Piracy Blog mentions for September 2, 2010 showing 17 entries

By Coracle Voice link finder • Sep 2nd, 2010 • Category: Piracy

Piracy Blog mentions for September 2, 2010 showing 17 entries

Somali Pirate Pleads Guilty in Attack on U.S. Navy Ship

www.themaritimelawyer.com — . This week, a Somali pirate pleaded guilty to charges arising from an attack earlier this year on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa.. . … The U.S. Navy vessel returned fire, killing one person and capturing the other pirates.. .

This week, a Somali pirate pleaded guilty to charges arising from an attack earlier this year on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa.

Jama Idle Ibrahim faced several criminal charges arising from the attack, and this week, he pleaded guilty as part of a deal with prosecutors. Ibrahim had been accused of opening fire on the USS Ashland in the Gulf of Eden. There were six men on the pirate boat. The U.S. Navy vessel returned fire, killing one person and capturing the other pirates.

This week, Ibrahim pleaded guilty to attacking to plunder a vessel, use of firearms during a crime of violence, and acts of violence against persons on a vessel. Earlier this month, a judge in Norfolk had thrown out the piracy charges against the six men, because they had not robbed, boarded or taken control of the vessel. The piracy conviction would’ve meant a mandatory life sentence for Ibrahim and his five accomplices. However, the six men continued to face other criminal charges.

Sentencing has been set for 29 November. Ibrahim is likely to be sentenced to 30 years in prison. According to US Attorney Neil McBride, this is the first conviction for piracy in more than 150 years.

The unrest and continued political and economic tension in Somalia has created a fertile environment for the breeding of pirates. This continues to be a serious maritime safety issue for seamen.

Maritime lawyer Brian Beckcom is a Board-Certified Trial Lawyer whose primary focus is the representation of Jones Act seamen, including tankermen, galley hands, deckhands, cruise line crews, fishing vessel crew members, offshore workers and other maritime workers in accidents in Texas, across the country and international waters.

Image Coutresy: Flickr – Olivier Bruchez

more info…

Published: September 01, 2010
Who Are the Real Pirates in Somalia?

info-wars.org — The Somali pirates are a myth floated by the global media to divert attention from the international criminal activity taking place in the territorial waters and on the marine shelf of Somalia.
The Somali pirates are a myth floated by the global media to divert attention from the international criminal activity taking place in the territorial waters and on the marine shelf of Somalia. Dr. Alexander Mezyaev, Head, Chair of the International Law, Governance Academy (Kazan’) 30.08.2010 A new international anti-piracy plan proposed by UN Secretary General [...]

Related posts:
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more info…

Published: September 02, 2010
Indonesia urged to increase anti-piracy patrols

www.asiancorrespondent.com — . An international maritime group urged Indonesia on Thursday to increase patrols in the South China Sea after pirates attacked nine vessels in less than three weeks.. .

An international maritime group urged Indonesia on Thursday to increase patrols in the South China Sea after pirates attacked nine vessels in less than three weeks.

The International Maritime Bureau said pirates armed with guns and machetes had robbed tankers and bulk carriers of cash and other valuables in the attacks off the Indonesian islands of Mangkai, Anambas and Natuna.

This brought the number of pirate attacks so far this year to 26 in the area, which is a transit route used by vessels heading southeast to the Singapore Straits or northwest to East Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Only seven attacks were reported all of last year.

The latest spate of attacks began Aug. 16, with pirates attacking mostly at night and sometimes raiding two to three vessels on the same day, said Noel Choong, who heads the IMB’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The last attack occurred Wednesday when six pirates boarded and robbed a Panama tanker before escaping.

“Three crewmen were injured in the latest series of attacks. It seems one or more pirate groups are operating in the area. The IMB is concerned about the heightened piracy and has sent a letter to the Indonesian authorities requesting them to increase patrols in the area,” Choong said.

The IMB also urged ships to maintain a strict anti-piracy watch because pirates normally abort their attacks if they are spotted, he added.

Associated Press

…

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Published: September 02, 2010
Indonesia urged to increase anti-piracy patrols

www.star-telegram.com — . An international maritime group urged Indonesia on Thursday to increase patrols in the South China Sea after pirates attacked nine vessels in less than three weeks..

An international maritime group urged Indonesia on Thursday to increase patrols in the South China Sea after pirates attacked nine vessels in less than three weeks.

The International Maritime Bureau said pirates armed with guns and machetes had robbed tankers and bulk carriers of cash and other valuables in the attacks off the Indonesian islands of Mangkai, Anambas and Natuna.

