World must attack piracy

In the past, international forces have attempted to restore order to the country in the hopes of reviving law and order there. In late 1992, the United States led a multinational coalition of peacekeeping troops to patrol parts of southern Somalia, but the effort soon fell apart as Somalia’s warring factions continued their brutal attacks against each other and even attacked peacekeeping troops. Since the peacekeeping operation was terminated in 1995, various efforts aimed at restoring a working government in Somalia have failed.

The latest attempt to establish a central authority in Somalia, known as the Transitional Federal Government, has only managed to exert control over part of the town of Baidoa and swaths in the southern part of the country.

With no central government and no forces on land to oppose them, the pirates reign free in Somali ports and have built up a multi-million U.S. dollar industry by launching attacks against international shipping in the region.

Facing increased patrols of waters adjacent to Somali territory, the pirates have even taken to projecting their presence by using “mother ships” that sail hundreds of miles offshore and launch smaller craft to attack international shipping in an area far too large to effectively patrol. Clearly, the most effective way to deal with the Somali pirates is to take control of the ports in Somalia they operate from.

Occupying Somali ports is no easy task, given the fact that many Somalis strongly object to the presence of foreign troops on their soil and such an action would be deemed an “occupation” by extremists, just as peacekeepers were before. But until the Somalis are able to effectively control their own ports, action will simply have to be taken to ensure that pirates cannot wreak havoc on international shipping.

1|2

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email