Topic: The Threat of Modern Piracy

[S.M.A.]

Quite an interesting situation. Kudos to the crew of the USS James E. Williams! 

Avaassst ye pirates!!! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!  )

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=97598

US ship helps North Korea vessel crew overpower Somali pirates

Agence France-Presse

MOGADISHU - The US Navy helped the crew of a North Korean cargo vessel regain control of their freighter in a violent struggle Tuesday after it was captured by pirates off Mogadishu port, it said.

At least two attackers died in the clashes and five were captured, while three of the 22-strong crew of the MV Dai Hong Dan crew were seriously injured, the Bahrain-based US Naval Forces Central Command said.

The USS James E. Williams responded after the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau passed on a distress signal from the North Korean ship following its seizure by pirates overnight Monday.

"Three seriously injured crew members have been transferred to the James E. Williams for treatment," the statement said.

"Initial reports from the crew are that five pirates were captured and two are dead. The pirates remain aboard the Dai Hong Dan."

The North Korean ship was headed to the Somali port of Aden with casualties on board, said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenya chapter of the Seafarers' Assistance Program.

Earlier Ali Gabow Jillo, the Mogadishu trader who had contracted the vessel, told AFP that the US Navy had helped it regain control.

Mogadishu port security officials said the pirates who seized the North Korean boat were members of a Somali clan who were meant to be guarding it.

"The crew members have taken control of the ship after defeating the eight men who hijacked it last night," said Dahir Hassan, an elder in the Somali port of Haradere.

"There are casualties, but we are not sure of the exact number of dead or injured," he added. "Now the ship is out there and some government forces and businessmen from Mogadishu have been dispatched to the area."

Mwangura confirmed the release of the freighter, which was contracted by Mogadishu traders to deliver general cargo.

"We have information that ship has been rescued," Mwangura, who monitors maritime transport, told AFP from the port town of Mombasa.

"We are waiting for the ship to return to port ... so that we can get more information," he added, explaining that initial reports indicated the "crew members were from southern Asia nations."

African Union peacekeepers charged with protecting the port said the vessel was outside their operation area.

"It was far away from the seaport, it was at the anchorage. The hijacking was masterminded by the same people who were supposed to bring it into the docking," captain Paddy Ankunda told AFP.

Ankunda said the militiamen had asked for 15,000 dollars (10,000 euros) to free the freighter, which arrived in Mogadishu 10 days before and had already unloaded its cargo.

The incident was the second piracy attack off Somalia's 3,700 kilometer (2,300 miles) coastline in recent days.

On Sunday, a Japanese chemical tanker with 23 Korean, Filipino and Myanmar crew on board was hijacked off the coast of northern Somalia.

"Four other vessels remain under pirate control off the coast of southern Somalia," said the statement from the US Navy, part of the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa (CTF 150), based in Djibouti to fight terrorism in the volatile region.

The CTF-150 also operate under international maritime conventions to secure international waters for commercial shipping and fishing.

Rampant piracy off Somalia's vast coastline stopped in the second half of 2006 during six months of strict rule by an Islamist movement, ousted by Ethiopian and Somali government troops at the end of the year.

The French navy is due mid-November to deploy a vessel to protect UN World Food Program-charted ships, which have been targeted while ferrying supplies to Somalia in recent months.

Somalia lies at the mouth of the Red Sea and has lacked a functional government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle.

[S.M.A.]

The USS Porter is shadowing the Japanese tanker Golden Nori, which has been taken over by Somali pirates.

YAAR! More action on the high seas!  Hopefully the USN will end this latest act of piracy soon enough by retaking the vessel and rescuing its crew. 

But on a more serious note, this is just the latest in the drama this week involving Somali pirates, since another group of them seized a North Korean vessel early this week, but were stopped by the USS James E. Williams, as described in an earlier thread:

http://forums.army.ca/forums/index.php/topic,67625.0.html

Here's the link to the Porter-Golden Nori chase:

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,155427,00.html?wh=wh

Navy Tracking Pirated Japanese Tanker
Associated Press  |  November 02, 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya - The U.S. Navy on Friday kept its eye on a Japanese tanker taken over by pirates off Somalia's coast, while a top U.S. official said piracy remains a "very serious security problem" in the region.

