“They (governments) should find ways of strengthening security in Somalia,” said Fred Nyabera, executive director of the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in the Great Lakes and the Horn of Africa, speaking to Ecumenical News International in Nairobi on May 15.
Somali politicians say millions of dollars are being paid as ransom to the pirates, instead of being used by governmental authorities to improve security.
“They are just running for ransom. … And giving to these pirates — this is what made them strong,” media reports quoted Abdul Karis Osman Issa, the public works minister in the autonomous Somali state of Puntland, as saying. “They are giving millions of dollars, so this is the problem.”
Said Nyabera, “Ad hoc payment of ransom is a threat to security. The money will be used to buy more weapons.”
Somali pirates were reported on May 19 to have released a German-owned cargo ship that was hijacked in April, with a crew that included a Polish captain and 15 Filipino sailors.
Most of the pirates are believed to be located in the northeast region of Somalia where piracy has been able to flourish because of the lack of an effective government.
Iran announced in May it was sending two warships to the Indian Ocean to fight piracy. Warships from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), European Union countries, Russia, Japan, China, India, Yemen, the United States, Malaysia, and Singapore, have patrolled the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, but this has not stopped the pirates.
Speaking to ENI in April, John Ahmed Abukar, a leader of Somalia’s tiny Christian minority, described the pirates as youth militias that were not difficult to stop. He said, “International gangs are facilitating hijacks. I hope the international community can do something. They must stop them.”
