Sea thieves

SOMALIA: In literature and film, we get a romanticized version of pirates, including Blackbeard and Captain Jack Sparrow. Pirates haven’t disappeared along with three-masted sailing ships, however. Because today's thieves at sea use high-tech methods, they are a growing threat to international shipping.

On 15 November, the largest ship-hijacking ever took place, as pirates seized a Saudi supertanker off the coast of Somalia. The ship was carrying $100 million in oil. In recent weeks, a Hong Kong grain ship and a Ukrainian ship carrying military equipment have been hijacked, and crew members held hostage.

Pirates use speedboats and satellite phones to coordinate attacks, often operating from a mother ship. Warships from the US, as well as from European and Asian nations, have not been able to stop pirate attacks.

"Negotiators have no other option but to respond to the pirates," says a Middle East expert.

Ship owners often see few alternatives to paying the ransom demanded to free their crews and vessels. This is true in the most recent hijacking as well. “Due to Somalia’s status as a failed state and the anarchic nature of politics in the country, the negotiators have no other option but to respond to the pirates,” Samuel Ciszuk, a Middle-East energy analyst at Global Insight consulting service told Reuters. “There is no government which can intervene.”

• International Maritme Organization Report on Piracy