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Somali piracy disremembered
Somali piracy is back: making headlines, boarding ships, and taking hostages. Since early March, there have been numerous successful attacks, including on April 1, when the cargo ship Al Kaushar was boarded.
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A ship discharges cargo at Bitung Cargo Port in North Sulawesi in October 2016. (Antara/Adwit B. Pramono)
S
omali piracy off the Horn of Africa was once estimated by the World Bank to cost global trade billions of dollars, and to harm the fragile economies of countries in the region.
These disastrous financial costs, at a time of painful global downturn, came alongside a raft of pain and suffering for those taken hostage, some of whom died due to desperate living conditions and a lack of medical treatment.
Now, in the last few weeks, Somali piracy is back: making headlines, boarding ships, and taking hostages. Since early March, there have been numerous successful attacks, including on April 1, when the cargo ship Al Kaushar was boarded.
Despite the region’s harrowing history, the five-year let-up in serious attacks has led to a collective forgetting about the dangers of Somali piracy.
Hard-won lessons about veering too close to the Somali coastline and having visible security seem to have been thrown overboard in favor of time and cost savings.
Navy patrols, one of the main reasons for the lull in attacks, have decreased due to other emerging priorities that tax the scarce resources of countries.
There are four things that need to be done immediately, if we are to avoid a rerun of the early part of this decade when attacks on shipping numbered in their hundreds, dozens of hostages were held in appalling condition and billions were wiped off global trade.
