Pirates fear the lash of sharia law
Source: The Telegraph
October 15, 2006 Author: Colin Freeman and Justin Stares
Somalia's new Islamic rulers have rid the country of the pirates who terrorise cruise ships and freighters off its shores on the Indian Ocean.
Ever since the east African nation's collapse into lawlessness 15 years ago, its 2,500-mile coastline has provided a haven for armed buccaneers who use high-speed launches to rob passing craft.
But since June, when Somalia's new Islamic Courts Union (ICU) seized control of Mogadishu and much of the south of the country, piracy has been virtually wiped out under threat of tough sharia punishments.
The crackdown was highlighted in a recent report by the Merchant International Group, which specialises in advising companies on trading in hotspots around the world.
"The spread of Islamist rule in Somalia under the Islamic Courts Union merits particular attention," it said. "Over 40 attacks on vessels were reported in and around Somali waters between March 2005 and July 2006, but not a single act of piracy in the area has been reported in the months since."
Somali piracy made headlines last November when boatloads of bandits armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the American-operated luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit 70 nautical miles off the country's coast.
British tourists on board told how they feared for their lives until the ship's crew managed to drive the pirates away using a special sonic gun that emitted an earsplitting high-decibel noise.
As a precaution, the International Maritime Bureau has been advising shipping to keep at least 100 miles away from the Somali coast.
The drop in incidents of piracy mirrors the ICU's success in restoring law and order on shore. Until this summer Somalia was largely under the control of legions of competing warlords.
Many of the pirate outfits are believed to have belonged to warlord militias.While critics claim the ICU is an al-Qaeda-linked movement that plans to bring in tough Taliban-style social restrictions, including banning films and music, many ordinary Somalis have believe it is the only alternative to the anarchy that prevailed before.
As The Sunday Telegraph reported last week, public opinion has swung more firmly behind them as a result of allegations that the warlords were paid by the CIA to fight the ICU earlier this year. The drop in piracy is attributed to threats by the ICU to punish anyone involved with either execution or amputation.
"The Islamists vowed to return the rule of law to a country that has not seen a proper government since the fall of Siad Barre's regime in 1991," wrote MIG analyst Ben Kates in an article for Lloyd's List, the specialist trade and insurance publication.
"Under the strict brand of justice currently imposed by the ICU, pirates, along with other thieves, are exposed to severe punishment. The Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia has made piracy a specific target. Officials assert that those convicted of piracy may now be sentenced to amputation or even to death.
"Prof Ibrahim Hassan Addou, the ICU's foreign minister, told The Sunday Telegraph: "There has been lawlessness and chaos across the country for a long time, and the seas were no exception."
Piracy has given Somalia a bad image around the world, and we needed to take steps against it. Such crime on the high seas can now carry the penalty of jail or the death sentence."
Details of the ICU's success against piracy emerged as the Islamists staged public executions in Mogadishu of convicted murderers.
A crowd of hundreds, including relatives of both the condemned man and his victim, watched as the killer was tied to a post, blindfolded, and then shot dead by a firing squad of six masked Islamist soldiers in combat fatigues. More barbarically, others have been stabbed to death.The Islamists claim such harsh punishments are necessary to tame their crime-plagued fiefdom.
Despite this, rising numbers of Somali refugees have surged into neighbouring Kenya, fleeing what they claim will soon be a Taliban-style regime.
United Nations agencies say that the number crossing the border each day has risen from between 300 and 400 last month to almost 1,000 in the past week, bring the total number now in Kenya to more than 157,000. Thousands more are expected.
The Islamists' military superiority has kept Somalia's interim government — which controls only the outlying town of Baidoa — from imposing any kind of authority.
The ICU has also threatened holy war against Ethiopia, which it claims is sending troops to back the interim government as a pretext for an eventual takeover of Somalia.