This brought the number of pirate attacks so far this year to 26 in the area, which is a transit route used by vessels heading southeast to the Singapore Straits or northwest to East Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Only seven attacks were reported all of last year.

The latest spate of attacks began Aug. 16, with pirates attacking mostly at night and sometimes raiding two to three vessels on the same day, said Noel Choong, who heads the IMB’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The last attack occurred Wednesday when six pirates boarded and robbed a Panama tanker before escaping.

“Three crewmen were injured in the latest series of attacks. It seems one or more pirate groups are operating in the area. The IMB is concerned about the heightened piracy and has sent a letter to the Indonesian authorities requesting them to increase patrols in the area,” Choong said.

The IMB also urged ships to maintain a strict anti-piracy watch because pirates normally abort their attacks if they are spotted, he added.

more info…

Published: September 02, 2010
NATO Flagship ESBERN SNARE Disrupts Pirate Attacks

www.acus.org — . From Allied Maritime Command Headquarters Northwood: NATO flagship HDMS ESBERN SNARE, in cooperation with international counter-piracy forces successfully disrupted multiple piracy attacks

From Allied Maritime Command Headquarters Northwood: NATO flagship HDMS ESBERN SNARE, in cooperation with international counter-piracy forces successfully disrupted multiple piracy attacks on Panamanian flagged MV Caribbean Carrier and Norwegian flagged Hoegh Oslo who were transiting in the Gulf of Aden. MV Caribbean Carrier was transiting in the International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) in the Gulf of Aden when she reported being under attack from pirates firing at her. US warship Winston Churchill working for combined coalition forces and Danish Warship ESBERN SNARE, the flagship of NATO’s counter-piracy mission, responded to the call for help. After the pirates broke off the attack a Spanish Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) working for EU Naval Forces located and tracked the pirate skiff and observed the pirates now trying to attack another ship, MV Hoegh Oslo. After ESBERN SNARE’s helicopter arriving on scene, the pirate skiff broke off the attack and tried to escape towards Somalia.

The evading pirate skiff refused to stop so the Danish Navy helicopter fired warning shots which compelled the pirates to surrender. When the boarding team from ESBERN SNARE subsequently investigated the skiff, they found spent and unused ammunition, knives and other piracy related paraphernalia onboard.

“The nature of the counter-piracy mission down here is challenging. We stay poised and sharp, because in an instant, we have to be ready to react to a call for help”, Captain Carsten Fjord-Larsen, Commanding Officer of HDMS ESBERN SNARE said. “NATO warships are ready, day and night to employ the full extent of our assets to ensure the safety of the merchant ships”. (photo: NATO)

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Published: September 01, 2010
Somalia’s buffer statelets want more bucks for their bang

www.dawn.com — . GALKAYO, Somalia: As Mogadishu sinks ever deeper into chaos, the regions of central Somalia are pleading for international support to fend off Islamic extremists and save their youth from falling into piracy.. .

GALKAYO, Somalia: As Mogadishu sinks ever deeper into chaos, the regions of central Somalia are pleading for international support to fend off Islamic extremists and save their youth from falling into piracy.

Inspired by the success of the northern state of Somaliland that broke away in 1991, the dominant clans in central Somalia have come together under two self-styled administrations seeking their share of foreign support.

In 2008, the Sufi movement Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa took up arms to stem the territorial advance of the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab but local leaders now feel their largely successful effort has been poorly rewarded.

Mohamed Aden “Tiiceey” returned from his adoptive Minnesota in 2008 with funding from fellow clansmen in the diaspora to start the Himan and Heeb administration, which is headquartered in the town of Adado.

“We have stopped the Shebab. Himan and Heeb is doing its best to provide security yet we see nothing coming from the international community,” he told AFP during his latest lobbying visit to Nairobi.

“If you empower the people, they are going to help you but if they don’t have reason to hope… I already don’t have the energy I had two years ago and the world simply isn’t matching the effort I put into this region.”North of Himan and Heeb lies Galmudug state, another self-proclaimed administration, where officials and residents also feel they have been abandoned by the international community.

“UN agencies are totally absent here, they are not fulfilling their duties,” said Habibo Kofro, the leader of Galmudug’s women’s group, at a recent meeting of elders in the regional capital Galkayo.

Galmudug’s minister for fisheries, ports and natural resources, Mohamed Ali Warsame, argues that waiting for stability to bring development ignores the fact that development is key to bringing about security.

And piracy, which has flourished along the coast of central Somalia, is a case in point, he said.

Combined anti-piracy naval operations in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are believed to cost at least 40 million dollars a day, yet the number of hijacked ships remains at one of its highest ever levels.

“Sometimes I ask myself, does the international community honestly want to solve the problem? If it does, why misplace these huge resources?” he said.

According to Warsame, piracy could be eradicated if one per cent of the West’s anti-piracy naval expenditures was used on adequate onshore development.

In a recent article in World Affairs, US-based piracy expert Martin Murphy argued that the United States and its allies need to “place greater emphasis on regional, sub-state approaches.”The international community’s approach to Somalia’s woes recently has been to bet everything on a central government in Mogadishu that has so far achieved nothing, has allowed the Shebab to expand and that lacks legitimacy.

“The state department is… not looking at this problem with imagination,”he told AFP.

Murphy said Somaliland, whose elections this year were widely acclaimed as free and transparent, and the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland should get more direct support.

“We have to somehow build on whatever stability there is,” he said.

One Nairobi-based foreign expert stressed it was a mistake to consider the regional bottom-up and the centralised top-down approaches as mutually exclusive, rather than complementary.

Central Somalia’s self-styled administrations deserve support, he said.

But he also warned that any talk of a “building blocks” approach to Somalia was pointless if the international community did not show more commitment and continued in its current vein of barge-pole diplomacy.

“Unfortunately we have a completely broken delivery machine… There is no engagement and until that changes, any new policy will produce more of the same.” –AFP

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Published: September 02, 2010
Pirates were fishermen, may now be army?

fredtopeka.wordpress.com — . The piracy in Somalia started as a response to foreign fishermen taking lots of fish off its coast after the collapse of the central government in 1991 (they also were responding to the dumping

The piracy in Somalia started as a response to foreign fishermen taking lots of fish off its coast after the collapse of the central government in 1991 (they also were responding to the dumping of hazardous waste that had come from Europe–see here or here). They likened themselves to a coast guard. Now it seems that they’re also building up armies:

Mr. Garfanji is believed to have hijacked a half-dozen ships and used millions of dollars in ransom money to build a small infantry division of several hundred men, 80 heavy machine guns and a fleet (a half dozen) of large trucks with antiaircraft guns — not exactly typical pirate gear of skiffs and grappling hooks.

Right now they are working with both sides to some extent (yes, in places the Shabab, who will cut off the hands of thieves, are working with pirates) so it’s hard to see what this will mean, but it looks like the pirates are becoming a force. The current situation is so bad, this might even be a good thing.

more info…

Published: September 02, 2010
Give us jobs, say Somali pirates

www.closeprotectionworld.co.uk — The pirates of old often took to the seas to rebel against the social order but in lawless Somalia, many pirates say they would happily pay taxes and take a job in a factory.. .

The pirates of old often took to the seas to rebel against the social order but in lawless Somalia, many pirates say they would happily pay taxes and take a job in a factory.

Among the pirates of Hobyo, there is no hint of libertarianism nor any assertion of an alternative lifestyle. Most describe their activity as a crime of survival.

Ahmed Osoble is too young to have witnessed any form of organised government and like many young men in central Somalia’s remote coastal areas relied entirely on fishing for his livelihood.

“Since around 2003, the quantity of fish in our waters started decreasing badly and it became almost impossible to live off the sea,” says Ahmed, a soft-spoken 27-year-old.

He remembers the day in 2008 he left his nets on the beach and set off on his first piracy mission.

“I wasn’t scared, it was a do-or-die situation. I had nothing to eat.”

On another outing the following year, Ahmed and his comrades lost their way as they were prowling the vast Indian Ocean.

“We got lost, it was raining heavily… We had no idea where we were when we saw some small yachts. They were tourists I think, we asked them and they said we were in the Seychelles. We were so confused we didn’t even think of kidnapping them,” he says.

“Later we saw two patrol boats and a helicopter coming our way, it was all over,” Ahmed says, recalling the episode with near-embarrassment. He spent several months in detention in the Seychelles before being swapped with hostages.

“In the Seychelles, they didn’t torture us but we didn’t have enough to eat. We used to tie our shirts around our stomachs very tightly to stop the hunger.”

Now he is still a pirate but doesn’t go out at sea, has never successfully hijacked a ship, and struggles to make ends meet.

“If I could get a job in a fish factory near Hobyo and a pay every month, I would start right away,” he says.

The problem is that there is no functioning industrial and marketing facility in Hobyo, no more than in any of the coastal areas from which the pirates come, nor anywhere else in the country.

