Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

[evanovitch]

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Assailants fired mortar shells at Mogadishu airport as a plane carrying a U.S. congressman took off, a police officer said. The plane departed safely, but 19 Somalis from surrounding residential areas were reported injured.

U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, chairman of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa, was briefed before he left on the perils of visiting the lawless Somali capital described as one of the most dangerous places in the world, a State Department spokesman said. The U.S. Embassy in Kenya confirmed his safe arrival in Nairobi later Monday.


<span style="font-weight: bold">glad to hear dat di captain been rescued...but it was to be expected dat the ragtag YOUNGSTERS dat mek up di pirate pack would be no match to US Navy Seals....sorta onesided really....as one report said an i have neva heard it repeated, the surviving pirate is too young fi dem even tink of charging him...but dat was juss a radio report lass nite wich nobody naw tek up fi mention again.... </span>

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

It is asid that he is about 16.
Now i know what black congressmen is used for.
So that they can be sent to places like these inder crcumstances like these.

[evanovitch]

Re: Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It is asid that he is about 16.
Now i know what black congressmen is used for.
So that they can be sent to places like these inder crcumstances like these. </div></div>

actually Doc he went against the advice of the State Dept...matta of fak,i watched a debate re why he felt he had to go in the fuss place...he went due to his sitting on the African Affairs committee r wateva...some feel dat in dis climate, smaddy like him should leave any such trips to the diplomats.....but u done know dat free trips at taxpayers' expense r neva refused by ANY sitting memba...wedda in di Senate r di House

[evanovitch]

Where will captured Somali pirate get justice?


By Warren Richey | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the April 13, 2009 edition

The high profile of the case suggests a trial in the United States, but the Justice Department might be wary of bringing the young suspect into the American court system.

Justice Department officials are examining a trove of evidence against the lone surviving Somali who allegedly helped hold an American captain for ransom off the coast of Somalia.

With a host of potential witnesses – the crew who retook the Maersk Alabama after the pirates boarded the ship, the crew of the destroyer USS Bainbridge which shadowed the pirate lifeboat, and Capt. Richard Phillips himself – the evidence against the alleged Somali pirate is likely to be particularly strong, analysts say.

The case offers President Obama an opportunity to punctuate the Navy's swift military response Sunday with an equally bold legal response – by affording the Somali suspect the full protections of a United States court of law. The concern is that aggressive US defense lawyers might tie up the case in a flurry of motions – <span style="font-weight: bold">including questions about the suspect's potential status as a minor</span>.

&quot;Everyone agrees that pirates are bad, but the issue is what are you going to do with them,&quot; says Michael Passman, a lawyer with the Chicago firm Cassiday Schade and author of articles on piracy and the law.

Justice Department officials declined to comment Monday on the status of the case, and whether the suspect would eventually be sent to the US for trial. One matter that could complicate the case is the pirate's age. <span style="font-weight: bold">Defense officials estimate that all four alleged pirates were between the ages of 17 and 19.</span> Under international and US law, younger defendants are generally not held to the same level of culpability as adults. <span style="font-weight: bold">Proving the precise age of the suspected pirate may be difficult, given the level of disorder in Somalia.</span>

<span style="font-style: italic">The high profile of the case, however, would make it unusual for the Obama administration to pass it on to Kenya</span>, which has agreed to prosecute piracy cases in the Horn of Africa region, analysts say.

<span style="font-weight: bold">Until last week, no US ship, sailor, or citizen had been targeted by Somali pirates</span>, who redirect largely defenseless merchant ships to the Somali coast and begin multimillion-dollar ransom negotiations.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">This was the first US-flag ship captured by pirates in a very long time,&quot; </span>says Mr. Passman of Cassiday Schade.

The fact that the Maersk Alabama was a US-flag ship with an American crew and captain may tip the balance toward a US trial rather than a Kenya trial, analysts say.

&quot;This is a case where the evidence of holding hostage an American citizen was available for the whole world to see,&quot; says James Gathii, an international-law professor at Albany Law School in New York and an expert on the Kenya justice system.

