Leavenworth Strategist

INTERVIEW-UK Navy Chief Says Navies Won't Eradicate Piracy

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Efforts by foreign navies to combat Somali piracy off the Horn of Africa country's coast have made a difference but they will not be able to eradicate attacks by seaborne gangs, Britain's navy chief said on Friday. Somali pirates have stepped up attacks in recent months, making millions of dollars in ransom by hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia.

Admiral Mark Stanhope said navies were dealing with 1.1 million square miles of water to monitor.

"We are not going to eradicate piracy -- it's still a very very large area," he told Reuters in an interview...

EU says war on Somali pirates not over

By MIKE CORDER (AP)

GOTEBORG, Sweden — Hulking gray naval frigates fanned out across the Gulf of Aden have combined with monsoon storms to sharply reduce pirate attacks in the world's busiest shipping lanes in recent weeks.

But the commanding officer of the European Union armada warned Tuesday that it is too early to declare victory over heavily armed Somali pirates in tiny, fast-moving skiffs.

"This is not a thing where we can say 'job done,'" Rear Admiral Peter Hudson said on the sidelines of an EU defense ministers' meeting.

Hudson's warning came as EU officials hailed their anti-piracy flotilla as a resounding success, saying it has helped shepherd hundreds of thousands of tons of World Food Program aid to starving Somalis and foiled 100 pirate attacks since it began patrolling the Gulf nine months ago.

The EU is joined patrolling the region by the United States, which has been at the forefront of fighting piracy, and NATO, Japan, South Korea, and China...

Dutch take command in fight against pirates

By Hans de Vreij for RNW

The Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen will be playing a dual role over the coming four months. On the one hand it will be escorting ships.

This might mean guarding vessels belonging to the United Nations' World Food Programme, which sail between Mombassa and the Somali capital Mogadishu, or accompanying merchant shipping convoys in the Gulf of Aden, or making a sudden appearance in the waters around the Seychelles.

Vast area

On the other hand, the ship is also the command platform from which Commodore Pieter Bindt and his staff will be managing the whole of Operation Atalanta.

The European naval force comprises eight to twelve ships and a number of reconnaissance aircraft. Its area of operations is vast, says commodore Bindt...

Task force warns of hike in Somalia piracy

(AFP) – Jul 27, 2009
MANAMA — The multinational anti-piracy force operating off the coast of Somalia warned on Monday of an increase in attacks when the monsoon season ends in the next few weeks.

"The Combined Maritime Forces are warning mariners of an anticipated increase in piracy incidents when the southwest monsoon ends in the coming weeks, and are reiterating that merchant mariners must continue to take proactive action to help prevent piracy attacks," said the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates threatening one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes...

African Union Training Somalis to Counter Insurgency

By Alisha Ryu, (VOA) Nairobi, 16 July 2009

The African Union's special envoy to Somalia says the AU has begun recruiting and training Somalis to be soldiers and police officers to help the country's embattled government counter an insurgency led by Islamists with ties to al-Qaida. He says the pan-African body envisions a Somali security force of about 16,000 members in a year's time.

The envoy, Nicholas Bwakira, says the ambitious recruiting and training program for Somalia is a part of the pledge of assistance the United States, the European Union and other key donors made in April at a meeting in Brussels.

More than $200 million was pledged at the conference, much of it earmarked to support Somalia's transitional government's security forces and the 4,300-member African Union's peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM...

"We plan to train 6,000 paramilitary forces and 10,000 policemen," Bwakira said. "This training will be taking place outside Somalia. But some of the training will be done in Somalia. There are already some trainees, who are in Djibouti. So, it already has started and it is going to continue in various countries. We are looking at training time-frame of six to 12 months."

Bwakira says Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda are some of the African nations that have volunteered to train Somali recruits.

 

UN won't rule out peacekeepers for Somalia

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has not ruled out the idea of a U.N. peacekeeping force for Somalia, a top envoy said Saturday after meeting with African Union officials to discuss problems in Somalia and Sudan.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has come out against such a force, but the fierce fighting that has ravaged Mogadishu, the Somali capital, in the last few days appeared to weigh on the diplomats' minds.

"The question of a United Nations peacekeeping mission remains on the table," Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers told journalists after hours of talks in Addis Ababa. Sawers is leading the 15-nation U.N. Security Council on its eight-day African trip, which will take envoys to Rwanda, Liberia and Congo, where instability in the eastern part of that country has been a source of tension between Congo and its neighbor Rwanda...

Chinese navy again escorts Taiwan ship off Somalia

By Wang Hui (chinadaily.com.cn)
The Chinese navy Wednesday began a 550-nautical-mile escort mission for a Taiwan ship and four other ships through Somali waters to protect them against pirate attacks.

