In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.” At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. This is the context in which the “pirates” have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence”.

true but keep in mind they are pirates. they have been around for a very long time

In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since – and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died.

Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.” At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation – and now we have moved on to theirs. This is the context in which the “pirates” have emerged. Somalian fishermen took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least levy a “tax” on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia – and ordinary Somalis agree. The independent Somalian news site WardheerNews found 70 per cent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence”.

I don't condone the hijackings, but being a veteran, I know what you can expect when you put a persons back against a wall. Expect trouble.

I don't condone the hijackings, but being a veteran, I know what you can expect when you put a persons back against a wall. Expect trouble.

*side note* my step father believes he has traced my family back to the Irish pirate Grace O'Malley

Me either.

They tried to hijack another American flagged ship yesterday.
The attack was thwarted.

As with this thread, attention goes from a country that has been badly abused to ONLY dealing with the pirates, and I agree, that is nessessary, but will we put the same effort into helping the other "non-combatant" Somalis sort out the abuse issues and bring those responsible to answer the charges?

Will they continue the abuse under the escort of our armadas using the "pirate problem" to bring protection to continued actions?

I think there is much more at stake here than we will ever see on the mainstream media.

I dont beleve the pirates motives stems from the dumping of the waste.
Which I believe was stopped years ago. (Im not for sure but I'll try to confirm that the dumping was indeed stopped.)

I think the actions of the pirates are solely motivated by the easy money involved from ransoming the cargo.

Im not sure what you mean by abused, but their problems are mostly self-inflicted!

I will agree with you in regards to the pirates, no contest, but the issue as a whole for the people should be an equal concern once the issue of the pirates is handled.

The average Somali has no defense against the heavily armed warlords of their areas. They are the real pirates, enslaving their own people, stealing their food and whatever wealth they do have.

I hope we will voice their dilemma as loudly as we voice ours when talking of the pirates. The dumping and fishing is criminal and needs to be stated and charged as such, the warlords need to be another matter of importance. Perhaps then the Somalis have a chance at developing with their own ideas for their country.