Blogs and Stories
The Pirate Whisperer
Sounds like quite a racket. Have things become more sophisticated lately?
They are starting to use decoy boats. That happened [on January 29] when the German boat Long Champ was taken. The pirates used a decoy to signal it was in trouble, and when the Long Champ answered its distress call, another boat that was hiding attacked it.
Your critics say that hijackings require delicate negotiations and the publicity you bring isn’t helping matters. Why do you do it?
When we started talking about this, the ship owners said, "No, no, no. You are going to endanger the life of the seamen." But if we see evil, we’re going to speak about evil. If we hear evil, we’re going to talk about evil. We’re not going to keep quiet. Why do you want to keep quiet?
We make a lot of noise and now we see the Americans are there [with warships]. The British are there. All the nations are there. You know what they say about Somalia? That it is a black hole. But Somalia is not a black hole. Because we know what is happening there.
What is the most dangerous hijacking you’ve seen?
The Cheng Fong Hwa was a fishing vessel from Taiwan that was taken on April 18, 2007. It had 168 seamen aboard and was held for more than six months. Early in the hijacking, the ship owner was not cooperating so one of the pirates put a gun to the back of a Chinese seaman’s head and shot him. He died instantly. Then the pirate took a phone and gave it to another crewman. He said, “OK, call home. Call your wife and say that they have started killing us.”
When we reported that information back to the Chinese Embassy in Nairobi, we said, “The pirates are killing these people. Please make the owners come out and talk to these gunmen.”
Why wasn’t the owner negotiating?
I believe the reason was that the ship was illegally fishing. And because of that, the gunmen killed the crewman to make an example to other ship owners. So the Chinese Embassy started putting pressure on the ship owner.
The owner of the Cheng Fong Hwa finally paid $200,000 to get the vessel released. Before the pirates left, they took all the personal belongings from the crew. That was worth about $10,000.
You were arrested after briefing reporters on the Ukrainian freighter the MV Faina and accused of feeding the press false information. Did your arrest surprise you?
No. I had been expecting this for a long time. We all know that the government of Kenya is corrupt. From what I understand, the plan wasn’t just to arrest me. It was to silence me. And you know what I mean when we say “silence” in Africa. They wanted to silence me by way of assassination. I was to be taken out of the police cell and in the middle of the night and maybe shot somewhere. So when they came to my cell in the middle of the night, I refused to go. I said, “Come tomorrow in the daylight.” The other inmates in the cell joined me and said, “Take him tomorrow.” The next day they took me to a prison. They kept me there for three days before releasing me.
Your next hearing is scheduled for April 1. What do you think is in store for you?
I don’t know. The government is looking for something to pin on me. And it is a danger because we’re dealing with international organizations. I have to watch over my shoulder. In this part of the world, you don’t know who is who.
Shaun Assael is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He is the author of three books, including, most recently, Steroid Nation.
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Wow! This is one of the most interesting and illuminating interviews I have read in a long time. Glad someone took the trouble to go deeper than the usual "look at those wacky Africans" mentality we get on almost all continent stories.
This man is unbelievably brave and needs to be protected from the Kenyan government.
I would suggest Mr. Assael do more work on the international arms trade. This massive industry condemns so many poor civilians to death while lining the pockets of those in Europe and the U.S.
Kudos!
Thank you Mister Assael for having the courage to speak up. Unfortunately, someone will probably have you executed soon.
We can only hope your bravery is rewarded with protection rather than a bullet. By your statement alone about the sources of this piracy originating in Saudia Arabia, UK, and Canada, you have opened up a nasty can of terrorist worms, and I hope the crows come in to feed upon those worms, and in the process throw some light onto them as well.
One arresting aspect of the story is the over-fishing that these boat-owners do. Also illegally dumping waste. It's a cruel, greedy and vicious world, ain't it?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
piracy in somalia is becoming big business in somalia,and is invested by somali merchant who invest in young unemployed who at the end get nothing compare what this merchant get.
Thank you.
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