By: Moneer Al-Omari
Several warships and launches are deployed to the Gulf of Aden and the
Indian Ocean under the pretext of fighting the Somali pirates and
protecting commercial ships that pass by.
Piracy activities have long been a headache for international navigation
in the Gulf of Aden, which is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes
and connects Asia and Europe.
Ships and tankers sailing through the Indian Ocean, Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab
Strait, passes by the lawless Somalia, which has been without an
effective central government for the last 17 years. This situation
helped pirates to work freely off Somali shores and in the international
waters.
The Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau has recorded over
60 attacks by pirates during this year, the last of which was capturing
a Ukrainian ship boarding heavy military hardware and tanks said to be
shipped to the government of South Sudan or Yemen.
On October 17, the Indian government announced deploying a warship to
the Gulf of Aden to protect its commercial ships, one month after Somali
pirates had seized a commercial ship boarding 20 Indian sailors. Denmark
and other countries in Europe have also deployed ships near Bab Al-Mandab
Strait.
Similarly, Russia dispatched a warship to the pirate-controlled water
off Somalia after Ukrainian Belize-flagged Faina boarding a crew of 21
people and a cargo that includes battlefield tanks and spare parts for
armored vehicles as it was heading to the Kenyan seaport of Mombassa.
This came after North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had announced
early October deploying seven warships to face the increased activities
of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean.
NATO's act was meant for protecting ships passing by Bab Al-Mandab
Strait and observers hint that this gestures means that countries
overlooking the Arab Sea and Gulf of Aden are incapable of preventing
the terrorist activities of pirates, especially the troubled Somalia.
Such moves have alarmed the countries overlooking the Red and Arab Seas
as well as the Indian Ocean, particularly Yemen which expressed its
fears over the western presence in the area and considered the
operations to be threatening to the Arab national security.
Several observers stress that protecting the commercial interests of
these countries is not the only reason, as they seek to reinforce their
presence in the region, particularly in the vital routes of world trade
and oil supplies.
In return, Somali pirates always accuse European firms of dumping toxic
waste off the Somali coast and claim they exploit the money they receive
for cleaning up the waste.
Though their allegations are somewhat true, money remains the main
objective of the pirates. The money pirates receive in ransom for
releasing the captured ships is used for strengthening their command
through purchasing more boats, weapons and other equipments used for
piracy purposes.
Security experts reveal that having mutual cooperation between the
countries of the region could help prevent the risky activities of
pirates. This cooperation includes exchanging information, finance and
building the capacities of countries directly involved with fighting
pirates.
Pirates' arms
Pirates always use armed boats; however, they do not own powerful
weapons as weapons they have only include RPJ and Kalashnikovs. They are
well-trained on how to jump and climb the ships. Their boats also
contain hooks and other equipments used for climbing and breaking into
the targeted ships.
Most seized ships are commercial and the reason is that the crew of
these ships are not allowed to possess or keep guns. This does not apply
to Israel commercial ships because they consider themselves to be under
constant threats.
Yemen and Piracy
According to coastguard officers, Yemen has sought to fight piracy and
the illegal activities of pirates in its regional and international
waters; however, its efforts have been successful because the country
has limited resources and is incapable of building a well-trained
coastguard force and purchasing developed equipments and hardware that
make this task easy.
The country will soon host a regional center for fighting piracy through
the collaboration with 20 countries and International Maritime
Organization. The center will work for restricting piracy activities
targeting ships off Yemen's coasts, especially in the international
waters between Yemen and Somalia.
Coastguard officers revealed that plans for upgrading and developing
coastguard forces were presented to the concerned authorities.
In this regard, Sana'a University Professor Abdullah Al-Faqih enquired
about what the government has done with the surplus of oil revenues over
the last two years, especially when oil prices increased markedly and
hit record level this year.
Al-Faqih pointed out that the Yemeni government has saved a large sum of
money, mainly because it sold oil against prices much higher than what
was set for the budget, demanding the government to allocate YR 2
billion for upgrading and equipping the coastguard forces.
تعليقات
إرسال تعليق