Link to Article
KUALA LUMPUR - SEAFARERS have reported a surge in attacks by armed pirates in a South China Sea shipping lane, an international maritime watchdog said Thursday.
Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre, said there had been eight attacks off Indonesia's Mangkai island in the past two weeks.
'It appears one or more groups of pirates are operating in the area. Pirates are armed with guns and machetes and robbed vessels of cash and crew valuables,' he told AFP.
Since February the IMB has been informed of 26 attacks in the area, he said, adding that the maritime body had asked Indonesia to beef up patrols to prevent further incidents.
Mangkai island lies on a busy sea passage running along the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. It is a major route for ships heading between East Asian nations and the Pacific Ocean.
After passing Mangkai they continue into the Malacca Strait, which was once the world's top piracy hotspot. In recent years however attacks there have dropped dramatically, thanks to coordinated patrols by border nations. -- AFP
03 September 2010
In the heart of a Somali pirates' lair
Link to Article
HOBYO, Somalia — 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.
On his first encounter with foreign journalists, Mohamed Garfanji, Somalia's top pirate boss, talks sparingly and has the edginess of a wanted man who never lowers his guard and is always planning his next move.
His eyes only stop scanning his surroundings when he breaks his silence, speaking with an intense gaze that is both menacing and playful.
Speaking to AFP in the town of Wisil in central Somalia, he thumbs through his mobile phone picture gallery for shots he and his boys took of foreign tuna seiners off the coast of Hobyo, their nearby base.
"See this one? Only a few months ago, 20 miles from Hobyo... And this one, a big Spanish ship," Garfanji says, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
"Now your armies have sent their soldiers so you can continue to take our fish," he says, clenched fist and gold wrist watch sticking out of the sleeve of a warm dark blue bomber jacket.
His sidekicks nod silently as they devotedly chew their daily bundle of khat, a narcotic leaf widely consumed in Somalia and whose stimulant qualities make it particularly prized by pirates.
His is a Robin Hood narrative of Somali piracy as a struggle by dispossessed fishermen against vessels from Europe and Asia violating Somalia's exclusive economic zone and poaching its abundant tuna under naval protection.
Three centuries before him, charismatic pirate Black Sam Bellamy railed against the powers "who rob the poor under the cover of the law" while "we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage."
In Hobyo the following morning, one of his top lieutenants, Mohamed, stands on the beach, clutching his machine gun behind his neck like a balancing pole, ammunition belts snaking down from his shoulders.
The sand-charged wind blows his black-and-white checkered keffieh and cigarette smoke into his face as he squints at the imposing figure of a hijacked Korean supertanker anchored on the horizon.
"This one is bigger than Hobyo," he says proudly.
The Marshall Islands-flagged VLCC Samho Dream is a third of a kilometre long, one of three largest vessels ever hijacked by pirates, and carries an estimated 170 million dollars of Iraqi crude destined for the United States.
"Enough to buy the whole of Galkayo," Mohamed quips, in reference to the region's largest city, which straddles the border with the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
Fighting a losing battle against the sand that has already completely covered the old Italian port, Hobyo's scattering of rundown houses and shacks looks anything but the nerve centre of an activity threatening global shipping.
"We have no schools, no farming, no fishing. It's ground zero here," says chief local elder Abdullahi Ahmed Barre. "And our most pressing concern is the sand, the city is disappearing, we are being buried alive and can't resist."
Gathered in the gloom of the council building, the elders haven't seen a foreigner in years and the list of grievances is long.
"The nearest hospital is an eight-hour drive on a rough road", "The water is undrinkable, too salty", "When the tsunami struck, nobody helped", "This is one of the most peaceful parts of Somalia, why is there no assistance?"
Leaning discreetly against the door frame, Garfanji is listening keenly.
Hobyo pirates have collected millions of dollars in ransoms over the past two years. They even have currency checking and counting machines for the bags of air-dropped cash they receive.
