According to a report in The Australian, the British government has secretly approved the payment of millions of dollars in ransom money to Somali pirates despite stating publicly that it opposes such deals.
They claim that dozens of payments — most for hijacked ships — have been sent from banks in London through British airports to pirate gangs on the Somali coast, and suggest that the British government has knowingly supported these transactions.
According to a report in The Australian, the British government has secretly approved the payment of millions of dollars in ransom money to Somali pirates despite stating publicly that it opposes such deals.
They claim that dozens of payments — most for hijacked ships — have been sent from banks in London through British airports to pirate gangs on the Somali coast, and suggest that the British government has knowingly supported these transactions.
However, the truth is perhaps somewhat different. Given the response to ransoms in the recent UK Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee report, it is clear that the government took the pragmatic view that if ransoms are getting seafarers released, then they needed to keep the options open for shipowners and insurers to settle the demands and the crews freed.
That is not the same as condoning or approving the payments – while ransoms are a necessary evil, it is clear that the government has been right to take this tack. However, it cannot be allowed to continue and the government has now stressed that it will pay more regard to where the cash actually ends up.
In fact the ransom cash could well turn out to be the best lead in smashing the organised crime syndicates which are benefiting from piracy. Follow the money, as they say, and you will find the bad people…then you can act against them. Playing poker with people’s lives as you pretend to clamp down on payments is not the way forward – this is far more sensible.
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