Piracy in Somalia and Its International Implications

PIRACY IN SOMALIA AND ITS INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS In the past a couple of(prenominal) years, plagiarizer attacks s flip on send off the coast of Somaliananananananana do received a great portion of macrocosm attention. concord to the London- unspirituald Inter field of study Mari while Bureau, in that location has been an unusual increase in Somali pirate activity in the original 9 calendar months of 2009. Until phratry this year 147 incidents were re carriageed off the Somali coast and in the disjunction of Aden (separating Somalia and Yemen), comp atomic physique 18d with 63 for the same period perish year.A total of 533 crowd segments choose been requiren hostage in 2009, show up of which active 200 hostages atomic number 18 whitewash being held by Somali pirates. I lead elect the topic of plagiarisation for my es express as I deem that in the context of the play homo providence crisis it is a current line of work which efficaciousnes s affect completely(prenominal) the opusicipants of the orbicular economy and it inevitably an urgent solution. In the first region of my es swan I am going to pre distouch round data to demonstrate the importance of the trouble, thence I will focus on the background of the issue and present the distinguishable particularors which behave lead to the appearance of plagiarism. aft(prenominal) a detailed description of the pirates and their management of operation I will bm on to presenting of the interests of the global residential bea and the policies, strategies and instruments they have functiond to deal with the issue. At the end of my paper I will excrete more than or slight conclusions and stimulate a a few(prenominal) suggestions for the future. plagiarisation has been a bother in Somali waters for at least ten years. However, the number of attempted and no-hit attacks has risen over the last troika years.As the highjacks have increased in number, they have as well as be keep up to a greater extent than sophisticated. The pirates atomic number 18 flat able to glamour larger targets as well. On September 25 2008, Somali pirates captured the MV Faina, a Ukrainian move transporting weapons to Kenya. This was followed whizz month later by the hijacking of the MV Sirius Star, the largest transport ever captured by pirates. The Saudi-Arabian-owned supertanker was carrying more or less 2 billion barrels of b be-assed oil, worth somewhat $100 one thousand one thousand million. The channelize was fin onlyy sacqued on January 9 for a $3 million redeem.The series of hijackings has continue in 2009 too. It seems that this year the pirates have shifted from the disconnection of Aden, where dozens of send verbotens were attacked in 2008 scarce when which is now heavily patrolled, to the ocean between the Afri put up mainland and the Seychelles islands. In October 2009 Somali pirates captured a Chinese bulk carrier , carrying 25 Chinese faction members. In November they have seized a US tanker carrying $20 million of petroleum oil, which is considered the second-largest ship ever hijacked by pirates.The tankers 30-member crew was confusablely kidnapped. In the same month, 9 pirates hijacked the Greek-owned tanker Maran Centaurus carrying 275,000 metric tons of Saudi Arabian crude oil and have taken it to a pirate port a big the coast, where they typically hold the boats for ransom. The 300,000-tonne ship was hijacked near 1,300 km from the coast of Somalia and there were 28 crew members on tabular array which atomic number 18 all held hostages. tally to the IBM, in October and November alone, 38 ships have been attacked and 10 hijacked.thither argon some(prenominal) factors which have do Somalia the perfect surroundings for plagiarism, which I am going to present below. First of all, if we ask on a lower floor jump out why buccaneering kit and caboodle in Somalia, we have to know some social function rough the geography and history of the countrified. Officially called the nation of Somalia, Somalia is a inelegant situated in the Horn of Africa, b golf clubed bycapital of capital of Djiboutito the northwest,Kenyato the southwest, the disjunction of AdenwithYemento the north, theIndian oceanto the east, and Ethiopiato the west. repayable to its strategic location, in the past the commonwealth was an important centre of commerce. Even today, roughly 16,000 ships sneak out through the disconnectedness of Aden various(prenominal)ly year, carrying oil from the Middle East and goods from Asia to europium and North America, so we discount say that one of the most important deal routes of the humanness stinker be fix in this area. In asset, the long, isolated, sandy b distri yetivelyes of the surface area are also advantageous for pirates to operate. an antithetic(prenominal) factor which helps piracy to flourish is the regimeal anarchy whic h unflustered rules in Somalia.For virtually 20 years, the country has endured political nut house and bloodshed. TheSomali Civil, which began in 1991 as a revolution against the subjective regime of Siad Barre, has ca utilize instability throughout the country. The northern parts of the country declared their independence, although it was neither recognized by the primeval brass, nor by the United Nations. posterior fighting among rival warlords resulted in the killing, dislocation, and famishment of thousands of Somalis. Since 1991, 350,000-1,000,000 Somalis have died because of the fight.Hatred and lack of intrust among the landlords and their clans has pr even soted the organisation of a functioning central political relation. From2006-2009 Ethiopiawas also involved in the conflict. In January 2009, Ethiopian soldiers withdrew from Somalia, leaving behind anAfri put up Unioncontingent of peacekeepers to help the unconvincing bond government and its troops go for t heir authority. Following Ethiopias withdrawal from Somalia, the southern half(a) of the country fell into the hands of chemical free radical Islamist rebels, who dormant control a sprightlinesssize part of the country. The political plaza is still chaotic in Somalia.The present government, led by Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is the sixteenth administration to govern the country since the wear of the Barre regime. Order still hasnt been restored, Somalia is governed by anarchy. Because of the lack of an sub judice central government and national economy, Somalia is still one of the buildations poorest countries, where the estimated GDP is around $600 per year. According to the World expatriatek, in 2008 73% of the countrys population lived on a daily income below $2. The countrys 10 million people are starving, and they would hardly survive without the food attention provided by the developed countries.In a country where survival is at stake, it is no surprise that piracy has become a fast and easy means to make notes and it could develop into a terrorisation business. To sum up, we put forward say that Somalias chaotic political situation, the lack of an pithive central government, the poor state of the economy and poverty have all created an environment which was perfect for piracy to appear. But who are these heroes and how do they operate? In most peoples minds, the image of piracy is associated with characters like Jack Sparrow or Captain Cook.Pirates are often seen as rebellious juvenile men who are victims of the society, scarce have the courage to stand up for themselves and create a several(predicate) vogue of working on the oceans. Actually, there is some truth in this frame of perception. According to Eric Hobsbawm, a British historian, friendly bandits are outlaws, drawing on participation funding, using criminal methods to challenge the present hierarchy of power and wealth. Most of the Somali pirates are 20-35 years old a nd come from the region of Puntland, a semi-autonomous region in northeastern Somalia.It is estimated that there are at least five pirate gangs and more thousands build up men. A BBC report divided up them into three main categories local Somali tipermen (the brains of the trading operations because of their skills and knowledge of the sea) ex-militiamen (use as the ponderosity) and technical experts who are able to use electrical equipment, such as GPS devices at a professional level. It is a fact that since the countrys collapse in 1991, there has been a great cadence of il juristic sportfishing practised by a lot of countries along the Somali coast.During the regime of Siad Barre (1986-1992) Somalia received avail from several countries to develop its fishing industry. local anaesthetic fishermen had frozen(p) prices for their catch and the fish was exported because of low bespeak for seafood in Somalia. However, after the fall of the Barre regime, repayable to the So mali Civil War the income from fishing decreased. Traditional coastal fishing became difficult, because multinational trawlers started fishing illegally along the Somali coast and depleted the fish jobs. Local fishermen became desperate. They started to band together and were determined to push their elections.They started attacking hostile trawlers, the crew of which curtly fought back with heavy weapons. As a result, fishermen turned to other types of commercial ships and curtly discovered that piracy was an easy way to make property. At the moment, piracy is Somalias most lucrative business ship owners are willing to pay large amounts of money for the release of their hijacked vessels. In addition to this, starting with the early 1990s, Somalias long, far coastline has been used as a bull site for risk of infectionous toxic drive away from a lot of europiuman and Asian companies.The European Green party presented out front the press and the European Parliament co pies of contracts sign by two European companies an Italian-Swiss and an Italian firm and representatives of warlords, to accept 10 million tones of toxic waste in supplant for $80 million. For European companies this is a very cheap way of getting disembarrass of their waste while waste establishment costs in Europe are about $1,000 a tonne, this way it exactly costs them $2,50 a tonne. The effects of this put away are already visible in Somalia.According to a report by the UN Environment Programme, there is an extremely mettlesome number of cases of respiratory infections, mouth ulcers and exhaust and unusual skin infections among the inhabitants of the area diseases connect to radiation sickness. It is produce that this situation represents a very serious environmental assay not only to Somalia, merely to the on the whole eastern Africa region. Many of the pirates call themselves the Somali coast guard, claiming that their aim is to defend their communities from overfishing and to protect the coastline from toxic dumping of thermonuclear waste by foreign ships.In an interview one of the pirate leading explained We dont consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish and dump in our seas. The trouble of overfishing is still a very serious bother is Somalia. It is estimated that Europeans and Asians poach around $300 million worth fish from Somali waters. On the other hand, Somali pirates collect about $100 million yearly from ransoms. This, correspond to Peter Lehr, a Somalia piracy expert, smoke be seen as a resource swap. Of course, a great number of pirates are only taking part in these operations for the money, and their families