French seize pirate ship as threats mount on U.S. ships

Thursday 16th April, 07:19 AM JST

MOMBASA, Kenya —

The U.S. and its allies battled Somalia’s pirates on two fronts Wednesday, with French forces seizing a bandit mother ship and Washington seeking to keep the marauders from their spoils. Another U.S. freighter headed to port with armed sailors aboard after pirates damaged it with gunshots and grenades.

One pirate issued a new threat to “slaughter” Americans, and Tuesday’s assault on a second U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, underscored the outlaws’ ability to act with impunity despite international naval operations against them and mounting concern worldwide over how to end the escalating attacks off the Horn of Africa.

Pirates bombarded the U.S.-flagged Liberty Sun with automatic weapons fire and rocket-propelled grenades, but its American crew of about 20 successfully blockaded themselves in the engine room and warded off the attack with evasive maneuvers.

The ship, carrying food aid for hungry Africans — including Somalis — was damaged “pretty badly” on its bridge, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about the ship.

Windows were blown out and the crew had to put out a small fire, the official said, but they were still able to navigate. By the time the USS Bainbridge arrived five hours later, the pirates were gone.

Meanwhile, French naval forces launched an early-morning attack on a suspected pirate “mother ship” 880 kilometers east of Mombasa and seized 11 men, thwarting an attack on the Liberian cargo ship Safmarine Asia, the French Defense Ministry said. No one was injured.

The ministry said the vessel was a larger boat that pirates use to allow their tiny skiffs to operate hundreds of miles off the coast.

French Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Prazuck said a French helicopter in the area heard a distress call from the Safmarine Asia. He described the seized ship as a small, noncommercial vessel carrying fuel, water and food supplies.

The 11 pirates, believed to be Somalis, were being held on the Nivose, a French frigate among the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden.

France has been proactive against pirates for at least the past year, intervening to save three of its ships and spearheading a Europe-wide anti-piracy force called Atalanta. French politicians have sought to have other European countries take greater action against pirates.

Three Somali pirates in the French city of Rennes faced judicial investigation after being captured in a hostage rescue Friday. Several other pirates also have been in French custody since last year.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new diplomatic efforts to freeze the pirates’ assets and said the Obama administration will work with shippers and insurers to improve their defenses against pirates, part of a diplomatic initiative to thwart attacks on shipping.

“These pirates are criminals, they are armed gangs on the sea. And those plotting attacks must be stopped,” Clinton said at the State Department.

Clinton did not call for military force, although she mentioned “going after” pirate bases in Somalia, as authorized by the U.N. several months ago.

She said it may be possible to stop boat-building companies from doing business with the pirates.

The measures outlined by Clinton are largely stopgap moves while the administration weighs more comprehensive diplomatic and military action.

She acknowledged it will be hard to find the pirates’ assets. But she wants the U.S. and others to “explore ways to track and freeze” pirate ransom money and other funds used in purchases of new boats, weapons and communications equipment.

“We have noticed that the pirates are buying more and more sophisticated equipment, they’re buying faster and more capable vessels, they are clearly using their ransom money for their benefit — both personally and on behalf of their piracy,” she said. “We think we can begin to try and track and prevent that from happening.”

Clinton said the administration will also call for immediate meetings of an international counterpiracy task force to expand naval coordination.

The U.S. plans to send an envoy to an April 23 conference on piracy in Brussels. The U.S. will also organize meetings with officials from Somalia’s largely powerless transitional national government as well as regional leaders in its semiautonomous Puntland region to encourage them to do more to combat piracy.

Maritime experts say military force alone cannot solve the problem because the pirates operate in an area so vast as to render the flotilla of international warships largely ineffective. And with ships legally unable to carry arms in many ports, the world has struggled to end the scourge.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe. More than 20,000 ships cross the vital sea lane every year. It is becoming more dangerous by the day.

In 2003, there were only 21 attacks in these waters. In less than four months this year, there have been 79 attacks, compared with 111 for all of 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Somali pirates are holding more than 280 foreign crewmen on 15 ships — at least 76 of those sailors captured in recent days.

On Wednesday, pirates released the Greek-owned cargo ship Titan and Greek authorities said all 24 crewmen were in good health. The ship was hijacked March 19.

The assault on the Liberty Sun delayed a reunion between freed American sea captain Richard Phillips and the 19 crewmen of the Maersk Alabama he helped save in an attempted hijacking last week. Phillips had planned to meet his crew in Mombasa and fly home with them Wednesday, but he was stuck on the Bainbridge when it was diverted to help the Liberty Sun.

Both the Liberty Sun and the Bainbridge could arrive in Mombasa on Thursday, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press about the matter.

The Alabama’s crew left without him Wednesday, heading to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on a chartered plane.

“We are very happy to be going home,” crewman William Rios of New York City said. But “we are disappointed to not be reuniting with the captain in Mombasa. He is a very brave man.”

