Somalia: where it's talk like a Pirate Day every day!
Drakken the AwfulArrh, Mateys. Today is official Talk Like a Pirate Day.
And when I hear pirate I think SOMALIA!
To tell you the truth I have been laying off Somalia's pirates lately. It's kind of like Pakistan - the more I was reading the more p o'd I was becoming and the more I was wanting someone to go in and just annihilate the whole bunch of them. Not a good thing. So I thought it would be better if I just took a little break from them instead. I'm sure you can see my point. BUT! After visiting the Pirate Name Generator and getting my new pirate moniker, DRAKKEN the AWFUL, I'm feeling like taking the scurvy bastards on again.
Good thing. They've been busy.
Hong Kong and Greek ships hijacked near Somalia
Armed pirates hijacked two ships carrying a total of 50 crew members off the coast of Somalia on Thursday, a maritime official said. The attacks bring the number of ships seized in the notorious African waters in the past two months to 14 and indicate pirates may be expanding their area of operation, warned Noel Choong (pirate name, The Magnificent Nose) of the International Maritime Bureau.
-snip-
Fifty-seven ships, including those seized Thursday, have been attacked off the Somali coast this year, most in the Gulf of Aden. The surge in attacks has prompted the U.S. Naval Central Command to establish a security corridor patrolled by an international coalition of warships.
The Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest waterways with some 20,000 ships passing through it each year.
Ship owners and Union appeal to the UN for help. Good luck with that, folks.
International ship owners and a union representing seamen appealed to the United Nations to take urgent steps to combat piracy in Somali waters.
The shipping associations' called for ``real and immediate action against brazen acts of piracy, kidnapping and armed robbery, carried out with increasing frequency against ships in the Gulf of Aden, by pirates based in Somalia.''
"The solution, the industry stresses, is for more nations to commit naval vessels in the area and, crucially, for them to engage effectively, actively and forcefully against any act of piracy, and to intercept and bring to justice the criminals in order to re-establish safety and security to one the world's most strategically important seaways.''
200 sailors are currently being held according to Andrew Mwangura (pirate name Evil Jim Rackham), East African coordinator of the Seafarers Assistance Program.
"The recent seizure of vessels by the pirates who are holding over 200 seamen hostage is the worst in the world and the situation requires global attention," Mwangura said. The coordinator said the alarming increase in Somali pirate activity is being fueled by enormous ransoms being paid for the release of seized vessels and their crew members.
According to Mwangura, on average, ship owners are paying more than 1 million U.S. dollars per vessel. Mwangura said the potential for riches through piracy has lured a legion of poor young men to join various pirate groups that have been operating in Somalia since the fall of the country 's last functioning government in 1991.
"In the past five or six years, there were less than 100 pirates," says Mwangura. "But now, we have information that there are between 1,100 and 1,200 pirates."
There's been no news on the captive Austrian tourists since September 1, 2008.
My man, Nicolas Sarkozy (pirate name Heartless Harry) has the right idea. French hostages rescued in gunbattle A gun battle that was personally ordered by Heartless Harry, himself.
The Islamists deny any and all involvement in piracy. Of course.
Related pirate scum posts here.
|