Earlier this week, a North Korean tanker overrun by pirates was taken back after crew members overpowered the hijackers in a bloody fight. The hijackers were being held aboard the ship until they can be handed over for prosecution at a port.

The U.S. Navy's also came to the aid of the Japanese chemical tanker this week, with the guided missile destroyer USS Porter at one point opening fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to it. On Thursday, the U.S. Navy said that it intended to remove the pirates from the Japanese tanker.

The pirates have demanded a Navy ship close to the hijacked vessel move away, said Tess Villanueva, wife of the crew's foreman, Laureano Villanueva. It was unclear whether the Porter, which is part of the coalition force in the area, is the ship closest to the Golden Nori.

"Apparently the Navy ship was getting closer to them," she told The Associated Press in the Philippines. "The good news would be if they (the pirates) leave the ship."

She said the information was relayed to her late Thursday by Redentor Anaya, vice president for operations of SeaCrest Maritime Management Inc., which recruited the Filipino crew for the Golden Nori.

Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain confirmed Friday that the Navy continues to monitor the Japanese ship. She couldn't say if the Navy was in direct radio contact with the pirates but said: "They have ability to contact us. All the ships have bridge-to-bridge radios."

After the clash on the North Korean boat, Navy personnel boarded the vessel to treat the wounded. The U.S. efforts came despite its hostile relations with the communist country over its nuclear program.

"You'll always find our Navy prepared to help any ship in distress and certainly any ship that is confronting pirates," said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top American envoy to six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament.

"This is a very serious security problem on the African coast. These are not pirates who will remind you of Johnny Depp. These are quite different kinds of pirates," Hill told reporters in Seoul, South Korea.

"So, I think we were pleased to be able to help in this regard and I hope the (North) understands that we did this out of the sense of goodwill that we have on this," he said.

Robertson agreed. "Piracy is an ongoing and growing issue off the coast of Somalia," she said. "The pirates haven't shown they're slowing down operations, and we'll continue to monitor those vessels. ... We're trying to work to get the pirates off the vessels."

Negotiations have started for the release of the Japanese tanker, anchored in Somali waters with 23 crew members from the Philippines, South Korea and Myanmar, said Josefina Villanueva.

She said there had been no ransom demand from the pirates. "The talks are just starting. I think the pirates will later on demand something," she said.

On Friday, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos said the captain of the ship contacted the Japanese company that owns the vessel the day before and reported the crew was fine.

There has been no direct contact between the Philippine government and the pirates, he added.

"The problem is there is no central government in control (in Somalia)," Conejos said.

The Golden Nori was carrying a load of benzene when the USS Porter fired on two pirate boats tied to the tanker Sunday, sinking both. Benzene, an industrial solvent, is both highly flammable and can be fatal if too much is inhaled. The U.S. military said it was aware of what was onboard when it fired at the skiffs.

Somali pirates are trained fighters, in some cases linked to powerful Somali clans, outfitted with sophisticated arms and equipment, including GPS satellite instruments. They have seized merchant ships, aid vessels, and once even a cruise ship.

The United States also has supported efforts to quell an Islamic insurgency in Somalia.

Somalia has been without a functioning government since warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned on each other. The current government was formed in 2004, but has struggled to assert any real control.

[GAP]

Somali pirates leave ships under U.S. Navy escort
Updated Sun. Nov. 4 2007 9:44 PM ET The Associated Press
Article Link

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Somali pirates gave up control of two ships hijacked months earlier and U.S. Navy escorted the boats to safer waters Sunday as it stepped up efforts to bring security to the seas off the chaotic Horn of Africa nation.

The pirates climbed into small skiffs and headed back to Somalia after speaking by radio to U.S. naval personnel. A Navy ship and helicopter guided the South Korean-owned boats Mavuno 1 and 2 further out to sea.

It was the third time in a week the U.S. has intervened to help ships hijacked by Somali pirates. Sailors boarded a North Korean ship to give medical assistance to crew members who overpowered their hijackers, and a U.S. naval vessel fired on pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese-owned ship.

