Pirates are operating freely in waters off Somalia, an international maritime watchdog warned on Wednesday, calling for immediate assistance from the world’s naval forces.
”We are appealing for urgent intervention by international navies because of the surge in pirate attacks,” Pottengal Mukundan, the London-based director of the International Maritime Bureau, told reporters.
”At the moment the pirates are acting with impunity,” he said at the end of a two-day conference on maritime security threats.
Five ships are currently being held by Somali pirates, who experts say are back in action, on a scale unseen for more than a year.
Pirates had been held at bay during six months of strict Islamist rule in Somalia at the end of 2006, but Ethiopian and Somali troops ousted the Islamists at the start of the year.
There have been 10 attacks so far this year off Somalia’s 3 700km of unpatrolled coastline — the same amount as during the whole of 2006 — and many more failed attempts.
Pirates travelling on speedboats mounted with machine guns killed one crew member of a Taiwanese fishing vessel this year and are also holding five Danish sailors hostage after capturing their ship earlier this month.
Mukundan said many of the attacks had occurred more than 160km off Somalia’s coast, providing enough time for forces such as the United States navy to respond to distress calls.
”The navies can actually intervene. Many of the pirates launch their attacks from ‘mother ships’. They can interdict suspicious ships to prevent attacks,” he said.
Arthur Bowring, managing director with the Hong Kong Ship-owners’ Association, said the attacks constituted a ”terrible situation” that is ”getting out of control” in the vital trading sea lane off Somali waters.
Somalia has been without an effective government since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. — Sapa-AFP