I was shocked. I was perplexed. I was bewildered to say the least!
There are, I mean there is such thing as a somali pirate?
For those of you who are more à jour than me, please don’t laugh of my naiveness, as for those who are just as stunned, these pirates apparently hijacked a french luxury yacht (luckily there were no passengers, apart from the staff) and this is not the first time! They hijacked a cruiseship with passengers back in ‘05. What the heck. It’s not enough to cause havoc on shore, you got to kill and plunder at sea aswell?
Anyway, the infamous pirates have been dealt with. The cartoonist Amin Amir has made a killercartoon over the incident, and many alike, check them out.
5 comments
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April 20, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Aya
I’ve been reading about these ‘pirates’ for a couple of years now. They’re mostly a ragtag group of young guys who prowl the seas for a quick buck. Not much different than all the nationalities that rob the wealth in our waters but on a much meager scale.
April 26, 2008 at 2:49 pm
cigaal
On the ‘pirates’, I happened to listen to a BBC program called seafarers or seven-seas, and the topic was ‘pirates’ in the indian ocean. It had the usual western bias, captains of ships discussing their ordeals in the hands of pirates, how the american navy is now patrolling the sea, etc until a kenyan journalist based in mombasa spoke: very few people know of the thousands of ships of every nationality (spanish, italian, japanese, korean, danish, norwegian, etc) who fish in the somali sea and dock in mombasa.
The last time the norwegian fishing vessels were attempting to fish in the icelandic waters, the two nations almost went to war.
I don’t condone burcadnimo, and this culture of robbing people whether in the sea or land should stop.
April 27, 2008 at 4:44 pm
somalieren
Aya: True, but it doesn’t justify their actions. I mean, we hear about western ships being robbed, but there are countless of somali fishermen and merchants who are victims of these hidious crimes.
Cigaal: First things first, I’ve been meaning to say this for a while, you need to get a blog. It’s not that I am fed up with your comments. By all means, I welcome them with open arms! But I feel that you are a man (I pressume that you’re a guy judging from your name) with a very strong voice and a valuable asset not only to the international cyperspace, but to the somali community in Norway aswell. Get a blog, we need more somali bloggers from Norway!!!
Anyway, indeed, attrocities done by western nations must also be discussed out in the open. It’s not an urban tale that some western companies fish, illegally, in the indian ocean. Nor is it a false accusation and pro-african propaganda, that some corporations dump their waste in the indian ocean. Ths polluting the water and destroying the ecosystems. However, and I sense that you agree on this, one cannot justifiy the wrongs of our people, by claiming that others do just the same.
April 29, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Firefly
“I mean there is such thing as a somali pirate?”
Sure is. Always have been. Don’t you know we used to be a sea-faring (or rather ’ship-jumping’) nation? Along with political disillusion and war-mongering, I guess piracy comes third.
Having said that, I do think ‘Pirates of the Indian Ocean’ has a better ring than the title of the Hollywood swashbuckler.
May 3, 2008 at 3:56 am
pucca
I too was shocked when i first hear about ’somali pirate’ ofcourse having read about the pirates in several history texts…my mind started created a mental image of a somali pirate. Not pretty i tell ya lol. Oh well i say, if pirate they wish to be…then so be it, perhaps then they’ll take to the seas instead of killing innocent somalis…but then again they’d still be killing people in the seas too eh? hmm…oh well.