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Hargeysa,
Somaliland, August 29, 2009 (SL Times) – It seems as if Somali pirates
are learning propaganda techniques from the west. Somalis have gotten
used to denials by western companies and governments of ransom payments
to pirates that the pirates themselves have acknowledged had been paid.
Somalis are also familiar with American attempts to prop up Sheikh
Sharif’s ghost of a government by calling it all sorts of positive
descriptions that have little to do with reality.
Now pirates are using similar techniques. A good example is the pirates’
response to helicopters that have flown close enough to the pirates
bases to monitor and intimidate pirates. The pirates did not only fire
back at the helicopters and in the process reveal that they had large
caliber weapons, but they also spread the highly unlikely message that
westerners on helicopters had landed on pirate bases, caught a large
number of ostriches and other wildlife, then flew away with their loot.
For instance on Aug 26 2009, a man by the name of Mohamood Muhammad Awad
contacted the BBC and made such claim. Mr Awad did not explain why would
westerners come to Somali pirates bases of all places to hunt for wild
life.
A more likely explanation is that the helicopters are part of NATO and
US anti-piracy operations. By spreading this false account of what is
going on, the pirates and their partners in the Puntland administration
want to create sympathy among Somalis and liberal Europeans that
foreigners with superior weapons are victimizing them in their own land.
The pirates have already shown that they know how to use western
technology in the form of speed boats and mother ships against
westerners (and others). Now they are showing that they have mastered
the techniques of western propaganda.
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