The Bahamas has called on members of the International Maritime Organization to react responsibly to the increasing attacks on vessels and crew by pirates in open waters.

His Excellency Paul Farquharson, high commissioner and permanent representative of The Bahamas to the International Maritime Organization, made the plea while addressing the High Level Meeting on Piracy at the Ninetieth Session of the Maritime Safety Committee in London yesterday.

He said while The Bahamas supports the development of minimum standards for armed guards and providers, these can not be a substitute for actions taken by a state in applying its own legislation on ships under its flag.

“No one today is blasé when it comes to the prospect or reality of firearms on board merchant ships.  That they are carried, and in ever-increasing numbers, must be viewed as an extraordinary reaction to an extraordinary situation,” he said.

Maritime piracy has been a threat to seaborne commerce and seafarers since the earliest of times.  It is said, however, that the incapacity of Somalia to prevent and deal effectively with pirates has resulted in a homegrown piracy industry, which has expanded from the coast of Somalia to become a threat across the western part of the Indian Ocean.

“In 2005 we were shocked when a Bahamas ship was attacked 100 nautical miles off the coast.  Now we are not surprised when a ship is attacked at 10 times that distance,” Farquharson said.

“We must recognize the efforts that the shipping industry has made over the past few years.  The best management practices are a direct result of collaboration between industry bodies to design appropriate passive self-defence measures.  The Bahamas applauds the shipping companies, which have assiduously implemented the best management practices with a resulting decrease in successful attacks,” he said.

“We also acknowledge, with appreciation, the efforts of the international naval forces to protect shipping and apprehend pirates.  But it is common knowledge that the area at risk of piracy is so enormous that there are not, and cannot be, enough military resources available to guarantee safety.”

It is this consideration which has inevitably led to the increase in the carriage and use of weapons in anti-piracy tactics, he said.

“This proliferation is as understandable as it is unwelcome, and in that light, demands that states react positively and decisively,” Farquharson said.

Under Bahamas law it is the right and duty of ship owners to take all necessary and legal measures to protect their vessels and their crews.

In responding to requests from its ship owners The Bahamas also took action to apply existing provisions of its Firearms Act to Bahamas ships.  “The practical effect of this approach is that named individuals are issued with a licence for specific weapons for a specifically limited period.  This renders the licence holder as individual responsible, under Bahamas law, for the safe-keeping and use of the weapon,” Farquharson said.

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On the eve of European Maritime Day, the international anti-piracy campaign, SOS SaveOurSeafarers, is calling on Europeans to continue to support seafarers and their families in the long, hard fight against Somali piracy.

The campaign is using the EU’s celebration of its seafarers to remind Europeans of the continuing threat faced by the world’s seafarers and their families. Hostages suffer both physically and psychologically while being held for ransom and their families also endure huge anguish.

Alastair Evitt, chairman of SOS SaveOurSeafarers, said:

“Despite the international community’s strenuous efforts to combat piracy, the world’s seafarers continue to face the fear of being attacked in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, while helping to keep world trade moving. Since the launch of the SOS campaign last March, we have played a significant role in increasing awareness and interest worldwide of the realities of Somali piracy.

“Of the 32,149 SOS letters sent from the SOS website to governments worldwide, a significant number of letters have been sent to European governments. We encourage every person in the Europe to support their seafarers and their families on European Maritime Day. Add your voice to our growing campaign via our website, participate in the discussions on the SOS Twitter and Facebook pages,” he said.

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KIDNAP victim Judith Tebbutt, from Bishop’s Stortford, could give evidence by video link at the trial in Kenya of a man accused of involvement in her abduction and her husband David’s murder.

Mr Tebbutt, 58, a finance director with publisher Faber, was shot dead in a raid on their Kenyan holiday accommodation by suspected Somali pirates last September.

Mrs Tebbutt, 56, a social worker, was released on March 21 after her family paid her captors a ransom believed to be $1.3m (£800,000).

She did not know about her husband’s death until their son Oliver told her two weeks after she was captured.

Now she faces the prospect of testifying against at least one of those involved.

On Wednesday last week, a Kenyan website reported that forensic evidence sent to the UK for analysis had been returned and prosecutor Caleb Mutonye made a successful application in the case against Ali Babito Kololo for British witnesses to give evidence on video.

Five local witnesses have already testified in the case, which has been postponed several times.

According to The Star in Nairobi, the defendant faces charges of murdering Mr Tebbutt and abducting his wife at Kiwayu Safari Village in Kiunga.

Kololo has claimed in court that the gunmen responsible for the Tebbutts’ ordeal had forced him to take them to the resort.

