Somali Pirates and the Response of The United States Essay -- Piracy

To begin, pirates have been prowling the seas as far back as ancient times, such as the â€Å"Phoenicians and Greeks in the Mediterranean.† As well Muslim piracy as Jihad has existed since the 17th Century along the Barbary Coast of North Africa.2 These pirates were known as Barbary corsairs, and they would attack ships from Christian countries, seizing their ships and, and selling the sailors into slavery. Today, Somali pirates are seizing ships and taking hostages for ransom along the waters off the coast of Somali and the Gulf of Aden. The root of the Somali pirates was established then put into motion after the Somali Civil War and the fall of the Barre regime in 1991, the last functioning government.4 Along with the government, also went the countries one time functional coastguard, and thus the Somali waters became the site of a global "free for all," foreign fishing fleets illegally looted Somali fishing stocks and would keep the rudimentarily-equipped Somali fishermen from fishing their own waters, in addition Somali fishermen has accused Europeans of dumping toxic and nuclear waste off Somalia's shore. For these reasons the first pirate gangs materialize in the early 90’s to defend against foreign trawlers.4 Since 2005 these pirate gangs have grown and have been seizing ships holding them and their crews hostage for ransoms that range in the millions of dollars. The pirate assemblage is said to be made up of three different groups of people first, ex-fishermen who are the brains of the group, they kno w the sea, and how to operate the boats.5 Second, the ex-militiamen the muscle of the group, they have fought for the different clan warlords, and know how to use their weapons.5 Finally, the technical expert the computer g... ...PARTMENT OF THE NAVY - NAVAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COMMAND. September 28, 2009. http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/piracy_hornafrica.htm (accessed April 19, 2012). Samatar, Abdi Ismail. "Will the London conference change Somalia's future?" Al Jazeera. Febuary 07, 2012. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/20122395853170145.html (accessed April 19, 2012). Tharoor, Ishaan. "How Somalia's Fishermen Became Pirates." TIME WORLD. April 18, 2009. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1892376,00.html (accessed April 19, 2012). "U.S. Jury Convicts 5 Somali Men in Pirate Attack on Navy Ship." FOX News Network. November 24, 2010. FOX News Network (accessed April 19, 2012). Zijlma, Anouk. "Somali Pirates A Guide to Somalia's Modern Day Pirates." About.com Africa Travel. http://goafrica.about.com/od/africanews/a/pirates.htm (accessed April 19, 2012).