piracy somalia

East Africa - Strange happenings in both Somalia and Kenya this past week, and while they don't all have something directly to do with yachts, they do affect all vessels near the horn of Africa.  The battle for safe transit of the Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast has gotten a lot hotter, and many speculate this will not end quickly or well.  However, with the recent arrest of a prominent African maritime official, there are fewer left to say anything at all.

Somalia – Hours ago, a 30-man French assault team from the Hubert Commando, an elite frogman commando unit, air dropped a distance away from the Carre D'as IV, and swam to the yacht. The Commandos then stormed the Amel Super Maramu sailboat. One pirate opened fire, and was killed.

Somalia - YachtPals just received a warning from Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP) in Kenya to ALL VESSELS NEAR THE HORN OF AFRICA.  The Amel Super Maramu Carre D'as IV, captured by Somalian Pirates a week ago, may be under use as a decoy vessel attacking other ships.  The SAP warns that the vessel likely is or will be used to signal ships at sea as being under distress, while hiding a speedboat from view of any ships responding to the rescue.  Mwangura says that a small attack vessel of the type that can hide behind the Carre D'as IV "usually carries

Somalia - Jean-Yves Delanne, a french citizen being kept hostage by pirates in Somalia, has spoken with his daughter Alizée Delanne in Tahiti via satellite phone, telling her "Nous allons bien" - "We are well".  Alizée Delanne first learned of the trouble with her parents, who were sailing a yacht near the Gulf of Aden, when she received a call that the EPIRB (a safety device) had been triggered on the boat.  The Tahiti resident tried frantically to reach her parents via satellite telephone, to no avail.  When she finally got through to her father to ask why the ale

Somalia - A sailing yacht was seized by pirates yesterday in the Gulf of Aden. The Venezuelan-flagged Carre D'as is reported to have been attacked at sea, captured, and the boat and hostages taken to Somalia. The only reported hostages so far are two French nationals, whose names have not been released. Clearly in Somalia, yachts are now fair game for pirates.

Puntland, Somalia - With as many as 100 mariners currently held captive inside the country, and ransoms reaching millions of dollars, piracy has become big business in Somalia. It's no longer only commercial ships at risk, as criminals have begun targeting private yachts in the hope of a ransom pay-off - the profit is not in the ship, but in the crew. The value of human life in war-torn Somalia is cheap, the piracy risks low, and the payout enormous. Without any form of real government, little industry, and a wrecked economy, it appears Somalia is becoming a pirate state.