SOMALI pirates in the Gulf of Aden were comprehensively defeated by the 27 countries of the Combined Maritime Forces of which Saudi Arabia has been an important member. But now the scourge appears to be returning and firm action is once again called for. The first seajacking in five years took place last month when a Sri Lankan tanker was seized and is still being held off Somalia's north-east coast near the town of Eyl which was the center of past pirate operations. The irony was that this vessel was actually bringing fuel to Mogadishu. But the idea that they may be actively depriving their own countrymen clearly does not enter into the heads of these Somali pirates. The outcome of the second attack was however altogether more encouraging for the forces of law and order and hopefully altogether discouraging for the criminals. A timber-laden vessel was seized 75 miles of the coast of Yemen. The crew however had barricaded themselves into the safe quarters now provided on many vessels. On some of these security systems, it is also possible to disable the steering and engine controls. It is unclear if this Tuvalu-registered timber vessel had such technology. But the upshot was that Chinese, Indian and Pakistani naval vessels closed on the ship in response to its distress signal. A Chinese boarding party retook the vessel from which Indian sources said the seajackers had already fled. First of all congratulations should be given to the Chinese, Indian and Pakistani crews who took part in this operation, coordinated by US and EU control rooms. At a time when political relations between India and Pakistan are back in the freezer and when the Chinese navy is increasingly challenging the US Pacific fleet for hegemony in the China Sea, it is good to see that in the face of a common enemy, all these nations can pull together so successfully. The pirates may be drawing lessons from this debacle. They managed to seize the tanker because after five years of patrols, it seems that the Combined Maritime Forces may have let their guard slip. There is no getting away from the fact that this was a bad lapse but after 60 months spent guarding hundreds of square kilometers of ocean, it is at least explicable. The important point is that the minute the pirates stuck again, they were dealt with swiftly and efficiently. While it must be hoped that the seajacking resurgence has been nipped in the bud, it remains important to keep a watch on the pirates and their motives. The interdiction of bank transfers of millions of dollars of hostage money did not stop this evil crime. The pirates merely insisted that the cash was dropped to them by light aircraft. The town of Eyl and its surrounding region became extremely prosperous. But the fishermen had and claim they still have a legitimate grievance. They say their traditional fishing grounds have long been plundered by international deep-sea trawlers. Given the Combined Maritime Forces' monitoring and patrol resources, there is surely virtue in extending the mandate to stopping such illegal fishing, if indeed it is taking place. At the very least it would rob the Somali pirates of one excuse for their amoral behavior.
