Pirates target Iraq

2006-01-31 10:49

Kuala Lumpur - High-seas pirate attacks fell last year amid enhanced vigilance but Iraq emerged for the first time as a new piracy hotspot with the waters off Indonesia remaining the most dangerous in the world, an international watchdog reported.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said the total number of piracy attacks worldwide dropped to 276 last year, from 329 in 2004, the lowest number reported to its Piracy Reporting Centre since 1999.

Indonesian waters, with almost 30% of the world's attacks, were the most treacherous despite a drop in attacks to 79, from 94 the year before.

Attacks in the notorious Strait of Malacca also fell significantly to 12, from 38 in 2004, prompting the IMB to credit governments for increased patrols aimed at curbing piracy.

Increased vigilance

Attacks also fell in waters off Malaysia, Thailand, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Haiti, Nigeria and Guinea, it said.

"The IMB attributes the welcome drop in attacks to increased awareness and anti-piracy watches by shipmasters in risk prone areas, coupled with an increase in law enforcement patrols and increased pressure on certain governments to act," it said in a report released in London late on Monday.

The IMB noted a surge in activity in some piracy-prone regions, especially Tanzania, Vietnam and lawless Somalia, where heavily-armed pirates operated from far out to sea.

Iraq stood out "as a new world piracy hotspot," with 10 attacks in 2005 after none the year before.

"Opportunists whose main motivation is robbery and financial gain, and who use extreme violence towards crews in most cases perpetrate these attacks," the IMB report said.

Most of Iraq's attacks were on vessels anchored near the Basrah oil terminal and Umm Qasr off the country's southeastern coast, it said.

Anarchy in Somalia spilled into its waters last year, with 35 attacks, compared to just two the year before, making it the second most dangerous place in the world and the most dangerous in Africa, the IMB said.

Pirates armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenades worked off "mother ships" raiding vessels far out to sea and kidnapping crews for ransom.

"With no central government and no national law enforcement infrastructure in the country, there is no local assistance available to the captured ships," the IMB said, adding a warning to ships to remain at least 200 nautical miles from the Somali coast.

The IMB's report said 440 seafarers were taken hostage in 2005 in Somalia, Indonesia and Nigeria, the highest number recorded since 1992 when the Piracy Rpeorting Centre was set up in Kuala Lumpur.

The report said 23 vessels were hijacked last year, the highest number since 2002, and although no crew members were killed, compared to 30 in 2004, 12 were still missing.

Other piracy-prone areas included the waters off Bangladesh, India and the Singapore Straits in Southeast Asia and South Asia, and the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana in Africa.

Ships had also been warned about the waters off Jamaica, Haiti and Peru, said the report.

- AFP