Somalian Pirates

Piracy: The practice of attacking and robbing ships at sea.

A lone freight ship chugs through the tropical waters of the Gulf of Aden. The captain sits in the bridge over seeing everything around him. Spontaneously, two grappling hooks appear over the side of the ship. The lines grow taught as their owners clamber up. Ten Somalians present themselves, bearing kalishnikovs. Rounds are fired in the air and the freight crew is at the mercy of these savage, desperate Somalians.

Unfortunately in the gulf of Aden alone thousands of hostages have been taken by the pirates. In 2o1o there were 1181 hostages taken and millions of dollars had to be paid to their captors for their release. An oil super tanker can be held for a ransom fee of up to twenty five million dollars. In the past, pirates have captured grenade launchers, piles of ammunition, and war tanks; these were ransomed for an astonishing thirty million dollars (click here).

These pirates have costed governments and businesses millions of dollars and countless human lives. The United States Navy has been very prominent in the gulf of Aden. Recently foreign aid workers were captured by pirates and held hostage. They have been imprisoned for three months and the US Navy Seals seeing a window of opportunity chose to take the Dane and the American back to safety. The full high octane story can be read here.

The Somalian government would like to stop these pirates but it has enough problems without the pirates. Government is something that Somalia isn't used to and order is barely enforced in it's capital city of Mogadishu. These pirates are desperate and unstoppable. The US army may stop a few pirates but there are always going to be new ones to take their place.