Scared countries stay cool

 

 

The government of India may have triumphed and brought home its boys, the sailors from the pirated Japanese ship MV Stolt Valor, but there’s little to celebrate, as yet another Yemeni ship was hijacked on November 25, infuriating the world. In fact, the bigger challenge at present is to rescue ships like MV Fiana, a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 combat tanks and Sirius Star, Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying over two million barrels of oil which is worth over $100 million. Astoundingly, nearly 17 ships are being held to ransom in the region at present.

No one knows where these pirates get their support from. However, the US has ruled out any al-Qaeda support to these pirates. US Army Gen William "Kip" Ward said the chaos on the high seas is a reflection of the country's political chaos. Somalia has had no functioning government since 1991. And due to all this, pirate attacks off the Somalian coast in recent years have increased. This year captures have crossed the 100 mark, with 40 ships still under hijack. Even a warning from the Islamic Courts Union of Somalia, which asked them to leave Harardhere, the Somalian town where the ship is currently anchored, failed to get results. Sirius Star belongs to an Arab nation, and piracy is a capital offence under Islam, but even this doesn’t scare them. So when Sheikh Abdulaahi Osman, a commander of the group in Harardhere warned them by saying, “Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country and it is very serious crime to hold Muslim property. Those holding the ship must free it or face armed intervention." The pirates responded by cutting their ransom demand. Abdi Salan Ahmed, who claimed to represent the pirates, said: “There may be some type of ransom reduction but I can’t confirm it now.” In Malaysia, on November 24, an international association of tanker owners' called for a military blockade along the coast of Somalia,, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said that the alliance is not considering such a move. Remarkably, noted author Gwynne Dyers has lamented that so far, “with the honourable exception of the Indians and the French, nobody has used force against the pirates of the Horn”.