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Pirates of the Somalian waters: Curse of the Filipino seafarers

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MARK JOSEPH UBALDE, GMANews.TV

MANILA, Philippines - The sea was peaceful that moonless evening of June 2006. Filipino seafarer Alfonso Constantino was on duty aboard the MV Sea Epoch, a Panamanian-flagged ship carrying coal from the Middle East to Asia.

As the carrier cruised smoothly off Somalia’s coast toward the Gulf of Aden, Alfonso noticed that the ship’s radar picked up three small vessels speeding behind.

“Through the telescope I could see them getting closer to the ship," Alfonso said. “At that point I said, ‘This is it, the pirates will hijack us.’"

Alfonso rushed to notify the ship’s Filipino captain, who immediately gave the command to sound the vessel’s warning siren. But the pirates were undeterred.

Speeding at 16 nautical miles per hour in the calm African waters, the fishing boats easily caught up with the ship.

The captain told Alfonso and the rest of the predominantly Filipino crew to assemble at the end of the ship and show their full force on the pirates.

“Some of us were shouting. Others waved broomsticks and thick wood slabs. The captain readied the fire house in case one of them gets stupid and decides to board the ship," he said.

An hour later, the 22-man crew managed to breathe a sigh of relief as the pirates of Somalia gave up and disappeared in the darkness.

Others aren’t as lucky as Alfonso.

Israel Lumpas, one of the two kidnapped seafarers on board the Japanese cargo ship MT Stolt Valor said his 62-day captivity in Somalia might have scarred him for life.

“It will take years for me to get over the harrowing experience," Lumpas, told online news site Khaleej Times before his scheduled return to Manila on Tuesday (November 25) evening.

Lumpas, 28, was kidnapped last September 15 when about 20 heavily-armed pirates boarded his ship and commandeered the vessel back to Somali shores.

“We were all very scared. They did not harm us, but kept threatening us. They were wielding AK47 rifles and carrying dozens of grenades, looked very fearsome and mean," he said.

Pirates guard the crew of the Chinese fishing vessel FV Tianyu 8 as it sails through the Indian Ocean on Nov. 13. Three Filipino seafarers are on board the ship. US Navy

A total of 17 vessels - that range from small fishing boats to huge oil supertankers – with 208 Filipino seafarers on board have been hijacked by Somali pirates this year. Through ransom allegedly paid by ship owners, 74 of the 208 seafarers have been released.

Unfortunately, 134 Filipino seafarers on board eight ships remain captive in Somalia.

The numbers are not surprising as Filipinos are present in all of the world’s ships. Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs executive director Crescente Relacion said one-third of the world’s shipping manpower requirement or an estimated 350,000 seafarers are supplied by Filipinos.

"This puts them at a very high risk (to abductions)," Relacion told GMANews.TV.

As the number of attacks continues to climb to alarming levels, the Philippine government has seen allies in other countries to put an end to the hijackings in the Horn of Africa.

But as the international community maintains to approach the issue of piracy with non-violent tactics, and the willingness of wealthy ship owners to pay millions in ransom, the Somali pirates remain to be a curse to Filipino seafarers.

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Q&A: Somali piracy

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'Experts' lead Saudi tanker talks

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Negotiations between Somali pirates and the owners of a captured Saudi tanker are being conducted by a multinational specialist firm, the BBC has learnt.

A reported figure of $25m (£17m) for the MV Sirius Star was denied by the company, which specialises in kidnap and ransom talks, shipping sources say.

Shipping industry experts expect the ransom for the tanker, its 25 crew, and $100m cargo of oil to be much higher.

Regional leaders at crisis talks have appealed for international help.

Senior officials from countries bordering the Red Sea, including Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia, met in Cairo and called for political, humanitarian and economic help from the international community.

Egypt's Deputy Foreign Minister, Wafaa Bassem, said Somalia had to be helped by the international community to stop it becoming a "magnet for pirates".

'World only cares about pirates' Press calls for collective action on pirates IMB piracy map The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

The captured tanker and its crew, which includes two Britons, are being held near the Somali port of Harardhere.

