By — PBS NewsHour PBS NewsHour Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/africa-july-dec08-pirates_11-20 Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Piracy Offers Lucrative Career in Lawless Somalia Politics Nov 20, 2008 12:45 PM EDT Somalia is a lawless, poverty-stricken country that has been without an effective central government since dictator Siad Barre’s regime was overthrown in 1991. Clashes between rival warlords, an Islamist insurgency and the country’s weak Transitional Federal Government are common. “It’s a part of the world where life is hard and cheap,” said David Shinn, a former ambassador to Ethiopia and now a professor at George Washington University. People are “willing to take very high risks for very high gains,” he said. With piracy, “they figured out a way to do it.” With the average ransom for a ship approaching $2 million, piracy is one of the most lucrative businesses in Somalia, the BBC reported. In the northern region of Puntland, where many pirates are based, business is booming. “They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day,” Abdi Farah Juha, a resident of the regional capital of Garowe, told the BBC. “They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns.” “Piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable,” he added. “The youth are growing up in poverty and violence,” explained Africa specialist Ted Dagne of Congressional Research Service. “They know how to shoot, they know violence; they don’t know how to get a job.” Somalia lies at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, a busy shipping lane that connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Using high-speed power boats, small bands of heavily armed raiders ride up to ships many times larger than their own and use grappling hooks and ladders to climb on board. Once on deck, they subdue the usually unarmed crew with automatic rifles and anti-tank missiles. “Most ships don’t carry guns for safety reasons,” said Richard DeSimone, president of Ocean Marine at Travelers Insurance, which insures large shipping vessels. “To ward off a speed boat attack is very difficult,” he said. Pirates are usually not interested in the cargo of ships they hijack; instead, they want ransom money. At least 14 vessels, including a Ukrainian freighter loaded with Russian battle tanks that was taken last month, are being held in the port town of Eyl, the BBC reported. With better guns and equipment purchased with ransom money, pirates are becoming more ambitious and brazen in their attacks. The 1,080-foot MV Sirius Star supertanker hijacked Nov. 15 was loaded with 2 million barrels of crude oil worth about $100 million. The ship and 25 crew members were seized more than 450 nautical miles off the African coast. “This is unprecedented. It’s the largest ship that we’ve seen pirated,” Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet told Reuters. “It’s three times the size of an aircraft carrier.” Piracy has existed at the margins of maritime trade for a long time, DeSimone said, but the recent string of high-profile hijackings “changes things dramatically.” “It’s a completely new environment,” he explained. While attacks used to be infrequent and on smaller ships, piracy now seems to be “spiraling out of control.” The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks global piracy, has recorded 92 pirate attacks in Somalia so far this year, including 39 successful hijackings. Ship operators may choose to avoid the Gulf of Aden entirely and send their ships around the Southern tip of Africa instead — one Norwegian shipper has already done so — but the added days needed to circumvent the continent could raise costs by a few hundred thousand dollars, DeSimone said. If they choose the Gulf of Aden, however, shippers face higher insurance rates due to piracy concerns. “There is a crisis in shipping right now thanks to the global economic meltdown,” said Charles Moure, a Seattle-based maritime lawyer. “This does not help.” The multi-national naval force patrolling the waters off Somalia has had some success in deterring piracy — an Indian warship sunk a pirate skiff on Tuesday — but the attacks continue. “The size of the area is massive,” DeSimone said. “It’s very difficult to keep track of every small craft in the area.” Moure said a more effective response would be to stop paying ransom. “Negotiations and ransom payments just fuel the fire and cause more and more seizures of vessels,” he said. He acknowledged that it would endanger crews currently held by pirates, but noted that ransom just puts future crews at risk. “The U.N. and various nations involved should treat them as terrorists and not negotiate with them,” Moure said. “They’re called pirates by the media, but really they’re terrorists,” he said. By — PBS NewsHour PBS NewsHour
Somalia is a lawless, poverty-stricken country that has been without an effective central government since dictator Siad Barre’s regime was overthrown in 1991. Clashes between rival warlords, an Islamist insurgency and the country’s weak Transitional Federal Government are common. “It’s a part of the world where life is hard and cheap,” said David Shinn, a former ambassador to Ethiopia and now a professor at George Washington University. People are “willing to take very high risks for very high gains,” he said. With piracy, “they figured out a way to do it.” With the average ransom for a ship approaching $2 million, piracy is one of the most lucrative businesses in Somalia, the BBC reported. In the northern region of Puntland, where many pirates are based, business is booming. “They have money; they have power and they are getting stronger by the day,” Abdi Farah Juha, a resident of the regional capital of Garowe, told the BBC. “They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns.” “Piracy in many ways is socially acceptable. They have become fashionable,” he added. “The youth are growing up in poverty and violence,” explained Africa specialist Ted Dagne of Congressional Research Service. “They know how to shoot, they know violence; they don’t know how to get a job.” Somalia lies at the entrance to the Gulf of Aden, a busy shipping lane that connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Using high-speed power boats, small bands of heavily armed raiders ride up to ships many times larger than their own and use grappling hooks and ladders to climb on board. Once on deck, they subdue the usually unarmed crew with automatic rifles and anti-tank missiles. “Most ships don’t carry guns for safety reasons,” said Richard DeSimone, president of Ocean Marine at Travelers Insurance, which insures large shipping vessels. “To ward off a speed boat attack is very difficult,” he said. Pirates are usually not interested in the cargo of ships they hijack; instead, they want ransom money. At least 14 vessels, including a Ukrainian freighter loaded with Russian battle tanks that was taken last month, are being held in the port town of Eyl, the BBC reported. With better guns and equipment purchased with ransom money, pirates are becoming more ambitious and brazen in their attacks. The 1,080-foot MV Sirius Star supertanker hijacked Nov. 15 was loaded with 2 million barrels of crude oil worth about $100 million. The ship and 25 crew members were seized more than 450 nautical miles off the African coast. “This is unprecedented. It’s the largest ship that we’ve seen pirated,” Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet told Reuters. “It’s three times the size of an aircraft carrier.” Piracy has existed at the margins of maritime trade for a long time, DeSimone said, but the recent string of high-profile hijackings “changes things dramatically.” “It’s a completely new environment,” he explained. While attacks used to be infrequent and on smaller ships, piracy now seems to be “spiraling out of control.” The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks global piracy, has recorded 92 pirate attacks in Somalia so far this year, including 39 successful hijackings. Ship operators may choose to avoid the Gulf of Aden entirely and send their ships around the Southern tip of Africa instead — one Norwegian shipper has already done so — but the added days needed to circumvent the continent could raise costs by a few hundred thousand dollars, DeSimone said. If they choose the Gulf of Aden, however, shippers face higher insurance rates due to piracy concerns. “There is a crisis in shipping right now thanks to the global economic meltdown,” said Charles Moure, a Seattle-based maritime lawyer. “This does not help.” The multi-national naval force patrolling the waters off Somalia has had some success in deterring piracy — an Indian warship sunk a pirate skiff on Tuesday — but the attacks continue. “The size of the area is massive,” DeSimone said. “It’s very difficult to keep track of every small craft in the area.” Moure said a more effective response would be to stop paying ransom. “Negotiations and ransom payments just fuel the fire and cause more and more seizures of vessels,” he said. He acknowledged that it would endanger crews currently held by pirates, but noted that ransom just puts future crews at risk. “The U.N. and various nations involved should treat them as terrorists and not negotiate with them,” Moure said. “They’re called pirates by the media, but really they’re terrorists,” he said.