02 October 2008

Turning on their own, finally

The Christian Science Monitor has an article by Jonathan Adams:
A battle of nerves continued off Somalia's coast today, as the US and Russia turned up the heat on a group of vastly outgunned Somali pirates aboard a hijacked cargo vessel.
Several US warships kept their vigil and blockade of the Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina. A Russian missile frigate steamed toward Somalia to add its muscle to the standoff. And on Wednesday, the Somali government authorized foreign use of force against the pirates. That was a formality, since Somalia's weak central government holds little sway over much of its territory, or its pirate-infested waters.
The Washington Post reported that Somalia's president Abdullahi Yusuf on Wednesday urged action against the pirates:
... Yusuf urged Somalis to turn against the pirate gangs. "I also call on the international community to act quickly on what is happening in Somali waters as well as onshore," he told reporters in the capital, Mogadishu. "We must do everything we can to stop piracy off the coast of Somalia." The pirates had imposed an "embargo" against Somalia and other countries by preventing trade and food deliveries, he said.
Rico says he is bemused that the Somalis are all of a sudden pissed off at the pirates...

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