Happy Easter!
Pirates are in the news again.
No, this isn’t about Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Caribbean in search of mythical treasures but about Somalia’s burgeoning Pirate industry.
The recent abduction of Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Philips puts into spotlight how Somali’s buccaneering industry has grown audacious enough to challenge world’s superpower.
According to the Associated Press, ``Capt. Richard Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., is believed to have been the first U.S. citizen taken by pirates since 1804, when U.S. Navy Commodore Stephen Decatur battled the infamous Barbary pirates off the northern coast of what is now Libya, dispatching U.S. Marines to the shores of Tripoli.”
``Last year, more than 40 ships were captured, and with ransoms ranging from $500,000 (£341,120) to $2m, they have made a fortune. One pirate, Yassin Dheere, recently said he had made $250,000 from a single incident” reports the BBC.
In a memo prepared last month by the staff of the U.S. House Armed Services the estimated cumulative ransoms ranged from around $30-80 million in a $5.524 billion economy- based on purchasing power (CIA).
The distribution of the Pirates revenues are based on an organizational hierarchy as described by the Associated Press,
``The memo cited one captured pirate as saying pirates only take 30 percent of ransoms — on average $1 million to $2 million per boat.
``Twenty percent goes to group bosses, 30 percent is spent on bribing local officials, and 20 percent goes for capital investment like guns, ammunition, fuel, food, cigarettes. (Cuss said pirates were becoming more sophisticated and in the last two months have, for the first time, begun launching nighttime attacks, possibly indicating pirates have obtained night-vision goggles).
``U.S. officials have found no direct ties between East African pirates and terror groups, but the illegal trade is believed backed by an international network of Somali expatriates who offer funds, equipment and information in exchange for a cut of ransoms.
``The House memo said Somali buccaneers operate in five well-organized groups, drawing members from large clans, which are extended family networks. Cuss said the industry is controlled by "warlords and criminal gangs who recruit local fishermen and take a lion's share of the profits."…
``Today, they number around 1,500, up from around 100 five to seven years ago, Mwangura said.”
What’s interesting to know is that following years of Somali’s statelessness, piracy evolved not out of the intent to practice banditry but from a vigilante movement aimed at fighting off unlicensed foreign trawlers (estimated at 700 foreign fishing vessels by a UN group) which has illegally been fishing and against foreign vessels which has been dumping toxic and hazardous waste at Somalia's fish rich waters. In addition, trespassing foreign boats had allegedly used intimidation tactics and hired militants to harass natives.
With threatened livelihoods, a communal thrust to combat these external threats emerged. Hence, Somalia’s pirate industry was born.
``What began as a defensive movement by local fishermen has evolved into a complex amalgamation of banditry, organized crime, freebooting, and insurgency targeting all types of vessels from fishing trawlers to oil tankers. Somali waters emerged as the hotbed of piracy, accounting for close to 32% of attacks reported globally between January and September 2008. Some fishermen independently attack foreign vessels, others join well-organized pirate groups consisting of criminal gangs, warlords, and clan militias who in turn attack foreign vessels, local fishermen, and each other. Organized groups commit most attacks and are well armed, equipped with fast-boats, satellite navigation, radios, and employ large “mother-ships” to launch long-distance operations.” wrote Christopher Jasparro National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College at Yale Center for Globalization (Yale global)
Pirates have also functioned as private security for some private companies which has likewise parlayed into a booming coastal cities.
Adds Mr. Jasparro, ``The failed governance of the country also comes into play. Officials from Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland issue “licenses” to foreign vessels that then employ pirates as security. With local and diaspora businessmen and clan leaders providing logistics and capital to pirates Puntland’s coastal cities are experiencing a piracy fueled economic boom. Pirates masquerade as Robin Hood-like defenders of Somalia, supposedly protecting the country from exploitation.”
Remember, there are always 2 sides to a coin.
And yes, they’ve been described “noble heroes” by native Somalis according to the Associated Press.
Another angle to look at this is--since Somalia has no functional government, pirates operate similar to an ad hoc naval force which taxes (by kidnap for ransom or by robbery) on vessels plying their waters.
The fact that Somalia’s Pirate industry stemmed from what Mr. Jasparro aptly calls as ``Weakly governed and failed states are often themselves victimized by foreigners” suggests that the solution required to deal with this highly complex predicament is not merely a military approach but principally a geopolitical one.
For as long the interests of the Somalis appear to be threatened by so-called “abusive” foreigners, under the conditions where the country can’t fend for itself, Somalis will likely justify the existence of the industry.
Finally, Peter Leeson an economics professor at George Mason University and author of The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates recently has an interesting take on the contribution of historical Pirates to the quest for liberty…
Mr. Lesson wrote at the NPR.org (all bold highlights mine),
``Pirates are getting a bad rep. Every month we hear more news of the Somali pirates' depredations, most recently involving an attack on an American crew. To be sure, these pirates deserve our condemnation. They're thugs and the world would be better without them.
``But we shouldn't let our condemnation of modern pirates spill over, unchecked, onto their more colorful, and socially contributory, early 18th-century forefathers. These Caribbean pirates, men like Blackbeard, "Black Bart" Roberts, and "Calico" Jack Rackam, were also watery thieves. But unlike their Somali successors, they didn't only take something out of the world. They gave the world something of value, too.
``Historical pirates were harbingers of some of contemporary civilization's most cherished values, such as liberty, democracy and social safety. At a time when the legitimate world's favored system of government was unconstrained monarchy, Caribbean pirates were practicing constitutional democracy. Before setting sail each would-be pirate crew drew up and agreed to a set of written rules that governed them. These rules regulated gambling, smoking, drinking, the adjudication of conflicts and, in some cases, even prohibited harassing members of the fairer sex.
Read the rest here.
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