Piracy in Somalia
Pirates in Somalia are the organized modern armed group that conquers the ships with the aim of buyout acting near the shores of Somalia. The base of these pirates is Puentland. They use the light boats as the attacking transport means. They use the submachine gun and grenade launcher to attack ships. They are well organized and have good attacking technique as well as good equipment including the satellite telephones and GPS. The Somalia pirates resist the ships of the 5th fleet of the USA that protects the Eastern coast of Africa as well as the naval forces of other countries.
Since 1991 Somalia stopped existing as the government. The piracy started to develop in this region since 2004 and developed rapidly. The field commanders of these regions sometimes don't pay attention to piracy on purpose or simply also take part in pirates' attacks.
According to the latest data there were more than 100 attacks on the trade ships realised in this region in 2008. During this time pirates managed to capture about forty ships, 13 of them are not free even today. These pirates still have 268 people from different countries of the world. And during the period from 10 and 16 of December there were 11 attacks made in this region with three ships robbed and there was even skirmish.
The main reasons for these pirates activity development was the comfortable Somalia geographical situation in the centre of trade routes. Considering the intensive trade contacts of Asia and Europe ships with precious cargo are good aim.
