237 F. Ibáñez G./ M. Á. Esteban Analysis of the Somali pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean. The pirates seem to have adjusted their strategy to the presence of the security corridors. They began a series of night-time attacks in May 2009, which had not been common up to that time. Given the lack of results they launched other coordinated ones, at the same time and against various ships, with the aim of mocking the military presence. The Somali maritime domain is a region of pirate activity in decline. While in previous year the attacks had been carried out from skiffs that sailed out from the coast, the utilisation of mother ships as high seas operations platforms has enabled the pirates to spread their activities for hundreds of miles along the coast. This fact, along with the situation of the notable reduction in sailing in the areas near the Somali coast, because of the pirates’ particular actions, has meant that the attacks in the Somalia area have been reduced, but they have not definitively disappeared. In 2010, the Indian Ocean exceeded the Gulf of Aden as the most productive area for Somali pirates for the first time. In that year, 31% of all of the hijacks took place in the Indian Ocean. This turning point was confirmed in 2011: 51% of all of the hijacks took place in the Indian Ocean. The highest number of occasions in which help was received was in 2008, when over 80% of the attacks were concentrated in the Gulf of Aden. The creation of a maritime security corridor means that ships could cross it with a degree of protection that had previously not existed. It is no coincidence that all of the vessels that received help in 2008 were ploughing through the waters of the Gulf of Aden. Neither is it a coincidence that on the 60 occasions on which help was received in that particular year, no fewer than 48 (80%) took place from the time at which the security corridor was set up, that is to say, in little more than four months. Later on, they moved towards other regions, and the Gulf of Aden has had a diminishing role. The strategic objective of the pirates seems clear. Given that the patrols deployed by the international naval presence are achieving their aim of reducing the success rate of the pirates in that region, the attackers sought to make the air and sea forces to widen their radius of action as far as possible. It is hoped that by doing this that the military units would find it harder to carry out a swift and effective response to their attacks, and that if military assistance did come, it would do so with the longest possible delay. The clear fall in the number of occasions on which an attacked ship has received help, since 2009, seems to confirm the success of this strategy. It has been common in the Read Sea area to report incidents with a number of skiffs that is higher than the average. An attack with up to 25 people on board against a ship has been reported. It is likely that the number of incidents reported in the area immediately surrounding the Bab el Mandeb strait, where a higher number of launches and people occupying them is reported, are false alarms, caused by the significant role that smuggling plays there. The main reason why Kenya has become an attractive area for piracy seems to be due to the agreements that Nairobi had signed with various countries and organisations, such as the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and China, being
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