The BBC's Frank Gardner says the crew are believed to be being well treated while intensive discussions are being held by their captors over how best to proceed.

He says the Somali pirates are said to be stunned at the huge size of their catch and some want it to be treated as being worth the same as 10 ships.

Others, he says, are arguing for a quick deal at a reasonable price, aware that they may already be attracting unwanted attention from warships patrolling the area.

In a rare victory against the organised gangs, the Indian navy earlier said it had sunk a suspected pirate "mother ship" after it failed to stop for an inspection in the Gulf of Aden, several hundred kilometres north of the location where the hijackers boarded the Sirius Star.

Escort plea

Correspondents say the pirates who seized the Sirius Star on Saturday are a sophisticated group with contacts in Dubai and neighbouring countries.

Money from previous hijackings has been used to buy new boats and weapons as well as develop a network across the Horn of Africa.

On board a Nato warship heading towards Somalia

Shipping companies are now weighing up the risks of using the short-cut route to and from Europe via the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.

However, travelling around South Africa's Cape of Good Hope would add several weeks to average journey times and substantially increase the cost of goods for consumers.

Maersk, one of the world's biggest shipping firms, announced on Thursday that some of its fleet, mainly tankers, would no longer use the Gulf of Aden unless there were more naval escorted convoys.

BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut says there is currently no formal system of convoys in the area.

Indian and Russian ships are working independently in the region, while Nato and the US Navy are working together, advising merchant ships that they are in the area and can protect them.

Other warships are escorting World Food Programme ships carrying aid destined for Somalia, and merchant ships can travel with them as long as they do not slow them down.

A naval taskforce is due to be sent by the EU in December.

'World only cares about pirates'

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Ex-Somali Army Colonel Mohamed Nureh Abdulle lives in Harardhere - the town closest to where the hijacked Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star is moored. He tells the BBC, via phone from his home, that the town's residents are more concerned about the apparent dumping of toxic waste than piracy.

The Harardhere-born military man advises the town's elders on security matters and is in his fifties.

Somalia has been wracked by conflict since 1991 - when its last national government was forced from power.

The super-tanker is close to our coast. It is a very, very long ship. Some time ago we had our own problems of piracy in our town but that has not happened lately.

The people who have been hijacking these ships in our seas are not from our region. We do not know any of the guys on the super-tanker and they haven't made any contact with us.

You know, our problem is not piracy. It is illegal dumping.

These problems have been going for sometime and the world knows about it. The Americans have been here in the region for a long time now - they know about the pollution.

Instead, no, the world is only talking about the pirates and the money involved.

Mysterious illnesses

Meanwhile, there has been something else going on and it has been going on for years. There are many dumpings made in our sea, so much rubbish.

On patrol with the pirate hunters India navy 'to go after pirates' Press calls for action on pirates

It is dumped in our seas and it washes up on our coastline and spreads into our area.

A few nights ago, some tanks came out from the high sea and they cracked it seems and now they are leaking into the water and into the air.

The first people fell ill yesterday afternoon. People are reporting mysterious illnesses; they are talking about it as though it were chicken pox - but it is not exactly like that either. Their skin is bad. They are sneezing, coughing and vomiting.

This is the first time it has been like this; that people have such very, very bad sickness.

The people who have these symptoms are the ones who wake early, before it is light, and herd their livestock to the shore to graze. The animals are sick from drinking the water and the people who washed in the water are now suffering.

Isolated

We are people who live in a very remote town and here, we are isolated; we only rely on God.

This town is close to the sea. It is a very old town which has a mixture of Somali clans. It is not big but it has a well-knit community.

Our community used to rely on fishing. But now no-one fishes. You see, a lot of foreign ships were coming and they were fishing heavily - their big nets would wipe out everything, even the fishermen's equipment. They could not compete.

So the people here began farming and keeping greater numbers of livestock. Like in any other Somali town, all one can do is rely on oneself.

But now we have these medical hazards.

What can we do about it?

