If you search for Somalia on an the atlas it appears as a bulge on the west coast of Africa, an inverted ‘L’ with two sides sea, one the Indian Ocean the other the Gulf of Aden and the entry to the Red Sea leading eventually the Suez Canal. Being on the coast In Somalia must be like living in a squatter camp on two sides of Sloane Square watching a succession of Mercedes and Porches drive by; the wealth of the industrialised world parades before you, visible yet untouchable. That a 20 foot Somalian power boat can enforce acts of piracy on a super tanker must be like an optimistic hyena hassling a hippo; laughable and improbable. Yet Somalian pirates successfully seize ships and hold them hostage, sensibly not targeting the cargoes, your Lloyds Register information may be wrong and you find 20,000 Barbi Dolls and 50,000 watering cans; instead they hold them to ransom and release them, usually unharmed. Do I hear the opening bars of Robin Hood?
If your life expectancy is 49 years, your annual earning $600 and your only exports livestock, bananas and hides, piracy could seem a sensible if unorthodox career, and apparently one supported by 70% of the population. It feels a victimless crime, if the spoils went to support schools in Boosaaso I would applaud it. But naturally the problem goes deeper. In absence of a domestic military presence it seems the Somalian seas are being pillaged by fished out nations and waste is dumped off the coast. Another way to look at Somalian piracy is as a form of taxation on the first world.
The developed nations were slow to wake up to the threat of piracy but there are now about 40 ships in the Gulf of Aden, including three from China, the first to operate outside the Pacific. NATO has been able to organise only eight ships, grandly calling it a task force yet the efforts of pirates in this region alone have stretched world maritime resources thin. 16,000 ships a year navigate these waters and some attacks take place as much as 500nm offshore so the capacity of a ship to police against piracy is limited. So the big danger is that buoyed by Somalian success piracy spreads to equally impoverished West African or South East Asian coasts; if it does we have little capacity to stop it. The International Maritime Board already reports attacks in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malacca Straits, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore Straits, Vietnam, Tema, Lagos & Bonny River Nigeria, Dar Es Salaam, Gulf of Aden, Brazil and the Arabian Sea. If we treat Somalian piracy as purely a criminal act and shoot to kill we address the symptoms and not cause and risk escalation to national conflict with such a supportive population.
What danger does piracy represent? Far East trading success is only possible if the cost of exporting goods around the world is low; as an estimate less than 5% of the cost of items that arrive in the UK covers sea freight. China can control fuel prices, build plentiful shipping and ignore the record of ships as bad polluters. But piracy would destabilise the flow of goods and costs could escalate to cover policing. Once freight costs rise to 15% of goods then the benefits of cheap Far East manufacture are neutralised; so no wonder China is offering naval support. Another way to look at this though is it would stem the flow of cheap Far East goods and relieve the pressure on western economies. So maybe NATO should withdraw its ships and allow the nations that benefit most from Far East trade to pick up the cost of piracy?
Surely the real issue is that the developed nations let Somalia dwell in such poverty. Why do we allow it? The answer seems to be that richer nations are willing to reap the benefits of globalisation without facing up to its responsibilities. If a member of our society falls on hard times we offer free retraining, income support, free health and free schooling and do what we can to ease them through. Should not the support we offer struggling individuals extend to poorer nations?
How can we relieve poverty in Somalia? Altruistic individuals and foundations build schools, sanitise water supplies and proffer healthcare to the needy but their limited, sporadic and overstretched resources mean the effect is minimal. Multi-nationals might actively locate business in Somalia, but even that prolific globaliser Coca-Cola only risked returning there in 2004, their launch party guarded by 100 armed men. The only sensible option is for the industrialised nations to accept the responsibilities that go hand in hand with globalisation and help raise standards in Somalia to a world accepted minimums; simply a national version of the help we offer individuals. If that seems a hugely expensive option then factor in the global cost if piracy escalates. Yet without effective world governance how can we make the industrialised nations face their global responsibilities?
I watch with interest, hoping the pirates won’t go too far, whistling Robin Hood and imagining how a hyena could bother a hippo.
Copyright Mike Pearson 27th May 2009
