Best ways to deal with pirates off Somalia

[Artevelde]

The European Union is prolonging its naval mission along the Somalian coast and giving new instructions allowing for pursuit. But still troops are hamstrung by all sorts of rules.

Given current technology (satellites and such) the best response to the piracy off the Somalian coast seems to me to be the following:

1. Inform the Somali coastal communities that pirates attacking shipping will be traced back to where they started off from and that villages harbouring pirates will be legitimate targets for retaliation.

2. Station naval patrols off the Somalian coasts with orders to actively search for pirates before they attack shipping. Pirate boats found to contain weapons to be sunk and the pirates hanged.

3. All indentified shelters of pirates along the coast to be bombed and destroyed.

A sustained campaign of a few months should suffice to root out the problem.

 

[Douger]

Tell those snag toothed, inbred, Queen worshiping assholes to knock off the bullshit.
Piracy in Somalia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[JStone]

Tell those snag toothed, inbred, Queen worshiping assholes to knock off the bullshit.
Piracy in Somalia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Send the pirates to Ireland since the Irish drunks there wouldn't notice.

 

[waltky]

Argh matey, piratin' ain't what it used to be...

12 suspected pirates detained after ship sends call for help
January 10, 2013 — U.S. and French sailors helped detain 12 suspected pirates near the Somalia coast after a nearby merchant ship sent out a distress message, NATO officials announced this week.

The Panama-flagged merchant ship sent the call for help Sunday after it was approached by a suspected pirate skiff while en route from Oman to Kenya, NATO’s Allied Maritime Command said in a news release. The merchant ship’s armed security team exchanged fire with the suspected pirates, who eventually moved away. The ship continued toward Kenya after sustaining minor damage. Meanwhile, NATO directed the nearby USS Halyburton toward the position of the suspected pirates.

Within hours, Halyburton’s crew located and detained 12 suspected pirates on board a motor whaler that appeared to be acting as a “mothership” for smaller pirate skiffs, according to NATO. The pirates were being detained aboard the European Union naval task force’s French frigate Surcouf pending the results of a legal investigation. There were 278 piracy attacks worldwide and 27 hijackings in 2012 as of Dec. 3, according to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre. Of those, Somali pirates were linked to 71 incidents and held 147 hostages in late 2012.

It’s a stark drop from 2009, when piracy attacks climbed to 406, according to the maritime bureau. NATO has overseen anti-piracy efforts near the Horn of Africa since late 2008. The operation was extended last year through the end of 2014. Roughly 22,000 ships travel through the Gulf of Aden near northern Somalia each year, according to NATO. The frigate USS Halyburton joined NATO’s anti-piracy force in September, replacing the USS Taylor after a seven-month deployment, according to NATO.

Source

 

[Capnyc]

Sure ain't

 

[LAfrique]

The European Union is prolonging its naval mission along the Somalian coast and giving new instructions allowing for pursuit. But still troops are hamstrung by all sorts of rules.

Given current technology (satellites and such) the best response to the piracy off the Somalian coast seems to me to be the following:

1. Inform the Somali coastal communities that pirates attacking shipping will be traced back to where they started off from and that villages harbouring pirates will be legitimate targets for retaliation.

2. Station naval patrols off the Somalian coasts with orders to actively search for pirates before they attack shipping. Pirate boats found to contain weapons to be sunk and the pirates hanged.

3. All indentified shelters of pirates along the coast to be bombed and destroyed.

A sustained campaign of a few months should suffice to root out the problem.

About Somali Piracy:

Somali "piracy" which began in the early 2000s is in fact Somalis effort to deter illegal dumping, fishing and pollution. It is no secret that the US (which refused to sign the ratified Basel Convention and the major exporter of toxic wastes) and some European nations prefer to use "third world" nations as dump sites for harmful wastes that they would not bury in their own nations!

