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East Africa/Indian Ocean 24 – 30 August 2013 (Vol. 2; No.35/13) Sponsor the newsletters - Click Ask us how you can be a sponsor of this newsletter in 2013 - click here. Feedback on the newsletter is welcomed too. Six or four pirates killed in Calabar River area & five detained over oil theft - Nigerian Navy conduct an operation in Gulf of Guinea Calabar River resulting in pirates killed in failed attempt against passenger vessel. UN Secretary General calls on Central African leaders to collectively focus on conflict prevention in the subregion; littoral states come together to fine-tune ways of checking their common enemies, pirates; EU prepares to increase security efforts in the Gulf of Guinea and IMO’s 92nd MSC session recognized the gravity of the issue of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Gulf of Guinea and calls on flag states to reinforce full implementation of current recommendations. “Well-crafted regulations” to protect offshore oil rigs are required says Ghana. In Bangladesh, four suspected pirates were killed in gunfight with police and a further 15 pirates were arrested following the kidnap of 15 fishermen in the area. Pirate-held fishing boat, Naham 3, ran aground and hostages moved ashore – the last commercial vessel held says NATO. Yemen strengthens effort to fight piracy. Governor in Puntland claims pirates were released from prison following bribery payment. Somalia FG and Jubland come to an agreement. New Zealand looks to boost role in fighting maritime insecurity in East Asia as ReCAAP reports 11 incidents reported in July. Iranian captain sank his vessel loaded with 65 car bombs – believed destined for terrorist in Iraq - at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr before fleeing. US ‘pirate prosecutor’ to step down from US Attorney position. US and China PLA Navy exercise cooperation in maritime security in the Gulf of Aden. Birmingham (UK) cab driver, Royal Naval Reservist given an award by Prince Charles for counter piracy operation . Contents: Regional Activity; Released by Pirates; Pirates in Court; Private Security; International Response; Piracy Cost; Seafarers' Plight; And Finally...; Piracy Incidents; Situational Map East Africa/Indian Ocean YEMEN is strengthening efforts to fight piracy and armed robbery on nearby seas alongside 10 other countries through the Regional Maritime Information Sharing Centre in Sanaa - Al Shorfa. The centre was established in 2011 but until July 2013 it lacked a presidential decree specifying its duties, said centre head Mohammed al-Majaashi. The centre now seeks to expand the scope of its activities to include ensuring maritime safety in general, for example combating marine pollution and illegal immigration, and undertaking rescue operations. Al-Shorfa spoke with al-Majaashi about the centre’s activities, goals and importance. Al-Shorfa: What was the origin of the centre? Mohammed al-Majaashi: The centre was established pursuant to the resolutions of the Djibouti Code of Conduct on the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, signed by 20 countries in the region and approved by Yemen in 2009. One of the [Code's] articles stipulated establishing three information exchange centres — the first in Sanaa, the second in Mombasa, Kenya, and the third in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania — with the Sanaa centre serving as a regional centre and the other two as national focal points. The Code also stipulated that signatory countries establish national communication nodes to relay information to and from the centre, and, of course, impart this information to the authorities in their countries. Yemen, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are all member states at the Sanaa centre. image - Mohammed al-Majaashi, head of the Regional Maritime Information Sharing Centre in Sanaa, scans video display boards at the centre. [Faisal Darem/Al-Shorfa] MUDUG governor of Puntland section has said that senior regional judiciary officials released pirates from prison after they have been paid bribes - Dalsan Radio. Mohamed Jaamac Tigey who was speaking with local media in Galkacyo has referred the insecurity in Mudug region and in the region’s capital of Galkacyo to the growing number of the pirates entering the town recently. The governor mentioned Galkacyo court officials recently released several pirate me who were released from the jail and then gang robbed a car from the north of Galkacyo. He has accused the court officials were corrupt and taking bribes from the pirates kings living in the region. FISHING vessel Naham 3 has been removed from the list of pirated ships as it is now grounded and unlikely to be moved again. Furthermore is it assessed that the remaining hostages have been moved ashore. Subsequently, the vessel has been removed from the list of vessels held by Somali pirates (NSC). THE semi-autonomous Somali state of Jubaland agreed Wednesday to ally itself with the national government, in a deal hailed as boosting to efforts