German naval officers recommend broader anti-piracy initiatives

Piracy in Somalia can ultimately only be prevented by the establishment of stable government structures there, according to Commodore Rainer Brinkmann, Director of the German Marine Centre of Excellence for Operations in Confined and Shallow Waters (COE CSW).

Piracy around the Horn of Africa has been a significant maritime danger for some time now, and the area has a growing multi-national naval presence led by the US Task Force 151, established in January.

Vice-Admiral (ret.) Lutz Feldt, however, believes that more can and should be done to battle piracy.

"This is a very large maritime area, and military actions are not systematic and unified enough; activities are largely reactive, and that is not sufficient to combat criminals of this kind," Vice-Admiral Feldt said.

He also argued that the current military action in the region needs to be supported by economic, political and diplomatic initiatives in order to protect international shipping. This kind of broader initiative should come before extending military operations onshore, he said, which would have "consequences that would be hard to assess".

Commodore Brinkmann, who also commands a combined anti-terrorism task force around the Horn of Africa, feels that merchant ships should not simply leave action to naval forces.

"Merchant ships should not underestimate their capabilities to take pro-active measures against pirates," he said, and pointed out past successes in repulsing attacks by the use of fire extinguishing equipment, sonic cannon, blocking access and corridors with barbed wire, and barricading bulkheads and hatches.

Commodore Brinkmann noted that there are currently no indications of links between piracy and terrorism, nor any great risk of this occurring. However both Commodore Brinkmann and Vice-Admiral Feldt believe the situation would be best addressed with the support of those holding regional power.

Both men will speak at the second international conference and exhibition on "Maritime Security & Defence" (MS&D), to be held at the Hamburg Fair site from September 30 to October 2, 2009.