Somali pirates are increasingly using hijacked merchant vessels with hostage crews as giant motherships to attack deeper into the Indian Ocean, the EU anti-piracy task force says.
Forcing the original crew to operate the ship at gunpoint, pirates can now launch attacks during stormy monsoon seasons, forcing up ransoms, security costs and shipping rates.
Until late last year, navies trying to secure regional sea lanes were facing some 500 young Somalis largely limited to skiffs and small boats powered by outboard motors and open to the elements. When naval officers referred to “motherships,” they were simply referring to the largest small boat in a group.
Even then, the pirates were wreaking havoc, redrawing shipping routes, driving up insurance costs and holding dozens of vessels and hundreds of mariners for months at a time.
“The pirates are changing their modus operandi, taking ships which have been hijacked and sailing them back out into the Somali basin,” EU Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) spokesman Wing Commander Paddy O’Kennedy said. “Their previous way of doing things was very dependent on the weather. Now they are using larger ships, the weather is having much less effect on their operations and they can travel further.”
When EU aircraft overflew the vessels, officers at EU NAVFOR’s headquarters at a British military base outside London say the pirates swiftly threatened by radio to kill the hostages or lined up prisoners on the deck with guns to their heads.
Grain and oil shippers said this month rising piracy might force them to reroute vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, potentially further pushing up global food and energy prices.
Somali pirates have now mounted attacks within 240km of South African and Pakistani waters and 400km of India. The level of force used is also rising, with one ship attacked with six rocket-propelled grenades during a hijacking attempt.
EU and other commanders had expected a falloff of attacks last month and this month as monsoon waves made it impossible to beach-launch small boats.
Instead, they found themselves facing what seemed like almost a coordinated surge of up to eight large hijacked ships, smaller skiffs ready on their decks ready for boarding parties with AK-47s, RPGs, ladders and grappling hooks.
The EU estimates between two and eight such ships are now out in deep Indian Ocean waters at any one time, carrying 20 to 30 pirates as well as a similar number of hostages from the original crew.
Ships used to attack others included at one stage a 146m South Korean tanker — since freed by South Korean commandos in an a rescue that killed eight pirates. Others include freighters and factory fishing vessels.
Other states —including Malaysia and Russia — were also using force to retake hijacked ships of their own nationality, they said.
European forces have largely avoided trying to retake vessels.
“We’re always looking at the way we do business, but the safety of the hostages is our primary concern,” O’Kennedy said.
The EU force says the fact the number of actual hijackings has remained roughly constant despite rising pirate numbers is a sign of success.
Naval patrols have made the key Gulf of Aden chokepoints safer, although the wider ocean remains dangerous.
With the payout for an individual pirate up to US$50,000 for a successful hijacking, and the highest ransom to date for a cargo ship about US$9 million, there is no shortage of young Somalis willing to take the risk and fuel the problem further.
O’Kennedy pointed to the widespread poverty and lawlessness in Somalia.
“We are simply treating the symptoms of the situation onshore,” he said.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS