Ports are similar to airports, and I’ve seen UK police admiring the collection of weapons kept on board an aircraft belonging to a well known national airline. (Amusingly I think the police reckoned I was airline security)
I doubt if many port officials would blink if they found a shotgun or handgun on a private yacht - and many cruise ships offer clay pigeon shooting.
My understanding is that these guys hijack a trawler to use as a motherboat, which makes radar quite interesting - a legitimate boat should have a transponder, so any radar image that does not have a corresponding transponder signal … is worth having a look at.
As for bases, the French have one at Djibouti which is where they launched their raid to recapture that French yacht.
Interestingly the latest news is that the Russians are taking an interest and want a US and European joint venture to stamp on the problem.
Dealing with hijackers is extremely difficult, if you give in to them then you encourage further hijacking. Actually getting at the hijackers (and the people bankrolling them) after the event is almost impossible - something that the Russians know (eg: Moscow theatre and Beslam) but others don’t want to take responsibility for.
The Somalis say that trawlers are illegally fishing in their waters, which is true, but pretty irrelevant to the livelihood of traditional Somali fishermen as their boats would be incapable of operating so far offshore.
I doubt if many port officials would blink if they found a shotgun or handgun on a private yacht
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I do not know if they would blink but there are rules and I am sure the master would blink if he was taken to jail for breaking the rules. I am quite sure you do not have absolute freedom to possess firearms in a private yatch in a foreign port. You would probably be subject to legistation from both the registration and the host countries.
I do not believe this is correct. Where do you get this idea? In any case, even if it were true it would make no difference. This is somewhat like demanding people have and carry ID in order to prevent criminal activity. Thiefs have ID too. What difference does that make? None.
I cannot see why this would be the case. Western countries have the capability of observing them after they leave from the air and enough distance that they do not know they are being observed and followed. As soon as they are separated from the hostages they can be detained by commandos, like the French did, or disposed of with missiles or bombs which is more the American style.
There was an article in the last weeks Economist - they estimate that Somalian pirates have netted as much as $100MM in ransoms so far this year, whereas the entire UN 2008 development budget for Somalia is $14MM.
Somalia is a failed state, the chances of commandos being able to operate on the ground is extremely low. In the case of the French, they raided the yacht from the sea. I have a vague memory that the French are holding some other Somali prisoners, however I may be wrong.
Actually the prisoners taken by the French are both raising the stakes of ‘the game’ and changing the rules. The Somalis involved in piracy regard those prisoners as a form of hostage and have been vociferously offering to cut the heads of people unless they are released.
My understanding of Somalia is culled from some 2003 books by John Simpson (a veteran BBC TV reporter), the BBC World Service and the UK newspapers - and leads me to believe that they are extremely dangerous and quite capable of carrying out such threats and more. To date the hijackings have been regarded as a lucrative ‘game’ with ‘restaurants springing up to feed the prisoners’. This is unlikely to continue.
In one of Simpson’s books he describes an interview with a former US Marine Captain who also happened to be the son of a Somali warlord - and incredibly was operating in communications (signals) during the US attempted invasion of Somalia. Talk about a mole ! As far as I can understand, the Somalis are quite sophisticated, and have a long culture of extreme violence. They saw off the USA (Black Hawk down should ring a bell) and their mindset is rather different from something Westerners can easily understand.
i do not understand "Somalia is a failed state, the chances of commandos being able to operate on the ground is extremely low. " It makes no sense to me. Commandos need a well controlled state to operate? Why? It makes no sense. I would say that very much the contrary, not having a functioning state to oppose the commandos would be an advantage. In any case the Somali government has generally given permission for western forces to operate there.
Curious, the version I know is that a group of the French equivalent of SEALs or SBS were dropped some way from the yacht, they swam in and boarded at night, killing IIRC two of the pirates.
On the ground in Somalia, people are heavily armed. Not ideal for a commando raid.
I find this notion surprising. I thought commandos were intended to act in enemy-controlled, hostile terriory. What’s the point of commandos who only operate in friendly territory?
I thought the chief weapons were stealth, surprise, ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.
@Tamealien - Thanks for that link, it describes both incidents - interestingly both took place at sea.
@Sailor - I follow your point about commando raids, but there are certain extremes where they just don’t work - like where the locals are concentrated, heavily armed, experienced in urban warfare etc etc.
Raiding a Somali port would be more difficult than raiding a secure marine base, perfectly possible, but not at all ‘surgical’.
I’ve often wondered why the Swiss Guard have an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope. Very odd - I would expect them to be Protestant.
OK, sure, it probably isn’t likely (and apparently, as I read the previous statements, even less so for merchant craft) but I think the bigger part of this issue is that a bunch of merchantmen would be less motivated (or able) to attempt holding off armed militants. I don’t think it’s part of the job description… but, of course, I’m not a merchantman.
but, of course, I’m not a merchantman.