World must attack piracy

According to the latest reports, pirates who have taken control of the supertanker carrying US$100 million in oil have demanded a US$25 million ransom. While the Saudi government has demanded that action be taken against piracy in the region, the Saudi owners of the vessel have quietly begun negotiations in the hopes of gaining the release of the ship, as well as its 25 crew members. So far this year, there have been more than 100 attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean regions adjacent to Somalia.

Naval vessels from several countries, including Britain, France, the United States and India, have joined in the effort to patrol waters near the Somali coast. Over the past several months, international warships have guarded a safe shipping lane for ships carrying food and international aid into Somalia. Vessels from the British Royal Navy recently killed two pirates and captured several more warding off attacks on shipping in the region.

Earlier this month, an Indian naval vessel fired on and sunk a pirate ship that had refused to stop and be boarded, although two smaller craft carrying pirates managed to slip away in the same incident. Earlier this year, French forces also managed to regain control of a yacht that had been taken over by Somali pirates.

While these efforts have produced some results, the pirates have become more sophisticated and taken to launching their attacks further and further out to sea in an area that is impossible to patrol all the time. While many attacks have been warded off, the pirates have succeeded in reaping huge gains from the vessels they have managed to seize and take back to port in Somalia.

According to reports published in nearby Kenya, the Somali pirates have collected more than US$150 million in ransom money over the past 12 months. There are entire towns in Somalia that now depend on revenues from pirates in order to get by.

Some shippers have decided that it is already too dangerous to move cargoes through the region and go to great expense to sail their vessels around the southern tip of Africa rather than risk moving through the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden on their way to the Suez Canal. It is high time that the international community got tough on piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.

1|2|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email