Until 1995 when the Basel Convention was ratified, making it illegal to dump toxic wastes in developing nations, several "developed" nations dumped their toxic wastes in developing nations; most in Africa. Unfortunately, even when the governments of developing nations under the original Basel Convention could accept toxic wastes, some willingly accepted without knowing the contents, seeing some were sent under false labels.

Driven by a Self-Defense doctrine, the International Protective Principle and the Precautionary Principle give coastal nations not only the power, but the obligation to take affirmative actions to prevent people from degrading world marine resources. Accordingly, Nations whose resources are threatened by illegal fishing, dumping and pollution are given the right under both the protective and precautionary principles to take action! The US, Soviet Union and others have in the past seized vessels and/or arrested violators operating within their high seas jurisdiction.

These considered, it appears the Somali "pirates" are acting in accordance with International laws! A vessel just does not go in the high seas jurisdiction of another nation (especially if its flag nation is noted for violations), unless of course when in distress - in which case, the trespasser will have to bear the burden of proof. Some nations, such as the US, even have national rules governing activities in the high seas for their coastal states for those portions of the high seas considered the territory of the US. Please see Oregon's ORS chapter 509.365 and ORS 509.015.

I believe the Somalis and all coastal nations should continue to protect and defend their territories! The Somalis are within the rights given them by International laws. No one, and definitely no nation, should succumb to intimidation tactics by bullies, jingoes, seeking to dominate them -

It is obvious the lack of respect for others and disregard for the rights of others in their territories appear to be the major problem in most of our International disputes. Learn to show respect for the rights of other nations, or else keep out!

(The above is excerpt from my Punished for Being Patriots? Complete article is online.)

 

[waltky]

Aye matey, piratin' ain't what it used to be...

Hired Guns Causing Drop in Somali Pirate Attacks
February 12, 2013 — Posted between septuagenarian passengers in deck chairs, lookouts stand watch over the Gulf of Aden, scanning the horizon for pirates.

After more than half a decade of Somali men attacking Indian Ocean shipping from small speedboats with AK-47s, grappling hooks and ladders, the number of attacks is falling fast. The last merchant ship to be successfully hijacked, naval officers monitoring piracy say, was at least nine months ago. It's a far cry from the height of the piracy epidemic two years ago, when several ships might be taken in a single week to be traded for airdropped multi-million dollar ransoms.

But as the Queen Mary 2, one of the world's most recognisable ocean liners, passes through the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and out towards Dubai, its owners and crew are taking few chances. "The pirates have weapons and are not afraid to use them,'' Commander Ollie Hutchinson, the British Royal Navy liaison officer aboard the liner for its trip through the Indian Ocean, tells a briefing of passengers in the ship's theatre. "Once the pirates have identified their target, they will try whatever means they can to get on board.'' To underline his point, he displays a picture of an Italian helicopter hit by small arms fire from a pirate dhow late last year followed by assorted images of gunmen holding AK-47 assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades.

In truth, the Queen Mary 2 - carrying 2,500 passengers and 1,300 crew from Southampton to Dubai on the first leg of a world cruise - is not particularly at risk. Some 345 metres long and 14 stories high, even its promenade deck is seven floors above the sea. The liner is fast, hard to board and - on this passage at least - moderately well armed. Like many merchant vessels, the QM2 now carries armed private contractors when passing through areas of pirate risk. Cunard will not discuss precise security arrangements. But contractors on other vessels routinely carry M-16-type assault rifles and sometimes belt-fed machine guns, often picked up from ships acting as floating offshore armouries near Djibouti and Sri Lanka.

Additional lookouts from the ship's regular onboard security force - mostly Filipinos - are also posted on the main deck to give warning of any suspicious craft. "Depending on what happens with attacks, I'm hopeful we may be able to reduce our security measures when we pass through the same waters next year,'' says Commodore Christopher Rynd, senior captain of the British-based Cunard line and current master of the QM2. "But that's not a decision we will be making at this stage.''

A Changing Game?