to unify the war-torn nation - Capital FM News Kenya. The is welcome news for Somalia’s internationally-backed authorities, who have struggled to extend their reach far beyond the capital Mogadishu and are also fighting the Al-Qaeda-inspired Shabaab militia. Jubaland, situated in southern Somalia and bordering Kenya, was one of several breakaway regions of the fractured Horn of Africa nation. There is also Puntland in the northeast tip of the country which wants autonomy within a federation of states, while Somaliland in the northwest declared total independence in 1991. The agreement was signed after a week of negotiations in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa between Somalia’s state minister, Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir, and the self-appointed leader of Jubaland, Ahmed Madobe. “The Federal Government of Somalia and the (Jubaland) delegations have agreed to an Interim Administration” for the region, the agreement states. The deal will still see Madobe remain in charge of Jubaland for a two-year transitional period, but he did agree to hand over control of the port and airport in the strategic coastal city of Kismayo. THE Kenyan Ports Authority (KPA) says it has installed more than 400 Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras as part of an electronic surveillance fence around the port of Mombasa as it moves to tighten security around ports nationwide - DefenceWeb. KPA managing director Gichiri Ndua told local media during a tour of the Mombasa facility that once commissioned, the new integrated security system will give the port 24-hour security surveillance and enable the KPA to deal with global maritime security problems such as smuggling and piracy and meet global port security standards. “We now have a state-of-the-art port security system in place which we shall officially commission soon. This puts our port under 24 hour (security) surveillance,” Ndua said. The system has been installed by Magal Security Systems, an Israeli company which specialises in maritime security and surveillance systems. The new system will also link all security and surveillance activities at Mombasa port automatically to the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPF-SC). Mombasa is one of East Africa’s busiest port and transit point for goods moving between Africa and Asia and from Asia to South America through the Horn of Africa. THE aim of this article is to find out about the modus operandi of Somali piracy during its most intensive period of activity: 2005-2011 - IEEE.es. The method used consists of the identification, matching and analysis of 19 categories for each one of the 1,190 incidents attributed to Somali pirates by diverse sources of official information. The results make it possible to demonstrate a general panorama of the pirate attacks and the way they have evolved, and another more specific one that reflects the diverse parts of the Indian Ocean in which they have taken place. The capability of Somali pirates to adapt in order to continue with their activity in the face of the measures carried out to repress them, and how they have become a threat to international security is highlighted and analysed. It is concluded that the methodology put forward has been useful and it can be used to analyse other modern maritime piracy phenomena and to carry out comparative studies. AS Somalia celebrates the first anniversary of the end of the transition, there is concern about the perceived slowdown in the fight against the Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab - AllAfrica. Andrews Atta-Asamoah has just returned from a visit to Somalia and says the security situation in Mogadishu is still precarious, even though a lot of progress has been made. He says the decision by the humanitarian organisation Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) to pull out of Somalia after 22 years in the country could be seen as a coded message to those who are considered to be too lenient towards Al-Shabaab. Piracy has drastically been reduced off the Somali coast. Are some of the punitive measures, like those against money laundering, finally working? All these responses are paying off, including the fact that ships now have their own security and are avoiding hotspots. One also has to give credit to the response of the Puntland government in trying to dismantle some of those groups who were behind the piracy, through imprisonment and legal responses. The underlying issue is that piracy is a fall-out of worsening insecurity in Somalia, so any time the security situation improves, you find that also reflected in the piracy situation. West Africa THE Commander, NNS Jubilee, Akwa Ibom, Commodore Isaac Ogbole, on Tuesday said the joint patrol teams of Nigerian Navy – NNS Jubilee and NNS Victory, Calabar, killed six pirates and injured one - Vanguard Nigeria. Ogbole said this in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom while briefing newsmen on the activities of the command.
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