More piracy off Somalia

[Trevethan]

We just ran this story. Anyone have ideas of yacht name/ flag, origin or destination?Feel free to PM or email me at nctrev@starhub.net.sg

Cheers

Nick

15:50 17Dec2008 RTRS-Pirates hijack yacht off Somalia in Gulf of Aden

NAIROBI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Pirates have hijacked a yacht in the Gulf of Aden, the third ship to be taken within 24 hours off Somalia despite the presence of international navies.
"I know that a yacht was taken on Tuesday night. There were two people on board but we have no other information on that case," Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan-based East African Seafarers Assistance programme.
Pirates also hijacked an Indonesian tugboat used by French oil company Total <TOTF.PA> off the coast of Yemen and a Turkish cargo ship on Tuesday, Mwangura said.
A surge in hijackings in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean this year has earned Somali gunmen millions of dollars in ransoms, hiked shipping insurance costs and sent foreign navies rushing to patrol the busy shipping lanes off Somalia.
More than a dozen ships and hundreds of crew are still being held in various pirate hideouts along the Somali coast.
(Reporting by Wangui Kanina; Editing by David Clarke)
((nairobi.newsroom@reuters.com; +254 20 2224 717))
(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/)
Keywords: SOMALIA PIRACY/

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Wednesday, 17 December 2008 15:50:29RTRS [nLH544479] {EN}ENDS

 

[minquiers]

surely with modern day technology, where we can put rockets through windows in baghdad, why cant somebody put some through the windows of there nice new mansions, satellite observations know where they are,its about time this lot were sorted out.

 

[Trevethan]

People are doing something about it --


15:36 18Dec2008 RTRS-UPDATE 1-China says to send ships to fight Somali piracy

(Writes through)
By Ian Ransom
BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - China will send warships to the seas off Somalia to help international efforts to fight piracy there, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, in what would be the first operation of its kind for Beijing.
NATO ships began anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast in late October, but they have failed to stop the rampant hijackings, and other nations are now pitching in.
A multilateral force rescued the Chinese ship, Zhenhua 4, from Somali pirates on Wednesday. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has become a major headache as it pushes up insurance costs or forces ships to take alternative routes.
"China is making active preparations and the related deployments to send warships to the Gulf of Aden," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news briefing, though he declined to give details.
A Chinese newspaper said China would send three ships to Somalia to prevent further attacks, but that report could not be independently confirmed.
Earlier this month, a prominent Chinese military strategist, Major-General Jin Yinan, urged the government to send ships in comments reflecting debate about combating piracy in a country which has generally confined its navy to waters near home.
China says its increasingly high-tech military forces are purely for defensive purposes. It has traditionally kept troops close to home and out of international operations, reflecting a doctrine of non-interference in other nations' affairs.
But its growing wealth and influence have led to calls for it to take a greater role protecting world peace, even as Western nations fret about its increasing military power.
It is now involved in peacekeeping operations around the world including Haiti and Sudan's troubled Darfur region, and was praised in July by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for its contribution of both funds and forces.
(Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie)
((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 6627 1201; Reuters Messaging: ben.blanchard.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: SOMALIA PIRACY/CHINA

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Thursday, 18 December 2008 15:36:46RTRS [nPEK223138] {EN}ENDS