Burcad Badeed: Somalia’s “Sea Bandits”
Power Vacuum or Alternative?
Piracy - a Definition“any illegal acts of violence or detention, or
any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or aircraft and directed on the high seas against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft..”
-- UN Convention on the Law of the Sea
Varieties of Piracy
• State-affiliated: co-optation (1600s China), rent-seeking (Barbary States), and privateering (Francis Drake)
• Absence of political authority but also an alternative form of power
History of Somalia
• Siad Barre dictatorship
• rebellions in Puntland and Somaliland
• Civil War and intervention (1992-1995)
• Ethiopian invasion (2006-2008)
• Civil War continues; failed state
Beginnings
• Vacuum of formal state filled by others
• “coast guards” with fishing licenses
• 2003-2004: hijacking of large vessels
• Today, only 6.5% against fishing vessels
• Foreign fishing vessels protected by fees payment to pirate groups
Networks of Authority
• Small-time fisherman model no longer viable
• Consolidation into larger networks to mobilize skills and resources
• Piracy is developed, predictable, business
• Those who profit become new sources of political and economic power
Afweyne Network
• South Central Somalia
• Distributions of payments through local
• patron-client relations of lineage groups/clans
• Generate conflict with old elders/elites
Puntland - Official Collusion• Maxamed Faroole, President
• Ilkajiir, Interior Minister
• Government officials = intelligence source
Why Piracy?
Structural Causes
• Extreme poverty coupled with high unemployment
• Illegal foreign fishing ($300 million a year) depleting tuna stocks
• Toxic dumping off Somali Coast
Rational Choice
• Piracy is a rational response to a series of opportunities in the local setting
• The opportunities are absent political authority, availability of inputs, good location
• The risk-reward structure is in the pirate networks’ favor
Business Model
• Profit margins are substantial: revenue of $50-$130 million annually in ransom
• Set dividends for all participants
• Payoffs to local political leaders factored into costs
Political Authority
• Weak and compliant state (TFG)
• Collaboration from local authorities
• Social acquiescence
Implications
• LOCAL: Piracy based economy; undermining
authority
• REGIONAL: Increased weapon smuggling;
increase in fishermen income (Kenya)
• GLOBAL: Threat to international commerce;
Increased costs
International Response
• Lack of authority; coordination
• Naval response ignores root causes
• Merchant shipping adopt low-cost solutions
• Slow response to shift in pirate strategy
Attacks in 2006
Attacks in 2008
Attacks in 2009
Legal Authority
• Legal limitations• Less than 50% of captured pirates
prosecuted• “We discharged out international obligation.
Others shied away form doing so and we cannot bear the burden of the international responsibility.” - Kenya 2010
• Unintended consequences: private security
Conclusions
• Somali piracy results from authority vacuum, but also creates new power structures
• International neglect - nation-building unrealistic
• Raising risks/costs for pirate backers• Time for a new UN Resolution?• Long-term: build local capacity
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