They don’t wear eye-patches or peg legs and you won’t find any parrots perched on their shoulders, but they are no less pirates for that.
Twenty-first century piracy Somali style is a far cry from the swashbuckling, sea dogs of old but, in recent months, they have captured both the headlines and the public’s imagination.
Their high seas hijackings have also forced the media to focus on Somalia, arguably the globe’s most neglected tragedy.
But who are these men and what drives them to carry out such audacious attacks?
I set off to Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in Somalia’s north-eastern corner, to find out.
Puntland is one of the poorest parts of war-torn Somalia and it is home to most of Somalia’s dreaded pirates.
The pirate’s ranks have been swollen by many of the region’s youths – drawn by the potentially huge profits of one of Somalia’s most successful, if unconventional, business enterprises.
Faced with limited options and even less optimism for the country’s future, the young pirates care little about the risks they will run at sea.
via Al Jazeera English – Africa – The pirate kings of Puntland.
The rest of the article is well worth a read and provides a rare look at the life of the Somali pirates. Well done to the journalist who was able to get so close. That’s what journalism is/should be about.
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