Word: somali
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Offshore, a growing flotilla of warships from the U.S., Russia, the European Union and India has been trying to keep Somali pirates from taking their pick of the 16,000 mainly cargo ships that pass through the Suez Canal annually. There are several gangs of pirates; armed with Kalashnikov rifles and traveling on small fishing boats and skiffs, they have attacked more than 80 ships and hijacked at least 30, collecting anywhere from $18 million to $30 million in ransom, according to the British strategic think tank Chatham House. Big paydays have made them progressively bolder: one gang is still...
...Somalia Disturbing the Peace More than 20 people were killed Oct. 29 by a series of suicide bombings whose targets included a U.N. compound and the Ethiopian consulate, in the relatively stable northern Somali regions of Somaliland and Puntland. Government officials blamed the bombings on radical Islamic insurgents, who have vowed to continue fighting despite a U.N.-backed cease-fire agreed to earlier in the week by the Somali transitional government and the rival Islamic movement. The attacks coincided with a summit held in Nairobi by Somali and other African leaders to discuss the options for ending the chaos that...
...which is why many questioned just how effective the French Naval action - or the NATO patrols due to begin in the coming days - will be in curbing the pirates. The nine nabbed by the French, after all, were stripped of their weapons and then handed over to the very Somali authorities who have failed to keep them under control in the first place...
...France has made battling the Somali pirates a major priority of its forces in the region. (France maintains a permanent military base in nearby Djibouti.) The French and NATO vessels will patrol the waters off Somalia under a U.N. mandate to escort commercial ships and those carrying humanitarian supplies to drought-stricken areas, and to scour the area for pirates before they strike. Last April, French forces had stormed the luxury cruiser Le Ponant to rescue 30 vacationers and crew members taken hostage by Somali pirates. Six of those pirates, plus six others captured after another French hostage intervention...
...French are hoping that if the nine are tried and jailed by the Somali authorities, the piracy industry could begin to unravel. Right now, though, the pirates of Puntland don't seem to be feeling any need to panic...