Italian Navy Kill Fisherman - Not Pirates

Investigation is continuing into a possible case of mistaken identity off of the west Coast of INDIA. On 15 February 2012 (1747), reports indicated that the Italian Navy had thwarted pirate attacks against the Enrica Lexie. In that report, the riflemen of the San Marco Batallion acting as a Vessel Protection Detail, engaged what was interpreted to be a threat from pirates around 1230 local time. The article from AGLit is available HERE
Concurrently, the HINDU times reported that "Two fishermen were shot dead in the high seas"(Article available HERE )  off of AMBALAPUHZA on Wednesday evening after having been mistaken for pirates. In both media reports, the name of the vessel (Enrica Lexi) was specifically and clearly identified and it has been indicated that the events were reported to the Coast Guard.

There are significant differences in the reported events. While Italian media are being rather consistent in terms of indicating that soldiers followed procedures for opening fire three times to dissuade the pirates and, after the third volley, the pirates left. The Hindu Times, however, indicated that the vessel was hit by a shower of bullets that lasted about two minutes and, in order to escape the gun fire, they sailed away from the vicinity of the vessel.

Of particular note is that the fishing vessel is reporting that it was within INDIA's territorial waters at the time of the firing. The Indian Coast Guard has indicated that fishing vessels will often come close to merchant vessels in order to prevent them from damaging their nets.

While the loss of life in this case would appear to be both regrettable and difficult to explain until a full investigation has taken place, it serves to illustrate that the use of military forces on board vessels does not preclude events of this nature. This should be clearly understood, particularly given certain groups within the shipping community that are demanding the use of military personnel on board their vessels in lieu of private security personnel.

Somalia-Piracy-Under Reporting Incidents

An article was published recently by Bloomberg which can be found HERE ,and below the article we have posted some thoughts:
Private armed guards placed on merchant vessels to protect them against Somali pirates are under-reporting attacks, according to the European Union naval force patrol-ling in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
Security teams are concealing de-tails even though industry practice is to alert armed forces about any attacks or pirate sightings, Simon Church, EU Navfor's industry liaison officer, said Wednesday at a piracy forum in London.
"Security teams are shaping this on-board decision-making for reasons of liability, because of the action they may have taken to defend ships against attack," said Church, who works at a counter-piracy base in Northwood, England.
The number of armed guards stationed on ships travelling through the region jumped this year as pirate attacks soared to a record and countries including the U.K. changed laws to allow weapons on board. Somali pirates cost the shipping industry and governments as much as $6.9 billion last year, according to a One Earth Future Foundation report.
As many as half of all ships sailing through the region now use armed guards, the foundation said at the forum. That's up from 25 per cent earlier this year, and companies providing security earn $530.6 mil-lion annually, it estimated. A total of 42,450 vessels pass through the region annually, it says.
Church cited a "disconnect" between the number of attacks expected last year, based on military intelligence assessments of pirates' strength, and levels in 2009 and 2010. A "plausible argument" can be made that the increase in armed guards was the cause, he said.
Somali pirate attacks rose to 237 in 2011 from 219 in the previous year, according to figures from the London-based International Mari-time Bureau. No legal framework exists to establish how armed guards should interact with pirates and what happens if any attackers are killed or injured, Pottengal Mukundan, the bureau's director, said at the forum.
Military counter-piracy forces are reluctant to co-operate with private companies that provide armed guards, James Butler-Wright of Aegis Advisory said at the forum. The consultant helps companies assess and adjust exposure to risk.
"Private security is desperate to work with the military," said Butler-Wright, a senior maritime analyst at Aegis. "We get shut down pretty quickly" when seeking information from navies, he said."

Recent comments were made that private security firms have dropped off reporting out of concerns regarding the liability associated with their actions. I would propose that this statement is less than complete and certainly less than representative. Some other reasons (for discussion), why these reports have dropped off.

Number 1 - even though approaches and suspicious activities were reported to the centers, they were dismissed as being "fishermen", "groups of fishermen" or even "curious skiff operators." After a while, people that report in (similar to calling the police in a city) suspicious activity stop doing so because the reports are simply dismissed (just so and so acting out).

Number 2 - even though approaches or suspicious activities were reported to the centers, no information was returned back. In short, reporting into the centers was a one way street where private security companies were reporting in and getting little to nothing of value in return. I will personally vouch for at least one time where I reported in activity and, when I asked if there was anything else in the area, was told that the information was entered into the military system but could not be shared with private security companies (this was a witnessed report by the way).

Number 3 - even though reports went in, there were several instances where the reports were never acknowledged or posted where other companies could use them.

Number 4 - more than one instance is on the books where security went to report in and was informed that they (ship operator) did not want a report in because of insurance issues.

I would propose that the statements being made, while potentially having a grain of truth somewhere, is as much about projecting a point of view and deflecting the issue.

MSB Group Ltd. passes second round of IAMSP Oversight checks

In the effort to continually keep you updated on the progress of the MSB Group, Ltd. as we said we would, we have found that the IAMSP  has completed another round of checks for the group. This seems to really be a good project for not only the Maritime Security industry, but for the shipping industry as a whole. As stated on the MSB web site 

IAMSP, the International Association of Maritime Security Professionals, has today announced MSB Group has passed the second round of its oversight checks and is now proceeding into the the third round of checks.

The second round checks ensured that the administrative control system will offer all member states the means and ability to continuously monitor the full system. This transparency will provide the member states, shipping companies and underwriters with the ability to have full confidence and awareness of the system in near real time.

These checks also ensured that the system is configured for access by Customs organizations and  other international bodies with an interest in overseeing and monitoring the movement of small arms and light weapons (SALW).

We will update further as more progress comes.

