Burcad Badeed: Somalia’s “Sea Bandits”

Power Vacuum or Alternative?

Piracy - a Definition“any illegal acts of violence or detention, or

any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or aircraft and directed on the high seas against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft..”

-- UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

Varieties of Piracy

• State-affiliated: co-optation (1600s China), rent-seeking (Barbary States), and privateering (Francis Drake)

• Absence of political authority but also an alternative form of power

History of Somalia

• Siad Barre dictatorship

• rebellions in Puntland and Somaliland

• Civil War and intervention (1992-1995)

• Ethiopian invasion (2006-2008)

• Civil War continues; failed state

Beginnings

• Vacuum of formal state filled by others

• “coast guards” with fishing licenses

• 2003-2004: hijacking of large vessels

• Today, only 6.5% against fishing vessels

• Foreign fishing vessels protected by fees payment to pirate groups

Networks of Authority

• Small-time fisherman model no longer viable

• Consolidation into larger networks to mobilize skills and resources

• Piracy is developed, predictable, business

• Those who profit become new sources of political and economic power

Afweyne Network

• South Central Somalia

• Distributions of payments through local

• patron-client relations of lineage groups/clans

• Generate conflict with old elders/elites

Puntland - Official Collusion• Maxamed Faroole, President

• Ilkajiir, Interior Minister

• Government officials = intelligence source

Why Piracy?

Structural Causes

• Extreme poverty coupled with high unemployment

• Illegal foreign fishing ($300 million a year) depleting tuna stocks

• Toxic dumping off Somali Coast

Rational Choice

• Piracy is a rational response to a series of opportunities in the local setting

• The opportunities are absent political authority, availability of inputs, good location

• The risk-reward structure is in the pirate networks’ favor

Business Model

• Profit margins are substantial: revenue of $50-$130 million annually in ransom

• Set dividends for all participants

• Payoffs to local political leaders factored into costs

Political Authority

• Weak and compliant state (TFG)

• Collaboration from local authorities

• Social acquiescence

Implications

• LOCAL: Piracy based economy; undermining

authority

• REGIONAL: Increased weapon smuggling;

increase in fishermen income (Kenya)

• GLOBAL: Threat to international commerce;

Increased costs

International Response

• Lack of authority; coordination

• Naval response ignores root causes

• Merchant shipping adopt low-cost solutions

• Slow response to shift in pirate strategy

Attacks in 2006

Attacks in 2008

Attacks in 2009

Legal Authority

• Legal limitations• Less than 50% of captured pirates

prosecuted• “We discharged out international obligation.

Others shied away form doing so and we cannot bear the burden of the international responsibility.” - Kenya 2010

• Unintended consequences: private security

Conclusions

• Somali piracy results from authority vacuum, but also creates new power structures

• International neglect - nation-building unrealistic

• Raising risks/costs for pirate backers• Time for a new UN Resolution?• Long-term: build local capacity