Somali Pirates

These pirates have attacked many people. There has been a recorded 63 attacks and 26 hijackings. They have taken over12 ships and 259 sailors that remain captive. The pirates pursue their prey on small motor boats to promote the element of surprise. They come on a big boat and POUNCE! They now use newer technologies so instead of using row boats they have motor boats. The Faina a boat captured by the Pirates had a ransom of $20 million, but later dropped to $5 million. These pirates are the most well known pirates for decades now, and probably will be known for many years to come.

Work Cited

• White, Matthew. "Death Tolls." Twentieth Century Atlas. 1999-2005. Web. May 2010. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat1.htm.


• "Somalia." Genocide Intervention. Genocide Intervention Network, 2009. Web. May 2010. http://www.genocideintervention.net/educate/crisis/somalia.


• "Black Hawk Down - The Battle of Mogadishu." War On Terror News. Ed. WOTN. 2008. Web. 17 May 2010. http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2008/10/black-hawk-down.html.


• "Timeline: Somalia." BBC NEWS News Front Page. BBC News, Apr. 2010. Web. May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1072611.stm.


• Altman, Alex. "A Brief History of Pirates." TIME.com. 2 Oct. 2008. Web. May 2010. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1846422,00.html.

Somalian Timeline

1991- Warlords Mohamed Farah Aideed and Ali Mahdi Mohamed fight for power harming thousands of civilians.
1992- US Marines help to maintain peace in Magadishu.
1993- US Army Rangers are killed in Black Hawk Down.
1995- UN peacekeepers leave having failed their mission.
1996- Mohamed Aideed dies of wounds and his son is next to power.
1998- Puntland region calls autonomy.
2000- A new government is introduced and it is the first one since 1991.
2001- UN provides food aid for half a million people.
2004- A Tsunami hits Somalia killing many.
2005- Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi survives an assasination

1991-1993

Although the Civil War is still going on today, this focuses on 1991-1995. This is when Somalia had made the countries problem to an international problem. All the problems started with an evil warlord named Mohamed Farah Aideed. The United Nations was in Somalia trying to help with all the famine in the country, and they ended up having to deal with the warlord himself. In 1991 Aideed was elected chairman of the United Somali Congress. Ali Mahdi was the president in 1991 had a government of eight ministers that he promised a lot of financial support. In 1993 a BLOODY Civil War broke out devastating both parties. When the U.N. tried to "help" it just ended up hurting more, and this is where the Black Hawk Down thing started. Ultimately hurting many in the process.

War Casualties and war counts

Although the content of these facts may seem unmoral of any sort they are entirely true.

• By 1999 there were one million people dead.


• 1.4 Million-Internally Displaced Persons within Somalia.


• 513,820-Somali refugees who have fled to neighboring countries.


• More than 2,000-Civilians killed recently by ongoing conflict in Somalia.


• 30-Humanitarian workers killed in 2008.


• 50,000 were killed in fighting.


• 400,000 died of starvation and disease.


• 300,000 died of starvation and disease in the year between 1991 and 1992.


• 300,000 U.N. Humanitarians died in the 14 years of war.

Black Hawk Down

It started as a 30 minute raid and turned into hours of battle. It all began when an American Black Hawk helicopter was shot down. Then citizens in Somalia attacked American troops. Now these were not ordinary citizens many were members of Al-Qaeda. A total of 160 troops went into Somalia that day, and of that 18 people died and 73 people were wounded. This was a low day in American history, and a simple mission gone terribly wrong. Not only were people killed, but their bodies were dragged through the streets. There were also two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and torn apart by Somalian rebels.