Somalia - Piracy - IAMSP and a new Group

Found this today and is very interesting. I am hoping to find out some more, as posted on their site at http://msbgroupltd.com/about/ 


MSB Group Ltd announces that it has completed its pilot and research phase of a project that will afford shipping companies with a clear and authoritative means of selecting private armed maritime security companies that have committed to the highest of legal and ethical practices.
Under the third-party oversight of IAMSP, MSB has formed the framework of a public-private partnership that will address three major needs. First, shipping companies will be able to verify that the security company that they are considering have met certain vetting criteria. This vetting criteria is based on a range of authoritative requirements, including those of the Coastal States, reducing the risk of disruptions while adherence to unique requirements are met.
Finally, it affords the private security company with a clear and concise point with which to communicate and coordinate its activities and logistics. Working within this framework will demonstrate to all those involved and external to the process, that each of the major parties in this activity are working together to counter the proliferation of grey and black market arms, reduce the potential for disruptions in supply chains and operate in a way that is respectful of the needs of the overall maritime shipping community.
Check back soon for the regional launching of this program for the logistical support for firearms used in merchant vessel security.

A bit more information here: http://t.co/baDFwkZq  from the IAMSP Web Site

We will post more as it comes available

Somalia Piracy - Fox Business News

ISSG Holdings, Ltd. has been selected to appear

on

21^st Century Business Television series

Boca Raton, FL (TBD) --- Multi-Media Productions (USA), Inc. is pleased to announce that ISSG Holdings, Ltd. will be featured on 21^st Century Business.

ISSG Holdings, Ltd., is an international business company engaged in
merchant vessel protection. We have a solution based mindset providing a
ISSG Holdings, Ltd., are supply chain security specialists with a strong maritime security capacity demonstrated through 4 years of protecting vessels passing through high risk waters. With attacks on vessels in areas such as the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean reaching their highest levels in the last five years and with economies continuing to teeter back and forth between slow growth and recession, it has become more important for shipping companies to be able to assure that they get the cargo to its intended destination, on time, in acceptable condition and at reasonable cost.

.

According to Michael Murrell, CEO of ISSG Holdings, the maritime security industry is at a crossroads. It is not enough for security companies to protect the vessel. They must ensure that they have a broad understanding of the risks involved, take steps to address those risks, and continuously monitor their activities to ensure that their actions do not lead to new risks to the vessel. At the same time, security companies must understand the overall movement of goods—contributing to the effective, and efficient, trade between economies.

ISSG Holdings has built a highly capable network and maintains a leadership role within the maritime security community. ISSG Holdings will, based on an expert assessment of risk and in accordance with the appropriate laws, provide armed security services. These services are delivered using some of the highest trained and most capable maritime security operators—the Marine Commandos (MarCos), a unit that has proven itself in those very waters for years. Through its affiliates, such as ISSG India and ISSG Comoros, the company has been able to attract and maintain a capable team ready to serve the shipping industry

ISSG Holdings has also taken a leadership role in the maritime security industry’s push towards professionalization—a significant effort intended to build a true community of professionals that will ensure that the shipping company’s brand and legal status is also well protected. A significant contributor and vetted corporate member of the International Association of Maritime Security Professionals, it was also one of the first maritime security companies to sign onto the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers. These efforts also include some of its key members participating in senior leadership positions in professional security, first responder, and academic communities.

The combination of these efforts has made ISSG a uniquely capable and credible maritime security service provider today.

of firearms in various
For more information visit www.issg-seamarshals.com

J.L Haber VP of Programming at Multi Media Productions, added, “In our search for companies with maritime security solutions, ISSG Holdings, Ltd. stood out as a unique company. We are excited to have them as a guest on our program.”

About 21^st Century Business

21^st Century Business airs on CNBC (as paid programming) and the Fox Business Network (as paid programming). 21^st Century Business may also be viewed through video on demand via www.21cbtv.com. The 21CBTV Series is also available at more than 90 prestigious college universities, including Carnegie Mellon University, Howard University, Dartmouth College and Georgetown University.

For specific market-by-market air dates and times, please e-mail Moniqueh@mmpusa.com. For more information, please visit www.21cbtv.com.

As Reported HERE

Mozambique holds 'pirate hunters'

 

Four Americans and one Briton, who say they were trying to free a boat seized by pirates, have been arrested in Mozambique and accused of possessing illegal weapons.

They were detained at the airport in the country's third city, Nampula, police say.
The men reportedly say they work for the US security firm GreySide. The US embassy says the group has no connection to the US government.
GreySide has not commented.
Nampula provincial police spokesperson Inacio Dina told the BBC that the weapons include an FN 5.5mm rifle, as well as ammunition and communications equipment.
The police have named the leader of the group as 42-year-old US citizen Michael Ferguson. He has not commented to the press.
The group had reportedly flown from the United States via Ethiopia and Kenya, where they picked up the weapons.
Mr Ferguson reportedly said their plan was to catch small boats in the northern Mozambican coastal city of Pemba before joining a larger vessel and trying to free the boat from pirates - it is not clear which ship they were allegedly trying to rescue.
They expected further weapons to reach them in Pemba, which they had not been able to load on the plane, police say.
Somalia-based pirates have attacked ships across the Indian Ocean, earning millions of dollars from ransom payments.
Four Britons, who say they were trying to provide protection from pirates, were released by Eritrea in June after six months in captivity.

Ships with Indian crew can have armed guards

As Reported HERE

The ministry of shipping on Monday issued guidelines allowing ships with Indian crew to deploy armed guards in a bid to combat piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The move comes on the back of recommendations from the inter-ministerial group (IMG) of officers constituted to handle the hostage situation on hijacked ships and also suggest preventive measures.
It has been found that about 35 per cent of the ship transiting in these waters deploy armed security guards and that the pirates generally don’t attack ships with armed guards on board, an official release said on Monday. So far, 120 Somalian pirates have been apprehended by India as on date.
As per the new guidelines, ship owners are allowed to engage private maritime security companies (PMSC) through a proper selection procedure. In line with these, all Indian ships visiting Indian ports are to furnish details of security personnel on board, the firearms carried by them and the details of licence issued, etc, to the port authority, customs, Coast Guard and the Navy. Foreign merchant vessels visiting Indian ports with security guards are also required to follow similar procedure, as per the guidelines. 

www.issg-seamarshals.com 

India to charge Somali pirates and their hostages

Of Compassion—and Common Sense

Recent media reports HERE that India is intended to charge 14 suspected Somali pirates and their three hostages that drifted to within kilometres of India’s coast. While one can certainly see the pirates facing charges, the argument that the Somali’s will only be charged with trespassing is somewhat mind boggling. To charge the three Yemeni, indicated as being “hostages”, for entering into India’s territory without the appropriate travel documents should also raise a few eyebrows.

