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"Somali piracy lawless, lucrative"



 
 
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Old May 4th, 2008, 05:21 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
Mike[_10_]
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Default "Somali piracy lawless, lucrative"

Somali piracy lawless, lucrative

May 1, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) The spoils of a career as a pirate off Somalia's
coast were simply too good for Abdi Muse to pass up. He bought two
Land Cruisers and a new home, then married two women in one passionate
week.

"I was giving away money to everyone I met," said Muse, 38, who said
he made $90,000 hijacking ships. "After two months, I had no money
left. Can you believe it?"

For years, Somali pirates like Muse have found lucrative work stalking
the country's lawless coast, seizing boats and negotiating ransoms.
But these brazen assailants could soon face more force as the United
States and France muster international support for taking them on.

"This is a very important and serious signal that the nations of the
world take [piracy] seriously," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy.

The United States has been leading international patrols to combat
piracy along Somalia's unruly 1,880-mile coast, the longest in Africa
and near key shipping routes. Now, the U.S. and France are drafting a
U.N. resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates
after a spate of recent attacks, including a Spanish tuna boat
hijacked last month by pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and a
Dubai-flagged cargo ship seized while carrying food to the desperately
poor country.

French officials say they are pushing for a resolution that would make
it easier for armies to swoop into other countries' waters and nab
pirates. The push comes after French commandos freed hostages on a
French tourist yacht seized last month off the coast of Somalia, and
then chased the pirates on land and arrested them.

"The international community must respond and set up a rotating
mechanism to control and keep watch with our naval forces so as to
guarantee the security and protection of all those who fish or sail
through that zone," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos
said.

Many Somali pirates are trained fighters linked to politically
powerful clans that have carved the country into armed fiefdoms;
others are young thugs enlisted to do the dirty work for older, more
powerful criminals, who turn a profit by taking a cut of the ransom
money and selling the ship's cargo.

Pirates often dress in military fatigues and drive speedboats equipped
with satellite phones and Global Positioning System devices. They are
typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and
grenades, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia.

Somalia's already overstretched government welcomed the initiative to
involve international forces in patrolling its pirate-infested coastal
waters. Racked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia
does not have a navy, and the transitional government formed in 2004
with U.N. help has struggled to contain a deadly insurgency.

"These forces could come inside the country if it is needed," said
government spokesman Abdi Hagi Gobdon.

To some pirates, however, the prospect of international force is not
particularly daunting.

"We are not scared of the U.S. troops or any other troops stationed
off our waters. Why should we be scared?" asked Siyad, a Somali pirate
who asked that his full name not be used for fear of reprisals.

"They have weapons, but so do we. And we are the ones with the human
shields," he said, noting that troops are loath to use force because
it risks harming hostages.

The International Maritime Bureau says piracy worldwide is on the
rise, with seafarers suffering 49 attacks between January and March —
up 20 percent from the same period last year.

Nigeria ranked as the No. 1 trouble spot. India and the Gulf of Aden
off Somalia's northern coast tied for second, with each reporting five
incidents. Somalia had 31 attacks involving pirates in 2007 alone,
according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Noel Choong, head of the agency's piracy-reporting center in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, said simple economics can explain much of Somalia's
burgeoning piracy.

"At the end of the day, you hijack a ship, you get paid ransom," Mr.
Choong said. "These pirates aren't frightened because the returns are
so big."

The pirates frequently travel in open skiffs with outboard motors,
often working with larger mother ships that tow them far out to sea.
With an intimate knowledge of local waters, they clamber aboard
commercial vessels with ladders and grappling hooks.

The attackers generally treat their hostages well in anticipation of a
big payday. Shipping companies and foreign governments rarely
acknowledge paying ransom, but recent demands have soared into the
millions of dollars.

"Our motivation is money, so it is not our plan to harm the hostages
we take," Siyad said. "We never agree to release the hostages or the
ship before the ransom is paid in cash."

International terrorism, always a concern in the volatile Horn of
Africa, and particularly in lawless Somalia, does not appear to have a
role in the country's piracy, according to several observers.

"I don't know that there has been a tie. We're not necessarily looking
for one," said Cmdr. Robertson, the U.S. Navy spokeswoman.

Ali Abdi Aware, the foreign-affairs minister in Somalia's
semiautonomous Puntland region, where many of the attacks take place,
said he does not know of any links between piracy and foreign
terrorists. However, he added, the pirates' disregard for law and
order in general "may encourage terrorism."

Siyad said his decision to become a pirate was a matter of survival.
Impoverished and with no job prospects, he saw two options: risk his
life by fleeing Somalia in a leaky boat to the more prosperous
countries across the Gulf of Aden, or join up with pirates who were
flush with cash.

Now, $35,000 richer after hijacking two vessels, including a Japanese
tanker seized in December, Siyad said the best, most profitable choice
was clear.

He plans to use his spoils to try to escape the poverty and
instability of Somalia.

"I want to go abroad using a safe route, using my money," he said.

However, Muse — the pirate who spent all his money in one go — had
second thoughts a few years ago, blaming the easy money for the loss
of his wives and other personal misfortunes.

"I had to sell the house and the cars," Muse said. "I divorced my
wives. I stopped this job after thinking about how it affects our
Islamic religion and our Somali culture."

"Now I work at a private company. I am no longer a pirate," he said.
"I am happy to get a small monthly salary."
 




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