索马里海盗改行 从事其他非法活动

Piracy off the coast of Somalia, one of the worlds crucial shipping lanes, has plunged this year because of aggressive military and intelligence steps that have made it too costly for seafaring bandits to operate, regional diplomats and naval officials said. 索马里地区的外交人士和海军官员说，索马里附近海域的海盗活动今年大幅减少，原因是力度极大的军事和情报举措使得海盗团伙运营起来费用太高。索马里海域是世界上的重要航道之一。 The success, however, has had an unintended consequence: The Somali crime lords behind the pirate networks have shifted to other illicit trade, sometimes in partnership with al Qaeda-linked militant groups like al-Shabaab, aiding terrorism in the Horn of Africa, diplomats and intelligence officials said. 不过，外交人士和情报官员说，打击海盗行动的成功产生了一个意想不到的后果：海盗网络背后的索马里黑帮头目转向了其他非法活动，有时与青年党(al-Shabaab)等跟基地组织(al Qaeda)有关系的军事组织合作，向非洲之角的恐怖活动提供援助。 None of these operations exists in a vacuum, said a regional intelligence official who traces terrorism financing across Gulf states. Al Qaeda and smugglers trade off the same connections, the same sea routes and the same protection rackets. 一位跟踪海湾国家恐怖活动资金来源的地区情报官员说，这些活动都不是存在于真空中的。基地组织和走私者使用的是同样的关系网，同样的航道，向同样的组织交保护费。 In 2011, there were 237 piracy-related events in the waters off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors piracy and the effect on commercial shipping. In 2012, the figure dropped to 75. This year, as of Oct. 14 there were 10 incidents--only two of them hijackings. 据国际海事局(International Maritime Bureau)说，2011年，索马里附近海域发生237起与海盗有关的事件。该组织监控海盗活动及其给商业航运活动带来的影响。2012年这类事件减少至75起。今年截至10月14日，发生了10起事件，其中只有两起是劫船事件。 The United Nations reports similar figures. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said last week there had been 17 attacks in the first nine months of 2013 in the Arabian Sea, compared with 99 in the same period last year. 联合国(United Nations)发布了类似的数据。联合国秘书长潘基文(Ban Ki-moon)上周说，2013年前九个月阿拉伯海发生了17起袭击事件，相比之下，上年同期发生了99起。 Most of the piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the adjacent Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean has been controlled by Somali organized crime lords whose business networks stretch between their homeland and Gulf Arab nations including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, according to U.N. and regional diplomats who follow crime and terrorism issues. 据联合国及该地区跟踪犯罪和恐怖活动的外交人士说，亚丁湾及邻近的阿拉伯海和印度洋上的大部分海盗活动是由索马里组织的黑帮头目控制的，他们的业务网络从他们自己的国家延伸至海湾阿拉伯国家，包括沙特、也门、阿联酋和伊朗。 The Somalis have helped finance pirate ships and have laundered an estimated $400 million in ransom paid by shipping companies between April 2005 and December 2012, regional diplomats and U.N. investigators said. 该地区的外交人士和联合国调查人员说，索马里人帮助为海盗船只提供资金，2005年4月至2012年12月期间，将航运公司支付的约4亿美元赎金洗白。 Their profits began to slip in 2012 when navies and shipping companies began beefing up military defenses. 2012年海军和航运公司开始加大军事防御力度后，海盗们的利润开始下滑。 The international naval force known as Task Force 151 stepped up its use of drones and other intelligence gathering resources, allowing them to better position warships to intercept pirates, said Commodore Jeremy Blunden, the British naval officer currently in charge of the fleet. 英国海军准将布伦登(Jeremy Blunden)说，被称为“联合行动部队151”的国际海军部队加大了对无人机和其他情报收集资源的使用，使他们能够更好地部署战舰拦截海盗。布伦登目前负责“联合行动部队151”。 Meanwhile, the commercial shipping industry has standardized the use of armed guards on vessels carrying oil and valuable products through the waterways. The practice had been controversial because it contravened common seafaring ways. But it proved cost-effective, say shipping company executives who are reaping the advantages of lower insurance rates as a result. 与此同时，商业航运业已经把在经由这些航道运输石油和有价值产品的船只上配备武装警卫作为标准做法。这一做法曾饱受争议，因为它有违通常的航运做法。但航运公司高管说，事实证明这种做法性物有所值。这些高管可以因此享受保险费率降低的好处。 Countries have also stepped up legal prosecution of pirates in recent years, adding risk for Somali pirate financiers, who face loss of crews and ships. On Wednesday, a Spanish court handed multiple-year sentences to six Somalis convicted of piracy and arms possession, according to the Associated Press. 各国近年来也加大了对海盗的法律追究力度，令为索马里海盗提供资金的人风险增大，这些人可能面临失去船员和船只的风险。据美联社(Associated Press)报道，上周三，一家西班牙法庭裁决六名索马里人犯有海盗及非法携带武器罪，判处其多年徒刑。 