Friday, December 12, 2008
Somali pirates must be dealt with a heavy hand
Friday, 12 December 2008
Piracy has become the dominant issue of discussion in the media and among laymen due to its economic, political and security ramifications. Piracy has got international attention after the spate of hijackings in Somalia. Yet, there is a difference between the old pirates and the new ones. While old pirates, as featured in American movies, wore eye patches and carried swords, today's pirates wear traditional Somali clothes and carry Kalashnikov machine guns.
Piracy is affecting the Gulf Cooperation Council's most important export, oil. Piracy could also increase the cost of GCC imports, especially with some shipping companies deciding to avoid the Suez Canal and take the long route around Africa's Cape of Good Hope.
This will increase transport costs as well as gas emissions, which adversely affect the environment.
bviously, a group of impoverished Somalis cannot carry out such piracy attacks alone, considering the fact that they do not have hi-tech equipment and the latest telecommunication and means of transport that let them monitor ships and warships in the region.
So, how did they manage to seize the Saudi oil tanker carrying two million oil barrels in an unprecedented attack 850km off Somalia and the Kenyan coast?
How did they manage to monitor and reach this oil vessel from such a long distance? Have they received logistic assistance from another party?
So, which countries are targeted? Are they the Arab countries that overlook the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, or the oil exporting countries? Are these just attempts to pick up huge ransom?
Pirates have so far got $150 million, and if the attacks continue, this amount may rise several-fold to billions of dollars.
So much money will only help the pirates tighten their control over the seas. The world's arsenals, warships, aircraft carriers and satellites stand helpless before these pirates, who sail across the sea in rusty boats.
The world can act if it wants to. When the United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait, no Iraqi oil ship managed to sail from the north of the Gulf to its south.
Even though many tricks were used by Iraq, the camouflaged oil shipments were discovered and confiscated.
Are a group of barefoot and malnourished pirates a tougher challenge than Iraq?
India and some neutral countries, to whom trade through the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden is important, have sent warships to combat the menace.
These countries see a real possibility of eradicating this problem through mutual cooperation of all countries concerned. These suggestions were, however, not welcomed by opportunists, who are seeking cash.
A serious game is taking place in the Horn of Africa, and this game will have grave consequences.
Egypt, which is suffering from economic difficulties and a bread crisis, will suffer even more with the expected drop in its Suez Canal income, which is one of the main sources of revenue, and almost equal in importance to its natural gas exports.
This will lead to more deterioration in the Egyptian economy, and will also affect Yemen, Jordan and Djibouti.
Meanwhile, holding back tankers will reduce oil supplies and subsequently, the whole global economy.
It will cause a further increase in commodity prices in the region's countries, which are already suffering from the negative effects of the global economic crisis.
As adapted from Gulf News
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