Professor Gathii says the Kenya court system is up to the challenge of prosecuting suspected pirates, <span style="font-weight: bold">but he says he believes strong public interest will result in a US trial. </span>

&quot;The problem the Department of Justice and Department of Defense might fear is the fact that a trial in the United States – unlike in Kenya – would mean the defendant would have high-flying attorneys who are likely to raise all sorts of defense motions and arguments about evidence,&quot; he says.

<span style="font-weight: bold">But a US trial would send positive signals to Kenya, Malaysia, and other countries that have taken firm steps against would-be pirates, says Passman. It would show that the US is willing to use its own legal system in the fight.</span>

In January, Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States and the United Kingdom agreeing to prosecute suspected pirates in local courts under Kenyan law. The action helped resolve potential jurisdiction issues.

In 2006, a Kenyan court convicted 10 Somali citizens of piracy in the hijacking of an Indian dhow. In that case, the US Navy came to the rescue of the dhow crew, captured the suspected pirates, and transferred them to Kenya for trial. Each was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Following the January agreement, both the US and the European Union have turned over a second and third group of suspected pirates to the Kenyan court system.

[jah_yout]

Re: Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It is asid that he is about 16.
Now i know what black congressmen is used for.
So that they can be sent to places like these inder crcumstances like these. </div></div>

actually Doc he went against the advice of the State Dept...matta of fak,i watched a debate re why he felt he had to go in the fuss place...he went due to his sitting on the African Affairs committee r wateva...some feel dat in dis climate, smaddy like him should leave any such trips to the diplomats.....but u done know dat free trips at taxpayers' expense r neva refused by ANY sitting memba...wedda in di Senate r di House </div></div>

do you really think somalia is a hot tourist destination?
not!
he may have felt some special need but these guys will only see him as an american- 'black' or not...

[evanovitch]

Re: Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jah_yout</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It is asid that he is about 16.
Now i know what black congressmen is used for.
So that they can be sent to places like these inder crcumstances like these. </div></div>

actually Doc he went against the advice of the State Dept...matta of fak,i watched a debate re why he felt he had to go in the fuss place...he went due to his sitting on the African Affairs committee r wateva...some feel dat in dis climate, smaddy like him should leave any such trips to the diplomats.....but u done know dat free trips at taxpayers' expense r neva refused by ANY sitting memba...wedda in di Senate r di House </div></div>

do you really think somalia is a hot tourist destination?
not!
he may have felt some special need but these guys will only see him as an american- 'black' or not...
</div></div>

am confused...who in dis climate eva wud read Somalia an tink tourism

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Mortars fired as U.S. lawmaker leaves Somalia

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: evanovitch</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It is asid that he is about 16.
Now i know what black congressmen is used for.
So that they can be sent to places like these inder crcumstances like these. </div></div>

actually Doc he went against the advice of the State Dept...matta of fak,i watched a debate re why he felt he had to go in the fuss place...he went due to his sitting on the African Affairs committee r wateva...some feel dat in dis climate, smaddy like him should leave any such trips to the diplomats.....but u done know dat free trips at taxpayers' expense r neva refused by ANY sitting memba...wedda in di Senate r di House </div></div> It;s a ruse, they just wanted it to look that way. That's how the deplomatic stragy works. Alwya paont one picture while doung the real act under cover.

[evanovitch]

Pirates take 22 more RP sailors as hostage

Pirates take 22 more RP sailors as hostage

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:34:00 04/15/2009

ATHENS—Somali pirates on Tuesday took 22 crewmen from the Philippines hostage when they hijacked a Greek cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, Greece’s merchant marine ministry said.

The MV Irene, a Greek-operated vessel flagged in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, belonged to Chian Spirit Maritime Enterprises Ltd, based in the Greek port of Piraeus, it said.

Its seizure is the ninth hijacking in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean since the start of the month and follows a vow by pirates to seek revenge after an American military operation that rescued a US captain.