The only surviving pirate who attacked the Maersk Alabama merchant vessel in 2009--the story on which the Hollywood movie Captain Phillips is based--is serving a 33-year sentence in a U.S. prison. 2009年攻击“马士基亚拉巴马号”(Maersk Alabama)商船的唯一一名幸存下来的海盗目前正在美国服刑，其刑期为33年。好莱坞影片《菲利普斯船长》(Captain Phillips)就是取材于这个故事。 The aggressive military response changed the risk-reward ratio for Somali piracy financiers, who must pay upward of 80% of their earnings to corrupt Somali officials, local warlords and other middlemen, military officials and diplomats said. 军事官员和外交人员说，这种积极的军事反应改变了为索马里海盗提供资金者的风险回报率，他们必须将至多80%的收入用来贿赂索马里官员、地方军阀和其他中间人。 In 2012, Somali pirates only managed to rake in $37 million in payments, or about three quarters of the annual average received since 2005, according to a World Bank report. 世界银行的一份报告显示，2012年，索马里海盗只获得了3,700万美元的报酬，仅为2005年以来年平均收入的四分之三左右。 ve put a fire blanket over the problem, said Capt. William Nault, the chief of staff for the international naval force taking the lead on counterpiracy patrols in the area. ve raised the cost [analysis] for them. 在该地区牵头反海盗巡逻的国际海军部队参谋长诺特(William Nault)说，我们已经压制住了这个问题，增加了海盗的成本。 Somali piracy bosses, however, have proven nimble businessmen. As piracy profits decreased, they refocused resources on other long-standing illicit operations, including arms smuggling and regions lucrative trade in charcoal made from Acacia trees, according to diplomats and law-enforcement officials in the region who monitor illicit activity. 然而，索马里海盗的老板证明了自己是活络的商人。外交人员和该地区监控非法活动的执法官员说，随着海盗业务的利润下降，他们重新将资源投入到其他长期非法活动中，包括军火走私和该地区利润丰厚的金合欢木炭贸易。 In a report issued to the U.N. Security Council this summer, diplomats watching violations of U.N. sanctions in Somalia provide evidence of alleged links between the Somali businessmen suspected of running the pirate networks and smuggling rings and al-Shabaab. The militant group is battling Somali government forces and African peacekeepers to try to establish a fundamentalist Islamic government. 在今年夏天提交给联合国安理会的一份报告中，外交人员提供了涉嫌经营海盗网络和走私集团的索马里商人被指与青年党有关的证据。这些外交人员关注违反联合国对索马里制裁措施的情况。武装组织青年党正与索马里政府军和非洲维和部队交战，试图建立原教旨主义的伊斯兰教政府。 The U.N. report presents telephone records and other surveillance that links alleged Somali financiers of piracy with business partners in Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the charcoal-smuggling network. 联合国的报告提供了电话记录和其他监听内容，表明被指资助索马里海盗者在木炭走私网络中与伊朗、沙特阿拉伯和阿联酋的商业伙伴有关联。 The report also alleges similar business links between these same actors and weapons smuggling into Somalia. Most weapons sales to Somalia are prohibited under U.N. sanctions, as is the charcoal trade there. 报告还指出，这些人与走私进入索马里的武器也有类似的商业关联。按照联合国的制裁措施，大多数武器都禁止向索马里销售，木炭贸易也是禁止的。 Counterterrorism officials say that the charcoal trade is one of the main avenues that al-Shabaab finances its terrorism operations and pays for the weapons they use to fight the Somali government and African peacekeepers. The business has grown from roughly $30 million a year in the late 2000s to a business now worth an estimated $340 million-$380 million a year, according to the U.N. 反恐官员说，木炭贸易是青年党的主要收入来源之一，青年党以此为其恐怖活动提供资金，并购买武器用于对抗索马里政府和非洲维和部队。联合国数据显示，这项业务的规模上世纪末约为每年3,000万美元左右，现在已经增长至每年约3.4亿至3.8亿美元。 The White House slapped a trade ban on Somali-sourced charcoal in 2012 because of the alleged trade links to al-Shabaab. 2012年，白宫方面以涉嫌与青年党存在贸易关系为由，针对来自索马里的木炭实施贸易禁令。 The U.N. investigators complain that while regional governments understand the threat of terrorism financing, there has been no political will to arrest the men at the top of the Somali crime networks. 联合国调查人员抱怨说，虽然地区政府明白为恐怖主义提供资金的威胁，但政界毫无意愿逮捕索马里犯罪网络的高层。 The majority of recent pirate trials involve men at the midrange of these organizations or foot soldiers suborned into piracy for their sailing knowledge, a regional counterterrorism official said. 一位地区反恐官员说，最近受审的海盗大多数都是这些犯罪网络的中层，或是因其航海知识而被收买从事海盗行为的底层士兵。 U.N. investigators have recommended adding these Somalis to an international sanctions list, and some diplomats argue that they should be prosecuted for sanctions violations or terrorism ties. 联合国调查人员建议将这些索马里人添加到一个国际制裁名单上，一些外交人员认为，这些人应当为违反制裁或与恐怖主义有关联而被起诉。