Somali Pirate Capital Of Eyl

Somali Pirate Capital Of Eyl

The former secret Somali pirate capital of Eyl, located in the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia, is the capital of the Eyl District. Eyl, also known as Illig, was the capital of the Dervishes from 1905 onwards. The Dervishes established Taleh as their capital in 1909. Eyl has again become the secret capital of Somali pirates, a prime operating base for Somalia’s pirate class, in which nearly everyone is involved in the plunder of ships passing through the Gulf of Aden. The last time a ship was hijacked anywhere near Eyl was in 2009. It has been thirteen years since then. It is impossible to find pirates today; they have disappeared. The town is now under the control of women, children, and the elderly. Eyl has become a tourist destination and Visit Horn Africa offers a 3-day trip from Garowe to Eyl for those interested. Here is a link that you can use to book your trip.

During Somali pirate control of this territory, any person lifting an arm would be sent to an overseas prison by NATO and UN. A ransom payment of millions of dollars was received by this town on a regular basis. There was a rapid rise in inflation that has remained high for the past few decades. Long after the pirates have disappeared, the pirates’ illicit trade has a lasting impact on the local population.

The reasons for the formation of Somali pirates.

Historically, piracy off the Somali coast has not been the result of bandits looking for money or to make money off ships passing through the Gulf of Aden. The protest began with fishermen tired of foreign fishing fleets taking advantage of the instability in the country, dumping toxic waste and fishing illegally in the Somali seas. Due to these activities, the country and its people were adversely affected economically, environmentally, and health-wise. 

This type of illegal fishing is known as Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU). The amount of money generated by this illegal activity is estimated to be between $4-9 billion annually, with encroachment on Sub-Saharan Africa’s waters amounting to about $1 billion. Due to the lack of effective authority over Somalia’s territorial waters, these fishing fleets now control Somalia’s 3,300km of coastline and its abundant marine resources. Approximately 700 international vessels are estimated to illegally poach in Somali territorial waters, harvesting species of high value such as deep-water shrimps, lobsters, tuna, and sharks.

International companies have also dumped toxic waste into the waters in addition to illegal fishing. United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) 2005 Report acknowledged that industrialized nations do indeed dump hazardous waste in Somali territorial waters, and the primary reason for this practice is cost. For a European country to dump toxic waste safely in Europe, it costs $250 per tonne, while in Somalia it cost $2.50 per tonne. As a result, companies dump waste in Somali waters by taking advantage of the lack of political security and the nonenforcement of environmental security laws. This practice has been ongoing since the outbreak of the civil war. During the 2004 tsunami, the containers and barrels washed ashore, causing disease outbreaks among the villagers.

As a result of these encroachments, the local fishermen began fighting with the foreigners in the 1990s. Fishermen confronted foreign vessels for encroaching upon their waters and livelihood by engaging in acts of violence. Fishermen with smaller boats have been crushed and killed in addition to being drenched with boiling water in their canoes, having their nets destroyed, and being soaked with boiling water in their canoes. 

To protect themselves, fishermen began to carry weapons, while trawlers began to carry more sophisticated weapons in order to overwhelm them. Because of this, the fishermen increased their protection, and the cycle continued, resulting in what we now call Somalia’s piracy crisis. 

Somali Pirates in Captain Phillips

A true story, Somali Pirates in Captain Phillips is one of the rarest thrillers, not relying on distracting special effects or circumspect character development. A powerful, soul-baring performance by Tom Hanks drives the film without lag, without overselling its characters’ plight, never reducing anyone to mere caricature. In the film, Hanks is playing the captain of the American container ship MV Maersk Alabama, which is sailing along the Somalia coast with a full load. There are two skiffloads of armed Somalis close to the ship, ready to board.

There are multiple layers to Captain Phillips, the story of a crew of Somali pirates hijacking a U.S. container ship in 2009. The film is simultaneously a pulse-pounding thriller and a complex portrait of globalization through Paul Greengrass’s distinctive lens. Tom Hanks, who won two Academy Awards®, plays Captain Richard Phillips, the captain of the Alabama who is taken captive by Somali pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi). It is 145 miles off the Somali coast that Phillips and Muse will find themselves locked in a standoff when Muse and his crew target Phillips’ unarmed ship.