[evanovitch]

Pirate chief threatens to take revenge


Mogadishu - A Somali pirate chief threatened to target Americans in revenge for the rescue of a US captain in an operation that killed three pirates under his command, in comments to reporters on Monday.

&quot;The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom, but I tell you that this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters,&quot; Abdi Garad told AFP by phone from the pirate lair of Eyl.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">It is never the end of the world and we will intensify our attacks even reaching very far away from Somalia waters, and next time we get American citizens I wish they will expect no mercy from us.&quot;</span> - Sapa-AFP

[evanovitch]

Somali pirates on hijack spree since weekend

… By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer Elizabeth A. Kennedy, Associated Press Writer – 9 mins ago

MOMBASA, Kenya – Somali pirates were back to business as usual Tuesday, defiantly seizing four more ships with 60 hostages after U.S. sharpshooters rescued an American freighter captain. &quot;No one can deter us,&quot; one bandit boasted. The freed skipper, Richard Phillips, will return home to the United States on Wednesday, after reuniting with his 19-man crew in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, according to the shipping company Maersk Line Ltd.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The brigands grabbed more ships and hostages to show they would not be intimidated by President Barack Obama's pledge </span>to confront the high-seas bandits, according to a pirate based in the Somali coastal town of Harardhere.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">Our latest hijackings are meant to show that no one can deter us from protecting our waters from the enemy because we believe in dying for our land</span>,&quot; Omar Dahir Idle told The Associated Press by telephone. &quot;Our guns do not fire water. I am sure we will avenge.&quot;

On Monday, Obama vowed to &quot;halt the rise of piracy&quot; without saying exactly how the U.S. and allies would do it.

The pirates have vowed vengeance for five colleagues slain by U.S. and French forces in two hostage rescues since Friday.

&quot;The recent American operation, French navy attack on our colleagues or any other operation mean nothing to us,&quot; said Idle, 26, whose gang holds a German freighter with 24 hostages.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The pirates say they are fighting illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters but have come to operate hundreds of miles from there in a sprawling 1.1 million square-mile danger zone.</span>

The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, said he takes the pirates' threats seriously, but &quot;we're very well prepared to deal with anything like that.&quot; Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke on ABC's &quot;Good Morning America.&quot;

After a lull at the beginning of the year because of rough seas, the pirates since the end of February have attacked 78 ships, hijacked 19 of them and hold 16 vessels with more than 300 hostages from a dozen or so countries.

Pirates can extort $1 million and more for each ship and crew. Kenya estimates they raked in $150 million last year.

A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted many attacks but say the area is so vast they can't stop all hijackings.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is the shortest route from Asia to Europe and one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, crossed by more than 20,000 ships each year. The alternative route around the continent's southern Cape of Good Hope takes up to two weeks longer at huge expense.

In an unusual nighttime raid, pirates seized the Greek-managed bulk carrier MV Irene E.M. before dawn Tuesday. Hours later, they commandeered the Lebanese-owned cargo ship MV Sea Horse.

On Sunday or Monday, they took two Egyptian fishing trawlers. Maritime officials said the Irene carried 21 to 23 Filipino crew and the fishing boats 36 fishermen, all believed to be Egyptian. A carrier the size of the Sea Horse would need at least a dozen crew, although the exact number was not immediately available.

NATO spokeswoman Shona Lowe said pirates in three or four speedboats captured the Sea Horse off Somalia's eastern coast.

The Irene, flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong of the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau, a piracy watchdog. U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene carried 23 Filipino crew.

A maritime security contractor said the Irene sent a distress signal about a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hijacking.

&quot;They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response,&quot; the contractor said on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue.

The Yemeni Embassy in Washington said its coast guard exchanged gunfire Monday with 14 Somali pirates who had hijacked a 23-foot Yemeni fishing vessel. Its forces freed 13 Yemeni hostages and detained two pirates, while the rest fled on a boat, the embassy said.

