When I cited international reports that had laid eyes on the cargo manifest of the Ukrainian ship hijacked by pirates en route to Kenya South Sudan, I was confident that the documentation told the whole story. However, the Kenyan government — which obviously does not want to be seen as undermining a peace between North and South Sudan that it helped mediate — seems to have staked its defense on the meaning of four little letters on this potentially damning piece of evidence. The Economist raises this possibility that I had not considered:
Much will turn on the real meaning of the acronym GOSS, evident as the buyer on the manifest. Most people take this to mean the Government of South Sudan, meaning that the tanks were destined for that region. The Kenyans say it means the Kenyan army’s own General Ordinance Supplies and Security, proving that the tanks were going to Kenya.
My guess is that the tanks were in fact headed to Sudan — yet it does seem amazingly coincidental that the Kenyan army does in fact have an organization with the initials GOSS. We can be sure, though, that the pirates currently holding onto the cargo were not intended to be the ultimate recipients.