On 23 March, Jeremy Binnie, Jane's Defence Weekly Middle East/Africa Editor in London, reported that the EU had expanded the area of operations for the EU Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) counter-piracy mission to include Somali coastal territory and internal waters. Binnie’s opinion is that EUNAVFOR would attempt to “disrupt pirate logistics […]
EUNAVFOR
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*This article by Sam Bateman was released on 26 January as Report No. 6/2011 by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Singapore. Mr. Bateman is a Senior Fellow in the Maritime Security Programme at RSIS, Nanyang Technological University. He is a former Australian naval commodore with research interests […]
AFP News Services have reported Somali pirates were able to capture the Bulgarian chemical tanker MV Panega (IMO number 8511586, 5,846 DWT, built in 1986) on Tuesday, 11 May. The crew of 15, all of whom are Bulgarians, have been taken hostage. The ship was enroute from the Red Sea […]
I have read all the posts about piracy and find them very interesting…but somewhat misinformed in certain areas. I am also somewhat disappointed that there is an absence of information about NATO’s contribution to combating piracy off the coast of Somalia. I am presently the second in command of the […]
In my post on 7 December, entitled “Whether to Protect the Sea or Protect the Ships,” I argued that efforts to create defended lanes are a “misguided effort at sea control” and that history has shown repeatedly that they are based on a flawed operational concept. I did not realize […]
The capture by pirates of another super tanker, the Greek-owner MV Maran Centurus, approximately 800 nm off the coast of Somalia was reported this week by the BBC. The BBC report quotes Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank Rashid Abdi as saying “the world's navies has made little […]
* Moderator’s Note: Reprinted with permission from Seaways, Journal of the Nautical Institute, September 2009, pp. 30-31. The focused intervention of foreign naval forces off the coast of Somalia raises as many questions as it answers. Why Somalia and not Nigeria or Indonesia? Why so much emphasis on treating it […]