The Egyptian boats were taken in the gulf off Somalia's northern coast. Said Mursi, Egypt's ambassador to Somalia who is based in Kenya, said the trawlers probably did not have licenses to fish Somali waters. &quot;From my experience, I think that they were illegally fishing,&quot; he told The Associated Press.

Commercial fishing boats have been illegally harvesting Somalia's rich and varied sea life, including sought-after yellowfin tuna, since the country collapsed into lawlessness in the 1990s. The United Nations estimates the illegal fishing costs the Horn of Africa nation $300 million annually.

The U.N. envoy to Somalia called piracy a &quot;pandemic&quot; and urged the bandits' financial backers to be identified quickly and held accountable.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah praised the action by Washington and Paris, calling it &quot;a strong message&quot; to the pirates and their backers.

Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vt. was steaming Tuesday toward Kenya aboard the USS Bainbridge, where he is being debriefed by FBI officials and maritime experts, said a senior U.S. defense official in Washington. He said the investigators are gathering evidence of what each captor did for possible criminal investigations and to better prepare for future hostage situations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

Phillips will take a chartered flight to meet his family at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., for a private reception, according to Maersk. He was rescued Sunday when U.S. Navy SEALs snipers killed three pirates holding him hostage on a lifeboat, and a fourth surrendered. Phillips had been held captive for five days after exchanging himself to safeguard his crew during a thwarted hijacking of the Alabama by the pirates last week.

The pirates who attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

&quot;Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons,&quot; Gates said in a speech at the Marine Corps War College. &quot;Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that.&quot;

Most ships are hijacked without a shot fired. Freed hostages report being treated well.

The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coast and launching a campaign to disable pirate &quot;mother ships,&quot; according to military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.

U.S. officials are considering whether to bring the fourth pirate involved in the Alabama attack to the United States or turn him over to Kenya for prosecution. Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law.

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Pirate chief threatens to take revenge

You sure ut was nit Usama?/ That sound familiar too me,but only him has been able to issue threats and survive this long.

[evanovitch]

Bail out Somalia to curb the pirates?

Bail out Somalia to curb the pirates?
<span style="font-weight: bold">Obama, like pre-9/11 Bush, may scorn nation-building. But can the US afford not to do it?</span>
By the Monitor's Editorial Board
from the April 14, 2009 edition


It would be easy to hope, after Sunday's dramatic rescue in the Gulf of Aden, that heroic ship captains, Navy Seal sharpshooters, and an armada of foreign warships will somehow contain pirates off Somalia or keep that anarchic land free of Al Qaeda-friendly Islamists.

<span style="font-weight: bold">But a bit of history:</span> In the early 19th century, it took America and Europe nearly 30 years to defeat the Barbary pirates off the coast of northern Africa, relying on horrific battles and eventually imperialist conquest.

So it's unlikely that President Obama, occupied with two wars and costly &quot;nation-building&quot; at home, wants to get to the root of the piracy problem by fixing the failed state of Somalia with an invasion, occupation, or oodles of foreign aid.

And yet, Somali pirates still hold captive more than 200 foreign sailors and more than a dozen ships. American crew members on passing cargo ships might now be particularly targeted in retaliation for the killing of the three pirates.

What's more, Mr. Obama's defense secretary, Robert Gates, cites weakly run countries as a major threat to the US. In a speech last October, he said: &quot;The security of the American people will increasingly depend on our ability to head off the next insurgency or arrest the collapse of another failing state.&quot;

Mr. Gates calls for &quot;enlightened counter-measures&quot; to bolster vulnerable states that harbor violent networks. <span style="font-weight: bold">And this week, after the rescue of the kidnapped Capt. Richard Phillips, he went further to say there is &quot;no purely military&quot; solution to Somalia &quot;unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids.&quot; </span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Yes, kids.</span> The pirates were 17 to 19 years old. While they were greedy for a $6 million ransom, <span style="font-weight: bold">they came from poverty and a clannish community resentful of the way that foreign ships have overfished and polluted Somalia's coastal waters. </span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">Somalia's internal chaos, famine, and wars have boggled four presidents since 1992</span>. The US military's 1993 retreat from the capital, Mogadishu, was one reason George W. Bush scorned the idea of nation-building – until 9/11 pushed him to think he might try it in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Obama has already decided to wind down US involvement in Iraq and devised a plan to eventually turn over Afghanistan to others. Those are clues to his likely action toward Somalia: Only assert US leadership in order to create a coalition of other nations and groups to solve the problem.

