From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Apr 19 2009 - 06:55:59 EDT
The Origin of the Pirates: Some Conquer Earth, Others Conquer Water
A broader look at "The Pirates of the Somali Coast"
By Charlie Ghanem
Epoch Times staff Apr 19, 2009
BEIRUT, Lebanon-American and French naval forces have confronted Somali
pirates recently, and several have been killed. Pirates took vengeance on
April 14 by carrying on their hijacking operations, seizing the Lebanese
ship Sea-Horse with over a dozen sailors onboard. They also hijacked a Greek
ship holding a crew of 22 Filipinos, and 2 Egyptian fishing boats with
around 35 fishermen, as they were crossing the Aden Gulf. In total, over 10
vessels have been hijacked.
The piracy phenomenon has affected both Somali fishermen and businessmen.
Democracy Now printed interviews with fishermen on April 14, telling how
they've been interrogated by the American navy along the coast; helicopters
fly overhead, taking photos with the suspicion that they may be pirates. The
business community has complained that all merchant ships crossing the area
are being checked much more frequently, which makes it hard for them to
conduct business.
A consultant and analyst in Kenya, Mohamed Abshir Waldo, has written a paper
called The Two Piracies in Somalia: Why the World Ignores the Other?,
looking at the root causes of the problem.
The "original" pirates, according to Waldo, "are the foreign trawlers and
vessels who [have been] conducting illegal fishing on the Somali coast"
since 1991. He also says that these same vessels have been dumping
industrial, toxic, and nuclear waste in the water, ruining the Somali coast
life. This was the reason "shipping piracy" emerged.
When the Somali community demanded the vessels to leave the area, they were
met by "pouring boiling water on fishermen, shooting at them, and running
over their canoes and fishing boats," according to Waldo. When they were
again ignored by the international community, and seeing their marine
resources pillaged in a poor country, they had no choice but to fight.
Therefore, they empowered the National Volunteer Coast Guard, which is now
known as "Somali pirates"; while the other "pirates", as Waldo called them,
are now protected by their navies.
Award-winning journalist Johann Hari argues in his paper You Are Being Lied
to about Pirates, that "more than USD 300 million worth of tuna, shrimp,
lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers
illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected sea."
He describes the side-effect the nuclear and toxic waste left on the health
of the coastal population of Somalia: "[They suffered] from strange rashes,
nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the
dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from
radiation sickness and more than 300 died."
The Somali coast is thousands of miles long; toxic waste is dumped in a
different area to where the fishing takes place.
Throughout history, pirates were always the result of poverty and slavery of
powerless people. Hari ends his paper by quoting a pirate from ancient times
who was captured and brought to Alexander the Great. The latter asked him
what he meant by keeping possession of the sea. The pirate responded: "What
you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship,
I am called a robber; while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called an
emperor."
Neither Hari nor Waldo defended the piracy phenomenon. On the contrary, they
both condemned hijacking cargo ships and kidnapping innocent sailors and
fishermen, as well as the Somalis who are taking advantage of the situation.
They argue that only by addressing the root causes can the problem be
solved.
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