Pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden yesterday seized a large British-owned container ship, the Malaspina Castle. In the past 48 hours, a Taiwanese fishing boat, a French yacht, a German container ship and a Yemeni tugoat were also captured in a recent surge in pirate activity off the Somali coast.
The toD verdict: In 2008, Somali pirates raided over 130 vessels and successfully hijacked 50, leading to the deployment of a multi-million pound international naval mission, the inadequacy of which was again revealed yesterday. The 15-20 warships that continuously patrol the Somali coast are undermined by the 1.1 million square miles of ocean which require policing, the increasing operational range of the pirates and the massive volume of international shipping that passes through the Gulf. Consequently, piracy is likely to continue to thrive under the prevailing international regime. Of 40 attacks this year, only ten have been intercepted by naval patrols.
As ever, the security crisis arises from social, economic and politcal instability, and it is the latter that needs addressing if piracy is to be reduced to acceptable levels. Pirates in the poor coastal villages of Somalia are lauded as local heroes in some communities. Those who achieve success attain wealth and prestige otherwise unimaginable in the anarchic nation, and their opulence attracts others to the lifestyle. "I want be a pirate, they have cool cars and lots of money," a boy of thirteen told the Times in one such coastal town.
It seems that only stabilising Somalia and providing less destructive paths out of poverty will resolve the issue of piracy and the disruption it causes to the international economy. The danger at sea needs to be redressed on land, where, since the humiliating evacuation of Somalia by UN forces in 1995, the international community has failed to take decisive action.
Stolen plane chase tests US post-9/11 air defence precautions
A dramatic pan-American air chase ended with the peaceful arrest of the rogue pilot, Adam Leon, who was found sipping a soft drink in a small town in Southern Missouri. Seven hours previously he began an international emergency, stealing a small propeller powered Cassna 172 aircraft from an air training school in Canada. NORAD scrambled F-16 fighter jets that tracked the plane as it entered the US state of Michigan after the pilot refused to answer radio communications. On the Canadian side of the border, the Wisconsin National Guard evacuated the state capital and deployed two of its own F-16s in an attempt to establish communications with the stray aircraft.
Car bomb kills eight in Baghdad
A car bomb targeted a mosque in Kadhimiya, a predominantly Shia district of the city, killing eight and wounding fourteen people, Baghdad police reported. The attack comes amid resurgent tensions between the Shia-dominated government and Sunni militias in and around the city, with one such group mutinying last week. The attack follows yesterday's spate of six car bombings that struck various locations around the capital, killing 37 and wounding over a hundred people.
US announces defence cuts
Defence Secretary Robert Gates outlined to Congress on Monday the Obama administration's proposals to cut expensive and overdue high-tech weapon programs. However instead of the bi-partisan support of the measures he called for, Gates faced cross-party opposition as senior Republican, Democrat and independent senators immediately drafted a letter of protest. Opponents of the cuts found an unusual ally in the person of Kim Jung Il, whose internationally condemned rocket launch leant weight to the rationale of a missile defence system, one of the fields in which spending was targeted.
Obama anti-nuclear pledge gets Chavez's blessing
Hugo Chavez, a long-standing vocal critic of US policy, made an unusually congratulatory speech on the subject of Obama's vision of a nuclear-free world. It was "as if an Obama missile has landed", the Venezuelan president said, hailing the "very different" approach of the new regime. Chavez echoed US Vice President Joe Biden's olive branch to Russia, offering to press the "reset" button in the two countries' troubled relations. Less surprising was the endorsement of the speech by Japan, a long standing US ally and as yet the only country to ever endure a nuclear attack. Iran, singled out for criticism by Obama as he announced his nuclear disarmament ambitions, was far more cautious in its response to the US president's proposals.
Thai Prime Minister breaks siege as protestors surround cabinet meeting
The Prime Minister of Thailand, Abhisit Vejjajiva, hours after vowing to avert civil war in the divided country, was surrounded and trapped inside a beach hotel in the coastal town of Pattaya. The Red Shirt supporters of the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra attacked the Prime Minister's car and smashed one of its windows as his motorcade left the besieged hotel. The town was chosen to host the weekly cabinet meeting since government offices in Bangkok were deemed too insecure as they too were under siege from Red Shirts ahead of this weekend's mass rally in the capital. The Prime Minister was determined that the forthcoming ASEAN meeting in Pattaya, scheduled for this Friday and already delayed since December due to unrest, would not again be postponed.