That's a difficult calculation – knowing when a distant threat can be contained or whether to use sufficient resources to avert an attack on Americans, either at home or abroad.

<span style="font-weight: bold">The Pentagon's 2008 national defense strategy called for &quot;building up the capacity of fragile or vulnerable&quot; areas to prevent a haven for terrorists, arms smugglers, and drug merchants (and now pirates).</span>

<span style="font-style: italic">But for now, Obama sees the threat from Somalia as largely a law-enforcement problem.</span> After Sunday's rescue, he said, &quot;We have to ensure that those who commit acts of piracy are held accountable for their crimes.&quot;

He may have decided, based on the Iraq war, that America first needs to spend its money and energy at home preventing economic and social collapse. After all, only when Rome was weak were the barbarians able to enter.

But without US leadership, it's unlikely that Europe or the United Nations will do more than support beefing up the international naval presence off Somalia's coast. Obama still needs to keep probing for new ways for all concerned parties to solve, or at least better contain, this thorny problem.

Or, as Gates admits, &quot;All I can tell you is I am confident we will be spending a lot of time in the situation room over the next few weeks trying to figure out what in the world to do about this problem.&quot;

[evanovitch]

Will pirates join forces with Islamist militias in Somalia?


Johannesburg, South Africa - The four-day hostage ordeal, with Somali pirates holding a US merchant ship captain in a lifeboat, ended in a hail of sniper fire Sunday and the safe return of the captain to his crew.

But the twin rescues this past week by the French and American navies off Somalia are unlikely to end the problem of piracy. Quite the opposite, say analysts. The pirates, they say, are likely to increase their use of violence, and that could lead them into the arms of Somalia's small but powerful Islamist militias for protection and support.

As the crew of the Maersk Alabama celebrated the return of Capt. Richard Phillips Sunday, Somalia's radical Islamists praised the dead or captured pirates as mujahideen, or &quot;holy warriors.&quot; Meanwhile, self-described pirates told reporters by cellphone that they would be more violent with hostages next time.

&quot;Every country will be treated the way it treats us,&quot; Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding a Greek ship in the central Somali port of Gaan, told the Associated Press by phone. &quot;In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying. We will retaliate for the killings of our men.&quot;

Even Vice Adm. William Gortney, head of the US Naval Central Command, told a Pentagon press briefing Sunday, &quot;This could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it.&quot;

Escalation could radicalize pirates

With 2.5 million square miles to patrol, even the navies of 16 nations (including the US, NATO, India, France, China, and Iran) have only just begun to come to grips with the problem of Somali piracy. It is a relatively new phenomenon, the result of a complete breakdown of law and order, and of the country's economy. Hundreds of Somali fishermen and criminal gangs have gone out to the open seas for the only source of income they can find, taking and holding hostage the largely unprotected commercial ships that pass through Somali waters on their way into and out of the Suez Canal to ports beyond.

Short-term solutions, such as the current foreign naval maneuvers, may rescue ships on the high seas, but the only longer-term solution is full restoration of a stable Somali government, most experts agree. In the meantime, foreign naval operations can cause as many problems as they solve.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">The fact is that the Somali pirates had a code of conduct, although it sounds funny to people outside of Somalia to hear that,&quot;</span> says an official with Ecoterra International, a nongovernmental organization that works with the Somali fishing community on sustainable fishing practices. It also made good business sense to keep hostages alive. More than 200 mariners are still being held by Somali pirates. To date, there have been few instances of hostages being seriously harmed by pirates. But if pirates are pushed into a corner by foreign navies, they might become more ready to shoot.

