Pirates are getting aggressive in Somalia; the most recent example is an attack on a cruise ship.
The pirates were in two small boats and were carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio...
"There's some minor damage done to the ship," Rogers said. "There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."
Somali piracy has endangered food aid in the region.
The hijacking in June of a ship carrying World Food Programme food aid has drawn international attention to the problem, but piracy represents a risk to any vessel calling at Somali ports, or bypassing the country's long coastline on the voyage between East Africa and the Red Sea...
"There is no central government in Somalia, and no effective law enforcement," [Jayant Abhyankar of the International Maritime Bureau] says. "This makes it ideal ground for any kind of crime, particularly maritime crime."
Armed men in speed boats often open fire on passing ships, hoping to seize them and get a ransom for the vessels and the crew, the IMB says.
The IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre says that have been 21 incidents since 15 March off the Somali coast. "Stay as far away as possible unless calling at a Somali port", the IMB advises, with 150 nautical miles (280 km) being considered a reasonable distance.
It also says that radio communications, including VHF, should be kept to a minimum near the Somali coast.
As well, al Qaida is apparently engaged in destabilization:
Police in breakaway Somaliland battled al-Qaida suspects armed with assault rifles and hand grenades, capturing five, officials said Friday...
This AP report from 2003 cites an alleged United Nations draft report's conclusions that al Qaida operatives who engaged in the 2002 Kenya attacks trained in Somalia.
The draft report, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, details how an al-Qaida cell trained in Mogadishu in November 2001, smuggled surface-to-air missiles from Somalia to Kenya in August 2002, then fled back to Somalia after attacking a Kenyan resort hotel and an Israeli charter aircraft on Nov. 28.
It's possible that piracy is being used as alternative terrorist financing.
No comments:
Post a Comment