Spike In Piracy Throughout Somalia

Somalia - 

Two separate notable incidents of piracy have happened recently both involve Somalia. First off there is a trial set to take place November 4^th here in the United States, regarding the fate of several individuals who have been accused of piracy. It is the first time this charge has been brought on anyone in close to 100 years, but the five men who were involved will face life sentences if convicted, the five men fired openly at a United States naval vessel off the coast of Somalia. The naval boat was patrolling the waters for pirates and approached the suspicious boat when they were attacked. No U.S. service men were injured in the attack.

In other related news European naval forces subdued several pirates who commandeered a Yacht piloted by several South African men. The South African’s were headed up the coast when there several men stormed boat in the middle of the night with automatic weapons. The men were taken hostage; one was left on board the other two were brought to shore. The pirates were seeking a ransom, however before any negotiation, naval forces spotted the yacht moving erratically and investigated. The pirates fired on the naval vessel, prompting the European Forces to eliminate the pirates. The one hostage on the yacht was rescued, the fates of the other two hostages are not yet known.

11 Dead 700 Wounded After Moroccan Raid

Morocco /Western Sahara–

A raid conducted by Moroccan forces on a Western Sahara protest camp has left 11 people dead, 700 wounded and 160 missing. The protest camp was that of the Polisario Front a group of people fighting for Western Saharan independence from Morocco. Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975, recently there have been U.N. mediated talks between the two nations regarding independence however not a lot of progress was made. The Polisario Front has made a point of saying that this raid is just another example as to how abusive the Moroccan government has been. They used water cannons, tear gas and live ammunition on protestors. Several thousand protestors had been camped near the boarder for months. The Polisario Front also accuses the Moroccan government of stealing phosphate resources from their country, as well as other natural resources that should be used by the people in Western Sahara. It is things like this that have prompted thousands to camp out in protest, however the Moroccan Government saw them as a threat and acted violently.