Feral Jundi

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Maritime Security: The WFP May Use Private Naval Companies for Somalia Operations

Filed under: Maritime Security,Somalia — Tags: , , — Matt @ 8:04 PM

 This is interesting.  If the WFP is talking about using security contractors, then you know they are serious.  These groups are usually the type that shun security contractors in Africa, but now it seems like attitudes are starting to change.  And especially when there have been 7 hijackings of ships this month alone off the coast of Somalia.  

 

So now the issue is money.  Will the WFP be able to secure the funds necessary to do something like this?  I don’t know, but it sure is interesting that Risk Consultants International Ltd just bought a couple of ships for some kind of naval activity.  –Head Jundi

——————————————————————  

Somalian Gunman

 

 

Somalis shot as they hand out aid

 

Gunmen in Somalia have shot dead three elders distributing aid in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

 

The killings are being linked to a wave of apparently targeted attacks on humanitarian workers.

 

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has warned that it may have to use private security companies to protect its vessels from pirate attacks in Somalia.

 

The agency has been sending food ships without protective escorts after a Dutch naval mission ended last month.

 

The WFP country director for Somalia, Peter Goossens, told the BBC the threat of piracy was putting at risk vital food aid for millions of people in Somalia.

 

“The problem is twofold – the ships themselves can get hijacked and we lose the food… my biggest problem is that I can’t find enough vessels that are willing to do this work for me unless they get an escort,” he said.

 

Against all the odds we’re running a programme – the biggest we’ve ever had in Somalia – but if I can’t continue doing it, I’m really afraid that we might very well see Ethiopia, like the early ’90s pictures

Peter Goossens

WFP country director for Somalia

 

Mr Goossens warned that the country was at a dire crossroads, with the risk of a famine similar to the early 1990s, when hundreds of thousands died.

 

He added that the UN had spoken to various naval powers who might provide military escorts to aid WFP ships, including Britain, Sweden and India.

 

He said he was grateful for their expressions of interest, but now wanted action.

 

Pirates operate off the coast of Somalia using high speed vessels and automatic weapons.

 

BBC World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle says that shipping companies regularly pay ransoms of hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their vessels released.

 

Masked men

 

The killings of three local leaders among the refugee community are the latest in a string of apparently targeted attacks on aid workers, which has caused a number of humanitarian agencies to consider pulling out of Somalia.

 

“About five masked men armed with pistols came to our camp, they ordered us to get into our make shift houses and then after a few minutes we heard shots, when we came out three of our men… were lying there,” a witness, Aden Norow, told the BBC.

 

“We do not know why our colleagues were targeted but we suspect it is because they were active in the recent protests against the killings of the aid workers – someone wants to silence us – we do not know who,” Abdow Dahir Mudey said.

 

Another elder was killed in a separate incident some 60km (37 miles) from the city.

 

It is not clear who exactly is behind Friday’s killings, but a BBC correspondent says many factions in Somalia’s chaotic war stand to benefit from the violence.

 

Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed and 15 others wounded after fighting broke out on Thursday in southern Somalia, 100km west of Kismayo, in the Lower-Jubba region.

 

Somalia has experienced almost constant civil conflict since the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime in January 1991.

 

Successive droughts have left an estimated two and a half million in need of food aid. That figure could rise if the droughts and insecurity continue.

Story from BBC NEWS

——————————————————————

Risk Consultants International Ltd has bought six Hugin and Kaparen class patrol boats for “patrolling Africas coast”. The boats is of course now stripped of gun and sensors but should be a fairly nice platform to add stuff to.

 

 

Confirmation of Sale

 

Risk Consultants International Ltd website

 

Friday, July 11, 2008

News: Somalia and Nigeria Are Biggest Piracy Hotspots–Lloyds

Filed under: News,Nigeria,Somalia — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:16 PM

 

     Nigeria is the one to watch for security stuff, just because of the oil contracts there.  Just today, oil made a big push because of problems in Nigeria.  – Head Jundi

————————————————————————————————— 

 

Somalia and Nigeria are biggest piracy hotspots

By Marcus Hand in Singapore – Friday 11 July 2008

The IMB said the increasing use of automatic weapons remains unacceptable.

MORE than one-third of the piracy incidents reported worldwide in the first six months of this year took place in Somalia and Nigeria.

Out of the 114 piracy attacks reported to the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre in the first half of 2008, 24 were off the coast of Somalia and 18 offshore Nigeria.

The failed state of Somalia remained the global black spot with a spate of violent hijackings pushing out well into the main sea lane in the Gulf of Aden. Of the 24 actual and attempted Somalia attacks, 19 were in the Gulf of Aden.

“In the Gulf of Aden at least eight vessels reported being fired upon by pirates armed with rocket propelled grenade launchers and automatic weapons,” the IMB said.

In Nigeria there were 18 attacks largely centred on the port of Lagos.

“Lagos is becoming an increasingly dangerous port, with the number of reported attacks in the area growing from 8 in the first six months of 2007 to 12 for the corresponding period in 2008,” it said.

According to the IMB, in the first six months of 2008, 71 vessels were boarded, 12 vessels were hijacked and 11 vessels were fired upon. A total of 190 crew members were taken hostage, six kidnapped, seven killed and another seven are missing and presumed dead.

“The frequency and level of violence directed at seafarers is cause for alarm. The abduction of crew and the increasing use of automatic weapons remains unacceptable,” said Potengal Mukundan, director of the IMB.

Article from Lloyd’s List

Monday, April 7, 2008

Industry Talk: Private Security Takes to the Sea

This is a great little primer, as to the state of the Private Naval Company/Private Security Company industry.  Recent kidnapping and hostage events off the coast of Somalia, have brought this issue out in the open again, and it begs this question.  Where is the PNC/PSC industry heading, and who are the players?  -Head Jundi 

—————————————————

Yacht 

ISN Security Watch

7 April 2008

Private security takes to the sea

With violent maritime piracy and the risk of waterborne terrorism on the
rise, states and non-state actors turn to private security, Patrick Cullen
writes for ISN Security Watch.

By Patrick Cullen in New York for ISN Security Watch (04/04/08)

Piracy, once generally perceived to have been eliminated as a security
threat, has re-emerged as a significant problem for state and non-state
actors alike. Though the number of pirate attacks had waned during the last
few years, new International Maritime Bureau statistics have shown that
piracy is again on the upswing worldwide. This upsurge in piracy – and the
market created for countering this threat – can be conceptualized along
three distinct lines.

Mapping the maritime private security market (more…)

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress