By Elizabeth A. Kennedy
May 1, 2008

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) The spoils of a career as a pirate off Somalia's coast were simply too good for Abdi Muse to pass up. He bought two Land Cruisers and a new home, then married two women in one passionate week.

"I was giving away money to everyone I met," said Muse, 38, who said he made $90,000 hijacking ships. "After two months, I had no money left. Can you believe it?"

For years, Somali pirates like Muse have found lucrative work stalking the country's lawless coast, seizing boats and negotiating ransoms. But these brazen assailants could soon face more force as the United States and France muster international support for taking them on.

"This is a very important and serious signal that the nations of the world take [piracy] seriously," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy.

The United States has been leading international patrols to combat piracy along Somalia's unruly 1,880-mile coast, the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes. Now, the U.S. and France are drafting a U.N. resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates after a spate of recent attacks, including a Spanish tuna boat hijacked last month by pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and a Dubai-flagged cargo ship seized while carrying food to the desperately poor country. …

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