which they merchantman work this way.As one of them, nicknamed Milk lollipop says Sometimes doing a bad thing is the only way to improve the situation for yourself and the people you love. Some of the pirates apprizet even swim, their only business is to shoot straigh t. A lot of young Somalis take part only in a couple of operations, hoping to make abounding money to move to the West or maybe to persuade an ethnic Somali woman with a EU straits to marry them and move to the UK. As for the techniques used by the pirates, we can notice that they are getting more sophisticated and more effective.They are using the latest advanced equipment, like GPS, MANPADS (Man Portable Air demurral Systems), RPGs and satellite phones and they are well-armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s. They commonly operate using small skiffs with tidy outboard engines, but now they regularly use draw ships to increase their be adrift. These mother ships take them into the shipping lanes, several coulomb miles offshore. Then they launch small speedboats to standoff themselves up onto the deck of a ship. They can often seize a ship without firing a shot. afterward capturing it, they mainsheet the hijacked ship to the Somali pirate hub town, Eyl and take the hostages ashore where they are well-looked after until ransom is p helper. It is reported that the pirates never harm their prisoners they abide like perfect gentlemen with them. They even plight caterers on the Somali coast to groom pasta, grilled fish and roasted meat, which horse opera hostages might like. Once ransom is p fear, they release ships good humour. According to the Kenyan foreign minister, in 2008 pirates have received about $150 million in ransom, which is used to fund future operations.In a recent startling Reuters report we can read that the pirates have started to make the money to work for them, setting up a stock ex remove that has drawn financiers from the Somali Diaspora and other nations. The bandits bourse is a small expression in the once-small fishing village of Haradheere, about 250 miles northeast of Mogadishu, which has developed into a luxuriousness town by now. As a former pirate named Mohammed puts it, The shares are go around to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or utilizable materials weve made piracy a community activity. Unfortunately, it has become clear that the activity of pirates is link to warlords on shore. After seeing the gainfulness of the business, these leaders started to facilitate pirate activities, share-out the profit with the pirates. These Godfathers and clan leaders are closely related to Somalias president in Mogadishu, Abdullahi Yusuf, who also originates from Puntland. Estimates are that at least six ministers in the Puntland government are involved with the pirates. The only group which is publicly against piracy is the militant Al-Shabaab, a Salafist group founded this decade as a militia attached to the Islamic Court.They say that such crimes are forbidden under the Islamic law. However, gibe some reports, militant Islamist groups also get their share of the profit. The pirates thing with these organisations is making the situation even more alarming, because all the financial help given over by the West to the Somali regimen to put an end to piracy might just help it to flourish. All in all, it is clear that piracy is not a problem that the fragile Somali government can solve alone and worldwide help is needed. How does all this affect the world(prenominal) community?Besides enforcing world(prenominal) law, there are several other reasons to damp pirate activities. The first is Somalia itself. The country needs about 200 tonnes of food aid a year which is mostly delivered by sea. Without the naval escorts and the regular delivery of aid, Somalias food stocks are seriously threatened, so ensuring the safe delivery of food aid should be a number one priority for the international community. Stopping piracy may also reduce the money available for weapons, so indirectly it can lead to the end of the internal war. plagiarism has a very distressing effect on international trade as well. In addit ion to the growing ransom, companies whose cargos do not reach their destinations, lose money. As a result, there is a egression of insurance for all ships which need to pass through the Gulf of Aden. The constant danger of pirate attacks has already made some shipping companies to choose a longer, but safer route, around the Cape of Good Hope, as it happened in the case of AP Moller-Maersk, one of Europes largest shipping companies after the hijacking of Sirius Star.The extra weeks of travel and fuel can lead to the cost of transporting goods, which is a in truth serious concern now, at the time of a global economic crisis. some other reason is related to the environment. Pirate attacks can cause major oil spills in a very sensitive eco carcass. As pirates become bolder and use more powerful weapons, tankers could be set on conjure up or sunk, which can result in an environmental catastrophe, destroying marine and bird life for many years to come. Last, but not least, there is a risk that the pirates themselves can become agents of terrorism.There are assumptions agree to which pirates are connected to the Al-Shabaab movement, which is believed to have associate to Al-Qaeda. According to some reports, Al-Qaeda militants from Iraq have chosen Somalia as a unexampled base from which to launch attacks. Terrorism at sea can take many forms, for congresswoman direct attacks on ships, hostage dramas, but also hijacked ships used as capableness weapons. Terrorist clearworks can use the financial coin from piracy to fund their operations worldwide. It is obvious, that even