Buoyed by a flurry of hijackings over the final months of 2010, it is hard to argue that the Somali pirates did not enjoy a great year. 2010 saw a total of 74 documented hijackings, up from 68 in 2009, and there are a record 771 known hostages currently being held by the pirates.
The following table was compiled using data from ECOTERRA, a Nairobi-based NGO:
| Number of Attacks | Hijackings | Success Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 134 | 50 | 37% |
2009 | 228 | 68 | 30% |
2010 | 243 | 74 | 30% |
Though the creation of the Gulf of Aden transit corridor in late 2008 produced a moderate drop in the success rate of pirate attacks, absolute numbers of hijackings continue to rise. Despite increasingly intensive international naval pressure in 2010, including a reformulated strategy by the EUNAVFOR task force, the pirates extended their attack range in every direction. The numbers say it all: the current, navally-focused approach to combatting piracy is simply not working.
Mr. Bahadur - this is evidence of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ's desire for the poor, opressed people of Somalia and others in Africa, to begin to take back what our colonisers took for so many yrs. These pirates are heroes.
ReplyDeleteMay Christ, bless him, continue to support them and giude their little ships to take on the defenses of their opressers like David defeating Goliath.
The corridor is not an effective way to reduce piracy. Though now retired, the many years I served in the Royal Navy makes it clear that unless each transiting vessel can be assigned an escort, there is no way to guarantee the safety of ships that pass through the corridor. There must be more cost effective ways to curb piracy, and I'm certain that these would not involve an international task-force of warships patrolling the G of A.
ReplyDeleteThrowing some money at a few tons of khat to appease these young men would cost less and work better [probably the most crude and certainly unpopular solution]. That I can toss out such a simple and cheap solution as I sit here at my keyboard shows the laughable effort put forth by the developed world towards this pressing issue.
There is no denying that naval patrols are an extremely cost-inefficient, and you are correct that travelling through IRTC is not any guarantee that a ship won't get hijacked. As for a "simple and cheap" solution... well, I tackle that in some detail over the final pages of my book.
ReplyDelete