Northern Somalia News

Many ships unwilling to wait for warship-escorted convoys now use a detachment of 4 or 5 armed guards as they transit pirate high-risk areas. At the moment there's a booming market in security guards for merchant ships plying the waters off Somalia and adjacent areas (Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, western Indian Ocean, Straits of Hormuz). An on-board security detachment will cost them about $40,000 for the short trip through pirate infested waters. According to industry insiders 'Security Page', it's not just the armed former soldiers and marines now riding on the most choice targets that scare off the pirates but also all the dozens of boats (the size of seagoing fishing boats) that ferry the armed guards between African and Arabian ports to the ships that are to be guarded.

Remarks by Andrew J. Shapiro, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, given to the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC (March 27, 2012). Thank you for inviting me here today. I want to thank the Center for American Progress [CAP] for having me here to speak on the important subject of piracy off the Horn of Africa. CAP is a tremendous leader in developing new ideas and in approaching issues in new ways. I come here before you today to talk about an issue that the Obama administration has also had to approach in new and innovative ways. Despite the romantic notions surrounding piracy of previous centuries, modern day piracy represents a new and complex threat to the international community.

The NATO Shipping Centre reported that an Italian tugboat and its crew of 16, seized by pirates off the Gulf of Aden in April, have been released, according to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in a statement on August 9. Frattini told Sky Italia TV he had been given the news by the Somali prime minister. The ship's release was the result of "exceptional work" on the part of Somali authorities and the Italians, he said. The pirates hijacked the Italian-flagged Buccaneer on April 11 with a crew of 10 Italians, 5 Romanians and one Croatian and took it to a point close to Las Qoray, a fishing village in a disputed area of northern Somalia. The ship is now on its way to the port of Djibouti, escorted by naval vessels.