Somali Pirates

The following…Based on a National Bestseller, “Dark Star

Safari”

By Paul Theroux

“Relentlessly engaging… Theroux demonstrates how a traveler’s finely wrought observations… sometimes offer the best political and social analysis.” – Washington Post

Where/how did it begin?

Who are the real victims?

What kind of impact has foreign ships had on Somalia?

What is being done?

Questions:

Who are they?

Somali Pirates are Sea Bandits / Coastguards

Living in Somalia, East Africa

They consider themselves Coastguards, not sea bandits.

"We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.” – New York Times, interview of Pirate.

Civil War• 1980 - Under the rule of Siad Barre, Barre

ordered his men to slaughter many innocent Somali civilians

• 1986 - Revolution breaks out against Barre

• 1991 - Siad Barre forced out of power

• Siad Barre exiled, civil war carries on between warlords

• Severe droughts force hundreds and thousands of Nomads to move to the coast, they develop communities.

• They depended on fish as a way of life

• Illegal fishing starts taking place from foreign countries

Battle of Mogadishu

1992 – UN and US troops land in Somalia

1993 – A war broke out between Somalia and the US/UN troops

During a rescue mission, a US helicopter was shot down which killed everyone on board except for Michael Durant who arrived back home as a hero.

This was known as “Black Hawk Down” (theme for the 2001 Black Hawk Down film)

18 US troops killed, 84 wounded

1000-1500 Somali civilians killed

US and UN troops withdrew from Somalia and let the warlords deal with the mess.

Black Hawk Down

2000’s Somalia fishermen defend themselves and their

territory, but so do the illegal fishing ships

2004 – Tsunami washes up evidence on the beaches of illegal toxic waste dumping.

2005 - UN estimated that 700 foreign fishing vessels illegally fish in Somalia waters

2004 TsunamiEvidence of illegal toxic waste dumping in

Somali waters

Barrels are washed up on shore

Millions of fish die

People start getting radiation sickness and die

Toxic waste barrels being removed after 2004 Tsunami.

Dumping continued…With all the waste industrial companies had

created, they found it easier and cheaper just to dump the waste somewhere unnoticeable

Started dumping in most developing countries in Africa

Businesses found this very profitable and found many creative methods of getting rid waste

This was called “Project Urano” developed by Italian businesses

Dumping in SomaliaBUT!.....

Businesses were soon told that they were not allowed to dump waste in the oceans and Africa anymore

They had ships that were designed to sink with all the waste on it

After “Project Urano” failed, industrial companies businesses had developed, “Project Urano II”

Contained information which decided that Somalia would be picked as the new toxic waste dumping site.

Bosaso RoadAfter finding evidence of dumping in Somalia,

more evidence had suggested that more toxic waste barrels had been dumped under the “Bosaso Road”

SomaliaDealt with civil wars, illegal fishing and

dumping

Hit with every “curve ball” possible which has destroyed the countries

The result of these disasters has given Somalia an un-stable government, corruption, pirates and the whole world has turned against them.

PiracyThe illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping

made Somalia's very angry and they had not much choice but to act in a violent way

Targeted oncoming ships (fishing, coast guards, travel, etc.)

Wanted ships to pay some form of tax

Resulted in kidnapping, which lead to rape and murder

Right now…Different countries have struggled to shut

down the pirates

Developed patrols

Increase security on ships (naval and tourist ships)

Tried to avoid them

Final thoughts I really have a lot of sympathy for Somalia

War and illegal activity have destroyed the country and I think it will take a very long time for them to come back from this mess

The things they do (kidnap, rape, murder) are definitely wrong, but before you blame them, before you label them, look back at who started this and who is really to blame

“We’re always too quick to judge an open book, sometimes it pays to read between the lines, a lesson to be learnt only set by the truth.” – Jasmina Siderovski

“Don’t be too quick to judge if you don’t know the whole truth” – JP De Villiers

Work Cited: http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/04/13/us-somalia-pi

racy-qanda-sb-idUSTRE53B20A20090413

http://goafrica.about.com/od/africanews/a/pirates.htm

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ahmed24h/pirates/interview.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCqLNyOSrs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993)

http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/23684-Tsunami-and-the-Nuclear-wastes-in-Somalia