In the year 75BC, Gaius Julius Caesar, citizen of the great Roman Empire was sailing on a Roman battle trireme in the Mediterranean when pirates attacked the ship. Caesar was captured and ransomed, as was the practice back then. Legend has it that the great man was not impressed when the pirates decided to bill his family in Rome only 20 gold talents, a massive fortune at that time. He felt his worth was at least double that and demanded that they increase the ransom. The pirates, being men of commerce, obliged and were duly paid 50 talents of gold for their skulduggery.
Upon being released after spending 40 days in the dark, damp underbelly of the pirates’ ship, Caesar warned the pirates that he would return, hunt them down and kill them all. One can presume that the pirates all broke out into merry, drunken laughter and probably dumped him rather unceremoniously on the deserted shoreline, leaving him with a fairly long distance to walk to the nearest town and an even longer voyage back to Rome and his home estate outside the city. To be fair, they probably had no idea who they were dealing with.
Unfortunately for these particular pirates, Caesar, being Caesar, raised a fleet, hunted down the men that took him captive and exacted his revenge in true Roman fashion; he boarded their vessel with his legionaries, cut down anyone who resisted and crucified anyone who was left. It was the beginning of a rout that Caesar’s great rival Pompey finished emphatically by crushing pirates across the Mediterranean and clearing the routes of trade for the Empire.
It is perhaps interesting to note how the Romans achieved this, particularly since the world is once again facing the vexing problems that Caesar, Pompey, Cicero and their piers faced over two millennia ago.
Firstly, they assembled a great fleet and sent them out with orders to engage and destroy pirates wherever they found them.
Secondly, and more importantly, the Romans knew that to remove the threat posed by pirates at sea, you have to cut them off from their home base on the land. With this principle in mind, Rome invaded Illiria in 68BC, home base of the most prolific and successful piracy in the Adriatic, and effectively stamped the problem out.
Two thousand years have passed and once again the ocean trade routes of the great empires of the world are increasingly threatened by piracy. The epicentre of the current plundering is Somalia where pirates all but control the Gulf of Aden. At least 12 ships are currently under the control of pirates. This year alone has seen 67 attacks with 26 successful hijackings so far in this area alone. In short, it is reaching epidemic proportions and shows no sign of letting up.
The great maritime countries of the world have all sent warships to the region. Mirroring the Roman strategy, the great fleet has been assembled. The weakness with this modern response, however, is that it contains a single prong and no pressure is being brought to bear on the source. As outlined in this fascinating article, piracy is becoming a very lucrative career in Somalia and the money that is being earned is drawing poor Somalis into the coastal towns to sign up in droves. Pirates drive cars, have big houses, flash money around and have multiple wives – not bad going in a country racked by war and poverty. Not that hard to spot a pirate either you would think!
The relatively soft and diplomatic response of the international community will make the problem much harder to solve. Where a refusal to negotiate with pirates or pay ransoms should be the norm, huge ransoms are being paid. While this may appear to be the right thing to do in the interests of the crew and a quick resolution to each individual problem, it has simply resulted in the pirates having the cash to buy improved radar systems, bigger, faster boats and more sophisticated weapons. With the additional resources and new recruits signing up daily, piracy has predictably exploded in the region. The more ransoms that are paid, the bigger the problem will become. The world should not negotiate with pirates.
Cicero knew this of course. He had this to say about pirates:
“ … for a pirate is not included in the category of lawful enemies, but is the common enemy of everyone. In his case, good faith and sworn oaths should not be recognised.”
It seems to be a common theme when it comes to pirates. In English Admiralty law, when dealing with pirates “neither Faith nor Oath is to be kept”, which effectively meant that any contract entered into with a pirate was not legally binding.
