By Robert I. Rotberg
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Even so, combating piracy is not impossible. Rigorous patrolling by the US Fifth Fleet, European warships, and combined task force patrols from China, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and other nations have greatly reduced piracy encounters in the Gulf of Aden, where about 25,000 ships cruise annually. So has convoying, accompanied by members of the task force patrols, air surveillance with fixed-wing craft and drones, and more vigilance by the merchant vessels themselves.
As a result, there has not been a successful hijacking in the Gulf of Aden since August, and a Dutch frigate captured 13 Somali pirates off Oman earlier this month. The intrepid Somali pirates now venture 1,000 miles and more off their home coast to capture vessels.
The Indian Ocean area from the Seychelles to Kenya contains more than 1 million square miles and has been much harder to patrol even with 30 allied warships and the occasional aircraft available particularly since pirates are hard to distinguish - until too late - from ordinary fishermen. Satellite observations are not available, even if pirate craft could be distinguished from regular trawlers. Convoying in this region is not feasible because of its size and the paucity of available allied attack vessels.
Still, merchant mariners, naval commanders, lawyers, diplomats, and regional experts who came together this month as the Cambridge Coalition to Control Maritime Piracy confirm that piracy can be prevented. Effective governance by Somali authorities themselves would end piracy over time. China and Indonesia cracked down on their sea pirates, reducing piracy in the South China Sea and in the Strait of Malacca. But since most of Somalia lacks good governance, a first approach would be for a coalition of shipping firms and American and European allies to spend the equivalent of 50 percent of this year’s ransom money to develop community-based employment on land, thus drying up the supply of youthful pirates. Or, if the local community elders can be encouraged, ransoms could be taxed and devoted to job creation. Piracy, after all, is an occupation in a desiccated land devoid of jobs.
In addition to interdiction, the most effective new deterrent against piracy has been the posting of armed guards, particularly on slower vessels and ones with with lower freeboard. But some owners oppose arms on ships, and some ports will not allow merchant vessels to dock with armed crews.
The biggest container and petroleum carriers can outrun the pirates if they notice them in time. About sixteen knots headway and evasive maneuvering works, but some ships are too slow and are caught unawares at night. In addition, the number of crew members has been reduced for economic reasons.
Specially trained guards can respond strongly when pirates attempt to shoot out the steering bridge or climb aboard. Hardening ships with barbed wire or other obstacles would help also.
Legislation that prohibits ransoms would be difficult to enforce, but the US Treasury and other governments should follow the money and attempt to freeze the assets of those groups that are financing the pirates and profiting from their successes.
Shipping companies should employ their slower ships elsewhere in the world, while guarding and hardening the others. These common sense measures, along with an international move to create jobs for Somalis, would help defeat the pirates.
Robert I. Rotberg is president of the World Peace Foundation and director of Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Intrastate Conflict.