New pirate attack thwarted in Gulf of Aden

[Nikos]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/af...attack.foiled/

CNN) -- NATO forces patrolling the Gulf of Aden foiled a pirate attack on a Norwegian tanker early Sunday morning, a NATO spokesman said. Pirates attempted to capture the MV Front Ardennes, but fled when they spotted other foreign vessels, Commander Chris Davies said.
A NATO-supported Canadian navy ship, the HMCS Winnipeg, was returning from escorting a World Food Program vessel in the gulf when it saw the Norwegian ship under attack, Davies said. A British Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel, the Wave Knight, was also in the area.
The pirates were captured after being chased for seven hours. During the chase, they threw weapons, ladders and scaling equipment overboard. Several rounds of ammunition were found on the pirates' boat.
The pirates were detained, but allowed to go free after questioning.

While it's good that the attack was thwarted, WTF is up with releasing them? Is NATO stupid or something? Do they realize the pirates will just be back? The pirates should be detained or shot, releasing them is a bad strategy.

[C-Rob]

I wish I could just board a ship to ransom the cargo, get caught, and get nothing for it.

[Nikos]

I wish I could just board a ship to ransom the cargo, get caught, and get nothing for it.

Why on Earth did they chase them for 7 hours if they were just going to let them go? Waste of money.

[0N3]

shoot them? no one would get away with that...
detain them? where and how long? which country want tons of pirates in their prisons?
i think it was a good solution... they took their weapons and just gave them enough fuel and water to get back to their country, it is hard to replace that many guns.

[Homeros]

(CNN) -- Pirates captured a Belgian ship and said they were taking it to the coast of Somalia after the vessel was reported missing early Saturday, NATO and pirate sources told CNN.




The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provincien tracked seven pirates Saturday back to their mother ship.

The Pompei, a Belgian-registered ship believed to have a mostly Belgian and Croatian crew, was one of two vessels that came under attack near the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles on Saturday, the sources said.
The second ship escaped the attack after a brief exchange of gunfire with pirate vessels, the pirate source added.
Meanwhile, Dutch naval forces captured seven pirates and freed 20 captive fishermen after tracking the pirates to their "mother ship" in the western Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a NATO maritime spokesman said.
The Belgian government tried to communicate with the Pompei "without success" before the ship was confirmed to have been hijacked, according to an official.
"This morning we received two different channels, a silent alert, that there was a problem on the boat, which is a Belgian boat on it's way to Seychelles," Belgium Government Crisis Center spokesman Peter Martens told reporters. "We tried to have a contact with the ship but without success until now."
The archipelago where the attack occurred is roughly 800 miles off the Somali coastline.
"Somali pirates are getting wilder and out of control," pirate spokesman Ali Sugulle said on April 11. "They go too far away from the Somali [coast] and go to the Kenyan coast even."
The European Union, NATO and the United States have been patrolling the waters off Somalia since an upsurge in piracy in the region last year.
No NATO vessels were in the region at the time of the attack, said Cmdr. Chris Davies from NATO's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England.
Meanwhile, Dutch naval forces captured seven pirates and freed 20 captive fishermen after tracking the pirates to their "mother ship" in the western Gulf of Aden on Saturday, a NATO maritime spokesman said.
Saturday's rescue operation happened after pirates launched an unsuccessful attack on petroleum tanker MT Handytankers Magic, NATO Cmdr. Chris Davies told CNN.
The Dutch frigate De Zeven Provincien was with the NATO fleet patrolling the region.
After the Dutch disarmed the pirates, they released them, Shona Lowe, a spokeswoman from the maritime headquarters, told CNN. Because the crew was on a NATO mission, they lacked the jurisdiction to hold them, according to reports.
The MT Handytankers Magic is part of a fleet belonging to Handytankers, a company that distributes petroleum products in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the United States, according to the company's Web site.
Last week an assault by pirates on a U.S.-flagged ship, the Maersk Alabama, ended when U.S. Navy sharpshooters stormed the vessel and shot and killed three of the pirates who were holding the ship's captain.

