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a number of suspected pirate vessels. For example, after the Indian registered Al Bisarat
was captured and used by pirates as a mother ship, the American destroyer, USS Winston S.
Churchill, tracked her down, forced the pirates to surrender and transferred them to Kenya
for trial. In October 2007 two American warships sank two pirate vessels after answering
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a distress call from a hijacked Japanese tanker (apparently carrying benzene), while also in
October, another American warship, the guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams
came to the assistance of a North Korean freighter, the Dai Hong Dan. A helicopter from the
destroyer investigated the Dai Hong Dan after receiving a message that she was hijacked and
ordered the hijackers to surrender. the North Korean crew overpowered the pirates, killed
two and captured five others. Three North Korean crewmen were seriously wounded and
were taken aboard the American destroyer for treatment. The fight against piracy surely
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makes for strange bedfellows.
Early in 2008 a few prominent hijackings made international headlines. These include the
hijacking for ransom of a Danish owned tug, Svitzer Korsakov, the French luxury passenger
yacht, Le Ponant and the Spanish trawler, Playa de Bakio. the Le Ponant incident, however,
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offered some dramatic relief. Le Ponant (with 30 crewmembers onboard) was seized by So-
mali pirates on 4 April. French naval vessels shadowed the captured vessel and early in May,
once the ransom (Euro 1,25 million) was paid and the safety of the crew guaranteed, elite
French troops attacked the pirates, pursuing some even into the desert. Five fatalities were
reported, while those captured were held by the French authorities. the time span between
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the hijacking of Le Ponant and paying the ransom was much quicker than with other recent
hijackings, which could be ascribed to the rapid French military presence on the scene.
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Countries like France, USA, UK and Panama sought consent from the UN Security Coun-
cil to allow states to “ enter the territorial waters of Somalia for … identifying and pursuing
pirates … deter, prevent and repress piracy … board, search, and seize vessels … suspected
of piracy and apprehend persons engaged in such acts...”. The Mogadishu government,
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weakened by war and instability, agreed to such a violation of its own sovereignty, adding

15 ‘Waters That Prompt Fear from the Toughest of Sailors’, New York Times, 3 July 2006, in http://www.nyti-
mes.com/2006/07/03/world/africa/03somalia.html.
16 ‘Navy helps foil Pirate attacks on Merchant Ships off East Africa’, Virginian-Pilot, 31 October 2007, in
CHINFO News Clips, 31 October 2007.
17 ‘How Savage Pirates Reign On The World’s High Seas’, The Observer, 27 April 2008; ‘Somali President
Asks French for Troops, Naval Help’, Reuters, 5 May 2008; ‘Crew Of Spanish Ship Home After Hijacking
Off Somalia’, Associated Press, 30 April 2008; and ‘Brute Force on the High Seas’, Der Tagesspiegel, 25
April 2008.
18 ‘Update Report No. 1 Somalia’, Security Council Report, 2 May 2008, in http://www.securitycouncilreport.
org/site/c.glKWLeMTIsG/b.4096805/#top; ‘High-Tech Pirates Are No Romantic Figures’, CNN, 30 April
2008, in CHINFO News Clips, 29 April 2008; ‘Somali President Asks French for Troops, Naval Help’, Reu-
ters, 5 May 2008; and ‘Brute Force on the High Seas’, Der Tagesspiegel, 25 April 2008.
19 ‘Le Ponant crew released’, Weekly Piracy Report, International Chamber of Commerce, Commercial Crime
Services, 14 April 2008, http://icc-ccs.org/main/news.php?newsid=108.
20 ‘Update Report No. 1 Somalia’, Security Council Report, 2 May 2008, in http://www.securitycouncilre-
port.org/site/c.glKWLeMTIsG/b.4096805/#top; ‘US, France Circulate UN Resolution To Battle Pirates’ As-
sociated Press, 28 April 2008.