Pirates Pose Deadly Threat in Gulf of Guinea

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Pirates pose deadly threat in Gulf of Guinea

02 Dec 2009 12:33:12 GMT

Source: Reuters

* West African pirate gangs targeting cargoes

* More likely to use extreme violence

* Shore based response sought

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Ships passing through the Gulf of Guinea are at greater peril than off Somalia because West African pirates are ready to use deadly force to snatch oil cargoes and have little interest in holding crews for ransom.

While the number of attacks carried out by Somali gangs off the east coast of Africa is bigger and has dominated headlines, West African waters are also a high risk area as countries in the region develop more oil fields and surveillance by authorities is weak.

"The level of violence used in the Gulf of Guinea is extreme and there have been a number of deaths and violent attacks on crews," Peter Hinchliffe, marine director with the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), said.

"This is beyond words -- it's a totally unacceptable situation," said Hinchliffe, whose association represents 75 percent of the global shipping industry.

The Gulf of Guinea, which stretches from Liberia in the north to Angola in the south and where nations produce 5 million barrels of oil per day, has attracted armed gangs, pirates and organised criminals.

Last week pirates attacked an oil tanker off Benin, killing a Ukrainian sailor and stealing the contents of the ship's safe.

Unlike their Somali counterparts, seaborne gangs in West Africa aim to seize cargoes rather than take hostages for ransom.

Analysts said they are much better trained, have more firepower and are able to snatch oil tankers and sail them to one of the many ports along the coast which lack sufficient security or where officials can be bribed. The stolen oil can then sold into the local market.

"It's a different dynamic in West Africa. The real object is the commercial goods -- critically oil," J. Peter Pham, an African security advisor to U.S. and European governments and private companies, said.

"There is no compelling logic to keep a crew alive when what you are really after is the contents of a tanker."

The head of Britain's Royal Navy, Admiral Mark Stanhope, whose ships have been deployed off the coast of Somalia, said piracy in the West Africa was "something we can't ignore".

"It's a concern," he told reporters in London last week.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said there had been 23 attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in the year to end November compared with 39 in the same period last year, and incidents went unreported partly due to fear of reprisals.

IMB manager Cyrus Mody said there had been at least twice as many incidents in 2009, mainly around Nigeria.

"There are definitely incidents taking place which are not reported to us or to the local agencies," he said. "The risk is just as great as it is along the east coast of Africa."

ONSHORE SOLUTION

Pham, also a professor at James Madison University in Virginia, said some oil companies chose not advertise their vulnerability to pirates by reporting attacks.

The ICS's Hinchliffe called on the Nigerian government to control the issue from the "shore side".

Military spokesman Colonel Mohammed Yerima said for now Nigeria did not have troops in the Gulf of Guinea.

"The government decides whether or not to deploy troops and we obey those orders," he said. "The Nigerian army has the capability to defend the country's territorial waters."

Earlier this year Cameroon's defence minister, Rene Ze Meka, said his country together with Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe would launch joint sea operations to combat crime along the coastline.

A senior Cameroon military official said the country had deployed an Israeli-trained elite battalion in its maritime zone in the Gulf of Guinea.

"It is thanks to this base that we quickly repelled an attack off the Bakassi peninsula very recently, without recording any losses," the official told Reuters.

Analysts say that as countries in the region such as Ghana develop their oil fields, the problem is likely to spread, given weak cooperation between countries and the broken up geography of the waterways.

"Because Somali piracy is seen to be a successful business model, I think we are going to see a proliferation of that kind of attack in regions where law and order is not adequately imposed by the national government," the ICS's Hinchliffe said.

(Additional reporting by Austin Ekeinde in Port Harcourt and Tansa Musa in Yaounde; Editing by Giles Elgood)