| Date | News |
| August 2011 | |
| 16082011 | Benin is seeking to buy planes and patrol boats to fight a rise in piracy off its coast |
| Benin is seeking to buy planes and patrol boats to fight a rise in piracy
off its coast, and may also ask the United Nations for help policing regional
waters, the U.S. envoy to the West African state said on Tuesday. Piracy is a growing threat to shipping in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea -- a major source of oil, metals and agricultural products to world markets -- with a spate of attacks off Benin this year marking an expansion in the area pirates operate. "Benin is hoping to acquire one or two light aircraft to enhance surveillance capacity and is looking to both the French and the United States as possible sources for that," James Knight, the U.S. ambassador to Benin, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "We are thinking that would be an excellent idea ... as surveillance is the most significant lack of capability on their part," he said. Knight said that Benin's government was also in talks with France for three patrol boats, to add to the country's two "armed and very fast" 27-foot defender class vessels given by the United States last year. A Benin government official was not immediately available to comment. While attacks in the Gulf of Guinea have not hit levels seen off Somalia's coast, analysts say pirates have spotted a window of opportunity with weak local security and a craggy coastline which offers natural hideouts. More than 20 attacks have been reported off Benin alone this year, and experts say many more likely went unreported in the Gulf of Guinea region as shipping companies sought to avoid increased insurance premiums. Knight said Benin was considering asking the United Nations to consider an international force to help stem the attacks in the Gulf of Guinea -- similar to the NATO and European Union operations to protect local shipping off of Somalia. "Benin's president has proposed an effort of the same qualitative sort that exists on the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden," Knight said, adding "he has mentioned the possibility of bringing that to the U.N." "To my knowledge he hasn't detailed that beyond the idea that there must be an international effort to combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea," Knight said. London's marine insurance market added Benin to the list of dangerous shipping areas last week, and analysts said if piracy continues to expand in the region other countries like new oil producer Ghana could follow. ROBBERY, NOT HIJACKINGS Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea tend to raid ships for cash, valuables and cargo, instead of hijacking them for huge ransoms like their counterparts in the Gulf of Aden -- a key waterway for Persian Gulf crude oil. Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea have traditionally centered off of Nigeria's Niger Delta, home to a rebel movement that claims to be angry at the unequal distribution of the OPEC nation's oil wealth. But the surge in pirate attacks off Benin -- which had 21 reported attacks so far this year compared to just one in 2010 -- marks a shift by the pirates into waters that are less heavily patrolled than Nigeria's. "As a target of opportunity, Benin is a relatively safer place to engage in piracy," Knight said. "This is driving commerce to other parts of the African coast. Ships are going farther west to Lome and other ports, instead of Cotonou. This is very serious. As the Beninois say, the port is the lungs of this economy," he said. The growing threat of piracy off of Benin -- a poor nation that relies heavily on its cotton industry and regional trade -- is also undermining a U.S.-funded development effort to double the capacity of the port of Cotonou, Knight said. The pirates themselves are likely Nigerian militants from the Niger Delta -- heavily armed in small, fast boats -- who have shifted west along the coast, as opposed to any new piracy groups that have cropped up locally, Knight said. "The individuals that have been picked up -- at least two have been arrested -- are Nigerian in origin. We also believe the fact that this follows the Nigerian pattern that was well-established in the Niger Delta suggests that Nigerians are probably behind most of these," he said. Knight said that the United States has been helping to train Benin's navy since 2006 and that the French military was also assisting in training and coastal monitoring. But he added that a broader international plea for help at the United Nations -- if it is made -- would be unlikely to get the same kind of response seen in the Gulf of Aden. "The level of effort which we see in the Gulf of Aden is unlikely to be reproduced here for no other reason than the fact that the problem has been smaller," he said. |
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| 06082011 | Insurers to extend the war risk zone to include Nigeria increasing expenses for shippers |
| Marine insurers extended a war-risk zone for Nigeria, Africa?s largest oil
producer, and included waters off neighboring Benin for the first time as
