America.gov (Washington, DC)
Kathryn McConnell
1 May 2009
Washington, DC — In a set of hearings on Capitol Hill, analysts testified that commercial ships traveling off the African coast should not be armed, despite increasingly brazen attacks on them by pirates.
A State Department official said the United States hopes that growing international cooperation will improve maritime-security efforts.
Acts of piracy more than doubled in the Gulf of Aden area during 2008. The area spans the Horn of Africa and Somalia's north coast and is a vital shipping lane connecting the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas. In 2008, an estimated $30 million in ransoms was paid to pirates who hijacked vessels in the Gulf of Aden.
According to the International Chamber of Commerce, there were a total of 293 pirate attacks worldwide in 2008, and more than 900 hostages were taken.
Eighty percent of the volume of global trade was seaborne in 2008.
Merchant Captain Richard Phillips, who was taken hostage April 8 by Somali pirates and later freed by U.S. Navy personnel, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that arming commercial crews "should not be viewed as the best or ultimate solution."
Phillips skippered the merchant ship Maersk Alabama hundreds of kilometers off the Somali coast until machine-gun-wielding pirates boarded. The pirates were turned back by the Alabama's crew, but Phillips was taken hostage.
On the question of arming crew members, Phillips said, "To the extent we go forward in this direction, it would be my personal preference that only a limited number of individuals aboard the vessel have access to effective weaponry, and these individuals receive special training on a regular basis."
William Baumgartner, the U.S. Coast Guard's top law official, testifying before a House of Representatives subcommittee about whether ships' crews should be armed, said the matter would be handled best if companies that insist on arming personnel hired specially trained security staff.
He said arming vessels carrying certain cargo such as oil would be hazardous. Coast Guard guidance recommends nonlethal defensive tactics: frequently changing course, traveling as fast as possible, and using nets, wires and hoses to deter pirates attempting to board.
The Alabama arrived in Kenya with its 19 remaining crew members. Pirates captured the ship's captain. He later was rescued unharmed.
The Coast Guard is working with the International Maritime Organization and other United Nations agencies to enhance counter-piracy guidance.
Phillips, the sea captain, emphasized that the U.S. government must continue to seek international partners willing to employ legal, military and diplomatic solutions to the problem.
John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, agreed and said the government's strategy cannot come down "to the precise aim of three Navy snipers," referring to the Navy special operations forces who killed the Somali pirates holding Phillips captive. (The bodies of the pirates were turned over to local Somali authorities by the Navy April 30.)
Stephen Mull, a senior adviser to the State Department, told members of Congress that the United States senses a "growing international consensus" to do more to counter piracy. He said the United States hopes to achieve enhanced regional capacity to deal with the problem -- training and equipping regional coast guards, coordinating coastal and naval exercises, and pooling surveillance information.
The regional approach, Mull said, has proven successful in combating piracy in the Straits of Malacca and could be applied to other maritime challenges, such as smuggling, trafficking in persons and responding to natural disasters.
The United States plans to convene a meeting of more than 30 international partners, called the International Contact Group on Piracy, in coming weeks. It will press countries to refuse concessions to pirates and to freeze pirates' ransoms. At the group's next meeting in New York, the United States also will push more countries to prosecute pirates, according to Mull.
Meanwhile, the United States continues to work with the Transitional Government of Somalia to suppress piracy. There will be no long-term solution to piracy unless Somalis do more to solve challenges that threaten their own and regional security and economic development, Mull said.
Solutions include developing judicial and law enforcement capabilities to address the pirate attacks in the more than 4 million square kilometers of ocean beginning at enclaves along Somalia's under-governed and economically devastated coast, according to the Coast Guard's Baumgartner. Because piracy is a universal crime under international law, every nation has the legal authority to establish jurisdiction over piracy and punish offenders regardless of the perpetrators or victims' nationalities, he said.
So far in 2009, there have been 15 cases of authorities from various countries halting pirate vessels, double the number for all of 2008.
Staff writer Matt Herrick contributed to this article.
