ABSTRACT
In the early morning hours of Saturday, 5 November 2005, the cruise liner Seabourn Spirit found itself under attack by pirates rapidly approaching in two small speedboats. Th e — ultimately unsuccessful — brazen attack took place roughly 100 sea miles off the southern coast of Somalia. It was witnessed by dozens of Western passengers, rudely woken up by rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and salvoes from assault rifl es. Th e global media coverage of the event drove home to an international audience that this attack was only the most spectacular one of a series of acts of piracy, targeting local, regional, and international shipping — including UN ships carrying food-for-aid for the war-torn country. Between March and November 2005, no less than 32 vessels had become victims of attacks in coastal waters of Somalia.1 Th is article intends to shed some light on the new wave of piracy emanating from the coasts of this unfortunate country, which started in early 2005 aft er a lull of two years.
