The following…
 Based on a National Bestseller, “Dark Star Safari”
 By Paul Theroux
 “Relentlessly engaging… Theroux demonstrates how a
traveler’s finely wrought observations… sometimes offer the
best political and social analysis.” – Washington Post
Questions:
 Where/how did it begin?
 Who are the real victims?
 What kind of impact has foreign ships had on Somalia?
 What is being done?
Who are they?
 Somali Pirates are Sea Bandits / Coastguards
 Living in Somalia, East Africa
 They consider themselves Coastguards, not sea bandits.
 "We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. 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.”
– New York Times, interview of Pirate.
Civil War
•
1980 - Under the rule of Siad Barre, Barre ordered his
men to slaughter many innocent Somali civilians
•
1986 - Revolution breaks out against Barre
•
1991 - Siad Barre forced out of power
•
Siad Barre exiled, civil war carries on between warlords
•
Severe droughts force hundreds and thousands of
Nomads to move to the coast, they develop
communities.
•
They depended on fish as a way of life
•
Illegal fishing starts taking place from foreign countries
 1992 – UN and US troops land in Somalia
 1993 – A war broke out between Somalia and the US/UN
troops
 During a rescue mission, a US helicopter was shot down
which killed everyone on board except for Michael Durant
who arrived back home as a hero.
 This was known as “Black Hawk Down” (theme for the 2001
Black Hawk Down film)
 18 US troops killed, 84 wounded
 1000-1500 Somali civilians killed
 US and UN troops withdrew from Somalia and let the
warlords deal with the mess.
2000’s
 Somalia fishermen defend themselves and their territory,
but so do the illegal fishing ships
 2004 – Tsunami washes up evidence on the beaches of
illegal toxic waste dumping.
 2005 - UN estimated that 700 foreign fishing vessels
illegally fish in Somalia waters
2004 Tsunami
 Evidence of illegal toxic waste dumping in Somali waters
 Barrels are washed up on shore
 Millions of fish die
 People start getting radiation sickness and die
Toxic waste barrels being
removed after 2004
Tsunami.
Dumping continued…
 With all the waste industrial companies had created, they
found it easier and cheaper just to dump the waste
somewhere unnoticeable
 Started dumping in most developing countries in Africa
 Businesses found this very profitable and found many
creative methods of getting rid waste
 This was called “Project Urano” developed by Italian
businesses
Dumping in Somalia
 BUT!.....
 Businesses were soon told that they were not allowed to
dump waste in the oceans and Africa anymore
 They had ships that were designed to sink with all the
waste on it
 After “Project Urano” failed, industrial companies
businesses had developed, “Project Urano II”
 Contained information which decided that Somalia would
be picked as the new toxic waste dumping site.
Bosaso Road
 After finding evidence of dumping in Somalia, more
evidence had suggested that more toxic waste barrels had
been dumped under the “Bosaso Road”
Somalia
 Dealt with civil wars, illegal fishing and dumping
 Hit with every “curve ball” possible which has destroyed
the countries
 The result of these disasters has given Somalia an unstable government, corruption, pirates and the whole
world has turned against them.
Piracy
 The illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping made
Somalia's very angry and they had not much choice but to
act in a violent way
 Targeted oncoming ships (fishing, coast guards, travel,
etc.)
 Wanted ships to pay some form of tax
 Resulted in kidnapping, which lead to rape and murder
Right now…
 Different countries have struggled to shut down the
pirates
 Developed patrols
 Increase security on ships (naval and tourist ships)
 Tried to avoid them
Final thoughts
 I really have a lot of sympathy for Somalia
 War and illegal activity have destroyed the country and I
think it will take a very long time for them to come back
from this mess
 The things they do (kidnap, rape, murder) are definitely
wrong, but before you blame them, before you label
them, look back at who started this and who is really to
blame
“We’re always too quick to judge an open book, sometimes it
pays to read between the lines, a lesson to be learnt only set by
the truth.” – Jasmina Siderovski
“Don’t be too quick to judge if you don’t know the whole truth”
– JP De Villiers
Work Cited:
 http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/04/13/us-somalia-piracy-qandasb-idUSTRE53B20A20090413
 http://goafrica.about.com/od/africanews/a/pirates.htm
 http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~ahmed24h/pirates/interview.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCqLNyOSrs
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu_(1993)
 http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/23684Tsunami-and-the-Nuclear-wastes-in-Somalia