Posted: Jun 16, 2009 05:05 am EST
(TheOceans.net) Eight pirates hijacked a cargo ship in the territorial waters of Oman end of last week, threatening for the first time shipping in and out of oil-rich Persian Gulf; a so far relatively secure area. This successful attack followed a failed attack in the area earlier last week. Resent attacks showed that the Pirates were extending their area of attacks. An increased number of night attacks were also reported and people traffickers start to play along.

Change in attack patterns

“A fleet of international naval vessels assembled to combat a surge in pirate attacks around the Horn of Africa may be driving pirates further afield, navy officials said. Seasonally bad weather may also be pushing pirates northward,” reported the Wall Street Journal.

The poor weather during the southwest monsoon season (May to September) near the coast of Somalia may play a role in the area where the pirates attack. The Combined Maritime Forces issued an updated Special Maritime Advisory message regarding the patterns of attack.

“Merchants are urged to use the weather to their advantage, planning new routing off the east coast of Somalia due to the start of the southwest monsoon season.”

The message also stated that the pirate operations are extending as far as the Seychelles, with the use of mother ships. The use of these larger vessels allows the pirates to operate further out from shore, providing an afloat staging platform for their attacks.

A potential pirate move into the southern Red Sea is also highlighted in the Advisory message.

“Finally, pirates have also recently increased their number of attacks during the hours of darkness, highlighting the need for heightened vigilance of merchant mariners during both day and night time transits through the high risk areas.”

Increase in attacks

“The pirate attacks off the Somali coast have escalated in the recent weeks despite the presence of some 20 warships, deployed by navies of the NATO, the European Union, Russia, China, South Korea and India, in the region to protect cargo and cruise ships against piracy in the region,” said rttnews.com.

The total number of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off east coast Somalia up to May 2009 has already overtaken the figure for all of 2008, according to statistics collated by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC).

Human shields

Pirates started using African refugees on boats ferrying from Somalia to Yemen in search for a better life as human shields, according to humanitarian agencies.

Some pirates resort to tying up their skiffs alongside boats ferrying these helpless people. “In such situations, the boats carrying refugees act like a "mother ship" for the pirates,” reported thetimes.co.za.

“The people traffickers, who are also Somali and reportedly in cahoots with the pirates, then keep a keen lookout for isolated ships vulnerable to attack instead of heading with their human cargo directly towards refuge in Yemen,” said the news source.

When a potential victim is located the pirates board their fast and manoeuvrable skiffs and carry out the attack.

Many Somali pirates were fisherman who started guarding their shores against foreign trawlers taking advantage of the civil war to illegally fish the Somali waters. The foreign trawlers devastated the livelihoods of the local fishermen. When the international community did nothing, the fishermen became pirates after discovering that taking hostages was fruitful.

This led to a well organised seajacking business.

Hundreds of attacks have been reported around the coast of Somalia and in particular in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest sea-lanes.

After a hijacking a ship is usually taken to anchor offshore the ungoverned coast of Somalia and a ransom is demanded from the ship owners. Generally, on receiving the ransom the crew and the vessels are returned unharmed.

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