The Somalia Pirates by Gråulf

As you know, I have been following the pirate situation around the horn of Africa for a long time because I find it so implausible that pirate attacks are tolerated in this day and age. There are 12 to 15 international war ships patrolling the area, but they are tied hand and foot by international law and have been unable to stop the piracy.

There is a resolution (1838, passed in October) which authorizes the use of "necessary means", meaning force if need be, to stop piracy in international waters. There is also another resolution (1816), which allows anti-pirate operations within Somali waters, but only with the agreement of the Somali transitional government.

But even all these operations have to be conducted within international law, defined in this case as the provisions of the UN Law of the Sea Convention.

There has also been a legal opinion by the Foreign Office in London that captured pirates cannot necessarily be sent back to whatever authorities can be found in Somalia, in case they are subject to harsh treatment. That would contravene the British Human Rights Act. The pirates captured in the Royal Navy action have now been handed over not to Somalia, but Kenya.

The Law of the Sea Convention places limitations on daring action. Under Article 110 of the convention a warship has first to send an officer-led party to board a suspected pirate ship to verify any suspicions.

The warship cannot just open fire. Any inspection has to be carried out "with all possible consideration". That sounds rather tentative, and totally nuts. I also understand that you cannot under international law convert a commercial ship into a kind of warship. The issue of who will put pirates in trial is a legal minefield as well, and has yet to be resolved. I suggested to my daughter Dana that this should be something the International Court should take up, but she tells me that the court only has jurisdiction over signatory countries, and no jurisdiction over anything happening in international waters. So, what the Hell good is it.

Now the pirates have captured an American ship (actually it is a Danish ship sailing under American colors), and the crew managed to take the ship back. I thought this would finally lead to some progress, or at least make the pirates think twice before they attacked another American ship, but now the American navy is turning the situation into a giant cluster fuck.

An interesting side note: The first American war ship on the scene was the destroyer USS Bainbridge. It was named after William Bainbridge, the US navy Commodore who delivered a million dollars in tribute to the Dey of Algiers in 1800 to bribe the Barbary pirates from raiding American merchant ships.

The Bainbridge should have put boats in the water, and ordered the pirates to surrender immediately. If the pirates threatened their hostage they should have been told that if they harmed him they would be killed in the most horrible and painful way possible, and then their remains would be sewn into dead pigs and buried.

Now the pirates have had time to think, and they are turning the situation to their advantage. It has also given pirates ashore time to react, and they are coming to the rescue of their brethrens with other captured ships. These captured ships apparently has hostages aboard, and the hostages will be used to intimidate the American forces into any demands they care to make.

Where is John Wayne when you need him?

Gråulf