piracy attacks increase. The Joint War Committee, which represents Lloyd?s of London underwriters and other insurers, listed the areas as higher-risk for shipping on Aug. 1, Lloyd?s Market Association senior executive John Gurtenne said by phone. The Nigerian risk zone now extends to 200 nautical miles (230 miles) offshore. The declaration lets underwriters charge an additional premium based on the value of ships entering the area, according to Gurtenne. Pirates attacked or tried to strike 10 vessels off Benin or in the Gulf of Guinea in June and July, based on reporting to the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations? shipping agency. Underwriters can already levy additional premiums on ships calling at Nigerian ports or offshore terminals, Gurtenne said. Piracy costs the global economy an estimated $7 billion to $12 billion a year, the IMO says. Large parts of the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman and southern Red Sea are risk zones for piracy, according to the committee |
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| 03082011 | Attempted Hi Jacking BENIN West Africa |
| COTONOU, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Pirates attacked two Panamanian-flagged ships
carrying oil off the coast of Benin on Wednesday but were driven off by the
Benin navy before they could steal the cargo, authorities said. The incident was the latest in a string of attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea that experts say is threatening an emerging trade hub and a growing source of oil, metals and cocoa to world markets. "The ships Golden Sifia and Aidin Panama alerted Benin's naval security forces of an armed attack," Navy Commander Maxime Ahoyo said. |
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| July 2011 | |
| 10072011 | Technical Group for certification to meet |
| Abuja ? A technical group of experts will meet in Lome, Togo, from 3rd to
6th August 2011 to validate the report of a feasibility study on the Equivalence
of Certificates in West Africa. In 2003, the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government adopted the Convention on Equivalence of Certificates
intended to harmonize the criteria for admission into institutions of higher learning, research institutes and vocational training centres; certificates and the educational and training systems in the 15 Member States of the Community. Consequently, the Authority constituted an ad-hoc Committee of five Member States (Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal), as well as ex- officio members as strategic partners to provide necessary guidance towards the implementation of the Convention. These include the African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education (CAMES), the Association of African Universities (AAU), the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), among others. In line with the 2006 recommendations of the ad-hoc Committee, the ECOWAS Commission engaged two consultants in 2009 to conduct a feasibility study for the implementation of the Convention. The report of the consultants, which was considered by the ad-hoc Committee at its meeting in Cotonou, Benin Republic in September 2010, highlighted the list of tertiary institutions in the region as well as the courses offered and certificates issued. The report also indicated the requirements for admission and certification of various courses and made recommendations for harmonization of education systems in the region. |
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| 6.07.2011 | Tanker boarded and set alight – Maritime Security Alert |
Water 1 day ago A maritime security alert has been issued for the Gulf of Aden after pirates boarded an oil tanker and set it alight. The Brillante Virtuoso was carrying a million barrels of oil when it was boarded earlier on 6 July around 20 miles from the coast of Aden. The crew of 26 are reportedly uninjured and the pirates are believed to have abandoned the vessel. The vessel was travelling from Ukraine to China and was due to call in to Aden harbour to collect armed guards before transiting through the rest of the Gulf of Aden. In the latest maritime security alert it was outlined that pirates have increased their activity in the southern Red Sea. Risk mitigation techniques should therefore be implemented long before vessels reach the vicinity of Aden. It is likely that the crew managed to gather in a citadel or safe room when the attack took place, while pirates frustrated at not being able to reach them set fire to the accommodation block, possibly in an attempt to intimidate other shipping operators that the use of safe rooms can still incur danger. While safe rooms should not be regarded as the only measures needed to prevent a successful hijacking they nonetheless provide a much greater degree of safety to crew in the event of an attack. Source: GAC Shipping News |
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| May 2011 | |
16.05.2011 |
French warship NIVÔSE disrupts another Pirate Attack Group |