They were expected to reach the east estuary of Bab-el-Mandeb (or Mandeb Strait) Friday. Bab-el-Mandeb, which literally means, the "Gate of Tears", is where the Red Sea meets the Arabian Sea, and despite being very difficult to navigate, it is among the busiest shipping channels in the world.

Turkey to command Somalia anti-piracy force: US

MANAMA (Google/AFP) Apr 24, 2009

The US Fifth Fleet announced on Friday it is transferring command of the counter-piracy international naval force CTF 151 to the Turkish Navy on May 3.

"The US Navy will transfer command of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 to the Turkish Navy on Sunday May 3, 2009," Lieutenant Nathan Christensen of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet said in a statement.

Rear Admiral Michelle Howard will hand over control of the task force to Turkish Rear Admiral Caner Bener in a ceremony aboard the Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain, the Navy said.

"Turkey will be the second nation to command the counter-piracy task force. This also marks the first time Turkey will command a Combined Maritime Forces Task Force," the statement said...

PLA Navy expands its horizons in Somalia mission

(China Daily) After returning from China's first anti-piracy mission yesterday, fleet commander Rear Admiral Du Jingchen admitted he had more on his mind than battling hijackers during his four-month tour off the coast of Somalia.

The highly experienced officer led three ships from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy as part of a multinational taskforce formed to stop bandits targeting merchant ships on major trade routes.

But for Rear Admiral Du, the voyage also provided a rare opportunity to test the Chinese facilities, weapons and support functions to the full, as well as open the door for military-based diplomacy on the open sea...

NATO Turns 60; Reflects Past; Defines Future

(Voice of America) By Sonja Pace, Brussels, 30 March 2009

Founded in the aftermath of World War II and at the onset of the Cold War, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization bound together western European countries, Canada and the United States to safeguard each other's security against the rising threat of the Soviet Union. Much has changed - the Soviet Union is no more, and NATO has expanded eastward.

Fighting pirates off the coast of Somalia and insurgents in the mountains of Afghanistan may not be what NATO founders had in mind 60 years ago. But that is what the alliance faces today.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has about 60,000 troops under its command in Afghanistan and more are on the way.

NATO ships in new anti-piracy mission (Allied Protector)

BRUSSELS (AFP) — NATO warships will be in position next week to conduct a new anti-piracy operation in a major world shipping area off the coast of Somalia, the alliance's chief spokesman said Wednesday.

"NATO ambassadors have now approved the operational plan for the deployment of the standing naval maritime group one to conduct counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia," spokesman James Appathurai told reporters.

He said that seven ships -- one each from the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, with two vessels from Germany -- would exit the Suez Canal on March 19...

UN Security Council Takes Step Toward Peacekeeping Force in Somalia

VOA By Margaret Besheer

The U.N. Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution paving the way for establishing a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia, but delayed any decision for six months so it can assess the situation in the country.

Resolution 1863 renews for another six months the mandate of the 2,000 troops from the African Union's AMISOM force and establishes the Security Council's intention to replace them with a U.N. peacekeeping operation. The council says it will decide by June 1 of this year.

China begins anti-piracy mission

(BBC) Three Chinese naval ships have set sail for waters off Somalia to protect Chinese vessels from pirate attacks.

Two destroyers and a supply ship left the port of Sanya on Hainan island to join warships from other nations already patrolling the area.

It will be the Chinese navy's first operation beyond the Pacific.

There have been more than 100 pirate attacks this year off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

China to Aid in Fighting Somali Pirates

By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, December 18, 2008; A20

BEIJING, Dec. 18 -- As international forces rescued a hijacked Chinese ship from Somali pirates Wednesday, state news media reports said China planned to send a naval fleet to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters.

An unnamed military source told the state-run English-language China Daily that the operation would be "a significant peacekeeping mission," but a National Defense University professor of military strategy told The Washington Post it would be the first time China has taken part in a "battle task."

U.S. Will Push U.N. for Somalia Mission

By Colum Lynch, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, December 14, 2008; Page A26

UNITED NATIONS -- The Bush administration will mount a last-ditch push this week to muster international backing for a relatively small U.N. peacekeeping mission in Somalia, in an effort to help stem piracy and prevent the resurgence of Islamist militants in the lawless East African nation, according to State Department officials.

The initiative -- which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will raise at a high-level United Nations meeting on piracy here Tuesday -- comes as the U.S.-backed Ethiopian military is preparing to withdraw its forces from Somalia at the end of the month, raising concerns that Islamist militants may seize control of Mogadishu for the second time in less than three years...

AU Pleads for UN Intervention for Somalia

(VOA) By Peter Heinlein, Addis Ababa, 10 December 2008

Africa's top peace and security official is to begin urgent talks on Thursday at the United Nations in an attempt to save Somalia's fragile U.N.-backed administration from collapse. The pending withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia is focusing the attention of the international community and Somalia's fractious political leadership on avoiding a descent into chaos.

