Islamist militants who seized a pirate stronghold on the Somali coast will liberate any foreign hostages they find, a militia commander said, but the brigands had already fled on land and were also sailing off with several captured foreign ships.
Dozens of fighters from the militant group Hizbul Islam rolled into Haradhere on Sunday, group officials said on Monday. Pirates piled their big-screen TVs into the luxury cars they had bought with ransom payments and drove off, avoiding a clash. At least four hijacked ships anchored near Haradhere moved toward Hobyo, another pirate den, said Haradhere resident Osman Gure.
The head of operations for Hizbul Islam, Sheik Mohamed Abdi Aros, said his fighters have not come across any hostages yet, but if they did the militants would release them along with any hijacked ships. Pirates hold more than 300 hostages taken from ships attacked off East Africa in the last several months.
“Hizbul Islam came here to install Islamic Shariah law in this region and fight piracy, which we consider un-Islamic,” Aros said by telephone. “We hope to curb the dirty business.”
Shariah is a conservative and often harsh interpretation of Islam.
Drugs, alcohol and prostitutes have flooded Haradhere along with the millions of dollars in ransom money pirates have received.
Pirates are armed with rocket propelled grenades and assault rifles, but likely won’t fight Hizbul Islam, said one self-proclaimed pirate, Maslah Yare. He said one pirate leader had 60 machine guns but still fled.
“They like life and don’t want to die,” Yare said. “Every pirate will tell you, ‘Why do I have to fight? I have enough money to survive. I’m not going to engage in a fight with Islamists.’”
Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the British think tank Chatham House, said pirates may simply move their operations farther north.
For its part, Hizbul Islam was kicked out of the southern port town of Kismayo by the more powerful Islamist militant group al-Shabab and could be looking for a new base for its operations.
Middleton said it’s not clear whether Hizbul Islam will resist the financial lure of the pirate trade, adding: “These aren’t completely pure organizations.”
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS