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Somalia Piracy: On Land and Sea
November 17, 2008 2:46 PM
By DANA HUGHES, ABC News Digital Reporter for Africa based in Nairobi
The Sirius Star, a Saudi-Arabian supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil is the latest, and the largest, in a long line of ships to be hijacked off the coast of Somalia this year. There are reports that while the 25 person crew is safe, the tanker is now among some 12 other foreign vessels being stored in Somalia coastal villages, waiting for ransom negotiations to be freed. The U.S. Navy is calling the capture of the Sirius Star especially alarming because of its size -- 1,080 feet long, weighing 318,000 tons -- and because it was captured 450 miles offshore. Classified as a Very Large Crude Carrier, there are reports that ship is carrying more than one-quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily output and that upon news of its capture, crude oil prices rose.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for ships passing through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean near Somalia. According to media reports and information from the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Malaysia, there have been at least five successful hijackings in less than 10 days, and that number doesn’t count attempted hijackings, foiled by the international community using military means to fight back. One attempted hijacking of a Danish ship last week failed after pirates opened fire using machine guns on two U.K. Royal Navy ships protecting the Danish vessel. The Navy ships fired back, killing three pirates. Over the weekend, there were reports that a Russian warship fired on pirates attempting to hijack another Saudi Arabian vessel.
Even though the increased presence of international Navies and NATO in the area has thwarted a fair amount of attacks in the past three months, pirates still enjoying a 31 percent success rate. The Combined Maritime Forces put out a statement today calling for shipping companies to start providing private security. Despite the international community’s best efforts, says Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of the CMF, piracy is too endemic for the CMF or any military force to fight alone. Beyond dealing with the seemingly endless amount of pirates waiting in the waters to attack, the geographical area needing patrolling is more than 1.1 million square miles, says the CMF.
The challenge is overwhelming. “Shipping companies have to understand that naval forces cannot be everywhere,” says Gortney. “Self-protection measures are the best way to protect their vessels, their crews and their cargo.”
Back on land in Somalia, a crisis is brewing that could potentially overwhelm the entire Horn of Africa. This weekend Somalia’s president, Adullahi Yusuf, admitted that Islamic insurgents now control nearly all of south Somalia, and are making advances to Mogadishu. These insurgents are not part of the Islamist government that was in control of the country in 2006; they are breakaway groups, the largest being Al-Shabab, recognized in the U.S. as a terrorist group with ties to al Qaeda. Al Shabab leaders want to impose Taliban-style sharia law in Somalia and have already given a taste of how they will rule in insurgent-controlled areas.
Last month, a 13-year-old girl was reportedly stoned to death for adultery after reporting to the authorities she'd been gang-raped. In another rebel-controlled town right outside Mogadishu, 32 people, mostly women, were publicly whipped this weekend for participating in a traditional dance the insurgents deemed “against Islam.” Since the Ethiopian invasion of the country in 2006, Islamic insurgents have targeted foreign and local aid workers, accusing them of being infidels and working with the fragile Western- and Ethiopian-backed transitional government, which has been accused of committing its own human rights abuses.
The result has been an estimated 10,000 civilians killed in the last two years, 1 million Somalis internally displaced and millions on the verge of famine. The crisis has a regional impact as well; thousands of Somalis brave shark-infested waters each year to flee to Yemen, Kenya is housing hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming over a border it has tried to keep closed, Ethiopia is pouring millions of dollars and troops into a war Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is largely considered wanting to get out of. Many Horn of Africa experts say that Somalia, which has not had an effective government since 1991, is in the worst shape it’s ever been in. In this year’s Failed States Index put out by Foreign Policy and the Fund for Peace, Somalia beat out Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and even Iraq and Afghanistan to become the world’s most unstable, violent-prone failed state.
I spoke to a Somali journalist based in Mogadishu who has been in Nairobi the past two weeks trying to get journalists interested in visiting the large refugee camp on the Kenyan border to which more than 60,000 Somalis have fled, mostly from Mogadishu, this year. He’s even offered to provide protection for journalists wanting to visit the volatile capital, but he’s going back without having drummed up much interest. “There was the U.S. election and then the crisis in Congo,” he told me. “But I’m used to it. It’s very easy for the world to forget about Somalia. They always do.”
