Muscat: Maritime piracy has witnessed a steady rise over the past decade with piracy attacks in 2011 accounting for 439 worldwide. Most of these attacks occur within the Gulf of Aden near Somalia, the Gulf of Guinea near Nigeria, the Malacca Strait between Indonesia and Malaysia and off the Indian subcontinent. Oman significantly dependent on its oil reserves and exporting segment, continues to face piracy threats to its coastlines, most of which account for Somali piracy.
Somali piracy, a byproduct of an inefficient government authority in Somalia, is the second largest source of revenue in Somalia raking in $ 200 million annually. Since the profits are reinvested in coastal communities, the act of piracy receives support from the community. Most of the attacks involve both hijacking and kidnapping, free of violent tactics since the pirates want their victims alive paving the way for demanding huge ransoms. Although the success rates for these attacks have decreased within these past months, courtesy to the employment of security forces, razor wires and water cannons, Oman still has a greater role to play combating piracy.
The use of international law sees states taking collective action to combat piracy while domestic civil law provides businessmen greater security with regards to shipping vessels and cargo. Oman is one of the 18 countries that is a signatory to the Djibouti Code of Conduct working with the International Maritime Organisation to address the issue of piracy, while recently in the month of May a two day meeting between experts of the Arab Justice and Interior Ministers Councils saw the Sultanate being represented by a senior official from the Legal Affairs Ministry, a member of the technical committee. The meeting revolved around Arab resolutions and international conventions related to piracy and reviewing the Arab draft protocol on combating piracy.
During TransOman 2012 taking place from 28th - 29th May, 2012 at the Grand Hyatt, Lt. Jamie Wrona, USN, Liaison Officer, Maritime Liaison Office (MARLO), Bahrain
will highlight the issue of piracy and the role of Oman in Fighting Piracy through collaboration and partnership.
Additionally Mr. Hamoud S Al Maskry, Director of the Secretariat & Information Centre, The Riyadh Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control in the Gulf Region, will cover Port Security and Safety measures while discussing The Role of Riyadh MOU on Port State Control in the Gulf Region on Monitoring and Inspections of Ships in the GCC.
For more information on TransOman 2012, kindly contact Mr. Ebrahim Taher, Project Manager, TransOman 2012 at +968 95210203/ ebrahim@oite.com
© Press Release 2012
