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| Africa Horn |
| Somali troops storm cargo ship but pirates kill captain |
| 2010-06-03 |
| Soldiers from Somalia's Puntland region stormed a Panama-flagged cargo vessel held by pirates, but gang members killed the captain in the operation, a minister said on Thursday. "Our troops stormed the Panama-flagged vessel and engaged the pirates. There was brief fighting before they defeated them," Said Mohamed Raage, Minister of Ports and Marine Transport, told Reuters. "We arrested seven pirates after they killed the captain of the ship." You'd have done better to say that "No pirates were found aboard the ship" and leave it at that. You'd be heroes. "They were all shot while attempting to surrender ..." Semi-autonomous Puntland is a base for sea gangs targeting the Gulf of Aden, but is more peaceful than the rest of the failed Horn of Africa state. Pirates seized the MV QSM Dubai cargo ship and its 24 crew members from Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Ghana on Wednesday. The 15,220 deadweight tonne vessel was taken inside the internationally recommended transit corridor and had come from Brazil. Raage said the ship was carrying sugar to Bossaso. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #5 There is a lot more money in being a recognized state and the resulting foreign aid then there is in piracy. Plus, you get all of the fancy benefits like diplomatic passports, national banks, and recognized currency with associated printing presses. Also, right now anyway, the West is footing the bill in Kenya for new prisons and courts to try and imprison pirates -- think permanent jobs programs paid for by the West. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2010-06-03 16:18 |
| #4 And Somalialand & Puntland between them represent the whole of the Aden coast which is the new Barbary Coast of "coast guard" piracy. What I was arguing is that this business reeks more than a little of Captain Renault style officious hypocrisy. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-06-03 13:58 |
| #3 Puntland is an autonomous region in central Somalia. The tribes are different than in the south and north. Puntland's tribal leaders have been trying to establish an independent state, and what they have so far isn't too far off the mark. No other state will recognize them, at least not now, but they have a government, a military of sorts, and a currency. Somalialand, the region to the north, is doing the same and is doing even better at it. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2010-06-03 09:29 |
| #2 Um, "Soldiers from... Puntland"? What makes this more than an intermural skirmish between rival bands of pirates? If I'm not mistaken, almost all the pirates call themselves "coast guards" and claim to represent some sort of sovereign power in Somalia or fragment thereof. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2010-06-03 09:16 |
| #1 Since yardarms have fallen from fashion, they should just dangle the pirates over the rails on ropes. Then, after they are 'done', cut the ropes. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-06-03 08:38 |