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INSIDE AFRICA
Somali Pirates Run Rampant Off East Coast of Africa
Aired November 22, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. Welcome to INSIDE AFRICA, your weekly window to the continent.
On the program this week -- Somali pirates running rampant off the east coast of Africa. At least eight ships have been seized in just the last two weeks, including the largest ship ever hijacked, a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil.
Also ahead, a new multimedia project lets the displaced of eastern Congo tell their own stories to a global audience.
We begin with the ever growing scourge of Somali piracy. In the words of an official at the International Maritime Bureau, it's getting out of control. The problem used to be fairly concentrated in pirate alley, as waters just off Somalia are known, but just days ago, a band of pirates hijacked a massive Saudi oil tanker, the Sirius Star, well off the coast of Kenya. David McKenzie joins us now from the Kenyan capital, and David, what are people there saying?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's quite extraordinary, Isha. They say this Sirius Star, a massive tanker, hijacked 450 miles southeast of Mombasa.
What's different about this from all the other attacks we've been tracking is that normally these attacks happen off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The fact that this happened off Kenya has a lot of people talking here in Kenya about how this piracy problem might extend from beyond the Horn of Africa down through the east coast of Africa. So obviously, regional leaders are worried, both about their regional trade and about the image that these waterways might have, Isha, because of this new development.
I spoke to the prime minister of the transitional government in Somalia. When the navies have been saying that they will not use force once the ship is hijacked, he was very adamant that that is the only solution.
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NUR HASSAN HUSSEIN, SOMALIAN PRIME MINISTER: When pirates are using force to hijack the boats and -- and the ships, I think the only way to prevent all -- at least to save the hijacked ships and the crew, is to use the force. And also, the force can be used to prevent, I mean, these things to happen.
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MCKENZIE: But Isha, the prime minister also said to me that the ransoms that are being paid by international companies are not helpful for Somalia and for Africa in general, because obviously, he says, that the more money that is paid, the more impetus it is for pirates to go out into these regions and try to hijack ships, Isha.
SESAY: David, with the Somalian prime minister talking about the negative effect ransoms are having on this situation, what is his -- what is his suggestion? What does he want to see done? I know he's talking about force, but force from whom?
MCKENZIE: Well, it's very difficult. Because he is in a difficult position. The transitional government, as you know, is quite weak in Somalia. They have a lot of infighting. They're trying to deal with major domestic issues.
This is both a domestic and an international issue for them, and they really cannot do anything, he told me. He even apologized to the world community and the African community for what is happening on his very land. He said, though, that he understands in some way why Somali youth are getting involved in hijacking. As you know, these are often a ragged group of pirates. They don't have much money. They have old automatic weapons, AK-47s, they hijack vessels, and the money they're getting is often being used, what we hear, is for their communities in Somalia. So, there is a lot of incentive for them to get involved in this organized crime, because there is not many opportunities in Somalia.
The governments in the region have called for action, particularly the Kenyan government, saying that the international community needs to help and that they need to do more. But really, the navies in this region are quite weak. They focus on the armies because of the situations in this part of the continent. And they really have to depend on international force to police these waterways, because without a policing happening on these waterways, Isha, there will be a big problem of piracy and it will all just continue and might even hurt trade right here in Kenya.
SESAY: David McKenzie in Nairobi, many thanks for that report.
OK, let's get a look now at some other recent high-profile incidents in the region. The Indian navy says one of its warships fired in self-defense on a pirate mothership in the Gulf of Aden. It says a frigate, which was part of a NATO-led patrolling fleet intended to stop the vessel, which was towing two speedboats. The pirate ship caught fire and sank and the speed boats took off into the night.
The pirates who attacked this ship a day earlier faced no such resistance. The Iranian-owned cargo ship Delight, seen here navigating a German river last month, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden.
Somali pirates also hit pay dirt when they hijacked the Ukrainian ship, the MV Faina in late September. It was carrying Russian-made tanks, rocket- propelled grenades, and ammunition.
Pirates recently attacked the MV Kapitan Maslov. The ship was damaged, but managed to escape. It docked in Mombasa, Kenya, for repairs.
Also in Mombasa, eight suspected pirates are awaiting trial. The British navy captured the men and killed three others when they allegedly tried to hijack a cargo ship off the Horn of Africa.
The slew of attacks has convinced a major Norwegian shipping firm to shift course, literally. The company is ordering its vessels to avoid the Gulf of Aden, which means they will no longer go through the Suez Canal when sailing between Europe and Asia, or the Middle East. Instead, they will take the long way around, via the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The ship operator says, quote, "We will no longer expose our crew to the risk of being hijacked and held for ransom by pirates in the Gulf of Aden." The rerouting will entail extra sailing days and later cargo deliveries. This will incur significant extra cost. Well, no doubt, much of that cost is likely to be passed on to consumers, and Egypt, which controls the Suez Canal, will lose revenue.
With piracy becoming more costly and more dangerous, what can countries and shipping companies do? Up next on INSIDE AFRICA, CNN international security correspondent Paula Newton tells us more about the pirates and their tactics.
