Pirates of Mogadishu3

Before we start let me say; Warriyaa to all my Somali friends who may come to read this. The recent highly publicised taking of the American ship Maersk Alabama by four Somali pirates has served to reignite the piracy debate once again. Particularly since the only surviving “pirate” is merely a highly remorseful eighteen-year-old boy and the others involved paid the highest price for their gamble. Let me add my voice to the deliberation by echoing the question; Are the Somali pirates swashbuckling Robin Hoods or simple commercial terrorists? In order to fully assess the situation one must pose the question of what drove former fishermen to take up arms in the first place. The documentary previewed below delves into the question. It gives a riveting first-person sympathetic story of fishermen driven to crime as a response to the depletion of their seas by foreign toxic waste dumping and fishing vessels.

I know from my research that the pirate headquarters are in Eyl quite far from Mogadishu and also that Warriyaa is street slang and not the proper way to greet one another in Somali. I’m also not naïve; and I believe that some if not most of the pirates are probably now (or will become) greedy lawless criminals who share out the least possible amount portion of their high ransom bounties. Those facts however to do not negate the point that Somalia is a failed state that needs help from us all, and not just opportunistic hungry fishermen gone awry. Stop the demonisation of the nation in trouble.

Also check this interview with K’naan where he sheds a more emotive light on  the Somali pirates as well as this article from Wall Street Journal: Ten things you don’t know about Somali Pirates

Special thanks to Hagi for his input in this post.