NATO Fears Somali Pirates Moving to S. Red Sea

The commander of NATO's counter-piracy flotilla said Wednesday that Somali pirates may be shifting some operations to the southern Red Sea where naval forces lack clear authority to stop them.

In addition to one recent attack in the area, there have been several close calls where mariners believed pirates were pursuing them, including occasions where shots were fired.

Foreign navies have U.N. Security Council approval to hunt pirates in Somalia's territorial waters with advance notice using "all necessary means." But the Red Sea lies beyond that area of jurisdiction, creating a possible new front for pirates to operate.

The international patrols are credited with thwarting attacks by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, a corridor between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean that is home to some of the world's busiest sea lanes.

International naval forces are reluctant to aggressively pursue the pirates around the tip of Yemen and through the southern end of the Red Sea because they would be passing entirely through other nations' waters.

Pirates attacked the Marshall Islands-flagged MT Motivator on July 4 in the northern part of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The chemical tanker was carrying lubricating oil and had a Filipino crew of 18.

The bulk of international counter-piracy patrols operate in the Gulf of Aden, where they provide convoys and maintain a transit corridor to protect merchant vessels heading to and from the Suez Canal at the top of the Red Sea.