Nov 18, 2008

Somalia - quick update

Somali pirates carried the most daring, and probably the largest, pirating operation ever. They hijacked a Saudi oil tanker carrying two million barrels, worth more than a $100 million. The pirates hijacked the ship 450km of the Mombassa, while 150 ships are guarding the Somali coast.

Meanwhile the Somali government is all but collapsed. The entire government and parliament are outside Somalia, with the president and the prime minister accusing one another for the failure of their government. Insurgents have taken most of southern Somalia, except Mogadishu (the control large part of it), Baladwayn and Baidao. The Ethiopian forces are getting ready to leave Somalia.

1 comment:

Matt Davis said...

Hello Abdurahman,

There's more to the story of piracy in Somalia than meets the eye.

An interesting article in the UK Socialist Worker told the story of how piracy operations began to escalate in the early 1990's to counter the overexploitation of fishing stock and the license leading world shipping companies were given to dump toxic wastes by the warlords in return for fees much less than those of European countries.

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=16517

What I'm not so sure about is whether the pirates who bordered the oil tanker are those motivated by frustration and resentment or just plain criminals.

Warmest Wishes,

Matthew Davis