Somalis suspected of piracy left holding cells in Mombasa, Kenya, after a court freed them. Joseph Okanga/ReutersMoney In Piracy Attracts More Somalis -- New York Times
NAIROBI, Kenya — The monsoon season has ended. The Indian Ocean is calm again. For Somalia’s pirates, that means one thing: it is a busy time of year.
According to Ecoterra International, an organization with offices in East Africa that keeps track of Somali piracy, pirates are currently holding hostage more than 25 foreign ships and 500 people.
Some of the ships have been hijacked hundreds of miles offshore, closer to India than to Africa. The crews are often held at gunpoint for months while ransom negotiations play out. The ransoms are getting bigger, drawing more young men from Somalia’s ruined economy — the country has not had a functioning central government for nearly 20 years — into the piracy business.
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More News On Somali Piracy
UN: Somali Piracy Threat Outpacing Efforts to Stop It -- Voice of America
Somali pirates 'outpace' crackdown -- Al Jazeera
Somali pirates outpace warship coalition: UN -- AFP
East Africa: Court Deals Blow to Piracy War -- AllAfrica
Court deals blow to piracy war -- Daily Nation
Kenya blames US Navy for pirates release -- AP
Kenya court orders release of Somali piracy suspects -- Reuters
Over 700 suspected and convicted pirates under detention, U.N. official says -- Bellingham Herald
Somalia: Warships Alone Will Not Deter Piracy Off Somali Coast, Security Council Told -- allAfrica
My Comment: As the New York Times story clearly points out, even when caught some Somali pirates will probably be set free. As long as the risks to conduct themselves as pirates are minimal at best, piracy will now only grow with time but it will also spread to other areas of the world that lack a central government and viable security forces.