Independent: "Navy Frees Four Out Of Five Suspected Somali Pirates"

[soleil]

Navy frees four out of five suspected Somali pirates - Africa - World - The Independent

 

[flymo]

So its nothing to do with the suspected oil that lies underneath Somalia then?

 

[broadside]

It would be interesting to compare the UK "treatment" of pirates with that meted out by our EUNAVFOR and US allies - anyone got any information to put the "Independent" report in context?

 

[alfred_the_great]

Same same.Taking a ship off task to transport them to Kenya or the Seychelles, and then waiting for the appropriate local Governement to agree to take them, is frankly a waste of time. Taking everything off them, dumping them ashore in Somalia and then going back on task is quicker, and achieves 90% of the aim.The solution to piracy lies ashore in Somalia, and as long as conditions there make piracy attractive it will continue.

 

[broadside]

Yes, that is pretty much what I would expect to see (given that there are very few reports of Somali pirates floating ashore full of bulletholes but I was particularly stung by the quote attributed to the Baltic Exchange;

But the Baltic Exchange claimed the UK had "a particularly poor record" in handling suspects. A statement to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee inquiry declared: "The UK has gained a degree of notoriety within the international shipping community for its failure to prosecute those caught red-handed in the act of piracy.

It does rather read as if UK plc is underperforming against others but then it could just be Baltic Exchange politics or media spin.

 

[flymo]

Becaue we want to apease the Somalians so they will think favourably of the UK when it comes to opening up the landmass there for the oil.

I can't find the map at the moment but IIRC it is thought that Somalia could be part of the same structure (jurassic I think) that holds the oil in Saudi.

The UK are playing the long game.

 

[broadside]

Becaue we want to apease the Somalians so they will think favourably of the UK when it comes to opening up the landmass there for the oil.

I can't find the map at the moment but IIRC it is thought that Somalia could be part of the same structure (jurassic I think) that holds the oil in Saudi.

The UK are playing the long game.

You don't have to go as far as Saudi to find a geological structure that can yield oil. Oil is plentiful in Sudan, has been found in Uganda and now Tullow Oil have just declared a large oil find in Northern Kenya - it is there in Somalia I am sure but I am not as sure that our policy of leniency towards Somali pirates is necessarily an indication of the UK playing the "long game"

I would suggest he policy is probably more likely based on the fact that it isn't considered appropriate behaviour to shoot them and the alternative option of diverting several thousand miles and several days from the AOO to Mombasa or Dar es Salaam or the Seychelles to land half a dozen pirates for prosecution, thereby leaving other merchant vessels without appropriate naval cover, is not seen as the best way to disrupt pirate activity.

 

[SEP86]

If anyone would take them and prosecute them then they would be handed over. I suppose the Baltic Exchange think they should be brought back here and tried at taxpayers expense and then take up space in UK prisons?

 

[flymo]

Haven't the Chinese already got dibs on the other oil finds? I thought Somalia was still virgin territory. Hey ho.

Perhaps the UK government should send the pirates up to the UK to join the other 135,000 living in the UK. (Source: http://www.iomuk.org/doc/mapping/IOM_SOMALI_MR.pdf)
After all, they have only turned to piracy after the est decimated their fishing grounds and so turned to crime instead. Perhaps it is time for us to look after them. This will allow them to work, earn money and send it out of the country back to Somalia to help make up the $2b a year that gets sent back there by the Somali diaspora.