The Tebbutts lived in a £370,000 semi-detached home in Thornfield Road. Oliver is a former pupil of nearby Bishop’s Stortford College.

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THE HOUSE yesterday started discussing a bill to allow private armed guards onboard Cypriot-flagged ships seeking protection from pirates lurking in Somali waters as well as West Indian oceans.

The head of the Communications Committee Antonis Antoniou said that piracy had become “a very serious phenomenon” worldwide with pirates requesting “millions of euros as ransom to free hostages”.

Antoniou said that because Cyprus did not allow the hiring of private armed guards, fewer Cypriot-flagged ships were being charted. “We have lost ten ships which have removed the Cypriot flag from their masts and have been deleted from the shipping register”.

“The bill we are examining regulates the issue of the protection of Cypriot ships from illegal actions by enabling the use of private guards,” Antoniou said.

Under the bill’s provisions, ship owners could apply to the Department of Merchant Shipping  to obtain the necessary paperwork.

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Mogadishu - Somali fisherman pleaded on Friday for international navies protecting shipping to halt air strikes on coastal villages, after the EU Naval Force struck a pirate base for the first time.

An attack helicopter staged a night time raid on the Somali coastline on Tuesday, the first since the EU authorised such strikes, destroying several small boats the force said were part of pirate operations.

But fishermen on the impoverished coast said that their boats had also been destroyed, and that they feared being caught up in further attacks aimed to damage pirate operations.

"The pirates cannot be easily identified, as they mingle with the fishermen - the boats are the same and the people look alike unless they are armed," said Mohamed Hassan, a local fisherman in the Harardhere region.

"The fishermen are also victims - some of the boats destroyed by the international forces belonged to local fishermen, and we are very much worried that fishermen will die in such operations," he added.

Nato and European Union warships have battled pirates at sea since 2008, but the EU decided to step up the fight in March by authorising strikes on assets stored on land.

The attacks on Tuesday marked the first time an international naval force patrolling the pirate-infested Indian Ocean waters have struck on land after years of trying to prevent attacks at sea.

However, fisherman Kahin Abdurahman said that forces should instead send ground troops rather than air strikes to enable them to distinguish between pirates and civilians.

"The international forces should stop flying helicopters and firing missiles from the sky," Abdurahman said.

"If they need to then their operation must distinguish between local fishermen and pirates, so they must deploy foot soldiers on the ground."

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Ramola Talwar Badam

ABU DHABI // The war against Somali piracy must be fought on two fronts: battling the country's pirates, and feeding its people.

That was the view of envoys from seven countries whose citizens have been held by Somali pirates.

The diplomats from Italy, the Seychelles, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania and Thailand were in Abu Dhabi yesterday to discuss ways to end piracy.

They broadly agreed the keys were military action, restoring law and order, and increasing aid.

"Yes, we must get rid of the bases of pirates to avoid attacks but the international community cannot rely only on a military option," said Giorgio Starace, the Italian Ambassador to the UAE.

"There must be economic and social change linked to Somalia's recovery. Aid is not only for times of emergency. We need more engagement."

Somali pirates cost governments and the shipping industry up to US$6.9 billion (Dh25.35bn) last year, the advocacy group One Earth Future Foundation says.

The diplomats mapped out a range of measures to cooperate against piracy.

Pirate attacks and ransom demands are common off Somalia's coast because of its proximity to the Gulf of Aden, a shipping route through which 20 per cent of world trade passes.

This week, the European Union Naval Force conducted its first operation to destroy pirate equipment on the Somali coast, with the support of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. Until Tuesday, such operations were restricted to the waters off Somalia.

During yesterday's conference in Abu Dhabi, the ambassadors said tracing the money trail to find out where ransom funds were channelled was imperative.

"Somali pirates have become a destructive force because they have a safe haven," said Mohamed Gello, the Kenyan Ambassador. "They can attack ships and take these back toward the shore because the land is available to them.

"You deny them that opportunity and that is the solution to stop them. The answers lie in maintaining military pressure to reduce piracy and speed up the process of stability."

Mohamed Juma, the Tanzanian ambassador, said pirate attacks harmed tourism, with the number of luxury cruise ships falling from 20 vessels in 2006 to none last year. There have also been pirate attacks on oil rigs off Tanzania, Mr Juma said.

Tanzania has amended its laws to allow the prosecution on its soil of pirates captured in international waters. It is awaiting the UN's Security Council's sanction to launch a special court for prosecuting arrested pirates.

Law and order must be restored to Somalia, Mr Juma said.

"The Somali youth for 20 years have known nothing more than disorder. The institution of government must be made strong," he said.

