The latest report of the pirate ultimatum demands an immediate response from the international community.Just as pirate and slave ports were destroyed in the days of sail,when they defied international opinion,so should the pirate base at Eyl and other smaller bases on the Somalian coast be utterly destroyed.Like bloodthirsty leeches the Somalian pirates have become so emboldened that they tried to attack the Tabar.If not put down with total ruthlessness,it will be very soon before we find AlQ and other terrorist organisation joining hands with the pirates and making suicide attacks againt selected shipping.
It has completely baffling why the USN with its massive supercarriers and gigantic air and naval base at Diego Garcia,which has been used to pursue the "war on terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan from Diego Garcia,has done bu**er all in Somalia.Is it a "Blackhawk Down" syndrome that afflicts it? With so much of international shipping at stake and the nations affected by this piracy include major military and economic powers too,like Britain and Saudi Arabia,these nations have made little or no military effort to eradicate the pirate menace.Earlier,before the Tabar swung into action,foreign naval warships refused to go to the aid of an Indian merchantman when threatened.This is when India asked for an urgent UN naval task force to be set up.Why the west which can grandly through NATO plant missiles on Russia's border,cannot deal with a motley bunch of pirates out of Africa is astounding.
Now that the IN has taken decisive action,it must be followed up further to destroy utterly the pirate infrastructure on the Somalian coast.The Somalian govt. is absolutely helpless,thanks to its rule being undermined by the Bush support for "Christain" Ethiopian troops within the country.If western and other nations are crying shy of tackling the Somalin pirates ,then India must protect its own shipping,with a clear message that messing around with Indian shipping will see the pirates joining Davy Jones in his locker! A pity that the Viraat is in refit,underscoring the urgent need for the Gorshkov acquisition to go through smoothly and the IAC (being built at Cochin) arrives on schedule 5 years + hence.What the IN can do though is to send a couple of TU-142 Bears on a bombing raid on Ely,the aircraft can fly to S.Africa and back and were originally designed as LR bombers ,still used by Russia in that role as well.The Bears can carry a large load of ordnance,enough to destroy the port facilities.A synchronised air/naval attack on the port by Bears and IN warships-we need to send in a task foce with few more major surface vessels to assist the Tabar,an amphibious squadron including our recently acquired LPD,the Jalashwa /Trenton can join the party with a team of commandoes/marines aboard.Its landing craft and helos invluable,plus a few Kora class missile corvettes for good measure,as these corvettes have undertaken extensive friendly visits to the Far east,Gulf,etc.
There is a great opportunity for the IN and India to show off our naval prowess and our intended ambitious maritime doctrine,especially to the African and Gulf nations,some of whom are being heavily wooed by China even as we speak.The Chinese pres. Hu, is right now in Cuba extending China's global foreign policy plans into the Caribbean.It was just a year ago that it hosted a huge meet of African leaders and offered them massive Chinese aid in return for marauding Africa's mineral wealth.Now is the time to show the Africans who talks and who walks !
PS:More reports.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 192674.ece
Somali pirates seize ninth vessel in 12 days
Catherine Philp, Diplomatic Correspondent
The battle with pirates operating off the coast of Somalia grew yesterday when raiders seized two more ships but lost one of their own in an uneven firefight with the Indian Navy. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) described the situation yesterday as “out of control”.
The surge in hijackings came as Saudi Arabia confirmed that a ransom demand had been made for the freeing of the Sirius Star supertanker, seized at the weekend with her crew of 25 and a cargo of oil worth $100 million (£65 million).
Two more vessels – a Thai fishing boat with a crew of 16, and a bulk carrier, believed to be Greek, with an unknown number of people aboard – were seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden yesterday, bringing the total to nine vessels in 12 days.
Late on Tuesday night the Indian frigate Tabar destroyed the raiders’ “mother ship” after coming under attack from pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades, the Indian Navy said. The confrontation was the first involving one of the vessels used by the pirates to extend their range. Shipping groups said that the loss of a vessel did not mean that the pirates’ activities would be curtailed. “The situation is already out of control,” said Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting centre at the IMB in Kuala Lumpur. “With no strong deterrent, low risk to the pirates and high returns, the attacks will continue.”
1920: Pirates in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea
Related Links
Risks of storming the Sirius are too great
Indian Navy sinks pirate mothership after attack threat
Tackling piracy will take a concerted effort
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that the Royal Navy was coordinating the European response to the supertanker’s seizure from its warship in the region, HMS Cumberland. Saudi Arabia has also pledged to join the international task force operating under a UN mandate, along with new pledges of ships from Sweden and South Korea.
