Somalia's Top Pirate Leader Given A Diplomatic Passport By Somalia's President

Wikimdia Commons

Exclusive: Somali Pirate Kingpins Enjoy "Impunity" - U.N. Experts -- Yahoo News/Reuters

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's president has shielded a top pirate leader from arrest by issuing him a diplomatic passport, according to a United Nations investigation which criticizes the "climate of impunity" enjoyed by pirate kingpins in Somalia and abroad.

The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia said in a report to the Security Council, seen by Reuters, that senior pirate leaders were benefitting from high level protection from Somali authorities and were not being sufficiently targeted for arrest or sanction by international authorities.

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Update: Somehow The Man Described As A 'Founding Figure' In Somali Piracy Has Got Himself A Diplomatic Passport -- Business Insider

My Comment: The corruption in Africa just astounds me.

Warships Off Somalia Are Filling Up With Somali Pirates

Arrests: A U.S. military team pulls suspected pirates from the sea and takes them back to USS Ashland. Photo from The Daily Mail

Warships Fill Up With Pirates After Kenya Balks -- Seattle PI/AP

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Somali pirates scooped up by U.S. and European warships are sitting in legal limbo on the high seas. Bringing them to the lawless Somali capital for trial is not an option and Kenya says it won't take any more, though diplomats wonder if the government in Nairobi may be trying to wring more cash from the international community.

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My Comment: Kenya wants more money with what was once a minor problem now becoming a flood. Our soft and confusing approach to stopping Somali piracy has resulted in an environment in which the Somali pirates now feel that there are no consequences for their actions on the high seas. The worse case scenario that they could envision would be to be arrested and put into a brig that will guarantee them fresh clothes and food .... with the distant possibility that they may be repatriated to a Western country that may (in the end) give them refugee status.

Considering where they are coming from .... if I was living there I would also be inspired to be a Somali pirate.

So Much For The Argument That Somali Pirates Protect The Fishing Grounds Off Their Coast

Scourge of the Indian Ocean (Image: Mohamed Dahir/AFP/Getty Images)

Somali Pirates Hold Science To Ransom -- New Scientist

SOMALI pirates terrorising the Indian Ocean are a hazard to more than shipping and tourists. They are also killing important scientific research and may be indirectly damaging the ocean's ecosystem.

Fishing boats in the Indian Ocean routinely carry scientists who gather data about fish stocks and threatened species while ensuring that boats comply with fishing rules. The piracy threat has put a stop to that. "We can't monitor and we can't do experiments because of the pirates," says Laurent Dagorn of France's Research Institute for Development (IRD).

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My Comment: For the past two years I have been reading stories about how many of the Somali pirates are actually fishermen who were driven to piracy for a living .... while this is probably true it is also true that these pirates are now exacerbating a terrible problem in the industry that they are claiming they are saving.

Exclusive Interview: Pirate On When To Negotiate, Kill Hostages

From The Danger Room:

For his story on the economics of Somali piracy, Wired contributing editor Scott Carney spoke to one of the ocean-going hijackers. They talked about how to negotiate a ransom, when to kill a hostage and how to avoid the Navy. Here’s the uncut version of that interview:

What was your job before you start this one, or what forced you to become a pirate?

Every government in the world is off our coasts. What is left for us? Nine years ago everyone in this town was stable and earn[ed] enough income from fishing. Now there is nothing. We have no way to make a living. We had to defend ourselves. We became watchmen of our coasts and took up our duty to protect the country. Don’t call us pirates. We are protectors.

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My Comment: A chilling interview. These are murderous thugs .... but for some reason international governments want to treat them with kid gloves.

Is Being a Somali Pirate Profitable?

Pirates in a speedboat approach their mother ship off Eyl in Somalia

Pirate Commander: 'How I Made My Fortune' -- SKY News

As bandits continue to terrorise shipping off the coast of Somalia, a pirate has claimed he was forced into a life of crime - but has made a fortune from it.

Speaking before the kidnapping of US sea captain Richard Phillips, Yassin Dheere said he had lost track of the money he has made since taking to piracy five years ago.

The 39-year-old, dressed in expensive-looking traditional robes and holding an AK-47, said he was born in a notorious pirate stronghold in Somalia.

"I was born in Eyl town and I used to be a fisherman," he told the Reuters news agency.

"I was forced to hijack foreign ships after the central government collapsed.

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More News On Somali Pirates

"I'm a successful Somali pirate" -- Reuters
Somali pirates "smell money" as good times return -- Reuters

Somali Pirates -- A Photo Album

Commandos from French frigate Le Floreal arrest nine Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden in this January 27, 2009 photo released on Wednesday by the French Navy. As foreign navies fight increasingly brazen gangs that hijack commercial vessels in busy shipping lanes. France has captured 57 pirates in seven such operations since last April. (HO/Reuters)

WNU Editor: Boston.com has compiled an excellent collection of pictures that relate to the piracy problem in Somalia. It will be worth the time to browse through it, and ot see the face of the enemy.

Hat Tip: Neptunis Lex

From Boston.com:

Somali pirates continue their attacks against international ships in and around the Gulf of Aden, despite the deterrent of stepped-up international naval escorts and patrols - and the increased failure rate of their attacks. Under agreements with Somalia, the U.N, and each other, ships belonging to fifteen countries now patrol the area. Somali pirates - who have won themselves nearly $200 million in ransom since early 2008 - are being captured more frequently now, and handed over to authorities in Kenya, Yemen and Somalia for trial. Collected here are some recent photos of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and the international efforts to rein it in. (30 photos total)

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Somali Pirate's Body Washes Ashore With $153,000

This US Navy photo shows a parachute dropped by a small aircraft over the MV Sirius Star during an apparent payment to pirates. Somali pirates have released a Hong-Kong registered cargo ship chartered by Iran which was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in November, Iran's state broadcaster reported on Saturday. (AFP/NVNS/David B. Hudson)

From Yahoo News/AP:

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The body of a Somali pirate who drowned just after receiving a huge ransom washed onshore with $153,000 in cash, a resident said Sunday, as the spokesman for another group of pirates promised to soon free a Ukrainian arms ship.

Five pirates drowned Friday when their small boat capsized after they received a reported $3 million ransom for releasing a Saudi oil tanker. Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.

"One of them was discovered and they are still looking for the other ones. He had $153,000 in a plastic bag in his pocket," he said Sunday.

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My Comment: A fool and his money are always parted. In this case ... a greedy and stupid fool.