Pirates In Indian Ocean: Seizing armory ship, oil tanker, etc & ransom demands

hivi zile MIG Fighter zenu bado zinaruka? au nasis ADF Mwamunyange naye ataanza kurusha zake?manake JK yeye anabadili mabenz kwenda BM , sasa sijui wapiganaji wetu wanakumbukwa?
 
Hizi jet si za miaka ile ya vita kuu ya kwanza ya dunia 1914, bado majeshi ya nchi zetu wanatumia.
 
Hizi jet si za miaka ile ya vita kuu ya kwanza ya dunia 1914, bado majeshi ya nchi zetu wanatumia.
.

They are not 1st world War grade planes,i however agree with u on the fact that compared to most modern planes F-5s are pretty old school but only on the outer frames.They are what is referred to as "Fighter aircraft of the past become fighters of the future" this has been done through incorporation of advanced full scale programs encompassing integration of multi role A/A and A/G capabilities, multi mode radar,updated cockpits with multi-function displays, and compatibility with the AIM-120 AMRAAM and RAFAEL Python air-to-air missiles,structural modifications, leading edge avionics systems, display and sight helmets(HUDWAC), advanced weapons and pods.Its easier to upgared than go purchasing some new expensive planes that would be difficult to maintain and sustain in the long run.
With these you can expect fighter pilots to have more flying hours and experience since they don't consume a lot of fuel unlike say MIG 29's or F-18 hornets.
 
I now fear for the safety of "innocent" vessels in these waters. I can see a cargo ship or cruise ship being mistaken for a Somali pirate boat by Kenyan fighter jets and sunk. Folks, you have to practice for these sorts of missions. You can't just up and go on a mission without years of regular practice. Something I doubt Kenyan air force does. Even American air force with all the practice still makes mistake albeit few compared to what Kenyan air force will do here. Unless of course Kenyan air force hires experienced foreign pilots to perform these missions. Otherwise this is a terrible idea.
 
I now fear for the safety of "innocent" vessels in these waters. I can see a cargo ship or cruise ship being mistaken for a Somali pirate boat by Kenyan fighter jets and sunk. Folks, you have to practice for these sorts of missions. You can't just up and go on a mission without years of regular practice. Something I doubt Kenyan air force does. Even American air force with all the practice still makes mistake albeit few compared to what Kenyan air force will do here. Unless of course Kenyan air force hires experienced foreign pilots to perform these missions. Otherwise this is a terrible idea.

Why speculate on the negative. Mistakes happen all the time, binadamu si perfect. Navy ya India si juzi wameilipua meli ya watu wakidhani ni ma-pirate kumbe jamani wenyewe wametekwa nyara na wala si ma pirate. Hao si experienced?!

Kutabiri unatarajia ma-mistake kibao ni sawa mkuu. Wape nafasi wafanye kazi. Afrika tutakuwa tunawategemea watu wa nje hadi lini. Hata hiyo experience, kwani hao wa nchi za nje waliipataje? si walianza tu kama sisi. Tujivunie tulicho nacho hata wengine watatuheshimu jamani.

Mi naona wapewe nasafasi, tusi wahukumu hata kabla yao kujaribu.
 
Four more vessels have been attacked by armed bandits off Somalia, as the UN Security Council said foreign forces could pursue the pirates on land.

Maritime officials say a Chinese ship's crew held off one group of attackers until a naval patrol arrived.

But an Indonesian tugboat, Turkish cargo ship and a private yacht were successfully boarded and are thought to remain in pirates' hands.

The attacks persist despite increased US, European and Indian naval patrols.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Nairobi says the latest attacks appear to be a calculated jab at UN attempts to clamp down on piracy.

He says there have been 42 successful hijackings in the area this year.

Fourteen foreign ships and their crew of over 200 are still being held, our correspondent adds.
Kazi ipo.

source:BBC NEWS | Africa | Somali pirates launch new attacks
 
2008-12-27 08:13:00

Somali pirates threaten fuel supply to Tanzania
By Damas Kanyabwoya
THE CITIZEN

The increased hijack of cargo ships by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean is threatening fuel supply to Tanzania.

