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  • Essay / The Somali Sea: A Study of the Root Causes of Piracy

    Modern piracy plagues the coasts of Africa and reminds us that this once seemingly remote and distant crime is in fact a current reality. Acts of piracy off the coast of Africa have been occurring since around 2005[1] and have progressively worsened in subsequent years. Piracy lends itself to poverty-stricken areas, giving many people a purpose in life and something to do with their time. Over the past 20 years, Somalia has been in a state of political instability and anarchy which has caused the economy to collapse[2]. Without formal government, law enforcement becomes almost impossible to implement. Without any laws or enforcement, many people struggle to earn an honest living. They end up spending their time seizing ships instead of getting a formal education or looking for real work. They are attracted by the idea of ​​capturing a ship with passengers and simply exchanging them for millions of dollars. It has also been said that the hackers' reasoning for what they do actually justifies their actions. They say they have lost a lot of valuable fishing income and attribute this to commercially dumped waste. Many commercial ships dump waste into Somali waters as they pass through the region, leaving them polluted and uninhabitable for the fish species that once thrived there. For a ship to legally discharge its various types of waste, it must first obtain a permit allowing it to do so.[3] These permits can be difficult to obtain and it takes a lot of work and legal effort to acquire one. Ignoring these rules and regulations, these ships have been illegally dumping their oil and machinery waste into the waters for centuries. It has been said: “Over the past 150 years, all types of waste have been dumped into the ocean. These include sewage, industrial waste, trash, dredged material and radioactive waste. »[4] Regardless of the new laws that have been put in place, commercial ships in the region continue to freely dump their waste and excess oil into the ocean. .Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Somali government had been in steady decline for many years and had some low points, although it is now on the rise again. The Somali government collapsed in the early 1990s, following the overthrow of President Siad Barre by opposition war clan forces.[5] After this overthrow of the government, Somalia was divided into sectors with the following names: Kenya, Pirates, AU force, Ethiopia and areas under Shabab influence.[6] Many attempts have been made to repair the Somali government and try to return it to what it was. However, these warlords could not agree on the type of government they wanted to establish, which led to conflict. Disagreements lasted for 9 years, until around 2000, when Somali elders elected Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.[7] This temporary peace was shattered by the tsunami that hit Somalia in 2004, washing ashore a large quantity of toxic waste from the sea. This angered Somali citizens and focused their attention on a problem for which they now had to act quickly. Domestic consumption of fresh fish is already limited to coastal areas due to poor infrastructure[8] and there are now even greater limitations on what shouldbe captured, sold and consumed. With the rise of illegal fishermen following the fall of the government[9], a new problem emerged: the pollution of fishing regions. Many angry citizens had a prime location to carry out attacks on ships sailing in their waters, many of which ultimately led to the capture and arrest of the entire ship and its crew. The Somali government was also non-existent at this point when it came to law enforcement, making it an easy activity to participate in. These pirates patrolled the sea preying on innocent passersby trying to export goods traveling from one port to another. This idea of ​​piracy quickly spread, and many countries quickly took advantage of the easy money they could make by striking and seizing commercial ships carrying various types of loot. Piracy is not just a problem off the coast of Somalia: many citizens of other countries looking for a quick buck have taken note of the success of Somali pirates. While piracy has faded in East Africa, as evidenced by fewer attacks in Somalia's Gulf of Aden, it has spread to West Africa. Although most attacks in the region take place in Nigeria's Niger Delta region, attacks have also occurred in Benin, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea and Togo. However, there were also powerful fighters who rose up when piracy was at the height of its influence. The most powerful of these being called “Combined Task Force 150”, a multinational coalition task force. This collaboration took on the role of combating piracy off the coast of Somalia by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) in the Gulf of Aden. They decided that this needed to be done because the growing threat posed by piracy was causing concern in India, since most of its trade routes pass through the Gulf of Aden. Diversions also completely hamper the delivery of shipments, thereby increasing shipping costs, costing an estimated $6.6 to $6.9 billion per year in global trade.[10] If these routes were to be completely compromised, it could complicate the Indian import and export market, affecting an estimated 1,236,344,631 people.[11] It was said that since the formation of this working group, "around 25 military ships from EU and NATO countries, the United States, China, Russia, India and the Japan has patrolled approximately 8.3 million km2 (3.2 million square miles) of ocean. , an area the size of Western Europe. Pirates carrying out attacks outside Somalia's coastal waters have different motivations and different spoils to seek. West African piracy is mainly based on the fact that oil is the keystone, for its many uses and its value in large quantities. Oil and gas-dependent companies in many countries around the world have all spent almost $200 million over the past four years acquiring assets across Africa.[13] This takeover leaves the natives with little oil for themselves, which poses a problem for them. Along with this, a large portion of their oil is also exported in bulk to countries around the world due to low oil prices globally.