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jeffhoard jeffhoard
 
M$3 April 12, 2009 07:18 PM

What are the Somalia Pirates fighting for?

Fascinating report from CBC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcpwS0izoJg
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albanian albanian
 
 April 15, 2009 04:02 AM
The pirates are fighting for money. Specifically, personal profit.

This is not due to a lack of things to fight for in the area. They could fight against the Islamic fanatics that will probably kill them and their families eventually. They could fight against the corrupt attempts at government. They could fight against assorted invaders or drug smugglers or evil warlords. But rather than any of those things, they fight unarmed sailors to hold them for ransom.

Oddly enough, the main beneficiaries are tuna. Tuna are in danger of being wiped out by massive factory fishing. But the fishing ships are steering clear of a big chunk of ocean now and the tuna have what is almost a much needed de facto sanctuary.

Source(s):
http://www.javno.com/en-world/somali-pirates-threaten-indian-ocean-tuna-ind...

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morriss003 morriss003
 
April 12, 2009 07:28 PM
They are after money. Somalia is a failed state. There is no real government, no security, no industry. In this situation, the some of the people are turning to the only available commercial possibility. When it's your family at stake, you will do almost anything.

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philipy philipy
 
April 13, 2009 07:44 PM
Yes, for a lot of young kids, the only way they get to eat is to sign up with their local warlord.

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drmatt drmatt
 
April 12, 2009 07:31 PM
From the YouTube clip, the Somalia Pirates are looking for ransom money. 30Million last year.

I find the excuse that they're making that the pirates are doing this because of illegal fishing or being a garbage dump is ridiculous. Illegally seizing commercial liners is not a way to get attention.

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philipy philipy
 
April 13, 2009 07:48 PM
The guy in the video is not a spokesman for the pirates, and he isn't excusing them. All he is saying is the media never covers the evil that is done to Somalia by outsiders who take advanatge of the chaos there as much as the pirates do. And he's right, I've never heard of that stuff before.

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interzone interzone
 
April 12, 2009 08:55 PM
They are fighting for bare survival, trying to adapt to the circumstances as best they can.

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nushka nushka
 
April 12, 2009 09:51 PM
I don't think we should expect that all of them would fight for the same reasons. Money may be the primary reason for some but there are other ways (both legal and not) to make it. Piracy may not be as organized as we think, obviously not as organized as the "families" that do someone elses's dirty work.

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philipy philipy
 
April 13, 2009 07:42 PM
There aren't a whole of ways to make money in Somalia. It's a little bit like Mad Max out there. But the piracy is organised crime.

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nushka nushka
 
April 14, 2009 09:34 PM
I realize there should be a certain degree of organization but maybe not enough to consider that they all fight for a common cause.

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nushka nushka
 
April 15, 2009 03:21 AM
@xds: would you like to explain your opinion about my answer?

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philipy philipy
 
April 15, 2009 04:41 PM - New Source
They're not fighting for a cause. As far as I know, they are organised crime just like the Mafia or drug traffickers. Obviously like those they are not all in one big gang either. They may even be financed by international criminals

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7623329.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7734985.stm

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dumblonde dumblonde
 
April 12, 2009 11:32 PM
I don't know. This question is as generic and hard to answer as asking what are terrorists after. Everyone has their own agendas. Obviously for many, the purpose seems to be profit from ransoms. Perhaps others want to protect the waters from foreigners. But they don't seem to be organized. There are different gangs after different things. Some are even rumored to be funded by wealthy people in the UAE (almost like those with letters of marque back in the day!)

And of course there's also the fact that Somalia is a completely failed state without any way to enforce laws. And I think pirate gangs have replaced the state in a sense, enforcing their own rules and just organizing into something, creating their own mini pirate societies. "Pirates at first were interested in securing the waters before businessmen and militias became involved." -Wikipedia
But there isn't a central pirate authority so you can't be clear on what they're after.
Source(s):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7650415.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia


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nushka nushka
 
April 14, 2009 09:34 PM
The lack of a central pirate authority is a key point. At least it is not as famous as other beligerant group leaders.

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lawstudent lawstudent
 
April 14, 2009 05:29 PM
Money, Money, Money. The pirates are trying to get money from the shipping companies who own the ships. Up until this weekend there hasn't been much resistance from governmental agencies. Somalia is essentially a failed state. There is no government to speak of.

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