Somali Piracy

A BBC map of the pirate attacks

What and Where

Piracy in Somalia is a very serious issue. Modern, armed, and dangerous pirates are attacking ships off the coast of Somalia. Somalia is an African country on the Horn of Africa. This is the peninsula on the northwestern part of Africa that has the Red Sea to the north and the Indian ocean to the west. The Red Sea leads into the Bab el Mandeb strait and into the Gulf of Aden. The Red Sea's Suez Canal is probably the most important shipping passage in the entire world. Many ships pass through this every day, down the Red Sea and into the Gulf of Aden. This gulf is north of Somalia and is full of ships laden with billions of dollars. The pirates are simple criminals who use small boats and automatic weapons to attack the much slower unarmed vessels in the area. These pirates will steal the ship, any cargo, and take hostages. An example is here of how the pirates just recently took a Greek ship. They will hold the crew hostage until paid off and the same with the ship. Sometimes, they will sell the cargo, but every single case is different and each is unique. On some occasions no prisoners will be taken and only cargo taken. All in all, the pirates are acting as thieves out on the waters off east Africa.

A Somali Pirate vessel

Why and How?

To understand why the pirates are pestering shipping, one must look into the history of Somalia and how it impacted these people. Somalia does not have a strong central government and cannot this leads to the country not being able to stand up for its borders. People on the coast depended on fishing for a livelihood. Foreign compeitors from Yemen and other countries attempted to take away and over run the Somali fishing industry. The original "pirates" were there to take back their waters. Somalia is dominated by civil war and warlords who, to add an extra area of revenue, invest in piracy as a profitable means to make some cash. To the poverty stricken people of the area, piracy is a very attractive option. There is action, money, foreign goods, and guns. It attracts many young men and has brought money (and illicit activities) to the area. All the piracy, according to multiple source including the BBC, is from illegal fishing.But how do these pirates manage to attack these ships? Many of their weapons come from Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, and from the capitol. The pirates started off as a small, local groups led to masses of armed men coming from all over Somalia to make a profitable living at the expense of innocent vessels. The pirates have some strategies as well. If attacking a small ship (such as a pleasure yacht) they will hide out of sight and in the dark sneak up and capture the crew, then steal away. Sometimes the pirates will also pretend to be friendly and then turn hostile. When targeting larger freighters, the pirates sometimes will attack the ship with small arms fire and shoot RPGs into the sides and then use their small, power boats to board the ship. Once they steal the vessel they will change the ships name, registration number, and logbooks and sell it. Often however, they will hold the entire crew and ship for ransom.

Effects

The effects of Somali piracy are obvious. Somali pirates take in, on average, two million US dollars per ship taken. To an incredibly poor African nation, that sum is an absolute ton. An average Somali family makes $500 (not involved in piracy). The Somali who funded the attack could make $500,000 and the pirates themselves can make up to $20,000 is the ship is ransomed off at a high price. The Somali person engaged in piracy is making much more than normal and can afford to have a better life. On the flip side, the global economic community suffers. Businesses all over Europe and Asia pay to send cargo through the strait and when this cargo is taken or held for ransom, more money is lost. Insurance rates on ships have risen in recent years, sometimes costing up to $20,000 extra than previous costs. The pirates have raised global concern to the area and now insurance companies are careful about insuring ships that go into the area since the chance to lose huge sums of money is very high. Also, costs for anti piracy equipment (discussed in the proceeding paragraph) can be very high as well. Not everything is about the cost. People are involved and as is the case with any illegal activity, the chance that lives might be lost, or wounded is high. Piracy disrupts aid to Somalia and people who are not involved in piracy feel the effects of not getting the food and other relief efforts.

Attempts to Fight the Pirates

There are multiple layers in which the pirates are being combated. The first level is actual ship defense. Shiping companies are hiring former Navy Seals and other military personel to work on freighters that could help in the event of pirate attack. technology has also aided how the ships can defend against the pirates. Ships now are being armed with "sonic cannons" which fire unharmful, extremely loud noises at priates as weapons. Also, a strange new device is one that fires bowel movement inducing waves that obviously will dissuade attackers. Another popular device is simple fire hoses that are high powered enough to blast attackers with high powered water. Fire hoses have long been used wheras the other devices have had only limited use and success. Cargo freighters and other compainies are now hiring ex Navy SEALs who are trained in small arms usage to fight the pirates. The only problem with this is when the pirates do board they will likely take revenge and kill the crew. The Global Mairtime Transportation School has a large list of anti piracy methods, all of which are nonlethal. The Dazzle gun (pictured above) is meant to discombobulate the attacker and hopefully repel them. Many devices are currently under development to combat teh pirates and most are not meant to kill. The problem is that for ships to be armed heavily is a tricky business of certification and no the vessels can be considered of having a double purpose of a business freighter and an armed combat vessel.

The Arest of Some Pirates

International Efforts and What Else Can Be Done

Many countries are sending aid to the area in form of ships of the military nature. Russia, who needs resources from its Eastern shores sends ships from the West to the East via the Gulf of Aden, has already sent a destroyer to combat and escort ships in the area. The situation in Somali is a perfect example of how many nations can work together. Korea, Russia, the US, the EU, and China have all combined ships with a common goal of fighting the pirates in the area. This seems like a good strategy but it has its flaws. Pirate attacks are often upon those vessels who are NOT defended. Pirates use small boats and in truth these ships are hard to attack with giant destroyers. Perhaps there are more ways to combat the piracy from the inside? If the Somali can be shown that piracy is not a good way to eliminate their problems, then the attacks would decrease. The pirates often hold off food relief supplies to the area, but with increased aid to the entire region (Kenya, Ethiopia) people in Somalia would have to rely less on relief delivered via the sea. The stabilization of the country is also of vital importance. With a strong central government who would actually look out the welfarefare of its people, people would be less likely to go into illicit activities. All in all, if the government of Somali was restored to some stability and the fishing restored to the people of Somalia, the problem of priacy would be attacked at the base and less men would become involved in the first place.