Piracy also severely hit tourism and fishing in Seychelles, said Dick Esparon, that country's ambassador. There are now specially designated fishing zones patrolled by foreign security guards and Seychelles officers, he said.

Hussein Mohamed, the charge d'affaires of Somalia, said the average citizen there was hurt by food shortages and high prices.

Mr Mohamed said the families of hostages should know "the Somali people and its government are against such unlawful and illegal acts, which endanger people's lives".

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Aisha Tariq

The maritime counter-piracy strategy must reach beyond military solutions, said speakers at the second ‘Ambassadors’ Dialogue’ hosted by Quiet Diplomacy, a UAE-based magazine about international affairs, here on Thursday.

The forum brought together members of the diplomatic community and other stakeholders to discuss the international causes and consequences of maritime piracy.

The event’s first panel featured representatives from countries and institutions directly engaged in countering piracy, including Italy, Pakistan and Thailand and the United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP). The second panel comprised nations strongly affected by piracy such as Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles and Somalia.

“We are all involved in this fight that is concerning many countries around the world. This is a topic of enormous concern for countries situated on the commercial routes of the world, as the UAE,” said Italian Ambassador to the UAE Giorgio Starace. He went on to praise the UAE’s involvement in the counter-piracy measures.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs will co-host an international counter-piracy conference next month in Dubai.

Ambassador Starace highlighted several reasons for international intervention on the piracy issue. In addition to the safety of those aboard hijacked ships, nations need to ensure their economic interests, he said. Italy, for example, conducts over 53 per cent of its trade through sea lanes and faces a significant financial threat from maritime piracy.  He also spoke of global fears that money obtained by pirates was being channelled to terrorist organisations.

Many delegates addressed the humanitarian hardships that have contributed to the increase in Somali piracy. “If you see the poverty which is widespread in Somalia, you can see why the people take this risk,” said Mohammed Diab, the UAE’s country director for UN WFP.

He said the average annual per capita income in Somalia is $600, whereas a pirate generally brings in $20,000-30,000 a year.

“The solution cannot be without attacking the roots and addressing the poverty in Somalia, without settling Somalia politically and without humanitarian aid. Then, the country can start standing on its feet, internally resolving the crisis,” he said.— aisha@khaleejtimes.com

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* New guidelines needed for guards on merchant ships-IMO

* Naval patrols still crucial for anti-piracy fight

* Somali pirates make millions through hijacks on high seas

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) - Armed guards employed on merchant ships to repel attacks by pirates should be subject to new standards to ensure they abide by international law while on the high seas, a United Nations agency said on Thursday.

The International Maritime Organization, whose role is to improve the safety of global shipping, said it wanted a new set of global guidelines to be drawn up to help countries and shipping countries decide whether and how to deploy armed guards.

"International standards or regimes should be established," IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu told reporters.

"That regime should not be made compulsory, but provide an international framework on which the flag state and the (shipping) companies may decide to employ arms on board.

"This is not a permanent solution and arms on board will not be institutionalised. These are exceptional circumstances and we hope these are temporary measures," he said after an anti-piracy conference at the IMO's headquarters overlooking the River Thames in London.

Shipping companies are increasingly reliant on private guards to deter pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers who are prepared to take hostages and demand ransoms worth millions of dollars each year, particularly in the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

Naval patrols by NATO, the European Union and others have failed to stop attacks by Somali pirates, prompting ship owners to look for different ways to protect their cargoes and crew.

Opponents of armed guards aboard merchant ships say their presence can escalate violence. There are also concerns about the guards' training and accountability, as well as uncertainty over their legal position if they kill suspected pirates.

The IMO said it needed to hold more talks before publishing guidelines on private guards. Many of the guards are former military personnel employed by UK companies.

"The measures that will be adopted ... are not above the law, they will all be in accordance with international and national law," said Rosalie Balkin, IMO assistant secretary-general and its director of legal affairs.

The difficulty of protecting ships was highlighted in February when Italian marines on a merchant vessel were accused of shooting dead two Indian fishermen they suspected of being pirates. India detained the marines, prompting a diplomatic row.

Alternatives to armed guards include trying to outrun pirates and using water hoses, barbed wire or non-lethal electric fences.

The threat was underlined earlier this month when Somali pirates hijacked a Greek-owned oil tanker carrying nearly one million barrels of oil in the Arabian Sea.

Days later, European helicopter gunships attacked a pirate base on the Somali coast, destroying five speedboats in the first attack by EU forces on its coastline. (Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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Is Google about to sink the Navy? Major security concerns over search giant's plans to track EVERY ship at sea and make information available to anyone

• Search engine has plans to map the entire ocean floor over next five years
• Google has spent $3million on satellite technology and claims it is better at tracking ships than most governments

Google is set to track the world's warships and make the data available to billions of internet users, raising concerns over the security of the American naval fleet.  

