Void, Evade, Avoid - East Africa Piracy Overview & Information Sharing
Featured in the latest edition of the VIOAS magazine (The Voice of the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea) established by Sir James R. Mancham, Chairman of Mahe Publications Ltd (Seychelles), which has joined the list of key magazines and is now available on Etihad Airways flights, OCEANUSLive provides an overview of piracy off the Horn of Africa.
The growth of the piracy off the Horn of Africa saw a rapid increase in the hijacking of commercial shipping come to the wider public purview in 2008. Like all such criminal activity, they can only expand so far before policing action takes place.
The menace of piracy reached significant levels in 2010 and 2011. The pirates’ success saw 47 hijacks and 218 attacks in 2010; 28 hijacks with 237 attacks in 2011. The estimated cost to the shipping industry hit $7 billion, however, most tellingly and sadly, over 1000 seafarers were held hostage in both years, and some for more than two years! The amount of money paid in ransoms was a significant burden on shipping and insurance, and ultimately, the consumer.
Firsts
In the void of actions against Somali piracy, a succession of ‘firsts’ in response to the alarming increase in piracy saw the European Union set up its very first maritime operation; NATO and CMF initiating dedicated task forces specifically for counter piracy. Independent navies – Russia, China, India, and Malaysia – followed. Importantly, regional States and the shipping industry itself became engaged as the trade, tourism and economic stability became threatened from pirate tactics and their deadly reach spread across the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, spawning an area of operations over some 2.8 million square miles. International naval forces were overstretched to cover such a vast area.
This is where regional States, in particular Djibouti, Seychelles and Kenya became key partners in aiding counter piracy forces to increase operational capability in the region through basing, logistics and resources support.
Legal
With agreements, or Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), in place, the UNODC supported judicial process for piracy prosecution gained regional support, however, the result was prison-overstretch as non-regional States were reluctant to prosecute suspect pirates captured by their naval forces.
The long-standing disparity of international law relating to piracy at sea seems founded on Somali piracy viewed as a regional problem requiring regional responses and solutions. The shipping industry, as a whole, determined that the combined naval presence could not provide the full level of protection deemed necessary to safeguard interests and seafarers, and came together to produce guidelines for self-protection measures, or Best Management Practices (BMP). Ship ‘hardening’ has largely become a day-to-day feature on merchant vessels through the High Risk Areas (HRA) and the EU/CMF-initiated, military-patrolled International Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) through the Gulf of Aden.
Security
Another piece in the jigsaw of coordinated anti-piracy is private maritime security. Within the last 18-months private maritime security companies (PMSC) have moved from an underground success story to a near-accepted necessity. Although demonised by many as likely to encourage an arms race and increased violence by pirates, this has not materialised. The fact no ship has been taken when an armed security team is embarked has encouraged a shift to PMSC, but also a schism between military and merchant shipping.
Rules
Naval forces are governed by national and military organisation Rules of Engagement (RoE) when combating pirates, PMSC, however, are largely self-regulated and adopt Rules for the use of Force (RUF) garnered through a mix of experiences and security sector associations such as SAMI, IAMSP and the newly-endorsed GUARDCON (via BIMCO). Like the legal framework for piracy prosecution, PMSC are not endorsed by military or maritime organisations, leaving them in a grey legal area, despite the move towards ISO codification.
Whilst the marine insurance sector has been an early adopter of PMSC, the prospect of private convoy escort programmes are gaining more credence, despite the huge sums envisaged to run such operations. Evading pirates is one aspect; full private-public integration remains elusive.
Information
Counter piracy cooperation between military forces, other international navies and merchant shipping saw MSCHOA created for vessel movement registration for shipping travelling through the IRTC, plus guidelines and incident alerts. The need for coordination of military assets was identified and addressed through the creation of the unprecedented web-based collaboration platform ‘Mercury’. An enduring success in counter piracy operations along with BMP, the level of information exchange has grown to become one of the successes behind combating piracy. Yet, shipping, PMSCs, maritime organisations and military authorities have not reached a position where the 3 C’s – cooperation, collaboration and coordination – as called for in the IMO 2011 campaign, “Piracy; Orchestrating the Response,” to enable the enhancement of maritime security and situational awareness.
Undoubtedly, an important aspect for shipping is to evade pirates. To do so requires early warning, or situational awareness of the maritime domain. This is part of the concept of OCEANUSLive, initiated in late 2010. As creators of two enduring information sharing platforms (MSCHOA and Mercury) whilst serving as naval officer in the EUNAVFOR Operation Headquarters, OCEANUSLive is a ‘system of engagement’ which leverages collaborative technology enabling information exchange across organisational, enterprise, national and military boundaries. Co-founders, Glen Forbes and Ryan Wallace formed a company to deliver the OCEANUSLive service. Now retired from the Royal Navy, Forbes runs the web-based secure platform with a small team of researchers and Watchkeepers (based in UK, Greece and Sweden), meanwhile, Wallace, still serving, acts as a non-executive technical advisor.
Providing a common communication platform that transcends the silos of regional information sharing centres and military intelligence-based networks, OCEANUSLive enhances maritime situational awareness covering all HRAs, and importantly, can be effectively used within ship citadels for immediate two-way data communication to multiple authorities in a single, yet simple interface.
Pirate attacks are expected to be at a lower level off Somalia, and may provide a reason to withdraw naval forces, evading pirates may become more dependent upon the private and regional actors. The same cannot be said for West Africa and Southeast Asia which continues to see a steady level of attacks. The need for an effective and common communications network allowing data exchange between all becomes more imperative.
Originally submitted November 2012.
It is now confirmed that Mahe Publications Ltd. and Etihad Airways have agreed for the VIOAS magazine to be made available as an in-flight magazine in the business class cabin of Etihad Airways flights from Seychelles.
V.I.O.A.S.( Voice of the Indian Ocean and the Arab Sea) is a magazine established in August 2010 aimed at covering and analyzing events of interest within the Indian Ocean region. Much of it's concentration is substantianted on international relations within the region and relevant up to date information on pertinent issues that have an impact within our region. Our focus is not mutually exclusive to foreign affairs, infact other areas of interest including that of the social and sporting variety are covered as well. The Magazine is produced on a bi-monthly basis.
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Submitted by Team@oceanuslive.org