Greetings from the ‘Indian Ocean Coast Guard’
You think Somali pirates only strike tankers & freighters? Wrong. Pushed to the south & east by international pressure, the bandits are attacking much smaller vessels a thousand miles from home & what’s worse, they're hunting people, not just cargo.
Literally, check-out Sean Flynn in GQ for recounts of horrific tales that happened aboard two hijacked boats from the Seychelles -an island nation whose very means of existence, tourism, is threatened by kidnapping on the high seas.
Chillingly aboard one hijacked vessel the story went: ""”Tourism boat?" Roucou nodded. "Yes." The pirates broke into wide smiles, congratulating themselves,
celebrating. "Where is tourism? Where?" "No tourists," Roucou said. They returned, confirmed there were no passengers on board. The pirates were no longer pleased. One of them used the Explorer's satellite phone to call a contact in Somalia, who spoke perfect English. He put Roucou on the line with a man named Abdi. "We will give you money," Abdi said. "A million dollars. Just tell them where the tourism boats are...”"
Welcome to the new face of business tourism.
Still on Somalia, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s latest book Nomad published this May, throws up a not very nice people profile –prone to acts of psychotic violence, blinded by religion & also tribalism. She says they are sexually repressed too. Oops.
Constantly accompanied by bodyguards on account of the trouble occasioned by her previous forays into print, Ali’s book according to the Sunday Times of London is in parts especially early on, a brilliant book. But it may again not go down terribly well with the politically correct white left, who irritate Ali perhaps more even than the most bigoted imam. Concentrating on Ali’s personal journey from Somalia to the West, Publishers Weekly though found the book to ultimately read as a callow exercise in self-aggrievement. The book however is doing well on best-seller lists.
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