Also ahead, a new multimedia project lets the displaced of eastern Congo tell their own story.
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PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL, SAUDI FOREIGN MINISTER: Piracy is against everybody. Like terrorism, it is a disease that has to be eradicated.
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SESAY: Strong words from Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, condemning the hijacking of a Saudi oil supertanker by Somali pirates off the coast of Kenya.
Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA.
Piracy has become a booming business for many communities along Somalia's coast. Maritime security experts say that's because so far, the rewards of piracy outweigh the risks. And because Somalia's transitional government is so weak, it has no power to police its own shores.
So what can shippers and navies do? CNN international security correspondent Paula Newton joins us from London. Paula, why are all these attacks getting more audacious, even though a multinational force is patrolling these waters?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTL. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think when you consider that we're just talking about Pirate Alley, and that's the Gulf of Aden, just that is 2.5 million square miles. When you talk about needle in a haystack, that's what we're talking about.
Another reason that the attacks are getting bolder and they are more frequent is because it's working. They're bagging huge ships, and then after that quite substantial ransoms.
SESAY: Ransoms, which, again, seem to be growing in terms of the amounts requested. What do we know about the negotiations, and, you know, have we been able to follow the money trail thereafter?
NEWTON: Well, we know first and foremost that the reason that they have to try to prevent piracy, that once the piracy occurs, really, a lot of these companies, if they want to see their crews home safely, they have no choice. They must start negotiations.
OK. Negotiations start. They used to be done through a very complicated web of maybe even bank transfers going through some different countries. Not anymore. In the last few months, these pirates have actually demanded suitcases full of cash.
What has happened here -- we have Somalia. It is a failed state, which means that these kinds of pirates find safe passage there. Every time they enter Somalia, basically no one can touch them. I'm told as well, because of the kind of riches that they are bringing ashore in Somalia, they are like pirate rock stars. They are buying cars, they are building homes. And more importantly, they have the support of the people around them, because they see that they are bringing ashore much needed money from a place that really for the last 10 years has just descended into absolute chaos, in some cases even famine, and that is what the piracy is bringing ashore.
When we talk about rules of engagement, though, that 12 nautical mile -- you think of Somalia and you think about 12 miles, all along the coast, basically, navies cannot enter that water. That is Somali territory water. In order to enter that water, you're talking about a much different engagement that involved international coordination, and at that point you're basically invading a country, and that is why navies will not go there.
So when you saw this large Saudi tanker being hauled into the territorials of Somalia, that is why. Once they're in the grip of that 12 nautical mile radius, basically the pirates are untouchable.
SESAY: Incredible staff. So, where do we go from here? I mean, what is the multinational force saying? Is it going to expand? What's the long- term solution to solving this problem once and for all?
NEWTON: The long-term solution is to solve what is going on is Somalia. And that is what needs to be sustained. Some type of stability in Somalia. And we're certainly no closer to getting that.
If we then deal with what's going on in the high seas -- certainly, these navies repelling these attacks will go a long distance. The problem is, there are many more attempted attacks, because once you do get a ship, it actually pays. So there are more attempted attacks.
So, more of a coordinated presence from those navies is what's needed. They're saying that what all those ships in the region need to do is really communicate with each other, coordinate about where they're patrolling, and then how they are going to repel those attacks.
But also, these ships themselves need to be more on standby for these kinds of attacks. Now, we know that -- you know, the Saudi ship, it was pretty far south -- you're talking off the coast of Kenya that it was pirated. I mean they were probably just kind of, you know, streaming along, sailing along, didn't think that they would actually be attacked by pirates. If those 24 crew members that are now being held hostage were a little bit more vigilant at the time, experts tell me that perhaps -- perhaps this might not have happened. That does not mean they would have been able to repel the attack themselves, but they would have had a better chance.
SESAY: CNN international security correspondent Paula Newton. Paula, many thanks for that.
To dry land now. The U.N. plans to send more peacekeepers to eastern Congo, where a humanitarian crisis grinds on. Up next on INSIDE AFRICA, aid workers give displaced Congolese a platform to tell the world their personal stories.
And still ahead, a civil war nearly killed it, but now a West African art form has come back into style.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making business news, South African organizers say crews have made tremendous progress in stadium construction for the 2010 World Cup. But host cities still face funding shortfalls due to higher than expected building costs. The head of the organizing committee also warns that attendance of the world's most watched sporting event may fail to meet expectations because of the global financial slowdown.
The world's largest mobile phone company says Nigeria could be a target for expansion. The company's CEO says Nigeria's gross domestic product and young population make it an attractive market. Vodafone has moved into several developing markets, including Ghana and South Africa in the past two years. The company says it will be cautious about future expansion and will focus on cutting costs and generating cash.
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SESAY: You're watching INSIDE AFRICA. Welcome back.
The U.N. Security Council has unanimously voted to add more than 3,000 troops to its force in eastern Congo, bringing the total to about 20,000. But it could be months before the reinforcements arrive. Blue helmets on the ground continue to be targets. Peacekeepers reported two armed skirmishes with militia fighters within a week. The humanitarian crisis caused by the fighting -- well, it shows no signs of abating. Aid workers are warning of growing malnutrition among displaced people. An estimated 250,000 people have fled their homes since late August, when fighting surged between rebel and government forces.