India has taken a reasonably tough stance on its border controls since the Mumbai attacks. The fact that this vessel was reported to have been found near the same route suspected to have been used for those attacks probably does not help the situation. It may even be necessary to show a strong hand against both the Somalis and Yemeni on board so that there is no appearance of vulnerabilities in the overall system.

The problem here is that there are indications that India’s stance on its border controls may be moving beyond the pale of decency and common sense. There have been reports, corroborated through third sources, that Indian officials were directly involved in failing to allow at least one person from being able to seek medical attention when that individual was left stranded on board a vessel (the company having gone into receivership and leaving a number of its crew and personnel stranded).

Combined with those, and other, past reports, there are adequate indications that India`s policies in this respect have moved outside of what might be called reasonable conduct. While, of course, the state certainly has its right to manage its own sovereign affairs as it sees fit, it may be prudent for some to be reminded that (1) they operate within a community of nations and (2) that strength and compassion are a far more powerful mix than simply exercising strength without judgement.

Let us hope that common sense prevails...that the pirates are held pending more serious charges and that the Yemeni persons held hostage are recognized for being under duress and hardly able to be held criminally responsible for their apparent transgression.

Full Article:
AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) – Indian police said Wednesday they would charge 14 suspected Somali pirates and their three hostages who drifted to within kilometres (miles) of the country's west coast in a fishing boat.
A senior police official said that investigators believed three Yemeni men found on the trawler were hostages of the alleged pirates, who are believed to have hijacked the vessel two weeks ago off the coast of Somalia.
The Yemenis told police the boat had been adrift in the Indian Ocean after running out of fuel and had been carried to the Indian coast by the tide.
All 17 men were detained in the coastal district of Junagarh in Gujarat state, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) southwest from the main regional city of Ahmedabad.
"After interrogation we have ascertained that the Somali nationals are pirates who had kidnapped the three Yemenis," Junagarh police chief Depankar Trivedi told AFP by telephone.
He said police would press charges against the Somalis and their captives for entering India without valid travel documents.
The official said the Somalis were only charged with trespassing because the hijacking occurred beyond India's jurisdiction in international waters.
"We are charging them only for the violation of Indian laws," he said, adding the three Yemenis did not possess travel documents and so were also in breach of India's Passport Act.
Trivedi said a marine police team detained the men on Sunday after local fishermen reported the presence of the Yemen-flagged vessel only a couple of kilometres (miles) off the coast of Gujarat.
India's coastguard and navy are on high alert against pirates seeking to evade the international force patrolling waters off Somalia by attacking shipping much further east in the Indian Ocean.
More than 100 pirates have been caught and are awaiting trial in India following a series of violent skirmishes near the country's Lakshadweep islands since the start of this year.
India, which does not have a specific anti-piracy-law, is planning to frame legislation to deal with the scourge.

Ship Company Believes Ship Hijacked

As Reported HERE

Shipping Company Says Pirates Hijack Tanker

 A shipping firm says Somali pirates have likely hijacked a chemical tanker with 25 crew members off the coast of Kenya.

Singapore-based Glory Ship Management says it believes the MT Gemini was seized by pirates on Saturday, as the ship sailed toward the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.

A company statement says the vessel is now headed toward Somalia.

The Gemini was carrying 28,000 tons of crude palm oil from Indonesia. Its crew consists of 13 Indonesians, five Chinese, four South Koreans, and three citizens of Burma.

The shipper says it is making "every effort" to secure the crew's release.

Somali pirates made hundreds of millions of dollars hijacking ships for ransom over the past few years.

Mercenary firm or Security Firm?

As Reported HERE

I don't know about you but I have some reservations about taking the media seriously at times. In the following article one firm is termed as a "Mercenary Firm" and the other as a "Security Firm" and I am curious how they differentiate between the two. I have no bad remarks that I could ever make about Erik Prince as he is one of the most intelligent persons in the security industry today and I am not in any way saying that the media is accurate about Blackwater. My confusion is how can they call Saracen a Mercenary Firm in the same paragraph?

Somalia: Puntland Drops Deal With Mercenary Firm

The northern region of Puntland has suspended a deal with the South African mercenary firm Saracen International to train an antipiracy force, two government officials said Thursday. Saracen International was hired to train 1,050 men in Puntland to battle the pirates that menace Somalia’s coast. The project was linked to Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater. Lafras Luitingh, the chief operating officer of Saracen, said in a statement that the program had been suspended since Feb. 12, and that the decision was made “after close consultation with the U.N.” The Somali government canceled a similar contract with Saracen in January.

Up to 50 Pirates Hijack One Ship

As Reported HERE
Filed Under: Sea piracy, Waterway & Maritime Transport, Crime

BRUSSELS—An unusually large group of 30 to 50 Somali pirates seized an Indonesian vessel and used it in a failed bid to hijack a second ship on Thursday, the EU naval mission said.
The pirates hijacked the bulk carrier Sinar Kudus about 320 nautical miles northeast of the island of Socotra on Wednesday morning, the EU anti-piracy mission said. It has 20 Indonesian sailors on board.
"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 EU Navfor force said in a statement.
The Indonesia ship was then used on Thursday to attack the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Emperor but the pirates were repelled by an armed security crew after "an exchange of fire," Navfor spokesman Paddy O'Kennedy told Agence France-Presse.
The Emperor was reported safe.

