Sunday, February 14, 2010

Record Number of Somali Pirate Attacks in 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/world/africa/30piracy.html?_r=1

The Piracy Reporting Center of the International Maritime Bureau has reported 214 pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia in 2009. There were 111 attacks in 2008, a 200 percent increase from 2007. In 2009, there were 47 successful hijackings, 12 of the ships have crew members still being held for ransom. Warships from the European Union, United States, China, Japan, Russia, India, and other countries are deployed in the Gulf of Aden, resulting in 30 ships patrolling the waters at all times. However, the pirates have moved to the southern and eastern coasts of Somalia, where patrols are nonexistent. There they are having a high success rate in capturing ships, and the coalition does not have any free ships to guard those areas.

Do the world superpowers need to take a tougher stance on the pirates, or are they doing as much as possible?

1 comment:

  1. The world if full of millions of problems. EVery country is strying to deal with as many as possible, but also make sure they are doing so effeciently. These pirate attacks are one of those outstanding circumstances. Although the countries are trying their bst to hault them, it probably won't happen. This issue, I think, won't be addressed until the problems effects countries substantially.

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