African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra is on a mission to try to persuade the U.N. Security Council to urgently dispatch a peacekeeping mission to Somalia.

The world body withdrew a previous mission in 1995, and Security Council ambassadors have since declined several requests to return the peacekeepers, saying there is no peace to keep in the lawless Horn of Africa nation...

NATO not considering Somali naval blockade

BRUSSELS (AFP) — NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday that the alliance is not considering any naval blockade as a way to combat piracy off Somalia, after maritime groups urged international action.

"Blocking ports is not contemplated by NATO," he told reporters, adding that such action has not been endorsed by the UN Security Council. "This is, at the moment, not in the cards."

NATO has four ships -- from Britain, Greece, Italy and Turkey -- on patrol in the waters off Somalia, with two protecting UN food aid convoys to the strife-torn Horn of Africa country.

NATO warships ready to tackle piracy off Somalia

BRUSSELS, October 24, 2008 (AFP) - NATO warships are in place off the Somali coast to tackle rampant piracy in the waters, and are ready to escort UN aid vessels under threat, a spokesman for the alliance's naval command said Friday.

 

"The boats are in the area. They have started their deterrent role," a spokesman at NATO's naval command in Naples, Italy said by telephone, adding that the three vessels "would escort UN ships on request".

 

The ships -- an Italian destroyer and British and Greek frigates which form NATO's operation Allied Provider -- "may use force" under their rules of engagement and in line with international law, a statement said.

 

They will help escort UN World Food Programme (WFP) food shipments, whose cargo is a tempting target for pirates, until the European Union can launch its own operation, probably in December.

African Union condemns Somali rebel attacks

By Andrew Cawthorne

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The African Union condemned Somali rebel assaults on its peacekeepers as "calculated provocation" on Friday and vowed to fight any future attacks.

Increasingly brazen Islamist insurgents have this month turned their fire on the AU peacekeepers, who number about 2,600 Ugandans and Burundians, with ambushes on bases and patrols.

On a Vital Route, a Boom in Piracy

By Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, September 27, 2008; A01

ABOARD A YEMENI COAST GUARD VESSEL -- Somali pirates plying the Gulf of Aden in speedboats equipped with grenade launchers and scaling ladders have launched what the maritime industry calls the biggest surge of piracy in modern times, sending shipping costs soaring and the world's navies scrambling to protect the main water route from Asia and the Middle East to Europe.

Pirates from the failed African state of Somalia have attacked at least 61 ships in and around the Gulf of Aden this year, 17 of them in the first two weeks of September alone, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center in Malaysia. That compares with 13 attacks in the area for all of 2007.

"In my time here, I must say, this is the most concentrated period of destabilizing activity I have seen in the Gulf of Aden," said British Commodore Keith Winstanley, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces, whose members have confronted the pirates repeatedly since mid-August. The coalition, headquartered in Bahrain, includes the militaries of the United States and 19 other nations.

The latest hijackings include the capture off Somalia on Thursday of a Ukrainian cargo vessel with 33 Russian-made T-72 tanks aboard, as well as ammunition. As of Friday, the Somali pirates were holding 14 oil tankers, cargo vessels and other ships with a total of more than 300 crew members, demanding ransoms of $1 million or more per ship.

International Naval Mission Sets Sail to Stop Piracy

Deutsche Welle- A spree of hijackings by pirates off the coast of Somalia has triggered the formation of a multi-coalition naval force. A warship has been deployed in an effort to track the missing vessels.

A total of four ships have been hijacked in the waters off Somalia in 48 hours, a record number that has prompted the launch of a naval mission to recover the vessels, reports Reuters.

One Iranian and one Japanese vessel, as well as one German-operated cargo ship were all seized on Thursday, Aug. 22. A Malaysian oil tanker was hijacked the previous day.

Continue reading "International Naval Mission Sets Sail to Stop Piracy " »

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed authority on Wednesday for a small African Union peace force in Somalia and agreed to debate next month the thorny issue of whether U.N. peacekeepers should go there.

A council resolution extended for six months U.N. endorsement of the AU mission in the lawless country, which currently consists of two Ugandan battalions, totaling some 1,600 troops, and an advance party of 192 Burundians.

UN council renews authority for AU force in Somalia

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council renewed authority on Wednesday for a small African Union peace force in Somalia and agreed to debate next month the thorny issue of whether U.N. peacekeepers should go there.

A council resolution extended for six months U.N. endorsement of the AU mission in the lawless country, which currently consists of two Ugandan battalions, totaling some 1,600 troops, and an advance party of 192 Burundians.