Naval personnel boarded the South Korean-owned ships and gave medical checkups to the crew, said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. No injuries were reported. The two Tanzanian-flagged boats were seized May 15.

The Navy was also urging pirates to leave the Japanese ship and two hijacked boats in the region and sail back to Somalia, she told The Associated Press.
More on link

[S.M.A.]

Yet another hijacked ship's crew is freed from Somali pirates by the USN! It was a Taiwanese vessel this time.

  MSNBC.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. helps free Taiwan ship held by pirates
Navy wants to secure key routes between Red Sea and Indian Ocean
The Associated Press
updated 8:29 a.m. PT, Mon., Nov. 5, 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya - The U.S. Navy on Monday helped free the fifth ship in a week hijacked by Somalia pirates, attempting to bring security to crucial shipping routes between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

Pirates released the Taiwanese fishing vessel 5½ months after seizing it. U.S. naval personnel have been telling the pirates by radio to abandon hijacked vessels, get back in their small skiffs and return to Somalia.

“We encourage pirates to leave the ships,” said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. “We tell them, you get in the skiff, you leave, you do not take any hostages.”

Robertson said the Navy was in contact with two remaining ships held by pirates in Somali waters.

The latest fishing vessel freed by the U.S. Navy had two Taiwanese and 12 Chinese crew members aboard when it was hijacked 137 miles off the coast of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in May.

Pirates killed one of the crew members in June, according to Andrew Mwangura, head of Seafarers Assistance Program’s Kenyan chapter. The International Maritime Bureau said it had heard reports of a shooting but had no official confirmation of the death.

Two other boats hijacked by Somali pirates in May were freed after U.S. Navy personnel spoke to them by radio.

U.S. sailors also boarded a North Korean ship to treat crew members who overpowered their hijackers, and a U.S. naval vessel fired on pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese-owned ship.

Somalia’s lawless coastlines are a haven for heavily armed pirates who use speedboats with Global Positioning System equipment, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades. The country has lacked a functioning government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other.


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21638095/


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MSN Privacy . Legal
© 2007 MSNBC.com 

[S.M.A.]

USN officers suspect these Somali pirates are operating from "mother ships" within Somali waters.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,157377,00.html

Hunting Pirate 'Mother Ship'
Associated Press  |  By Katharine Houreld  |  December 02, 2007
Pirates from two small skiffs seized the crew of a Japanese vessel off anarchic Somalia's coast. American forces fired on the skiffs and destroyed them. Now the navies of the U.S. and 19 other countries are after bigger prey.

The U.S.-led coalition working to secure sea lanes beset by pirates believe skiffs like the ones used in the attack on the Japanese ship must have come from elusive "mother ships."

"The small boats which are used for piracy could not travel" from shore as far into the ocean as ships have been attacked, said Commodore Khan Hasham of Pakistan, one of the U.S. allies in the anti-piracy operation. "So they needed a mother ship from which the pirates could launch skiffs."

Aboard the Pakistani navy ship Babur, Pakistani special forces load their rifles and meticulously go through their drills, readying themselves to board suspicious vessels and search for weapons. U.S. Navy officers aboard swap theories with their Pakistani counterparts about where the mother ships could be.

Coalition officials are reluctant to name all the countries involved or the number of warships involved because of security concerns, and because cooperating with America is a delicate political issue in the tense oil states of the Persian Gulf.

Pakistan's relations with the U.S. have also been strained since President Pervez Musharraf imposed a state of emergency Nov. 3. But Musharraf remains a necessary partner and ally in the U.S. war against terror - al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may be hiding on the Pakistani frontier with Afghanistan.

This week, Pakistani sailors on the Babur and Americans on the USNS John Lenthall waved at each other across the waves during a refueling exercise, their captains chatting over short wave radio.

Their patrols address a growing problem. The International Maritime Bureau has recorded 31 attacks off Somalia this year but believe many more go unreported.

The 31 includes the seizure a month ago of a Japanese tanker carrying as much as 40,000 tons of highly explosive benzene in the Gulf of Aden.

Initially, American intelligence agents worried terrorists from Somalia's Islamic extremist insurgency could be involved and might try to crash the boat into an offshore oil platform or use it as a gigantic bomb in a Middle Eastern port.

