More hijackers smacked down

[R_H] · Post by **[R_H]** » 2008-04-22 11:21am

BBC wrote:Forces from Somalia's Puntland region have stormed a UAE-flagged cargo ship hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, local officials say.

The men from the semi-autonomous region defeated the pirates after "brief fighting", the mayor of the region's Bosasso port told Reuters news agency.

Seven pirates were arrested in the incident a day after the Al-Khaleej was hijacked, local officials said.

Pirates also seized a Spanish fishing boat in the area at the weekend.

At least three people were wounded in the incident, although the ship's crew were unhurt, local reports said.

The ship was hijacked en-route to Bosasso on Monday.

Notorious area

The incident is the latest in a spate of pirate raids on vessels in Somali coastal waters, some of the most hazardous in the world.

A Spanish naval frigate is now heading for the area where pirates seized a Spanish tuna trawler with 26 crew on board

The captain of the trawler - contacted by Spanish radio - said the crew were "all well". The Somali pirates have demanded a ransom.

The Playa de Bakio - a Basque tuna boat - was attacked about 250 miles (400km) off the coast.

Earlier this month, a luxury French yacht was hijacked with 30 people on board.

A Paris court has charged six Somalis over the incident, detained when French commandos carried out a raid on the vessel to free the hostages.

Last year, more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in Somali coastal waters.

Somalia has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years and is plagued by insecurity.

Puntland, an arid region in the country's north-east, declared itself an autonomous state in August 1998.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-04-22 05:19pm

Out of curiosity, why don't they just execute these hijackers they keep catching out of hand? They are, after all, pirates, and unless the agreed-upon Laws of the Sea have changed on the subject of "What you do with pirates"...

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-04-22 05:28pm

Executing them out of hand would likely be bad PR.

Just insuring that none of them survive the firefight, might work better.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-04-22 05:30pm

Kanastrous wrote:Executing them out of hand would likely be bad PR.

Just insuring that none of them survive the firefight, might work better.

Bad PR? I don't think Somalia can get any lower in world opinion than it is. Showing some backbone and executing some of its #1 commodity - pirates - would probably *improve* people's opinions of them.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-04-22 05:38pm

KlavoHunter wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:Executing them out of hand would likely be bad PR.

Just insuring that none of them survive the firefight, might work better.
Bad PR? I don't think Somalia can get any lower in world opinion than it is. Showing some backbone and executing some of its #1 commodity - pirates - would probably *improve* people's opinions of them.

Bad PR, for whoever is doing the summary executing.

Which might not necessarily be Somalis.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-04-22 05:46pm

Kanastrous wrote:Bad PR, for whoever is doing the summary executing.

Which might not necessarily be Somalis.

Yes, I know, a lot of other nations have their toes in the area so they can try to step on piracy.

However, I was referring to the Somalian government forces who performed this anti-piracy action.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-04-22 06:02pm

KlavoHunter wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:Bad PR, for whoever is doing the summary executing.

Which might not necessarily be Somalis.
Yes, I know, a lot of other nations have their toes in the area so they can try to step on piracy.

However, I was referring to the Somalian government forces who performed this anti-piracy action.

I don't think they were Somali government personnel - there being no actual functioning Somali government.

They were just some bunch of Somali guys, with a better sense of civic duty than the piratical types they attacked.

KlavoHunter · Post by **KlavoHunter** » 2008-04-22 06:05pm

Kanastrous wrote:I don't think they were Somali government personnel - there being no actual functioning Somali government.

They were just some bunch of Somali guys, with a better sense of civic duty than the piratical types they attacked.

I thought there was some sort of Islamic council that had taken over and was running the show, at least in some parts.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2008-04-22 06:16pm

Kanastrous wrote:I don't think they were Somali government personnel - there being no actual functioning Somali government.

They were just some bunch of Somali guys, with a better sense of civic duty than the piratical types they attacked.

Two semi-autonomous regions with some level of governmental control, but no national government of note nor are either of those regions (Puntland and Somaliland, sorry for the use of Wikipedia articles they were the most convenient) recognized internationally as separate governments (only Somaliland wants full independence). According to this article Somalian forces from Puntland were involved.

Vohu Manah · Post by **Vohu Manah** » 2008-04-22 06:18pm

KlavoHunter wrote:I thought there was some sort of Islamic council that had taken over and was running the show, at least in some parts.

I think they dissolved at the end of 2006 as a unified force.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2008-04-22 06:23pm

Clearly these pirates are simply living the Voluntaryist dream. Those government forces have no business initiating force and interfering with the free market economy. That is EXACTLY why Somalia can't improve itself.

Sidewinder · Post by **Sidewinder** » 2008-04-22 07:09pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:Clearly these pirates are simply living the Voluntaryist dream.

Yeah, that jackass utopian will probably claim the pirates were freedom fighters resisting governmental oppression, say it's the fault of the governments those ships were flagged under for defanging the crewmembers so they couldn't defend themselves, and condemn the security forces sent to rescue the ships and their crews.

That, or claim the pirates ARE governmental security forces, before condemning those criminals.