Key players drive well-equipped Land Cruisers, have built new, slightly more stately houses and married more wives.
Yet Hobyo is anything but a booming town, so where does all the money go?
Residents say a significant portion of their income is lavished on post-ransom binges of khat, alcohol and prostitutes but the pirate leaders insist much of the cash is re-invested to expand.
"When we get more money, we recruit more," says Fathi Osman Kahir, a key Hobyo-based piracy "investor", who acts as a kind of pirate treasurer.
When a ship is hijacked, he pays for running costs such as increased onshore security, diesel for generators and basic supplies for captors and captives. When a ransom comes in, he takes the lion's share.
"There's up to 500 people working with us in Hobyo, that's 10 percent of the population and I'm just talking about the people on the ground... We have a hierarchy. What do you think we do? We pay wages too," he says.
A visit to Hobyo by the secretary of state for security of the fledgling local administration of Galmudug, Ismail Haji Noor, doesn't send the pirates scurrying into hiding.
"What am I going to do? Arrest them all? Even if I had the means as security minister to challenge them, it's pointless if I don't have something to offer, if nobody can provide an alternative," Noor says.
A former military man and a successful businessman who spent half of his life in Britain, Noor is lobbying donors in Nairobi for elusive development aid he hopes could make the pirates lay down their grapnels.
"There is no difference between life and death if you have nothing to eat... Of course, what we do is criminal, it's undeniable. We don't love what we are doing but there is no choice," says Kahir.
While Noor would like to see Hobyo's pirate army turned into a legitimate defence force and a coastguard protecting Somali waters from both residual piracy and illegal fishing, foreign assistance has not been forthcoming.
Now the biannual inter-monsoon season favourable to piracy is just around the corner and September may be too good to sit out even for the least committed of pirates.
On the beach of Hobyo, Mohamed Ali, a shark fisherman, says his catches are meagre, his fuel costs high and his boat inadequate.
"Being with the pirates has advantages and disadvantages," he admits. "I have not yet decided whether to join or not."
HOBYO, Somalia — 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.
On his first encounter with foreign journalists, Mohamed Garfanji, Somalia's top pirate boss, talks sparingly and has the edginess of a wanted man who never lowers his guard and is always planning his next move.
His eyes only stop scanning his surroundings when he breaks his silence, speaking with an intense gaze that is both menacing and playful.
Speaking to AFP in the town of Wisil in central Somalia, he thumbs through his mobile phone picture gallery for shots he and his boys took of foreign tuna seiners off the coast of Hobyo, their nearby base.
"See this one? Only a few months ago, 20 miles from Hobyo... And this one, a big Spanish ship," Garfanji says, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
"Now your armies have sent their soldiers so you can continue to take our fish," he says, clenched fist and gold wrist watch sticking out of the sleeve of a warm dark blue bomber jacket.
His sidekicks nod silently as they devotedly chew their daily bundle of khat, a narcotic leaf widely consumed in Somalia and whose stimulant qualities make it particularly prized by pirates.
His is a Robin Hood narrative of Somali piracy as a struggle by dispossessed fishermen against vessels from Europe and Asia violating Somalia's exclusive economic zone and poaching its abundant tuna under naval protection.
Three centuries before him, charismatic pirate Black Sam Bellamy railed against the powers "who rob the poor under the cover of the law" while "we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage."
In Hobyo the following morning, one of his top lieutenants, Mohamed, stands on the beach, clutching his machine gun behind his neck like a balancing pole, ammunition belts snaking down from his shoulders.
The sand-charged wind blows his black-and-white checkered keffieh and cigarette smoke into his face as he squints at the imposing figure of a hijacked Korean supertanker anchored on the horizon.
"This one is bigger than Hobyo," he says proudly.
The Marshall Islands-flagged VLCC Samho Dream is a third of a kilometre long, one of three largest vessels ever hijacked by pirates, and carries an estimated 170 million dollars of Iraqi crude destined for the United States.