UAE Shipping Assoc. Reverses Position on Armed Secrutiy

As Reported HERE

Pirates could face armed seafarers

DUBAI // The UAE Shipping Association (UAESA) has reversed course to back the use of private security guards aboard commercial vessels as the best way to combat increasingly aggressive Somali pirates.
The U-turn comes as the shipping industry worldwide reconsiders its longtime opposition to carrying weapons at sea. Over the past year, pirate presence has spread across the Indian Ocean. Ransom demands are rising, and hostages are being held captive longer.
Last week, pirates killed four American yachtsmen whom they had taken hostage.
"We don't feel protected by the international navies, so we need to take matters into our own hands," said Scott Jones, first vice president of the UAESA, the leading industry body in the nation. "There is still no vessel that has armed guards on board that has been taken. It seems to be the only way we can feel relatively certain," he said.
That stance would hold for as long as the problem persisted, the organisation said in an announcement earlier this month.
"Until an international solution resolving the governance of Somalia is accomplished, the UAESA will support the stationing of trained professional armed security aboard vessels."
Dubai port authorities have implemented "clearance procedures" to allow armed guards, it said.
Since many ports around the world ban weapons, many authorities have had to amend or clarify their policies to allow private security escorts to enter.
In some countries, the authorities meet the vessel several miles out and confiscate their weapons. In Dubai, ships will be required to gain permission for armed escorts and lock up their weapons before entering the port, said Mr Jones.

The Dubai Ports Authority could not be reached for comment, while the ports operator DP World declined to comment.
Earlier this month, the International Chamber of Shipping offered support for the use of armed escorts aboard ships.
"In view of the current crisis in the Indian Ocean ... ship operators must be able to retain all possible options available to deter attacks and defend their crews against piracy.
"Many shipping companies have concluded that arming ships is a necessary alternative to avoiding the Indian Ocean completely," said the ICS, which represents 80 per cent of commercial vessels worldwide, according to its website.
Somali pirates are believed to be in control of 33 vessels and 712 hostages, the International Maritime Bureau said in its latest report. This year alone they are thought to have seized 11 vessels and 224 hostages.
Recent events - in particular the killing of the American yachters - have raised fears of escalating violence by pirates.

Until now, pirates have mostly used hostages as bargaining tools to demand higher ransoms. But after eight pirates were killed during the rescue of a hijacked tanker by a South Korean warship in January, pirates have threatened in future to kill any South Korean hostages.
Armed escorts are increasingly viewed as the safest defence against pirates, but the option comes with drawbacks. "Everybody has concerns," said Mr Jones.
About a quarter of the UAESA board was against the new stance, which supports shipowners who use armed guards but does not urge or require them to do so, he said.
The nascent maritime security industry remains unregulated, even as firms have mushroomed in the past year to capture growing demand. "There are quite a few 'new boys' and we don't really know what their procedures are for vetting their people, what their standard operating procedure would be, what their rules of force would be," said Tim Stear, the regional general manager of Control Risks, which offers armed guards at sea.
Liability remained unclear in the case of injury or death. No case had yet been brought of security guards firing on innocent civilians, and the issues remain untested, he said.
"Nobody can promise - or should promise - that they've got all the answers," he said.

 

Piracy Predictive Model Passes Key Benchmark

PIRACY PREDICTIVE MODEL PASSES KEY BENCHMARK

By Allan McDougall, Evolutionary Security Management, Inc.

We are pleased to announce that the predator-prey model has passed its second benchmark and is now being more fully integrated into our risk assessment processes. This benchmark follows nearly two years of efforts that included the collection of pirate attack data from a wide range of sources, including teams deployed by ISSG Holdings Ltd (a key partner in the effort) and examining that data using two different approaches -- hypothesis testing and exploratory data analysis.

The primary categories and some of the elements involved in the study included the following:

-Environmental conditions (wind, wave, surface pressure and major events)

-The nature of the Pirate Action Group (mothership, skiff, weapons, and boarding tactics)

-The nature of shipping (vessel type, flag, company, past history, and preparedness).

This model combines elements of engineering, navigation and criminology with respect to the above.

While the first benchmark was tied to the collection and analysis of data, the second benchmark was tied to the validation process. This validation process took two forms:

The first involved one group collecting data over three months and testing it for fit.

The second involved taking an independent sample of data to identify correlations and then comparing them to the first set of correlations.

Given the results of this testing, we are moving forward with rolling out the predator-prey model as part of our risk assessment process for our clients and key partners. This is part of our commitment to ensuring that we continue to provide leading edge services.

Those that receive our monthly updates, often through our key partner ISSG Holdings in this exercise, will have received our initial information describing the framework of this model.

www.evolutionarysecurity.com 

Pirate-Fighting Tactics May Change

As Reported HERE

Pirate-fighting tactics may change after raids

AP – ALTERNATIVE CROP - In this photo released by the Arabian Navy via Yonhap, South Korean naval special …

By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Tom Odula, Associated Press – Sun Jan 23, 4:39 pm ET

