Those warships that NATO promised it would send to Somalia’s coast have arrived, bolstering the American force already there and deploying just in time to replace the Canadian ships that were scheduled to return home this week.
Somalia’s government? Happy.
“We are so delighted with the arrival of those NATO ships into our waters and they have our full consent to fight against the pirates,” the prime minister said at a news conference.
“NATO can carry out any acts including military actions in our waters against the pirates,” he added.
Those who would reclaim their control of Somalia’s government, though, the Union of the Islamic Courts, are not as thrilled, having declared war on any foreign ships in its waters. And while the UIC, waging an underground campaign to unseat the current Ethiopian-backed government, certainly benefits from the anarchy wreaked by the pirates, some of the pirates seem aligned with the al-Shabab militant group, a splinter of the UIC, so this seems to be more of a “your enemy is my enemy, too” type of solidarity.
With so many enemies milling about, unfortunately, there remains plenty to fear in and around Somalia.
(Image from flickr user HolgerVaga under a Creative Commons license.)