Oil marketers have said unless the piracy is stopped on the Gulf of Aden, Tanzania was likely to experience critical fuel shortages in the near future.
The effects of the hijackings have become apparent in the cancellations of trips to the east African region by some bulk oil transporters.

More than 30 ships have been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, with hundreds of crew members taken hostage this year.

The Citizen has been informed that some bulk oil transporters have cancelled their trips to the region due the heavy presence of pirates.

"The situation is fast becoming critical and we are expecting the worst to come in a short while," an oil marketer with Chevron Tanzania Limited said.

"We have just received communication from the owner of some tankers, which were destined for the region, that they have cancelled their trip due to major security worries," he said on condition of anonymity, and declined to name the vessels that called off their trips.

Chevron, which imports about 70 per cent of Tanzania's petroleum products, recently told The Citizen that fuel supply into Tanzania was fast becoming erratic since most suppliers were refusing to risk their tankers on the Gulf of Aden.

Kenya is already reportedly experiencing oil shortages although officials have not said it was due to piracy. They have said the shortages are mainly due to the ongoing repairs of the Mombassa-Nairobi pipeline.

Oil marketers in Kenya previously rebutted fears of a looming fuel shortage in the country over the increased hijack of cargo ships by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean.

But the whole region has been affected by the problem as pirates on Somalia waters make it even more dangerous to send tankers to east Africa.

Alternative routes, which can be used to transport bulk oil to the region, have been found to be too expensive.

Once confined to the Gulf of Aden, Somali pirates have of late extended their business to the territorial waters of Tanzania and Kenya.

Recently, pirates targeted a Dutch-operated container ship in the vicinity of Tanzanian waters but their attack was foiled after an early warning saved the vessel, which outran the pirates.

And there were reportedly at least 11 actual and attempted robberies of ships near Tanzania this year alone.

Most oil transporters all over the world usually defy similar circumstances to continue with their businesses due to high demand of oil.

However, there have been indications that a significant number are increasingly shunning areas where there are high incidents of piracy.

Mr N. Faisal, the executive director of Dubai-based ETA Shipping Company that operates several oil tankers on the Gulf of Aden, said many operators were avoiding such waters.

He said some tankers were using the longer but safer Cape of Good Hope route to avoid putting their ships at risk in the Gulf of Aden.

Frontline, the world's largest operator of supertankers, has already said it might divert vessels from Somalia waters after the recent capture of a Saudi owned tanker.

It also made the announcement following an attempted hijacking of its Front Voyager tanker in the same area in September this year.

And the Joint Hull Committee, a group representing ship insurers, has also advised ship owners to avoid troubled waters in the region.

This puts nations on the eastern Africa coast at high risk of getting no supplies, which is likely to trigger a surge in oil prices and threaten the viability of several businesses.

However, the Tanzania Peoples Defence Forces allayed fears of piracy on Tanzanian waters, saying it was well equipped to handle any ship attack.

And Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority director-general Haruna Masebu said no oil importer had proposed to increase insurance charges as a result of high risk.

But a source in the oil transport business said insurance charges had been increased to between $1 and $2 per metric tonne.

He also said due to piracy, most tankers now wait for escorts for up to a week, which was putting extra costs on ship owners who have to pay about $25,000 a day a vessel for medium-range vessels and $30,000 a day for long-range vessels.

Costs vary depending on the route taken and value of the ships' contents, he added.

Ship owners are also paying insurance premiums of up to $1.5 million a vessel for ships sailing up the coast of Somalia and through the Gulf of Aden.

Somalia, caught up in an Islamic insurgency, has not had a functioning government since 1991. It has no navy or coast guard and cannot guard its coastline, which includes the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes.

About 20,000 ships pass annually through the Gulf of Aden. Pirates have attacked more than 60 ships in the Gulf of Aden this year alone.

As much as $30 million in ransom may have been paid this year - money that is helping finance Islamic militants in their war against the government, said a report from Chatham House, a London-based Institute that analyses foreign affairs.

There is an international arrangement under which vessels Nato forces escort vessels in groups of between 15 and 20.