"Enough to buy the whole of Galkayo," Mohamed quips, in reference to the region's largest city, which straddles the border with the neighbouring semi-autonomous state of Puntland.
Fighting a losing battle against the sand that has already completely covered the old Italian port, Hobyo's scattering of rundown houses and shacks looks anything but the nerve centre of an activity threatening global shipping.
"We have no schools, no farming, no fishing. It's ground zero here," says chief local elder Abdullahi Ahmed Barre. "And our most pressing concern is the sand, the city is disappearing, we are being buried alive and can't resist."
Gathered in the gloom of the council building, the elders haven't seen a foreigner in years and the list of grievances is long.
"The nearest hospital is an eight-hour drive on a rough road", "The water is undrinkable, too salty", "When the tsunami struck, nobody helped", "This is one of the most peaceful parts of Somalia, why is there no assistance?"
Leaning discreetly against the door frame, Garfanji is listening keenly.
Hobyo pirates have collected millions of dollars in ransoms over the past two years. They even have currency checking and counting machines for the bags of air-dropped cash they receive.
Key players drive well-equipped Land Cruisers, have built new, slightly more stately houses and married more wives.
Yet Hobyo is anything but a booming town, so where does all the money go?
Residents say a significant portion of their income is lavished on post-ransom binges of khat, alcohol and prostitutes but the pirate leaders insist much of the cash is re-invested to expand.
"When we get more money, we recruit more," says Fathi Osman Kahir, a key Hobyo-based piracy "investor", who acts as a kind of pirate treasurer.
When a ship is hijacked, he pays for running costs such as increased onshore security, diesel for generators and basic supplies for captors and captives. When a ransom comes in, he takes the lion's share.
"There's up to 500 people working with us in Hobyo, that's 10 percent of the population and I'm just talking about the people on the ground... We have a hierarchy. What do you think we do? We pay wages too," he says.
A visit to Hobyo by the secretary of state for security of the fledgling local administration of Galmudug, Ismail Haji Noor, doesn't send the pirates scurrying into hiding.
"What am I going to do? Arrest them all? Even if I had the means as security minister to challenge them, it's pointless if I don't have something to offer, if nobody can provide an alternative," Noor says.
A former military man and a successful businessman who spent half of his life in Britain, Noor is lobbying donors in Nairobi for elusive development aid he hopes could make the pirates lay down their grapnels.
"There is no difference between life and death if you have nothing to eat... Of course, what we do is criminal, it's undeniable. We don't love what we are doing but there is no choice," says Kahir.
While Noor would like to see Hobyo's pirate army turned into a legitimate defence force and a coastguard protecting Somali waters from both residual piracy and illegal fishing, foreign assistance has not been forthcoming.
Now the biannual inter-monsoon season favourable to piracy is just around the corner and September may be too good to sit out even for the least committed of pirates.
On the beach of Hobyo, Mohamed Ali, a shark fisherman, says his catches are meagre, his fuel costs high and his boat inadequate.
"Being with the pirates has advantages and disadvantages," he admits. "I have not yet decided whether to join or not."
02 September 2010
Somali pirates ally with both sides in war
Link to Article
HOBYO, Somalia, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Local Somali leaders increasingly align with former pirate foes to fight a much graver common enemy -- the militant al-Shabaab Islamic movement, officials say.
But some pirates are also believed to side with the Shabaab, one of Africa's most fearsome radical Islamic groups, elders said.
"We just don't have the forces" to fight the Shabaab, Ismail Haji Noor, a government official in the ancient harbor city of Hobyo, in north-central Somalia's Mudug region, told The New York Times.
"Squished between the (pirates and the Shabaab), we have to become friends with the pirates," Noor said.
The movement, which has a full name of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahedin, or the Movement of Warrior Youth, says it wages a holy war against "enemies of Islam" and declared its alliance with al-Qaida Feb. 1.