When the Japanese vessel was towed back into Somali waters and ransom demanded, the coalition was relieved to realize it was just another pirate attack.

The more recent attack on a separate Japanese vessel occurred some 85 nautical miles from Somalia in the busy lanes used by boats entering the Suez Canal - too far for the two small boats carrying pirates to have come from shore. Some attacks are even farther from land, as much as 250 nautical miles, Hasham said.

The pirates boarded the Japanese vessel before their skiffs were destroyed and remain aboard. The U.S. Navy has in the past persuaded pirates to abandon ships they have boarded and still hoped to do so in the case of the Japanese vessel - though that might be complicated now that the pirates no longer have skiffs on which to leave.

No warship has located a mother ship yet, although that could be due to the continuos radio chatter they put out to warn pirates that they are patrolling the area in an effort to deter attacks. However, numerous ship captains have reported seeing the bigger pirate vessels.

"I thought it was an ordinary ship, then I saw two small fast motorboats coming from it toward us," Capt. Ling Xinshen, now safely in Mombasa, Kenya, said in recounting his vessel's seizure by pirates. He and his crew were held for ransom for seven months on the ship by pirates who killed one crew member.

Ling said he never again sighted the mysterious mother ship that loomed up so suddenly the sunny afternoon his ordeal began.

Everyone has a theory about where the mother ships hide. Cmdr. Robert D. Katz of the USS Stout says Somali national waters remain a blind spot for the coalition forces because they are barred from patrolling that territory. International maritime law says a country is responsible for law enforcement within 12 miles of its own coast, but Somalia is a failed state.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Now the weak transitional government and its Ethiopian allies are battling an Iraq-style Islamic insurgency.

The chaos, combined with connections between the pirates and powerful figures in key Somali clans that receive multimillion-dollar ransoms, mean that pirate ships can cruise the ragged coastline with relative impunity.

Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenya-based East Africa Seafarers' Assistance Program, says the mother ships melt into the ordinary shipping traffic without notice once they have disgorged their packs of speedboats. Coalition warships have frequently passed a mother ship without even realizing, he says.

The mother ships don't carry weapons, he says, preferring to arm two or three smaller boats with anti-tank missiles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. They leave the small boats at sea, possibly with another boat loaded with fuel. When a merchant ship comes into view, the small, fast boats attack as a pack.

Mother ships simply blend in among the fishing vessels, Mwangura said. "They won't find it until there are no fishing vessels in Somali waters."

[S.M.A.]

Yet another update on the Somalia pirate situation...

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,158535,00.html?wh=wh

Navy Notches a Win in War on Pirates
Washington Post  |  By Ann Scott Tyson  |  December 18, 2007
The U.S. Navy is adopting more aggressive tactics to counter piracy off the coast of Somalia, helping last week to make the area free of captured vessels for the first time since February, according to a senior U.S. Navy commander in the region.

The pirates, Somali clansmen and trained fighters armed with AK- 47 assault rifles, operate in small skiffs as far as 200 miles offshore, according to the U.S. military. They have hijacked and held as many as six merchant ships for ransoms of millions of dollars since February, the military said.

In the past, pirates counted on being able to flee into territorial waters, but in recent months, U.S. naval ships have gained permission to pursue them and cut off their access to fresh supplies.

"We positioned the ships and helicopters ... to have complete visibility between the beach and the pirated vessel," said Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. 5th Fleet. Two U.S. ships at a time, each with about 300 sailors, were involved in the operations, part of a broader maritime security mission around the Horn of Africa, he said.

"We told them, 'You will not be able to resupply, and if you want to send a boat out to remove yourselves, you have to ask for approval,'

"Cosgriff said Friday in a telephone interview from his headquarters in Bahrain.

In addition, the Navy has destroyed the pirate ships "as a repressive measure," Cosgriff said. "They were disabled" with gunfire, "cut adrift, and sunk as hazards to navigation."

In the latest incident, pirates hijacked the Japanese-owned ship Golden Nori in October and released it Wednesday, the last of several captured vessels. The U.S. ships involved in the pursuit included the Norfolk-based guided missile destroyer Porter, named after Commodore David Porter, known for his counterpiracy exploits in the West Indies in the 1820s. Cosgriff said that at least 200 pirates operate from three camps along the Somali coast and that until now they had been "modestly successful."

