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Cairo,
Egypt, September 5, 2009 (SL Times) – The BBC Somali Service reported on
Aug.31, 2009 that the Egyptian government decided to return the Somali
pirates it was holding back to Somalia. The pirates were caught and
brought to Egypt when the ship they were holding for ransom was rescued.
The Egyptian government did not explain why it decided not to try the
pirates who were caught red-handed at the scene of the crime. Right
after the rescue operation, Reuters (Aug.15, 2009) reported “Somali
pirates found seven dead colleagues floating in the ocean on Saturday
and vowed to take revenge against Egyptian fishermen they say killed
them during an escape, an associate of the pirates said.”
The Egyptian government knows that this will most probably not be the
last time an Egyptian vessel and its crew falls into the hands of Somali
pirates from Somalia’s Puntland region, and it looks like it decided not
to burn all its bridges to the pirates. Perhaps the clear messages from
the pirates and their sponsors in the Puntland administration helped
concentrate the mind of the Egyptian government, messages such as: "The
Egyptian crew members killed them ... we used to welcome them and treat
the Egyptians better than other hostages, but if we capture more of them
we shall get our revenge."
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