Somalia’s president has offered an amnesty to young pirates in a bid to end attacks off the coast as he seeks to rebuild the war-torn country.
Somali piracy has fallen to a three-year low because of co-ordinated action by international navies and the enlistment of armed security guards.
The empty whisky bottles and overturned, sand-filled skiffs that litter the Somali shoreline are signs that the heyday of Somali piracy may be over.
The threat from Somali pirates is receding but the international community must continue to work together to eliminate the menace
South Africa has thanked the Italian and Somalian authorities for the safe return of a local couple held captive by pirates for 20 months.
A South African man and woman taken hostage by Somali pirates in October 2010 have been released.
Funky dancing in a seaside bar, Vespa scooters on broad boulevards: the images of a lost Somalia are at odds with a place better known for war.
Police in Puntland, Somalia have arrested several suspected pirates, including an armed gang accused of holding a Danish family hostage last year.
Two civilians have been wounded after war planes fired several missiles at a suspected Somali pirate base in the north of the country.
The Seychelles has called for international help as naval forces tighten the noose around Somali pirates, saying they cannot hold more prisoners.
In spite of attempts to gain the trust of Somali clan leaders, the release price has for a South African couple being held hostage has gone up.
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/ 30 January 2012
A French project featuring a range of anti-piracy features, including sound blasts, has been unveiled at a shipping security forum in Nantes.
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/ 1 December 2011
A Singapore shipper says Somali pirates have released a hijacked palm oil tanker and 21 crew members, but kept four South Koreans as hostages.
A young Canadian with fantasies of becoming
a celebrated director risked his life to document the inner workings of Somalia’s pirates.
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/ 4 November 2011
Benin, Togo and Ghana begin a three-day meeting in Cotonou next week to hammer out ways to end a recent upsurge in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
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/ 28 October 2011
A new book tries to get to the bottom of piracy and put a human face on those involved.
There are fears that Somali pirates are searching for easier pickings along the Kenyan coast as it becomes more difficult to hijack ships.
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/ 14 September 2011
A spate of ship hijackings off West Africa indicates the region could emerge as a new piracy "hotspot", a global maritime watchdog has warned.
Somali pirates have released a Danish family kidnapped from their yacht in February during an around-the-world voyage, amid reports of a $4m ransom.
The Australian navy said on Thursday it had rescued three sailors being held hostage by Somali pirates off the Horn of Africa.
An attempt by pirates to hijack a Mozambican ship off the coast of that country led SA to use its naval capabilities to monitor threats in SA waters.
Somali pirates captured a supertanker carrying an estimated $150-million worth of oil to the Gulf of Mexico.
Families of two SA hostages being held in Somalia after their yacht was hijacked by pirates on Monday pleaded for the couple’s release.
Pirates kidnapped a record number of seafarers in 2010 in an "alarming" escalation of the crisis centred on Somalia, a maritime watchdog says.
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/ 17 January 2011
Somali pirates hijacked a Greek-owned bulk carrier on Monday after releasing a Greek-owned tanker the day before, the European Union Naval Force says.
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/ 20 December 2010
Somali pirates on two skiffs seized the Panama-flagged merchant ship MV ORNA after firing small arms and rocket-propelled grenades at the vessel.
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/ 30 November 2010
A Somali man, who admitted his role in an attack on a United States Navy ship off the coast of Africa, was sentenced on Monday to 30 years in prison.
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/ 25 November 2010
Five men from Somalia were convicted in a federal court in Virginia on piracy and other criminal charges over an April attack on a US Navy ship.
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/ 22 November 2010
Germany holds its first pirate trial in 400 years, trying 10 Somali men for seizing a German container ship in April.
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/ 12 November 2010
Somali pirates have set up a sophisticated network of agents that has turned the seizing of ships into a lucrative business.
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/ 10 November 2010
The SA man saved by EU naval forces after his yacht was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia has arrived back in SA.
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/ 9 November 2010
Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane confirmed that two people taken hostage from a yacht off the coast of Somalia were South African.