推 SovietUnion:找不到工作的 失業的 歡迎加入索馬利亞海盜的行列 11/21 19:13
推 STANDKI:大海賊時代（誤） 11/21 19:17
標題:A western armada is not the way to sink Somalia's pirates
新聞來源:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/19/piracy-somalia
(需有正確連結)
These fishermen-turned-hijackers are best tackled by local fleets - and by
targeting poachers of the stock they used to catch
Peter Lehr
The Guardian, Wednesday November 19 2008
The seizure of the Saudi supertanker this week by the pirates of Somalia was
their most audacious attack to date, but it was not their first. The pirates
hit the headlines a little over three years ago, on November 5 2005, when
they attempted to hijack the cruise liner Seabourn Spirit some 75 nautical
miles off the coast of Somalia. This brazen but unsuccessful attack triggered
the first wave of reports on piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of
this beleaguered nation, which has not seen a central and effective
government since the downfall of the Siad Barre regime in January 1991.
Soon, of course, the problem dropped off the media radar. It came back with a
vengeance in April this year with the hijacking of the French luxury yacht Le
Ponant. Its 30 crew members were kept hostage for eight days, and released
apparently after a substantial amount of ransom had been paid. This time,
media attention did not quickly die down: buoyed, no doubt, by the huge
ransom paid in the Le Ponant case, Somali pirates embarked on an ambitious
campaign, striking ever farther from their own shores. Late in September,
Somali pirates succeeded in capturing the MV Faina, which was transporting 33
battle tanks, some 250 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia. The Faina's
crew of 21 is still held hostage - except for its master, who died of a
stroke soon after the hijacking.
It has been quite a year for Somali pirates: 92 attacks have to date been
attempted, with 36 successful hijackings and 268 crew members taken hostage.
Given that the average ransom per vessel amounts to about $2m, it is hardly
surprising that the port of Eyl, one of the major pirate lairs, has witnessed
a veritable boom, with pirates feted by many as local heroes. Some observers
estimate that Somali pirates reaped $30m in ransom during the first nine
months of this year.
Another sum is less frequently mentioned: the estimated $300m of fish poached
in Somali waters annually by trawlers hailing from nations as far away as
Taiwan - or France and Spain, for that matter. Seen from this perspective, it
is hardly surprising that some pirate groups see themselves as defenders of
Somali fishermen, giving their groups names such as National Volunteer Coast
Guard of Somalia, or Somali Marines.
Their modus operandi is telling, too. The pirates have reached a technical
and nautical sophistication matching that of many "real" coastguards all over
the world: Somali pirates operate from mother ships, probably small
freighters or local dhows, which enable them to strike so far out at sea.
They use satellite phones and GPS as navigational aids, and once they spot
their prey they attack it in wolfpack-style, swarming the targeted vessel
with fast fibreglass boats and halting its passage by firing AK-47 salvoes or
even rocket-propelled grenade rounds. Then they board the vessel, and the
maritime hostage scenario begins.
So steeply has the situation in the Gulf of Aden and along the 2,000-mile
coast of Somalia deteriorated that the EU has initiated a "close support
protection system" for vessels transiting these perilous waters. The
limitations of that system, and the scale of the challenge for anyone
attempting to chase the pirates from the water, was made plain on Monday with
the seizure of the Sirius Star outside the EU safe corridor. In any case,
deploying western naval squadrons on a continuous basis might not be the best
solution. Rather, regional navies or coastguards should be encouraged to pool
their resources in order to conduct anti-piracy patrols, modelled on the
Malacca Strait Patrol - which conducted by the navies of Indonesia, Malaysia,
Singapore and Thailand, resulted in a noticeable decrease of piracy in this
former hot spot. This was not lost on Egypt, which recently called upon the
Red Sea states to inaugurate a similar combined effort in the Gulf of Aden.
The east African coastal waters of Somalia should ideally be patrolled by the
naval forces of Kenya, Tanzania and other interested littoral states. The
role of western navies could be to lend technical assistance and expertise,
as well as provide some secondhand patrol vessels if required. This will be
costly, but cheaper than keeping up a substantial western naval presence for
the foreseeable future, overstretching military resources further still.
However, it should be pointed out that conducting anti-piracy patrols in
these waters can only ever be half of the solution. The other is to protect
Somali waters against illegal fishing, thus giving local fishermen a fair
chance to earn a living without turning to criminality. With all the focus on
piracy and the "lure of easy money", it is all but forgotten that the
majority of Somali fishermen do just that - try to earn a decent living
against all odds, and now more and more often in the crossfire of pirates and
navies. A deadly catch indeed.
‧ Dr Peter Lehr is a lecturer in terrorism studies at the University of St
Andrews and editor of Violence at Sea: Piracy in the Age of Global Terrorism
pl17@st-andrews.ac.uk
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