It is also somewhat mystifying as to why the international community has not made an attempt to blockade the access to known pirate ports along the coast and cut the pirates off from their safety net on the land. Any objection by the Somali government, such as it is, could quite easily be countered by pointing to the unacceptable crisis unfolding on their coast and asking them to condemn it and take responsibility for stopping it. If they are not able to do this themselves, they should ask for international assistance and provide the intelligence needed for the international community to do it for them.
Between Darfur and the Gulf of Aden, it is pretty clear that Somalia is out of control and is beginning to pose a geopolitical threat not only to its neighbours but also to the trade of the world at a time when world trade really does not need any further economic setbacks.
Another method that could be employed is the formation of convoys with armed protection. By grouping numerous large ships together under the protection of a large corvette, pirates would have to take huge risks to board a ship and take control of it. By keeping this strategy in place for a prolonged period, a stranglehold could be placed on new hijackings slowly starving the pirates of money and resources.
A riskier but potentially feasible option might include the attempted boarding of one or all of the ships currently held by pirates. The weakness exploited by the pirates is the relative ease with which huge ships can be boarded from a small craft under cover of darkness. Why not use this against them by landing small teams of specially trained navy seals to retake the ships in exactly the same way? The longer this option is not exercised, the more sophisticated the weapons and techniques of the pirates will become. It should be done sooner rather than later if it is to be attempted at all.
Perhaps another way of turning the strengths of the pirates into a weakness is to use the relative poverty and lawlessness of the region that provides pirates with both recruits and the freedom from prosecution, to offer rewards for the successful capture of known pirate kingpins. Instead of giving money away in ransom, offer it to those who deliver the perpetrators into the hands of the world justice system. If the ICC can try Rwandan and Serbian generals for war crimes, surely it can extradite and try pirates for hijackings? If pirates pay US$1 000 for an official to turn a blind eye, offer him $10 000 to look again.
The solution will probably be complex and involve more multilateral action by the major players in the UN Security Council. On June 2 2008, the UN Security Council passed a resolution allowing the patrolling of the Somali coast for six months by countries cooperating with the Somali government. The resolution allows the use of “all necessary means” to stop “piracy and armed robbery at sea, in a manner consistent with international law.”
In conjunction, more pressure will probably need to be placed on the Somali government to take ownership of the problem and negotiation with pirates’ needs to be stopped before the operation gets too sophisticated and well funded. Ultimately, the piracy is a symptom of poverty and lack of control by a central government in Somalia. A stable Somali government with a clear mandate to eradicate piracy and help from the international community would probably yield the best results.
That does not appear to be on the cards any time soon. Somalia will probably produce many fine young pirates in the years to come. The Romans would probably not be very impressed with our efforts so far.
Somalia is a sovereign state.That should always be respected.
Otherwise we are in no position to judge Dubya and the good ole boys for running amok in the Middle East.
The logic and reason out of the way-here’s what I’d do-BOMB BOMB BOMB BOMB!!!!!!
Yes, yes this is all very well but you’ve left out the bit about that little village of indomitable Gauls who are still holding out against the invaders!
Jokes aside – top stuff uncle Grant!
Good stuff but right out of the Dangerous Book for Boys. Siyabonga’s got the idea. Like Zim, stay away, let the buggers stew. If the ship owners or insurers don’t like it, let them sort it out, not the country’s taxpayers (maybe a job for Executive Outcomes / Sandlines?). The US has enough kak, they too should stay home, Somalia not a happy place for them.
Welcome to Afrika!
What Somali government?
Three cheers for the free men of the seas!!
)
Siyabonga
If you have a cattle farm, would you not expect action from your government if cross-border theft of cattle empties your kraal? It is indeed the responsibility of governments to protect the interests of its citizens, no matter where these interests reside in the world.
For instance South African troops invaded Lesotho on September 22 1998 to quell the rioting and maintain order. This was authorised by Madiba and the SADC. Lesotho was a soverign state – but that did not prevent South Africa for protecting its strategic assests in the country (Lesotho Highlands Water Project) by not allowing the country to decend into polical chaos.
