gulf of guinea

Aside

west african pirates

i’ve been slow on pirate news. sometimes my google alert for ‘pirate’ brings me good things; most of the time it is about sports teams.

in any case, something good came in today. a lieutenant commander in the french navy noted that west africa and the gulf of guinea

is a good place to be a pirate.

in my head, he says it just like mel brooks.

more importantly, the piracy is partially attributable for the state (in this case, nigeria) not distributing the rents it earns from resources.

many of the pirates targeting ships on the high seas come from the niger delta in southern nigeria, where indigenous groups are demanding a greater share of the region’s oil wealth.

Aside

used against pirates and tornadoes

the crew of a greek oil tanker resisted hijacking in the gulf of guinea by hiding in the ship’s safe room. evidently, safe rooms are increasingly being used as anti-piracy measures.

unlike in hijackings off the coast of Somalia on the opposite side of the continent, west African gangs have not sought ransoms, instead unloading cargo onto other ships to sell on the black market.