History | |
---|---|
Name | Almezaan |
Owner | Shahmir Maritime, St. Vincent and the Grenadines |
Operator | Biyat International, Dubai, UAE |
Port of registry | Panama |
Route | Dubai to Mogadishu |
Launched | 1979 |
Identification | IMO number: 7906710 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage | 2,886 DWT |
Length | 89 m (292 ft 0 in) |
Beam | 13 m (42 ft 8 in) |
Crew | 17 |
MV Almezaan is a general cargo vessel active off the Horn of Africa. [1] Originally built as the Tarcau, she was renamed in November 2001. The name can be translated from Arabic as "the balance" or "the scales" as well as justice and equity. [ citation needed ]
The vessel has been attacked three times by Somali pirates. The first attack and capture was 1 May 2009, when the vessel, said to be taking wheat and used vehicles to Mogadishu, was captured and taken to Harardhere. It was released on 6 May 2009, reportedly without a ransom being paid and after it was confirmed that it had been hired by a local trader. [2]
The second attack was 8 November 2009. The ship was held off Garacad and released on 19 November 2009, after a ransom of $15,000 was paid. [3] The ship was believed to be carrying small arms, ammunition, rockets, and rocket-propelled grenades, [4] [5] as well as armoured vehicles, but this was later denied by the owners.
The ship was again attacked on 20 March 2010, while on its way to Mogadishu. The attack was repelled by a private security guard convoy, and one pirate was killed. [6] Six suspected pirates were captured by Navfor the same day, but released after the master and crew of the Almezaan refused to testify. [7] [8]
Navarra (F85) is the fifth of the six Spanish-built Santa Maria-class frigates of the Spanish Navy, which are based on the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class design. The vessel was constructed by Bazan and launched on 23 October 1992 and commissioned on 27 May 1994. The Santa Maria-class frigates provide anti-submarine and anti-air defence for the Spanish Navy.
HDMS Absalon (F341) and her sister ship Esbern Snare are the two members of the Absalon class. The lead ship of the class is named after Danish archbishop and statesman Absalon and received full operational status in 2007.
HDMS Esbern Snare (F342) is an Absalon-class frigate and is, along with her sister ship, the HDMS Absalon, amongst the largest combat vessels currently commissioned in the Royal Danish Navy.
Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is a component of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). The Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is the primary military component assigned to accomplish the objectives of the mission. The naval components are the multinational Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF-151) which operates under the direction of the United States Fifth Fleet. Both of these organizations have been historically part of United States Central Command. In February 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the United States Africa Command which took over all of the area of operations of CJTF-HOA in October 2008.
The action of 18 March 2006 occurred when two United States naval vessels were attacked by pirates. The U.S. ships were part of Combined Task Force 150.
Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding places and has a long troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. It was initially a threat to international fishing vessels during the early 2000s, only to rapidly escalate and expand to international shipping during the War in Somalia (2006–2009).
On September 2, 2008, the French yacht Carré d'As IV and its two crew were captured in the Gulf of Aden by seven armed Somali pirates, who demanded the release of six pirates captured in the April MY Le Ponant raid and over one million dollars in ransom. On September 16, 2008, on the orders of President Nicolas Sarkozy, French special forces raided and recovered the yacht, rescued the two hostages, killed one pirate, and captured the other six. The pirates were flown to France to stand trial for piracy and related offenses; ultimately, five of them were convicted and sentenced to four to eight years in prison, while a sixth was acquitted. The incident marked the second French counter-piracy commando operation of 2008, as well as the first French trial of Somali pirates.
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The MV York is a tanker for transport of liquefied gas that after its 2010 capture by Somali pirates had become a mothership for pirate operations. The vessel was released on March 10, 2011, after an unknown amount of ransom had been paid.
Operation Ocean Shield was NATO's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA), an anti-piracy initiative in the Indian Ocean, Guardafui Channel, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It follows the earlier Operation Allied Protector. Naval operations began on 17 August 2009 after being approved by the North Atlantic Council, the program was terminated on 15 December 2016 by NATO. Operation Ocean Shield focused on protecting the ships of Operation Allied Provider, which transported relief supplies as part of the World Food Programme's mission in the region. The initiative also helped strengthen the navies and coast guards of regional states to assist in countering pirate attacks. Notably, the Italian Military Support Base in Djibouti contributed to anti-piracy efforts as part of NATO's Operation Ocean Shield, utilizing naval vessels such as the ITS Mimbelli and ITS San Marco in the Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean, and off the coast of Somalia. Additionally, China, Japan and South Korea sent warships to participate in these activities.
The Dai Hong Dan incident took place on 29 October 2007, when the North Korean cargo vessel in the Indian Ocean MV Dai Hong Dan (대홍단호) was attacked and temporarily seized by Somali pirates off Somalia. The following day, the crew of the vessel overpowered the pirates with the support of a US naval vessel.
The following lists events that happened in 2009 in Somalia.
This is a 2017 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
Piracy kidnappings occur during piracy, when people are kidnapped by pirates or taken hostage. Article 1 of the United Nations International Convention against the Taking of Hostages defines a hostage-taker as "any person who seizes or detains and threatens to kill, to injure, or to continue to detain another person in order to compel a third party namely, a State, an international intergovernmental organization, a natural or Juridical person, or a group of people, to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition tor the release of the hostage commits the offense of taking of hostages ("hostage-taking") within the meaning of this convention." Kidnappers often try to obtain the largest financial reward possible in exchange for hostages, but piracy kidnappings can also be politically motivated.