There can be no justification for the Somali government not to act against their citizens for committing these crimes. Indeed the Somali government should start to act like a government or resign.
Any sovereign state has the resposibility to be at least a good neighbour.
To all those who advocate doing nothing – this is a world problem as it affects trade routes – it’s not about invading Somalia it’s about securing safe passage for goods and protecting the prices of those goods.
The consumers are in effect paying the ransoms.
Craig,
I’m not saying do nothing but with all the whining and squealing about the US in Iraq and other God foresaken places, the UN and AU being toothless; privatise security as we do in SA. If the mercenaries have to fly an attack helicopter into Somalia and take out a few pirates so be it – let them complain to the UN.
@japes – privatising security assumes that private companies will pick up the bill and responsibility, which is why this is such a grey area. Companies will feel they deserve government protection, and as much as possible will avoid the cost of employing mercenaries to protect their cargos (as a simple example – what happens if your private army attacks pirates and an oil spill occurs in the process – are you liable?)
No – the only way this will be resolved is if there is a joint political agreement to squash the problem. With the Sirius Star hijacking the pirates have finally elevated this to a political level and in the process screwed themselves.
Also, insurance for sea-freight is probably now astronomical, which again will force companies to go to the government for a resolution.
If I remember correctly-the standing government in lesotho consented to us sending a force there.
Just like if the SAPS want to follow a stolen car across the border there are protocols that need to be followed.
Protocols are key.Doing things on an end justifies the means basis sets a very dangerous precedent.What happens if some terrorist bombs a US Embassy and hides out in SA? Should the US send its Marines over here without our consent?
Interesting Craig,
Do you think if there’s an oil spill off Soamalia someone’s government is going to clean it up? Doubtful.
Excellent opinions. Somalia appears only to matter to the rest of the world when pirates originating within it hijack ships, so long as they stay inside their hell hole of a country and don’t bother any of the rich folks boats they may continue to live lives of squalor, an epidemic you say? These are human beings, not some non-sentient plague visited upon mankind, have some sympathy for the plight of the Somali population who have endured ongoing warfare and drought and chaos for a rather long time. The Somali government is one of many groups controlling various territories within Somalia so I wouldn’t expect much help from them. Perhaps the world with it’s vast resources could spare a tiny portion of that to help stabilise Somalia perhaps a negotiation or two, maabe even some “boots on the ground” though I’m sure someone’ll scream “Black Hawk Down! We don’t need white boys dying in black mans war.Again” or somesuch stupidity. Also is no one asking how so many weapons manage to get into Somalia and where they’re coming from? I somehow have my doubts that any real constructive intervention is on the way from any rich parts of the world though, as that is far more difficult than killing a few poor people on rubber dingies.
I’m amazed that people really think that the problem (and note: i recognise it as a problem!) of east african piracy will be solved by force, or some kind of military solution.
how many people are aware that the average income of a Somalian is 0.003% that of an average US citizen. But then we are surprised (even offended!) when we sail our ships full of gold past the horn of africa and some small-time pirates try and take a slice of the pie…
I think it’s short-sited to theorise from our comfortable and secure air-conditioned offices concerning symptoms of problems, without considering the deeply complex causes of those problems.
For instance, i think we need some high voltage research into how the Somalian fishing industry has been destroyed by international traulers…
try starting here…
So let’s dispense with crazy comments like putting ninja’s on board (or did i miss the joke) and start thinking about the underlying causes of problems like this.
to add weight to the debate, consider that while only 8 (per 1000) children die before the age of 5 in the US, 142 will die in Somalia in the same period. Is it any surprise that one Somalian woman when interviewed responded to questions about piracy by saying “at least our children are fed!”
try starting here: (the link from barry’s previous comment)
read about how the Somalian fishing industry has been destroyed by international companies.
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+reasons+behind+piracy:+piracy+off+the+Somali+coast+has+been…-a0203770095