Insurance companies have signaled their intention to form a private navy to tackle rising levels of piracy around the Horn of Africa.
Hijacked vessels are costing the industry up to US$157 million in ransoms a year. The success of the piracy has let to increasingly aggressive and well-armed and equipped groups seeking further prey from bases in failed states like Somalia.
The UK’s Independent newspaper reported that Nato documents indicated that both ransoms and the duraction of hijackings had doubled in the last 12 months, to an average of US$4 million and 117 days.
16 ships and and 354 seamen are currently held hostage.
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT), which insures 14 per cent of the world’s commercial shipping fleet, told the Independent that the world’s first private navy would work under the direct control of the military with clear rules of engagement valid under international law. A senior partner with the firm told The Independent that the navy would consist of armed personnel with fast boats escorting ships and “make it very clear to any Somali vessels in the vicinity that they are entering a protected area.”
The Maldives has previously repatriated latest castaways (six Somalians) who were rescued on May 16 are currently being kept in Dhoonidhoo custodial,” Muhusin said. ”They were brought there after they were discharged from hospital.”
Somali nationals have been rescued in Maldivian waters on several occasions, after being found adrift in small dinghys.
The country recently repatriated 25 castaways included seven people who were saved on December 1 last year, five people rescued on December 5, seven people saved on May 12 this year and six men more recently discovered in a dinghy near Makunudhoo, one of whom was found in the boat locker and believed dead but later stirred and recovered.
Makunudhoo islanders who rescued the men said it appeared they had been drifting in the tiny 12-15 foot vessel for three months without food or water.
There was public speculation as to whether the men were lost pirates, however this was not proven by police who noted that many of the castaways carried no passport or identity cards, or any document clarifying who they were and where they were from.
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