September
18, 2008: On September 16th, French
commandos rescued two French citizens, who were kidnapped by Somali pirates on
September 2nd as they were sailing the yacht from Australia to France (via the
Suez canal). The rescue operation took ten minutes, and the only casualty was
one of the seven pirates, who was killed. The other six were captured and will
be taken back to France for trial.
France and
the United States have special operations forces (commandos and special
aircraft) stationed next to northern Somalia in Djibouti. French commandos had
raided the pirates to grab 30 French hostages last April. The recent operation
was delayed for two days because of high winds. The French were eager to grab
the yacht before the Somalis could move it to their main base, which is on the
northeast coast, far from Djibouti.
The French
and American commandos in Djibouti can quickly be reinforced, and apparently
the French forces were for both rescue operations. France has let it be known
that French commandoes may be carrying out rescue operations for non-French
ships. That has given the pirates a scare, as they have a justifiable fear of
the commandoes.