During the afternoon of the 13 May, the EU NAVFOR French warship disrupted a Dhow that was suspected of being used as a Pirate Action Group (PAG) mothership since it was pirated over a year ago. The Dhow, which is suspected of having carried out several recent attacks in the Arabian Sea and which still has her original crew on board as hostages, was spotted by an EU NAVFOR German Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA) earlier the same day. Once identified, the Dhow was tracked by the MPRA which guided the FS NIVOSE into position. http://www.saveourseafarers.com/french-warship-nivôse-disrupts-another-pirate-attack-group.html http://eunavfor.eu/2011/05/eu-navfor-french-warship-nivose-disrupts-another-pirate-attack-group-page/ |
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| 06.05.2011 | Cargo ship, China crew rescued from pirates: by Staff Writers Beijing (AFP) |
A Panama-registered cargo ship seized by pirates in the Arabian Sea has been rescued along with the 24 Chinese sailors aboard, the transport ministry in Beijing said Friday. US and Turkish teams freed the vessel, Full City, late Thursday, several hours after it had been hijacked about 800 kilometres (500 miles) off the Indian city of Mumbai, the ministry said, citing the China Sea Rescue Centre. An Indian navy reconnaissance aircraft had spotted a pirate "mother ship" and an empty skiff alongside the bulk carrier and warned the pirates by radio that a naval patrol was closing in, the Indian navy said in an emailed statement. "The aircraft observed that the warning had the desired effect and the skiff was seen fleeing from the ship along with the pirates," the statement said. Indian defence ministry spokesman Captain M. Nambiar told AFP it was not clear how many pirates had been trying to take the ship, although reports said there were up to seven. It was also not clear whether a ransom was paid but the sailors were all said to be in good condition. Heavily armed pirates using speedboats operate in and around the Gulf of Aden where they prey on ships, sometimes holding vessels for weeks before releasing them for large ransoms paid by governments or ship owners. The Chinese navy participates in an international anti-piracy force in the area. Similar attacks on shipping have become increasingly common off the coast of India, as pirates seek to evade the clutches of an international maritime force patrolling the waters off lawless Somalia. More than 100 pirates have been caught and are awaiting trial following a series of violent skirmishes near India's Lakshadweep islands since the start of this year. But maritime industry analysts have warned India's hardline approach had made the country "public enemy number one" for pirates and could force a switch in tactics to attacking shipping off the Maldives and south India. Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre, in Kuala Lumpur, said attacks off western India showed how far Somalia-based pirates had extended their reach. "Our major concern is that they will continue to go farther. Once they reach this area, the next one will be off Sri Lanka, and then on to the Malacca Strait," he added. The Malacca Strait is a vital international waterway with more than 30 percent of global trade and half the world's oil shipments passing through it annually. Once the global hotspot for pirate attacks, security has improved substantially there in recent years thanks to coordinated patrols by nations bordering the waterway. |
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| 04052011 | Spain sentences Somali pirates to 439 years' jail each |
A Spanish court has sentenced two Somali pirates to 439 years in jail each for their role in the hijacking of a tuna fishing boat. BBC WORLD NEWS |
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| 03052011 | Somali Pirates Release Indonesian Ship |
South East Asia News.Net Monday 2nd May, 2011 The European Union's anti-piracy force says Somali pirates have released an Indonesian ship after holding it for 46 days.The EU said pirates released the bulk carrier MV Sinar Kudus on Sunday, but it did not say if a ransom was paid: FULL STORY Related Articles
The European Union's anti-piracy force says Somali pirates have released an Indonesian ship after holding it for 46 days. The EU said pirates released the bulk carrier MV Sinar Kudus on Sunday, but it did not say if a ransom was paid. The statement added the vessel sailed to a safe port. About 50 pirates captured the carrier in the Somali basin on March 16, as it was traveling from Singapore to Egypt. Officials say pirates later used the ship in a failed attempt to seize a Liberian-flagged vessel. |
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| 02052011 | Pirates Arrest |
Full story: The Indian Express Weeks after doubts were raised on what could be achieved by a spot panchnama by the Yellow Gate police in the January 31 arrest of Somali pirates, a chargesheet filed by the Mumbai Police had admitted candidly what the outcome of their visit to three coordinates on the high seas off the Lakshadweep islands was: 'Nothing visible apart from water' as ... |
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