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****** Somalia: New Navy Task Force Takes Aim At Pirates ******
Jacquelyn S. Porth
23 January 2009
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Washington DC — A new multinational naval task force is patrolling the waters
off the coast of Africa to scare off pirates who have been regularly attacking
commercial shipping vessels laden with oil, fertilizer and iron ore.
For now, Combined Task Force 151 comprises three U.S. ships, but other nations,
including the United Kingdom, are expected to join the effort that is focused
on the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. In the
meantime, naval forces from nearly two dozen nations are patrolling in the same
waters -- in some cases bilaterally -- and are often providing escort to
merchant vessels bearing their national flags.
Various navies that are already sailing in the region as a deterrent to pirates
are expected to seek a mandate from their governments to join the task force
under U.S. command. The USS San Antonio is the flagship for the operation,
which includes a helicopter squadron, surgeons and U.S. Coast Guard law
enforcement boarding teams specializing in maritime law, ship-borne searches
and evidence collection.
The commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet -- headquartered in Bahrain -- says
piracy is an international problem requiring an international solution. Vice
Admiral Bill Gortney said CTF-151 "is a significant step in the right
direction" to deter and disrupt pirates and eventually bring them to justice.
At last count, pirates were holding nearly a dozen ships and more than 200
hostages.
At a January 15 briefing for reporters in the Pentagon, Gortney said the plan
is to go after the pirates aggressively through a combination of surveillance
and rapid response while still adhering to rules of evidence.
Gortney said a three-pronged approach is under way. The first prong involves
recruiting additional navies to the region to work the counter-piracy mission.
U.S. Rear Admiral Terence McKnight is in charge of the naval task force, which
became fully operational in January. "We are out there in force," he said,
working with coalition navies "to ensure commerce flows freely."
The second prong calls on the shipping industry to share their best piracy-
deterrent practices. Merchant ship captains have stepped up efforts to elude
pirates by taking evasive maneuvers, lining their boats with barbed wire,
deploying foam and even locking crews in the bridge out of reach of the
attackers.
Pirates are in business for the money earned by holding the crews and ships for
millions of dollars in ransom; they are not interested in the cargo.
HOLDING PIRATES ACCOUNTABLE
The last prong will entail holding pirates accountable for their crimes. As
Gortney put it: "We are going to go after the pirates . . . to make it
unpleasant" for them to carry out their criminal activities.
If task force members inspect "fishing" boats loaded with pirate equipment such
as rifles, grenade launchers, grappling hooks and boarding ladders, they seize
the equipment, document it and then pitch it overboard.
The task force is coordinating with and sharing experiences with the Atalanta
maritime force dispatched to the region by the European Union in December.
Atalanta, with six ships under British command, has been escorting ships leased
by the World Food Progamme to deliver relief aid to Somalia.
Gortney said the task force has been exchanging unclassified e-mails with the
Chinese Navy about schedules and plans. Communications with Russian naval
forces is by radio transmission. Both navies are primarily escorting their own
national flag vessels.
Gortney said having the Russians and Chinese participating is a positive sign.
"We look forward to their continued participation," he added.
The next step will involve the creation of a justice system in the region to
prosecute captured pirates. Punishing pirates for attacking merchant ships will
act as a deterrent to new recruits. Gortney said there must be serious
deterrents for individuals contemplating careers as pirates.
U.N. Security Council Resolution 1851, passed in December, calls on nations and
regional organizations fighting pirates to establish special agreements with
countries that are willing to prosecute them.
The international Contact Group on Piracy met for the first time in January,
pulling together 24 nations as well as the International Maritime Organization
to talk about the problem of piracy. The group is scheduled to meet again in
March.
Copyright © 2009 America.gov. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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