Somali "pirates" and European toxic waste

PanchoVilla

I just watched a video on the Youtubes about the so-called Somali "pirates". It seems these people were actually trying to defend their country against European companies who were dumping millions of tons of nuclear and toxic waste on Somalia's beaches.

In 1997 and 1998, the Italian newspaper Famiglia Cristiana, which jointly investigated the allegations with the Italian branch of Greenpeace, published a series of articles detailing the extent of illegal dumping by a Swiss firm, Achair Partners, and an Italian waste broker, Progresso.

The European Green Party followed up the revelations by presenting to the press and the European Parliament in Strasbourg copies of contracts signed by the two companies and representatives of the then “President” — Ali Mahdi Mohamed — to accept 10 million tonnes of toxic waste in exchange for $80 million (then about £60 million).

Abdullahi Elmi Mohamed, a Somali academic studying in Sweden, told The Times that this worked out at “approximately $8 per tonne, while in Europe the cost for disposal and treatment of toxic waste material could go up to $1,000 per tonne”.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article418665.ece

So did western nations support the civil war which plunged the country into complete anarchy? Did the U.S. and other countries try to vilify these "pirates" so they could continue to dump their toxic waste off the shores of Somalia? Well, we know this would not be the first time a European/western country supported a civil war in Africa to line their own pockets.

African leaders meeting to discuss maritime security have said there are numerous social and environmental problems at the root of the rise of piracy off the east coast of the continent - including contaminated land.

Somalia, seen as Africa's piracy capital, has been largely lawless since the early 1990s.

With no effective patrols of its borders, say the country's leaders, its vast coastline has become a dumping ground for unscrupulous ship operators who unload their cargo of toxic waste on Somali shores to avoid the costs of proper disposal.

http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=17905

robtri

i dont know a lot about this, but have seen reports about the duumping...

my question is the money the pirates get for hostages... where does it go?????
do they keep it or is it spent cleaning up the pollution?????

Cavehill Red

Sure, that's why they demand clean-up teams in return for captives instead of millions of dollars.
Oh, wait...

GavRedKing

Cavehill Red wrote: »

Sure, that's why they demand clean-up teams in return for captives instead of millions of dollars.
Oh, wait...

My point exactly, in the early days when the reports surfaced you can imagine the intentions were to highlight the pollution and dumping but now a days its all about the $$$$ for the pirates.

Torakx

Ar! Damn those pirates.Taking hostages, they are so evil for doing this....
I doubt they got any of the 60-80 million anyway.

humanji

Not sure why pirates is in quotes. They are pirates, plain and simple. It's their justification for piracy that's interesting. Somali people have long been abused by outside powers and even more so by those in their own country.

I was always of the thinking that Somalia was another failed attempt by the US to overthrow a government and install one that would help them out (and which subsequently turned around and bit them on the ass). But I don't think they'd have done it just so they ahd a toxic dumping ground. I'd say that was more a lucky break for them since nobody would care about a country that has no control over itself and no way of getting help, so they could dump what they wanted there for a fraction of the cost.

PanchoVilla

humanji wrote: »

Not sure why pirates is in quotes. They are pirates, plain and simple. It's their justification for piracy that's interesting. Somali people have long been abused by outside powers and even more so by those in their own country.

I was always of the thinking that Somalia was another failed attempt by the US to overthrow a government and install one that would help them out (and which subsequently turned around and bit them on the ass). But I don't think they'd have done it just so they ahd a toxic dumping ground. I'd say that was more a lucky break for them since nobody would care about a country that has no control over itself and no way of getting help, so they could dump what they wanted there for a fraction of the cost.

Well, some could see them as rebels or freedom fighters so that's why pirates is in quotes. Pirates usually steal ships and goods but that's not what is happening so I can't honestly call them pirates. Apparently this all started when foreign trawlers completely cleaned out all the fish on the coasts of Somalia. The local fishermen armed themselves and starting driving the foreign trawlers out.

I agree they would not have done it solely to dump their toxic waste but I think they would have done it as well as stealing the billions of dollars of oil in Somalia. They can't have the oil yet but they can still dump their waste.

robtri

PanchoVilla wrote: »

Well, some could see them as rebels or freedom fighters so that's why pirates is in quotes. Pirates usually steal ships and goods but that's not what is happening so I can't honestly call them pirates. Apparently this all started when foreign trawlers completely cleaned out all the fish on the coasts of Somalia. The local fishermen armed themselves and starting driving the foreign trawlers out.

I agree they would not have done it solely to dump their toxic waste but I think they would have done it as well as stealing the billions of dollars of oil in Somalia. They can't have the oil yet but they can still dump their waste.

and what about the guys who board ships take hostages and demand ransoms.... are they pirates????
what do they do with the money they recieve