Blog home Life on the ocean waves with Somali pirates – and it’s pretty grim

Looking at the bare statistics, it does appear that Nato’s anti-piracy operation has been more successful in the last 12 months, though nobody is pretending the problem is anywhere near solved.

The capture of Somalis in recent months has also helped the Royal Navy and other allies to understand a little more about the motivation, and modus-operandi, of those who take to the sea.

To say there is grudging respect for the criminals is probably an overstatement, but the conditions in which the pirates live, the risks they take, and the philosophy – such as it is – that drives them, has opened a few eyes.

On one recent operation, NATO investigators captured a dhow that had been at sea for two weeks, apparently covering a vast amount of space around the Arabian sea in the search for a ship to hijack.

The boat may have been on this mission for just a fortnight, but it was clear to those who went on board that it had been away from Somalia for much longer, which raised questions about how and where they were managing to replenish their stocks.

Reports back to headquarters painted a grim picture. The stench from the boat could be smelled from 50 yards away. The deck was covered in fuel barrels – 13 of them – and was otherwise covered in grease, dirt and diesel.

The crew didn’t have much to eat; they were feeding themselves on rice, crushed dates and onions, which were crammed into the storage holds.
The holds were also infested with cockroaches.

The pirates were not all young men. One was just 13, another in his 50s. They all shared the same view of what they were doing, telling their captors that they were “warriors”, and in that respect, they were no different to the NATO taskforce.

NATO had taken their boat before they had managed to take someone else’s. So, for them, there was no distinction between them. Pirates one and all, seemed to be their way of thinking.

The lengths that the pirates are prepared to go, and the money they are able to make despite the evident hardships, suggest that NATO will need to renew, and supplement, its work if last year’s successes aren’t just seen as a blip.

With the pirates securing an estimated $130m in ransoms last year, and reports at the weekend saying the UK has sanctioned payments too, the only way to deter them will be to cut off this source of income.

guardian.co.uk