Somali Piracy: Chickens come home to roost

By Ali Osman
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The Somali territorial waters was looted and plundered by sea mercenary marauders and continues to be blundered as we speak. In fact, there are mega trawlers using beam nets with such a fine mesh that even few millimeter juvenile fish would not escape, these trawlers stay Somali waters years on end and they are refueled at sea, transferring the catch of the day to huge commercial ships. The scale of the blunder is so bad that hundreds of sharks their fins hacked off periodically come ashore, their rotten carcasses making life unbearable for coastal villages. Ironically, these villages are pirate parks today. At times huge marine mammals such as dolphins and whales would come ashore entangled by nets discarded by the illegal fishing companies and their corpses would lay on the beaches for weeks if not months.

The overfishing combined with dumping of lethal dose of toxic waste had devastating effect on the local fishing communities. This environmental devastation along with unending lawlessness is the root of piracy plague. These primitive communities were using handmade skiffs to get their daily fishing needs. They never ventured out more than 1 mile or so from the beaches. But as fish stocks become dwindling, they were venturing into deeper and deeper waters to find fish. This venturing out made the villagers to compete directly with illegal mega trawlers from Asia. The smaller skiffs with their fragile and ill unequipped frame was no much for the larger commercial trawlers of Japan, Pakistan, India, Spain, Thailand, Philippines, Egypt, Yemenis and many others. In fact, it become popular sports for the illegal trawlers to water-hose the little skiffs. This war between villagers and illegal fishing accidently created this piracy monster.

Today, if one visit places like Marka and many other smaller villages along with the Indian Ocean you vividly see Ships abandoned at the shores of Somalia and God knows what lethal cargo they are carrying, no one bothers to check for fear of sudden death.

Fast-forward to October 2009, The United Nations Security Council has passed Security Council resolution 1816 and 1838. These resolutions permit “ANY” state to use all “NECESSARY MEANS” against Somali pirates. The area between Yemen and Somalia known as Gulf of Aden is a Maritime Security Patrol Area monitored by the multinational naval Combined Task Force 150 and European Union NAVCO anti-piracy force.

Remember, there is nothing in the resolution that concerns or condemns “ILLEGAL FISHING” or “ILLEGAL TOXIC DUMPING”. It is still an open field for would be illegal fishers and toxic waste dumpers. In fact, the Task force 150 does inspect ships but if it is not carrying pirates they would let it go. The illegal fishing is still going on and is sometimes protected by their respective nation’s navies.  These navies do not give a darn thing, the activities of these illegal fishing. Simply but, the UN mandate does not have a problem with illegal fishing and toxic dumping of Somali waters but it certainly has a problem with Somali pirates in this area. It is time to ratify these resolutions to make sure pirates and illegal fishing are considered both criminal.

The Somali pirates made progress thanks for the exuberant ransom paid by hijacked ships and bleak future faced young men inside Somalia. The Somali pirates are now more sophisticated in terms of technology and equipment. They acquired weapons and technology and will grow more for the foreseeable future. They are fearless as they are menacing. Their number has quadrupled and there is no shortage of recruits. They have immensely extended their capabilities and reach to more than 1000 nautical miles from the Somali coastal waters.

The Somali youth are now choosing between two prospects. To die in the water while trying to escape civil war and crushing poverty or die while trying to hijack a ship to make a quick buck. Unfortunately, the later choice of hijacking a ship is the better choice because there is no guarantee in either choice that they would makes it alive, but at least if they hijack a ship there will be a pay day.

The problem is not anymore Somali piracy but global piracy that uses Somalia’s lawless waters as parking lot for pirated ships. The current piracy is coordinated with international crime syndicates and sometimes involves even some of the crew of the pirated ships.  The poorly paid crew of this huge cargo ships are easily influenced by money and with a convenient satellite phones and global positioning systems they are often times conspire with the pirates. If criminal gangs are infiltrating European soccer what do you think of poor lawless Somalia and the huge money made from piracy!

Somalis know the pirates are bunch of Sea ropers and pirate mafia. They are accepted by majority of Somalis as being a proxy Somali navy. Their ransom also does trickle down to villagers. As a result of their activities, the Somali territorial waters are safer and somewhat the overfishing has not stopped but it has decrease to certain extent.  The Somali provincial governments such as Punt-land cannot tackle this problem because the poorly paid police are not equipped and is not paid enough to seriously engage a fight with well armed and well financed pirate groups.

Somalis know the pirates have become a powerful crime syndicates. Somalis know the pirates are out there for their own gain and are not concerned in any way shape or form the protection of the Somali territorial waters but the results of their actions has been good for Somali waters and ecology. We also know the pirates would not go away as long as there is a weak government in Somalia that cannot restore the rule of law. As long as there is a governments vacuum in Somalia, the piracy would not abate but would grow and would even threaten waters beyond Somalia.

The armada of navies at sea with their sophisticated weaponry and commando units is not going to solve a real problem that originates from the land. This piracy problem is now taking international dimensions. The piracy problem can today still be contained as it is mainly criminal organizations that are on the look out for money, but tomorrow more lethal terrorist groups with more ambitious agenda will join and the sea as we know it may become more dangerous than Waziristan.

What the UN and international navies operating in the Gulf of Aden are doing is a temporary fix but not a real solution. The sure and cheapest solution to this problem is to work with current Somali transitional government and assist them in training, paying their own navy, military and police force. The world must demand and closely watch the progress of this endeavor. The UN must make sure they money does not get misappropriated by government officials. There must be tangible results expected from the government and checks and balances in place to make sure this venture concludes successfully.

If the current government is not assisted to get grip of the internal Somali security, as well as addressing the illegal fishing. I am afraid the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean as a whole will become unsuitable for commercial shipping and that is a very expensive for the world.  A more dangerous and militant adversary with an ideology will to take piracy to the next level. The world has small window to prevent more lethal and dangerous piracy frenzy, but would they grasp the gravity of the situation today?