Oldy but a goody!

French Military Police Mobilized After Somalia Hijacking
By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
07 April 2008

France has mobilized members of an elite military police force in response to the hijacking of a French yacht last week by Somali pirates. As Derek Kilner reports from Nairobi, the troops have been sent to Djibouti as negotiations with the hijackers proceed.

Members of France's GIGN, a military police counter-terrorism unit, have been sent to Djibouti, which neighbors Somalia to the North and hosts nearly 3,000 French soldiers.

The French luxury yacht "Ponant" was hijacked by Somali pirates on Friday as it passed through the Gulf of Aden en route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean Sea. The yacht was carrying 30 crew members, the majority French citizens, but no other passengers.

The yacht had been sighted off the coast of Puntland, a relatively stable semi-autonomous region in Somalia's north. But Puntland officials say the hijackers have moved into southern Somalia.

Puntland's minister of information Abdirahman Bangah says his government lacks the capacity to go after such pirates and has not been involved in the French response.

"We did not communicate with anyone in France," he said. "Those people [hijackers], they do not call us, they call straight to the owners. And we do not have an ability to catch those people. We do not have much capacity to run after the coastal areas. They are not in our hands. We do not have coastal guards."

In addition to mobilizing the military police unit, France has diverted a naval ship to monitor the hijackers, and has sent at least one patrol by aircraft based in Djibouti.

French officials have said the crew has not been harmed and that their safety is the top priority in the French response. On Sunday, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner kept open the possibility of paying ransom to the hijackers.

Piracy has been a regular and growing problem off Somalia's coast. Somalia has been without a central government since 1991, and since January 2007 has been embroiled in a deepening conflict between an Ethiopian-backed transitional government and Islamist-led insurgents.

National Geographic had a piece on this recently and they were saying a strait between Indonesia and Malaysia was a hot spot.

The special I saw mentioned an incident where the pirates only wanted to get practice steering the ship.

They went on to say that a LNG vessel would make a serious port killer of a bomb.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I thought we were sending over a boat-load of grain every other day to feed them....

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

This item should be standard equipment on any ship that size that sails near Somalia:

__________________
Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

This area is known as the Malacca Strait. It's a pretty scary place to be if your in a boat. Check out the book "Dangerous Waters", by John S. Burnett.

Other hot spots aside from the Caribbean are the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea by the Philippene Islands.

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

The French Navy and French Anti-Terrorist units are in the area, I've commented before that the French don't take crap from Terrorists, Hijackers or anything else that interferes with business. We make fun of the French Military but French SF is not a group to mess with unless you want a FAMAS rammed up your butt.

Prediction:

If Somali pirates don't lay low they'll be laying at the bottom of the ocean.

You can't negotiate with them, I suspect thats just a tactic to get them to screw up.


They must know where the boat is, I find it hard to beleive it could escape a satilite.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Hopefully the pirates will be at the bottom, not the boat
I would hate for a nice yacht like that to be sent to Davey Jone's (locker, not the Monkee)

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

Trip the EPRIB and leave it somewhere un-noticed on the yacht. All other measures are taken according to the size and capabilities of the vessel(s) and situation.

You da pirate, MTU ...

The show I saw said most of the cruise ship companies and commercial too, I think, were reluctant to arm up big time cuz they were afraid the pirates would just amp up their force as well and they would end up losing more in the long run.

Who knows.

__________________
1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

I'm not a pirate... but I get my booty all the same. The ocean is my mistress, and always will be. The wife is jealous of her- too bad. The ocean is jealous of my wife.

Cruise ships are run by gay tourist wimp accountant types.