Standard procedure it seems

[Jagdpanzer]

Standard procedure it seems

According to dutch news media the dutch navy can only detain pirates if:

*the pirates were dutch
*the pirates attacked or hijacked a dutch ship
*the attack took place in dutch coastal waters
*the pirates were holding dutch hostages

Also some countries don't want to detain somali pirates because they are afraid that the pirates will stay in their country after they have served their time.

[C-Rob]

According to dutch news media the dutch navy can only detain pirates if:

*the pirates were dutch
*the pirates attacked or hijacked a dutch ship
*the attack took place in dutch coastal waters
*the pirates were holding dutch hostages

Also some countries don't want to detain somali pirates because they are afraid that the pirates will stay in their country after they have served their time.

Dont' let them? Pay their way back by gun point if you have to. After being in jail, you won't have any resources to get back into a country five hundred miles away.

[Nikos]

shoot them? no one would get away with that...
detain them? where and how long? which country want tons of pirates in their prisons?
i think it was a good solution... they took their weapons and just gave them enough fuel and water to get back to their country, it is hard to replace that many guns.

"No one would get away with that", the United States just did. These pirates need to be dealt with, not just given a slap on the wrost. And please, It's Somalia, guns and RPGs are everywhere. They even still have a boat! It's ridiculous.

[0N3]

"No one would get away with that", the United States just did. These pirates need to be dealt with, not just given a slap on the wrost. And please, It's Somalia, guns and RPGs are everywhere. They even still have a boat! It's ridiculous.

So all agree to kill all somalian pirates encountered?
The problem with Somalia is that there are no prisons ( i think so atleast ) so it cant work like it would normally, so no one really knows what to do, i think...

[Homeros]

So all agree to kill all somalian pirates encountered?
The problem with Somalia is that there are no prisons ( i think so atleast ) so it cant work like it would normally, so no one really knows what to do, i think...

Guantanamo Bay will be available soon

[Nikos]

So all agree to kill all somalian pirates encountered?
The problem with Somalia is that there are no prisons ( i think so atleast ) so it cant work like it would normally, so no one really knows what to do, i think...

Those who attack ships should be shot. Or shipped back to the country of the ship they attacked (Like the United States is doing). Although killing them would be easier. I don't see what the problem is here, we have warships down there, I suggest we use them.

[gambit]

which country want tons of pirates in their prisons?

Countries that dont want tons of pirates outside attacking boats.

[Nikos]

Countries that dont want tons of pirates outside attacking boats.

Touche!

[Jagdpanzer]

which country want tons of pirates in their prisons?

Not the USA. That's why they made a deal with Kenya to prosecute the Somali pirates there. And the EU made a similar deal with Kenya.

US to sign Kenya deal to prosecute Somali pirates.
Richard Meade - vrijdag 16 januari 2009

THE US government is understood to be nearing a deal with Kenya to detain and prosecute pirates captured off Somalia.

The deal, if successful, will join a growing number of bilateral agreements between countries engaged in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and states willing to take pirates into custody.

US forces in the region have so far limited their operations to deterrence and disruption because no country, including the US, had been willing to hold the pirates.

According to a statement issued on Friday by US Navy Vice-Admiral William Gortney, commander of the US 5th Fleet, the US State Department is now close to finalising an agreement with a partner country to prosecute pirates captured by US forces. Industry sources have told Lloyd’s List they understand this country to be Kenya.

The deal is not unprecedented, but it is thought to be the most significant move yet towards formalising a process for prosecution of Somalian pirates.

Bilateral agreements between countries do exist, but naval sources suggest that each case is different and can be swayed by political and practical considerations.

“There are agreements and there are agreements,” a spokesman for the EU Naval force told Lloyd’s List.

Article 3 of the UN Security Council resolution 1815 urges “states and regional organisations fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia to conclude special agreements or arrangements” with countries willing to take custody of and prosecute pirates.

