Ecoterra - Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor – Part XIII. French Navy: Butchers, Killers, Assassins

Two Somali pirates and one French were killed during the ridiculous French navy operation geared to release the sailing tourists who were hostages of the Somali pirates aboard Tanit, their yacht named after the Phoenician goddess Tanit (details in their homonymous blog: http://tanit.over-blog.fr/). The event clearly demonstrates that there is among the US – UK – French militarists a volition for escalation of the otherwise externally machinated Somali piracy crisis.

It is incomprehensible how and for what reasons the countries involved in the Somali piracy face off do not seriously implement a certain number of measures that would greatly contribute to prevent similar misfortunate events and other parallel mishappenings that can sooner or later turn the Horn of Africa into a far worse nightmare; more specifically:

1. Private sailing must be prohibited around the Horn of Africa. The aforementioned yacht bloggers when in Muqallah (South –Eastern Yemen) had announced their willingness to sail thence to Tanzania. Simply, under current circumstances, private sailing in the area should be absolutely prohibited and the sailors penalized.

2. Due to the presence of a multinational fleet in the area, UN-level suggestions shall be entertained as to just how all these disparate and dysfunctional elements of the otherwise arrogant and ineffective military presence will become fully effective and helpful. In cooperation with the government of Somalia and the social hierarchy throughout the coastal zone of Somalia, a Somali Fishery Safety Registry must be set up in cooperation with representatives of the present fleets. Then, the international flotilla will have to guarantee that around the Horn of Africa, from Djibouti’s and Yemen’s territorial waters down to the Kenyan coast, the only small boats sailing are Somali fishermen’s.

3. Cargo ships and tankers will be allowed to cross the delimitated Somali national maritime zone only at their own peril; they should not expect military rescue operation in case of hijacking. The only harbour of Somalia, between the Somali / Djibouti and the Somali / Kenyan borderlines, where cargo ships and tankers will be allowed to anchor is Mogadishu.

4. Foreign fisheries will be thoroughly chased and effectively arrested, and then highly penalized, whereas their crew will be held hostage of the international flotilla and released only after due payment of the penalty which will be credited to a UN Fund for Somali Fisheries the details of which should become the subject of negotiations between the Somali government and the UN.

5. The government of Somalia and the social hierarchy in the coastal zone of Somalia will be held directly responsible for every further case of piracy, and they will have to provide sufficient details about the people who masterminded and spearheaded these activities if they still occur.

The aforementioned is sketchy draft of what become an effective solution and termination of the piracy phenomenon off the Somali coastland without the need for the French commandos to further prolong their barbarism and inhumanity.

I republish herewith the recent Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor that sheds more light on the subject.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor) Part XIII

Ecoterra International – Updates, Statements & Clearinghouse Citations

A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or overseas, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.

2009-04-10 15h05:19 UTC / 18h05 local time

EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia[at]ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: SMS to +254-738-497979 or call +254-733-633-733

Clearing-house

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships --------

French Navy does horrible job. Chloé and Florent Lemaçon and their three-year-old child, Colin, were sailing with two male friends to Zanzibar. Tonight President Sarkozy's office said an operation to rescue the hostages held on the notorious waters for a week claimed one of their lives but freed four others - including a child. The French Government says also two of the pirates were killed during the attack, carried out by the French Navy. Local observers and analysts are shocked that the French Navy after they had carried out already yesterday a failed attack, which only disabled the mast of the small yacht and thereby hindered the vessel to come ashore, did not listen to elders, local leaders and groups, which had promised a quick but peaceful resolve of this case, because for them it was unacceptable that a woman and a child were taken hostage. It is not clear yet how many pirates died in reality or if it was a "take no prisoners" commando. Why the French Government decided to not even listen to the options for a peaceful solution is a serious question.

.... details will follow.

Standoff between US-American Navy and four pirates, who hold the captain of a merchant vessel hostage in a life-boat continues.

... details will follow.

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 (18 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, 19 with JAIKUR I whose crew is still held in Mogadishu harbour) foreign vessels with a total of not less than 297 crew members accounted for (of which 118 are confirmed to be Filipinos) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 52 averted or abandoned attacks and 14 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as one wrongful attack by friendly fire on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Directly piracy related news

Insurers and lawyers scoop big time from piracy. Kidnap insurance costs soar tenfold in Gulf of Aden on escalating piracy. Ship owners navigating the Gulf of Aden are seeing insurance premiums for kidnap and ransom increase tenfold as piracy escalates, said Chicago-based global insurance broker Aon Risk Services on Thursday, one day after Somali pirates hijacked a U.S. cargo ship. This means ship owners could be paying 30,000 U.S. dollars premium for 3 million dollars of cover for one journey through this piracy hotspot. However, more are opting for cover to protect their employees as well as avoiding lengthy detours that threaten supply chains and increase petrol costs, reports Xinhua. Specialist piracy policies for kidnap and ransom insurance can include cover for consultant and negotiator costs, ransom demands and medical care. These can be bought for individual transits or on an annual basis to bring down the cost.

"The cost of insurance is simply rising in correlation with the risk of kidnap in piracy hotspots. Despite the presence of naval ships, the spate of piracy attacks over the last six months does not seem to be abating with increased civil unrest and pirates' easy access to rocket launchers and AK47s. As such we've seen enquiries for cover escalate as ship owners seek to protect their employees and businesses", said Ashley Leszczuk, an analyst from Aon's crisis management team. Aon indicated that some 70 percent of ship owners are opting for localized policies for the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Guinea and the Straits of Malacca while a third of the policies placed by Aon cover all locations worldwide. While a US congress study states with just over 30 million US $ almost correctly the real ransom paid to Somali pirates in 2009, many sources quote Kenya's Foreign Minister falsely who had stated that 150 million US$ had been paid. What the minister tried to state was the total amount, which was paid in these piracy cases. So the question is, who got the 120 million US$ the pirates didn't get? Case-affected insurers shoveled some from their right to their left pocket, but the direct bagging is done by lawyers and their affiliates in the risk-management industry. Some reports are stating that even fraudulent ship owners and managers, crooked diplomats and colluding ship-captains are in on the take.

And this not just concerning old vessels, which were on their way to the scrap yard anyway and are used for this last insurance-fraud and voyage into the easy money - no - especially concerning latest near-billion-dollar vessels the piracy-derivatives merry-go-around seems to be the latest game of the rich boys from the shipping club and their colluding buddy-buddy networks. The biggest winner overall is certainly the insurance industry and the biggest looser (isn't it always?) the taxpayer. Since now in addition the taxpayer has to foot the bill for naval war-games under the pre-text of ill-conceived anti-piracy missions, the paying citizens of this world should finally start to ask themselves for how long this nonsense must be financed from their crumbling incomes. The only lasting and therefore only rightful solution is to help to end this increasing craziness by a quantum leap and allowing outside-of-the-box thinking to be implemented.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine
East-Africa
+254-714-747090
www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.
Nairobi Node
+254-733-633-733

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme
SAP Media Officer
+254-733-385868

End of Ecoterra Press Release

Note
Picture: Aboard Tanit during happier times.
From the traveler’s blog:
http://tanit.over-blog.fr/categorie-10667036.html