The pirates, Somali clansmen and trained fighters armed with AK- 47 assault rifles, operate in small skiffs as far as 200 miles offshore, according to the U.S. military.

[Colin P]

Hanging from the Yardarm worked wonders before, and is culturally sensitive.

[tomahawk6]

The Golden Nori was released.


GULF OF ADEN (Dec. 15, 2007) Merchant vessel Golden Nori transits under the escort of the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) following its release from Somalia-based pirates Dec. 12. Pirates seized the Panamanian-flagged vessel Oct. 28 and held the 23-man crew hostage in Somali territorial waters. The release marks the first time in more than a year that no ships are held by Somali pirates. Whidbey Island is deployed to the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet area of responsibility in support of maritime security operations. U.S. Navy photo by Lt.j.g. Joe Donahue (Released)

[S.M.A.]

Yet another update: USN warships fire on Somali pirate vessels.

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,161915,00.html?wh=news

US Warships Fire on Somali Pirates
Associated Press  |  February 12, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia - U.S. warships fired on Somali pirates trying to resupply colleagues who hijacked a Danish-owned tug boat, a district commissioner said Monday.

"Some of the artillery shells hit around the coastline but no human casualties were reported. Unfortunately the gangs escaped," Abdullahi Said, the district commissioner for Eyl, told the AP by phone.

The hijacked ship, which has six crew members onboard, is stationed around 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Eyl, he said. The coastal town is some 900 kilometers (560 miles) north of the capital, Mogadishu.

All crew members on the Svitzer Korsakov - a British captain, an Irish engineer and four Russian crew - were believed to be unharmed.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, which oversees operations off the pirate-infested Somali coast, said she had not heard about the incident.

But Denise Garcia said the U.S. Navy had been monitoring the ship since Feb. 4, three days after it was hijacked off the coast of Puntland, a semiautonomous region of northeast Somalia. She said U.S. warships had communicated with the pirates by radio and "encouraged them to leave the ship and let it go."

The U.S. Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region. In one incident last year, the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opened fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker.

Piracy is increasingly common along Somalia's 3,000-kilometer (1,880-mile) coast, which is the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean.

Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off the Somali coast last year.

The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose by 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years as sea robbers made a strong comeback. Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have its own navy and the transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to assert control.

[S.M.A.]

The French military is keeping a close eye on a large French luxury yacht seized by Somali pirates recently, waiting for a chance to retake the yacht and rescue its crew.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23970089/

PARIS - France's military is keeping close tabs on a French luxury yacht seized by pirates off Somalia's coast, and officials hope to avoid using force to free the 30 crew members, the prime minister said Saturday.

Attackers stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant on Friday as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM said.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said officials were "following the hostage situation minute by minute."

[DualCore]

Can anyone provide more info on the activities of the Charlottetown Sea Kings on the kidnapped French cruise ship near Somalia?  I see a few references from AP that they are Canadian, but CNN implies they are French, and I haven't bumped into much of a reference from Canadian media.  For all the grief devoted to the the Sea Kings, this looks like a successful operation that deserves to be acknowledged.

[NFLD Sapper]

Only mention of canadian involvment is what I highlighted.

Article Link

Somali official: pirates have docked hijacked boat
April 6, 2008 - 15:29

By: Salad Duhul, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A French luxury yacht seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden has arrived in the northern Somali town of Eyl with a reported 30 crew members aboard as hostages.

A French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sunday that the hostages, the majority of them French nationals, had all been provided with food and given the opportunity to wash.

The diplomat declined to say how officials had learned the information.

The French Foreign Ministry said it was in close contact with the hostage's families and that attempts were being made to establish contact with the hostage-takers.

About 10 pirates stormed the 88-metre Le Ponant on Friday as it was returning, without passengers, from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. The pirates then guided the vessel down Somalia's eastern coast.

France's prime minister said Saturday that he hoped to avoid using force to free the crew but that no options had been ruled out. The hostages included 22 French citizens, six of them women, as well as Ukrainian citizens, authorities said.

