David McKenzie
CNN

Attackers hijacked the Maersk Alabama, shown here, formerly known as the Alva Maersk.

David McKenzie
CNN Africa Correspondent

I have been covering Somali piracy for over a year, sailed with the USS Shoup patrolling the waters off Somalia searching for bands of marauders, and interviewed merchant sailors who had been held for months.

But nothing compares to this.

Pirates brazenly attacking a giant US flagged container ship off the coast of Somalia carrying food aid. In the ensuing fight the crew took back the ship, but the pirates made off with their captain in a lifeboat.

In his desperation to escape from his Somali Pirate captors, Captain Richard Phillips tried to escape from pirates on Thursday night by diving off the lifeboat where he was being held to swimming for the nearby US warship, said U.S. officials. The pirates hauled him back.

It was a brave attempt to get loose from his captors who are now trying to spirit him to the lawless Somali shore, according to a source well-connected to the Somali pirate scourge.

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The release of a hijacked super tanker goes poorly. David McKenzie spoke exclusively to a Somali pirate.

Pirates are hitting the headlines, but how are they grabbing ships? CNN's David McKenzie explains.

David McKenzie | BIO
CNN Correspondent

The whole world is talking about pirates, since they grabbed an Iranian ship and then a gigantic Saudi supertanker. Pirates operating off the coast of East Africa, have attacked more than 90 ships this year alone.

The U.S. has sent in ships to join a NATO-led international fleet, which has battled, fended off and sunk some pirate ships. But the pirates are still attacking, and still hold 17 ships and more than 300 prisoners.

It sounds like something you’d see in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean or Captain Hook, but the weapons are bigger and it's much more dramatic because it's real life.

And the human toll is painful, as Thumani Said can attest. I interviewed Thumani in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya.

He was captured by pirates on the cargo ship that he helped sail to Mogadishu, Somalia from Kenya. The company he works for has had three ships hijacked by the pirates.

One of the hijacking incidents occurred even when they were trying to transport humanitarian aide to suffering Somalis in that lawless, poverty-stricken country that has been without a central government since 1991, and where clashes among various groups vying for power often occur.

Thumani and his fellow crew members were held by the pirates for over 100 days! He sat under the barrel of an AK47 thinking about his new wife and family. At first, he was afraid to die, and then he just became resigned to his fate. The pirates didn't treat them too badly physically, and they had food stocks stored on the boat. But they were constantly badgered by the pirates who wanted to know why the ransom wasn't being paid.

Eventually his company paid a ransom and the ship returned home. Thumani was paid a measly ‘bonus’ of $80 dollars for his troubles. While he was held hostage, he was not paid his salary.

So, as we hear and read about pirates on the high seas, complete with tales of warships and ransoms, spare a thought for people like Thumani. The 300 hostages out there right now don’t know if they will ever return home.

The bull that is set to be slaughtered should Obama win

David McKenzie | BIO
CNN Correspondent

The entire village of Kogelo, in Western Kenya, is supporting Obama on election day. Well, almost. There is one supporter of Senator McCain here. And that's the bull that will be slaughtered should Barack Obama win.

Feasting on a bull is traditional in this part of Africa and in the world headquarters of Obamamania outside of the US, there will be a lot of nervous bovine tonight.

CNN's come here because this is the ancestral home of Barack Obama (as Kenyan's see it). And in a few hours this remote place could be part of history.

Barack Obama Senior, the senator's father, was born in this was born in the remote district of less than a thousand people. His grandmother lives in simple house now surrounded by a fence and Kenyan police.

But that's not the only family in Kogelo. The entire clan has descended onto the village. There are half-brothers and aunts, half sisters and uncles-the large extended family that is now famous in Kenya.

Malik Obama, Senator Obama's half brother.

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A crew member taken hostage on a pirated ship off the coast of Somalia has died. CNN's David McKenzie reports

They have done it again, but perhaps they have bitten off more than they can chew.

Pirates have hijacked 25 vessels this year off the coast of Somalia, but it is 'number 25' that has brought the most international attention.

On Thursday they captured the 'MV Faina' as it was about to dock in Mombassa, Kenya.

Onboard? Soviet-era tanks and weapons.

According to the Ukrainian ministry, the ship is carrying a huge cache of arms including 33 Soviet built T-72 tanks, tank munitions, and an undisclosed amount of small arms.

Security experts tell CNN that if the arms found their way to Somalia they could help fuel the conflict their and even end up in the hands of terror groups.

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Pirates are running rampant off Somalia. This past June, CNN's David McKenzie embarked with the forces trying to stop them.

David McKenzie | BIO
CNN Correspondent

It's been called the worst spate of piracy in years.

Three ships were hijacked in one day off the coast of Somalia, in East Africa. The ships are flying German, Japanese and Iranian flags. They were targetted by pirates who now seem to be striking at will.

These are not your Jack Sparrow romantic pirates of yesteryear. They use speedboats that operate from mother ships to take on merchant vessels. The pirates are heavily armed with RPGs and heavy machine guns. Merchant vessels are defenseless.

The attacks today bring the number of vessels currently being held by pirates off Somalia to seven.

Capt. Pottengal Mukudan of the International Maritime Bureau told CNN that the Combined Task Force-150 - a multinational naval force that monitors the region - should "give piracy a much higher priority to bring this under control."

"Four attacks in two days, ships being hijacked and crews being taken, and large ransoms being demanded is completely unacceptable," Mukudan said.

I spent time with the CTF-150 warships off Somalia. The multinational force said they would do all they could to stop pirates but that their mandate only allowed them to work in international waters.

That mandate has since changed, allowing them to take on pirates more aggresively. Yet we haven't seen proactive tactics to meet the threat. Keep reading

Watch CNN's David McKenzie's report on the U.S. embassy bombing in East Africa, ten years later.

It was the scars on his face and hands that I noticed first.

Douglas is blind - but that is not what struck me.

When I shook Douglas Sidialo's hand, it was lined with the memories of the event. Webbed with scars.

He tried to shield himself from the massive blast 10 years ago.

It is a decade since al Qaeda terrorists packed a truck with explosives and detonated it outside the U.S. embassy in downtown Nairobi.

Almost simultaneously, the US embassy in Tanzania was targeted.

In Nairobi the attack had devastating effects. Though the United States was the target, it was ordinary Kenyans who felt the full brunt.

Over 200 people were killed and 5,000 injured, the majority Kenyans going about their daily lives. And I was struck by the visceral anger many of them feel a decade later. Keep reading

All of those small dots represent Wildebeest. The annual Wildebeest migration is an event tourists flock to see... its also bringing out many more poachers. Watch our David McKenzie's report
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David McKenzie | BIO
CNN Correspondent

It’s one of the natural wonders of the world.

Over a million animals trek annually across the African plains. They cross national boundaries, forge rivers thick with crocodiles, and find the greener pastures of Kenya’s Masai Mara.

And it’s happening right now. Just imagine it for a second: herds thousands strong streaming through the golden grass of the savanna. There is always a single file of Wildebeest in the lead with a deluge following behind. Some of the herds are so massive that their front is in Kenya and their back in Tanzania.

This annual migration is now under threat by poachers.
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CNN's David McKenzie speaks with Zimbabweans at a refugee camp in Johannesburg, South Africa; sharing why they fled, why its not safe to vote, and what should be done to fix the country... He filed this vlog: