Somalia land of pirates

Somalian pirate captured by US Navy

The history of piracy goes all the way back to ancient times, the time of ancient Greece and Rome. Around 500 BC pirates attacked the many cargo ships that sailed the Mediterranean Sea. Early Greek pirates used small, fast ships that had a shallow bottom.

These ships were called triremes and had great maneuverability which allowed the pirates to escape into bays and channels were the larger ships could not go. A famous Roman leader was captured by pirates when he was 25. This historic leader was none other than Julius Caesar. He was released and then his troops caught and killed the pirates who had captured him.

Most of the pirates who sailed the Mediterranean Sea were called corsairs. Most corsairs were Muslims and they enjoyed plundering Christian ships. Corsairs weren’t typical pirates. They weren’t after treasure, they were after people. Pirates held rich people for ransom and ordinary people were used as slaves or the pirates forced them to work on their galleys (the ship).

The corsairs’ galley had a ram in the front and they would crash it into their opponents. Then people called janissaries jumped onto the other ship and captured it. Corsairs’ ships were armed with cannons and they used scimitars (curved swords), muskets, and ornate swords and daggers in hand to hand combat. Corsairs didn’t just attack cities and ships in the Mediterranean, they also attacked up North. One pirate sailed all the way to Iceland!

Piracy didn’t only occur in the Mediterranean Sea, it happened in Northern Europe as well. Pirates up in Northern Europe were called Norse Riders or Vikings. The Vikings traveled across the North Sea so that they could raid British settlements. They usually carried two-edged swords and axes. They sailed in swift longships. These ships were flat-bottomed and could travel up river. This allowed the Vikings to attack inland villages.This was the very beginning of piracy.

Somalian pirates

Piracy in the shipping lanes off Somalia is nothing new. The pirate gangs didn’t suddenly decide to attack vulnerable merchant ships a few years ago. Their evolution happned over two decades because of several factors. First is that Somalia is one of the poorest nations in the world, with a totally ineffective central government. In a country without effective laws, lawlessness is not only tolerated, but often admired.

Since the early 1990s, there have been at least 14 failed Somali central governments in two decades. Political leaders who attempt to ease the stranglehold the all-powerful clans have over everything invariably end up dead or must flee the country to avoid assassination.

Piracy has become Somalia’s most important industry, with reports that the gangs earned $150 million in 2008. And it still goes on, virtually unchecked by any organized opposition. More than 300 ships were attacked last year, with 20 still in pirate control, along with more than 300 hostages, all awaiting negotiations for ransom payments.

The country is currently totally in the grip of at least four powerful clans. Many based on family and religious extremism have been part of the Somali scene for generations. They operate with ruthless efficiency to control their fiefdoms, and murder and ransom have long been weapons they use to earn power and riches.

Early 1990s

As far back as during World War II, when Somalia was a British colony, an officer described the heavily armed clans of Somali warriors as “ruthless outlaws who kill for the sake of killing, holding human life cheap if it stood in the way of rape and pillage”.

According to some reports, the current use of piracy evolved in the early 1990s from a combination of clan activity and the country’s fishing industry. The large, highly-sophisticated, mechanized fishing fleets from Japan, Russia and other advanced nations supposedly constantly violated the legal waters around Somalia and began to wipe out entire populations of fish.

Foreign ships

Their actions were killing the traditional fishing industry of the already-poverty-stricken Somalis. In addition, as Somali pirate spokesmen still claim today, many foreign ships used the area to dump their highly toxic refuse, thereby speeding up the devastating process of wiping out all marine life. Attempting to protect their territory in the early 1990s, some Somali fishermen organized into bands of raiders, and boarded close-in ships. Threatened with rifles, ship’s captains had to pay the Somalis for the income loss their mass fishing operations were causing the local fishermen.

The reported story continues that the tributes paid by the big fishing ships were so successful, the powerful clans in Somalia decided to expand on the local fishermen’s idea of collecting money from the intruders. Until recently, when the large nations began to send in armed vessels, the pirates had a virtually free ride for more than a decade.

Because of insurance coverages and the relatively low cost of paying ransoms, plus the fact that the pirates rarely used overt force, ship owners cooperated. The taking of several hundred ships a year is a very small part of the 300,000 that pass along the coast of Africa.

As long as less than one percent of ships are held for ransom, insurance companies consider this acceptable. Of course, with the rising tide of piracy, the premiums go up along with the ransom demands, and shipping companies just raise prices to their customers for services.

Seizing ships became so prevalent in the early 2000s, the now well-organized and clan-led pirates didn’t need to board some ships to get money. All they had to do was inform shipping companies that the pirates would allow their vessels to proceed if a tribute of several thousand dollars, later upped to millions, were paid. Until recently, when American and other navies became involved, even when captured, the pirates were usually set free in exchange for ship’s crew hostages.

Weapons

With millions of dollars coming into their control almost daily, the clans’ pirate operations continued to grow in size by recruiting willing young Somalis, acquiring more sophisticated weapons and adding more speedboats to their fleet. They now use so-called mother ships, large vessels that can venture more distances out to sea and set the smaller motorboats off on missions of piracy far beyond Somali waters.