&quot;<span style="font-weight: bold">We fear that this escalation spiral, which we've seen in the past few months, will push the pirates into a readiness to shoot,&quot; </span>says the Ecoterra aid official. <span style="font-weight: bold">&quot;I foresee this will push some groups which use violence, and radicalize them. It could also encourage some Somali fundamentalists to take over the modus operandi of the pirates&quot; and take on Western commercial shipping vessels as political targets</span>

Decision to fire on pirates

Following just days after a similar French military rescue mission of a French yacht, in which the French commandos killed two Somali pirates, along with the yacht's captain, the US Navy rescue mission had all the drama of a Hollywood movie.

Admiral Gortney told a Pentagon briefing that the commander of the ship gave the order to Navy SEAL snipers to kill the three Somali pirates, after negotiations with them broke down. The lifeboat was within 100 feet of from the USS Bainbridge at the time, and was effectively in tow.

Admiral Gortney defended the decision at the Pentagon briefing. &quot;He [Captain Phillips] had a weapon aimed at him; that would be my interpretation of imminent danger,&quot; said Gortney.

But unlike the 19th-century gunboat policies of Britain and the US, which stamped out the Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean or the pirates of the Caribbean, foreign naval operations off Somalia are unlikely to bring long-term solutions – nor are they designed to. The areas in which the pirates operate are too large to be patrolled effectively.
<span style="font-weight: bold">
Somali government stopped piracy, then went into exile</span>

Largely ungoverned since the fall of the government of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia today is mostly under the control of a collection of warring Islamist militias. Its government-in-exile, led by a moderate Islamist leader, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has vowed to contain piracy if it achieves full control of the country. Under the brief tenure of the Islamist Courts Union government in 2006, Somali piracy was, indeed, cut back nearly to zero.

But more radical Islamist groups, among them Al Shabab, which reportedly has ties with Al Qaeda, have recently praised pirates. <span style="font-weight: bold">In Baidoa, Al Shabab spokesman Muktar Robow &quot;Abu Mansur&quot; told reporters that pirates were &quot;protecting the Somali coast</span>.&quot;

&quot;Foreign powers want to divide the country,&quot; he said, &quot;and the pirates are protecting the coast against the enemies of Allah.&quot;

<span style="font-weight: bold">Al Qaeda-linked group could join piracy fight</span>

&quot;Given that people tend to look for opportunities to amass wealth, and that in the past year ransoms have ranged from $50 million to $100 million for a single ship, piracy is likely to continue,&quot; says Iqbal Jhazbhay, an expert on Somalia at the University of South Africa in Tshwane, as Pretoria is now called.

Like most other experts, <span style="font-weight: bold">Jhazbhay says there is no current link between Islamist groups and pirates</span>, the latter primarily composed of criminal gangs with no political ambitions other than making money – although the Monitor reported in December that some of that money is flowing back to Islamists. But with so many Western naval ships off the coast, radical Islamist groups such as Al Shabab, could turn to high-seas piracy as a means for striking Western – and especially American – interests and to bring on a confrontation with the West.

<span style="font-weight: bold">With the French and American rescue missions, commercial shippers have been forced toward a turning point.</span> &quot;The signal has been sent that the old approach of pay ransom and move on ... isn't going to work anymore,&quot; says Mr. Jhazbhay. &quot;The danger is that if Al Shabab want to dramatize the situation and bring another 'Black Hawk Down,' then it's likely to see that approach more often. It all depends on what the Islamists want to do next.&quot;

[britisha]

Re: Will pirates join forces with Islamist militias in Somalia?

Hahahaha; they make me laugh. Laawd, mek a hold mi last word...bout revenge, odda peeps noh cyaaan haff di same eye for an eye mentality? **Kissteet**

[jah_yout]

Re: Will pirates join forces with Islamist militias in Somalia?

america wants to blockade a small country like cuba and tell them they must do what america wants, yet send their navy after some men who are doing the same thing around their coast...


talk about hypocrisy