RESURGENCE OF PIRACY: THE SOMALIAN PIRATES

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With the advent of trade and commerce in the world, there has been a rise in several other activities hampering trade and commerce. Piracy is one of them. Generally, when we hear the word pirate, we think of a personality with hook-hand and eye-patch but the modern-day pirates are much more developed and technology supported. When researched one can easily say that the pirates have a total network of attackers, negotiators and local investors who fund them for the vital resources required for the pirate activities. Today we are going to learn about one of the most famous modern pirates of which many companies are afraid due to losses. We would learn every aspect and at the end comment what do you think about the same. Interested, let's dive in!

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF SOMALIA 

Somalia was colonised by the British and Italian governments when they arrived in the horn of Africa region. In 1940 during World War II, Italian East Africa invaded the British Somalian region to gain control over the area. Eventually, British forces regrouped in Kenya and then again invaded the Somalian region. Consequently, the area was acquired by the British. After the formation of the UN, it gave the British government, total control over the British Somali region and at the same time Italy received trusteeship of the Italian Somali region. But it was mentioned that within 10 years Somalia would be independent. In 1960 after all the wars and changing governments, Somalia became an independent country. The government of Somalia was doing well until the president was shot dead in 1969. Following this, Mohammed Siad Barre, a military person formed the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP). This started the military rule in Somalia. The following events also saw the rise of left ideology due to the interference of foreign left personnel like Nicola Chojesku, Romanian left leader. 

SOMALIA ATTACKS ETHIOPIA

In 1977 Somalia under Barre, invaded Ethiopia. Many powerful countries like the USSR and Cuba supported Ethiopia, resulting in the complete disband of SRSP in 1980. Following this, there were several new parties formed like SNM in northern Somalia, which also invited internal riots and eventually the Somalian Civil war in 1988. 

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The political instability also resulted in chaos everywhere in Somalia and finally in 1991 the barre government was deposed. The northern Somalian region declared itself independent (although it is not accepted yet) and the southern region was war-stricken.

RISE OF PIRACY IN SOMALIA 

Somalia lies in the Gulf of Aden region which is an important route for several fishes like Tuna. In the absence of any government, there were no Navy and coastal guard. This absence of administration invited a lot of foreign fishermen to catch fish illegally from the region and also big ships to dump harmful chemicals overboard. This caused huge economic drawbacks for the Somalian fishermen as the Fishes were killed by the chemicals. To revive their livelihood they opened their own association called Badaadinta badah which when translated in English is Saviours of the Sea. They started attacking the foreign fishermen to stop the illegal fishing in their region.

NRDC

In early 2000, they also realized that the Gulf of Aden is also one of the busiest routes for Cargo ships and Oil tankers. They found that huge international attention can be taken by boarding up these ships and taking them as a hostage to receive ransom from the shipping companies. This eventually turned the militia coast guards of Somalia into Pirates. The business of piracy, for these people, was much more profitable. Therefore many criminals and young people (mostly from Southern Somalia) also started earning profits from piracy. 

INCREASING THE LIMITS

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The earned profits can be understood by the fact that when they boarded a ship in 2005 they received a ransom of $315,000. Which exponentially increased in the upcoming years. In 2007 they boarded and ransomed a ship for $1,500,000 and In 2011 a ship for $6,000,000. A study shows that the total ransom till 2009 was $58,000,000 which increased to $238,000,000 in 2010. Such a large sum of money for a War-torn, Famine-stricken country was not less than a boon. Every year many ships were now attacked and the crew was taken hostage and the ransom was asked to deliver. Soon the Somalian Pirates increased their range to 1000 kilometres from the Somalian coast as they saw the whole Indian Ocean as their battleground.

ATTACK METHODOLOGY  

Usually, there is always a mother ship and two or three smaller ferry boats that are used to attack the huge cargo ships or oil tankers. For the Somalian Pirates, the cargo is not important they only take the crew as a hostage for ransom.

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The funding and weapon arrangement is done by the local investors who buy a share and earn millions alongside these Pirates to facilitate this. There is also some debate over the Association of this pirate community with the Islamic Association of Al-Shabab, residing in the southern region of Somalia. One of the primary founders, with the increase of this Piracy the local fishermen of Somalia, are now facing peril. They are now driven out of the picture by the rich and powerful Somalian Pirates. 

THE WORLD RESPONDS

2010 was the Heyday period for the Pirates, in which they earned a lot of money as ransom and also attacked every second ship for ransoms. But this also started the downfall of the Somalian piracy as several Naval Associations across the world, formed a task force specially designed for handling the Somalian Pirates. 

Deccan Chronicle 

There is also the construction of a naval base in North Somalia and also a Coast Guard at the Puntland. These steps essentially have lowered the speed of piracy considerably in the Somalian coastal region, but hasn’t yet stopped it. In 2013, the total piracy activities were decreased by 90% in total. But in recent years, it is again regaining international concern. In 2017, they held a crew hostage for ransom but soon released them. In 2020, they have attacked several ships (largely unsuccessful) for ransom.

The Task Force has to follow the Somalian laws and can not enter the coastal region thus when kept hostage it is really difficult to infiltrate and save the hostages. Also, the pirates caught can not be interrogated and executed anywhere. The caught pirates are safely taken by the naval boats to the Somalian coast. Therefore the total control can never be achieved over the Somalian pirates.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

After looking into the total account of Somalia we can understand how badly the social, political and economic instability affects the nation. The steps taken by the companies and the naval organisations can have a check but can never stop this from happening. There is only one thing which can be done. Providing better education, better skillsets and most importantly employment to the youth of Somalia.

What we see in Somalia is just an outcome of what is going on there. The opposite can also be done all that we really require is basically better education, better professions and better central government. No weapons or threats can stop these pirate activities from happening, only the proper education and a strong central government can establish peace in the country of Somalia.

It is truly said by Nelson Mandela that -

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world..."

THANK YOU FOR READING !