International Maritime Organisations and other International forums ensured the UN Security Council passing a resolution 1816 (2008) allowing navies to enter the territorial water of Somalia to repress acts of armed robbery and piracy at sea. We, in Pakistan ventured in organising a seminar on piracy in September 2009 where Chief of Naval Staff was the Chief Guest, so that Merchant Mariners could be educated to protect themselves from acts of piracy.
However, I profoundly admit that all efforts were in vain. The National Centre for Maritime Policy and Research was held a seminar on 8-9 March 2011 invited foreign speakers, a noble cause, but seminars and education to the seafarers, is not the solution.
In 2005, the average ransom paid for a hijacked vessel by pirates was around 150,000/USD. The pirates were operating in the busy maritime waterway between Somalia and Yemen, the Gulf of Aden a major route traversed by 22000 ships per year, traversing to and from the Suez canal on main east/west route. The pirates are now reported to be in Pakistan's economic zone and 100 miles on the west-coast of India. The navies with their large presence have miserably failed to control the menace, as of today, the asking rate of pirates to release crew and ship is 5.4 million dollars. The 2005 to 2010 percentage increase is a staggering 360 percent.
The ransom numbers were lifted from one earth foundation, a US think tank, which explains why the business of piracy is probably the world's most profitable business and has been expanding, despite increase in international naval presence in the waters hounded by the Somali pirates. Despite a string of plans to protect shipping and exasperated statements by politicians and ship owners, pirates are free and have extended their hunting grounds to the east of Kenya and up to the Arabian sea near sub-continent's coast, thus threatening the traffic of oil from the Arabian Gulf as well. A few weeks earlier Ban-ki Moon, the UN Secretary General admitted that piracy seems to be out-spacing the efforts of the international community, the statement was endorsed by Secretary of State of superpower, Hillary Clinton.
Ship owners, world-wide including our PNSC are in agreement, so are the world's five largest maritime organisations, complaining that only 2000 Somali pirates are hijacking the world's economy, as trade is 95% seaborne. They have decided to launch a web-site www.saveourseafarers.com demanding tougher action. The group includes the international Chamber of Shipping, which represents 80% of the world merchant ships and Inter tanko whose members control/operate the tanker trade. Advertisements were made in Wall Street journals, the group noted that "even it caught red-handed, 80% of the pirates are released to attack again, a very searching question for the world politicians, London lawyers and Navies.
The practice is known as "catch and release" figures in the risk-reward calculations of the piracy business, whose leaders are said to be assisted by London Lawyers and are aware of thickest of laws regulations and jurisdictional ambiguities, which has made arrest and prosecution of pirates difficult. There are no uniform rules of engagement for the warships on the counter-piracy mission and by some definition the act of piracy only begins when grappling hooks are thrown and the pirates start clambering. There are about 30 warships on patrol now, in the area threatened by the pirates, who launch speedboats from motherships up to thousands of miles from the Somali Coast. So the warships are only looking for needles in a haystack. The problem is only addressed from the sea, which is why trying to end piracy purely with seaborne operations looks like an enterprise doomed to failure. The key to solving the problem is on land - the fact that Somalia a failed state, is sanctuary for pirates. No country, including a superpower is keen to take action on land where 800 seafarers are held hostage and as said 50/l00 Pakistanis are still hostage, and many have been killed as the case of Captain Jaffery, who was killed in an encounter between the Navy and pirates. Who killed him is still to be identified. The seafarers are scared yet their bread and butter comes from the sea and they have no option. A recent media report reflects how a Pakistani captain and his staff has been hostage for the last six months, whilst our concerned ministry remains unconcerned of the miseries of the hijacked and their families.
The Navy claims that they are trying to deter attacks and protect ships but the problem lies in the Village and Port cities, in ungoverned spaces, where this is a profitable business and essentially the main driver of revenue in Somalia. The piracy is deeply ingrained in the Somali economic and social structure, as corruption in our society and it is said and firmly believed that this problem will continue as there is no effective government or governance to control the Somalian territorial waters and coast lines. Incidentally Somalia had no effective government since 1991 when the communist dictatorship of Mohd Said Barre was toppled. The country is torn by fighting between rival warlords and the Ethiopian invasion has fuelled it. Transparency International has ranked it 178 in the corruption index of 2010. The pirates are becoming richer, they are becoming harder to be dislodged. Pirates can be chased in the oceans but piracy can be eradicated on land only.
Piracy at sea has become a complex problem with vested interests, however poor seafarers continue to suffer, whilst ship-owners are obliged to pay additional war risk premiums to underwriters while paying ransom too. I have seen an interesting as well as intriguing report that we are carrying out Aman II exercise with multinational Navies as from 8th of March 2011 and as reported that a contingency plan has been made to arrest the spillover of piracy into our waters. Amazingly as reported, pirates have already been spotted in our economic zone and the Indian coastguard has apprehended pirates 100 miles off the coast of Bombay.
The question is how to combat the piracy. The longer the problem remains the more difficult, to resolve it as British think tank Chattam House is of the opinion that "pirates can be chased at sea but piracy can be eradicated at land." The core problem has been identified at land.
There are many options available, however the least recommended is invasion by the powers of Somalia to create a greater mess than Iraq and Afghanistan. The best option is to assist the Somalian Government in creating a coast guard to do effective surveillance of the Somalian coast from where the pirates originate and provide funds and good governance to Somalia, so that people are not induced to this heinous act. Economic development and good governance is the key to resolving the problem. Furthermore on the legal side, the world may agree to treat pirates as criminals under International Law and be handed over to the flag state for trial, so that the pirates do not take cover under the Geneva Convention being an act of war" and released. The London lawyers be asked not to plead the cases of pirates under the Geneva Convention and arrange their release. The ransom said to be customarily paid in London be made illegal under the UK law, as terrorist activity. The definition of piracy is contained in article 101 of the 1982 UNCOLAS.
The international chamber of shipping and Inter-tanko must come forward to generate funds to assist the Somalian Government to eradicate piracy on land, by destroying the hide outs of pirates ashore and firmly dealing with warlords. The UN must also ban big trawlers from sweeping the Somalian coast, depriving poor fisherman of Somalia of their livelihood. The world may assist the coastal fisherman with the state-of-the-art fishing boats, so that they find their livelihoods in an honourable way rather than being induced as pirates, a risky job. I am confident that the IMO and UN will rethink and recast their policies in a manner that the issue is resolved to the benefit of all concerned. To conclude I am of the firm opinion that all conflicts are the reaction to exploitation and I quote an incident from history: when the prisoners were brought in front of Napoleon their attitude was humiliating towards the King, they said we, Russians are far better than you. You fight for wealth, we for honour. Napoleon made history by replying that everyone fights for what he does not have. The world must find out the economic solution of all conflicts and cease exploitation, as the use of force is not a recipe for conflict/crisis resolution.
(The writer is Maritime Advisor to Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry)
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