SFRC hearings being planned on problems posed by intl piracy

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hhs1mNdBBenmXSLfjMMiMwVfPRrgD95C9HKG0">From the AP

Kerry urges caution on 'hot pursuit' in Somalia

By ANDREW MIGA – 5 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a young Navy swift boat commander in Vietnam, Sen. John Kerry was no stranger to the perils of hot pursuit in combat.

He was awarded a Silver Star for beaching his boat after a rocket attack and racing ashore to chase down and kill a Viet Cong fighter armed with a rocket launcher.

Nearly 40 years later, as incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry favors using hot pursuit against pirates in the waters off Somalia, but urges a cautious approach before U.S officials consider sending American forces to chase them ashore. Kerry plans committee hearings next year looking at the problems posed by piracy.

The Massachusetts Democrat, who was on President-elect Barack Obama's short list to be secretary of state, said a hot pursuit policy on Somalia's coastline is "long overdue." But he warns against any "haphazard, sloppy" military missions.

"You gotta know what you're getting into and where you're going and under what circumstances," Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, said in a telephone interview Friday with The Associated Press. "I mean, if you send five police officers raging into the center of Mogadishu, you are asking for trouble. You gotta be smart."

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1. Chinese Navy sets off to aid in anti-piracy effort

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5juvBNMjqDxKCxtbyk7NEbIbEc3hQ">Chinese navy off on historic anti-piracy mission

Dec 26, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — An anti-piracy task force of the Chinese navy set sail Friday for Africa, state media said, in the nation's first potential combat mission beyond its territorial waters in centuries.

The three vessels, decorated with coloured ribbons, flags and flowers, weighed anchor at the Yalong Bay naval base on south China's tropical Hainan island at 1:50 pm (0550 GMT), heading for Somalia, the Xinhua news agency said.

"It's the first time we go abroad to protect our strategic interests armed with military force," said Wu Shengli, commander of the Chinese Navy, in a ceremony to see off the approximately 1,000 sailors, according to Xinhua.

"It's the first time for us to organise a naval force on an international humanitarian mission and the first time for our navy to protect important shipping lanes far from our shores."

More at the AP link.

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2. More on the UN Resolution on using force against Somali pirates

U.S. hopes U.N. resolution ups cooperation in piracy fight

By Mark Abramson, http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59684">Stars and Stripes
Monday, December 29, 2008

U.S. officials are searching for other means to combat piracy beyond a recently passed U.N. resolution authorizing using military might to address the problem on shore.

U.N. Resolution 1851, unanimously approved by the Security Council earlier this month, authorizes striking at Somali-based pirates with ground, air and naval forces before they take to the seas to hijack commercial ships for ransom.

The resolution, which expires on Dec. 16, 2009, calls for the United Nations to be notified before any attack on pirates is launched while they are ashore.

"It will also enhance cooperation, develop judicial arrangements with regional and victim states to prosecute, and enhance financial intelligence to get after the pirates’ money," said Jun Bando, the U.S. State Department’s maritime security coordinator and liaison to the Africa Command.

"What we are trying to do is have a better understanding of how these ransom monies are moving so we can disrupt the flow," Bando said.

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