Stefanie Rumple/12:23pm/3/22/08/ Piracy Alive and Well
Pirates roam the ocean in many areas of the world, not the Captain Jack variety of pirate but a modern version thereof, carrying AK-47s rather than swords. These attacks have been on the decrease overall, but in some areas there has been a recent rise. In the international waters off Somalia, a country in northern Africa on the coast that faces Saudi Arabia and the Middle Eastern bloc, piracy has increased by 14% in recent months. Somalia is in the throes of conflict between two factions at present, one an alliance of warlords calling themselves the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism, and the other, the Islamic Courts Union, which seeks to establish Sharia (Islamic) law in Somalia. Ethiopia has sided with the warlords Alliance, and has only recently removed many troops from Somalia. Meanwhile, the security of their waters from piracy can hardly be a priority while the country is only stable in certain regions and a civil war rages.
A Switzer Korsakov tugboat was seized in February off the coast of one of the more stable regions of Somalia, the northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland controlled by its President Muhammed Musa Hersi. It was released earlier this week with the captain and all hands unharmed after a ransom of $700,000 was paid to its captors. This ransom is lamented as an encouragement to pirates. Piracy often has a huge monetary impact as food aid ships, oil tankers, and merchant ships are taken, and in many cases ransoms are also demanded for the safe return of the crew. In this conflict-torn country, many of the available forms of employment involve taking up the gun, whether as a member of some militia, or alternatively as a pirate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7302687.stm
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