Ecoterra International, a group which has campaigned for the protection of coastal communities’ rights and resources in the region, has offered to implement such a project but no significant funding has yet come through.

Ismail Haji Noor is in charge of anti-piracy efforts for Galmudug state, a regional administration that recognises the federal government in Mogadishu but is trying to obtain more international recognition.

“Until we get more help, piracy will remain a reality,” he says. “But what the Europeans are offering at the moment is a prison sentence or a bullet.”

“I think that if these boys had an opportunity to get monthly wages, they would stop going out to sea to capture ships.”

Western powers have responded to the surge in Somali piracy by dispatching dozens of warships to the region and focusing on the arrest and prosecution of suspects but have done nothing to develop alternative forms of employment.

While most pirates are former fishermen, their leaders have tasted power and someone like Mohamed Garfanji — Somalia’s top pirate — heads a little army.

“I don’t think Garfanji could return to fishing,” admits Mohamed Aden “Tiiceey”, the president of Himan and Heeb, another regional administration trying to take hold south of Galmudug.

“But if we get help building our administration, he would have a place as head of the coastguard. He already knows all the tricks out there.”

Aweys Ali Jimaale “Madehe” (“Big Head” in Somali) is a top commander in pirate-run Hobyo who has a permanent brooding frown etched on his face.

He says he joined piracy in reaction to what he sees as collusion between foreign navies and fishing fleets to take advantage of the Somali chaos.

Jimaale insists that a chance to protect his country’s waters would mean more to him than money.

“I would love to be a coast guard, even if the pay is small.”

more info…

Published: September 02, 2010
Anti-piracy initiative will disable attacking ships

maritimenewsblog.co.cc — . A propeller arrester developed for protecting shipping in high-risk piracy areas by Channel Islands-based piracy and maritime security specialist Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, is to be
A propeller arrester developed for protecting shipping in high-risk piracy areas by Channel Islands-based piracy and maritime security specialist Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, is to be showcased in the Solent on September 14 onboard the SS Shieldhall. Merchant Maritime Warfare…

Read at Anti-piracy initiative will disable attacking vessels

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Published: September 02, 2010
Warship pirate versions retained

maritimenewsblog.co.cc — . International maritime laws again prevented authorities from prosecuting pirates captured by Danish warship Esbern Snarre over the weekend in the Aden Gulf. … scene, the Panama-registered ship and a Norwegian ship were both under.
International maritime laws again prevented authorities from prosecuting pirates captured by Danish warship Esbern Snarre over the weekend in the Aden Gulf. According to Nato’s maritime command, the warship was summoned

by a ship sailing under the Panama flag on Saturday, after it reported attacks by pirates.

When the Esbern Snarre and US carrier Winston Churchill arrived at the

scene, the Panama-registered ship and a Norwegian ship were both under

attack from Somali pirates. A helicopter sent out by the Esbern Snarre

fired warning shots and the pirates fled in their boats towards the

Somali coast.

Yet despite finding both knives and ammunition shells on board the

pirates’ vessels, defence minister Gitte Lillelund Bech told news bureau

Ritzau that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the pirates and

that they were released. Bech said that neither the American nor Danish

forces actually saw the pirates open fire on the two ships.

Nato forces have had a difficult time bringing pirates in the Arabian

Sea to trial due to the often conflicting and complex national and

maritime laws.

The Esbern Snarre is currently on patrol in place of the Absalon, which

experienced a similar incident in April 2009, when the warship arrested

10 Somali pirates but was forced to release them.

In March, however, the Absalon sunk a pirate boat just off the Somalian coast.

Source: The Copenhagen post

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Published: September 01, 2010
In the heart of a Somali pirates’ lair

www.france24.com — . Piracy off the coast of Somalia is booming despite a massive deployment of international warships, with an estimated combined coast of 40 million dollars a day.. .

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is booming despite a massive deployment of international warships, with an estimated combined coast of 40 million dollars a day.

NATO, the European Union, United States and other naval powers have sent warships to curb the hijacking of ships yet the number currently under the control of Somali pirates stands at 22, one of its highest ever levels.

Hundreds of suspected pirates have been captured but most had to be released immediately for lack of evidence.

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Published: September 02, 2010
Pirates and drugs runners in the gulf of guinea

www.closeprotectionworld.co.uk — Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is not on the scale of that off Somalia, but analysts say an increase in scope and number of attacks in a region ill-equipped to counter the threat could affect shipping and investment. .

Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is not on the scale of that off Somalia, but analysts say an increase in scope and number of attacks in a region ill-equipped to counter the threat could affect shipping and investment.

