Exclusive: Somali pirates use Yemen island as fuel base

I knew this would happen.... and nearly half of Yemen's oil production is shut down.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/05/us-yemen-somalia-pirates-idUSTRE7641VB20110705

Exclusive: Somali pirates use Yemen island as fuel base
Tue, Jul 5 2011

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Somali pirates have been using Yemen's remote Horn of Africa island of Socotra as a refueling hub enabling their attack craft to stay restocked for longer periods at sea and pose a greater hazard to shipping, maritime sources say.

Despite an international naval presence in the region, seaborne gangs have been exploiting political turmoil in Yemen to pick up fuel, and possibly other supplies including food, sources told Reuters.

"Socotra has been used for months if not longer," said Michael Frodl, with C-LEVEL maritime risk consultancy and an adviser to Lloyd's of London underwriters, citing intelligence reports he was privy to.

"It is perhaps the most important refueling hub for hijacked merchant vessels used as motherships, especially those operating between the Gulf of Aden and India's western waters, mainly off Oman and increasingly closer to the Strait of Hormuz."

"A hijacked merchant vessel, unlike a hijacked dhow, has a voracious thirst for fuel and needs a very well stocked refueling station," Frodl said.

A Yemen government official said authorities around a month ago had captured 20 people believed to be pirates on the island and handed them over to authorities in Yemen's nearby southern port city of al-Mukalla on the mainland.

A source said separately the 20 people had been on a regular commercial ship, but added that 16 Somali pirates were taken into custody in recent days and were being detained on Socotra.

"There was a lot of piracy north of Socotra during the north east monsoon and it is likely they have been using the island," the source said. "Pirates use the beaches on the mainland not too far from Mukalla to collect fuel, and presumably other equipment."

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) watchdog said the pirate support systems had to be promptly stopped.

"Socotra is strategically located because it is right up there against the Gulf of Aden and also along the eastern seaboard of Yemen," said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan.

"If it is true that the pirates are using Socotra, then it is an extremely disturbing development and it requires immediate investigation."

Somali gangs, who are making millions of dollars in ransoms, are becoming increasingly violent, and are able to stay out at sea for long periods and in all weather conditions using captured merchant vessels as mother ships. The crisis is costing world trade billions of dollars a year.

The group of four islands in the isolated archipelago, the largest of which is Socotra, are located due east of the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea, and have been administered from Yemen for much of the last two centuries.

"Socotra has been a favorite stomping ground for pirates for centuries as both Marco Polo and the great 14th century Islamic scholar and traveler Ibn Battuta attest," said J. Peter Pham, with U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council.

"A credible amount of evidence has emerged in recent years that Somali pirates have certainly taken advantage of jurisdictional issues to operate in and out of the Socotra archipelago with at least the tacit connivance of at least some Yemeni authorities."

A maritime security source said there were transactions taking place between dhows in the Socotra archipelago as well.

"In addition to fuel, these exchanges involve arms, most of which are then shipped to Puntland for distribution either to pirates or to various armed factions," the source said.

Pirates conducted several attacks in May in the Arabian Sea and some strikes in June. Maritime officials say the islands will become more difficult to reach in smaller ships until October because of wind, sea and swell conditions.

Yemen's military is believed to have a base on Socotra, maritime sources said. "If the military wanted to supply mother ships with fuel from Socotra they could. Corruption in Yemen is rife," another maritime source said.

COUNTER PIRACY

NATO said it had ships in the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden since March 2009 and the presence of NATO warships and other nations' navies had resulted in a significant reduction in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden over the past two years.

"We are not complacent and understand there is still much work to be done," a NATO spokeswoman said.

"As Yemen forms the northern coast of the Gulf of Aden and is only 200 miles from Somalia, it is feasible that the pirates could use Yemeni ports for supplies. However, we have no evidence to suggest that this is happening. Similarly with Socotra, there is no evidence to suggest it is used as a pirate hub."

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, has been paralyzed by six months of mass protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's three-decade rule.

After surviving an assassination attempt last month, Saleh went to Saudi Arabia for treatment. The Arabian Peninsula country has descended into violence with militants suspected of ties to al Qaeda seizing two cities.

"In the 1990s, before there was much by way of Somali piracy, the real threat in the region was from Yemeni pirates," the Atlantic Council's Pham said.

"While they were largely put out of business by more aggressive Somali pirates as well as governmental action, in the absence of the latter, the threat could re-emerge as well."

Alan Fraser, Middle East analyst with security firm AKE, said it was unlikely that Somali pirates would have any real interest in carrying out major activities on Yemen's mainland even if the situation deteriorated.

