The use of private guards does not mean that military forces are no longer needed
Governments have ceded control of the Indian Ocean to pirates and the smalldeployment of naval forces to the region is like putting a band-aid on agaping wound – so says ICS Chairman Spyros M Polemis.
And in a damning indictment of western governments, Mr Polemis willcontroversially suggest they would be acting differently if the manyseafarers held hostage off the coast of Somalia were “Americans orEuropeans”.
Speaking at next week’s Maritime Cyprus conference in Limassol on Monday(October 3rd) Mr Polemis will tell shipping professionals: “The fundamentalproblem is the lack of navy ships that are committed to protecting shipping- a band aid on a gaping wound, although the navies do an excellent jobunder the circumstances and we commend them for this.”
In a straight-talking speech Mr Polemis is set to tell delegates that “bytheir own admission, the military advise that no ship is completely safe”.He will say: “Sadly, one can only conclude from the current response of manygovernments that those thousands of seafarers that have so far been capturedhave simply had the wrong nationality. If they were all Americans orEuropeans, the governments’ attitude might have been somewhat different. Itis really unacceptable that so many governments seem to feel that thecurrent situation can somehow be tolerated, and that a box has been tickedby making a relatively small number of navy ships available to policeSomalia’s waters and the entire Indian Ocean.”
Apologising for his “depressing” remarks he is set to conclude: “Weappreciate that governments have many competing priorities, but I am afraidthat they still seem to be lacking a coherent strategy to tackle the pirateshead on.”
While acknowledging that adherence to Best Management Practices and the useof private armed guards can both reduce the risks of capture, Mr Polemiswill say that the escalating use of armed guards represents a failure by the
international community to find an effective solution to the situation andwill call for an increase in military force deployed to the Indian Ocean.
“I do wish to stress that, despite acknowledging their use, private armedguards do not represent a long term solution. Rather, their use actuallysignifies a failure on the part of the international community – and thosegovernments with significant military forces – to ensure the security ofmaritime trade on which the whole world depends. Governments don’t like itwhen we say this, but the reality is that they have ceded control of theIndian Ocean to the pirates.
He will continue: “The use of private guards does not mean that militaryforces are no longer needed. Far from it – they are needed more than everand should be greatly increased in number.”
ICS is in close contact with both EUNAVFOR and NATO discussing practicalsolutions to the problems in the Indian Ocean including a possible blockadeof the Somali coast and tackling pirate ‘motherships’. ICS is also indiscussion with Flag States to ensure they take a coherent pan-industry
approach to producing a proper framework for the use of armed guards.
Source: ICS