NAIROBI, Kenya – Two daring commando raids by two nations in one day against Somali pirates show that some naval forces are taking a harder line, perhaps because nothing else they've tried has stopped the rise of lawlessness off the east coast of Africa.
The raids by South Korea and Malaysia on Friday could be a sign of more aggressive tactics to come — both by navies and by pirates responding to them. Experts say pirates could increasingly use hostages as human shields by pirates if raids become more common.
The European Union's naval force refuses to raid hijacked ships out of concern for the safety of hostages, but frustration is rising. Despite patrols by an international flotilla of modern warships, drones patrolling the Indian Ocean off the east African coast and Arabian Gulf and diverse strategies employed including the sinking of pirate boats, Somali pirates have been relentless.
They captured a record 1,016 hostages in 2010 and currently hold 32 vessels and 746 crew members of various nationalities after hijacking another six ships so far this year, according to a recent report by the International Maritime Bureau.
Eight crew members died and 13 were wounded in Somali pirate incidents in 2010, up from four dead and 10 wounded in 2009. There were no pirate killings elsewhere in the world in 2010.
The bureau said Somali pirates are operating more broadly than ever, from Oman on the Arabian Peninsula to Mozambique, more than 2,500 miles away in southeastern Africa. It also said navies have been more reluctant to intervene because pirates are using hijacked vessels to catch new prey.
Somalia's long lawless coastline snakes around the Horn of Africa and provides the perfect base for pirate dens. The country has not had a functioning government since a socialist dictatorship collapsed in 1991, plunging the nation into clan-based civil war.
South Korean commandos raided a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea before dawn Friday, killing eight Somali pirates and capturing five as they rescued all 21 crew members. The only crew member injured was the captain, who was shot in the stomach by a pirate; South Korea's military said his condition was not life-threatening.
A 4 1/2-minute video released Sunday by South Korea's military shows commandos in a small boat readying to climb onto the freighter amid gunshots. Later the commandos are seen trying to enter a door and then bringing out some hostages, with a navy helicopter shining searchlights on the vessel.
The video also shows several captured Somali pirates kneeling on the ship as South Korean soldiers carrying rifles stand nearby. The video, taken by a nearby South Korean destroyer, shows the 1,500-ton chemical carrier Samho Jewelry pockmarked with bullet holes.
Their success came on the same day that Malaysia's navy successfully rescued a chemical tanker and its 23 crew members from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. No one in the rescue team or the ship's crew was injured and seven pirates were apprehended.
Alan Cole, the head of the U.N.'s anti-piracy program at the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, said the South Korean and Malaysian navies may have resorted to using the commando raids out of frustration that other strategies employed to tackle piracy were not working.
"There is a good chance that navies will increase the numbers of patrols and step up military activity to try and deal with this problem," he said.
Before Friday, some raids had been launched by other countries to save ships boarded by Somali pirates within hours of the attacks or after being assured that crew members were locked in safe rooms.
The Malaysian raid followed that approach: It occurred soon after the pirates attacked and after the crew made it to a safe room. But the South Korean raid happened a week after the Samho Jewelry was captured; it was unclear whether any of that ship's crew had reached a safe room but clearly the captain had not.
"The tradition has been to hang back and let the pirates take the ships back to Somalia. I think they decided to take tougher line purely because the pirates are becoming more daring," said David Johnson, a director at the U.K.-based risk management firm Eos.
Pirates will likely change tactics and use hostages as human shields if navies start resorting to raids, Johnson said. But he added the pirates probably would not become brutal with captives.
The EU Naval Force, which has four ships patrolling the water off the horn of Africa, said Saturday it will not raid hijacked ships because such action could further endanger hostages' lives.
EU Naval Force spokesman Wing Cmdr. Paddy O'Kennedy said any time EU naval forces get too close to hijacked ships, Somali pirates have threatened to kill the hostages.
The danger of navies conducting raids on hijacked ships was illustrated by the April 2009 death of French skipper Florent Lemacon, who had been held hostage off the Somali coast in a sailboat with four other hostages.
A raid by French commandos led to an exchange of fire with the pirates that left Lemacon dead. An inquiry found that Lemacon had been killed by a French military bullet.
The maritime bureau says there was drop in the number of attacks in the Gulf of Aden, leading to the Suez Canal, because of patrols by the international flotilla warships. Attacks in that area fell more than 50 percent, from 117 in 2009 to 53 in 2010.
O'Kennedy said the real solution to ending piracy lies in creating peace and stability on land.
The weak, U.N.-backed Somali government, however, has been too tied up fighting an Islamist insurgency to fight piracy. A series of corrupt and ineffective governments plundered government coffers, leading to widespread desertions when soldiers went unpaid.
___
Associated Press writer Hyung-Jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Nov. 10th Somalia Piracy Report

As Reported HERE
Today, 10. November 2010, 23h00 UTC, at least 29 foreign vessels plus one barge are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 510 hostages or captives - including an elderly British yachting couple, the 5 hostages from Somaliland and a woman and man from a yacht - suffer to be released.

The world and the navies don't get it: Do they not realize that long after Somalia was neglected and only after the navies appeared and interfered at the Horn of Africa the real piracy developed and surged ? Now the situation has reached a new all-time high: Over 500 people held captive. The world holds Somalia hostage and the Somali pirates the world. This vicious circle of aggressive action and the senseless spiral of violence must be broken by peaceful means.

One of the most dangerous ideas (excerpt by Zoltán Grossman)
One of the most dangerous ideas of the 20th century was that "people like us" could not commit atrocities against civilians.

• German and Japanese citizens believed it, but their militaries slaughtered millions of people.
• British and French citizens believed it, but their militaries fought brutal colonial wars in Africa and Asia.
• Russian citizens believed it, but their armies murdered civilians in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and elsewhere.
• Israeli citizens believed it, but their army mowed down Palestinians and Lebanese.
• Arabs believed it, but suicide bombers and hijackers targeted U.S. and Israeli civilians.
• U.S. citizens believed it, but their military killed hundreds of thousands in Vietnam, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Every country, every ethnicity, every religion, contains within it the capability for extreme violence. Every group contains a faction that is intolerant of other groups, and actively seeks to exclude or even kill them. War fever tends to encourage the intolerant faction, but the faction only succeeds in its goals if the rest of the group acquiesces or remains silent. The attacks of September 11 were not only a test for U.S. citizens attitudes' toward minority ethnic/racial groups in their own country, but a test for our relationship with the rest of the world. We must begin not by lashing out at civilians in Muslim countries, but by taking responsibility for our own history and our own actions, and how they have fed the cycle of violence.

