A new report from the International Maritime Bureau, a non-profit organization against maritime crime, shows a decline in the Somali ship attacks last year and a rise in the piracy attacks in the Gulf of Guinea.
West African pirate attacks have increased in the past year, leaving behind the Somali attacks, says a latest report from the International Maritime Bureau. In 2012, 966 sailors were attacked off the coast of West Africa, while 851 were attacked on the Somali coast. A 78 percent decline in the piracy off Somalia coast last year was reported compared to 2011.
The document presented by three organizations namely, the International Maritime Bureau, Oceans Beyond Piracy and Maritime Piracy-Humanitarian Response, says that the West African targets are usually the cargoes of refined oil, which brings in quick money by selling in black markets. West African pirates have reportedly been more violent with the use of guns in more than 37 attacks. The report says five hostages were killed in 2012 by the West African pirates.
Along with a decline in the pirate attacks on the Somalia coast, zero fatalities were reported during the attacks. The Somali pirates rely on ransoms from hostages it captures during the attacks. Somali pirates held hostages for a mean period of 11 months, whereas the West African pirates held for an average of four days. Some hostages held by the Somali have been in captivity for more than two years.
"The year 2012 marked the first time since the surge in piracy off the coast of Somalia that the reported number of both ships and seafarers attacked in the Gulf of Guinea surpassed that of the Gulf of Aden and of the Western Indian Ocean," the report said, according to NY Times.
According to the report, the improved conditions on the Somalia coast may be the result of increasing armed guards aboard and better "organized shore-based policing and advances by the new Somali federal government and its supporters."
