The gunmen have been portrayed as folk heroes by some commentators who play up the curious notion of present-day, in-the-flesh pirates. But they are making a food crisis in Somalia worse, with 3.25 million people—nearly half the population—now needing emergency aid, according to a statement issued Monday by 52 nongovernmental aid groups.
The pirates portray themselves as a de facto coast guard, intent on stopping the ruin of lawless Somalia's waters by foreign ships that fish illegally and dump toxic waste.
"We don't know whether it was going on to dump a toxin or to collect our marine resources. But we have to capture any ship who passes our water illegally," Ali said.
"In Somalia there is no functioning central government that can manage our waters, so we have appointed ourselves to guard our coast against the foreign ships," he said.
There is a shred of truth to the pirates' claims that Somalia's ungoverned waters have been an irresistible destination for ships looking to dump nasty chemicals or cast their fishing nets. But experts say the buccaneers are punishing the people of Somalia, where 16 years of war have has made refugees of hundreds of thousands.
Ninety percent of the WFP's aid arrives by sea, and each of those ships must now travel with a military escort to fend off the pirates.
"I have no time for their PR spin," WFP's Smerdon said.
Kidnap Insurance
Aid groups, including the UN World Food Programme (WFP), worry that the pirates are holding not only the ship and 20 crew members hostage, but Somalia's entire population of seven million as well.
"This being the worst year for piracy off Somalia, we could see the supply line cut completely," WFP spokesperson Peter Smerdon said earlier this week.
"That would mean many people quickly going hungry," he said.
So far this year there have been 60 pirate attacks along the route, which hosts 20,000 annual transits.
Insurance companies now offer "kidnap for ransom" policies to ships that move through the Suez Canal. One insurance company, U.K.-based Hiscox, prices the policy at U.S. $15,000 per trip through the Gulf of Aden, and business is humming.
So far, the insurers say they have seen no decline in the number of ships passing through the Suez Canal.
The willingness to pay ransom, fueled in part by the insurance plans, has only encouraged the pirates, who readily acknowledge their thirst for hefty sums of cash.
"They Can Get Away With It"
The pirates attacked the Faina—"crown" in Russian—on September 25. The United States, which runs patrols in the region, quickly surrounded the hijacked vessel with three warships, in an attempt to keep the weapons from falling into the hands of Islamist insurgents on land.
Russia sent another ship, and France on Tuesday pushed a measure through the UN Security Council urging tougher action against piracy.
The UN resolution allows governments to use "all necessary means" to fight piracy, but an all-out assault that threatens the Ukrainian, Latvian, and Russian crew seems unlikely—perhaps now more than ever, given Friday's bomb threat.
The Kenyan government on Wednesday announced its Navy would send a ship to help break the deadlock.
The pressure seems to be working. The pirates have reportedly dropped their ransom demand to $8 million, which is still a massive sum, especially in Somalia.
"They've proven time and time again that they can get away with it," said James Wilkes, managing director of the London-based Gray Page maritime-consulting group.
"They're hijacking the ships in daylight hours, and it's probably more sophisticated in organization than they've been given credit for before," he said.
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