if there is little chance for the vanquish scenario, it is best to prevent it while we can.The international community has recognized that enhanced international efforts are necessary in order to reduce the number of attacks. The growing cases of piracy have focused the worlds attention on Somalia and have shown that the crisis going on in a fragmented state is spilling out of its borde rs. The phalanx response to piracy has shown that countries which havent been able to cooperate with each other can unite their wedges for a common cause. A maritime multitude was also held in Mombassa, where they discussed the problem of piracy and tried to give regional and world governments recommendations to deal with the danger.In January 2009, an important regional agreement was adopted in Djibouti by States in the region, at a meeting organised by IMO. The autograph of Conduct concerning the Repression of plagiarisation and Armed looting against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden recognized the extent of the problem of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the region and the states signing it declared their mark to co-operate, in a way logical with international law, in the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships.Most countries have preferable prevention various navies have sent war-ships into the area to escort commercial vessel s. At the beginning, this way of defense was more individual than collective, but the persistence of the attacks has led to the instruction of a collective security system. NATO got the task of escorting convoys transporting the humanitarian aid of the World regimen Programme towards Somalia. Once they were in the Gulf of Aden, they also protected other merchants ships, by their presence.Later NATO handed the job to surgical procedure Atlanta, the first common maritime military commission by the European Union. Military counter-piracy operations are performed by vessels from the Combined task Force 150, a multinational coalitionnavaltask force in charge of monitoring and inspecting a range of security issues, such as medicate smuggling and weapons trafficking, as well as piracy. Several countries, including India, Russia, China, Norway, Australia, France, Greece, Turkey, Portugal, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Korea, Malaysia and even lacquer chose to join the coalition and send warships to the Gulf of Aden.In January 2009 the US navy schematic a new multi-national naval force to confront piracy off the Somali coast. The new unit was called Combined projection Force 151and it was a spinoff of the existing project Force 150 in the region. This region of the coalition forces was aimed at focusing all on pirate groups (leaving Combined travail Force 150 to focus on other destabilizing activities, such as medicate smuggling and weapons trafficking). It was hoped that by designating a new unit to combating piracy in Somalia, anti-piracy efforts would be more successful.Unfortunately, this effort is having only a limited impact. Although some pirates are frightened off by the sight of military ships and helicopters, coalition warships are often in the reproach discover at the wrong time. In addition, pirates are flexible and change their tactics easily data from the oceanic Bureau shows that at present they are conducting their operations further out in the Indian Ocean. Besides, this is a very expensive solution which is difficult to support in the long term.After the hijacking of an Egyptian ship and a huge Saudi supertanker, the Arab League organized a cap for countries over sounding the Red Sea, with the participation of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Somalia, Jordan, Djibouti and Yemen. At the summit the histrion states discussed several solutions for the problem of piracy, suggesting different routes and looking for a safer passageway for ships. They might also assist the current NATO anti-piracy efforts together with other nations.However, we shouldnt forget that the Arab League has long tried to draw Somalia more closely to the Arab world. It has made a financial support for the transitional Federal Government, conditional on its entering negotiations with Al-Shabaab, intending to spread Islamist influence in the area. In June 2008 the United Nations Security Council passed a declaration authorizing nations that hav e the agreement of the Transitional Federal Government to enter Somali territorial waters to hunt pirates.In 2008 the Security Council adopted two resolutions, 1846 and 1851 allowing for the first time international land and sea occupations of Somali territories in the pursuit of pirates. These resolutions extended the power of the states and lead to greater coordination of their efforts. After the Council resolution 1851, the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia was accomplished on 14 January 2009 to facilitate and arrange actions among states and organizations to deal with piracy. At the moment 46 States and seven international organizations take part in the Contact Group.Through its four-spot working groups, the Contact Group addresses limited issues related to military and operational coordination, legal issues, shipping industry awareness and public and diplomatic information. UNODC (the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) participates in the Contact Grou p and its works Group on Military and running(a) Coordination, Information Sharing and Capability-Building. UNODC acts as secretariate to Working Group on juridical Issues, to which it has provided various forms of support.UNODC has prepared an analysis of the legal and practical challenges involved in prosecuting hazard pirates and is gathering nformation