A special Piracy Ransom Task Force based in the United Kingdom recently recommended that the shipping industry cease paying ransoms to pirates after they hijack ships. Since the piracy epidemic began in 2008, the task force estimates that over $300 million USD in ransoms has been paid to various groups of Somali pirates. These recommendations […]
Understanding Somali Piracy
November 2012 Thanks to increased international naval presence and the placing of armed guards aboard merchant vessels, the Indian Ocean has seen a recent decline in piracy. However, in reality, this decline is merely a decline in the symptoms of a much deeper problem. In the early 1990’s, Somalia was torn apart by a civil […]
We Must Isolate Piracy Ringleaders and Financiers
November 2012 While counter-piracy missions in the Indian Ocean have the surface effect in deterring piracy incidents, they do not really work as a permanent solution to the problem. Security experts are correct in asserting that the key to stopping the problem once and for all is to focus on the internal situation on land […]
Anti-piracy plans divide opinions
November 2012 Although there has been a recent drop in the number of pirate incidents in the waters off the east coast of Africa, many in the international shipping industry are warning that this does not mean the epidemic is over. Many realize that containing the symptoms of the issue is no substitute for a […]