Somalian pirates continue attacks

Despite some successes, a top Navy official told House lawmakers on Thursday that an international effort to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia has not significantly reduced the number of attacks.

In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, Vice Adm. William Gortney said the future success of clamping down on piracy in the area is closely related to how quickly Somalia can erect a government that can provide security and stability.

{mosads}“Ultimately, the solution to the problem of piracy is ashore — in Somalia,” he said. Gortney is in charge of an international coalition combating piracy in the region.

Rep. John McHugh (N.Y.), the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, expressed concern that the piracy spike could be fueled in part by radical Islamist factions seeking to expand their control over Somalia.

But Gortney stressed that the Navy had ruled out any connection between the pirates and Islamic extremist and other terrorism groups. Rather, the attacks are being carried out largely by a new clan of Somali pirates who emerged last August and are mostly from extremely poor backgrounds. For most of them, piracy is a means of feeding their families, he said.

Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), the chairman of the Armed Services panel, called the explosion of piracy in the Gulf of Aden “disturbing.”

“I fear that the situation on the ground in Somalia will be repeated in other failed states and in states with vast areas of ungoverned territory within their borders,” Skelton said at the hearing.

Skelton stressed that the current international arrangements coordinated by the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility over the region, should be made more formal and more institutionalized.

“We need an international counter-piracy league under the auspices of the United Nations,” Skelton said. “What is clear to me is that the United States must remain a leader in these efforts, but at the same time […] the collective weight of the international community must be felt in this regard.”

Gortney — who is the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command as well as the head of the 5th Fleet Command and the Combined Forces Maritime Component Command — in early January helped establish the so-called Combined Task Force 151 based on several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The efforts of the task force “are critical to the tactical coordination and de-confliction efforts with all of the international naval forces operating in the Gulf of Aden. We have incredible examples of international cooperation,” Gortney said.

The force encountered approximately 250 pirates, he said. Out of those, 130 were disarmed and released, 110 were disarmed and turned over for prosecution and seven are awaiting final disposition.

In prepared testimony, Gortney said that piracy affects less than 1 percent of shipping.

“While this is statistically small, even one attack is too many, and threatens confidence in the safety and reliability of international sea lanes,” he said.

Gortney said that the total cost of the task force’s counter-piracy operation from its establishment in January through the middle of February is estimated at $1.5 million.

Gortney’s testimony to the House panel came hours after the U.S. Navy handed over seven piracy suspects to Kenyan authorities. The handover is the first since Kenya and the United States reached an agreement to move piracy suspects caught off Africa’s east coast to Kenya for prosecution.

The suspected pirates had been held by the United States since Feb. 11, when they were captured off the coast of Somalia after attempting to take over a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker.

So far, no American-flagged ship has been attacked by pirates in that region