WHAT NAVIES NEVER SEE:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/05/fighting_for_control_of_somali.html


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STILL OPEN QUESTIONS ON LATEST YACHT ABDUCTION IN SOMALIA
South-African owned SY CHOIZIL was sea-jacked 31. October 2010 after having left Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Late Response
Though news had broken much earlier, the case was officially only confirmed on 08. November, whereby the name of the yacht was still either not known or withheld. It is now clear that the yacht is the one-mast sailing yacht SY CHOIZIL, named after the Ile de Choizil an island near still French Mayotte, owned and sailed by South African skipper Peter Eldridge from Richards Bay, who escaped after the yacht was commandeered to Somalia, while his South African team-mates Bruno Pelizzari with partner Deborah were taken off the boat and are still held hostage on land in Southern Somalia.
Open Questions
Questions are still open concerning a possible fourth person on board or a second yacht, because reports still speak of a man having been killed in Baraawa (Brawa).
Pirates, several residents and al-Shabaab members, who also control Baraawe, had told Reuters on 07. November that a hostage had been shot dead, but that maybe referred to the skipper, who had disappeared from local peoples's view and was picked up by the navies. He either jumped overboard in the naval swoop or - compared with other hostage cases in Somalia more unlikely  - was allowed to stay back on the yacht when the hostage takers left the boat with the couple.
While the South African International Relations and Cooperation Department had confirmed that no South African man was killed in the incident, the Spokesman for the department, Saul Molobi, would only say the man killed was not South African.
Per Klingvall, spokesman for EU NAVFOR, however, said the anti-piracy task force had no information about anyone being killed, and that the rescued yachtsman had not been shot.
In the case of the sea-jacked, allegedly drug-smuggling yacht SY SERENITY,which was then even used in a string af attacks on first Thai fishing vessels and then the U.S. American container vessel MAERSK ALABAMA, the existence of a fourth man on board and his identity were withheld by the authorities for still unknown reasons. His presence was only officially acknowledged after the Seychelles staged a release operation with the exchange of Somali prisoners and a ransom payment, which in itself hit several snags, because it was - according to security sources - executed in a totally unprofessional way.
In addition there were in the beginning of the ordeal reports by news-wires not only of a man being shot but also that a woman and a boy had been taken hostage, which confused the picture.
Pelizzari’s family members and government authorities say Pelizzari, a South African of Italian origin, is described as being a small man, so it could have been assumed that a teenager was kidnapped. His girlfriend Deborah is said to be South-African of British decent.
Disputed Location of Attack
Early pieces of information originating from the Seychelles through the Seafarer's networks indicated that a sailing yacht with three persons had possibly been abducted either from the Seychelles, Kenya or off Baraawa (Brawa) in Somalia.
However, a press release from the Office of the Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs, Environment and Transport, Minister Joel Morgan, stated on 09. November that the Seychelles Coast Guard and the EU NAVFOR Atalanta representative in Seychelles have confirmed that the yacht was not taken hostage in Seychelles waters, but that the incident took place in Kenyan waters. Likewise the International Relations Department officials in Pretoria and European Union authorities have also said the yacht was captured by pirates off the coast of Kenya.
But South African yachtsman, Peter Olivier, who is from Cape Town while he now lives in the Tanzanian capital of Dar-es-Salaam, still cannot understand why his friends are said to have been attacked further north and off Kenya and not on their way south from Dar es Salaam, since they had planned to sail south to dock the yacht in Richards Bay in South Africa. He himself would nearly have been on that yacht, but had to pull out of the sailing trip with the three fellow South Africans due to a ruptured Achilles tendon. Olivier said: “I am not going to say I am relieved it wasn’t me. Instead, I feel really sorry for Bruno and Deborah."
Also Barry Turner, commodore at the Bluff Yacht Club in South Africa, where the couple from Cape Town were members, said the two were at the moment assisting another yachtsman in bringing a vessel back to Richard’s Bay in South Africa.
Though the skipper refused to speak to the media it is believed that he had been debriefed by the navies and other officials, who released their statements with naming Kenyan waters as the location where the attack had allegedly taken place. However, why the yacht, which was supposed to sail from Dar es Salaam south to South Africa should  have gone North to Kenya and then allegedly encountered the pirates there, was not explained by any of the official statements nor the owner.
Other naval sources, however, still maintain that the attack took place on the open sea at the boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique.
Attack
Both present hostages, Bruno Pelizzari and his girlfriend "Debbie", were on board when the yacht under the command of Peter Endrigde headed back to Richards Bay from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on October 21 or 22. Together with the skipper and owner of the yacht, the trio are said to have then encountered the pirates on 31. October 2010 in the open sea.
At least one of the attacking pirates appeared to have  been from Tanzania and spoke KiSwahili. However, the sloop rigged sailing yacht set up for long distance cruising was then commandeered to Somalia by five Somalis - apparently with the aim to reach Harardheere at the Central Somali coast.
First sight
When observers had on 04. November a sighting of a yacht near the Bajuni Island of Koyaama at the Southern coast of Somalia, the search for a missing yacht was on in order to identify the boat and the sailors, but neither the Seychelles nor the network of yachts-people reported any missing yacht, though at that point already even the involvement of a second yacht could not be ruled out - according to an observer from ECOTERRA Intl.
Navies were then trailing the yacht at least since 04. November.
Navies get active
The fleeing yacht was forced by the pursuing navies to come close to Baraawa (Brawa). There the yacht had "officially" again been located by the EU NAVFOR warship FS FLOREAL on 6 November when it was "discovered to be sailing suspiciously close to shore", so the statement. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact the yacht, including a flypast by the warship’s helicopter, allegedly no answer was received and the French warship launched her boarding team to investigate further, a EU NAVFOR statement revealed and it was also officially stated that they had received a mayday signal. Why only then and not much earlier has so far not been explained.