Abdirahman Mohamed Bangah, minister for information in the semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland, said local officials had "no objection" to the presence of international forces in the area.

"We hope they will rescue this ship," he said.

A French frigate, Le Commandant Bouan, temporarily was diverted from NATO duties and tracking the yacht, French military spokesman Cmdr. Christophe Prazuck said Saturday. He said an airplane dispatched from a French base in Djibouti flew over the yacht, reporting that all appeared calm aboard the ship.

The Canadian frigate HMCS Charlottetown, deployed in the Arabian Sea, also dispatched a Sea King helicopter to provide assistance.

"The helicopter flew over the vessel in question and took some imagery and they handed that (imagery) back over to the task force," said Capt. Lori Pothier at the Defence Department in Ottawa on Sunday.

"Right now, there's no further Canadian involvement in the incident," Pothier said.

Local fisherman Mahdi Daud Anbuure told The Associated Press via VHF radio that he was among those who saw the yacht arriving in Eyl, about 500 kilometres north of the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

"We also saw a small boat, apparently carrying food supplies, to the pirates heading toward it," he added.

According to the website of the company that owns the ship, the three-mast vessels features four decks, two restaurants, and indoor and outdoor luxury lounges. It can hold up to 64 passengers, although none were reportedly aboard when the vessel was seized.

Le Ponant was next scheduled to carry passengers as part of a trip from Alexandria, Egypt, to Valletta, Malta, starting April 19. Prices for the cruise started at $3,465, not including air fare or taxes.

More than two dozen ships have been seized by pirates off Somalia's coast in the last year.

In August, Denmark's government paid a ransom to win the release of the crew of a Danish cargo ship hijacked by pirates and held captive for about two months.

The U.S. navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region. Last year, the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opened fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker.

But an increase in naval patrols has coincided with a rash of kidnappings of foreigners on land.

Somalia - racked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy - does not have its own navy, its armed forces are poorly paid and the transitional government formed in 2004 with UN help has struggled to assert control.

Two UN contractors currently are being held hostage in the south, and several aid workers and a French journalist have been seized in the past few months.

Two police officers were killed and another was wounded late Saturday during the attempted kidnapping of a German aid worker, according to Bangah, the information minister. Four people were arrested.

The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose 10 per cent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years.

- With files from The Canadian Press

[Carcharodon Carcharias]

These pirates are just pathetic, getting away with this.

As far as I am concerned, lead by example, and the only way to negociate with them is one way, 4B1T as a mininum!

[DualCore]

Hmmm, discussion of HMCS Charlottetown should be conducted in The Mess ... Foreign Militaries ... French Navy ..., for some reason.

[geo]

Allowing the pirates to go on like this is only encouraging them to do it again and again and again.

Put a stop to it!  There are enough military vesssels in that area of the world, hem them in and give them no choice other than - do you want to live OR die  

[Jim Seggie]

ARRGGGGGHHHH MATEY!!! Pirates ye say?
Capture them and hang em from the Yardarm.....publicly.

[S.M.A.]

Update: the hostages have been freed as the French military holds 6 pirates in custody.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/04/11/yacht.pirates/index.html#cnnSTCText

French hold six pirates after hostages released
NEW: French troops hold six pirates after release of 30 hostages

President Sarkozy says situation resolved without incident

French officials had been in negotiations with pirates since Sunday

Seized boat was monitored by French Navy warship and aircraft.
Paris, France (CNN) -- French troops are holding six pirates after the 30-member crew of a luxury yacht hijacked a week ago off Somalia's coast were released, officials said Friday.

The French armed forces resolved the hostage-taking without incident, Sarkozy said in a statement that gave no details.

At a later news conference, the French military said it had captured six of the pirates who had left the ship and returned to the mainland.

The original group of pirates was believe to number between 12 and 16 people.

Sarkozy thanked the French army and other state officials who helped negotiate the release, and said he would again receive members of the hostages' families later Friday.

Pirates seized the 288-foot, three-masted yacht last Friday. No passengers were on board.

French authorities made contact with the pirates on Sunday and sent an elite intervention group to Djibouti, which borders Somalia, to reinforce negotiations, the French Foreign Ministry said.