It is said to control most of Somalia's southern and central parts, including "a large swath" of the capital, Mogadishu.
Once the Shabaab take over an area, they impose a harsh, distorted form of Shariah, the sacred law of Islam, banning music, soccer, even bras. Offenders can get their hands chopped off or their heads bashed in with rocks, the Times said.
But while pirate gangs, which hijacked more than 30 ships off the Somali coast this year, now collaborate with Noor and other local officials to protect coastal villages from the Shabaab, other pirates recently split their ransoms with the Shabaab and the Hizbul Islam Islamic insurgent group that plans to merge with the Shabaab, elders told the Times.
This could be the beginning of "the West's worst Somali nightmare" -- piracy and Islamic radicalism combining forces, the Times said.
The Shabaab last month infiltrated a hotel in Mogadishu's government zone and gunned down more than 30 people, including four lawmakers.
HOBYO, Somalia, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Local Somali leaders increasingly align with former pirate foes to fight a much graver common enemy -- the militant al-Shabaab Islamic movement, officials say.
But some pirates are also believed to side with the Shabaab, one of Africa's most fearsome radical Islamic groups, elders said.
"We just don't have the forces" to fight the Shabaab, Ismail Haji Noor, a government official in the ancient harbor city of Hobyo, in north-central Somalia's Mudug region, told The New York Times.
"Squished between the (pirates and the Shabaab), we have to become friends with the pirates," Noor said.
The movement, which has a full name of Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahedin, or the Movement of Warrior Youth, says it wages a holy war against "enemies of Islam" and declared its alliance with al-Qaida Feb. 1.
It is said to control most of Somalia's southern and central parts, including "a large swath" of the capital, Mogadishu.
Once the Shabaab take over an area, they impose a harsh, distorted form of Shariah, the sacred law of Islam, banning music, soccer, even bras. Offenders can get their hands chopped off or their heads bashed in with rocks, the Times said.
But while pirate gangs, which hijacked more than 30 ships off the Somali coast this year, now collaborate with Noor and other local officials to protect coastal villages from the Shabaab, other pirates recently split their ransoms with the Shabaab and the Hizbul Islam Islamic insurgent group that plans to merge with the Shabaab, elders told the Times.
This could be the beginning of "the West's worst Somali nightmare" -- piracy and Islamic radicalism combining forces, the Times said.
The Shabaab last month infiltrated a hotel in Mogadishu's government zone and gunned down more than 30 people, including four lawmakers.
30 August 2010
Man pleads guilty in pirate attack on Ashland
Link to Article
WASHINGTON — A Somali man pleaded guilty Friday to piracy-related charges for attacking a Navy ship in what the defendant said was a case of mistaken identity.
Jama Idle Ibrahim told authorities he intended to attack a merchant vessel to hold it for ransom and discovered that he was attacking a Navy ship instead.
Ibrahim entered the plea in federal court in Norfolk, Va.
“Today marks the first conviction in Norfolk for acts of piracy in more than 150 years,” U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. “Modern-day pirates must be held accountable.”
Ibrahim and five other Somalis chased a ship they believed was a merchant vessel and started firing at the ship and the people on board before they were captured, according to court papers in the case.
The piracy-related acts to which Ibrahim pleaded guilty were attacking to plunder a vessel, engaging in an act of violence against people on a vessel and using a firearm during a crime of violence, all in connection with an attack against the dock landing ship Ashland on April 10.
Earlier this month, a judge dismissed piracy charges against the six Somalis. A conviction on the charge of piracy itself carries a mandatory life term.
The piracy-related charges carry a range of sentences from 10 years to life in prison.
The plea agreement said both parties agreed a sentence of 30 years in prison is appropriate. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 29.
Separately, Ibrahim was charged Friday in Washington, D.C., with an alleged act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against a merchant vessel, the M/V CEC Future. In a document called a criminal information, Ibrahim was accused of conspiracy to commit piracy under the law of nations and conspiracy to use a firearm during a crime of violence.