The search engine plans to offer the coordinates and identity of virtually all vessels at sea on Google Maps after spending around $3million on satellite technology. 

The company continues to consult with the U.S. Navy over the plans, as well as with the defence departments of countries around the world.

Google has claimed that it is better placed to track the military boats than most governments.

Michael Jones, who is chief technology advocate at Google Ventures, told Aol: 'I watch them and they can't see themselves. It angers me as a citizen that I can do this and the entire DoD can't.'

Google is not the first to track ships at sea, but claims to have improved on previous technology.

All large vessels are fitted with the Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) - a series of transponders that transmit the boat's position to avoid collisions when it is dark or there is bad weather. 

At the moment AIS can detect boats 20 mile away from each other - however, there are ongoing attempts to improve the distance and accuracy. By comparison, from space the Google satellites can detect ships anywhere.

The web power has already used its technology to track trawlers fishing illegally in foreign waters and passed the information on to governments. 

Despite fears over a risk to defence ships, the vessels can go incognito by simply turning off their transmitter so military operations were unlikely to threatened.

Detractors of Google's plan to map the waters said the technology could be used by terrorists or pirates to attack ships.

However one military source responded: 'It's not the ships you can see, but the ships you can't see that matter.'

Google's plan to map the ocean floor over the next five years could reveal the resting place of spy satellites and send hostile foreign enemies on the hunt for 'sunken treasure'.

Google Maps was launched in 2005, providing aerial or satellite images for most populated areas across the world. 

The service has often been controversial. Iran threatened to sue the company yesterday over dropping the name of the Persian Gulf on Google Maps.

The threat came after it left the body of water between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula nameless on its online map service.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that if Google does not restore the name of the Persian Gulf, it will face 'serious damages'.

Google reacted to the comments, saying that its maps service had never labelled the Persian Gulf.

When asked by MailOnline if Google planned to include the title in the wake of Iranian threats, a spokesman said there were no plans to include the title on any amended map.

A separate company insider told Mail Online that it was 'definitely not' a political decision not to have Persian Gulf on Google maps, and Iran's assertion that Google had had the label removed was 'simply wrong'.

Iranians are highly sensitive about the name of the body of water, which has historically and internationally been known as the Persian Gulf.

Some Arab states insist on calling it the Arabian Gulf. The issue has stirred up tensions between Iranians and Arabs

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Muscat: Maritime piracy has witnessed a steady rise over the past decade with piracy attacks in 2011 accounting for 439 worldwide. Most of these attacks occur within the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, the Gulf of Guinea near Nigeria, the Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia and off the Indian subcontinent. Oman significantly dependent on its oil reserves and exporting segment, continues to face piracy threats to its coastlines, most of which account for Somali piracy.

Somali piracy, a byproduct of an inefficient government authority in Somalia, is the second largest source of revenue in Somalia raking in $ 200 million annually. Since the profits are reinvested in coastal communities, the act of piracy receives support from the community. Most of the attacks involve both hijacking and kidnapping, free of violent tactics since the pirates want their victims alive paving the way for demanding huge ransoms. Although the success rates for these attacks have decreased within these past months, courtesy to the employment of security forces, razor wires and water cannons, Oman still has a greater role to play combating piracy.

The use of international law sees states taking collective action to combat piracy while domestic civil law provides businessmen greater security with regards to shipping vessels and cargo. Oman is one of the 18 countries that is a signatory to the Djibouti Code of Conduct working with the International Maritime Organisation to address the issue of piracy, while recently in the month of May a two day meeting between experts of the Arab Justice and Interior Ministers Councils saw the Sultanate being represented by a senior official from the Legal Affairs Ministry, a member of the technical committee. The meeting revolved around Arab resolutions and international conventions related to piracy and reviewing the Arab draft protocol on combating piracy.

During TransOman 2012 taking place from 28^th - 29^th May, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt, Lt. Jamie Wrona, USN, Liaison Officer, Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO), Bahrain will highlight the issue of piracy and the role of Oman in Fighting Piracy through collaboration and partnership.

Additionally Mr. Hamoud S Al Maskry, Director of the Secretariat & Information Centre, The Riyadh Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Gulf Region, will cover Port Security and Safety measures while discussing The Role of Riyadh MOU on Port State Control in the Gulf Region on Monitoring and Inspections of Ships in the GCC.

For more information on TransOman 2012, kindly contact Mr. Ebrahim Taher, Project Manager, TransOman 2012 at +968 95210203/ ebrahim@oite.com

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