1: Move over Somalia, there's a new pirate hot spot: Nigeria. An article for the AFP indicates that there is a surge in maritime attacks in West Africa, and specifically in the Gulf of Guinea. Fact is, this is neither surprising nor new...just new to me. After only a quick search, I found online articles about Nigerian pirates going back to at least 2008. There's even a short Wikipedia entry. Nigeria is well known for its organized crime, from drug trafficking to international fraud. This is one of the things that makes piracy here very different from piracy off the Horn of Africa. I'm learning (see my comments about Jay Bahadur's book below) that the Somali pirates are opportunistic and do not have what could be called long-term structure. The Nigerians, in contrast, are all but militaristic. They have to be: Their prime targets are oil tankers, and they're not after ransom but the cargo itself. The Nigerians, heavily armed and working in organized groups of high-speed boats, seize ships which they divert to waiting facilities so that the oil can be sold on the very busy, lucrative black market. Although the pirates are Nigerian, their safe harbor appears to be Benin. The navies of both countries seem to be unable--or unwilling--to handle the problem. I'm curious to see what the international reaction is going to be. Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil-producing nation, supplies a full fifth of the United States' imported oil. Guess what, we've got more modern pirate news to watch for.