Authorities also monitored the yacht's movements with a small Navy warship and reconnaissance aircraft, the ministry said.

The white yacht, named "Ponant," sails on luxury cruises around the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea, according to its Web site. The vessel has 32 cabins and four decks, plus lounges, a bar, and a restaurant.

The Ponant -- which translates as "West" in French nautical usage -- is owned by the Marseille, France-based Compagnie des Iles du Ponant.

Twenty-two of the crew are French, Sarkozy's office said. Six were from the Philippines, AP reported.

Pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia are common.

The International Maritime Bureau says pirates have seized four vessels, including three tankers, in the same area since February.

The IMB calls some parts of the Somali coast "high-risk areas" for attacks and hijackings, and it warns vessels not making scheduled stops in Somalia to keep as far as possible from the coast.

[Yrys]

Well, it's the first time I read something about pirates being checkmate ...

[geo]

From what I read in the papers this morning, the ship's owners paid 2 Million dollars to get the crew released.
Some of the Somalian pirates were apparently escaping in a car/truck when a French sniper fired thru the engine block of the car ..... from his perch in a helicopter.  75% of the pirates were loaded into helicopters and brought aboard a French warship.... from which they will be sent to France to stand trial.....

Maybe it is time for France to polish up and bring Madame Guillotine out of retirement

[tomahawk6]

Handout photo released by the French Navy and taken 11 April 2008 in the Indian Ocean shows French luxury yacht Le Ponant and French Frigate jean Bart. The French authorities had announced earlier in the day that the captors had released the entire crew of 30 that includes 22 French and 7 Filipino nationals, who had been held for a week.

[Yrys]

Somali 'pirates' taken to Paris at the BBC

[geo]

Oooooo.... can I pull the lanyard for Madame Guillotine

[Yrys]

France charges Somali 'pirates'

A Paris court has charged six Somalis with taking a French luxury yacht's crew hostage off Africa this month, officials say.

The six were flown to Paris after being detained on Friday by French commandos in a helicopter raid, soon after the 30 hostages were released. The hostages
- 22 French citizens, six Filipinos, a Cameroonian and a Ukrainian - were seized a week earlier. No passengers were aboard the Ponant at the time of the abduction.

This will be the first trial of its kind in France, says the BBC's Alasdair Sandford.

A senior legal source said Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed had given his consent for the suspects to be taken out of the country, our correspondent adds.
French authorities are said to consider the matter a criminal one rather than one linked to terrorism. Police specialising in organised crime are to investigate the case.
They are also expected to question the crew members who were flown to Paris earlier this week.

The yacht's 30-member crew was released after its owners apparently paid a ransom of $2m (£1m; 1.3m euros).

Threat

Gen Jean-Louis Georgelin, the chief of staff of the French armed forces, described on Saturday how troops moved in after the Ponant came ashore, seized six pirates
- said to be part of an original group of 12 - and found part of a probable ransom paid by its owners. The 88-metre (290ft) boat and its 30 crew were seized in the Gulf
of Aden on 4 April. It was then moored near the port of Eyl in the northern Somali semi-autonomous Puntland region, while the pirates held negotiations with its owners,
French charter company CMA-CGM.

The suspected pirates are believed to be fishermen and were detained in the village of Jariban. France has troops in nearby Djibouti and also participates in a
multi-national naval force that patrols this part of the Indian Ocean. Somali coastal waters are known to be among the most hazardous in the world. More than 25 ships
were seized there by pirates in 2007. Somalia has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity.

40 seconds video of the 'French commandos chase and detain Somali 'pirates'' at  link

[Nemo888]

Does anyone know the position of the ship when it was captured or how close it was to the coast? Is the story about "Pirates" or pirates if you get my drift.

[geo]

no... don't get your drift....
The persian gulf is pert narrow - even at it's widest.  Considering the territorial claims of countries on either side and you're always going to get stuck in someone's territorial waters.

In this case, regardless of where the ship was, these fine specimen of gentlemen chose to board a foreign flagged ship, take the crew hostage, ask for ransom and moved the ship into somalian waters.... pert much sound like PIRATES to me.