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Somali Piracy Connected to Toxic Dumping, Illegal Fishing

“While I know the subject of this interview is waste dumping in Somalia, I must say that toxic dumping is an issue all over West and East Africa,” said Nii Akuetteh, executive director of Africa Action, a member of the Scholars’ Council at Trans Africa Forum and founder of the Democracy and Conflict Research Institute in Accra, Ghana.

“The Somali toxic waste dumping issue is of great concern to me because it spills over to other African nations,” Mr. Akuetteh said. “Did you know that when the Islamic Courts Union was in charge of Somalia, piracy had come to a virtual halt? But thanks to the Bush administration and Ethiopia after the ouster of the ICU in 2006, the phenomenon returned,” said Mr. Akuetteh.

In early October, the UN Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1838 (2008) which determined “that the incidents of piracy and armed robbery against vessels in the territorial waters of Somalia and the high seas off the coast of Somalia exacerbate the situation in Somalia which continues to constitute a threat against international peace and security.”

“The UN must monitor more closely the toxic waste issue; and there doesn’t seem to be any mention of that in Resolution 1838,” observed Professor Abdi Ismail Samatar, of the geography and global studies department at the University of Minnesota, in a Final Call interview.

While the media is covering piracy, there needs to be coverage of the plundering of Somali resources by rich companies and rich governments, said Prof. Samatar. “They are destroying the coral reefs—breeding grounds for the fisheries—destroying the livelihoods of Somalis, taking the food out of the mouths of the poor.”

According to Ms. Aden there are 3.5 million Somalis facing starvation. East African waters, particularly off Somalia, have huge numbers of commercial fish, including the prized yellow-fin tuna. Observers say the Somali coastline once sustained hundreds of thousands of people as a source of food and livelihoods.

Exchange -Somalia = with US citizen / Tax payer
-piracy = protest
-Africa = with America
-Fishing = banking / economy / jobs etc
-toxic waste = toxic waste
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