Piracy & Ship Attacks June 15, 2010
MV ASIAN GLORY Arrives Safely in Oman
The UK flagged Asian Glory has arrived safely in Oman after being released from pirates who hijacked the ship back on January 1, 2010.
The Zodiac owned ship was hijacked in the Indian Ocean and was released after a ransom drop was made to the pirates holding her on Friday (June 11).
The ship has a crew of 25 (8 Bulgarian, 10 Ukraines, 5 Indians, 2 Romanian). The vessel was transiting north west towards the International Recommended Transiting Corridor when she was hijacked.
Zodiac has reported that the crew is unharmed and well.
Somali pirates attack Yemeni tanker, wounding guard
Somali Pirates have fired at a Yameni oil tanker in the Red Sea near the Bab al-Mandab, wounding a guard on board.
The Bab al-Mandab strait links the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and is navigated by ships passing through the Suez Canal.
The local coastguard has reported that pirates opened fire wounding a guard. The guards on board confronted them, forcing the pirates to flee. The tanker has since changed course to the Western port of Al-Hudaydah.
UN: Donors to give $9.3M on Somali piracy cases
Donors will spend $9.3 million to help Kenya and Seychelles prosecute suspected Somali pirates and improve the justice system in these countries.
Currently a coalition of international navies spends millions of dollars each year to thwart off piracy. These efforts are squashed when cash strapped justice systems like that of Kenya and Seychelles do not have the funds to follow through with the prosecution of pirates.
Several pirates have been taken to Europe and the U.S. to face trial after Kenya said it would stop accepting new piracy cases. With the new funding Kenya will resume taking cases.
The European Union is the largest donor to the program, with Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.S. also contributing. A U.N.-administered fund created in September to finance such programs is also contributing money.
Currently Kenya is holding 123 piracy suspects for trial. In total there are 540 Somali piracy suspects being held in 10 countries. Somalia's semiautonomous region of Puntland holds the largest number, more than 200 of them.
EU Extends anti-piracy operation through December 2010
The security operations in the Gulf of Aden meant to thwart off piracy have been extended through December 2010.
The Council of the European Union agreed to extend the mandate for Operation Atalanta for another two years.
The renewing of Operation Atalanta also includes a mandate to extend the area of operations to respond to the growing range pirate attacks.