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Somali HipHop Artist K'Naan on Somali Pirates
THESE GUYS ARE LIKE THE U.S. PATRIOTS OF 1776.
THEY ARE PROTECTING THEIR COUNTRY FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTE
BEING DUMPED IN SOMALI WATERS.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJLlQCe4U]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !!! [http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
Somali HipHop Artist K'Naan on Somali Pirates
THESE GUYS ARE LIKE THE U.S. PATRIOTS OF 1776.
THEY ARE PROTECTING THEIR COUNTRY FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTE
BEING DUMPED IN SOMALI WATERS.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJLlQCe4U]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !!! [http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
These pirates are a drain on the Somali people as are the fake govts that are nothing but clan based. One can only avoid blame for a period of time until reality knocks. And you know what, it is wake up time. It can not be anyone elses fault but the clan, islamists and the governments implanted by others. All this lawlessness must be stopped even if it means hitting the coast line where the pirates operate. Then the Somali people should take control of their destiny and build a nation based on law once these gangesters are eliminated.
Common sense dectates the least that can be done is get rid of these thugs.
The solution to the piracy problem IS TO ESTABLISH A LARGE, MILITARY AND ECONOMICALLY STRONG, UNITED 'UNITED EAST AFRICAN STATES.'
The process to create such a SUPERSTATE, with a population of about 550 million people IS ALREADY UNDERWAY.
Africa has to create two SUPERPOWERS, one to oversea the Atlantic and one to oversea the Indian Ocean.
As for skilled personnel and technical help. Africa has in her DIASPORA, about 300 million African descent people in the Americas alone. Some of most Africanist, Nationalistic people anywhere who for the past 200 years (since Toussaint L'Overture saved 24 million in gold bullion to stop the slave trade in Africa -- see 'A History of Racism and Terrorism, Rebellion and Overcoming," also 'A History of Education Book II," BOTH AT Xlibris.com http://www.xlibris.com or http://www.myspace.com/sexyaabooksculture
and http://blackmalepowermovement.forumsland.com
The SOLUTION TO STOPPING THE EVIL AND UNCONCIONABLE EXPLOITATION OF AFRICA'S RESOURCES, SEA COASTS, MINERALS AND WATER is for Africa to STAR WORKING TO BUILD 'FORTRESS NATIONS,' that will not allow another 'BERLIN CONFERENCE,' and partitioning of Africa.
The 'parasitic nations' are twiddling their fingers, just waiting for the disintegration of Africa's nations -- AND IN PLACES LIKE SUDAN, THEY ARE ACTUALLY PARTAKING IN POLICIES THAT PROMOTE DISTRUCTION.
The time has come to stop the PARASITIC NATIONS from exploiting Africa. It is time to establish at least two or three strong AFRICAN SUPERPOWERS:
East African Union United States of West Africa Union of Southern African States
The parasites are satisfied with small, fragmented nations created during the colonial period to satisfy Europe. Yet, try causing fragmentation in their nations and they will not tolerate it for a second, just as they do not tolerate people with the flu or people accused of engaging in criminal activity during the Olympics.
Nations are desperate to REACH SUPERPOWERHOOD, however, these nations have nothing but promises and tricks. Some of these nations are no larger than some island chains, yet, they are engaged in the same COLONIAL PIRACY that they are accusing the Somalis of.
Finally, Somalis more than anyone else MUST REVIVE AND RETURN TO THE ANCIENT CUSH CULTURE. The same has to go for Sudan. The religions of foreign invaders and occupiers who tell Africans to be good 'Christians,' while the mistreat Africans in the Americas and use Christianity and religion for political purposes (like those people who have kept Africans in the US out of upward mobility, BECAUSE OF RACIST RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PURE RACISM).
Therefore, Africans have to realize that BEFORE THE SLAVE RAIDERS AND 'TRADERS' LANDED ON AFRICAN SOIL, AFRICANS HAD A THRIVING CIVILIZATION.
see 'PIRATES,' http://blackmalepowermovement.forumsland.com
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