- [SW Editorial]( AAJ) Protecting International Maritime Industry That Use the Somali Coastal Waters : Posted on
05/19/07 04:16
Protecting International Maritime
Industry That Use the Somali Coastal Waters
Germany may be able
to afford protecting
her MV Deutschlandz, a luxury maritime piece reportedly intent on sailing in and
around the Somali Coastal Waters, from pirates and terrorists which have been hounding on
the ships using these strategic maritime routes of the Horn of Africa. The Seabourn
Spirit, the Pagania, the MV Miltzow, the MV
Toregelow, the Ibnu Batuta, the MV Semlow and dozens of other innocent commercial
ships plying the Somali Coastal Waters were mercilessly attacked in the last few months.
Some had their cargo confiscated, some were let go only after paying hefty ransoms to the
hijackers, the unlucky ones like MV Semlow were
held hostage for 4 months, and some like Seabourn Spirit had remarkably escaped
after fighting back with their assailants in an unconventional way – generating loud
sound !
The plight of the Maritime industry on the Somali Waters
cannot, however be separated from the general plight of the Nation. Somalia descended into
chaos after the overthrow of Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Ever since then, there
was lawlessness in the onshore part of the country except some parts in the North, and
total absence of law and order in the off-shore parts. Many countries around the world saw
Somalia as a security risk, not to its self only, but to the world as a whole. Thus the
neighboring countries which are specially affected by the lack of Central Government in Somalia
and the International Communities represented by the AU, UN, EU, Arab League and IGAD
countries put a lot of efforts to establish a functioning Government in the country. After
a series of disappointing conferences and missed steps over a period of 14 years, a
Central Government was established finally in Nairobi in 2004, after 2 years of grueling
negotiations. An all-inclusive Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was born. There were
a lot of euphoria by the above-mentioned stake holders and the Somalis alike that finally
the reconciliation process came to successful conclusion. A lot of reconstruction promises
were made to the TFG.
The sad reality, however, is that 12 months after the
conclusion of the process very little of the reconstruction promises have been realized.
Notable exceptions are some of the neighboring countries, which with their limited
resources, are trying hard to help the TFG establish a degree of normalcy in the country.
The TFG has made JOWHAR its temporary home due to the lawlessness in the capital
Mogadisho. Understandably, the TFG’s efforts to pacify the country have been moving
very slowly due to lack of resources.
To add insult to injury the UN security council have been
invoking a defunct United Nations Security Council Resolution
733 (Implementing an Arms Embargo on Somalia), enacted in January 1992 under a set of
conditions very different from the new reality on the ground in Somalia now. Under this
embargo the TFG cannot acquire much needed security tools to impose law and order in the
country.
Coming back to the subject matter - Protecting International Maritime Industry That Use Somali
Coastal Waters, it is abundantly clear that no amount of armed escort service to the merchant fleet sailing off the
3300 km Somali Shores shall reduce or eliminate the risks posed by the pirates and
terrorist groups operating in Somali Waters. Germany may be able to afford to secure MV
Deutschlandz through these troubled Somali Waters, but this single activity will not help
the thousands of other vessels that cannot afford an armed escorts. The only viable
solution, in our opinion, is to empower the institutions of the TFG so that it could take
its lawful sovereign responsibilities to secure its shores. Lifting the arms embargo
imposed under resolution 733 of 1992 could be a useful first step in that direction. That
was what the top TFG authorities from its President, the Prime Minister, the Foreign
Minister and most recently the TFG’s UN ambassador Dr. Elmi A.Duale have been
demanding the World body to consider.
Ali A.Jama
SomaliaWatch.Org
[Editorial] |