A criminal information can only be filed with the defendant’s consent to waive consideration of his case by a grand jury; it typically signals that a person is preparing to enter a plea of guilty in a deal with prosecutors
WASHINGTON — A Somali man pleaded guilty Friday to piracy-related charges for attacking a Navy ship in what the defendant said was a case of mistaken identity.
Jama Idle Ibrahim told authorities he intended to attack a merchant vessel to hold it for ransom and discovered that he was attacking a Navy ship instead.
Ibrahim entered the plea in federal court in Norfolk, Va.
“Today marks the first conviction in Norfolk for acts of piracy in more than 150 years,” U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. “Modern-day pirates must be held accountable.”
Ibrahim and five other Somalis chased a ship they believed was a merchant vessel and started firing at the ship and the people on board before they were captured, according to court papers in the case.
The piracy-related acts to which Ibrahim pleaded guilty were attacking to plunder a vessel, engaging in an act of violence against people on a vessel and using a firearm during a crime of violence, all in connection with an attack against the dock landing ship Ashland on April 10.
Earlier this month, a judge dismissed piracy charges against the six Somalis. A conviction on the charge of piracy itself carries a mandatory life term.
The piracy-related charges carry a range of sentences from 10 years to life in prison.
The plea agreement said both parties agreed a sentence of 30 years in prison is appropriate. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 29.
Separately, Ibrahim was charged Friday in Washington, D.C., with an alleged act of piracy in the Gulf of Aden against a merchant vessel, the M/V CEC Future. In a document called a criminal information, Ibrahim was accused of conspiracy to commit piracy under the law of nations and conspiracy to use a firearm during a crime of violence.
A criminal information can only be filed with the defendant’s consent to waive consideration of his case by a grand jury; it typically signals that a person is preparing to enter a plea of guilty in a deal with prosecutors
International operation intercepts pirates off Somalia
Link to Article
LONDON — Japanese, EU and NATO forces cooperated on Sunday to intercept pirates who were preparing to attack ships in the Gulf of Aden, the NATO counter-piracy task force said.
A Japanese Maritime Self Defence (JMSDF) aircraft spotted a pirate skiff with seven suspected pirates on board and alerted a helicopter from the Danish warship Esbern Snare under NATO command, which intercepted the skiff.
"Subsequently the suspected pirates threw their weapons overboard and surrendered," a NATO statement, released in London, said.
An Italian helicopter from another vessel under NATO command provided support for the operation.
Crew members from an American warship, the USS Kauffman, also in NATO's counter-piracy operation, boarded the skiff and found a ladder pirates used to board ships "and other pirate-related paraphernalia," the statement added.
"Once again the cooperation between ships and aircraft from different counter-piracy forces has proven immensely valuable," the commander of the NATO counter-piracy task force, Commodore Christian Rune, said.
The Danish ship involved in Sunday's operation also helped to foil a pirate attack on Saturday in response to a call for help from a merchant vessel.
Naval missions have boasted success in curbing pirate attacks but the number of hijacked ships and detained sailors remains at one of its highest levels since Somali piracy surged in 2007.
Unofficial figures show 2009 was the most prolific year yet for Somali pirates, with more than 200 attacks -- including 68 successful hijackings -- and ransoms believed to exceed 50 million dollars.
The NATO counter-piracy operation, codenamed Operation Ocean Shield, and the EU anti-piracy command are based in the London suburb of Northwood.
LONDON — Japanese, EU and NATO forces cooperated on Sunday to intercept pirates who were preparing to attack ships in the Gulf of Aden, the NATO counter-piracy task force said.
A Japanese Maritime Self Defence (JMSDF) aircraft spotted a pirate skiff with seven suspected pirates on board and alerted a helicopter from the Danish warship Esbern Snare under NATO command, which intercepted the skiff.