They’ve also established sanctuary ports along the coast of Africa where they keep captured ships and hundreds of hostages, all part of the Somali pirates’ ongoing business of turning high profits at low risk. Until the nations suffering the growing losses of their ships, cargoes and crews can band together and take effective and massive military action in the region, the Somali pirates will continue to operate with little fear of interference.

Latest hijack with Sri Lankan crew

In 2008, 111 attacks on ships were recorded which included 42 successful hijackings. The rate of attacks in January and February 2009 was about 10 times higher than during the same period in 2008.There have been almost daily attacks in March with 79 attacks taking place in which, 21 had been successful up to mid April. At least seven Sri Lankans are believed to be on board a cargo ship hijacked by suspected Somali Pirates off the coast of the Gulf state of Oman on June 12, 2009.

According to unconfirmed sources, the captain of the ship and several high ranking officials on board are believed to be Sri Lankans.

A Foreign Ministry official confirming the incident, said they were trying to get in touch with the Lankan mission in Oman and other relevant international institutions to get a better grasp of the situation. “If any Lankans are aboard, the Ministry will seek help to get them released,” he added.

Meanwhile, some relatives in Sri Lanka are said to have confirmed that their loved ones were aboard the ill-fated ship.

According to NATO, the German-owned cargo ship MV Charelle had been hijacked 60 nautical miles south of Sur on the Omani coast,the first recorded pirate attack in the area.

According to them, the captured ship was seeing heading southwest towards Somalia yesterday, reportedly with none of the crew being harmed. The latest incident came just hours after NATO Defence Ministers decided to deploy six ships off the coast off Somalia from July to enhance its anti-piracy operations.

More than 100 such attacks has been reported in the waters off Somalia since the beginning of 2008.

However in all such attacks the crew and the ship has been returned unharmed by pirates after obtaining the ransom. The Gulf of Aden is considered as one of the world’s busiest sea lanes. However, due to the activities of Somali pirates, the area too has become vulnerable, specially for cargo ships in recent time.

Pirates on the prowl

* JAIKUR-I: Seized Oct. 2, 2008

The 21,040-tonne general cargo ship was detained after a dispute with the owners over damaged cargo. Most of the 21 crew were released last month.

* MASINDRA 7: Seized on Dec. 16, 2008

The Malaysian-owned tugboat, was seized with a barge off the Yemeni coast. The tug has about 11 Indonesian crew.

* SERENITY

The catamaran sailing for Madagascar from the Seychelles with three people aboard, was seized in early March.

* INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER: Seized March 2009

The 35-metre boat was built in Hamburg as an oceanographic research vessel. It accommodates about 12 passengers.

* HANSA STAVANGER Seized April 4, 2009

The 20,000-tonne German container vessel was captured about 400 miles off the southern Somali port of Kismayu, between the Seychelles and Kenya. The vessel had a German captain and three Russians, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos on board.

* WIN FAR 161

Taiwanese tuna boat, seized April 6, 2009.

* SHUGAA-AL-MADHI

Seized April 9, 2009, the fishing boat had 13 crew.

* MOMTAZ 1 - Seized April 10, 2009

The Egyptian fishing vessel was detained with 18 crew.

* BUCCANEER - Seized April 11, 2009

The Italian tugboat, owned by Micoperi Marine Contractors, was carrying 10 Italians, five Romanians and a Croatian, and was seized towing two barges while travelling westbound through the Gulf of Aden.

* IRENE E.M. Seized April 14, 2009

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Greek-owned bulk carrier was hijacked as it travelled through the Gulf of Aden. Its Filipino crew of 22 was unharmed.

* POMPEI Seized April 18, 2009

The Belgian dredging vessel and its 10 crew were hijacked about 370 miles from the Somali coast en route to the Seychelles. It had two Belgians, four Croatians, one Dutchman and three Filipinos on board.

* ARIANA Seized May 2, 2009

The Ariana was seized north of Madagascar en route to the Middle East from Brazil. The 24-strong Ukrainian crew were said to be unhurt. The ship, flying a Maltese flag, belongs to All Oceans shipping in Greece. A Ukrainian ship was hijacked on the same day in the Indian Ocean with a cargo including U.N. vehicles. Maritime officials were unable to confirm this seizure.

* VICTORIA Seized on May 5, 2009

The Antigua and Barbuda- flagged cargo vessel was hijacked by eight pirates in the Gulf of Aden on its way to the port of Jeddah. The 146-metre ship had a crew of 10.

* MARATHON Seized on May 7, 2009

The 2,575-tonne boat, carrying up to 18 crew, is both owned and registered in the Netherlands. It was carrying coke fuel.

* CHARELLE Seized on June 12, 2009

The 2,800-tonne cargo ship carrying about nine crew, was attacked 60 miles south of Sur on the Omani coast. Lloyds reported the vessel was owned by shipping firm Tarmstedt International.

* PIRACY KEY FACTS:

— In 2008 there were 293 incidents of piracy against ships worldwide, 11 percent up on the year before. Attacks off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden almost trebled.

— In 2008, there were 111 incidents including 42 vessels hijacked in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. So far in 2009, there have been 29 successful hijackings from 114 attempted attacks.

— The seas off Somalia and Yemen have been the site of a total of 128 attacks so far in 2009, of which 44 resulted in successful hijacks according to Ecoterra. — Nearly 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden each year, heading to and from the Suez Canal.

Sources: Reuters/Ecoterra International/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net