An attack by gunmen on two ships anchored off Cameroon’s major port of Douala in May showed pirates are extending their range beyond the restive Cameroon-Nigeria maritime frontier, where Niger Delta rebels operate.

Cameroon blamed piracy for part of a 13 percent slide in oil production in 2009 to 73,000 bpd. Production has since fallen to 66,000 bpd and is expected to dip further to 55,000 bpd in 2011 before rebounding.

Nigeria, meanwhile, has suffered years of curtailed output due to rebel attacks.

West African drug trafficking is also having an impact on the region’s economies. The United Nations estimates that $1 billion worth of cocaine, destined to Europe from Latin America, passed through West Africa in 2008.

What to watch:

– Narcotics trade. Analysts say the drugs trade is leading to a spike in regional money laundering, crime and corruption.

Experts have warned that West Africans are also consuming more of the drugs flowing through their countries, raising the spectre of rising crime and health problems.

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Published: September 01, 2010
Israel boards Gaza-bound ships, 15 dead: reports – Topix

www.topix.com — And international waters belong to that little problem country.. 3-4 Months ago this little ,super power,pirate ,attacked an aid ship and stole all goods of these ships,they stole all money,phones

Dear teacher harpar:
Turks want world respect,and world start to respect us.We give more emphesise for respection.
But there is a little problem country WHICH does not care respect,it says there is america behind me,america is powerful,so i dont care the world.
And international waters belong to that little problem country.
3-4 Months ago this little ,super power,pirate ,attacked an aid ship and stole all goods of these ships,they stole all money,phones and computers of their passangers,who are called as Radical islamist terrorists.

more info…

Published: September 01, 2010
Israel boards Gaza-bound ships, 15 dead: reports – Topix

www.topix.com — And international waters belong to that little problem country.. 3-4 Months ago this little ,super power,pirate ,attacked an aid ship and stole all goods of these ships,they stole all money,phones

mumtaz wrote: Dear teacher harpar:
Turks want world respect,and world start to respect us.We give more emphesise for respection.
But there is a little problem country WHICH does not care respect,it says there is america behind me,america is powerful,so i dont care the world.
And international waters belong to that little problem country.
3-4 Months ago this little ,super power,pirate ,attacked an aid ship and stole all goods of these ships,they stole all money,phones and computers of their passangers,who are called as Radical islamist terrorists. Israel the “little problem country,” that’s funny….lol

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Published: September 01, 2010
Days of rest for USS Laboon officers in anti-piracy operation

www.timesofmalta.com — The USS Laboon, in Malta until Saturday, stopped here from Spain before heading to Greece and moving to the horn of Africa in an anti-piracy operation. … The ship is not open to the public for security reasons. … It is on its third deployment on…

The USS Laboon, in Malta until Saturday, stopped here from Spain before heading to Greece and moving to the horn of Africa in an anti-piracy operation.
The ship is not open to the public for security reasons.
It is on its third deployment on…

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Published: September 02, 2010
How to earn your September 2010 Seal o’ Piracy

www.examiner.com — That’s the challenge posed to ye by the September 2010 Seal o’ Piracy, mates. … Of the six SMH and expedition types, you’ve got to visit four: Attack an Atlantean Citadel Venture onto a Cursed Isle

Last month saw the debut of a new Sea Monster Hunt environment: Haunted Seas. It’s understandable that, in your excitement–in the flush of your NRE, so to speak–you find yourself doing just about nothing but.
BUT!
There are other SMHs out there, remember, and other expeditions. You oughtn’t to neglect them!
That’s the challenge posed to ye by the September 2010 Seal o’ Piracy, mates. Of the six SMH and expedition types, you’ve got to visit four:
Attack an Atlantean Citadel
Venture onto a Cursed Isle
Exorcise a Haunted Ship Graveyard
Visit a Buried Treasure Atoll
Haul…

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Published: September 01, 2010
Danish-caught pirates released on lack of evidence – IceNews

news.google.com — Danish-caught pirates released on lack of evidence. … According to maritime command at NATO, the Danish vessel, …. NATO forces foil … Denmark navy helicopter foils pirates The Associated Press . .

DefenceWeb (press release)
Danish-caught pirates released on lack of evidence
IceNews
Denmark’s defence minister said a lack of witnesses forced a decision to free the rogue sailors. According to maritime command at NATO, the Danish vessel, …
NATO forces foil pirates attack on cement carrierLloyd’s List Daily Commercial News
Denmark navy helicopter foils piratesThe Associated Press

all 146 news articles »

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Published: September 01, 2010