In what is believed to be the closest Somali pirate action to the capital of the country (Mogadishu), the Syrian captain of a Panama-flagged ship was shot dead after refusing the pirates' demand to turn the ship away from the port. This port is particularly important to the nation, as it is used to bring in food and military supplies to the Somali capital. Normally, police forces are sent out to escort commercial ships into shore, but this time the pirates were already on board the ship and opened fire on the policemen, injuring one. In the absence of an effective government since 1991, Somalia has been a breeding ground for pirate operations that prey on the traffic-heavy Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea. Though international navies have been deployed to protect ships, this sort of pirate activity is not at all uncommon. And though African Union peacekeepers help protect the UN-backed government in Mogadishu, in actuality, the government only controls parts of the city and the rest of south and central Somalia are mostly controlled by Islamic extremists. After 18 years of anarchy, an estimated 3 million Somali citizens, about half the population, desperately need food aid. Their prospects for receiving food look even grimmer in the face of pirates preventing commercial ships from coming to port.
By: Megan Shoemate
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