[14] This oil then supplies the ongoing need for fossil fuels and fuel for homes, businesses, etc. The natives of West and South Africa decided to rebel against these forces mainly throughaggression aimed at losing their most valuable resource without having any say in the matter. . These incidents have prompted a “watchdog” organization called the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to become more involved in the growing nautical hostility taking place off the coast of Africa. The IMO monitors the Somali coast, reporting any criminal acts or suspicions that may soon arise. It is a small but growing attempt to reduce the number of hijacking incidents affecting countries around the world whose ships sail near Somali coasts. Many countries are involved in these naval complications and therefore hijacking situations have been handled differently. depending on who was directly affected by the attack. Some countries do a better job than others, all dependent on certain budgets allowing for different types of rescue attempts. Working together, the United States, India, and Russia have partnered to create many different solutions to this diversion problem, the most successful being their "Combined Task Force 150", a multinational coalition task force. task force has outposts in the surrounding waters, both near Somalia but also near the homelands of each country involved. They use intimidation to ward off pirates and try to keep them at bay. They attempt to arrest as many pirates[15] as possible, thus curbing their enthusiasm for hijacking ships in order to ensure the maximum safety of all shipping and sailors in the surrounding area. However, overall, there is a strong tendency to favor rescue missions and who exactly is the top priority when it comes to retrieving hostages in the situations mentioned above. There have often been too many hijackings at once for the country involved to try to resolve them all. As a result, they end up capitalizing on cases that only directly and most dangerously concern them, leaving others to attempt to solve them themselves. It is said that "the vast majority of the 3,700 sailors captured by Somali pirates since 2006 are Asians, for whom there have been no dramatic rescue attempts worthy of a blockbuster Hollywood movie, and whose freedom was generally obtained as a gift. a byproduct of the ransoms paid for the ships they served on. »[16] It is often the case that without valuable ships to barter, the lives of ordinary sailors held hostage are virtually worthless. However, there are many different solutions to regain control of captured citizens and ships. The most common, involving as little negotiation and risk as possible, involves paying the ransom offered by the pirates themselves. This is the route that most countries and businesses choose to take, as it ensures that everything remains simple and honest. Unlike a rescue mission or a grand negotiation, this method keeps the affected country out of the media and recovers its citizens as quickly as possible. These ransom prices differ depending on the size of the ship and the number of passengers captured. This price could range from 700,000 to 1.5 million, and in rare cases around 9 million.[17] Whatever the risks, the United States led a rescue mission in 2009 in response to the Maersk hijacking in Alabama. This is a very iconic victory for the United States: "The siege ended after a US Navy rescue effort on April 12, 2009. It was the first successful seizure by a pirate of a ship registered under the American flag since the beginning of the 19th centurycentury. " As successful as it was, it put the Somali pirates on the map and in all media, including the film made about the capture of the Maersk Alabama called "Captain Phillips." Although the solution that the United States decided to use worked and raised awareness of this global phenomenon[18], it drove the hackers themselves into hiding. It is said that "despite this reduction in the number of incidents, the people who carried out these attacks are still very much present and still have the capacity".[19] It was a sort of “strong” solution. and made the United States look like they were doing a noble act, but in reality they only gave the pirates what they wanted. This not only put them in all their glory in the news, but also served as a warning that the anti-piracy movement was in full swing and it was time for them to go into hiding for a while . Every aspect of piracy has a price, and every attack, or even a single attempt, has harmful consequences on the economy of the country concerned. These pirates patrol the coasts of Africa and prey on any ship that seems vulnerable to them, regardless of its country of origin or where the shipping company is based. They know that even if the ship runs out of loot, they will be paid handsomely just for the ship itself and its many hostages. A report by the US non-profit Oceans Beyond Piracy estimates the cost of Somali piracy to the global economy in 2012 alone at between $5.7 billion and $6.1 billion. That being said, the cost of piracy to the global community actually decreased by approximately $850 million between 2011 and 2012 (12.6%).[20] This $6.1 billion price tag has many different contributions from a variety of attempted solutions to this hacking problem. The first represents 29% of the cost intended for additional safety equipment and guards on board ships. This was initially thought of as a brilliant solution, keeping pirates away from any ships with armed guards, allowing for safe travel. However, the cost of placing armed guards on every ship passing through the waters off the coast of Africa was too high, and the intimidation factor of guns only lasted for so long. Very effective, but ultimately too difficult to implement wherever necessary, so other solutions were sought. 19% of the cost is used to finance the few military operations carried out to try to save the captured ships. The most significant of these is the rescue mission of the Maersk Alabama, a US-flagged ship based in Virginia and heading to Kenya, hijacked by Somali pirates, leading to a hostage situation. 27% of the cost is attributed to increased fuel consumption, due to the higher speeds at which ships must pass through the affected region. Regardless of the many solutions tried, many ships found that the most effective was to simply speed through the danger zone. However, this results in increased fuel consumption on ships which already consume around 225 tonnes of bunker fuel per day.[21] 1% of the cost is allocated to paying ransoms. This figure is surprisingly low, but it's indicative of the amount of money that was at stake during this entire hacking disaster. Prices vary by vessel, but are almost always between $700,000 and $1 million. range and sometimes measure up to $9 million per ship. There have been 226 recorded attacks on commercial ships around the world off the coast of Africa, many of which were met with.