Piracy result of poverty, lawlessness in Somalia

February 10, 2009 • Chris McKee  
Filed under Opinion

Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city and a major African port town, hosted a Jan. 14 trial of eight Somalis accused of piracy after a failed attempt to hijack a Danish freighter.

They were captured in the Gulf of Aden by a British frigate in November and brought to Kenya for trial, according to CNN. If convicted, these men will face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Piracy has long been a fact of life for Somalia, which has lacked an effective government since its civil war began in the early 1990s. However, it gained much attention in recent months as attacks have expanded beyond the Gulf of Aden and across much of the Indian Ocean.

The first ship to be captured off of the Somali coast was the MV Feisty Gas, a privately owned Hong Kong ship that pirates captured on April 10, 2005. The company that owned the ship paid a $315,000 ransom for its unknown release date.

By far the majority of attacks have occurred in 2008, however, especially in the last four months of the year. 

In November alone several notable attacks occurred involving Indian, Saudi Arabian, Danish, German, and American ships, among ships from other countries around the world. Pirates even attacked cruise ships.

By far the greatest success on the part of the pirates occurred on Nov 17, when pirates hijacked the MV Sirius Star.

Flown under the Liberian flag, the Saudi-based oil company Aramco owns the vessel, which has 25 crewmembers and was hijacked 518 miles southeast of Mombasa.

Not only was this the furthest distance pirates have traveled from the Gulf of Aden, but also the ship is the largest ever captured by pirates, and demands the heftiest ransom ($15 to $25 million). It carries $100 million worth of crude oil.

Governments all around the world have decided to work together in taking action against these ongoing attacks.

 As of Nov 22, navies from several nations have formed a NATO-led effort to counter piracy attacks in the area. These nations include the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Russia, and even Sweden – which has a long history of neutrality in armed conflict.

Also, countries from the Arab League that border the Red Sea have met to discuss alternative trade routes, and on Nov 20 the United Nations approved tougher sanctions on Somalia.

Besides the security threats posed by piracy in the Gulf of Aden, international shipping costs have risen while food aid has been cut off as a direct result of the attacks, according to National Geographic.

The tendency of pirates to spend freely at ports, particularly on alcohol and the East African drug khat, has led to wild fluctuations in the local exchange rate as well as anger from Islamic militants, according to the BBC. As a result, the presence of pirates on the Somali coast has become increasingly unpopular among local constituents.

Yet piracy continues despite this growing discontent, and for a big reason: poverty. Although exact estimates are impossible to gather, the CIA World Factbook estimates Somalia’s per capita GDP to be $600 a year, making it one of the world’s most impoverished countries. 73% of the population lives on a daily income below two dollars.

Because of the huge amount of money earned from hijacks, pirates are big spenders who bring in money and jobs to port towns that otherwise would be crushed by Somalia’s overwhelming poverty.

This wealth, in addition to the obvious military strength, puts pirates in the social and economic elite of port towns, according to the BBC. This power has drawn young men towards pirate gangs as a means of earning income in a way that no other job in Somalia can provide.

Addressing issues of national security and poverty would be easier if a government could gain effective control of Somalia, but this has not been the case since the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in 1991. Although the northern half of the country operates under the governments of Puntland and Somaliland, this has not been officially recognized by a single country or international organization.

Southern Somalia, where the “capital” of Mogadishu is located, has been the subject of a civil war between the Islamic Courts Union and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Ethiopia and the United States have intervened in favor of the TFG, which is widely recognized as the de jure government of Somalia.

In short, the conflict in Somalia is large and complex, dating back to key events from several decades ago. All that is certain is that for piracy to end in Somalia, the issue of poverty must be addressed.

Therefore, either a strong government must take effective control of the country and address the issue, or the global community will have to continue escorting any ships that dare to travel through the Gulf of Aden.