Newsweek magazine has a good interview with Peter Lehr, an expert on Indian Ocean piracy. It discusses the audacity of the taking of Sirius Star as well as the problems that it poses for the pirates themselves. Lehr aptly notes that while solving Somalia’s problems is nothing that’s going to be done quickly, solving the problem of Somali piracy is something that can be accomplished in a reasonable time.

Treasure Ship
Seizing the Sirius Star was an audacious raid for Somalia’s emboldened pirates
Barrett Sheridan

It’s a scene out of another century. On Tuesday night an Indian Navy vessel in the Gulf of Aden approached a ship thought to be manned by pirates operating from lawless Somalia. Although it was dark, Indian officers told news-agency reporters that they could see crew members on deck brandishing guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Volleys were fired, fire broke out on one of the pirate ships, and it sank. The crew escaped in a speed boat, the Navy ship in hot pursuit.

Banks and automakers might be in a tailspin, but piracy is one industry that’s still thriving. So far this year, pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have successfully hijacked 36 vessels. Navies from around the world have descended on the troubled waters around the Horn of Africa to try to restore order, but they seem only to have emboldened the pirates. Last weekend they took their most audacious prize yet: the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of oil. It remains moored in plain view off the Somali coast as the owners, Vela International, a subsidiary of Aramco, await ransom demands. NEWSWEEK’s Barrett Sheridan spoke with Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies at Scotland’s University of St. Andrews and an expert on Indian Ocean piracy, about the fate of the Sirius Star and Somalia’s darkened waters. Excerpts:
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