The ensuing firefight was the Royal Navy’s first on the high seas in living memory. Two Somali pirates were killed as well as a Yemeni man (Photo: Times Online)Somali Pirates Made A Big Mistake In Hijacking
The Faina -- Times Online
The Faina -- Times Online
Pirates have ruled Somalia’s waves for much of the past 15 years. Unmolested by any sort of functioning government on land or navy at sea, they have been free to pick off freighters from one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
But that has begun to change in the past couple of months.
The pirates’ big mistake was to hijack the Faina, a Ukrainian vessel crammed with Russian-made tanks, armaments and ammunition.
Before that, the world had been content to leave Somalia languishing in anarchy, at the mercy of warlords, insurgents and gangsters. Everyone knows where the pirate lairs are — places such as Hobiyo and Eyl in the northern region of Puntland — and the GPS co-ordinates of their booty.
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My Comment: I will have to say no. They know that the naval fleet off their coast cannot stay there forever. They also know that almost all of these countries have no appetite to militarily confront the pirates, and are there for show.