Piracy Post 9/11 America
Piracy in Somalia began as a response from Somali fishermen to the infringement of fishing ground from foreign fishermen who took advantage of the nation’s political instability and the lack of a governance structure to fish within the Somali waters. Somali fishermen in dealing with the economic threat on their livelihoods, boarded foreign ships to demand a fine. However, they soon discovered that the fines were much more lucrative than their fishing activities; therefore, piracy was born and morphed into economic activity for the coastal community off of the Gulf of Aden (Gettleman, 2020). Post 9/11 was a wake-up call for both America and the entire world. The United States’ focus on terrorism and protecting its borders from within and without through its engagement in Afghanistan slowed down its response to other global events (Reese & Lewis, 2009). The same was for other developed countries like Britain and France, that would have intervened. Piracy developed and skimmed off the coast of Aden farther into the Indian Ocean, closer to India and Europe. Piracy was never violent as it was centered on kidnappings and hijackings and was key to collecting ransom therefore, the captives had to be alive. However, the introduction of the Al-Qaeda affiliated terror faction called Al-Shabab made the activity violent as their mission was to collect the ransom and kill the captives to send a message. They also coexisted with the fishermen pirates out of a symbiotic relationship (WARKA, n.d.). Al-Shabab provided the fishermen with safety both inland and sea. The fishermen provided the faction with a conduit for smuggling in illegal guns and exporting charcoal and other illegal paraphernalia that would aid in their quest of installing sharia law in the region through violence. Piracy became a major economic activity for the country, cashing almost $200 million annually to the extend of supporting many communities and authorities around the coastline.
Governance and Piracy
Governance is an important factor in the stability of a region or a country. The aspect of governance comes with authority that is charged with enforcing the law to instill order in a region. However, Somalia had no sense of governance at the time after militant factions overthrew Siad Barre’s dictatorship regime in 1991. After since, the country has had no strong governance regime having to rely on the basic unit of local order residing from clan leaders (Kellerman, 2011). The lack of a strong government has fomented the development of illegal activities in the country, including piracy and terrorism. Pirates have been able to hijack ships in the Indian Ocean and sail them to the Somali coast and wait for ransom o be paid before releasing the ship and its captives. This was only possible with authorities looking the other way to gain part of the ransom payments. The situation was possible because the authorities got little pay from the struggling government and ransom money offered them a better livelihood (The Maritime Executive, 2011). Pirates also spent their loot with the coastal communities giving them a safety net by protecting their identities so long as they continued to benefit from the economic status. Military action between 2010 and 2012 was necessary, but its impact minimal because the vices originated from an unstable government. Therefore, the best way to stop the vice was to arm the government with the right people as well as resources.
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International Coordination
The international community was gravely inhibited in their trade as their trade routes on the sea were hindered by Somali pirates (Burlando et al., 2015). Therefore, with advances in piracy and growing concern from the international community, it acted through international coordination through a multifaceted approach. The United Nations had begun earlier in 2008 bypassing the UN Security Council measures that culminated into the US-led Resolution 1851, which authorized states with naval armies to deploy within the Gulf of Aden. The same resolution led to the formation of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) the following year. The body’s role was to coordinate operation and military activities, handle judicial issues, facilitate capacity building, and creating shipping self-awareness among stakeholders in the industry. US’s interest in the matter may have culminated from its interest in fighting terror before it cascaded to affect its allies and itself. Its interest in the Al-Shabab faction may have pushed it to tackle piracy from their codependency, and piracy is one of the activities financing Al-Shabab operations in Somalia.
The British also came involved coming up with strategies as new international measures for combating and prosecuting piracy in the Indian Ocean. Britain signed a Memorandum of understanding with the government of Tanzania where the British Royal Navy would capture and transfer the Somali pirates to Tanzania for prosecution and imprisonment. The strategies concluded that militarization as a response was not enough and therefore, the local community had to be supported as a measure for talking underlying causes for piracy
Patrolling the Seas
After the 2008 UN resolution, it was a joint task force between the US, EU, and NATO that deployed naval missions off the Gulf of Aden. However, independent naval intervention from Australia, India, China, and Russia patrolled the entire corridor to install a sense of security for ships plying the route. The move prompted Somali pirates to change their tactics, for instance, operating farther offshore to avoid naval patrols. However, the fact of the matter was that the ship patrols were few, and the coordination between operations was weak as there was no legal framework to govern operations, especially for the independent naval taskforce.
References
Gettleman, J. (2020, August 6). The Pirates Are Winning! https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2010/10/14/pirates-are-winning/?pagination=false.
Reese, S. D., & Lewis, S. C. (2009). Framing the War on Terror. Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism , 10 (6), 777–797. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884909344480
WARKA (N.d.). al Shabaab, pirates working together . Maritime Security Review. https://www.marsecreview.com/2016/02/al-shabaab-pirates-working-together/.
Kellerman, M. G. (2011, September 1). Somali Piracy: Causes and Consequences . Inquiries Journal. http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/579/somali-piracy-causes-and-consequences.
The Maritime Executive. (2011). UN Claims Somali Government Part of the Piracy Problem . The Maritime Executive. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/un-claims-somali-government-part-piracy-problem.
Burlando, A., Cristea, A. D., & Lee, L. M. (2015). The Trade Consequences of Maritime Insecurity: Evidence from Somali Piracy. Review of International Economics , 23 (3), 525–557. https://doi.org/10.1111/roie.12183
