Somali Pirates Strike Again..

In the twelve months preceding November of 2008, Somali pirates received over $150 million dollars in ransom money. 7 ships have been captured since the beginning of 2009, and 16 ships were captured in 2008.

In the past 24 hours, 2 more tankers were hijacked by the pirates. Armed with machine guns a Norwegian chemical tanker was hijacked on today, off the coast of Somalia, and on Wednesday a smaller Greek vessel was seized in the same area.

Since November of last year, the U.S. Navy has committed ships to try and help monitor things going on over there, but since it is some of the busiest seas in the world, it is a daunting task. The 5th Fleet patrols the Gulf of Aden, said that both of the hijackings took place in the same area, in what are known as some of the most treacherous seas in the world.

The cargo in which each vessel was carrying was not released, but it is known that they are chemical tankers. Due to the fact that the area in which these hijackings keep occurring, is over 750,000 square miles, "This activity highlights the complexity of even trying to monitor an area of this size," according to Cmdr. Jane Campbell. On Wednesday even another ship was almost hijacked, but the crew was apparently able to fight them off with fire hoses.

January and February of 2009 had seen over 10 times as many attacks as in 2008. In March however, there are almost daily attacks. The attacks primarily began in the early nineties when Somali's socialist dictator was overthrown, and they haven't had a functioning government ever since.

I think the pirates actions are absolutely terrifying, and I would be so terrified to even travel through those seas. A simple solution would be not to travel through those waterways, but they are so significant to trade and everything else, that not traveling, isn't nearly an option. I can say, that for the limited resources that the pirates have, they are very successful. With small boats and guns, they are able to take over much larger boats, and I find that rather remarkable. I know what they're doing is terrorizing, but I can say that they are very good at doing what they're doing.




Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_re_af/piracy