"Subsequently the suspected pirates threw their weapons overboard and surrendered," a NATO statement, released in London, said.
An Italian helicopter from another vessel under NATO command provided support for the operation.
Crew members from an American warship, the USS Kauffman, also in NATO's counter-piracy operation, boarded the skiff and found a ladder pirates used to board ships "and other pirate-related paraphernalia," the statement added.
"Once again the cooperation between ships and aircraft from different counter-piracy forces has proven immensely valuable," the commander of the NATO counter-piracy task force, Commodore Christian Rune, said.
The Danish ship involved in Sunday's operation also helped to foil a pirate attack on Saturday in response to a call for help from a merchant vessel.
Naval missions have boasted success in curbing pirate attacks but the number of hijacked ships and detained sailors remains at one of its highest levels since Somali piracy surged in 2007.
Unofficial figures show 2009 was the most prolific year yet for Somali pirates, with more than 200 attacks -- including 68 successful hijackings -- and ransoms believed to exceed 50 million dollars.
The NATO counter-piracy operation, codenamed Operation Ocean Shield, and the EU anti-piracy command are based in the London suburb of Northwood.
25 August 2010
Statement by Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, during a Security Council Debate on Piracy
Link to Article
Let me begin by thanking the Secretary-General for his thoughtful report examining the options for prosecuting suspected pirates and imprisoning convicted ones. We hope very much that this report will help enlighten all concerned about the very real challenges we all face in this area. We also commend the Russian Federation for leading the call for this report and drawing attention to this important issue.
Mr. President, piracy is an old problem that has taken on troubling modern form. It continues to affect us all through increased risk to our citizens, disruption of global commercial shipping, and damage to property and goods. Ultimately, only security and stability in Somalia will resolve the root causes of its current piracy problem. Even so, the states and international organizations participating in the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, including the UN, have made considerable contributions to the effort to suppress piracy in this critical region.
But significant challenges remain. The United States commends the efforts of individual states, the European Union’s Operation Atalanta, NATO’s Operations Allied Protector and Ocean Shield, and the Combined Maritime Forces’ Combined Task Force 151 to combat piracy and protect vulnerable ships making their way through the waters off the Somali coast. Still, these tremendous naval efforts will be of limited effect if suspected pirates are captured and released without judicial consequences when there is sufficient evidence to support prosecution. As the UN report notes, prosecution of suspected pirates and imprisonment of convicted ones are essential to end impunity for acts of piracy.
The Secretary-General’s report provides a balanced, thorough review of the pros and cons of seven distinct options on the issue. There are no easy answers to the exercise of bringing pirates to justice, and we welcome all creative ideas for tackling this thorny problem. Any long-term solution will require political will and financial resources from the international community and the states in the region.
The options in the Secretary-General’s report reflect discussions within the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia over the past two years, particularly in the Legal Working Group. The United States has been pleased to play an active role in the Contact Group, which is both an effective means of coordinating counter-piracy initiatives and a valuable and appropriate forum for building on the observations in the UN report.
We’re particularly grateful that the Secretary-General’s report discusses at length the vital issue of imprisonment. We agree with the report’s assessment that having sufficient arrangements for imprisonment in the region is just as important—if not more so—than the mechanism for prosecution. In fact, if such imprisonment arrangements could be identified, many more states may be willing to prosecute suspects in their national courts.
Mr. President, the United States welcomes the Secretary-General’s appointment of Jack Lang as the UN Special Advisor on Piracy. We look forward to working closely with him and coordinating our efforts.
Mr. President, let us be clear on the underlying dynamics involved. Ultimately, as has been said, the problem of piracy off the Horn of Africa will not be solved until Somalia is stabilized. To that end, the United States continues to strongly support the Djibouti Peace Process and the Transitional Federal Government.