A pirate whose gang attacked the Liberty Sun claimed his group was targeting American ships and sailors.

“We will seek out the Americans, and if we capture them, we will slaughter them,” said a 25-year-old pirate based in the Somali port of Harardhere who gave only his first name, Ismail.

“We will target their ships because we know their flags. Last night, an American-flagged ship escaped us by a whisker. We have showered them with rocket-propelled grenades,” said Ismail, who did not take part in the Liberty Sun attack.

___

Pitman reported from Nairobi. Associated Press writers contributing this report include Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu, Somalia; Tom Maliti in Mombasa; Michelle Faul and Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi; Eliane Engeler in Geneva; Jenny Barchfield in Paris and Pauline Jelinek in Washington.

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Latest 15 of 74 Total Comments Show All

Badsey at 10:49 PM JST - 16th April

with the French capturing all these pirates the French Foreign Legion should be well stocked for many years. Even Pirates must be put to work under the new socialism.

Your free and careless youth days are numbered pirates! French language textbooks in hand please.
bushlover at 11:11 PM JST - 16th April

ca1ic0cat, I agree with what you posted. Somali pirates will have to suck it up if they want to use force they should be prepared for the consequences.
m0l0 at 12:10 AM JST - 17th April

if insurance companies stopped paying out for piracy related incidents in this specific area, there might be less hijacking going on. however there's been no mention of this, which is suggestive of something else going on.
Madverts at 02:25 AM JST - 17th April

I'm frankly still laughing at the supposed do-gooder socialists on the boards defending the actions of these people. One of them was griping that the fourth and surviving pirate was only sixteen....heh, don't they realize that's practicaly middle-aged on the dark continent?
taniwha at 09:49 AM JST - 17th April

USNinJapan2

Thanks for your comment on my post. Two points you make I want to reply to.

'Official naval message traffic. Sorry but there's no internet link I can provide and I natuarlly can't cut and paste any of it here. You'll just have to accept the fact that I'm passing along unclassified information about the incident that hasn't been filtered by the media.'

So you want us to believe you? HAAAAAAAH. Listen up a moment, the only thing that makes posts believable here is someone thinks along the same lines as you and reads you because you make them feel all is good in their little universe. You exist only in cyberspace, no one knows a thing about you but for your post. If you want people to believe what they otherwise believe to be the ravings of a deluded 13 year old boy in love with a Van Diesel character then post facts and if they are contested then source them. That makes things more believable.

Otherwise, what you post comes across as nothing but a total rave the reader agrees with or ruins the display by laughing their coffee all over it. Your post sees me in the last category. And you ought to be mopping up the coffee off the keyboard.

'The rest of your post deals with the geopolitical-economic situation in Somalia which these multi-national naval forces are not there to fix or resolve in any way. That is not their job nor should it ever be. These warships and their crew have simply been sent to mitigate the success of Somali pirates...'

Yeah, that's right, this is about government policy.

The article title 'French seize ships...' means a government, a foreign government has authorized their military arm to take a specific action.

Do you think I am taking a poke at the military? The military just do what they are told, period. Soldiers look after each other and do their best to stay alive, and when they are told to they kill a lot of people. I'm not defending or attacking the military arm of the government. I am posting precisely about government policy here, and the likely outcome.
USNinJapan2 at 11:32 AM JST - 17th April

taniwha

There are many of us that post here that are pretty open about what we do for a living and do our best to provide pertinent, objective, non-academic information and facts that are available to us due to our jobs, experiences, etc. in order to contribute to the various discussions. I consider myself to be in this category and I don't think many others on this forum, if any aside from you, would doubt specific information I offer in threads relating to my established field of expertise and experience, in this case details of the situation and action taken by the US Navy in the recent standoff. I also feel that it's simply impossible to cite or provide sources for some kinds of information, such as information and knowledge gained through first-hand experience or through controlled means, but that doesn't make them automatically false or invalid. It just means that you have to consider the source and apply the proverbial grain of salt if you accept the information that's offered. If you choose to diregard me because you believe me to be a raving 13 year-old Vin Diesel fan, then that's your prerogative as unreasonable as I feel it is. All I can say is sorry for the spilled coffee and have a nice day...
taniwha at 11:54 AM JST - 17th April

USNinJapan2

Look it comes down to this, if you talk the talk then walk the walk. Or be ready to face ridicule. You want to make claims here on this public board, cool, do it. But if you are called on them then be ready to put up. You play cards? You ought to know what I'm talking about.

You could be posting from Tokyo or Texas, you could be an ekaiwa teacher, or a marine, who knows- and more importantly, who cares!!

All posts on this thread amount to is your ability to convince. And you saying we ought to believe you because you have 'inside knowledge' is about as unconvincing as you can get. You want that I say that too? You think that would make people believe me more than the next poster. Get real.

I have posted some of my verifying sources for people to go check concerning this issue of pirates in the Aden the other day.