on relevant national legal systems, including those of coastal States. In animosity of the fact that laws to combat piracy at sea exist, a lot of states do not seem to use them in practice. Only France has chosen to combat piracy directly. The first case was the seizing of a yacht in April 2008, which started with negotiations for the release of 30 hostages and followed by the capture of six pirates in Somali territory.The second case took place in September 2008 to free a couple taken hostages. This action also led to the arrest of six pirates, who are awaiting attempt before a French court. Britain and some other countries have found a superficial and convenient way of treating the pirates they have negotiated a treaty with Kenya, according to which all those suspected of piracy are handed over to that country. A few months later other countries followed Britains example, negotiating similar agreements. These agreements are a useful step, but they do not solve the problem.The Kenyan prison system is in atrocious condition, corruption is high, there are bulletproof delays in the call of trials and legal aid is very limited. It is a paradox so that states which are entitled to prosecute the arrested pirates deputise this right to a country which is uneffective to assure a fair trial to these criminals. In spite of the united efforts of different nations, it has become clear that the piracy problem cannot be solved at sea, because it is root on the shore, in the ongoing conflict and political instability of the country.As Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations evince at an intern ational donors conference Piracy is a symptom of anarchy and hazard on the ground. () More security on the ground will make less piracy on the seas Any enduring solution to the problem has to involve ensuring stability, outgrowth and an effective criminal justice system in Somalia. If the states had invested the time and resources they now pass by to stop piracy in reconstructing the Somali society and economy, they probably wouldnt have to cope with these problems.However, there are ceaselessly new opportunities that shouldnt be wasted. Martin murphy in his article Somali Piracy not just a ocean Problem claims that the highest costs of piracy to Somalia and the international community are not economic, but political. As I mentioned earlier, it seems that almost all layers of political life in Somalia are involved in piracy, including the Islamist groups. Islamism is getting inexpugnableer and stronger in Somalia and it can soon get hold of the entire country. The Al-Shabaab movement has a clear intention to use Somalia as a base for spreading Islamist influence in the region.If this tendency continues, a worst practicable outcome would be an Islamist government, which is strong liberal to control piracy, but also strong enough to make Somalia safe for groundless Islamist groups. So, what can be done to stop, or at least to decrease piracy in the Horn of Africa? Somalia is a clan-based society. Therefore, a possible solution would be to deal with the sub-state entities in order to create a unitary state in the future. In these negotiations the coalition should clearly commit itself to repress piracy in return for associate political and economic support.This way it would be possible to cut off all the political players in Somalia from their external sources of weapons and frankincense pirates would be trapped between more effective land-base policy by the Somalis and maritime policy by coalition member navies and soon they would have no place to hi de. Recent efforts have shown that there is a will to act together. We can only hope that the states will find a way to deal effectively with the problem before it is too late. Links, references Roger Middleton Piracy in Somalia. Africa Programme, October 2008 http//www. chathamhouse. org. uk/files/12203_1008piracysomalia. df Marina ChiarugiandDaniele Archibugi Piracy challenges global governance. out-of-doors Democracy,9 April 2009 http//www. opendemocracy. net/article/piracy-challenges-global-governance George Grant Somali pirates cant be beaten at sea. The Guardian, 18 November 2009 http//www. guardian. co. uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/18/somali-pirates-ransom-puntland Galrahn Somalia Piracy A Backgrounder April 8, 2009 http//www. informationdissemination. net/2009/04/somalia-piracy-backgrounder. html Rubrick Biegon Somali Piracy and the external Response. FPIF (Foreign Policy in Focus) January 29, 2009 http//www. pif. org/fpiftxt/5827 Georg-Sebastian Holzer Somalia piracy and pol itics. Open Democracy, 24 November 2008 http//www. opendemocracy. net/article/somalia-piracy-and-politics Johann Hari You are Being Lied to About Pirates. The Huffington Post, celestial latitude 2009 http//www. huffingtonpost. com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147. html Can Somali pirates be defeated? BBC News, 20 November 2009 http//news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/8371139. stm Sam Gustin Bandit Bourse? Somali pirates hijack oil tanker, organize stock market Daily Finance, December 1 2009 http//www. dailyfinance. om/2009/12/01/bandit-bourse-somali-pirates-hijack-oil-tanker-organize-stock/ Martin Murphy Somali Piracy not just a naval problem . Centre for Strategic and Bugetary Assessments, April 16, 2009 http//www. csbaonline. org/4Publications/PubLibrary/B. 20090417. Somali_Piracy/B. 20090417. Somali_Piracy. pdf Piracy in Somalia Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Piracy_in_Somalia Aiden Hartley What I wise to(p) from theSomali pirates. The Spectat or, 6 December 2008 http//www. spectator. co. uk/essays/all/3061246/what-i-learned-from-the-somali-pirates. thtml