A mere band-aid on Somali piracy

“Without piracy, a typical Somalian would earn less than US$30 a month; with piracy, a young Somalian could earn US$1,000 or be killed. The risk is worth it,” says John Burnett, author of a book on modern piracy, “Dangerous Waters.” Burnett also served in Somalia with an NGO in the late nineties and observed the beginnings of the pirate movement. “The naval efforts are a band-aid to a festering wound. They have not been effective,” said Burnett.

The giant multi-million dollar bounties that the pirates command from the ships they do seize encourage and allow them to be even more organized and better-equipped to continue their attacks. A U.N. envoy, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah said that Somali pirates made over US$120 million in 2008 from their attacks and ransoms.

Despite the growing international armada and media attention, pirate attacks have continued to escalate this year, with 61 attacks having taken place so far in the Gulf of Aden and east Somalia, compared to six last year in the same period, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Some commentators, experts and Somali expatriates have spoken out about the connection between Somalia's unrest and piracy, and the need for international support, not just military action. Even U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged this at a talk earlier this month, as mentioned in a Time magazine article.

“As long as you've got this incredible number of poor people and the risks are relatively small,” he was quoted as saying, “there's really no way in my view to control [piracy] unless you get something on land that begins to change the equation for these kids.”

The U.S. is understandably spooked from its Somalia experience in the early '90s, especially the infamous “Black Hawk” incident, and bringing order there would not be easy. But ignoring the problem for almost 20 years has only caused Somalia's chaos to spread beyond its borders in the form of piracy with international ramifications, from which even Taiwan is not immune. Piracy is not even the only fear about Somalia for the U.S., which is concerned with Islamic fundamentalist groups and their links to al-Qaida.

Somalia shares several unfortunate parallels with Afghanistan, arguably the biggest problem for the U.S. now. Like Somalia, Afghanistan underwent many years of unrest after the exit of the Soviet Union in 1989, during which it received little international aid or attention.

The lack of central governance led to a political and social vacuum with competing factions, which paved the way for the Taliban to gain power. They defeated most of the warlords and by 2001, were the de facto rulers of the nation. Despite little international diplomatic recognition, the Taliban became a world problem when they harbored Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaida organization.

A large portion of the blame for this lies on the U.S. whose lack of support during the nineties were in stark contrast to its secretive but enthusiastic backing of the Afghan (mujahideen) resistance to the Soviets. Once the Soviets were forced out, the country's factions, laden with weapons, fought amongst themselves due to ethnic grievances and territorial ambitions.

By focusing on naval efforts as the solution to piracy, the world community is choosing to only deal with the symptoms, not the causes, of a significant problem. A more prudent course of action would be to restore order in Somalia and thus strip away the allure of piracy.

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