Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia

International pressure is growing to bring the continued piracy off the east African coast to a halt. The hijacking of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star 830 kilometers southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, on Sunday, November 16, not only raised the price of oil, but also caused alarm that the ship was taken well beyond the Gulf of Aden where most of the recent attacks have taken place. In a CBC news report of November 17th, Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesperson for the American Fifth Fleet, stated that the Sirius Star is "...is three times the size of an aircraft carrier." On Monday a huge ship was seen off Eyl, Somalia, a favorite stronghold of Somali pirates, causing many to think that the vessel was the Sirius Star.

In response to the wave of piracy, the European Union will begin anti-piracy patrols off the Somali coast in December. A November 10th Associated Press article, quoted in the Toronto Star, stated that patrols will consist of between four to six ships, accompanied by four maritime patrol aircraft. The operation will be led by British Vic-Admiral Philip Jones, and will replace the current watch carried out by NATO.

Ship hijackings in the area have become more frequent over the past year. The International Maritime Bureau, which monitors piracy, has said that there have been 92 pirate attacks off Somalia this year, with 36 of the ships being hijacked. To date: fourteen of the ships are still being held by pirates, as are 243 crew members. In an Indian Express article of November 24th, Y.P. Ralesh said global maritime experts feel that the only way to stop the pirates is to launch pre-emptive strikes against them. The director of the International Marine Bureau, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, stated that: "The problem in dealing with this kind of piracy is that once a ship has been taken hostage, there is very little that can be done as any action could endanger the lives of the sailors on board."

The main cause behind the increased piracy is unrest in Somalia. A civil war that is pitting Islamist forces against the Western-supported transitional government has brought brutality, poverty, and fear to the country. Ships are stolen for the ransoms they bring. This money is then used to finance the Islamist war effort. None of this money finds its way to the general population.

The pirates say that their activities are a protest against European firms dumping toxic waste in Somali waters. Januna Ali Jama, a spokesman for the pirates, states in an article posted by islamweb, that the ransoms are a reaction "to the toxic waste that has been continually dumped on the shores of our country for nearly 20 years." He says that: "the Somali coastline has been destroyed, and we believe this money is nothing compared to the devastation that we have seen on the seas."

There is some evidence to support Jama's claims, though they have been ignored by the region's maritime authorities. The UN envoy for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abhallah, in an interview reported by a Times online article of March 4, 2005 that there was "reliable information" to support the assertion that European and Asian companies are dumping toxic garbage, such as nuclear or industrial waste, off the Somali coastline. There have been persistent rumors from other sources of such occurrences, as well as illegal fishing, since the 1990's. The tsunami of 2004 added fuel to the accusations when evidence of toxic spills, such as rusting containers of the substances, washed up on the beaches of Puntland, a break-away area of Somalia. Since then many people have exhibited bleeding from their mouth or abdomen, skin infections, and other medical problems.

The UN Environment Program representative Nick Nuthall, in the same report, felt that little can be done about the dumping of waste materials at this point in Somalia's history. His excuse is that the high level of instability within the country, and the insecurity off the coast prevent any accurate assessment of the damage. Oudl-Abhallah maintains that dumping practices have not decreased. "What is most alarming here is that nuclear waste is being dumped. Radioactive uranium waste that is potentially killing Somalis and completely destroying the ocean." It is hard to refute his argument.

Sources:

www.thestar.com/News/World/article/533977

www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/story.html?id=le43095-3206-a8cc-19daad698b5d&p=2

www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/11/17/somalia-pirates.html?ref=rss

news.google.ca/news?hl=International+Maritime+Bureau+um=l&ie=UTF-8&0i=news_group&resum=4&ct=title

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article418665.ece

www.indianexpress.com/news/Martitime-bureau-head-calls-for-pre-emptivestrikes/390089

www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php=lang=E&id=147073