{"id":58570,"date":"2020-01-15T10:40:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T02:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58570"},"modified":"2020-01-15T10:41:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T02:41:00","slug":"piracy-sailor-kidnappings-surge-50-off-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=58570","title":{"rendered":"Piracy: Sailor kidnappings surge 50% off West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanaweb.com\/GhanaHomePage\/africa\/Sailor-kidnappings-surge-50-off-West-Africa-837955?gallery=1\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cdn.ghanaweb.com\/imagelib\/pics\/702\/70267716.295.jpg\" alt=\"Reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong><em>Reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia), Jan 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The number of sailors kidnapped off West Africa surged by more than 50 percent last year, a maritime watchdog said, urging greater international cooperation to reduce piracy.<br><br>The abductions took place in the Gulf of Guinea, waters stretching thousands of kilometres from Angola in the south to Senegal in the north, which are considered among the world&#8217;s most dangerous for attacks.<br><br>The number of crew snatched there jumped from 78 in 2018 to 121 last year &#8211; amounting to more than 90 percent of kidnappings reported at sea worldwide, the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its annual piracy report.<br><br>Michael Howlett, director of the  IMB, called for &#8220;increased information exchange and coordination between vessels, reporting and response agencies in the Gulf of Guinea&#8221;.<br><br>Overall, however, reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019 to 162 from 201 a year earlier, the watchdog said.<br><br>The Gulf of Guinea has now eclipsed the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, as Africa&#8217;s piracy hotspot, and countries in the region have been trying for years to bolster means of intervention and to increase cooperation.<br><br>Attacks in the gulf, home to Sub-Saharan Africa&#8217;s two main oil producers Nigeria and Angola, have seriously disrupted international shipping routes and inflicted huge economic costs.<br><br>In 2017, the cost to West Africa was estimated at more than $818m, including naval activities and contracting security services, according to a report from Oceans Beyond Piracy, a programme that studied maritime attacks.<br><br>Criminal gangs in the past used to steal oil cargo, but have switched tactics over the past decade to kidnapping sailors for ransom as crude prices have fallen.<br><br>Much of the problem originates in the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, a base for pirates who use high-powered speedboats to raid passing ships and kidnap crews. &#8212; NNN-AGENCIES<br><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reported incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships worldwide fell in 2019 KUALA LUMPUR (Malaysia), Jan 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) &#8212; The number of sailors kidnapped off West Africa surged by more than 50 percent last year, a maritime watchdog said, urging greater international cooperation to reduce piracy. The abductions took place in the Gulf of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[213],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58570"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}