During this year a ship carrying a World Food Programme load of supplies into the chaos of Somalia was taken by the pirates. Her crew was held hostage for over 14 weeks. A rescue vessel sent to provide supplies to the kidnapped ship was also taken.

" Andrew Linnington, of Numast, said. 'We are now seeing ships stolen to order. Pirates will board a ship, cast the crew adrift, or sometimes kill them, before installing their own crew and sailing the vessel to a port where it is re-registered and renamed.

'Ships are very prone to attack. They are slow moving and cargo ships are low in the water, making it easy for pirates to climb on board...'"

The above quotes are from The Times of London

Further the political situation is so deteriorated in relation to the needs of maritime traffic that,

"With the breakdown of civil society, Somalia has degenerated into a no-man's land subject to clan or Islamic Shari'ah law. Owing to continuing unrest in the south, a central government is unlikely to evolve soon. In its place, a decentralized federation of regional political entities has emerged, including the self-proclaimed but unrecognized Republic of Somaliland in the northwest, the self-proclaimed Puntland State in the northeast, Jubaland in the south near Kismayo, and a future Banadir regional administration around Mogadishu when warlords Hussein Aideed (son of late General Farah Aideed) and Ali Mahdi settle their differences. Years of internal conflict have damaged infrastructure in the fishery sector and rendered ineffective any previous oil spill response capability, aids to navigation, and search and rescue capacity in a region of high tanker/cargo traffic to and from the Suez Canal through the Gulf of Aden and calling at Mombasa, the East African shipping hub. ..."

The list of vessels that have been subjected to illegal actions is long and fascinating albeit frightening. These ships are noted among others:

January, 1988: 2 ships, Bulgarian and a Syrian were captured. The crews were returned on payment of $110,000.

April, 1998: 2 Frenchman were finally released to the international community for $50,000

December, 1998: Four Ukrainian tourists from a yacht were captured. The returned to their home after a month without possessions or the yacht.

April, 1999 : A commercial ferry with a crew of 21 was abducted when it had mechanical problems. A ransom of $6.5 million was demanded; reduced to $15000 for the hostages. The ship was later abandoned and found drifting off the coast of Mombasa.

March, 1999: 2 fishing vessels from Taiwan and Ukraine taken with 50 people.

Also noted was the MV Ming Bright which was shelled hitting its superstructure and some containers but the crew escaped before they could be boarded.

And this is only an abbreviated list. See a full story at Somali Pirate Attacks.