Somalia Pirates Strike Again... and Again

The piracy problems off the coast of Somalia and Yemen continue, with two more ships hijacked on Wednesday.

Two cargo ships have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia, a Kenyan maritime official said Thursday.

"The ill-fated vessels under captivity are MV Lehmann and MV Arean," said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan Seafarers Association.

The ships were taken Wednesday in roughly the same area where the Dutch-owned MV Amiya Scan was hijacked Sunday, he said. Mwangura did not know who owned the ships and had no more details on the hijackings.

The map above is from the ICC, who tracks piracy incidents worldwide. Yellow represents attacks and red represents a successful hijacking. Canadian naval forces have moved into that region over the last week and will be assuming command of CTF-150 in those waters in June. Interesting timing, because that may be around the same time the UN finally passes a resolution regarding rules for responding to piracy.

We think it is very likely that Canada will be leading any UN approved worldwide Naval Coalition against African Piracy in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea before the end of the summer. The scenario that has unfolded here aligns very well with the role Prime Minister Stephen Harper has talked about in regards to Canada's foreign policy strategy, and I doubt his opposition even saw it coming. Just goes to show, coalition military approaches makes for interesting scenarios. Considering how much oil Canada sells to China, maybe they can get the PLAN to contribute a ship. You never know...