After a direct chase by naval forces escalating the situation and the yacht running aground, SY CHOIZIL's skipper Peter reportedly jumped over board during a close naval swoop, when also shots were fired and a naval helicopter and a commando team in a speedboat were engaged. Other reports state the owner of the yacht, Peter Eldridge, managed to escape when he refused to leave the boat he built with his own hands 20 years ago. “I can understand why Peter, after all that hard work on his boat, would say: ‘No way are you taking my boat and I’m not getting off’,” said Jannie Smit, a friend. It is however highly unlikely that the hostage takers would have allowed him to just stay behind.
Peter Eldridge was later picked up by the navy and was placed into safety on a Dutch naval vessel. He is confirmed to be a South-African by nationality and his next of kin were informed immediately. After he then arrived at the Kenyan harbour of Mombasa on board the Dutch warship, he was handed over to South African officials and brought to Kenya's capital Nairobi on Monday, from where he returned already to South-Africa.
South Africa's High Commissioner to Kenya, Ndumiso Ntshinga, said he had been in contact with the rescued yachtsman on Monday and confirmed the two captives, a man and a woman, were both also South African citizens.
Background
Barry Turner said the two, who are now the hostages, had set off for Madagascar a year ago.
Bruno Pelizzari, in his 50s, worked earlier for a company that serviced lifts. He started sailing 5 or 6 years ago and  according to a friend, they left Durban on a yacht about a year ago to explore the open seas and look for work. The couple met Peter Eldridge, an engineer, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who wanted to.sail his yacht from Dar es Salaam for KwaZulu-Natal, because the yacht was in need of repairs. Fellow yachtsman Peter Olivier stated: "They are such nice people and they love sailing. Peter is a great guy and is experienced. Bruno is a quiet man but really nice. They are good people."
Pelizzari’s family said on Monday that the two were still captive in Somalia and International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane confirmed officially that the two South Africans were abducted.
The family, according to a South African news agency, is frustrated at not being able to get detailed information on Pelizzari’s welfare, and is deeply concerned for his safety.
Vera Pelizzari, Bruno’s sister, was worried about information being stifled and her brother’s plight then not being properly attended to and added: “We simply do not have the money to pay for ransom.”
Neither Pelizzari nor Debbie’s family have money for a ransom, a friend said on Tuesday.
Fate of the Yacht
Andrew Mwangura, co-ordinator of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said earlier he assumed the yacht had been towed to Mombasa, but latest information ECOTERRA Intl. received from Somalia say the yacht was left behind by the naval forces. Peter Eldridge's wife, Bernadette, told then the South African Times that she did not know whether her husband Peter would return to Somalia to retrieve what's left of his yacht, SY Choizil, which was run aground by the pirates.
The German skipper Juergen Kantner, who had been sea-jacked together with partner Sabine on SY ROCKALL in the Gulf of Aden and who was later released from the mountainous hide-out of the hostage takers in Puntland after a ransom was paid, returned to where his yacht had been taken, repaired his boat and only home in the Somaliland harbour of Berbera and - though they had to encounter some further bad luck when a mobile-phone mast fell during a storm onto the yacht just the day before the planned departure - later sailed against all odds off via Aden in Yemen to continue the planned dream-voyage to Malaysia, where they arrived safely.
Appeal
"We only can hope that the different reports speaking of the killing of one man, whereby at present nobody can say if that had been caused by the naval interaction or by the pirates or if it is mixed with another case, will turn out to be not correct at all," said a spokesman from ECOTERRA Intl. on 07. November, adding: "and we hope and urge the local elders to ensure that the innocent woman and man will be set free immediately."
Since the Al-Shabaab administration, who governs the vast areas in Southern Somalia, where the ancient coastal town of Baraawe (Brawa) is located, had earlier openly condemned any act of piracy, it is hoped that a safe and unconditional release of the hostages can be achieved.
With several reports from Somalia and other sources, saying the skipper of the South-African sailing yacht jumped over board and was picked up by naval forces, while 2 people were confirmed by EU NAVFOR as having been abducted, and local sources still insist that one person had been killed, it however could be possible that another person was on board earlier and was killed in the ensuing havoc or a case concerning a second yacht must be investigated.
Naval sources, however, say that Bruno Pelizzari and Deborah “walked” off with the pirates from the grounded yacht, and at that stage at least they appeared to have been unharmed.
Efforts
The naval command of the European Operation Atalanta stated on Tuesday that the whereabouts of the other two crew members is currently unknown, despite a comprehensive search by an EU NAVFOR helicopter.
Karl Otto of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cape Town said Monday to IOL that the Department of International Relations and Co-operation was handling the hostage situation.
“They’ve got a couple of people who may be negotiating. We’ve been told to pass on any information to them,” Otto said.
Unfortunately, Bruno Pelizzari and his partner Deborah are reportedly at present still held hostage south of Baraawa (Brawa) and no ransom demands have been made. International Relations and Co-operation spokesperson Saul Kgomotso Molobi confirmed Wednesday the pirates had not yet made any ransom demand.
The families of the Durban couple are sick with worry while they wait to hear from the kidnappers.
Other Cases
In a sad and tragic precedent at the beginning of April 2009, the skipper of French yacht SY TANIT, Cpt. Florent Lemacon, was admittedly but apparently accidentally killed by French troopers in an ill-advised and blotched rescue attempt off the peninsula of Hafun on the North-Eastern Indian Ocean coast of Somalia. His wife and 3-year old son survived. The investigations and court procedures on this case have not been concluded, since the actions of the French naval forces have been shrouded in secrecy.
Thereafter in October 2008, the yacht SY LYNN RIVAL was abducted in the Indian Ocean. This is the boat from which the British sailors Paul and Rachel Chandler were captured on their trip from the Seychelles to Tanzania. Though the elderly couple survived also their transfer to first another ship, whereby the British Royal navy was watching - but had to hold back from any action for obvious reasons - and then to land, the two are now held since over a year hostage, while the case has been neglected and is surrounded by deals gone sour. While most serious media seem to have been muzzled on this case, a recent article in the British gutter-press, which also gave a false record of the events, demonstrated only once more the neglect which characterizes the fate of these British citizens since they were taken hostage by an unscrupulous gang.

