Somalia Pirates of the Arabian Sea Author Dilyara

Somalia. Pirates of the Arabian Sea Author: Dilyara Ilina Supervisor:

Somalia was very rich in cultural and historical values likewise many other countries. Several monuments of ancient Egyptian and Phoenician civilizations are located inside Somalia.

Its capital Mogadishu was a developed city with a lot of beautiful scenic buildings.

The most famous of them are: Garesa Museum and the mosque that was built in 13 th century.

Moreover, Kismayo National Park is also well known landmark of Somalia where you can see many different animals. Furthermore in the Hargeisa Park you can meet northern elephants which are quite rare nowadays.

Unfortunately all of this has been abandoned and ruined at present.

Somalia is one of the most unstable countries in the world. The civil war in Somalia has been continuing since 1991. Local wars had been waged in this country during the “Cold War”. USSR and the USA sent huge amount of weapons to this region, the Soviet Union made this to maintain the establishment of the dictatorship in the country and the United States – to resist USSR. This campaign has ended in 1991, dictatorship of the Soviet Union fell but the mountain of weapons remained.

At the moment, the civil war is continuing in this region for 22 years, a struggle between the clans is enduring the same time, thus nobody controls this country. A protection of at least seven people and one vehicle is needed to move around the city safely. It costs approximately 190 dollars. The words “to take a life" has not got any matter in this place, because the life is almost absent here.

The power plants are out of service since a few years, communication is almost absent and you need either to pay the mafia to connect to one of the lines or to attempt to connect to the mafia neighbor’s generator. Plumbing does not work, the water is delivered in cans to those who pay, only a quarter of the people get clean drinking water and most part collects rainwater in the streets.

Sewer collectors are blocked, that's why central districts become flooded during rain. When water leaves the central streets, it takes away all garbage to the lower districts, bringing there a horrible stink.

Nobody cleaned the garbage during last 20 years. There are piles of garbage, people live in the dumps, trying to find something to eat or sell. Economy is ruined, the country did not import anything for a few years.

People build huts in craters after explosions and holes in walls.

Fish is the main food in this place. But it is very expensive to sell it wholly, therefore it is only fish heads and bones on a counter.

The only free school in Somalia is located in the capital city, Mogadishu, on the grounds of mosque, because of lack of a building. School director says, that the main goal of the school is to limit children's time and possibility to contact crime. Thus, educational level of Somalia is one of the lowest in the world. Only 40 percent of the Somalia children are getting the education.

The curfew in cities begins at 6 o’clock, because when it gets dark, skirmishes between the rebels and the government start. According to a formal Somali President interview the media have no veritable information about life in Africa. – “In this place people are just playing with explosives, they are just ordinary bullies, there is no war! You don’t understand that it is like fireworks but using explosives. People just walk and blow them up. ”

An inflation rate in Somalia is one of the highest in the world. There are no banks, you should go to outside to exchange currency where people with mountains of money are sitting. One thousand shillings is the biggest bill. It costs about 7 American cents. Money are being weighed but not counted. Because even if the amount is small, it may be counted till the night.

Most of the people here are permanently chewing khat. It is light drug with vegetable origin. Because of this men often lose their jobs. One taxi driver says: “I chew khat at work, I chewed khat yesterday and I will chew it today, so don’t worry, we will go fast, but I will chewing khat, I just will because I'm tired. ”

Kidnapping of foreigners is the type of earnings in Somalia. A war, a corruption and a poverty make ideal conditions for the piracy in this region. Following dialog considering this problem was happened between the Coast Guard and a journalist: – What are you doing when you catch the pirate? Are you judging them? – No, we haven’t ever caught any pirate. – What are the government doing when they catch the pirates? – Nothing, there are no pirates, you probably thought it. – Do the government take money from pirates? – Sure, everybody work together in this country.

Native people do not like pirates, fishing was the only work here, but the ships from other countries began dropping waste into local waters after 1991. Many people have blinded, some have almost lost skin. A lot of people have suffered, but the Coast Guard has busted and now fishing is almost absent in this region, therefore the piracy is increasing and nowadays nobody try to pollute local water.

According to one of the pirates: "Nothing can stop a starving man, you can’t understand us, you have never been starving. When you become a starving offender, you doesn’t think even about religion. We go out into the sea because the rich and large countries mocked us, exploited us, they polluted our water, used it, ever do a folly, why aren’t they help us to establish a real legal power in the country instead this? We will rob their ships and murder them until they help us to establish the administration in our country and not use the fact that there are no government and nothing at all. ”

If there will be no strong government in Somalia, we will continue the war and our choice is not great either to die or to become a pirate.

At the moment the UN organizes humanitarian assistance to African countries particularly to Somalia but unfortunately this help eliminates only the results instead the cause. As somalis say they need a strong government, employment and education to be someone other than pirates. Because a nation, on whose territory the first mention of human beings was found, a nation with its own traditions and specialties, is dying.

References Д. ф. «В Логове Сомалийских Пиратов» http: //ntdtv. ru/novosti-afriki/v-somali-rabotaet- edinstvennaya-besplatnaya-shkola http: //www. rutraveller. ru/resort/4790/places