UNO Satellite photpgraphs

Here are links to UNOSAT photographs (and maps) of hijacked vessels off the coast of Somalia.

Hijacked vessels off the coast of Eyl, Somalia
MV YASA NESLIHAN (Turkey) 7.9389N, 49.9119E;
MV STOLT STRENGTH (Norway) 7.9285N, 49.9211E; and
MV AFRICA SANDERLING (south Korea) 7.9225N, 49.8993E.
[satellite photograph dated 11/20/2008]

Hijacked vessels off the coast of Garacad Village, Mudug, Somalia
Vessel ID 204 7.01838N, 49.45335E;
Vessel ID 203 6.98027N, 49.44596E
Vessel ID 202 6.96077N, 49.40137E
Vessel ID 201 6.85492N, 49.37231E
[satellite photograph taken 9/14/2008]

Reported Incidents of Somali Pirate Attacks and Hijackings in Gulf of Aden (26 August - 21 November 2008)

Current Articles & News v.6

Here are links to current articles and new releases regarding the crisis of international hijacking by pirates (terrorists).

French warship foils two new attacks by Somali pirates Patrolling off the Somali coast, the French warship "Jean de Vienne" captured 19 Somali pirates when they tried to seize a Croatian freighter and a Panamanian cargo ship. They will be transferred to Somali authorities, said the French president's office in a statement. Just three days ago, an operation conducted by another French warship saved a Panamanian ship attacked by Somali pirates and captured eight people. (Xinhua, 01/05/2009)

Captive relives 202-day nightmare on sea Jiang Lichun ducks whenever he hears a sharp sound even remotely resembling a gunshot. His instinct was born out of fear after he saw Somali pirates shoot one of his fellow sailors. Equally harrowing an experience for him were the 202 days he spent in Somali pirates' captivity. The fear in Jiang is still palpating: "I will never go back to sea," says the Liaoning province native. (China Daily, 1/5/2009)

Crew fight off pirates with water jets off Somalia The pirates in three speedboats and armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades twice tried to board the Greek-flagged Kriti Episkopi but were scared off when the crew turned fire hoses on them and EU aircraft scrambled from a nearby EU naval flotilla to help, company and Greek government officials said. (AP, 01/02/2008)

Somali pirates seize Egyptian ship; Tanker saved Somali pirates seized an Egyptian cargo ship and its 28 crewmembers on Thursday while a Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden. Fifteen armed pirates snatched the Egyptian vessel, called Blue Star, after the ship exited the Red Sea and entered the gulf, carrying a cargo of 6,000 tons of fertilizer, according to Egyptian Deputy Foreign minister, Ahmed Rizq.The pirates then steered the ship toward the coast of Somalia, Rizq said. (AP, 01/01/2009)

Navy sets sail for waters off Somalia Chinese navy soldiers wave to the fleet as the naval ships depart from Sanya of South China's Hainan Province to Somalia on December 25, 2008.Two destroyers and a supply ship left a port in the southernmost island province of Hainan for Somalia at 1:50 p.m. Friday. They will cruise for about 10 days to arrive in the Gulf of Aden, joining the multinational patrol in one of the world's busiest sea lanes where surging piracy endangers international shipping. (ChinaDaily, 12/26/2008)

German navy foils Somali pirates Six Somali pirates were captured by sailors of the frigate Karlsruhe in the Gulf of Aden. The Karlsruhe sent a helicopter to protect the Egyptian cargo ship Wadi al-Arab from the pirates, who shot and injured a member of its crew as they tried to board the vessel. A German navy spokesperson based in Djibouti told the BBC's Greg Morsbach the Somali attackers were disarmed by German sailors and their weapons confiscated. (BBC 12/25/2008)

Essays by David Axe

The following are links to blogs, articles and essays written by David Axe on the Somalian pirate and vessel hijacking situation. David Axe is a freelance writer, photographer and videographer based in Washington, DC. He works for Defense Tech Int'l, The Washington Times, C-SPAN, Military.com and others. He blogs at www.defensetech.org and www.warisboring.com.

Kenya Strikes Legal Blow against Piracy Kenya won a quiet but significant victory over Somali pirates that have waged a devastating campaign against its maritime economy when a judge at the Mombasa federal court formally charged eight Somali pirates with felonies under Kenyan law on Dec. 11. The eight men were captured by the British Royal Navy in November while trying to hijack a Danish merchant ship near the Yemeni coast. (World Politics Review, 12/24/2008)

Chinese Seafarers Kick Pirate Ass The Chinese Navy has decided to send warships to help combat piracy off the Somali coast. Chinese fishing vessels and freighters have been hard hit by this year’s spike in piracy. In the meantime, one Chinese ship crew took the war on piracy into their own hands, using water hoses and Molotov cocktails to fight back pirates who had boarded their Shanghai-bound vessel.(War in Boring, 12/23/2008)

Axe vs. Pirates: Everyday Kenyans Suffering Effects of Somali Piracy When the giant cruise ships pull into Mombasa’s harbor and disgorge hundreds of Western tourists, souvenir vendors are there on the pier to greet them. The vendors’ curios — carvings of animals and wooden utensils — sell for $10 or more in a city where many workers earn just a few dollars per day. John Ngundo, 55, is a veteran of the curio trade in Mombasa. Lately, he said, business has declined. He blames his problems on the increase in piracy off the Somali coast. “We don’t get tourism coming into the port because people are afraid,” he said on Saturday morning as a few elderly Italians trickled past from the cruise ship Costa Europa. (War is Boring 12/21/2008)

Don’t Go to Somalia Last year I went to Somalia. All the journalists I talked to before leaving said it was a bad idea, and I would die. I didn’t die. That was then. This is now. Somalia has gotten so much worse in just the past year that now I’m the one telling other journalists not to go. But don’t take it from me. Consider this useful aid prepared by Rob Crilly of The Times:(War is Boring, 12/19/2008)

Axe vs. Pirates: The Kenya Connection Mombasa, southern Kenya’s sweltering port town is, in many ways, the center of gravity of the piracy war. While pirates themselves are based mostly in northern Somalia, hundreds of miles from here, the repercussions of piracy, and many of the higher-order command functions on both sides, play out in Mombasa. Many of the ships most threatened by pirates, fishing boats and coastal freighters, are home-ported in Mombasa. And as this is the major port in East Africa, many large vessels coming from or to Europe via the Suez Canal, braving pirate waters en route, call here. When a ship is released from pirates’ captivity after ransom is paid, it comes here first. In Mombasa is extensive infrastructure (ship’s agents, mariners’ unions, courts) to handle the aftermath of an act of piracy. (War is Boring, 12/18/2008)

Kenyan Navy Fires Rhetorical Broadside against Pirates The top Kenyan army officer staged a dramatic press conference in this port town on Monday, intending to strike fear in the hearts of Somali pirates that have waged an escalating war on shipping in African waters. "Any attempt to commit any act of piracy within Kenya will be resisted very strongly," Gen. Jeremiah Kianga, chief of the General Staff, told reporters at a Kenyan Air Force forward operating base adjacent to the Mombasa airport. "We want to send the message to would-be pirates that they risk being sunk."(World Politics Review, 12/17/2008)

Axe vs. Pirates: The Panic Button The ships that make the two-day run from Mombasa, Kenya, to Somalia carrying vital humanitarian supplies are frequent targets of pirate attacks, and have been for more than a decade. How have ship’s crew adapted? Same way the pirates have adapted over the years: with simple technology and no-nonsense tactics. (War is Boring, 12/16/2008)

Axe vs. Pirates: Scared onto Land by Pirate Close-Call Five years ago, Mwale escaped Mombasa’s maritime economy. He had been a fisherman, plying the waters as far north as the Somali borderland in search of tuna and other big fish. But with piracy taking root in lawless Somalia, fishing and sea trade were becoming riskier and less profitable by the day for the small operators. One of the final straws for Mwale was a close call, in 2002, with a band of 14 pirates that sneaked up on the 11-man refrigerator ship where Mwale was the chief engineer. (War is Boring, 12/15/2008)

Somali-Americans Joining Insurgency? Are Somali immigrants, living in the U.S., being drawn into their native country’s brutal Islamic insurgency? Minnesota TV network WCCO says some are. Three teenage boys, ages 17, 18 and 19 disappeared from their homes on Nov. 4 and “traveled together to Mogadishu,” WCCO reports. “[F]amily members fear the teens were brainwashed to return to Somalia to fight.” (War is Boring, 12/11/2008)

Axe vs. Pirates: Welcome to Mombasa It’s a centuries-old island port blessed with several deep-water channels. Mombasa, in southern Kenya, is the country’s second largest city with a population of 700,000 — and the economic engine not only for Kenya, but for many of the less-developed countries in the region. And it’s the furthest outpost in the war against piracy. Somalia, and that country’s thousands of high-tech pirates, lie just a few hundred miles north of Mombasa. The Kenyan port is the last stop for many ships that run the Somali gauntlet from south to north, aiming for the Red Sea and Europe. Ships coming north to south, having successfully evaded pirates, lay over in Mombasa to resupply or drop off cargo. And even ships that don’t make it at first, those that are seized by pirates wielding AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades, eventually come to Mombasa after their owners pay million-dollar ransoms. (War is Boring, 12/10/2008)

List of Hijacked Vessels still being held 12.17.2008

Below are some of the ships believed to be held:

FAINA: Seized September 24. The ship was carrying 33 T-72 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition destined for Kenya's Mombasa port. Pirates have demanded $20 million in ransom.

AFRICAN SANDERLING: Seized October 15. The Panama-flagged, Japanese-operated, and Korea-owned bulk carrier has 21 Filipino crew aboard.

STOLT STRENGTH: Seized November 10. The chemical tanker had 23 Filipino crew aboard. It was carrying 23,818 tonnes of oil products.

