Source:
Associated PressSomali pirates transform villages into boomtownsThe Associated Press
Published: November 19, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia: Somalia's increasingly brazen
pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising
in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring
caterers to prepare Western-style food for their
hostages.
And in an impoverished country where every public
institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in
the steamy coastal dens they operate from because
they are the only real business in town.
"The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them,"
said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Haradhere, the
nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian
supertanker carrying $100 million in crude was anchored
Wednesday.
These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of
Somalia's violence and poverty: Radical Islamists
control most of the country's south, meting out
lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has
been no effective central government in nearly 20
years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.
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http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/19/africa/AF-Pirate-Boomtown.php