Piracy: An update
06/10/08 16:38 Filed in: Piracy
In 2008, according to a report published by Chatham House, a London-based independent research institute, Somali pirates have attacked as many as 61 ships.
And some believe the crisis is escalating-- 17 of those attacks occurred in the first two weeks of September.
The latest--the seizure of Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina--has yet to be resolved. On October 6, Fox News reported the pirates will “defend ourselves until every last one of us dies,” a spokesperson for the pirates told the news organization. But, according to Fox, they are also refusing to deal with Islamist insurgents.
“It may come as some comfort to authorities that the group reportedly refused to hand over arms to the al Shabaab group, which opposes Somalia's interim government.”
Isolated as the Gulf of Aden may be from our lives, the events occurring there have repercussions that will be felt globally. The paper published in October by Chatham House details the widespread impact of piracy in Somali, which ranges from affecting the distribution of aid to the funding of terrorism.
“Somali pirates could become agents of international terrorist networks,” the paper (pdf) argues. According to Chatham House’s research, ransom money is funding the war in Somalia and has fallen into the hands of Islamist insurgent groups, such as Al-Shabaab who is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization.
Also of grave concern, particularly in light of widespread famine in Somalia, is the suspension of food deliveries by the World Food Programme to the rapidly-crumbling nation. Moreover, if attacks continue to escalate, ships carrying manufactured goods and oil from Asia and the Middle East may be forced to sail around the Cape of Good Hope rather than risk the Gulf of Aden. (According to the paper, insurance premiums for navigating these dangerous waters have increased tenfold.) This will add significant time and cost to the voyages, which, in turn, could drive up the price of these exports.
On Oct. 8, the New York Times reported negotiations between the pirates and the ship’s owners may be moving forward. The ransom has been reduced to $8 million, according to the article. But Kenyan officials and an unnamed Western diplomat told the Times that the parties still needed to negotiate crucial details before any resolution would be seen.
“For starters, the pirates were asking for guarantees that they would not be captured after releasing the freighter or blown out of the water by the armada of American warships circling them,” Kenyan maritime officials told the Times.
Meanwhile, more evidence has emerged that the stash of arms aboard the Faina were indeed intended for southern Sudan as part of a clandestine arms deal between the independent nation and Kenya, the Times reported.
On Oct. 11, a Times article focused on the escalating crisis in Somalia reported that the pirates are losing patience, and have threatened to blow up the ship if they do not receive their ransom within three days. On land, Somalis are losing patience as well. These attacks, they say, are cutting off aid and starving their children. They dismiss the pirates claims that they are serving as protectors of the Somali coast.
“I pray to God they are caught,” Dhuho Abdi Omar, a mother who was waiting at a feeding center in Afgooye with her 2-year-old girl, who had not eaten for two weeks, told the Times. “These pirates are blocking our food.”
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