Pirates seize vessel off Somalia

[BunkerHill24]

BBC Sunday, 22 February 2009

Pirates in the Gulf of Aden have seized a Greek-owned cargo ship.

The BBC's Jonah Fisher, on board a UK warship 100km (60 miles) away, said the captain of the MV Saldanha radioed that pirates had boarded his ship.

The Saldanha is now heading to Somalia under pirate command after the UK navy's HMS Northumberland judged it was beyond its remit to pursue the ship.

The warship is part of an EU task force patrolling the waters off the unstable Horn of Africa to deter pirate attacks.

But when the captain of the Saldanha made contact with HMS Northumberland, he told the ship that pirates had warned the British warship to stay away.

Trying to retake captured ships is not what the EU's anti-piracy task force does, our correspondent reports from on board the UK vessel.

After sending a helicopter up to take a closer look, the frustrated commander of HMS Northumberland had to accept there was nothing more his men could do.

more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7904273.stm

[Idealism]

1. Color me confused

"Trying to retake captured ships is not what the EU's anti-piracy task force does, our correspondent reports from on board the UK vessel."

If retaking captured ships isn't what the EU is trying to do with the fleet of warships they have off the Horn of Africa, and as this is like the 50th vessel captured in the last 6 months, I would say that preventing ships from being captured isn't too high on their list either- it begs the question: What the fuck do the EU warships actually accomplish?