Blow to U.S. piracy in Somalia – Navy Captain Richard Phillips freed after being held for five days – three of the four hijackers were killed in the rescue operation
Navy Captain Richard Phillips freed after being held for five days – three of the four hijackers were killed in the rescue operation
The U.S. Navy succeeded in rescuing the captain of the merchant yesterday Maersk Alabama, Richard Phillips, 53, captured by Somali pirates on Wednesday. Three died in the operation of their captors. The fourth was taken to the destroyer Bainbridge to negotiate his surrender and has been under U.S. custody, as reported yesterday by the Department of Defense. The operation involving military experts and the FBI. The tactics with which he has solved the kidnapping may open new routes, more aggressive in how the international community will be confronted with a crime network that in 2008 captured 40 ships.
The U.S. president, Barack Obama, has authorized the use of force if it came to the point where life could be endangered Phillips. The president described yesterday Captain Richard Phillips as “a model for all Americans.” “I’m very proud of the efforts of the U.S. army and other departments and agencies that have worked tirelessly to save the captain,” he said in a statement.
The U.S. military command decided to solve the kidnapping of the limited use of force. Thus ended more than 100 hours of captivity in which four armed pirates were able to maintain suspense United States. Finally, Captain Phillips, who described her as a brave crew capable of risking their lives to prevent the 19 men who were under his command suffered any harm, as a national hero returns to his home in Vermont.
The operation began when the hostage jumped into the lifeboat which was being held, using the early hours of the night, and hackers take aim with their weapons, according to information released yesterday by the Army’s Central Command. “At this point we feel that his life was in danger and decided to act,” said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney at a press conference.
A command of the Navy SEAL (special operations corps of the Navy) killed three pirates who remained in the boat. The captain was transferred to Bainbridge, from which coordinated the rescue efforts.
Speech by the FBI
The FBI had conducted negotiations with the pirates, which were broken in the early hours of Saturday. Until then, tribal leaders of the Somali region of Jariban tried to mediate by telephone with the captors to retain four to Phillips. USA demanded the release to Phillips and to stop the hijackers, to which tribal leaders refused. The pirates demanded a ransom of initial 1.5 million.
Finally, the U.S. command decided to break off negotiations. Phillips had tried to escape over the side on Saturday, taking advantage of darkness. At that time, pirates captured him again and threatened to kill him.
United States remained almost 5 days pending the release of the master. His ship arrived in the early hours of Saturday at the port of Mombasa in Kenya, where it initially went with a shipment of food to the UN. “We’re saved! Is a hero,” said the second board, Ken Quinn, upon reaching land. The crew then reported the abduction in detail. The pirates attacked the boat so unusual. Their number, four people, was small compared with other similar operations, which some Americans have ventured that it could be because it was an impromptu action, and that probably did not know that the pirates were raiding a ship with American flag.
When they reached the deck, the ship’s engineer, A. T. M. Reza, succeeded in capturing its leader. In a tense exchange, the captain decided to offer Philips hostage. Thus, he returned to the boat when the leader of the pirates were released. The attackers failed to meet its side of the bargain.
Two centuries without pirates
In almost two centuries, the U.S. has not experienced such a crisis. The recent acts of piracy over the country are reminiscent of the Berber Wars, when faced blackmail and kidnapping by pirates of North Africa in the early nineteenth century. However, the problem of piracy was added the bad memory that prevails in Washington of the bloody defeat lived in Somalia in the 90s.
In 1993 U.S. troops who were on a humanitarian mission in Somalia in Mogadishu fought against the militia of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. They managed to shoot down two Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 U.S. soldiers.
The president Bill Clinton ordered a complete withdrawal from the area and his administration began an isolationist phase, in which he avoided intervening in armed conflicts in the Third World.
That situation changed last week when the United States affected piracy. Republican Senator Tom Coburn told Fox News that could not offer any concession to the pirates and that the management of this problem was going to have to act “in a much more aggressive.” This was the formula that led to release Phillips and perhaps become a more common practice for dealing with piracy.
France rescued a yacht hijacked by pirates
French forces on Saturday attacked the pirates who hijacked last week a private yacht in an operation in which one of the hostages died. The French Government has informed that the military killed two pirates and captured three others.
Le Tanit the boat with two couples on board and a child of three years, was captured by pirates on April 4, about 640 kilometers from the Somali coast, as he was traveling to Zanzibar. Elysium’s office said in a statement that the child is safe, but has offered no details on which of the hostages died.
The note adds that the Navy French contact with the pirates on Thursday and a decision was made to conduct the rescue operation after the pirates rejected the terms of the French Government and try to bring the yacht to the coast.
The press release concludes that the president, Nicolas Sarkozy, “reaffirms the determination of France not to give in to blackmail and to thwart piracy.”
A tugboat kidnapped Italian
Meanwhile, an Italian flag and tug with 16 people aboard was hijacked by pirates on Saturday in the Gulf of Aden. The Buccaneer, owned by a U.S. company, launched an emergency call was taken aboard the warship Portuguese Corte-Real, which is involved in the security device deployed by NATO in the area that was too far to assist the vessel attacked.
The kidnapping was confirmed by Andrew Muangura, coordinator of the Program of Assistance to Africa’s Eastern Navigators. At the time of the attack, the Buccaneer was towing two boats, which have not been informed what cargo. “This incident shows that pirates have become bolder and more violent,” said Muangura.
It was not the only one confirmed attack on Saturday against ships in the Indian Ocean. A Panamanian flagged cargo ship was also assaulted when they transit the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen. The attackers came to throw grenades at the bridge side and fired at the hull of the boat. The attack was repelled by water jets at high pressure released from the interior of the vessel, according to officials aboard the Corte-Real.
Friday night was released on Norwegian ship Bow Asir, 23,000 tons, after payment of a ransom from its owners. Some sources say the shipping company paid $ 2.4 million for the release of the vessel, hijacked in late March with 27 crew on board.
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