Somali pirates may start using machine guns

Somali pirates may start using machine guns

The European Union's war against Somali pirates may be set to escalate. This was the prediction of Lieutenant Col. Andy Price, on assignment from the Royal Navy and currently executive officer with EU NAVFOR, the European Union's anti-piracy force.

Broadsides, he told a conference in Brussels, will be the result of a dangerous escalation in firepower. The rocket-propelled grenade has until now been the weapon of choice for the many Somalis, who try their luck against commercial vessels.

Pirates have shown the ability to adapt in the past. When EU NAVFOR began blockading Somali ports in an attempt to prevent them from taking to sea, they simply brought hostages out with them - knowing that most navies will not attempt to retake a ship when lives are at risk. Pirates will adapt once again, Lt Col Price predicted, and when they come back next time their munitions will be larger. "Machine guns will be welded to the decks," the officer said. "We will be back to broadsides. They will be firing until you surrender."

Increasing violence is in part due to the fact that European navies participating in EU NAVFOR are held back by cautious rules of engagement. Neither is the size of the EU NAVFOR force considered large enough. Even when the EU's seven ships are added to the NATO force, the US-led Combined Task Force 151 and other navies operating in the region - India, China and Russia are all present - there are only around 20 ships covering an area of sea larger than mainland Europe.

The EU NAVFOR policy is to somehow hold the line while the root cause of the problem - lawlessness in Somalia - is resolved. Given the bloody struggle for control of the capital Mogadishu, a quick resolution is unlikely. An industry representative said that this wait-and-see attitude was not good enough. Over the last four years, 62 seafarers have died as the direct result of piracy - according to the Save Our Seafarers campaign. Over 3,500 have been held hostage, many tortured.

There was a good chance that seafaring unions would ban their members from working on ships transiting the region, the conference heard. There would be a knock-on effect on European imports as vessels from the Far East were obliged to take the longer and more expensive route via the Cape of Good Hope. Piracy has been a low European priority because the victims, the seafarers, are mostly poor Asians. But if prices rise and the violence escalates, priorities could start to change.