Now, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, is providing lifesaving medical care to people throughout the region. The group operates mobile medical clinics and provides support for existing clinics and hospitals. Now, it is also providing a new multimedia platform for the displaced to tell their stories to the world. It is called Condition Critical. MSF deputy head of mission Andre Heller just got back from 14 months in North Kivu and told us how it works.
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ANDRE HELLER, MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERE: Well, the project, the idea for the project was actually hatched a while ago, even before this most recent episode of violence broke out, because even when there was quote/unquote "peace" in North Kivu, there was still massive amounts of fighting and displacement still happening up there. But it is exactly that, it's to bring a human voice to the human suffering we're witnessing out there.
And what we see a lot in the media is characterizations of what's happening in terms of the military movements and what armies have done what and what political leader said what, but for us, what's important is to put a human voice behind us, to have testimonies of real people telling their stories, to have these stories be heard somewhere outside the world, as opposed to be forgotten with the waves of this conflict that wash over them.
The multimedia project, it interviews mainly just civilians who have been displaced, and otherwise -- otherwise afflicted in some way, shape or form by the conflict.
Now, what's important to recognize is that while there is over a million displaced people in North Kivu province right now, recently 250,000 displaced with the fighting that started in late August, the rest of the population of North Kivu is also very profoundly affected by this war as well. They all have family members that have been displaced or -- or sick, or even killed. They're taking on the relatives. They have 10 extra mouths to feed in their houses. Everyone is affected by it.
For the people of North Kivu, this is -- for the most part, this is not the first time that this has happened to them. North Kivu is a region that's been at war for 15 years now. There is a whole generation of children that know nothing but war.
There is generations of adults, that the notion of hoping for a brighter day is a distant memory, and everyone's just trying to survive.
For people to express themselves, it depends on the context and it depends on the person. Some people are very comfortable talking about what happened, maybe in hopes that somebody out there will hear it, maybe in hopes that one of us will tell these stories with our friends, maybe something will change some day. Other people are maybe a little too shocked or traumatized to talk about their particular experiences.
The greatest misconception, I would just say oversimplification of the political factors that come into play, and, you know, people focusing on a war too much and not focusing on the people too much. I suppose that's the point of the -- the project that we produced. I hope that with more attention, that people will start working towards political solutions.
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SESAY: You can hear these voices of eastern Congo for yourself. To watch the MSF documentary, just go to condition-critical.org.
Well, sometimes cultural traditions can become casualties of war. Highlife music is an example, but the genre is making a comeback in Nigeria, with some help from the church. Up next on INSIDE AFRICA.
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SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. In art, as in life, what's old often becomes new again. That seems to be the case with highlife music that dominated the dance floors of West Africa until the 1960s. Nigeria's civil war all but killed, but as Christian Purefoy reports, church congregations have helped resurrect this proud musical tradition.
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CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bringing back some favorite sounds. Fatai Rolling Dollar helped pioneer highlife music in the 1950s. Now, at 81, both he and the music are making a comeback.
FATAI ROLLING DOLLAR, HIGHLIFE MUSIC PIONEER: (inaudible) who are not by the (inaudible) I want to hear (inaudible).
PUREFOY: Fusing African rhythms with western styles like jazz, highlife music originally came from Ghana to Nigeria in the 1940s. It was the signature sound until Nigeria's civil war broke up the party.
The Nigerian civil war in the 1960s was a watershed for highlife music. Bars closed, bands joined the military, and afterwards, musical attention had shifted elsewhere. Except here in the churches.
While highlife went into decline, the music could still be heard in churches across southern Nigeria. And as the congregations in churches grew, so too did highlife's popularity.
SEYL SOLAGBADE, HIGHLIFE ARTIST: So what the church are doing now is to restore that beauty, you understand, in African music, in highlife music.
PUREFOY: Now, young artists like Seyl Solagbade are playing highlife to new audiences not only in Nigeria, but in Europe and America as well.
Still, these days, hip-hop and R&B dominate the Nigerian music scene. But as Rolling Dollar explains, he's been around long enough to see music styles come and go.
ROLLING DOLLAR: The hip-hop is for the meantime, for the meantime (inaudible). And when they grow up, they come to highlife music.
PUREFOY: The highlife is back, and it seems here to stay.
Christian Purefoy, CNN, Lagos, Nigeria.
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SESAY: Before we go, we have this reminder for you. Next week we'll mark World AIDS Day by exploring attitudes about HIV and AIDS around the continent, and we want your input. Please, tell us, have you been tested? Do you encourage others to get tested? How has your government responded to the AIDS crisis? You can use photos, video or a webcam to share your opinions and experiences. Just go to cnn.com/insideAfrica, and click on the "IReport" logo. We hope to use some of your entries in our World AIDS Day show.
And there we must leave it. Thanks for watching INSIDE AFRICA. We'll see you back here next week.
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