But apparently, the arrangement has not helped much to reduce the surging transport charges on insurance and freight. Besides, the viability of the Nato escort arrangement is yet to be fully tested.

In Tanzania, the effects of piracy on local oil prices have not yet manifested themselves as prices are currently on a downward trend following a slump in global crude oil prices.

Pump prices have fallen from an average of Sh1,900 a litre in July 2008 to the current average of Sh1,500, but any shortage of supply is likely to trigger a fresh rise in prices.
 
Jeshi la Tanzania si limehalalisha biashara? Wachangamkie hilo tender lol. Kama wasomali wanadai ransom ya $30 mil, wanajeshi wajitafutie kazi ya kusindikiza matanker...........especially if they are charging $30K per day for escorts.
 
January 1 2009, 8 pirates were intercepted by the aviso Premier Maître L'Her while trying to attack the Panamanian freighter S. Venus.

The aviso PM L'Her arrived in the area on 16 December to participate in the European operation Atalante. It accompanied cargo of the World Food Program between the Somali ports of Berbera and Bossaso and five commercial buildings across the Gulf of Aden.
interceptiondespiratesad0.jpg

Interception des pirates. EMA
lecargosvenusty2.jpg

Le cargo S. Vénus. EMA
The rest of the story is here, in French.
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/ema/opera...te_des_pirates
 
Jamaa wameshalipwa... hii biashara wanaikuza wenyewe wenye meli au insurance companies.

NAIROBI, Kenya (CNN) -- Pirates on a seized Saudi-owned oil supertanker were counting their ransom money aboard the hijacked ship Friday amid expectations that the ship and its crew of 25 are to be released in the next 24 hours, a witness told a local journalist on Friday.


A small aircraft is observed by the U.S. Navy flying over the Sirius Star during a seeming ransom payment Friday.

1 of 3 The tanker was carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil worth about $100 million when pirates hijacked it on Nov. 15 off the coast of Somalia.

Pirates seized the Sirius Star more than 450 nautical miles off the African coast in one of their most audacious hijackings to date.

The U.S. Navy took photographs and observed as an apparent ransom payment was parachuted aboard the tanker. The pirates aboard the supertanker have equipment to check for counterfeit bills.

"While the potential release of the Sirius Star is undoubtedly excellent news, we must not forget that nearly 300 other merchant mariners are still being held captive," said Commodore Tim Lowe, deputy Combined Maritime Forces commander.

Pirates release tanker hijacked in September
Earlier an official of the Kenya Seafarers Association told CNN the vessel had already been set free

Hijackings off East Africa are a cause of growing international concern, spurring a number of international navies to patrol the pirate-wracked Gulf of Aden.

Dozens of ships have been attacked in the gulf by pirates based in a largely lawless Somalia in recent months. See a map of the region »

The area involved, off the coast of Somalia and Kenya as well as the Gulf of Aden, equals more than 1.1 million square miles. That is roughly four times the size of Texas, or the size of the Mediterranean and Red Seas combined.

'Ransom paid' for hijacked supertanker - CNN.com
 
...hawa maharamia wa kisomali kweli mikosi mikosi tu, angalia sasa...

Somali pirates drown with ransom

Six members of a group of Somali pirates who hijacked and later released a Saudi-owned oil tanker are reported to have drowned along with their share of a $3m ransom.

The pirates were among eight men whose boat overturned off the coast of Kenya in a storm as they left the Sirius Star following a two-month standoff that ended on Friday, a pirate and a relative of one of the dead men said.

"Six of our boys perished at the sea while coming from the released Saudi supertanker," Mohamed Said told the AFP news agency.

"The small boat that was carrying those killed and eight who survived was overloaded and at high speed, we have been told by the survivors.

"They were afraid of a chase from outsiders [foreign naval forces] who invaded Somalia waters," he said.

The group's $300,000 share of the ransom was also lost, he said.

Three pirates reached shore after swimming for several hours, pirate Daud Nure said on Saturday.

source; Al Jazeera English - Africa - Somali pirates drown with ransom
 
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