December 1,
2008: Although the Somali pirates are Moslems, and threaten the Moslem nations in
the region, none of those Moslem nations is willing to carry out the only
complete solution to the problem. That is, landing troops and taking control of
the coastal towns and villages the pirates use as bases.
Egypt, which
receives nearly $6 billion a year in transit fees from users of the Suez Canal,
sees that revenue threatened. If the pirates decide to move into the Red Sea,
they would do great damage to the economies of Sudan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
But none of these countries is eager to take on the Somali pirates. Everyone is
calling for "the world" (non-Moslem nations) to contribute ships and
soldiers to deal with the problem.
