EU forces attack Somalia pirate bases

Guardian:

The EU's naval force off the Somali coastline on Tuesday carried out its first air strikes against pirate targets on shore, officials said.

Maritime aircraft and attack helicopters took part in the attacks early in the morning on the mainland, a spokesman said. No casualties were reported in the raid along Somalia's central coastline in the region of Galmudug.

The long coastline of war-torn Somalia provides a perfect haven for pirate gangs preying on shipping off the east African coast.

The EU is the main donor to the Somali transitional government. It also trains Somali army troops, and is reinforcing the navies of five neighbouring states to enable them to counter piracy themselves.

"This action against piracy is part of a comprehensive EU approach to the crisis in Somalia, where we support a lasting political solution on land," said Michael Mann, spokesman for the EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton.

Since December 2008, the EU has kept five to 10 warships off the Horn of Africa in an operation known as Atalanta. Nato has a similar anti-piracy flotilla known as Ocean Shield, and other countries including the US, India, China, Russia, and Malaysia have also dispatched naval vessels to patrol the region.

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The piracy problem has dragged on because of the failure to attack and destroy the bases of the pirates.  That is the only way to effectively destroy their operations.  It is a strategy I have suggested since the problem first arose.  It is how piracy has always been defeated.  The current EU approach is a start, but it is basically just a raiding strategy using air power.  Those types of attacks lack the persistence needed to deny real estate to the pirates for use as a base.  Drones would be better and boots on the ground would be the most effective.  Without the persistence in the target area they will come back.