We've all heard of pirates. They have been quite a nuisance since the ocean started being used as a trade route. The problem really no longer exists in the Carribean Sea. You have to watch "Pirates of the Carribean" to catch a glimpse of that classic era of piracy. But, modern day piracy can be found off the coast of Somalia.The pirates sure aren't seeking buried treasure either. According to CNN:
"More than 60 ships have been attacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden this year, compared with about half that many in all of 2007, according to a report released this month by Chatham House, an institute in London, England, that analyzes international affairs.
The report found that the $18 million to $30 million in ransoms paid this year for pirated ships is helping finance the civil war in Somalia.Al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group that is waging a bloody battle for control of Somalia, is reported to be among groups receiving ransom money from pirates."(END OF EXCERPT) Read the rest here: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/10/29/somalia.pirates/index.html
It's not just the fact that we are dealing with terrorism in these cases of piracy. It has also posed a huge humanitarian issue as well. There is some really great coverage on both of these issues in TIME magazine. Here's an excerpt:
"For Somalia, it was just another long weekend of mayhem. Shortly after midnight on Friday, Nov. 7, pirates seized a Danish cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden; on Saturday night an aid worker was shot and killed as he walked home from evening prayers in a village 270 miles (435 km) from Mogadishu; on Sunday, fighting between insurgents and African Union peacekeepers left at least seven dead in the capital, and a senior government official was killed in the south of the country; and in the early hours of Monday, bandits crossed the border into Kenya, where they kidnapped two Italian nuns. Somalia is not so much a failed state as a didn't-even-try one. It hasn't had a government since 1991, when warlords took over and embarked on a series of intractable clan wars that have produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises: hundreds of thousands dead and 3 million people desperately in need of aid." (END OF EXCERPT) Read the whole article here:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858874,00.html?imw=Y&loomia_si=t0:a16:g12:r1:c0.292138:b19717065&xid=Loomia
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