Whilst interested parties pore over the 72 page report from a UK Parliamentary Committee which calls for clear and unambiguous guidelines for shipmasters on the use of armed force against pirates we have reports coming in of another cargo vessel hijacked, this time close to the Omani coast off Salalah, close to the Yemeni border.
At this time there is no official confirmation as the vessel reportedly seized is believed to be a small 'launch' loaded with local cargo for Oman and smaller vessels tend to travel, quite literally, under the radar of security forces but sailors in the vicinity are being asked to report any small craft such as dhows which appear suspicious to the Salalah Port Authority via port control at salalahportcontrol@salalahport.com or call 00968 (Oman) 23219052, GSM 96109771, 23280040 Wireless, with as many details as possible such as position, type, colour, name, any armed personnel onboard and any supporting information.
The Parliamentary report requires ministers to provide precise guidelines as to a 'shoot to kill' policy on British vessels travelling with armed guards. David Cameron gave his blessing to the presence of security personnel on UK ships but neglected to spell out details of how a vessels master should act if under threat. The all party committee's view is that the threat to pirates who undertake these criminal acts was currently too low to outweigh the lucrative rewards.
The report makes special mention of the points we raised with Rear Admiral Ort, Chief of Staff at NATO HQ Northwood in an interview last September that is 90% of pirates captured by international security forces in the area are released without charge. It requests ministers to confirm that an armed guard aboard a British ship is entitled to open fire when attacked by an armed skiff even before they themselves come under fire. |
