Pirates Seize U.N. Aid Boat off Coast of Somalia

A U.S. warship has moved into waters off the coast of Somalia where pirates have hijacked an empty World Food Program(WFP) cargo ship.^[1] The MV Rozen was commandeered by heavily armed pirates on the morning of Sunday, February 25.^[2] Officials of the internationally backed interim Somali government contacted the U.S. military regional command, "We have asked the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea ... to help us in the operation, and they told us they have started to move toward the ship," said Col. Abdi Ali Hagaafe.^[3] Somali police boats spotted the hijacked ship, but were told to stay away out of concern for the safety of the ship's crew.^[4] WFP officials said yesterday that the ship had already off-loaded 1,800 metric tons of food aid and equipment before the seizure, and was empty except for its crew of 12 Sri Lankans and Kenyans.^[5] This is at least the third WFP ship to be hijacked by pirates off Somalia's, making this an increasingly hostile environment for delivering humanitarian aid to the dreadfully poor and unstable African country.^[6]

The pirates are armed with AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade launchers which is typical for Somali pirates who are often trained fighters, who use go-fast boats equipped with satellite phones and Global Positioning System equipment.^[7] They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and various types of grenades, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia. The bandits target passenger, cargo and fishing vessels for ransom or loot.^[8]

According to Peter Goossens, the head of the WFP in Somalia, four pirates were arrested after they went ashore to buy supplies.^[9] The arrests have led to negotiations for the release of the seamen and the ship.^[10] Eight pirates were still on board the vessel but it is believed that they had agreed to let the vessel go "as long as their safety is guaranteed."^[11] It is not uncommon for private parties to negotiate with pirates for the release of the capture people and goods,^[12] despite the United Nations unambiguous and strict policy of not negotiating with hijackers or kidnappers who seize U.N. staff.^[13] Officials acknowledge, however, that member states or intermediary groups are free to engage such hijackers as they see fit.^[14]

Piracy is defined as “a forcible depredation upon property on the high seas without lawful authority, done … in a spirit and intention of universal hostility.”^[15] It is one of the few transnational crimes that is universally condemned and subject to “universal jurisdiction.”^[16] Under the concept of universal jurisdiction, any nation can prosecute a person for certain acts committed anywhere in the world, if that nation’s domestic statutes allow it. The United States criminalizes piracy at sea in 18 U.S.C. § 1651 which states that whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, will be imprisoned for life.^[17]

The statement “afterwards brought in to the United States” has been determined to mean that the U.S. has jurisdiction over a person who was in the United States only because they were forcibly brought into the United States.^[18] It is also not uncommon for the United States to treat captured pirates as terrorists.^[19] Furthermore, the US DOJ’s Criminal Resource Manual states that “Since 1819, the United States has had jurisdiction to prosecute anyone who commits the crime of piracy, as defined by the law of nations, on the high seas and is later brought to or found in the United States.”^[20]

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^[1] Betsy Pisik, U.S. Sends Warship Against Sea Pirates, Washington Times, February 27, 2007
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id
^[5] Id.
^[6] Such ships are by far the least expensive way to deliver aid to Somalia, a rugged country with few viable roads and airports capable of handling heavy cargo, and if the sea lanes become too dangerous, WFP officials have asserted that will be unable to deliver food aid anymore. Id.
^[7] Anthony Mitchell, Six suspected Somali pirates arrested after hijacking U.N. food aid ship, U.N. says, AP (via San Diego Union-Tribune), February 27, 2007.
^[8] Id.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Abdulsamad Ali, Somalia: Ship's Captors Held By Puntland Officers, The Nation, February 28, 2007.
^[11] Id.
^[12] Another WFP-chartered ship, the Semlow, was seized and held for more than three months by hijackers in June 2005. It was released only after secret negotiations between the ship's owner and representatives of the pirates. Pisik, supra note 1.
^[13] WFP is the food aid branch of the United Nations. Its headquarters are in Rome and in more than 80 country offices around the world.
^[14] Pisik, supra note 1.
^[15] United States v. Baker, 24 F. Cas. 962, 965 (C.C.S.D.N.Y. 1861) (No. 14,501) (a pirate is a person who “roves the sea in an armed vessel … on his own authority, and for the purpose of seizing by force and appropriating to himself, without discrimination, every vessel he may meet.”)
^[16] See Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 404 (1987).
^[17] 18 U.S.C. § 1651 (2006).
^[18] United States v. Yunis, 924 F.2d 1086, 1089 (D.C. Cir. 1991).( The defendant was accused of aircraft piracy, the statute of which has a similar jurisdictional statement)
^[19] For more on this, see our previous discussion of the Piracy/Terror link.
^[20] US DOJ, Criminal Resource Manual 9, Oct. 1997.