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  Terror on the High Seas: Somali Pirates Form Unholy Alliance with Islamists

Terror on the High Seas Somali Pirates Form Unholy Alliance with Islamists

By SPIEGEL Staff

Part 2: Dealing with Pirates Inc.

For more lucrative hauls, the Harardhere pirates like to team up with gangs from other towns, primarily with their associates from Kismayo, 800 kilometers (500 miles) farther south. The Kismayo gang reportedly seized the Sirius Star, for instance. All negotiations were then conducted by the men from Harardhere.

It's a regular "Pirates Inc.," says Cloonan, who describes it as "organized crime" on the high seas. The ship owners and the pirates start out with widely diverging negotiating positions. The gangsters demand $15 million, the shipping company offers $1 million -- and the war of nerves begins.

The pirates often use the ship's satellite telephone to call the crew's relatives and threaten to execute the hostages. "We've had cases where they have threatened people on the phone, where they've certainly fired off guns and told us they've executed somebody."

Sometimes the pirates threaten to ram the ship at full speed against the coast. Or they let the sailors go hungry because food supplies have supposedly run out. Or they simply break off all contact for days. "This is where the shipping companies go crazy," says Cloonan.

Once Cloonan and the pirates have agreed on a sum after weeks or months of negotiations, it's time for the ex-agent to deliver. Initially, he chartered deep-sea tugs in Mombasa to bring the bags of money to the agreed coordinates. When the hijacked ship came into sight, an unarmed man would climb into a rubber dinghy to transfer the ransom money at the side of the vessel. "And then you hope that the pirates do the right thing." These days the bags are often dropped with a parachute from an airplane -- because the pirates even seize the tugboats.

Sometimes Cloonan's team also has to check on board if the crew is complete and in good health before paying for their release. On one occasion, they knew that a seaman on board was seriously ill. Before handing over the cash, they searched for him -- and found his body in the refrigerator of the hijacked ship. He had jumped to his death from the upper deck.

The pirates are not stupid, and they're fairly self-assured, says Cloonan. "They know that it's a successful business model. They know that they can operate in this wide swath of area almost with impunity."

Most groups have established their logistical operations in Garoowe and Gaalkacyo, two towns in the breakaway region of Puntland. This is where many bundles of dollars disappear into the Islamic hawala financial system, which is based on personal contacts.

But in April of last year the pirates were painfully reminded that, despite their excellent organization at sea, they are poorly equipped for fighting on land. They had just seized the French luxury yacht Le Ponant, and were about to make off with the $2 million ransom near the pirate stronghold of Eyl, when suddenly French helicopter gunships came roaring over the plain and elite units opened fire. Six pirates were taken into custody and are currently being held in France -- and at least a small portion of the ransom was recovered by the military.

Afterwards, the pirates asked the Islamists for help. Some pirate gangs now pay al-Shabab units 5 to 10 percent of the ransom in exchange for protection services on land. There's enough to go around for everyone. Last year alone, Somalia's swashbucklers took in $30 to $100 million in ransom money.

Other pirate gangs would rather defend their land bases themselves. Starting last July, al-Shabab militiamen reportedly put a group of pirates through a 45-day series of boot camp exercises near the town of Hobyo. The sea raiders received basic infantry training and practiced tactics and communications on land. Informants working for Jane's Intelligence Review estimate that the pirates paid $1 million for the training package.

The Islamists receive more than just money from the pirates. The pirates also smuggle weapons into the country for them -- and often bring along useful equipment for themselves. During a run last October, for instance, the pirates took in four ZU-23 anti-aircraft guns -- highly effective weapons that, wherever they are, could make life extremely difficult for Western helicopter pilots.

The freighters themselves are practically defenseless against the much better equipped pirates. They can sail full speed ahead or take evasive action, "but every speedboat is faster than we are," says an officer of a German container ship. He adds that the ships of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom have actually created an additional problem. The Americans demand that commercial ships provide information over the radio on their origin, course and destination -- and the pirates hear every word.

An equally compromising situation is created by the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which was introduced in 2004 to prevent collisions by continuously broadcasting detailed information on one's own ship to all other ships in the same waters. Receivers can be purchased on the open market. German suppliers sell them starting at €360 apiece.

Since the beginning of the year, warships have been able to protect vessels that pass through a protected corridor in the Gulf of Aden. But the pirates have immediately reacted to this move. They are increasingly using mother ships to tow their small attack skiffs far out into the Indian Ocean. No navy in the world has enough ships to cover that area.

Nevertheless, last Wednesday Clinton unveiled a four-point plan to stop piracy. All four points concern conducting talks, in other words, only meetings. But she indicated that it may also be possible to "take action" against pirate bases on land.

US Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, who commanded US naval forces in the Middle East until last year, has named two options. One is to "go ashore light," where US Marines would destroy the pirates' boats, fuel and bases. The other option is to "go ashore big" and conduct sustained land operations against the pirates and their clan leaders -- a tactic with incalculable risks, says the vice admiral.

A clever alternative might be what is known as "containment," which has been proposed by the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners. Pirates need ports and they have very few suitable locations in Somalia, mainly Harardhere, Hobyo, Eyl and Boosaaso. A warship stationed off each port could prevent armed boats from sailing. That would be much easier than monitoring an entire ocean.

MATTHIAS GEBAUER, JOHN GOETZ, CLEMENS HÖGES, HORAND KNAUP, MARCEL ROSENBACH, STEFAN SIMONS, ALEXANDER SZANDAR, ANDREAS ULRICH

Translated from the German by Paul Cohen

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