - More than 800 people have been massacred in a western Ivory Coast town where hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers are based, the International Federation of the Red Cross said Saturday, but the U.N. military spokesman said he had no information about mass killings there.

The Roman Catholic charity Caritas put the toll at more than 1,000 dead, an estimate reached by its workers who visited the town of Duekoue on Wednesday.

The REAL title that these new reports should have is UN Cowards Allow Vile Giant Massacre To Happen Under Their Noses, Do Nothing To Prevent It.

Yeah sure, “Colonel” Rais didn’t know nothing ‘bout no killings. Not a thing. Didn’t see or hear anything, even though Duekoue is a tiny town of perhaps 40 streets and covers one square mile. Pull it up on your map software and see.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/03/2011 at 09:18 AM   
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   Thursday - March 17, 2011

First Time In 190 Years

Five Somali men, convicted of attacking a US Navy ship [ USS Nicholas ], have been sentenced to life in prison by a Virginia court. Tuesday’s sentencing is the harshest yet for accused pirates as the US tries to halt piracy off Africa’s coast.

The federal prosecution relied upon rarely-used 19th century maritime laws, and was the first piracy case to go to trial since the Civil War, when a New York jury deadlocked on charges against 13 Southern privateers.

The five Somali men were convicted on federal piracy charges on November 24 last year.

Prosecutors argued during trial that the five had confessed to attacking the USS Nicholas on April 1 after mistaking it for a merchant ship.

Presiding judge Mark Davis also sentenced them to an additional 80 years in prison for firearms charges in connection with the hijack attempt. The trial held at Norfolk, home port to USS Nicholas and one of the largest naval bases in the world, also witnessed the first-ever conviction by a U.S. jury in a piracy case since 1820.

Attorney Neil MacBride told reporters that the sentence pronounced by the trial court was the longest ever in a piracy case. The buccaneer convicted in 1820 was executed.

The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars. Pirates have continued to attack foreign ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, defying an armada of warships trying to protect the key maritime route. The fight against piracy has been hampered by legal ambiguities over the appropriate venue to prosecute captured suspects.

The UN’s special adviser of piracy has called for $25 million to be spent on setting up special courts for suspected pirates in Somalia’s semi-autonomous enclaves of Puntland and Somaliland, as well as in Tanzania.

Jack Lang, a former French culture minister, on Tuesday recommended that the specialised courts be set up over the next eight months to begin to try some of the 90 per cent of suspected pirates who are released because nowhere can be found to try them. The courts would operate under Somali laws.

Somalia, which is in the midst of a conflict between a largely powerless government and armed groups seeking its overthrow, lacks the legal infrastructure to try pirates.

Kenya and the Seychelles have prosecuted dozens of suspects handed over by foreign navies, who patrol of the Gulf of Aden in an attempt to protect some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. However, both have said they would have difficulties coping if all the seized pirates were sent to them.

‘Pirate economy’

Lang was briefing members of the UN Security Council on the increasing threat of piracy, which costs the global economy an estimated $7 billion to $12 billion a year.

“Pirates are becoming the masters of the Indian Ocean,” he said. “The pirate economy ... is having a destabilising effect on Somalia and the entire region owing to rising prices, insecurity of energy supplies and loss of revenue.”

About 30 ships, ranging from fishing boats to bulk carriers, are currently held by Somali pirates. Around 1,900 people have been taken hostage since the end of 2008.

Lang also recommended that two special prisons be built, one in Somaliland and one in Puntland, with capacity of 500 prisoners each, with a third to be built in Puntland soon afterward. Any such project will have to be authorised by the Security Council, which took no immediate decision after listening to Lang’s oral presentation. Lang also proposed all countries should make piracy a criminal offense and impose universal jurisdiction for it, meaning they could prosecute pirates whatever their nationality and wherever the offense took place.

Phooey. Wimp solution. All nations should acknowledge that piracy at sea is a capital offense, even if it’s the one and only capital offense in the country, even if the country doesn’t have any seashore. All surviving captured pirates should be sent to a tribunal in the Seychelles, tried and then executed. The Seychelles has hundreds of tiny uninhabited islands. Rename one Gallows Island and start building gibbets. The UN pays the Seychelles government $150,000 for every pirate tried and hung and left to rot in the tropical sun.

And they’d better get a move on ...

At approximately 0730Z on 16 March, the Bulk Cargo Carrier MV SINAR KUDUS was pirated approximately 320 nautical miles North East of the island of Socotra in the Somali Basin. Within 24 hours of being taken, she was used to launch an unsuccessful attack on the MV EMPEROR.

The MV SINAR KUDUS, which is Indonesian flagged and owned, was on its way to Suez (Egypt) from Singapore when it was attacked.  Details of the attack are not known at this time but initial reports from the crew stated that 30 to 50 pirates had boarded and taken control of the vessel.  The MV SINAR KUDUS has a crew of 20, all Indonesian.

Within 24 hours of the attack, the MV SINAR KUDUS was used to launch a further attack on the Liberian flagged Bulk Carrier MV EMPEROR.  A skiff with 5 pirates on board was launched from the SINAR KUDUS and attacked the EMPEROR but was repelled by the armed force from the merchant vessel.  The EMPEROR was subsequently reported to be safe.

MV POLAR, MV IRENE SL, and several smaller hijacked vessels are currently being used as motherships. We’re barely halfway through March, and there have been at least 20 incidents so far. At least half a dozen pirate groups are operating in the western Indian Ocean. Large groups of pirates swarming the ships seems like an escalation to me.

Oh, and one hijacked ship was released, after paying ransom; the mid sized tanker MV Hannibal II and her crew was set free after more than 4 months in captivity.

Posted by Drew458     on 03/17/2011 at 12:07 PM   
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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