Is it Still "Yarr!"? (or, Somalia and the Rebirth of Modern Piracy)

Welcome to the Gulf of Aden, located between the Arabian Peninsula's Yemen and Somalia's little Horn of Africa. It is, quite arguably, one of the world's vital shipping routes, with roughly 10%-12% of all seaborne petroluem shipments made through the region on their way to the Suez Canal.

It also has a more notorious name, "Pirate Alley."

Since the early 1990's, with the fall of the Siad Barre regime in Somalia, many of the local warlords vying for control of the country have, effectively, legitimized the 'industry' of piracy as a means to raise additional funds to support their war efforts and their socio-economic standings. In the earlier years, piracy in the area was limited, as only a handful of individuals were brave enough to start seizing smaller vessels travelling through the area. Most of these were the pirate groups who had already been active in the area during the Barre era.

The last twelve to fifteen months has brought a drastic increase in active piracy, as well as brought to international attention the lucrativeness of this criminal profession. Since 1984, there have been approximately 440 recognized incidents of pirate attacks in the area... of these, about 120 are reports from 2008, with the twelve months prior to today accumulating almost $150 million in ransom from these attacks. Given that there are only an estimated one to two thousand pirates, even with passing on a good bit of the funds to the government in Puntland (a region that broke away from Somalia shortly after 1991) and some of the warlords, the individual shares would definitely be better than the estimated $600/year of the average Somalian.

There are some who believe there are Islamic (or, more specifically, Al Qaeda) connections to the pirates, though it seems a bit contradictory, as the majority opposition to the pirates comes from Islamic sources. Until recently, when the U.N. opted to send a NATO task force to the area, it was the Islamic groups and regimes in the area who battled the pirates. Even now, there is still very little assistance coming from the NATO group, as they do not yet have definitive 'rules of engagement' for dealing with suspected pirates. I think it's safe to say that the Islamic nations in the region would prefer that random warlords not have access to the profits of piracy, profits that can purchase short range missiles on the black market.

I do find it interesting (and mildly amusing) that the pirates actually have a code of conduct. In almost every instance, they've been described as fairly disciplined, exceptionally drilled young men who are very focused on the prize. They prefer not to kill and, in fact, there have been few pirate-related deaths over the years. There are, apparently, references to the older code of the 'South Seas" pirate days... possibly due to a handful of the more educated leaders amongst them utilizing their history lessons to keep things running as smoothly as possible. However, I'm assuming they don't "Yo, ho, ho" over a bottle of rum or sing racy pirate chanties.

Certainly, they aren't the only pirates in the world. The international waters of East Asia have their share of issues, as well as the tropical seas off of our own south-eastern shores. However, the pirates in these regions consist mostly of smaller, less organized groups. Of course, this probably has to do more with having to avoid the more regular patrols of international forces in these waters. It's this lack of any real regulatory patrol or defensive net that has allowed the Somlian pirates to evolve into the well-practiced machine they are today.

Fearless little buggers, too. Anyone remember the Russian cargo ship carrying thirty-three tanks? There were ships representing numerous national fleets facing them down and they just stared right back, never blinking. Or they're brazen capture of a tanker hauling some $110 in petroleum... obviously, they have concern when it comes to dealing with powers supported by the militant Islamc sects. In some ways, they're a whole, new breed of pirate... one we have never read about in the stories with which we grew up.

In all honesty, I don't know whether to consider them a problem to international trade or an interesting twist on modern piracy. As an adult who is concerned by the implication of the increased price of goods based on transports having to travel longer distances, I hope the task forces will be able to accomplish a lasting solution. The child in me, however, simply thinks, "Yarr!"