One of Somalian pirates has recently published a photo on his blog that was made with his mobile phone, and in this photo there is Barthe Cortes ( owner of a transport company- BVC) together with people from BVC, most of them have covered their faces and they hold AK47 guns in their hands. Most probably, in this way, BVC protects its ships with a valuable freight during their cruise through the Gulf of Aden.
blogger said: "I consider myself to be a person saved from bad deeds. I can understand the evil which I did and I am aware that it was not in tune with teachings of Islam, but Samel is none the better. He is mad and God punishes madmen."
UN resolution of June 2 allows states which co-operate with the provisional government in Somalia to enter Somalia's waters and use "any means" necessary to stop piracy. In the open sea, any country may arrest pirates and take over their spoils. Nevertheless, attacked ships sometimes do not have enough time to alert nearby battleships and captains often choose safety of the crew and personally let the rope ladder down. Barthe Cortes acts differently, and his actions send a message to the pirates that he does not intend to tolerate their actions and he is ready to answer with fire if they start shooting. "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it", says one of international observers, "as piracy is just business and therefore pirates want to earn money and not to die. By adopting their own fighting methods, and being ready for anything, Cortes takes huge risk, but he also discourages them to attack his ships. They prefer to hijack the ones which do not answer with fire and do not protect themselves while crossing the Gulf of Aden".
The discussion has focused on where is the dividing line between business, pirate activity and terrorism..
BVC
