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New mother ship salvaged. Freedom Pirates. Thank you who?

On the Yemeni Dhow, the pirates surrender (credit: Royal Navy)

The days go by and look alike in the Indian Ocean. A new mothership has been seized by multinational forces. This is the British ship HMS Cornwall, flagship of CTF 151, which intervened. A South Korean merchant ship, Yongjin, had spotted a suspicious vessel, and raised the alert on February 10. The intervention of the Lynx helicopter and then of the boarding teams confirmed this. On board, they found several weapons (RPG, AK-47...) and ammunition, engines, and three skiffs which left no doubt about the activity. They were seized and destroyed. Of the 22 people, 5 Yemeni fishermen who had been held hostage for three months were released. The 17 pirates were brought aboard HMS Cornwall and then simply dropped off in Somalia. Official explanation: the UK does not have the ability to arrest suspected pirates without flagrante delicto. Comment: a bit short as an explanation. The European Union has asked several States such as the Seychelles and Mauritius to include the preparation of an act in their national law. It seems inconsistent that the European states do not follow the path. One can also wonder why the pirates were not brought to Yemen since its nationals were in question.

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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