Piracy is one of the oldest businesses. Somewhere human greed and somewhere human needs led people to resort to piracy. The 1982 Convention on the law of the sea (UNCI-OS) defines piracy as illegal violence, detention, plundering depredation committed for private ends by a private ship on the seas (outside the jurisdiction of any country). Nowadays piracy has become an important issue and a serious threat in Somali waters.
Piracy is rampant in many areas of the world but Somalia stands out as the most pirates infested in the world. It is estimated that pirates receive approximately millions of dollars as ransom but no one tries to know that why piracy is increasing in Somali waters. Piracy in Somali waters look like resources swap and a reaction against exploitation which emerged in Somali locals. Finishing trawlers of western developed countries catch around $300 million fish annually from Somali waters. During the military regime, fishing was developed. A sizeable infrastructure was built with foreign aid. Many small to medium size fishing trawlers were imported or locally built. This industry absorbed thousands of Somali locals who learnt fishing and adopted this to earn livelihood. Medium size fish processing, storing industry was also established and Somalia exported the bulk of catch and earned foreign exchange. The fishing industry has been badly affected during the Somali civil war. After the fall of federal government of Said Barre there was no effective government in place and control of local areas went in the hands of war lords. Erosion of finishing took place due to excessive fishing by foreign trawler, Local fishermen were deprived by foreigner trawlers of their livelihood. This led to unemployment, poverty, hunger which ultimately led to piracy. The civil war brought arms and ammunitions. Local unemployed people who were skillful fishermen and seasoned sailors started to chase the foreigner trawlers in. Later on they received guns and started boarding trawlers and small coasters threatening crew and confiscating cargos. There are busy shipping lanes in the north punt land in Gulf of Aden. These were ideal conditions for a crime like piracy to prosper. When the war lords felt that pirates ventures are very profitable they started facilitating the pirates’ activities in return having share in ransoms. Somalia pirates said they consider those who illegally fish and dump in their waters as buccaneers. In 2006 Islamic Courts Union (ICJ) after getting power in southern Somalia banned foreign fishing trawlers and declared piracy as a crime but Ethiopia invaded Somalia with the support of USA and the west. ICU lost the control and fish catching by foreign trawlers again started and they piracy increased in the south. Although the transitional federal government has internationally committed in 2008 that it will combat piracy but it lacks strong power base and required resources. There is estimates that up to one thousands armed pirates are working under the umbrellas of about five war lords. During 2010, there were hundreds of reported attacks of pirates and dozens of ships were hijacked. More than twenty countries have sent their naives for protection of merchant shipps in Gulf of Aden. The increase in incidents off Somali coast prompted the IMO (international Maritime Organization) to adopt a resolution in IMO assembly in 2005 to bring the matter to the attention of UN Security Council. The UN Security Council acted by passing a resolution in 2008, allowing allowing naives to enter the territorial water of Somalia to repress the acts of armed robbery and piracy at sea. In January 2009, an important regional agreement was adopted in Djibouti by states in the region at a high level meeting convened by IMO.  This has led to a very serious controversy raised in European Parliament, as the EU parliament desires that piracy should be defined as criminal act under international law rather than an act of war. Such a re-definition will enable navies to arrest the pirates and bring them to justice. EU feels that if pirates are defined as criminals, it is easier to bring them to justice. As piracy being an “Act of War” it is more difficult to go for legal arrangements.
1 wish to highlight that although piracy needs to be curbed and pirates need to be chased away from the seas but this is not a maritime issue at all. Piracy in Somalia is a symptom of a monstrous socio-economic disaster taking place in Somalia. International community must seriously address this burning issue. Somalia government must be provided sufficient  financial  and  technical  assistance to  repair the  damaged  infrastructure immediately particularly the fishing infrastructure. The war lords must be engaged in dialogue to resolve their grievances. Somalia people must learn lesson from their mistakes that the internal political differences can only be resolved by dialogues and negotiations. Societies decay due to clanship and tribalism which promote anarchy and ultimately devastation. When a poor person cannot earn his livelihood, he indulges in crimes.
The fact must not be ignored that Somalia has been in a state of anarchy since 1991. The state structure in Somali has to be strengthen so it could gain control of the country and establish its writ, by eradicating war lords and gangsters which is vital for eradicating piracy in Somalia.
There is no easy solution. Sending scores of naval ships to the area will not solve the crisis and will only increase the death toll.
The writer is a lecturer, Department of International Relations. Federal Urdu University, Karach
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