Somali Pirates Release Last of Captive Sailors

The Guardian published on 24 October 2016 an article titled "'We Had To Eat Rats,' Say Sailors Held by Somali Pirates for Four Years" by Saeed Kamali Dehghan.

Somali pirates captured the Omani-flagged Naham 3 fishing vessel south of the Seychelles in 2012. After four years in captivity, agreement on a ransom was reached and the crew freed last week. They were the last hostages held by Somali pirates. There has been no successful seizure of ships by Somali pirates since 2014.

Somali Piracy and Armed Guards

Jon Huggins, director of Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), a Denver-based foundation dedicated to combating piracy, was interviewed on 18 December 2012 by Global Observatory on the issue of Somali piracy.  He viewed the use of armed guards on commercial vessels as a short-term fix for dealing with pirates.  OBP prefers peaceful solutions to ending piracy based on the rule of law.  He did acknowledge, however, that the use of armed guards has significantly reduced the number of successful pirate attacks.