Sunday, November 27, 2005

Somalia's pirates

I have been searching for details about the hiring of a private firm by Somalia, to put an end to piracy off its coast:

The growing piracy problem off the Somali coast has been solved by the hiring of private contractors to operate as a coast guard. The American firm, Top Cat Marine Security (www.TopCatMarineSecurity.com), has previously provided counter-terrorism and coastal security services for the Department of Homeland Defense, and other government agencies. The firm also designs and builds high speed patrol boats.

This could get interesting, for the Somali warlords who operate along the coast are not going to take kindly to some foreigners trying to interfere. The first priority of the new coast guard is to put the pirate gangs, and especially the two larger "mother ships", that are supporting attacks far out at sea, out of action.

Interesting approach...I wonder if it will become a template for future anti-terrorism operations.

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2 comments:

Green_Leader said...

Glad to see the free market, rather than government, solve a problem for once.

Kathryn Cramer said...

The State Department isn't. They issued a Cease and Desist order to Top Cat.