Two British crewmen held hostage aboard theSirius Starwere named yesterday as chief engineer Peter French and second officer James Grady. Of the remaining crew, 19 are Filipino, 2 Polish, 1 Croatian and 1 Saudi.
The international furore over the hijack of the supertanker, the largest ship yet taken by pirates, may lead its captors to seek a swift resolution for fear of other intervention. However, the value of both vessel and cargo may also lead to drawn-out bargaining, as it has in the case of the Ukrainian arms ship seized in September. The Qatar-based Arabic TV channel al-Jazeera aired video yesterday of a purported middleman saying that negotiations had begun on board the tanker and on shore.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said the ship’s owners, Vela International, had opened negotiations over a sum, although the company itself remained tight-lipped, citing the safety of the crew. The ship is moored off the Somali coast, close to the well-defended pirate haven of Eyl.
“I know that the owners of the tanker are negotiating on the issue,” the prince said. “We do not like to negotiate with either terrorists or hijackers, but the owners of the tankers are the final arbiters of what happens there.”
“We are going to join the task force that will try to eradicate this threat to international trade.”
The violence of the Indian confrontation on Tuesday night has raised alarm over the pirates’ growing audacity. An Indian Navy statement said the confrontation began when the Tabar approached the boat and spotted groups of men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs.
“The INS Tabar closed in on the mother vessel and asked her to stop for investigation,” the statement said. “But on repeated calls, the vessel’s threatening response was that she would blow up the naval warship if it approached.”
An exchange of fire ensued and the navy ship opened up with heavy guns. “From what we see in photographs the pirate vessel is completely destroyed,” a senior naval officer said.
British Royal Navy Commodore Keith Winstanley, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces in the Middle East, said he feared no amount of coalition forces would be sufficient to secure the 2.5 million sq nautical miles of the Gulf of Aden, let alone the Indian Ocean waters where the supertanker was seized. “The pirates will go somewhere we are not,” he said. “If we patrol the Gulf of Aden then they will go to Mogadishu. If we go to Mogadishu, they will go to the Gulf of Aden.”
Have your say
Hungry people don't stay hungry for long. What do they have left to lose Tom Antrim? If everyone in the world came together and helped each other and taught each other, maybe there would be no crime. Maybe there would be no reason to rob or hurt each other. Cause and effect, supply and demand.
greg, fairfax,, USA
These pirates do not deserve mery - they have no regard for the ships or crew.-, they go in with their guns and weapons. The response by the international governments should be to fuly protect. Just blow them out the water. Creat "safe "paasage corridors for shipping. Protect with assembled navies.
Richard Bradley, Northampton, uk
Get rid of the pirates. The UN with the cooperation of the world needs to destroy these threats. These are the real terrorists where they terrorize innocent merchant ships for their own profit. Now sea, tomorrow land, then air.
Is the world going to let is pass by?
Joshua GM, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Making a desert out of Somalia might help or is the civilized country just going to knuckle under and pay ransom for ever?
Tom Antrim, Mountain View, USA
British Royal Navy Commodore Keith Winstanley statement that they will keep moving from one place to another sound that his navy is helpless. "Kill those pirates so that they cant move from one place to another".
kumar, Atlanta, US
So the various government all over the world who tax their people cant be safe.
kumar, Atlanta, US
Ships travel in Convoys. Convoys escorted by war ships. A few war ships could protect a dozen + ships.Cost of protection is paid fully by ship owners & cost includes, operational,maintenance, depreciation, ammunition & miscellaneous.NO free US Navy,shippers pay 100% of all costs for protection..
Marty, Los Angeles, USA
Mark the area off into grids. Put some drones in the air with Hellfire missles. Identify them and and sink them. The pirate activity will stop.
Craig, CM, US
Forget the Navies, put in a few Apache Longbow attack helicopters. They'll soon run out of clean underwear!
Duncan T, Truro, Great Britain
By using modern technology and warships carrying attack helicopters, the problem could be ended rather quickly and bloodily. Of course, the pirates' safe havens would have to be destroyed, which would require attacks on some of Somalia's coastal towns, similar to defeating the Barbary pirates.
Major Mike, Gualala, California, USA
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... f-25m.html
Somali pirates who hijacked supertanker Sirius Star 'demand ransom of $25m'
Somali pirates who hijacked the Saudi oil supertanker the Sirius Star have reportedly demanded a ransom of $25million (£17m) for the safe return of the ship and its crew of 25, including two Britons.
And claims that India is acting up because $100 billion worth Indian shipping passes thru the region and which is why India has planted its flag on hte moon, blown up a pirate ship in the last few weeks
It would have been more fun if the Captain of INS Tabar used on board Bramhos cruise missiles to destroy pirates mother ship.
