The dramatic rescue of the Maersk Alabama’s captain Richard Phillips brought relief that his hostage crisis was resolved, but the dangers of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean continue. Somali pirates have not been slowed by the Maersk Alabama incident, continuing to regularly hijack ships to make money by ransoming the ship, crew and/or cargo.
On Tuesday, the Liberty Sun, flying an American flag and on its way to delivering food aid to Kenya for the World Food Programme (WFP), escaped an attack by Somali pirates.
The two recent attacks on U.S. ships were cited by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when announcing a stepped up commitment by the U.S. to combat piracy. The World Food Programme explained on its website that piracy cannot deter its mission of providing aid in vulnerable East African countries:
“If food assistance cannot arrive through Mombasa for Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, southern Sudan and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, millions of people will go hungry and the already high malnutrition rates will rise.”
The Sea Horse, a Lebanese ship that was also carrying food for WFP, was hijacked on its way to delivering food aid to Somalia. WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said, “WFP is also extremely concerned that people in Somalia will go hungry unless the Sea Horse is quickly released or a replacement ship can be found.”
While the French navy succeeded in detaining a pirate “mother ship” on Wednesday, the pirates’ large area of operation is so far making it difficult to secure all transport routes in the area.
