“We’ve boooooom here! Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!”

Although, the rest of the world is experiencing economic downfall, there are some coastal villages in northeast Somalia that are experiencing an increase in demand for consumption.  For example, in the Somali fishing town Eyl is experiencing boom in its economy; it’s all down to the new businesses, including hotels and restaurants built to accommodate and feed when they’re in town.  “When they’re here, I increase my price to $5 for a cup,” said one of the town’s tea sellers.  “They always have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day…They marry the most beautiful girls; they have new cars; new guns,” said a resident of Eyl.

 

They’re pirates, and this boom is at the expense of vessels that are being high jacked at the Golf of Aden – the waters between Somalia and Yemen – and held for ransom.

 

A year ago, an enormous vessel called the Indian Empress was passing through the Somalian territory and pirates surrounded them on their radar.  But luckily the pirates weren’t equipped enough to take on big boats, so instead they went for a smaller French vessel behind the Indian Empress and disappeared off their radar screen. 

 

However, the pirates are now so sophisticated that their most recent high-jacking was the enormous Saudi Arabian oil tanker carrying quarter of their daily output to India and still being held.

 

So how did this Somali piracy business started?  Well back in early 1990s when the Somali civil war began many fishing fleets around the world plundered and wrecked its rich fishing grounds; these worth around the figures of $100 million a year according to the UN.  What’s more, toxic wastes were being illegally dumped offshore.  As a result, many Somalian fisher men couldn’t stand there and watch while these fishing vessels take protein out of Somalia's waters and started attacking vessel after vessel.

 

During the 12 months prior to November 2008 Somali pirates have received over $150 million in ransom money.  Therefore, many international organizations, the likes of the International Maritime Organization and the World Food Program, have expressed concern over the rise in acts of Somalian piracy.  What’s more – due to maritime laws these ships aren’t allowed to have armaments – many ships have requested a military escort; private military contractors like Blackwater Worldwide do, by the way, welcome this revenue stream; for example, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions, charges $30,000 per boat for its piracy protection. 

 

So how do ransom money is paid to the pirates?  Well cheque is out of the question.  It has to be cash and it’s delivered in two ways: the money arrives in burlap sacks that are sometimes dropped from helicopters in the shark-infested waters or sometimes delivered by intermediary in complex ways.   The next step before the vessel is released is to authenticate the money.  The pirates use currency-counting machines – the same technology used at foreign exchange bureaus worldwide – that were purchased from business connections in Dubai, Djibouti and other areas.

 

As soon as the pirates get paid and release the vessel their next step is to get more weapons and speeding boats.  Most of their weapons come from Yemen, but a significant amount come from Mogadishu – Somalia's capital.  

 

The question we should all be asking is how to solve this piracy crisis, because isn’t just Somalia’s problem anymore it’s our problem now.  This therefore requires the formation of a Somali government that can clear out pirates’ land bases.  But it just had such a government about two years ago, and the United States helped to destroy it.

 

Why?  Well, two years ago, the hard-line Islamic Courts (IC) regime had brought a measure of stability to Somalia after 15 years of civil war.  The IC suppressed piracy to its lowest level in years.  But US suspicions that the IC were actively “harbouring Al-Qaeda.”  Therefore this led the US to sponsor a joint invasion by Ethiopia and alliance of outside Somali clans, destroying the IC and sparking a bloody Iraq-style insurgency.  In the wake of the invasion, piracy flared up again.

 

If we want a lasting peace, we must respect regimes that often offend our western deep feelings, but have the capability of enforcing law and order.  

 

If we want to craft a lasting peace in the Horn of Africa, then it comes down to this: do we prefer dealing with Islamic regime that the US “suspects” of harbouring a handful of terrorists, or do we prefer dealing with heavily armed pirates high-jacking vessels full of food, armoured vehicles and possibly chemical weapons?