The war against pirates in waters surrounding Somalia continues. Ships continue to be taken and crews held against their will by Somali criminals. Not everyone is happy with the way the World's navies deal with the problem.
A modern navy is trained to deal with air threats, missiles, land mines and submarines but in Somalia they face tiny foes who do not care about human life and worship - crave cash.
One organisation monitors the battles and is not happy with what it perceives is happening. Ecoterra produced a report which is published by International.to to assist the debate about piracy.
ECOTERRA Intl. feels it is necessary to bring some clarity into local rumours, false website reports and naval spin.
THE RECENT CASES
23 April 2011 (officially reported ONLY on 10. May 2011). EU NAVFOR French warship FS GUÉPRATTE attacked an not clearly identified fishing dhow , presumably an Iranian-flagged vessel, that had been pirated over a year ago carrying a fast attack skiff. The French warship and her helicopter closed with the suspect vessel in an attempt to stop her escaping to sea and fired warning shots to stop the dhow but she continued on her way. After a conversation between the suspected pirates and a Somali-speaking crew-member on the FS GUEPRATTE, the pirates abandoned the attack skiff with its powerful outboard motor [N.B.: Only 60hp] and fled back to Somalia. Vessel and crew are still held hostage.
03. May 2011 (official report provided 0n 05..May.2011) U.S.American warship USS BAINBRIDGE hailed the Pakistani dhow MSV AL SAADI (aka JELBUT 07) to stop. The pirates surrendered to the NATO warship without any shots being fired. Subsequently the crew of the dhow comprising 15 hostages were released. The Pakistani master claimed to have been pirated over six-months ago and his vessel used as a mother ship to attack merchant ships. The fate of the six arrested Somali pirates and one Somali collaborator has not been revealed yet. Further clarification is also required concerning the surviving crew, because the original crew, believed to also have senior Iranian sailors as members was listed to be 22. One sailor reportedly died earlier, but now only either 15 or 16 Pakistanis (from different naval accounts) were found on the dhow.
Tuesday 10. May 2011 (So far NO official report apart from one line by NATO posted on 11. May 2011 and saying the vessel had "been retaken from the pirates") Taiwanese fish-poacher and piracy-launch FV Jin Chun Tsai 68.
The fate of the remaining four sailors - the Taiwanese captain along with two Chinese and one Indonesian seamen - could not yet be definitely established. 10 Indonesians had been released earlier and were not on board when the vessel was attacked by a presumed NATO warship. Likewise the official naval centres have not declared anything about the fate of the Somalis on board. Local reports stated clearly that the Taiwanese captain ad three pirates were killed and it appears that the U.S.American is responsible for this. Already on Easter Sunday, 24. April 2011, US warship, USS Stephen W. Groves, operating as part of NATO’s counter piracy mission - Operation Ocean Shield - and being part of the Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2), fired upon and destroyed two unmanned pirate skiffs towed by FV Jin Chun Tsai 68 while it was attached to freshly sea-jacked Rosalia s'Amato. As of May 12 2011, 09h00 UTC, the fishing vessel was partially submerged and adrift in position 08-51.18N and 054-33.25E according to unofficial sources, but in the meantime allegedly sunk. Neither the U.S.American navy nor NATO have so far accounted for the dead, the survivors or the arrested. Injured Somalis with burn-wounds treated in Galkayo say they came from that vessel (not from FV PRANTALAY 12) and had escaped in a skiff.
Thursday 12. May 2011 - morning (officially report released only on 15. May 2011): Danish warship ESBERN SNARE attacked an earlier pirated, most likely Iranian flagged dhow, named only as "JELBUT 24" (not her real name) by the navies. All of the 16 Iranian hostages on board were freed unharmed, while four Somalis were killed, ten injured and all together 24 Somalis arrested. The Danish navy again (see previous case in the status section below on the Iranian vessels) just dumped the bodies of the dead Somalis into the sea, without having made contact with Somalia - the authorities or the families. The Danish navy made the statement only after human rights group ECOTERRA Intl. had publicly reprimanded the missing transparency in the naval actions. The 24 captured Somalis are still on board the warship as Danish authorities consider criminal proceedings, the Danish ministry reported. According to Danish newspaper Politiken "the four dead pirates were buried at sea according to Nato procedure and Muslim tradition". NATO has so far not made a statement that such would be NATO's procedure, for it to be a "Muslim tradition" is disputed and it is definitely against Somali tradition. Analysts believe that here just the same media spin is applied and a unsuitable solution aped like in the disposal of Osama bi Laden's body. Already several lawmakers in Mogadishu have openly protested and demanded that all those Somalis killed by the navies on the waters must be brought back to Somalia for the purpose of proper investigations and not at least a decent and appropriate burial. The Danish on ESBERN SNARE also were responsible for a botched attack on MV BELUGA NOMINATION earlier in the year, which caused the death of three crew members.
