Thursday, June 25, 2009

Pirate Fear Grips Tuvalu

Even though half the globe separates them, the residents of the tiny South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu are fearful of the Somali pirates.

No, the Somalis haven't sailed all the way to the Pacific (at least not yet), but they did capture 11 Tuvaluan sailors when they seized the German-owned freighter Hansa Stavanger, but to the isolated, tight-knit nation, it's like they’ve captured all of Tuvalu.

Subsistence farming and fishing are the meager ways that Tuvalu's 12,000 residents eek out a living, that and by signing on as seamen on foreign cargo ships. Approximately 40% of Tuvalu's men are estimated to be working as merchant sailors. Many of the men work with shipping firms in Germany, so Tuvaluans never thought that pirates would be a threat to their safety. According to the cousin of one of the captured sailors, as reported by the BBC, many Tuvaluans have never even seen a gun.

To make matters worse, the $15 million ransom that the Somali pirates are requesting for the release of the Hansa Stavanger is more than the entire annual budget for Tuvalu (luckily negotiations are actually going on with the Hansa Stavanger's owners). In the past, the Somali pirates have usually released captured sailors unharmed once some sort of ransom is paid. Until then the folks on Tuvalu will have to wait for their sailors to come home.
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