Somali Pirate Threat Concerns Minn. Aid Workers
Just days after the United States rescued two kidnapped humanitarian aid workers in Somalia, pirates in the country are saying: don't try it again They're telling the American government that if it tries to rescue another American being held hostage they'll kill him in the process.
The threat has raised concerns for all aid workers in Somalia, and that includes some who work there with the Minnesota-based nonprofit American Refugee Committee. It has a paid staff of more than 75 people in Somalia and dozens more volunteers--many of them from Minnesota. This new threat isn't changing the way they operate--at least not yet--but they say it does create concern.
"It's the most dangerous place in the world right now for for humanitarian workers," said Tyler Zabriskie. He has just returned from three days in Mogadishu, Somalia in his role as an international programs leader. "I would typifiy it as a large city that once was grand, that has now crumbled to almost rubble. You have to be very careful about security--bombs are sometimes placed in the rubble that's on the street."
So how worried was he about his safety? How concerned was he that he too could become a target of pirates? "I would be, if we didn't have a very good team that's thought through carefully the security issues," Zabriskie said. "I'm actually not so much in danger because my travel is unpredictable. It's the people that are there day to day. It's our staff that are there that have to be very careful about how they move through the city. They don't want to move regularly at the same time."
After the special forces unit that killed Osama Bin Laden rescued an American woman in Somalia earlier this week, Somali pirates began threatening to kill another hostage, a California journalist and author. They've been quoted as saying, "If they try again, we will all die together."
Explained Zabriskie, "You're
in a culture where there's not a functioning government and where
people are trying to find some kind of livelihood and there's massive
unemployment. Piracy is kind of the lottery for them, as if they're saying 'I'm going to earn ten million dollars a year (by doing this).' It's a crazy thing to do but when people are desperate enough they're grasping at straws."
He continued, "I think it's imperative to be there because people are in such need. It's hard to describe it but we'll pull staff out if we think we can't keep them safe."
The California man being held by the Somali pirates has been moved several times in the last few days. It's rare for pirates to kill hostages because they're in it for the ransom cash, but the U.S. is taking these new threats extremely seriously.
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