Jerry Okungu
30 April 2009
column
Kampala — The pirate story on the coast of Somalia is as intriguing as any fiction that has the power to capture the imagination of mankind. It gets interesting when modern society recalls that the last pirate attacks across international waters were carried out by bandits more than two centuries ago.
Personally, I remember one character, Long John Silver in Treasure Island whenever I hear of the word pirate. That one-eyed, one-legged dagger- wielding monster still haunts my memory to this day.
Hilary Clinton has described the Somali pirate menace as a 19th century crime that needs 21st century solution. What she probably means is that whereas the 19th century bandits used crude weapons to attack ships, the latter day counterparts can afford rocket launchers, AK47 assault guns or even hand grenades.
However, what makes them close cousins to their 19th century sea robbers is their attire and the canoes they use to capture 21st century ocean liners and cargo freights. Having been living in Somaliland for nearly 30 days and mingling with Somali journalists, politicians, businessmen and ordinary citizens including international aid workers, I can confidently state that I have come across interesting issues that are hardly coming out through BBC, CNN or any major Western news network.
Which is interesting, considering that in the whole of Somalia, these networks are considered authorities on local issues. For starters, for some reason, the official government position, the main opposition political parties and Western media seem to be in agreement that Somali pirates are just common criminals using the fishing excuse to justify their crimes.
And to prove its point, the Somaliland government has actually arrested, tried and jailed a few of them in the recent past. However, fresh information that is increasingly becoming available is that since Siad Barre was overthrown from power and lawlessness settled in, big fishing companies from Japan, China and Western Europe made the Gulf of Aden their playground.
They came with huge trawlers, dug deep and took as much of the livelihood of these poor Somali fishermen and destroyed what they couldn't take with them. And because there was no government in power with a national coast guard, the situation went on for more than a decade when fishermen decided to take the law into their own hands.
As the Americans shot dead three pirates and captured one two weeks ago, most Somalis see it as a godsend since the young man will have an opportunity to tell the Somali story. What they want to see is a fair trial in the much acclaimed American judicial system to determine between the Somali "pirates" and international fishing companies who the real criminals are.
Ordinary Somalis do not share the government view that these young men in their 20s are common criminals.
They tend to think that because Somaliland badly needs international recognition, because Ali Sharif, the newly installed Somali president needs acceptance from the international community, the last thing the two presidents would like is to see that they are condoning what the super powers are condemning.
However, assuming that both the government and the opposition parties are right; is it possible that a variety of journalists and aid workers from Mogadishu, Baidoa, Bosaso, Puntland and Somaliland can all be wrong and mistaken? Isn't it worth investigating by the international community, the MI5, the FBI and other international crime agencies to find the root cause of this menace that has made travel rather unsafe on Africa's East Coast?
With a 19-year-old civil war, those who were born the day Barre was overthrown are now young men of 18.
Their women age-mates have become mothers and probably their wives. Growing in a lawless society where survival is 90% by the barrel of the gun means becoming an adult with limited opportunities.
As one aid worker put it to me; the pictures he has taken while in Mogadishu, "Africa's dark corridors", indicate that there is nothing for young men to look for on the land. Hence they have turned to the sea as the only hope for survival; to catch fish and feed their starving families.
Therefore as they wake up every morning to witness another bombing of their shanty villages, as they watch helplessly as multinational fishing boats cart away their only means of livelihood; their last frontier for survival, they resolved to protect what they believe to be truly theirs, with bare hands if necessary. Hence the determination to attack ships of any kind and force them to pay for their cargo!
Yes, they have taken the law into their own hands, which is wrong, but desperate circumstances may call for desperate measures.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
The real pirates today, as centuries before, are largely from Europe and now Japan. Once the Siad Barre's government fell in 1991 Somalia - both the mainland and the coastal waters - became unstable.
But the piracy and the pirates that exploited the instability in Somalia weren't the Somalis. The real pirates came from industrialised countries of Europe and Asia (mainly Japan). These were the ones who illegally overfished the coastal waters of Somalia. And after they were done with over-fishing the turned to damping, with impunity, the industrial waste from their factories, hospitals, and farms.
After the over-fishing deplated most of the fish resources, the toxic waste pollution killed of the rest rendering Somalis ever so poorer and starved without fish resources.
All these happened while the poor and lawless Somalia helplessly watched, unable to stop the criminal impunity.
The Somalis however finally decided to get on the act or at least to fend off the invaders.
But because they is lawlessness naturally the unscruplous gangs filled in the power vacuum by organizing and hiring unemployed and unskilled young Somalis with no economic future to become "pirates". [This is a romantisation of piracy.] The Somali pirates are as exploited as the waters off their costline has been. So as long as there is a unstable and lawless Somalia there will continue to be Somali "pirates" exploited by criminal Somalii gangs.
I would like to thank the author for bringing this day light truth to many more readers of All Africa.
Western medias as usual tell only what they think is "interesting " to their viewers or listeners not the truth... as always "we" vs. "them" ideology i.e. is status quo....mostly this "international water" is (that is if you have seen a video of those "cargo" ships ) 400-500 meters away from the coast of Somalia ...how come??...
these ships are in reality in the Somalian territory and what ever they do they have the protection of NATO and other naval forces like Korean,Indian & of course the French(now they are in NATO)..
If you have a burgler in your house (in this case in your mother land) what would you do??...the pirates action at worse it should be called vigilance!!
Somali HipHop Artist K'Naan on Somali Pirates
THESE GUYS ARE LIKE THE U.S. PATRIOTS OF 1776.
THEY ARE PROTECTING THEIR COUNTRY FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTE
BEING DUMPED IN SOMALI WATERS.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJLlQCe4U]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !!! [http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
Somali HipHop Artist K'Naan on Somali Pirates
THESE GUYS ARE LIKE THE U.S. PATRIOTS OF 1776.
THEY ARE PROTECTING THEIR COUNTRY FROM RADIOACTIVE WASTE
BEING DUMPED IN SOMALI WATERS.
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTxJLlQCe4U]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie “Coach Carter ”]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesn’t Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Won’t Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
It’s Not Just In Some Of Us; It’s In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE – BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WON’T STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
TRUTHSEEKERS MOUNT UP !!! [http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com]
Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6
These pirates are a drain on the Somali people as are the fake govts that are nothing but clan based. One can only avoid blame for a period of time until reality knocks. And you know what, it is wake up time. It can not be anyone elses fault but the clan, islamists and the governments implanted by others. All this lawlessness must be stopped even if it means hitting the coast line where the pirates operate. Then the Somali people should take control of their destiny and build a nation based on law once these gangesters are eliminated.
Common sense dectates the least that can be done is get rid of these thugs.
See all comments (6).
Active Discussions: Desperate Situations Call for Desperate Measures