Somali pirates in stare down with global powers

[unhappycamper]

Somali pirates in stare down with global powers
By Elizabeth A. Kennedy - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Oct 6, 2008 6:51:57 EDT

NAIROBI, Kenya — With a Russian frigate closing in and a half-dozen U.S. warships within shouting distance, the pirates holding a tanker off Somalia’s coast might appear to have no other choice than to wave the white flag.

But that’s not how it works in Somalia, a failed state where a quarter of children die before they turn 5, where anybody with a gun controls the streets and where every public institution has crumbled.

The 11-day standoff aboard the Ukrainian MV Faina begs the question: How can a bunch of criminals from one of the poorest and most wretched countries on Earth face off with some of the world’s richest and well-armed superpowers?

“They have enough guns to fight for another 20 years,” Ted Dagne, a Somalia analyst in Washington, told The Associated Press. “And there is no way to win a battle when the other side is in a suicidal mind set.”

In Somalia, pirates are better-funded, better-organized and better-armed than one might imagine in a country that has been in tatters for nearly two decades. They have the support of their communities and rogue members of the government — some pirates even promise to put ransom money toward building roads and schools.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/ap_somalia_pirates_100508/%2e