Piracy has become a very real problem on some of the world’s oceans, a fact that was highlighted by the recent capture of the MV Sirius Star by pirates off the coast of Kenya last week. Over 1,000 feet long, the Sirius Star was carrying a cargo of crude oil valued at over $100 million when it was hijacked. Negotiations between the pirates who hijacked the Sirius Star and the owners of the vessel are underway, but CNN is reporting Somali Islamic militants have vowed to retake the Sirius Star. According to CNN, the Somali fighters told residents they would battle the pirates because the Sirius Star is owned by a Muslim country and should not have been hijacked. Also worth noting is the fact that the militants are members of the al-Shabab militia, an offshoot of an Islamic party that ruled much of Somalia in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in Somalia.
Maybe it’s just me, but a potential firefight on an oil supertanker full of crude oil just doesn’t seem like a scenario that’s going to end well.
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