I do not know why this has not gotten my attention before now, but I am amazed at the amount of piracy on the seas in this modern day.  When we talk about pirates typically what comes to mind is a pirate with a patch over one eye with a peg leg, waving his sword.  We see them holinding a bottle of rum and saying yo-ho-hum.  Not the case for these 21st century pirates.

The coast off of Somalia has become a pirates kingdom where boats filled with Somailan equipped with grenade launchers and machine guns commandeer ships, their cargo and crew and demand ransom for it.

Several governments including the USA have sent ships to help protect and although many attacks by the Somalian pirates have been stopped, there are still lots that happen.  Right now, Somali pirates hold more than a dozen hijacked ships. Nearly 400 men and women from the vessels are being held at gunpoint in some Somali fishing village or aboard a ship that is running low on food and water while negotiations are underway with ship owners that will determine if they live or die. 

The one making the most news right now is a ship from Iran that is being helped along with its cargo and crew.   Somali pirates hijacked the cargo ship with a crew of 20, which was transporting 33 battle tanks and assorted heavy weaponry. This dangerous cargo has drawn rare international attention to the growing crisis of piracy at sea because of fear of the weapons falling into the wrong hands.  There have also been reports that several of the pirates have died because they got into some of the cargo that may be chemical type weaponry.

Two years ago, there were a reported 100 pirates working the coast; today, according to Andrew Mwangura, who heads the Seafarer's Assistance Program in Mombasa, Kenya, there are an estimated 1,200. And the list of volunteers to join them is long.

How in the world has this gone on for so long?  With all the modern tools that the International community has, why have they not been able to stop this piracy on the seas?   Sometimes it seems that we are going backwards when it comes to moralitiy and actions.  I realize that these fishernan turned pirates and the villages that support them are like a Robin hood of the seas since they take theransom money and spread a lot of it among the fishing villages of Somaila, but is this what we have turned into.....Villages becoming a crime haven.  Sounds like something our of a novel.

Tags: Pirates Shipping Ships Ransom Somalia

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