The Chatham House report says theinternational community is not doing enough to stop piracy in Somalia,even though pirate activities are threatening global commerce andeconomies.
Each year, some 16,000 vessels pass through the Gulfof Aden, a narrow waterway between Somalia and Yemen that connectsEurope to the Far East. The report says pirates this year have seizedmore than two dozen of those ships in the Gulf of Aden and about half adozen others in waters off Somalia's east coast, earning them as muchas $30 million in ransoms.
Facing soaring insurance premiums,ship owners are said to be considering taking the much longer routearound the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to move their goods. Theextra transportation and fuel costs would then be passed on toconsumers, causing even more economic hardships for many people aroundthe world.
The report notes that the presence of a maritimeforce composed of U.S. and allied warships in the region has donelittle to deter pirates, who are better armed and more determined thanever before. Pirates are now using rocket-propelled grenade launchersto try to hijack bigger vessels and that has sparked fears that anattack on an oil tanker could cause a major oil spill some day in theHorn of Africa.
For months, ship owners have appealed forgreater international action to curb piracy in Somalia. The directorof the International Maritime Bureau, Pottengal Mukundan, says hebelieves many more warships need to be deployed.
"The reasonwhy these attacks have increased dramatically is because there has beenno robust push-back against these pirates," he said. "They areoperating with impunity. What we need is a firm push-back and the onlypeople who can provide it are the naval forces. There is no one else."
Theauthor of the Chatham House report, Roger Middleton, agrees that astrong international military presence and response could reduce thenumber of pirate attacks. He welcomed the European Union's announcementon Tuesday that three additional warships, a supply ship, and threenaval surveillance planes could be sent to Somalia as early as nextmonth.
But Middleton says he believes that is only a part of the solution to the piracy problem there.
"Evenwith 100 ships, you are still not going to have full coverage of thewhole Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden," he said."This is a huge area. So a large military presence, while importantand would act as a deterrent, it is not an ultimate solution."
"Theinternational community needs to realize that Somalia is not a normalcountry. This is a failed state and you have to treat it as such. You have to look at the type of solutions that we have for Somalia andthat might mean accepting Somali solutions like the Islamic CourtsUnion need to be accommodated in the future government of Somalia," headded.
The only time in the past decade when piracy was not aproblem in Somalia was in 2006 during the six months the Islamic CourtsUnion was in power in Mogadishu. Middleton argues that leaders inthe courts were able to stamp out pirate activities because theyenjoyed popular support and were seen as legitimate authorities. Henotes that piracy returned with a vengeance after Ethiopia, with U.N.backing, intervened in Somalia and replaced the courts with a seculargovernment that lacked a popular mandate.