Mr. President, the tragic events which took place yesterday in Mogadishu, which resulted in the death and injury of innocent civilians, including Members of the Somali Parliament, underscores the urgency with which we must address the terror and hardship all Somalis face on a daily basis. The United States joins our fellow Council members and the Secretary-General in condemning in the strongest possible terms these murderous acts, and we pledge our continuing support to AMISOM, the UN and the TFG in their efforts to bring peace and stability to this important country and hope for the future of the Somali people.
Thank you, Mr. President.
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. President.Let me begin by thanking the Secretary-General for his thoughtful report examining the options for prosecuting suspected pirates and imprisoning convicted ones. We hope very much that this report will help enlighten all concerned about the very real challenges we all face in this area. We also commend the Russian Federation for leading the call for this report and drawing attention to this important issue.
Mr. President, piracy is an old problem that has taken on troubling modern form. It continues to affect us all through increased risk to our citizens, disruption of global commercial shipping, and damage to property and goods. Ultimately, only security and stability in Somalia will resolve the root causes of its current piracy problem. Even so, the states and international organizations participating in the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, including the UN, have made considerable contributions to the effort to suppress piracy in this critical region.
But significant challenges remain. The United States commends the efforts of individual states, the European Union’s Operation Atalanta, NATO’s Operations Allied Protector and Ocean Shield, and the Combined Maritime Forces’ Combined Task Force 151 to combat piracy and protect vulnerable ships making their way through the waters off the Somali coast. Still, these tremendous naval efforts will be of limited effect if suspected pirates are captured and released without judicial consequences when there is sufficient evidence to support prosecution. As the UN report notes, prosecution of suspected pirates and imprisonment of convicted ones are essential to end impunity for acts of piracy.
The Secretary-General’s report provides a balanced, thorough review of the pros and cons of seven distinct options on the issue. There are no easy answers to the exercise of bringing pirates to justice, and we welcome all creative ideas for tackling this thorny problem. Any long-term solution will require political will and financial resources from the international community and the states in the region.
The options in the Secretary-General’s report reflect discussions within the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia over the past two years, particularly in the Legal Working Group. The United States has been pleased to play an active role in the Contact Group, which is both an effective means of coordinating counter-piracy initiatives and a valuable and appropriate forum for building on the observations in the UN report.
We’re particularly grateful that the Secretary-General’s report discusses at length the vital issue of imprisonment. We agree with the report’s assessment that having sufficient arrangements for imprisonment in the region is just as important—if not more so—than the mechanism for prosecution. In fact, if such imprisonment arrangements could be identified, many more states may be willing to prosecute suspects in their national courts.
Mr. President, the United States welcomes the Secretary-General’s appointment of Jack Lang as the UN Special Advisor on Piracy. We look forward to working closely with him and coordinating our efforts.
Mr. President, let us be clear on the underlying dynamics involved. Ultimately, as has been said, the problem of piracy off the Horn of Africa will not be solved until Somalia is stabilized. To that end, the United States continues to strongly support the Djibouti Peace Process and the Transitional Federal Government.
Mr. President, the tragic events which took place yesterday in Mogadishu, which resulted in the death and injury of innocent civilians, including Members of the Somali Parliament, underscores the urgency with which we must address the terror and hardship all Somalis face on a daily basis. The United States joins our fellow Council members and the Secretary-General in condemning in the strongest possible terms these murderous acts, and we pledge our continuing support to AMISOM, the UN and the TFG in their efforts to bring peace and stability to this important country and hope for the future of the Somali people.
Thank you, Mr. President.
16 July 2010
Issue Letters of Marque Against Somali Pirates! - First Things (blog)
Issue Letters of Marque Against Somali Pirates! - First Things (blog): "
"
Link to Article
Issue Letters of Marque Against Somali Pirates! First Things (blog) 2: The Somali militant group Al-Shabab has been arming and training pirates in exchange for a share of their spoils, says a newly released Canadian ... and more » |
Link to Article
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)