The story here, like I said is about the policy of nations/governments/ruling elites toward those little guys who have (excuse the bluntness) cojones to capture corporate goods and hold them to ransom. That's it. You say you got a full house, lets see your hand. I'm calling you on it.
elbudamexicano at 04:33 PM JST - 17th April

some of these opions are way too long, while innocent folk from all over the world keep getting attacked by these skinny dorks wielding AK 47s, enough is enough and start an all out assault against every port in Somalia now!!! Give peace a chance, with a strong military to back it up!
SuperLib at 05:56 PM JST - 17th April

taniwha: All posts on this thread amount to is your ability to convince.

Considering you're in the extreme minority on this issue, it's safe to say you haven't been very convincing.
taniwha at 06:58 PM JST - 17th April

Considering you're in the extreme minority on this issue,'

Really? How so? How precisely am I in the 'extreme minority'? If you mean on this thread, I am going to be delighted. I mean the only reason I choose to keep posting on JT is exactly because of the demography it sets out to attract.

So far as the issue of dealing with pirates in the Aden goes, anyone who believes they deserve to be dealt with by "armoured helicopters', 'a strong military' etc etc can safely be categorised as extreme. If you don't think so then answer me this one question.

If the pirates were American and the militaries being sent to deal with them were from, let's say, Japan, China, Russia, or India, would you still be hot diggerty dog about seeing them treated to lethal force, rather than arrested and tried in a court of law?
SuperLib at 04:42 AM JST - 18th April

Taniwha, the only way I could ever see myself agreeing with you on this issue is if I suspended all common sense. And I need more than a brief analogy to do that. What else ya got?
toguro at 10:41 PM JST - 18th April

Superlib: LOL... Thanks for making me spill my coffee all over my keyboard. taniwha: I'll attempt to nswer your question, just for the sake of argument. I feel that the pirates should be dealt with, by force, and I don't care which country they come from, USA, Somalia etc. The thing is, they don't come from the USA, so we will just have to stick to reality on this one.
taniwha at 10:55 AM JST - 19th April

Togure

'I feel that the pirates should be dealt with, by force, and I don't care which country they come from, USA, Somalia etc. The thing is, they don't come from the USA, so we will just have to stick to reality on this one.'

I think I can best reply to that at this point with a rave, a relevant rave -

Yes, its quite true those pirates in the Aden don't come from the US. They steal corporate goods - and yes, a very few of those ships carry cargo of supplies destined to feed people who don't have enough food precisely because of the cynical moneymaking maneuvering over decades of foreign corporations from many parts of the globe - but they do steal corporate goods which makes these little pirates very very bad.

And yet, by comparison the evil doings of the Somalian pirates have resulted in no where near as many lives ruined (no make that lives lost) and no where near as many dollars stolen when we stand that lot up against pirates on Wall Street and in Washington. Ships may need to sail down a narrow corridor protected by war ships on each side to get through the Aden unpirated, but unfortunately there is not going to be anywhere near the same happy end result for the millions of people who will starve as a result of the Pirates in America.

You know one day very soon, there will be foreign governments who will decide after watching the use of NAVY seals against a bunch of 'skinny' young Somalians, in rubber pontoons, to use their own militaries to address the situation of the REAL pirates. You might want to entertain the thought a moment, what that will mean to the average Joe and Jane in the America, as well as the average Toshio and Tomomi in Japan, and in fact in every nation because none and going to come off unscathed should that situation come to pass, and it looks extremely likely.

The deal with the pirates is a distraction. There have been pirates there for several years, laws have been passed long before now. The only reason the opportunist politicians like those in Paris and in Washington have called in the military is to do some sabre rattling at a time of economic threat to the ruling elites in those countries. In other words, to divert the attention of the masses away from the depression falling upon the world and channel them toward accepting the use of military force as a solution to economic and social chaos.

Its old history and its repeating. Stand by for World War 3. The only way the economic conditions that came about from capitalism's innate contradictions and produced two 'Great' depressions in the last century were solved for the ruling elite by world war and forced re-slicing of the pie. That is the only way this one is going to be solved ultimately, unless the real cause is addressed internationally and the zombie that capitalism has finally become is left behind for good. But time is short, the situation will become much more extreme in America and in most of the past economic power house national economies. Then the politicians and the media will be pulling your strings on so many dangerous minorities within and without your own national border you will be thinking those Somalians are everywhere, and the only way to solve the situation is a few extreme weapons, some nuke perhaps. Its maddness, but some just don't see it, yet.
toguro at 12:13 PM JST - 19th April

I feel that the only way for these pirates to be detered from the dangerous game that they're playing, is for more of them to be killed. Paying them ransom money is only going to encourage, and enable them.
Noliving at 09:22 PM JST - 19th April

onibaku: For the love of god, in English it is spelled IRAQ, not IRAK, I know that in french it is spelled Irak but when speaking in english its spelled Iraq. This country has been the in the news non stop for the past 6 and half years, how do people still not know how to spell it correctly in english?