Comoran-Flagged Vessel Hijacked

As Reported HERE

Somali pirates seize ship with 29 people on board

03/11/10 18:58 GMT

Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a Comoran-flagged vessel as it headed to Tanzania from the Comoros with 29 sailors on board, the European Union anti-piracy mission said.
The 43-metre-long (140-foot) merchant vessel Aly Zoulfecar was en route between the Indian Ocean archipelago and Dar Es Salam when it was attacked, the EU NAFOR mission said in a statement.
"On the morning of 3 November 2010, the master of the MV Aly Zoulfecar reported that pirates were on board," the statement said.
The ship was carrying nine crew members and 20 passengers. Among those on board, 13 were from Tanzania, 12 from Comoros and four from Madagascar.
The UN reported on Tuesday that Somali pirates had increased the number of successful hijackings in 2010, become more violent and expanded their attack zone.
The pirates staged 37 successful hijackings of ships in the first 10 months of 2010, up from 33 in the same period of 2009, the UN report said.

Pirates seize two ships off Kenya

As reported HERE

BERLIN – Somali pirates seized a German freight ship off the coast of Kenya on Sunday — the second commercial vessel to be captured in the region in as many days, officials said.
The pirates took control of the German freight ship Beluga Fortune about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) east of Mombasa, Kenya, a spokesman for the German army said on condition of anonymity, in keeping with military regulations.
The German shipping company Beluga-Reederei, which owns the vessel, said Sunday night that Somali pirates were behind the attack and that the ship was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to South Africa.
Verena Beckhusen, a spokeswoman for the Bremen-based company, declined to give further details regarding the crew or the cargo, but the German news agency dapd said the vessel was carrying at least two German citizens.
On Saturday night, pirates seized a liquefied gas tanker 105 miles (165 kilometers) off the coast of Kenya in the Somali Basin, said officials in Singapore, where the ship is registered.
The MV York was traveling from Mombasa to Mahe in the Seychelles with 17 crew when pirates commandeered it, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority said in a statement.
The authority said Sunday it was working with the ship's owner, York Maritime Co., and government agencies to recover the ship.
A Turkish warship sent a helicopter to investigate the attack, and its crew members saw pirates armed with weapons aboard the MV York, the European Union Naval Force said Sunday.
The 5,076-ton MV York had one German, two Ukrainians and 14 Filipinos aboard, the EU force said in a statement.

Asphalt Carrier Hijacked Off of Tanzania

As Reported HERE



Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
Early Wednesday, a Panama-flagged chemical tanker was hijacked off the Tanzanian coast.

The MT ASPHALT VENTURE was sailing from the Kenyan port of Mombasa to Durban in South Africa when it was boarded by pirates around 4 a.m. local time. The vessel is now headed towards Harardhere, a well known pirate base in Somalia.

The ship, with an Indian crew of 15, is managed by Mumbai-based Omci Ship Management Pvt and owned by Bitumen Invest AS of United Arab Emirates.

There have been a number of unsuccessful attacks in this area over the last few days in this areabut now a hijacking

15 Fishermen Killed by Pirates Since March, 2010

As Reported Here
15 fishermen have been killed by pirates since March, 2010

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—Zamboanga del Sur fishermen are urging the authorities to solve the problem of pirate attacks in Illana Bay.
The fishermen are also asking the Fishery Law Enforcement Team of the Illana Bay Alliance in Western Mindanao to reactivate a Navy sub-station in Pagadian City.
Ramon Abella, a representative of the fishermen, told reporters Thursday the pirate attacks had increased to an alarming rate lately and that the fishermen had formally asked the authorities, particularly the Fishery law Enforcement Team, to take action.
Abella said since March, 15 fishermen had died from pirate attacks on Illana Bay, particularly in the areas near Dinas town.
Illana is a major fishing area off Pagadian City and the towns of Tukuran, Tabina, Labangan, Dumalinao, San Pablo, Dinas and Diamataling.
The Philippine Coast Guard has confirmed the fatality figure.
Lt. Cmdr. Arman Balilo, PCG spokesperson, said eight of the victims since March were killed in the high seas off Pitogo, near Pagadian City.
Balilo said that aside from killing fishermen and taking away their valuables, pirates also occasionally stage kidnap-for-ransom activities.
Abella said some armed groups also extort money from fishermen.
He said the demand could range from P250 to P1,500 per month.
“Should this problem persist, we have only three options left: refuse to pay and stop fishing, pay the protection money and live through it, or for the government to solve the problem,” Abella said.
Zamboanga del Sur police director Senior Supt. Elmer Escosia said there was an urgent need to reactivate the Bantay Dagat in the affected towns.
Escosia agreed that the re-establishment of the Navy sub-station in Pagadian was also important in the campaign against piracy.
In 2008, a Naval Task Group was established in Pagadian.
During its first week of operation alongside Maritime police operatives, the NTG netted 21 suspected pirates.
The NTG was later dissolved for still unknown reasons.

Pirated Tug and Barge Found in Philippines

As Reported HERE 


The Philippines coast guard has apprehended a Malaysian barge and tugboat in the process of having their registration details altered off Mindanao island.

The coast guard service has filed a report to the Singapore-based office of Regional Cooperation Against Piracy and Armed Robbery.

The two vessels, found at sea near the southern Mindanao island, were reportedly hijacked in Indonesian waters some weeks ago.

Shirley Escalante reports from Manila that coast guard commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo believes the hijacked vessels are part of a regional trade in piracy of ships and smuggling.

He says an inspection team found the two vessels' descriptions in the process of being altered.

Information on the vessels' documents and in machinery, as well as their registration numbers and the names "Atlantic 3" on the tugboat and "Atlantic 5" on the barge were being defaced.

The coast guard is trying to establish the identity of suspects arrested on board.