"Tribal codes and religious values are more conservative in Yemen than in Somalia so piracy is not likely to take off in the same way," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Mokhashaf in Aden)

 

Fyi...............

 

You knew that Muslims would protect and fund other Muslims in their war against the West? We could have saved a lot of bandwidth and time had you just admitted that from the start....

 

Don't we have naval ships in that gulf area, along with some of the other local navies? How 'bout we send a special squad team over there and wipe them out like we did last time?

 

I knew that Al Qaeda and all Shabaab are now joined at the hip.. and AQ is in control of south Yemen.

Piracy will get worse.

 

He killed Somali pirates already, wait, judging by his request for a second stimulus it might be due for a second round... We can hope anyway...

 

I doubt piracy will get worse by much, the death of pirates will get worse, and that will simply fuel more hatred towards America. Sucks we have a coward in office that won't deal with the threat accordingly. He might well kill a ship or two, but lacks the courage to end the whole threat.

 

Yes.. we do have patrols, but the problem just got bigger.

 

We don't want to be fighting in Yemen.. That would be a disaster.

 

What would be your solution to ending the whole threat?

 

Ships don't fight on land sweetie, we can kill pirates all day without breaching the precious international law these scum would try to hide behind.

Why is it you only respond to me when I'm an being offensive? Just wondering...

 

We don't want to be fighting in Somalia either.

 

Pirates are in the water, we can slay them at will with aircraft or naval vessels, no need to hit the ground. I simply doubt Obama has the will to do it.

 

I believe India also has patrols... and Israel's second largest base is on Eritrea's Dahlak Islands

 

Sadly lots of lesser nations pretend they patrol, but fear the ramifications of doing anything. They may as well stay home. Obama may strike once if it hits the major news outlets, but that's it, he's a coward.

 

India killed some of them less than three weeks ago... so did the Indonesians.

 

Indonesia kills four Somali pirates during rescue operation

JAKARTA, INDONESIA : Indonesia on Monday announced that four Somali pirates were killed during an operation that freed 20 sailors, the Jakarta Globe reported.

The operation was conducted on Sunday in order to free the 20 crew members of the bulk cargo carrier Sinar Kudus which was pirated about 46 days ago. The Indonesian-flagged merchant vessel was on its way to Suez, Egypt from Singapore when attacked.

According to Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul, a military spokesman, after the Indonesian soldiers secured all hostages, they chased the pirates and engaged in a gunfight. As a result, four suspected pirates were killed.

Sitompul added that ransom was paid to the pirates as part of the operation. After receiving the money, the Somali nationals left the MV Sinar Kudus in small skiffs but 12 soldiers and a helicopter followed them.

All hostages were freed and the Indonesian bulk carrier was secured at a nearby port. Three Indonesian warships are guarding the hostages until they are transported by plane back to Jakarta.

Some reports indicated on Sunday that the pirates received a USD 4.5 million ransom but the Indonesian government rejected paying such sum to the pirates. In the past, Indonesia claimed that it had never negotiated with Somali pirates.

continued http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-201344.html

 

That would be impressive. When's the last time we did the same? Let me guess, when it was on CNN and Obama got some credit for it???

 

I think it was in February......the US Navy got credit.

 

No, Obama took a lot of that credit. Seems he simply won't give our service member any credit for themselves, he is so narcissistic he demands a part for himself.

 

Send a couple of decoy ships through...when the pirates attack, the Special Forces troops on the ship slaughter them, while the Q-ship's hidden guns blast their vessels to pieces. Dead pirates should simply be tossed overboard for the sharks; the same should happen to any survivors. This should be broadcast worldwide on TV and the Internet. Announce that any pirates captured will be executed immediately. Announce (and implement) a shoot-on-sight order for pirate vessels. The sight of a couple of dhows disintegrating under a couple thousand DU rounds from a chain gun (or a Harpoon cruise missile) should also be broadcast worldwide.

Kill enough and the rest will wise up.

 

Somalia and Yemen are none of America's business. Leave them to their own devices.

 

Some but you do know the Navy is cut short and overextended don't you? What allied "local navies" are in the area that you would expect help from?

 

FYI: Yemen is a strategic port for all commerce in the Middle East region. It is like the gateway to resources in Africa, and products from Medeterainian area. With Turkey being a major islamic contributor to global trade, Yemen is very important. Also, it is the only Port the US Navy has involvement with in that Area of the Arab World, and it is a critical port for the US military as well as US industry and commerce.

 

Send in the drones.