Somali piracy to stay in retreat for now -NATO officer
Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:52pm GMT
* Piracy attacks are down due to vigilance
* But 177 seafarers still held hostage
* Risk of further attacks remains
By Jonathan Saul
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Somali pirate activity is expected to stay low
despite the end of the monsoon season, as aggressive navy action, private
armed security teams and defensive measures by ships keep the heat on gangs
at sea, navy and security officials say.
Last year, Somali piracy in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden and
the northwestern Indian Ocean netted $160 million, and cost the world
economy some $7 billion, according to the American One Earth Future
foundation.
But in the first half of 2012 there were just 69 incidents involving Somali
pirates, compared with 163 in the same period last year, International
Maritime Bureau data showed.
"We are expecting the activity rate to be lower than last year at this time
... that is based on the lack of activity in the past six months," said
Commodore Bruce Belliveau, NATO's Deputy Chief of Staff Operations.
"We are not seeing the build up of logistic supplies that they would have
had in the past for outfitting fishing vessels or dhows to use as
motherships," he told Reuters on the sidelines of a shipping conference in
London on Wednesday.
International navies have stepped up pre-emptive action against pirates,
including strikes on their bases on the Somali coast, and shipping firms are
increasingly using armed guards and other measures such as heightened
watches and razor wire.
"In previous years, pirate attacks had jumped by around 70 per cent after
the monsoon season ended. However, the post-monsoon jump will be far less,"
said Rory Lamrock, an intelligence analyst with security firm AKE.
"Ships are better secured and naval operations have put more pressure on
pirate groups, to the extent that the chance of a successful hijacking is
now very slight compared to years gone past. This has made Somali piracy an
increasingly unattractive criminal enterprise."
HUGE AREA
NATO's counter piracy mission is among efforts by international navies to
combat the seaborne menace, but officials acknowledge that resources are
limited.
Belliveau said forces covered 11 million square km (4 million square miles).
"It's a huge area to patrol," he said.
"It's not irreversible - the success that we are enjoying right now. If we
let down our guard, if we reduce the level of forces, if we reduce the
compliance ... then we will create a new opportunity for entrepreneurial
pirates to come back."
Belliveau said there were 177 hostages and seven vessels held, compared with
682 seafarers and 30 ships held in February 2011.
Somalia's poverty and anarchy make the prospect of million-dollar ransoms
still attractive despite the risks. Last week, suspected pirates opened fire
on an Italian navy helicopter off the coast of Somalia, wounding a pilot.
AKE's Lamrock said the incident "hints at the increasing desperation of
pirate groups".
"It may also have been a hostile reaction following on from the EU's
helicopter-borne attack on a pirate logistics stockpile earlier this year,"
Lamrock said.
Belliveau said the election of Somalia's new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud
was a "positive step forward".
"There is an insurgency going in southern Somalia with al Shabaab - there
are a host of issues that the government will have to deal with," he said.
"It will take them time to build institutions, but it's a step in the right
direction and provides some hope for the people of Somalia."
Mohamud and the visiting Kenyan foreign minister escaped an apparent suicide
bomb attack on Wednesday that was claimed by al Shabaab rebels. (Editing by
Robin Pomeroy)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Wed Sep 12 2012 - 19:36:13 EDT
