Resurgent Somali piracy threat growing amid concerns over links to Houthis and al-Shabaab
VESSELS approaching the Somali coast have been urged to maintain enhanced surveillance and exercise increased caution, following increased piracy activity at sea and reports of a resurgent piracy threat preparing for more attacks on shore.
Maritime security firms put ships on alert Monday following an exchange of gunfire between a security team on board a Stolt-Nielsen chemical tanker and a skiff carrying four armed men, supported by a recently seized dhow being used as a mothership.
While the attempted boarding of the Cayman Islands-flagged Stolt Sagaland (IMO: 9352200) ultimately failed and no crew were injured, the attack comes amid a flurry of recent fishing boat attacks, thought to be targeted for use as pirate motherships extending the potential range of pirate groups.
The use of a mothership in the Stolt Sagaland approach on Monday appears to confirm recent intelligence reports that pirate groups have been regrouping in the Nugaal coastal region, where they have been assembling fleets of fishing skiffs to be used for further attacks.
The pirate groups are reportedly well funded and have been negotiating the rental of speed boats from local fishermen over recent days.
On October 28, two dhows came under attack off Garacad, one of which was ultimately seized by pirates. According to naval and commercial maritime intelligence sources, the seized dhow is assumed to have been the mothership used on Monday to facilitate the attempted boarding of Stolt Sagaland.
According to Vanguard security, a second approach was then made to take a nearby Spanish tuna fishing vessel, again facilitated by a fishing dhow fitting the description of the seized vessel.
Attempted piracy attacks off Somalia have been relatively rare since March 2024, when the Indian navy successfully rescued all 17 crew from Malta-flagged bulk carrier, Ruen (IMO: 9754903), which had been hijacked by Somali pirates.
That show of force, which saw 35 pirates captured and taken to Mumbai, India, to stand trial for the hijacking, was sufficient to quell a brief resurgence in Somali pirate action groups seeking to hijack ships for ransom.
However, since then, strengthening links between the Houthis in Yemen and both Da’esh and al-Shabaab in Somalia, have seen an uptick in arms trafficking and smuggling taking place with a spin-off consequence of available funding and opportunity for pirate action groups to get involved.
Multiple UN Security Council reports over the past two years have linked al-Shabaab funding directly to pirate groups operating in its controlled territories and by entering into co-operative agreements for a share of the ransom proceeds.
That relationship appears to have become more extensive over the past year with al-Shabaab increasing its links to piracy activities within the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia, while receiving weapons and technical expertise from the Houthis.
The most recent UNSC Panel of Experts report on Yemen, published last month, points to a growing co-operation between the Houthis and al-Shabaab, noting “the co-operation with al-Shabaab is not simply for transactional benefits; it is also part of a Houthi strategy to wield increasing influence in the region”.
The emergence of a formal alliance with the Houthi movement to increase piracy activities and funding, in exchange for weapons and expertise, has the potential to significantly increase the risk profile shipping in the region, even as Houthi attacks diminish in the wake of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Arms trafficking has expanded significantly, with the Houthis emerging as the main suppliers and coordinators of smuggling operations involving al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and other regional armed group networks.
The UN report confirmed that Somalia is increasingly used as a transit hub for weapons destined for the Houthis.
“I think where we are now is that the Houthis have become sufficiently powerful that they see themselves as a hegemon, and that they see potential partners and allies in the form of al-Shabaab, al-Qaeda and others,” said Ian Ralby, chief executive of the security consultancy IR Consilium.
“And so what we may start to see are essentially upsurges of other militant activity, including piracy as almost a proxy, [in] the way that the Houthis have been considered proxies for Iran.”
Meanwhile, security sources citing intelligence from directly within the Puntland authorities, report multiple groupings of Somali pirate gangs preparing to launch skiffs.
While the Puntland authorities had previously played a leading role in patrolling the Somali coast and limiting pirate activity with direct funding from the UAE government, much of their resources have recently been redirected towards fighting Islamic State in Somalia, which has been rapidly gaining territory in the Galgala region.
A group of 12 pirates in the coastal town of Bargal were reportedly witnessed negotiating the rental of three skiffs on Monday and several other similar reports suggest that pirate groups are rapidly regrouping.
While maritime security firms have urged all vessels transiting the Somalia coastline to maintain extreme caution, several are concerned that more attacks are likely.
“We are uneasy about a potential return of Somali piracy on a larger scale,” said Jakob Larsen, chief safety and security officer with shipping association BIMCO.
“We are comforted by the fact that merchant ships are aware of the piracy threat and generally plan accordingly, and that EU’s Operation Atalanta and the Indian Navy remains on their toes in the area. We cross fingers that the combination of industry best practices for maritime security and naval support will be enough to suppress the piracy threat.”
BIMCO, together with industry partners, is in the process of updating the Maritime Industry Security Threat Overview (MISTO) and expects an updated version to be published within the next couple of weeks.
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