Kenya to host forum on piracy

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By OLIVER MATHENGEPosted Friday, November 21 2008 at 11:46

In Summary

• President directs Foreign minister to convene summit.
• Piracy result of international community failure to deal with internal politics of Somalia.

President Kibaki is set to host an international conference in Nairobi to discuss the escalating incidences of piracy along the East African coastline.

Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang’ula has said that the president has instructed him to convene the meeting at the earliest opportunity.

“The President has directed me to organise an international conference where he will take the leading role on the issue of piracy along the Indian Ocean waters.”

He was speaking at Hotel Intercontinental, Nairobi where he hosted heads of foreign missions in the country for a consultative meeting.

Ambassadors from various countries including Britain and Germany attended the meeting. Also in attendance was Kenya’s Defence minister Yusuf Haji.

Mr Wetang’ula said that he will request the envoys to organise for representation from the highest level of their governments to attend the conference.

He noted that the piracy situation in the Indian Ocean was as a result of the international community’s “collective failure” to deal with the internal political issues facing Somalia.

“The plot has been thickening day by day and has now turned into a major international enterprise affecting all of us,” he said.

He added that the fact that the pirates were now hijacking ships from as long as 800 kilometres from the shore showed that the problem was bigger.

Lauding a decision by India three days ago to destroy one of its hijacked vessels, Mr Wetang’ula said that all countries must now prepare to act tough on the pirates.

He said that Kenya would sanction Somali leaders and their families noting that they would not be allowed to stay in the country unless they sorted Somalia’s internal problems.

“Sometimes we must take decisions that are harsh as for the sake of humanity they are justifiable. We must stop this menace and hard decisions have to be taken.”

He added that Kenya does not support countries that are paying ransom for the release of their vessels and cargo noting that this amounted to paying off criminals.

Late last month, President Kibaki called on Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) member states to work with the international community to draw up a joint anti-piracy framework.

Red Sea nations condemn pirates, vow action

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(CNN) -- Red Sea nations in the Arab League met in Egypt's capital on Thursday to coordinate a common strategy against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia.

The Egyptian government hosted the meeting, which was attended by representatives of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Jordan, and Djibouti. A Somali transitional government official was also there.

The group issued a communiqué condemning all acts of piracy.

The communiqué said Arab nations around the Red Sea were principally responsible for security there and recommended establishing joint mechanisms between those countries to ensure the safety of shipping.

The group welcomed international and regional support in fighting piracy, and stressed the importance of coordination between the Red Sea Arab nations and regional and international bodies. Watch more about the pirates' tactics »

It also said Arab countries in that region should be open to having dialogues with other parties about the fight against piracy.

"We did not touch upon the military aspect, but we touched upon aspects related to promoting coordination, consultation and exchange of information, as well as focusing on the importance of regional arrangements, with particular reference to the establishment of the regional maritime center in Yemen," said Ali al-Ayashi, Yemeni deputy foreign minister.

The communiqué emphasized the importance of strengthening Arab and African cooperation to fight piracy and noted the respect the group has for the sovereignty, unity and independence of Somalia.

Wafaa Bassem, Egyptian deputy foreign minister and chair of the conference, said "the international community in the short term should help and support the transitional government of Somalia and the Somali people with humanitarian, economical and political support to be able to prevent piracy acts in this region."

The Gulf of Aden, which lies between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula, is the gateway to the southern Red Sea, which is linked to the Mediterranean Sea by the Suez Canal. See where pirates are operating »

Egypt has a lucrative industry from the shipping traffic in the Suez Canal, but it is concerned about shipping firms pursuing other routes to avoid the Gulf of Aden.

One Norwegian shipping firm, Odfjell SE, has ordered its vessels to avoid the waters off the Horn of Africa. Watch Maersk CEO describe risks to shipping »

That decision means that Odfjell SE's 90-plus ships will take the additional time and expense to sail around the southern tip of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal, a shortcut for mariners for nearly a century and a half.

Going around the Cape of Good Hope would add thousands of kilometers (miles) to a voyage from the Middle East to Europe or North America.