E D I T O R I A L
Saturday, February 13, 2010
The battle against Somali pirates continues in the Indian Ocean. International naval forces, most recently the Danes, score the odd success, but nothing yet has deterred these Somali fishermen from continuing the substantially more lucrative business of seizing cargo ships and ransoming them and their luckless crew for millions of dollars.
It stands to reason that as more sophisticated technology is deployed, now including pilotless spy planes, the international patrols in this vast area of ocean are going to improve their ability to interdict attacking pirates. Equally, as owners sign up to improved convoy systems, vessels moving through the danger area will be harder to seize. In the long-term this may be the answer, leaving the pirates only the slim pickings of vessels that foolishly choose not to cooperate with the international forces sent there to protect them. Also truth be told, though financially strapped governments may be muttering about the cost of the anti-piracy patrols, their naval forces find the experience highly valuable. Not only do they have a real operation on which to work but they are also operating with other navies and learning from each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Some naval commanders would prefer to be tougher on the pirates and would like to move close to the Somali coast and effectively blockade it, stopping and searching vessels traveling to and from the country’s ports. This is an option. However, the problem is that the pirates always hold a stock of hostages. The clear danger is that if the confrontation is escalated in this way, the lives of these prisoners will be threatened. Thus far this has been a relatively gentlemanly confrontation. Though some pirates have been slain, none of the hostages has yet been killed deliberately by their Somali captors. Some have perished during rescues.
The day the Somalis actually murder any of their captives in cold blood, the game plan may change. In line with their standard policy, publicly anyway, the British are refusing to countenance any payment for the release of a couple seized with their yacht. This poses a dilemma for the pirates. The inherent murderous threat to hostages only survives if examples are made, if it is demonstrated that the threats are real. However, the moment such a terrible crime is committed, an appalled world will countenance far harsher measures against the pirates. The gloves will be off.
At the heart of this continuing confrontation lies the far greater tragedy of the collapsed Somali state. Driven by outside forces, including Al-Qaeda, the country has degenerated into chaos in which people understandably turn to the only things of which they think they can be sure, which are family and tribal allegiances. Unfortunately these militate against the re-establishment of national order and cohesion. In the end, lasting peace will not return to the seas off Somalia because the world’s navies discover a way to combat the pirates. The only enduring solution will come from a lasting political settlement. It is toward fostering and funding this that the international community should be bending its efforts.