The resolution has already spurred a number of ad hoc arrangements. Somalian pirates caught by the UK frigate HMS Cumberland, which operates under the EU Naval Forces in the region, were handed over to Kenyan authorities for prosecution last month. The pirates are currently being processed through the Kenyan legal system. Indian naval forces meanwhile are understood to have handed over pirates to official in Yemen following capture.

“We are working with a number of countries on this issue,” explained an EU Navfor spokesman. “There is a need to prosecute, but a lot will depend on the individual circumstances of a capture and where [the pirates] are detained.”

The Netherlands has signed an agreement with Denmark to extradite five Somalians held by the Danish Navy who attacked a Netherlands-Antilles cargo vessel in the Gulf of Aden. The Dutch public prosecutor has started proceedings against the Somalians for piracy, a crime which can fetch a maximum jail sentence of between nine and 12 years in the Netherlands.

A Danish Navy ship intercepted the Somalians in the sea on January 2 after the crew of the cargo vessel Samanyulo responded by firing flares at the pirates and a Danish navy helicopter opened fire on the pirates’ boat. The five Somalians are still on board the Danish ship Absalon.

Last week 24 countries and five major international organisations came together at the United Nations to form the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

At the first meeting of the body, which will be known by its acronym CGPCS, the members commited themselves to “examine practical options for strengthening the ability of countries willing to detain and prosecute suspected pirates”. It has also pledged to consider other means of addressing piracy, including international judicial mechanisms.

source: http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/us...0017609027.htm

EU and Kenya sign deal on transfer of Somali pirates
07 March 2009, 00:45 CET


(NAIROBI) - The European Union and Kenya on Friday signed an agreement facilitating the transfer to Kenya of suspected Somali pirates detained as part of the EU's Atalanta anti-piracy naval mission.
The agreement was in Nairobi signed by Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula and the Czech ambassador to Kenya, Margita Fuchsova, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.
"By enabling EUNAVFOR to bring pirates to justice, this agreement will enhance the deterrence effect of the operation," the EU naval mission in Somalia said in a statement.
"This is an important framework agreement on the transfer to Kenya of suspected pirates detained as part of Operation Atalante," one of the diplomats who negotiated the agreement told AFP.
"It includes guarantees on the rights of the detainees... Kenya is the only coastal country that has agreed to such a deal so far," the diplomat added.
Under the agreement, Kenya accepts to take suspected pirates detained by EU navies patrolling Somalia's waters and prosecute them in Kenyan courts.
Some countries involved in anti-piracy naval operations had been reluctant to transfer pirates back to Somalia, arguing there were insufficient guarantees that due process would be followed.
Dozens of suspected Somalia pirates are being held in Kenya and several have already been brought to courts in the port city of Mombasa.
In the latest such case, seven suspected pirates captured by the US navy during a botched attack against the MV Polaris last month were charged with piracy on Friday by Mombasa chief magistrate Catherine Mwangi.
Attacks by pirates on the hundreds of foreign vessels sailing one of the world's busiest trade routes through the Gulf of Aden each month have recently decreased, due to rough seas and increased navy patrols.
The EU naval mission -- launched in December 2008 -- currently includes Greece, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany but Sweden, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway are also expected to contribute.

Source: http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1236366121.24/

[Mikelus Trento]

it is hard to replace that many guns.

*chuckles*

[Nikos]

*chuckles*

yeah, whereever will they get more guns in Somalia!?

[Cavalier]

Nato should do like the british did in the good old days - execute them. No more Somali pirates, huge amounts of money saved and no more captured ships.

[C-Rob]

I think Egypt should take them. Maybe trade pirate detainment for special trade rights.

[Dr. Croccer]

What were they supposed to do? Detain them? In what? Shoot them? What would that achieve?

[Nikos]

What were they supposed to do? Detain them? In what? Shoot them? What would that achieve?

Shooting them would mean less pirates on the sea and would make many pirates think twice about attacking ships. The world needs to stand up to the menace of piracy and not be intimidated.