The recent rescue of an American cargo ship captain held hostage for five days by pirates off the coast of Somalia has heightened awareness of the piracy issue throughout the world.
美国货船船长菲利普斯被海盗扣押在索马里近海5天后获救一事提高了人们对世界各地海盗行动的关注。
The London-based International Maritime Bureau, or IMB, an organization that tracks crimes on the high seas, says the waters off Somalia, including the Gulf of Aden, are the most dangerous in the world for international shipping.
伦敦的国际海事局跟踪记录公海上发生的犯罪行为，该组织说，包括亚丁湾在内的索马里近海是世界各地最危险的国际航道。
The IMB says last year was the most successful ever for the pirates: 111 vessels were attacked in the region, 42 of them were hijacked and 815 crew members held hostage. Analysts say if current trends continue, this year will surpass last year's numbers.
国际海事局说，去年，海盗活动最为猖獗。索马里近海地区有111艘航船受到海盗袭击，42艘被劫持，815名船员被扣为人质。分析人士说，如果目前的趋势继续下去，今年的数字就会超过去年。
Experts, such as J. Peter Pham with James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia say the waters off the Somali coast are key sea lanes that connect the Indian Ocean with the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and Europe through the Suez Canal.
美国詹姆斯.麦迪逊大学的彼得.范教授等专家说，索马里近海是连接印度洋、红海、地中海、欧洲直到苏伊士运河的关键航道。
"Approximately 20,000 ships every year pass through these waters, carrying about 12 percent of the world's oil and more importantly, carries about 80 percent of the commerce between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. So this is a vital artery in international commerce, especially at a time like the one we're in right now - with the economic downturn, any further pressures on international commerce are certainly not needed," he said.
他说：“每年大约有两万艘船驶过这些水域，上面运载着全世界12%的原油，更重要的是，欧洲、中东和亚洲之间80%的商贸物品要经过这些水域运输。因此，这是国际商贸的大动脉，特别是在目前经济发展减慢的局势下，我们当然不希望看到国际贸易受到更多的压力。”
Analysts say the Somali pirates target all sorts of vessels: from small pleasure crafts to cargo ships and even giant oil supertankers. Pham says pirates are members of armed gangs.
分析人士说，索马里海盗把各种航船都作为袭击目标，从小型游艇、货船甚至到超大型油轮。彼得.范教授说，海盗是武装帮派的成员。
"Intelligence indicates that there are two primary gangs. One based in the town in Puntland, the northeast autonomous region of Somalia, the town of Eyl. Another gang is based in the south-central Somali town of Haraardheere. And these are the two primary gangs. There are other smaller operators," he said.
他说：“情报显示，这里有两个主要的帮派。一个据点设在索马里东北部自治区邦特兰的埃勒镇。另一个在索马里中南部的哈拉迪里镇。除这两个主要的帮派外，还有其它较小的团伙。”
Analysts, such as retired U.S. Army Colonel Ralph Peters, say the Somali pirates work off so-called "mother ships", searching for potential victims.
美国退休海军上校彼得斯等分析人士说，索马里海盗在所谓的“母船”上寻找袭击对象。
"And when they find a likely target, they'll unload speedboats from the hold or have speedboats in tow. And the speedboats, with pirates armed with machine guns and perhaps some RPG-7 type rocket launchers, will skip over the waves and come up on the cargo ship and either threaten it or they'll throw up grappling hooks and board it the way pirates do in old movies," he said.
他说：“当他们发现目标后，他们就从‘母船’船舱里放出快艇，或者用绳索拉着快艇。这些快艇上的海盗备有机关枪，快艇上还有RPG-7型火箭发射器。快艇乘风破浪，出现在目标货船旁，海盗们发出威胁，或者像老电影中的海盗那样扔出抓钩，跃上货船。”
Experts say the pirates are not interested in the cargo or the crew - they only want ransom money which can reach several million dollars per vessel.
专家们说，海盗对货物和船员并没有兴趣，他们想要的只是赎金，每艘船的赎金可以到达几百万美元。
Peters says the pirates are successful because the crews of the ships being attacked are not armed. He says that is due to insurance issues.
彼得斯说，海盗能够得逞是因为被袭击船只的船员没有武器。他说，这种情况是保险引起的。
"If ships were to fight back, insurance rates would skyrocket because the insurance companies, the maritime insurers, are looking at what costs the most. And by their calculations, liability claims, actual damage to the ships or cargo might cost more than the $1 million or $2- or $3 million ransom," he said.
他说：“如果被袭击的船只要还击，它们的保险费就会疯涨，因为海事保险公司要看什么最花钱。根据它们计算的保险赔偿，如果船只或货物受到实际损害，那么它们要赔付的钱比一百万、两百万甚至三百万的赎金还要多。”
Peter Chalk, maritime security expert with RAND Corporation, says there's another reason why not to provide weapons to the crew.
兰德公司的海事安全专家查克说，不给船员提供武器还有一个原因。
"If you had crew members who were armed, it's almost certainly going to encourage greater lethality on the part of the pirates, who may be far more willing to open fire as they board a vessel, in the expectation that they could be met with crews armed with assault rifles. So it is generally thought that to preserve human life, to keep the instance of violence as low as possible, and also for legal reasons, that it's better not to arm crew members," he said.
他说：“如果海员们有武器，那么这几乎肯定会加强海盗杀伤性。海盗上船后就预计自己可能会遭遇持有冲锋枪的船员的抵抗，这样海盗就更要肆意开火了。因此，为了保护生命，为了使暴力冲突发生的可能性降到最低，同时也是出于法律原因，人们普遍认为最好还是不为船员提供武器。”
In an effort to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia, the international community has sent navy ships to patrol the area. The task force includes vessels from the United States and the European Union. Russia, China and India have also ships in the area.
为了打击索马里近海的海盗，国际社会已经派遣海军船只在这一地区巡航。这一特别行动小组包括美国和欧盟的战舰。俄罗斯、中国和印度也向这里派遣了军舰。
But Chalk says the area is too vast to patrol.
不过查克说，这片水域太大了，靠巡航是不够的。
"Basically you've got an area now that if you take into account the wider vicinity of the southern part of the Indian Ocean, you are talking about two million square miles. So it's an enormous area to monitor. You've got an enormous amount of vessels transiting the region. So there's no way that the international naval presence could provide comprehensive security to cover that expanse and all those vessels," he said.
他说：“如果你把印度洋南部的广阔海域都算上，那么这块海域就有大约两百万平方英里。因此这是一个无比辽阔的海域，无法进行监控，而在这个海域往来的船只更是不计其数。因此，各国海军战舰是无法为这整个海域和所有的船只提供安全保护的。”
Analysts say a naval presence alone will not eradicate piracy in the region. They say the international community must seriously address the core problem: the lack of an effective government in Somalia - a country described by many analysts as a failed state.
分析人士们说，单靠海军驻军无法消灭这一地区的海盗。他们说，国际社会必须认真解决最核心的问题，那就是，索马里没有一个有效的政府。许多分析人士说，索马里是一个行政失败的国家。 |