Somali Pirates - More than meets the eye

[Luminari]

There is more to this Pirates issue than we are being told:

In 1991, the government of Somalia [...] collapsed. Its 9 million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the U.N. envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no cleanup, no compensation and no prevention.”

During the same time-period, many European crews have invaded Somalia by pushing through their territory with huge ships and looting Somalia’s seas of "their greatest resource": seafood.

Reportedly, more than $300 million worth of lobster, shrimp, tuna, and other sea life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia’s unprotected seas.

The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the men we are calling “pirates” have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coast Guard of Somalia - and it’s not hard to see why.

In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters … We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.”

There is a few threads about this on ATS here is the one I pulled this text from:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread454392/pg1

[iainl140285]

Great post Luminari

As always, it is down to exploitation. They resisted and now they are branded worldwide as pirates

Peace
Iain

[recallone]

Good article. Thanks Luminari
<bump>

[Humble Janitor]

Good point.

If this stuff was happening in American or European waters, the same situation would likely happen. The "pirates" would probably kidnap people and make demands.

When you are backed in a corner, you either fight back or allow yourself to be taken advantage of. The former is always preferable to the latter.

This is to illustrate the plight of the Somalis.

[THE eXchanger]

bump...bump...bump

up it goes ... the truth, being told -- how good is that !!!

[Dantheman62]

I think there's more than one group here. There are those concerned about the dumping of waste and illegal fishing, and then there are the real pirates!
The so called pirates are just that!, pirates!, they don't go after ships dumping waste and illegally fishing, they're going after ships delivering food and humanitarian supplies.
Then what do they do when they take over a ship?, they ask for a nice big ransom and use the cash to support their pirate enterprise!
They're not nice guys who take the ransom and spread it around their country to help the poor! They're scumbag pirates who only care about monetary gain.

[777 The Great Work]

A pirate is someone who Rates Pi ,or understands pi by having 360 degrees of perception,because he has plucked out his right eye, in order to see beyond duality of good and evil. (Patch ADAM S)

His ship, is the ship of life that floats upon the waters, while the rest of the world is in turmoil ,and has drowned beneath the waters of duality. The golden treasure he steals is truth.

Its the story of Noah and all gods in their boats.

[Jacqui D]

Certainly puts a different understanding on things when you hear that Luminari.
Nothing surprises me though, so many lies, secrets and nothing but deceit that's how this earth runs!

[sunflower]

Hearing both sides of the coin has expanded my perception of what's going on off the coast of Somalia. Teaches me not to be so judgemental.

[nivosh]

I would love to see more links about that matter,
if anyone could provide...


thanks.