THE KARAGOL: Seized November 12. The Turkish ship with 14 crew was hijacked off Yemen. It was transporting more than 4,000 tonnes of chemicals to the port of Mumbai.

TIANYU 8: Seized November 13/14. The Chinese fishing boat was reported seized off Kenya. The crew included 15 Chinese, one Taiwanese, one Japanese, three Filipinos and four Vietnamese.

CHEMSTAR VENUS: Seized November 15. The tanker was traveling from Dumai, Indonesia to the Ukraine. It had 18 Filipino and five South Korean crew.

SIRIUS STAR: Seized November 15. The Saudi supertanker, the biggest ship ever hijacked, it was carrying as much as 2 million barrels of oil. Captured off east Africa, it had 25 crew from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia.

THE DELIGHT: Seized November 18. The Hong Kong-flagged ship with 25 crew aboard was loaded with 36,000 tonnes of wheat bound for Iran. It was captured off the coast of Yemen.

BISCAGLIA: Seized on November 28. The Biscaglia, a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker, had 30 crew on board, 25 Indians, three Britons and two Bangladeshis. NAMES UKNOWN: Seized on December 10. Pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing vessels with a total of 22 crew members on board in coastal waters in the Gulf of Aden. Five crew reportedly escaped.

NAMES UNKNOWN: Seized on December 16. A yacht with two on board, an Indonesian tugboat used by French oil company Total and a 100-meter (330-ft) cargo ship belonging to an Istanbul-based shipping company were hijacked. Pirates had also hijacked the Chinese fishing vessel Zhenhua-4 with 30 Chinese crew aboard but it was freed the next day.

Sources: Reuters/International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center/Lloyds List/Inquirer.net (12/17/2008)

Current Articles & News v.5

Here are links to current articles and new releases regarding the crisis of international hijacking by pirates (terrorists).

SECURITY COUNCIL AUTHORIZES STATES TO USE LAND-BASED OPERATIONS IN SOMALIA,AS PART OF FIGHT AGAINST PIRACY OFF COAST, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING 1851 (2008) The Security Council today decided that(SC9541), for the next year, States and regional organizations cooperating in the fight against piracy and armed robbery at sea off Somalia’s coast -- for which prior notification had been provided by Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government to the Secretary-General -- could undertake all necessary measures “appropriate in Somalia”, to interdict those using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake such acts. (United Nations, 12/16/2008)

Somali pirates hijack two ships Pirates hijacked an Indonesian tugboat used by French oil company Total off Yemen Tuesday and a Turkish cargo ship (330' MV Bosphorus Prodigy, owned by ISKO Marine Co., Istanbul, Turkey) was also reported captured, the latest in a string of attacks blamed on Somali gunmen. (Swiss Info, 12/16/2008)








On the Lawless Seas, It's Not Easy Putting Somali Pirates in the Dock Many countries helping to patrol the waters connecting the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, reflect a dilemma that is turning one of the world's most vital shipping corridors into one of its most dangerous. Though piracy is a globally recognized crime, few governments are willing to navigate the legal and logistical barriers that impede convicting seaborn bandits. (Wall Street Journal, 12/12/2008)

Somalia backs U.S. plan to hunt pirates Somalia's government has welcomed a call by the United States for countries to have U.N. authority to hunt down Somali pirates on land as well as pursue them off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation. "The government cordially welcomes the United Nations to fight pirates inland and (on) the Indian Ocean," said Hussein Mohamed Mohamud, spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf. (Reuters, 12/12/2008)

Dar deny claims on pirates operating from its waters A statement issued yesterday by the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces (TPDF) said that all reported incidents were more than 360 nautical miles from the coast of Tanzania, which is beyond Tanzania Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). “TPDF would like to assure the public that all our borders are safe and security has been tightened,” said the statement. (Daily News, 12/11/2008)

Somali pirates attack ship in Dar waters Armed Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Regency, a Dutch-operated container ship off the coast of Tanzania on Saturday but failed to hijack the vessel. AP reported yesterday that the pirates attacked the vessel about 520 miles east of Dar es Salaam. (The Citizen-Tanzania, 12/07/2008)

SECURITY COUNCIL DECIDES STATES, REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS MAY USE ‘ALL NECESSARY MEANS’ TO FIGHT PIRACY OFF SOMALIA COAST FOR 12-MONTH PERIOD The Security Council today (SC9514) strengthened international efforts to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia by expanding the mandate of States and regional organizations working with Somali officials towards that aim. Through the unanimous adoption of resolution 1846 (2008), and acting under the Charter’s Chapter VII, the Council decided that during the next 12 months States and regional organizations cooperating with the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) may enter Somalia’s territorial waters and use “all necessary means” -- such as deploying naval vessels and military aircraft, as well as seizing and disposing of boats, vessels, arms and related equipment used for piracy -- to fight piracy and armed robbery at sea off the Somali coast, in accordance with relevant international law. States and regional organizations cooperating with Somali authorities were also requested to provide the Council and the Secretary-General with a progress report on their actions within nine months.(United Nations, 12/2/2008)