Piracy in Somalia – a good thing?

This isn’t very accurate.

The Chatham House reports on piracy seem to center on how to end the problem in the most efficient and effective way, not creating excuses for the criminals that the pirates are, as well as how to correctly deal with the pirates and their activities in a way that is both good for the operations themselves while still adhering to both national and international law.

The notion that piracy contributes to the economy of Somalia is also misguided. It’s true that most of the pirates are from Somalia (Puntland), but the idea that these are hard working citizens forced into piracy because of the harsh environment that Somalia is is also misguided. While it is true that this is how many of the pirates “get started”, it hardly accounts for the continued activity. One single successful operation would see to it that the whole band of pirates would be set for life, especially since ransoms for ships and crews have seen an increase from tens- or hundreds of thousands of dollars into the millions. If these were such hard working, desperate people only looking for a way for their families and communities to survive, this would have been a passing problem instead of a billion-dollar venture in Somalia.

So where does the money end up?

According to Chatham House and other “think-tanks“, the money mostly ends up financing internal unrest, war ops and weapons purchases. In turn, this does nothing positive for the country, and will rather see to it that a tried and tired population is further oppressed.

Another probable end station for the huge ransom payouts is in the hands of terrorists, where access to large amounts of cash is a huge advantage in international operations.
That’s not the end of it, however.

The increase in access to money has made it possible for the pirates to parade their weaponry, making them a greater risk to even larger vessels. While the pirates still target mainly smaller, low sided ships, the use of RPG’s and even larger weapon systems will most definitely be able to damage even oil tankers and such.

The presence of naval forces from several countries have a disruptive effect on pirate activity, lowering the pirate success rate from 1 in 3 to 1 in 4, but the average attack takes about 15 minutes, which means that a naval vessel needs to be very close in order to be able to react in time.
The use of large weapon systems creates the clear and present danger (yes, a cliche… we know) of a ship sinking, creating a possibly catastrophic environmental incident, with oil spills being the main concern.

So, what about private security?

As the price of ransoms go up, so will the possibility that shipping agencies will hire private security to look after their ships. While the cost couldn’t be justified some years ago, this is about to change. From a legal point of view, this would also be less of a problem than one might think. As long as this private security doesn’t act as a police force, but concentrates on defending their own vessel or others in immediate danger, this is self defense or emergency assistance. Piracy is not condoned or permitted by any law.

Having armed guards on board ships is as much a tradition as piracy itself, and there doesn’t seem to be any good reason to not embrace it anew anymore. One of the reasons why the pirate scheme works is that crews have been cut to the bone, and stand without the possibility of continuous watches, something which may have foiled quite a few attacks by providing the helmsman with time to execute evasive maneuvers. Stocking up the crew with professional “watchmen” will make for a nice complement, and give the captain of the ship an opportunity to either evade the attackers or retaliate in self defense.

Armament

The question of what kind of armament a private security force should be equipped with onboard such a vessel is a difficult one. Pirates usually attack in skiffs, which are small but very seaworthy, operating out of larger motherships – usually captured and commandeered fishing vessels, making their range an estimated 100 miles from shore.
Defensive weaponry is a good starting point, but doesn’t answer all the questions. At what range is it all right for a vessel to assume they are under attack? At which point can we open fire? Is it necessary for the pirates for fire their weapons first, or is the threat of such action enough?
Basically, the RoA need to be set, even if the pirates won’t care about them. We (the non-pirates) need to maintain our civility, something which is as important in hostile actions as in regular life.

Working out the RoA and framework for private, armed security on board ships passing Somalia should be a top priority, not only for the international community, but Al’s for the individual shipping company.

In short, there are no positive sides to the Somali piracy.