EDITORIAL : THE BANGKOK POST, THAILAND

 

Blockade the Somali coast

 

After more than 100 days spent in the scorching African sun as captives of Somali pirates, the 27-man crew of the MV Thor Nexus were back on Thai soil this week, their freedom secured by a US$4.77 million ransom. It was the second ship in the Thoresen Thai fleet to be hijacked and at least the seventh Thai-registered vessel. Now the Royal Thai Navy is readying a new anti-piracy mission and may put armed marines aboard Thai freighters navigating the Gulf of Aden and deploy three warships to the area.

The return of the ransomed crew followed that of 44 fishermen from the Prantalay 11 trawler last month who had been held hostage by Somali pirates since April last year. They had been rescued by an Indian warship which, in a sense, made amends for a tragic incident in 2008 when another Thai fishing boat suffered the misfortune of being hijacked and then mistaken for a pirate mother ship and sunk by an Indian gunboat.

Due to aggressive action by Asian navies, pirates are seeing the inside of Indian and Malaysian courts and prisons and have also been taken aboard a South Korean warship. Unfortunately the good news stops there.

Piracy, violence and armed robbery at sea have already set new records. In the first quarter of this year alone, 97 Somali pirate attacks have taken place, up from 35 in the same period last year. Pirates have murdered seven crew members, including American missionaries. Awaiting an uncertain fate are 600 seafarers from more than 30 ships held at hostage ports.

Some of the sea bandits claim to be former fishermen whose livelihoods were hurt by foreign ships illegally fishing and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters. But this does not explain why they attack ships carrying the humanitarian food aid their country relies upon, or the involvement of warlords and the advance sale of shares in targeted seizures of supertankers and bulk carriers.

Whatever its origins might have been, sea piracy, especially in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, has matured into a lucrative branch of organised crime. These pirate gangs have the money, equipment, weapons, planning and experience to attack vital sea lanes, hijack vessels and reap hundreds of millions of baht in ransom, despite an international flotilla of warships patrolling a vast stretch of ocean. Somalia is a country that has been without a functioning government for 20 years and there are no grounds for optimism. There is no basic national justice framework and civil war rages.

Much greater flexibility in rules of engagement at sea are necessary. Seizing pirates and their craft and then letting them go after free medical checks, some halal food, cigarettes, nicotine patches and a polite warning _ as a British frigate did in February _ is clearly not sending the right message. No "catch and release" policy ever will. There is no time for political or diplomatic niceties when thousands of Somali pirates are holding the world's most important shipping lanes to ransom and, by doing so, forcing up the global cost of living.

If some of the efforts directed by Nato coalition forces in imposing a "no fly" zone over Libya could be channelled into ruthlessly enforcing a "no sail" zone off Somalia, there could be worthwhile results. The coastline is long but this approach would be more feasible than a handful of warships trying to patrol over 4 million sq km of ocean. It would require more seapower, air support and the addition of unmanned surveillance systems, but these resources are available. The shortage might be one of willpower.