BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7623329.stm
Hijackings and piracy off the coast of Somalia have been described as epidemic. Pirates seem to have everything under their control, including a safe town to lodge hostages and ties to governments. This problem is only increasing as pirates make more money, recruit more people and scare off more opponents. The article states that even the French government would not go to Eyl to rescue hostages. Another thing that surprises me is how many different country’s ships have been attacked. I wonder what, if anything, would provoke a serious reaction from foreign powers. It is scary the weapons and resources that these pirates have. I think the end of the article illustrates how awful these attacks could become. With pirates targeting oil tankers, a whole new set of potential consequences arises. Do you foresee pirates having the means to hijack an oil tanker? Can anything be done to prevent that from happening? What can be done to make sure that aid ships reach Somalia and aren’t hijacked? Would another method of transporting aid be safer?
P.S. On Tuesday, Stephen Colbert had Rick Reilly as a guest on The Colbert Report to talk about Nothing But Nets. Below is the link to the video.
http://www.nothingbutnets.net/blogs/rick-and-stephen-under-the-net.html
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3 comments:
I was very disturbed after reading this article. From the looks of things it can be easily suggested that both the Somalian and French governments are too afraid to attempt to defeat the pirates. Its obsurd that these hijackers are making $30-$40 million dollars a year from bullying. It appears that it is a network of people to keep this "business" up and running, so why not start with the smaller people and work up towards those running the operations. They say that restaurants are providing food for the hostages; why not find out who is telling them to prepare the food? Its better to start somewhere rather than just letting the pirates get away. Im not sure if they're trying to avoid bloodshed, but there should be no reason to be afraid of the pirates weapons, when the armies have the same and possibly more. I feel like the governments are giving in too easily and are lacking when it comes down to providing security for their people.
I actually read a follow up article about the piracy problem and it hasn't improved. I found it interesting that these pirates are even manipulating governments. It is like they are the "mob" of Somalia with their seemingly unlimited resources and influence. Action obviously needs to be taken, but who? The Somalian government (which is probably corrupted becasue of these pirates) or the countries' whose ships are being attacked?
I agree with Brittany. It makes sense to start at the bottom and work your way up. If the government is corrupt, then why not bring in Canadian, French or other countries' arsenals? Somebody needs to put a stop to the pirating before it gets even more out of control. If they gain control of that gulf region ships will have to find another trade route, but is that even possible? How will supplies get to Somalia and other east coast countries?
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