Background:
"JELBUT 24" is believed to be FV NN IRAN (Reg: 4/2742) : Seized January 14, 2010. The Iranian fishing vessel with the Registration Number 4/2742 and her 16 crew was seized by Somali pirates together with a second Iranian fishing vessel and since then was missing and wanted.
Friday 13. May 2011 - morning (official report given 15. May 2011): Portuguese warship NRP Vasco da Gama hindered an unidentified dhow to leave from the Somali coast. Warning shots fired from warship and helicopter pushed the commandeered dhow back to anchorage. No casualties or injuries reported.
Friday 13. May 2011 - afternoon (official report given 14. May 2011): French warship FS NIVOSE fired warning shots at the unidentified dhow and then snipers from the Estonian Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) on board the French ship opened targeted fire to destroy the outboard engines of the two skiff on board of the dhow until the skiffs were abandoned. It is believed to be the Iranian fishing vessel, which was seized March 02, 2009 with her 29 crew.
Sunday 15. May 2011 - (NO official report yet). A dhow was disrupted by a navy and set free. The dhow was identified as the freshly seized AL SHAMSIS(not to be confused with Iranian SHAMSIR). The boat was sea-jacked only a few days earlier by a pirate group using the Iranian dhow MSV AL KHALIL (aka AL-KHALEEL). Further local and the official reports are awaited, for which also the families of the hostages are eagerly waiting.
THE PRANTALAY CONFUSION
Local reports concerning a naval attack on FV PRANTLAY 12 confused the different cases above and the reports on the many injured, 3 killed Somalis and the killed captain actually stem from the case of FV Jin Chun Tsai 68, for which the navies have not yet accounted.
FV Prantalay 12, the last of a fleet of three seized fish-poaching vessels had remained at the Ceel Dhanaane coast until recently when she was commandeered onto a piracy mission, but came back without having achieved anything. The Prantalay corporate fleet is a group of 14 ships based in Thailand and exports as Union Frozen Products under the management of Dr. and Mrs. Thongchai Tavanapong. Their seemingly lack of interest in the welfare of the hired crew was also a conspicuous part of the Prantalay saga, stated the Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
The vessel was now used as supply vessel for the other hostage ships. Mid May 2011 the pirate group holding the vessel was attacked by another armed Somali group and was then forcibly taken over. The second group allegedly first had the consent of the owner and were geared up by the Somali broker, who had received the ransom money but then disappeared for months, to "liberate" the vessel. Several crew members of this vessel reportedly already had died of mal-nutrition and disease during the many month of the hostage crisis. Now a release is expected, though local onservers maintain that the second group is also a pirate group and is expecting now their share from the earlier paid ransom, which caused the delay in the release, confusing even NATO, who had communications with the pirates. Now a release by the second pirate group is expected. If that is only concerning the remaining crew or also the vessel, which was termed not seaworthy remains to be seen.
Meanwhile the vessel with the new Somali group on board went towards Eyl, while the previous group have mounted for a larger counter-attack to retake the vessel. NATO stated today, 16. May 2011, that "FV Prantalay 12 release should be concluded today", but local observers could not confirm this until nightfall.
OUTLOOK
Murder
"THEY GET AWAY WITH MURDER," an analyst recently proclaimed, and when asked to clarify he added: "All sides - the pirates, the mercenaries and the navies - all get away with outright murder, while even most mainstream media, the insurances and the intermediate companies are colluding likewise on all sides. This will be it as long as the obviously multilaterally agreed "business as usual" can continue. Piracy of innocent merchant vessels, like other transboundary organized underworld crime, is deeply rooted in the "upper-world"-societies they live off and all directly involved parties shun the light of transparency, because it could spoil the business."
Transparency is the enemy of all lucrative businesses
Studies from Hamburg as well as Rio de Janeiro, London and New York outlined clearly how many overpriced boutiques and their fashion houses, entertainment industries, hotels and other "honest" businesses would immediately collapse, if the money from the grey zones would no longer pour in. And if the crime is actually serving as counterpoise for the prospering of the military-industrial complex, as it is the case with anti-terrorism or anti-piracy, the crimes are here and set to stay, even if it would be not difficult - like in the Somali piracy with proper development inside Somalia more than anything else - to really end it.
As long as the benefits of this war are actually benefiting or influencing so many of the decision makers the scourge will continue and transparency or the real truth will remain the first victims of this war too - like elsewhere.
Source: www.international.to
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