With the chaos in the country reaching a boiling point and spilling over on both land and sea, the issue may become not whether the world forgets about Somalia, but whether we can afford to.
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November 17, 2008 in Dana Hughes | Permalink | User Comments (11)
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But I’m used to it. It’s very easy for the world to forget about Somalia. They always do.” reality bites my Somali boy but as I know your resilience, you keep going on and on like this is just gonna pass. what other nation could endure such hardship and suffering than poor Somalia?
Posted by: oliver | Nov 18, 2008 1:27:26 AM
poor somalia...it's people destroys her reputation.
Posted by: busby seo test | Nov 18, 2008 8:48:14 AM
A political solution is not going to happen. Historically, pirates have been stopped by crushing their harbors of operation. Use American B-52's. First carpet bomb a swatch of empty desert not far from the Port of Ely. Give them a day to set the ships and crews free. If not, bomb the port.
Posted by: Present | Nov 18, 2008 9:26:39 PM
Well it looks as though we have an employment opportunity here. If these private companies value there property and crew they will hire security to defend against the pirates.If not,it's obvious they don't consider it a threat they need to worry about.I'm sure some private security companies would be more than happy to assist these ships in providing security and have some fun while doing it. Blackwater are you listening?
Posted by: Paul | Nov 19, 2008 2:03:50 PM
How about fitting man's best friend with a kevlar vest. More practital than a stylish tartan one. What a sight this trooper would be too.
Posted by: Fox, Australia Expat | Nov 19, 2008 6:07:49 PM
Last month, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved resolutions calling on naval ships and military aircraft to deploy to Somalia's coastline. It also allowed foreign powers to enter Somali waters to fight piracy. But, for now, at least 14 ships with 243 crew members are still being held. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said at a news conference Wednesday that although nations can help prevent piracy, shipping companies should do more to secure their vessels.
Morrell said he objects to "this whole issue that it's incumbent upon the armed forces of the world -- the navies of the world -- to solve this problem."
By Emily Wax and Ann Scott Tyson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Posted by: TerrifiedAmerican | Nov 20, 2008 4:59:08 AM
wow its amazing what people will do
Posted by: meg | Nov 20, 2008 7:26:57 PM
It isnot practicale to find warships for a coast 3500km long,there is no cities or towns to bee seen,the people of somalia are nomadics and spread in all over the country searching for good pasture for their lifstock,you cant rush all the countery bit by bit,or you cant feel when the pirates will inter the sea.they are in their country,enjoy and work when they want.
it is very diffcult looking for sharp mind to solve it.
mohamud somali
Posted by: mohmud | Nov 25, 2008 1:24:17 PM
It isnot practicale to find warships for a coast 3500km long,there is no cities or towns to bee seen,the people of somalia are nomadics and spread in all over the country searching for good pasture for their lifstock,you cant rush all the countery bit by bit,or you cant feel when the pirates will inter the sea.they are in their country,enjoy and work when they want.
it is very diffcult looking for sharp mind to solve it.
mohamud somali
Posted by: mohmud | Nov 25, 2008 1:24:24 PM
Somalia does not qualify to exist as a sovering state. It should be divided up and merged with the meighbouring countries. The citizens are babaric,maopic and anti social
Posted by: Oladipo Ogunmolu | Nov 26, 2008 5:24:08 AM
SOMALIS SUFFER BECAUSE OF THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION THAN ANY OTHER REASON.AND THIS IS ONE OF THE MAIN FACTORS WHY SOMALIA CAN'T BE IN PEACE IN SO LONG?.
OLADIPO I HOPE UR NIGERIAN AND TALKING ABOUT SOMALIA SEEMS U FORGET UR HISTORY.
SEE, AND THINK UNDERNEATH,THE NIGERIA THAT UR LIVING IN.
I HOPE ITS WORTH TO REMIND U THE ECHOING WORDS OF NICOLAS GOGOL,"THERE IS NO USE TO BLAME THE LOOKING GLASS IF UR FACE AWRY".
THINK ABOUT YOUR MISTAKES NOT OTHERS'S!
Posted by: IGO | Apr 12, 2009 7:08:14 AM
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