Some people wake up in the morning and brush their teeth, spend quite some time in front of their bathroom mirror, fixing a hair, rubbing an eye and even making faces. Guess what i do ? I think about coffee and reading. Meaning, i would run through all the news sites and on line magazines and of course i blog also.
On this particular morning, i was reading a New York Times interview between Jeffrey Gettleman and Sugule Ali, the spokesman for the Somali pirates, who seized the Belize-flagged cargo ship. In it (the cargo ship) are, among many other things, Russian-built battle tanks, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft guns, ammunition and other explosives.
I, do not condone the action of folks who use violence against innocent civilians. However, i found this particular interview uniquely interesting and impressive, from the standpoint that the Somalis were executing this interview more like a political statement in addition to showcasing the dire situation that drives these people to settle for this sort of remedy.
In the end, where most people see a “seized ship”, i saw a cry-for-help, a people without a nation whom under different circumstances are capable of achieving their dreams and reaching their God-given potential.
Read it for yourself:-
Q. & A. With a Pirate: “We Just Want the Money”
Q. Tell us how you discovered the weapons on board.
A. As soon as we get on a ship, we normally do what is called a control. We search everything. That’s how we found the weapons. Tanks, anti-aircraft, artillery. That’s all we will say right now.
Q. Were you surprised?
A. No, we weren’t surprised. We know everything goes through the sea. We see people who dump waste in our waters. We see people who illegally fish in our waters. We see people doing all sorts of things in our waters.
Q. Are you going to sell the weapons to insurgents?
A. No. We don’t want these weapons to go to anyone in Somalia. Somalia has suffered from many years of destruction because of all these weapons. We don’t want that suffering and chaos to continue. We are not going to offload the weapons. We just want the money.
Q. How much?
A. $20 million, in cash. We don’t use any other system than cash.
Q. Will you negotiate?
A. That’s deal making. Common sense says human beings can make deals.
Q. Right now, the American Navy has you surrounded. Are you scared?
A. No, we’re not scared. We are prepared. We are not afraid because we know you only die once.
Q. Will you kill the hostages if attacked?
A. Killing is not in our plans. We don’t want to do anything more than the hijacking.
Q. What will you do with the money?
A. We will protect ourselves from hunger.
Q. That’s a lot of money to protect yourselves from hunger.
A. Yes, because we have a lot of men and it will be divided amongst all of us.
Q. [There are 20 crew members, most of them Ukrainian, being held hostage.] How are you interacting with the hostages? Eating with them? Playing cards?
A. We interact with each other in an honorable manner. We are all human beings. We talk to one another, and because we are in the same place, we eat together.
Q. What if you were told you could leave peacefully, without arrest, though without any ransom money. Would you do it?
A. [With a laugh] We’re not afraid of arrest or death or any of these things. For us, hunger is our enemy.
Q. Have the pirates been misunderstood?
A. We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits [”sea bandit” is one way Somalis translate the English word pirate]. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.
Q. Why did you want to become a pirate?
A. We are patrolling our seas. This is a normal thing for people to do in their regions.
Q. Isn’t what you are doing a crime? Holding people at gunpoint?
A. If you hold hostage innocent people, that’s a crime. If you hold hostage people who are doing illegal activities, like waste dumping or fishing, that is not a crime.
Q. What has this Ukrainian ship done that was a crime?
A. To go through our waters carrying all these weapons without permission.
Q. What is the name of your group? How many ships have you hijacked before?
A. I won’t say how many ships we have hijacked. I won’t talk about that. Our name is the Central Region Coast Guard.
Filed under: Ethiopia, africa, news, people, politics, somalia, terrorism, terrorists, usa, war | Tagged: cargo ship, Ethiopia, ethiopian music, somali pirates, somalia, war
wake up in the morning and brush their teeth,do you do that in Habsha community? and do fear to use wate to clean in Habash?
I am sorry i don’t understand what you are trying to say or accomplsih
First I would like to say Aslumucalkum Warahamutulaha.
Brother I read couple of your articles and you make a lot of sense, because you are looking outside the box. My name is Mohamed and I am from Somalia, I would like to say that this article had me thinking. First off no one has the right to hijack anyone but it depends on the situation your in for example, Somalia, as you no is in a crippling position. And these “Pirates” are trying to survive. The horn of Africa needs a some kind of miracle and only allah can help. Only god knows what they will do the money if they get it but Inshallah they will put it in to good use. I would like to say………………..Aslumucalkum Warahmutulah brother and may god have mercy on you.
@Mohamed
Thanks for writing the warm comments. In respect to Somalia, one must wonder and constantly ask, “how one can survive in a desolate nation like Somalia?”
Is violence sometimes warranted? Or should one just roll over die, and call it a righteous death? It is a nation that has long been crying for help, and feel solidarity with my neighbors and their endless search for peace and prosperity.
I am not sure i fyou read this, but i say thanks again. Keep on keeping on.