Lagos (AFP)
The Mozart was 320 kilometers off the coast of Nigeria when the pirates launched their assault, their boat racing through the waters of the Gulf of Guinea to overtake the container ship.
Armed men climbed aboard, leaving hardly time for the Turkish crew to double-lock themselves in their "citadel", a secure space provided in case of attacks.
For six hours, the pirates used tools found on the ship to force open the security door.
Once the "citadel" was under siege, they killed one of the sailors and kidnapped fifteen of them, which they brought back to dry land in order to obtain a ransom.
This attack, which took place in January, is just one of the many that are recorded each month off the coast of Nigeria.
Piracy has long been a major risk in the Gulf of Guinea, a trade route along the coast of West Africa, from Senegal to Angola.
Shipping carriers say pirates have professionalized and expanded their presence, now attacking ships on the high seas. This is pushing them to call for a strengthened foreign naval presence, like the one deployed ten years ago off Somalia.
"I have lost all my patience", breathes Jakob Meldgaard, the director of the Danish group Torm in charge of a fleet of tankers.
"We have to face the facts, we are no longer in control of the situation."
Last year, more than 95% of kidnappings recorded at sea took place in the Gulf of Guinea, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
- Sophisticated attacks -
The pirates are taking advantage of Nigeria's weak naval capacity and foreign presence in these waters to act with near impunity, Western carriers and military sources tell AFP.
The Mozart example shows how these pirates are not afraid to stay several hours at the scene of the attack, says Munro Anderson, of the maritime security firm Dryad.
"They worked for six or seven hours to force the door," said the chief engineer of Mozart who had managed to escape the pirates during the attack.
The 15 abducted sailors were released in February after three weeks in captivity.
In February, Nigerian pirates also used a Chinese fishing boat as a base to stay offshore longer and attack other boats, according to Dryad.
Faced with these more sophisticated tactics, a change of strategy is needed, plead several lobbies of Danish, Indian and Cypriot carriers.
- A Nigerian problem?
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Piracy in the Gulf of Guinea has its origins in the Niger Delta, in southeastern Nigeria, which is rich in oil but where revenues from black gold have barely benefited local populations.
Extreme poverty has encouraged the development of criminal groups.
Hidden in the mangroves, these gangs, aboard very fast small boats, conduct raids on ships, capture crews, and then demand ransoms.
But piracy is not the only security challenge that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari faces, the country being ravaged by a jihadist insurgency in the northeast and criminal groups in the northwest.
Nigeria recently spent nearly 165 million euros on its "Deep Blue" naval project, investing in surveillance equipment, ships and planes.
Nigeria's maritime agency chief Bashir Jamoh hopes the system will be fully operational by next month, and is pushing for more coordination in the region.
Last year, the country held its first trial under a new special anti-piracy law.
And in January, an attacked container ship was rescued by a Nigerian patrol boat.
The new naval chief of staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Zubairu Gambo, says he wants to take a more aggressive approach and hunt down corrupt officials who collaborate with these gangs.
Nigerians "are better than others in the region, but it is not yet", judges for its part a Western military source.
- An expensive presence -
European states, such as the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal or France, have military vessels that operate in the waters of the Gulf.
Two to three ships patrol there every day.
In November, a Torm group ship was attacked by armed men 320 kilometers off the Nigerian coast.
An Italian frigate took off a helicopter which flew over the ship and scared the pirates away.
But this foreign naval presence is expensive and the Gulf of Guinea seems to be less of a priority for the West than was the Horn of Africa or the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
An increased presence "could certainly reduce piracy, but it also interfered with the sovereignty of countries," said Max Williams, of the maritime security agency ARC.
Above all, it "would not tackle the root causes".
In the Niger Delta, "there is no work, no money, no hope," Fegalo Nsuke, a traditional chief in the region, told AFP.
"Since society fails to provide them with a future, young people see piracy as an escape route."
© 2021 AFP