Haybe Ibrahim
Monday, January 10, 2011
In May 2010 it was reported that Russian marines freed a Russian tanker from Somali pirates in an operation hailed as commendable by Russian government officials. Afterwards, Russian officials gave their version of the story by saying that they have captured ten Somali pirates in the operation, but then released them into the ocean in an inflatable boat. At that time there was no independent source to verify this, but as time went on with no sign of the pirates it became apparent that they are dead, and it was reported that Russians killed these boys and are covering up their crime. It was also suspected that instead of handing over their bodies for a proper burial like the Americans did, they might have dumped their bodies in the ocean for sharks or they might have used for organ transplant/harvesting which are in higher demand in many countries, including Russia.
In December 2010, seven months after this incident a video clip resurfaced in the internet. This clip shows Russian marines enthusiastically shooting a boat with Somali pirates with artillery and guns from the deck of a ship and thick black smoke billowing into the air. This clearly shows that even though these pirates were committing a crime in international waters, nevertheless, they were not a threat to the Russians when they were killed brutally. According to the international laws you don't even kill your enemy in the battlefield if he surrenders or he is not threat to your life. And in the case of piracy, the procedure for dealing with it is to arrest pirates, disarm and detain them until they can be prosecuted in the courts of law.
In a separate incident, last month six Russians were detained in Somaliland while flying a plane with military supplies to Puntland in violation of UN embargo after making an emergency landing at Hargeisa Airport. In other words Russians were back again only seven months after the first killing to kill more Somalis. However, this time they came not to kill Somalis directly with their hands, but to kill them indirectly by arming Puntland security forces with the most lethal weapons such as, mines, which many countries with the backing of United Nations want to ban having seen its toll on the civilian population in war zones. The puntland administration stated that these weapons were intended to fight pirates in the sea, but as a matter of fact you don't fight an army in the sea with landmines. It is not for me to speculate who would have been at the receiving end of these mines, however, all the indications are these were intended to be planted in the mainland and according to UN report on mines casualties in the war zones, mines kill and maim more civilians than military personnel.
To conclude, it is paradoxical that the Puntland administration allowed the very people who killed their sons in cold blood just over seven months ago to supply them with these weapons in order to kill and maim more.
May Allah give us good leaders who bring back the glory and dignity of these down-trodden people.
Haybe Ibrahim
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