According to Johann Hari renewed piracy in Somalian waters ought to be given far greater attention than it has. He informed that the world assumes that all the “pirates” involved are gangsters, this is far from the truth; nor is their purpose purely to acquire ransom by force of arms. That United States President, Barack Obama, has vowed to end the pirates’ ability to capture ships at will in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden means a commitment to do so by means of military force.
There are other world leaders vowing to take effective action on the underlying problem – the restoration of order and good government in a nation whose 9 million people have been living in an anarchic state since the government of Somalia collapsed in 1991. Hari has pointed out that very soon after that date barrels of nuclear waste began to be dumped off the coast in what had previously been Somalian waters, by ships evidently from European ports.
United Nations envoy to Somalia has confirmed that the dumping of nuclear waste. He also said material such as heavy metals like cadmium and mercury, among other deadly poisons, is also being dumped. He added that other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. It is noticed that more than $US300 million-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers.
It is fact that Somalia, with its very long coastline, has supported a large fishing industry, and since the collapse of organised government, local fishermen initially attempted to dissuade raiding trawlers by trying to levy taxes. This failed, and the activity has escalated to grand piracy: and numerous foreign trawlers have been captured and their crews held hostage for ransom.
