THE TRUTH ABOUT SOMALIA AND PIRACY: Part I (The Real Situation)

For the past few years, Somali pirates have been attacking foreign ships – primarily for the purpose of using their crews to elicit ransoms from various nations. It is also true, however, that foreign-owned Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing fleets have been encroaching upon Somalia’s coast for nearly two decades – driving their trawlers into the country’s EEZ, and even territorial, waters.

An EEZ, or Exclusive Economic Zone, is a region within which a state is supposed to have special rights over the exploration and use of all available marine resources. An EEZ usual extends approximately 200 nautical miles out from the given nation’s coast, while its ‘territorial’ waters cover the innermost 12 nm. These areas are mandated according to the UN’s Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which was formally adopted in 1982; and as such, they should be internationally recognized.(1)

Ever since the collapse of Somalia’s Siad BarreSiad Barre regime in 1991, however, a number of external nations have been taking advantage of the country’s instability to pillage its resources by poaching its fish, and harassing, and oftentimes even killing its fishermen. These ‘illegal’ ships hail from the European Union (EU), Arabia, and even the Far East. They are owned by nations including: the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Greece, Egypt, India, and South Korea – among others.(2) Nearly all are members of the United Nations; yet, for some reason, they do not seem to feel responsible for upholding the restrictions set forth by the UNCLOS.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the presence of IUUs off of Somalia’s coast has surpassed the mark of 700 vessels.(3) It is estimated that they pilfer values of the country’s fish market in excess of $450 million a year (2) – a lot of money where the GDP per capita averages a mere $600. (4) Somali fishermen, already living in poverty, have been loosing their livelihoods, as well as the valuable protein sources that they depend on in their efforts to ward off hunger - amongst themselves, their communities, and their children. And these ‘illegal’ foreign-fishermen are not only thieves, they are terrorists. In efforts to purge the seas of local competition, they have cut the Somalis’ nets, rammed and crushed their boats – killing entire crews, and even poured boiling water over fishers in canoes.(2)

In addition to illegal fishing, well documented has been the foreign disposal of industrial, toxic, and even nuclear waste along Somali shores.(2) Fishermen have been complaining of oil spills and other hazards for years; and the South Asian tsunami of 2004 literally carried the evidence right up and onto the beach. There have been numerous photographs and videos taken of washed-up barrels, leaking various substances into the sands; and a team from the UN’s environmental department has even been called in to investigate correlations between them and the numerous costal peoples suffering from various ills - including bleeding gums, abdominal hemorrhages, rashes, and respiratory problems.(5)

It is clear that the drive behind the current flux in Somali shipping piracy is rooted in something far deeper than some mere flux of West African ‘delinquency.’ The people of Somalia have been suffering at the expense of droughts, hunger, warlords, and the hardships of a colonized past for a long time. They have been terrorized and forced to watch their children starve as they lose their livelihoods to poaching foreigners; and they have watched their neighbors fall ill as the illegal and unethical dumping of lethal wastes runs rampant.

Ever since the World Trade Center Attacks in 2001, the “Defense at all costs/Whatever it takes” mentality has pervaded much of the West – and it has only continued to spread. Still, when a select group of people – who have watched their communities driven to the brink of utter desperation – make an attempt to defend (and perhaps even 'replenish') their resources, the world’s only response is to attack them?

Obviously, Somali Shipping Piracy must be stopped. To whatever extent one may argue that it is justified, it is violence. It is important to remember, however, that the current phenomenon was not born of nothing, and that it does not exist on its own. In order to solve this problem, it is not a Global Armada that is needed, but a call to all nations – that they stand up and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of the international community. The world needs to see an honest diplomacy directed towards a cohesive justice; for only under the guidance of the truth shall any true solution ever be found.

References:

1) “Oceans and Law of the Sea.” Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea. 08 April 2009. United Nations. 23 June 2009. <http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/convention_overview_convention.htm>.

2) Abshir Waldo, Mohamed. “The Two Piracies In Somalia: Why The World Ignores The Other?”. 08 Jan. 2009. Daljir. WardheerNews.com. <http://wardheernews.com/Articles_09?Jan?Waldo?08_The_two_piracies_in_Somalia.html>.

3) “Fishery and Quaculture Country Profiles: Somalia.” Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. 2009. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 23 June 2009. <http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/FI_CP_SO/6/en>.

4) Concise Atlas of the World: Second Edition. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2008.

5) Gassem, Abbas. Video:“Truth of Somali Coast: Illegal Fishing, Dumping Toxic Waste.” 12 April 2009. INSIDESOMALIA. 25 June 2009. < http://insidesomalia.org/videos/videodirectlink/truth-of-somali-coast-illegal-fishing-dumping-toxic-waste.html>.