Pirates -Who are they?

The 3,025-km. long coastline of Somalia, particularly in the Somali regions of Somaliland and Puntland, (classified as the most dangerous territory in the world because of its lawlessness, widespread civil war and total anarchy, especially in and around the capital Mogadishu) hosts at least four distinct groups of pirates, says the ministry. These are organized according to tribal and clan backgrounds and are led by war lords, corrupt business men and even local authorities. Pirate groups are well organized and led from headquarters ashore. To be able to operate far out at sea they increasingly employ mother ships from which they launch small interceptor craft to attack merchant or fishing vessels. Typical pirate equipment includes communications (radios, satellite phone), radar, assault rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Who are Somalia's pirates? A Monitor Q&A reveals who's behind the modern-day pirates, how they got so good at taking ships, and what's being done to stop them. (Christian Science Monitor, 11/21/2008)

Somalia's pirate kings DHOWS rest on a white sand beach in front of a few dozen ramshackle homes. A creek cuts inland, traced by a dirt road that runs to a craggy fishing settlement five kilometres away. Until recently Eyl was a remote and rundown Somali fishing outpost of 7000 people. Now, thanks to some spectacular ocean catches, it is a booming mini-town, awash with dollars and heavily armed young men, and boasting a new notoriety: piracy capital of the world. (The Age, 11/20/2008)

Somalia's Face of Modern Piracy Photogallery (Time/CNN, 11/25/2008)

Hawiye Clan (Wikipedia)

Pirates (BBC World Service, 03/03/2008)
Part I
Part II

Al-Shabaab
Wikipedia
Somalia's al Shabaab seize port near capital (Reuters 11/12/2008)
US State Department's Designation of Al-Shabaab


Piracy in Somalia

SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army)

Central Region Coast Guard

New brand of pirates lured by easy cash and girls They've made headlines around the world, collected millions of dollars in ransom, and terrorized the high seas. But despite their notoriety, little is known about the pirates who have been hijacking ships off the coast of Somalia for the past decade. The relatively lawless nature of Somali society, where a functioning federal government has been all but missing for more than a decade, has created a lack of knowledge about who is behind the spate of ship hijackings in recent months. (CTV, 11/22/2008)

Somali Pirates Tell Their Side: They Want Only Money In a 45-minute interview, Mr. Sugule spoke on everything from what the pirates wanted (“just money”) to why they were doing this (“to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters”) to what they had to eat on board (rice, meat, bread, spaghetti, “you know, normal human-being food”). He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood. “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.” (New York Times, 09/30/2008)

Q. & A. With a Pirate: “We Just Want the Money” Sugule Ali, the spokesman for the Somali pirates holding hostage the Faina, a Ukrainian freighter loaded with weapons, spoke to me by satellite telephone today from the bridge of the seized ship. (New York Times, 09/30/2008)