Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Podcasts: Boots on the Ground: Jake and Joe Buff Talk about Piracy
Friday, March 27, 2009
Maritime Security: Pirate-Chasers Find Busting Brigands Is Easier Than Trying Them
This article brings up some of the legal problems of chasing pirates. What do you do with them, if you happen to capture one? I say we send them all to Sherif Joe’s tent city in Arizona, after we figure out a legal mechanism to try them. They would look sharp in pink. lol –Matt
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Pirate-Chasers Find Busting Brigands Is Easier Than Trying Them
By Gregory Viscusi
March 26 (Bloomberg) — The world’s navies have gotten better at catching Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Now they have to figure out how to bring them to justice.
European Union and U.S. naval forces have captured dozens of presumed brigands in recent months after beefing up their presence in the Gulf of Aden, the world’s most dangerous waters. Most have been let go or dumped on the shores of neighboring Somalia because of a lack of evidence or confusion over what jurisdiction can prosecute them.
“International law is very clear about giving any warship from any sovereign nation the right to suppress piracy in international waters,” said John Kimball, a maritime expert at law firm Blank Rome LLP in New York. “But it’s a messy burden. They need to be processed and given trials. Not many governments are willing to do this.”
Spurred by a spike in piracy last year, about 20 warships from 15 countries are patrolling the gulf between Yemen and Somalia, and nearby waters. Pirates assaulted 165 ships last year, seizing 43 of them for ransom, with 10 boats taken in November alone. Only five ships have been seized so far this year, and only one this month.
Since last August, when international naval forces began aggressively patrolling off Somalia, 127 presumed pirates have been apprehended and then released, according to the U.S. Navy. Another 35 are awaiting trial in Europe or Kenya, and 91 were handed over to authorities of Somalia’s various entities. At least three have been killed in gun battles with French and British commandos.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Jobs: ‘Unarmed’ Shipboard Security Advisors, OCONUS
Apply at your own risk. If you do get this gig as a ‘shipboard security advisor’, your first bit of advice to the captain of the ship should be to arm the vessel and yourself. Other than that, if your ship gets attacked and taken because your LRAD less than lethal sound gun or really bad language did not repel the assault, then I will have a lovely story to post on FJ. Good luck, and be smart. –Matt
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Jobs@RONCO
Open International Positions
NEW: Shipboard Security Advisors – OCONUS – Various Locations
RONCO Consulting Corporation is seeking highly motivated prior US Navy or Coast Guard servicemen to embark on a unique employment opportunity. Selected candidates will be responsible for providing anti-piracy security consulting and oversight on cargo vessels transiting Gulf of Aden. Positions will be unarmed; transit time normally 5 to 6 days per mission.
Key Areas of Expertise:
Anti-Terrorism Force Protection (ATFP)
Shipboard experience
Friday, December 19, 2008
Funny Stuff: Company Spotlight-Somcan FZC
We are located in the ajman free zone, uae and have been operation for 5 years. The company was formed to provide coast guard services for the puntland state of somalia. We have been running this service very successfully since then…….
This belongs in the funny stuff section for sure. Three gunboats, yet less than 5 employees? 1 million to 2.5 million a year in annual sales? Oh yeah, this company is doing a stellar job of securing the Somali coast. Just ask the chuckleheads shown in the picture below what they think of Somcan FZC. LOL. –Matt
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A Local Anti-Pirate Company
THE INDIAN OCEAN NEWSLETTER
20/12/2008
To put an end to the exploits of Somali pirates, the boss of the firm
Somcan in Puntland, Abidiweli Ali Taar, is asking the UN and European Union
to give him $30 million.
The managing director of the firm Somalian Coast Guard (Somcan), Abdiweli
Ali Taar, travelled to Nairobi last week to take part in an international
conference on fighting piracy that had been organized by the United Nations.
His own objective was simple enough: to button-hole officials from the UN
and European Union to persuade them to allocate $30 million per year to his
company to improve its ways of dealing with Somalian pirates. Taar’s firm is
based in Bosaso in Puntland, the breakaway region in the north east of
Somalia that is home to Somalian pirates.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Maritime Security: The UN Gives OK to Land, Air Attacks on Somali Pirates
Good news and I am glad they moved quickly on this. And as I write this, 4 new ships were attacked today. –Matt
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UN gives OK to land, air attacks on Somali pirates
Tue Dec 16, 6:21 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on hand to push through the resolution, one of President George W. Bush’s last major foreign policy initiatives.
Rice said the resolution will have a significant impact, especially since “pirates are adapting to the naval presence in the Gulf of Aden by traveling further” into sea lanes not guarded by warships sent by the U.S. and other countries.
The council authorized nations to use “all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia” to stop anyone using Somali territory to plan or carry out piracy in the nearby waters traversed each year by thousands of cargo ships sailing between Asia and the Suez Canal.
That includes the use of Somali airspace, even though the U.S. appeased Indonesia, a council member, by removing direct mention of it, U.S. officials said.
Somalia Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Jama, whose government asked for the help, said he was “heartened” by the council action. “These acts of piracy are categorically unacceptable and should be put to an end,” he said.