Eliminating piracy in the Horn of Africa

MICHIEL HIJMANS, former commander of NATO’s anti-piracy ‘Operation Ocean Shield‘ tracks the shift in piracy over the past two years and states that piracy had shifted significantly beyond the coast of Somalia and the inter-monsoon periods due to the deployment of ‘captured‘ mother-ships that carried more pirates and weaponry alongwith hostages, faster and for longer periods of time, aided by sophisticated navigation and communication systems onboard and supported by a piracy stock market.

In an article for Chatham House publication 'The World Today', "Threats of the sea", he states that although the establishment of the Internationally recommended transit corridor (IRTC) through the Gulf of Aden, increased naval and aerial patrolling, ‚safe rooms‘ on board merchant ships, private security personnel and anti-pirate actions by local communities had helped in the fight against piracy, there were other dimensions such as economic and legal that needed to be tackled to eliminate the piracy problem which was now a 7-12 billion dollar problem with about 650 hostages at any given point in time.

He calls for an establishment of an international tribunal for piracy cases to develop a legal framework to prosecute pirates and ensure justice, capacity development in countries such as Seychelles and investment in Puntland to develop a strategic maritime hub to enable the development of alternatives to piracy for the local populace.

Gas in the Horn of Africa

GREGORY R COPLEY, founder-President of the International Strategic Studies Association states that the recent discovery of natural gas around Ethiopia had the potential to alter the geopolitics of the region around the Red Sea/Horn of Africa with consequences for the sea lines of communication. In an ISN Security Watch article, "In the Red Sea region, the Age of Gas Begins in Earnest", he declares that the recent spate of discoveries of natural gas in the Horn as well as broadly around the world could transform the global energy markets, shifting to a "Gas Age" with influx of new energy wealth for the Horn of Africa that could also lead to a glut in supply within a decade with consequent collapse in the price of gas and petroleum.

Instability in Yemen

Ginny Hill, fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, states that Yemen's window of opportunity to shape a future based on a post-oil economy was narrowing and that Western governments needed to work towards an effective regional approach alongwith the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In a briefing paper for the Chatham House, "Yemen: Fear of Failure", she cautions that future instability in Yemen could expand a lawless zone around the Horn of Africa with attendant piracy, smuggling and violent jihad, with implications for the security of shipping routes and the transit of oil through the Suez Canal.

Resolving conflict in the Horn of Africa

Dr. ROY LOVE examines the importance of the economic dimensions of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa in both causing conflicts as well as its potential in securing sustainable post-conflict stability. In a Chatham House briefing, "Economic Drivers of Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa", he states that the establishment of permanent peace can only be built upon a common set of values reflecting equity, tolerance and an acknowledgment of the potential of traditional institutions in entrenching community cohesion and economic drivers necessary for their success could then be harnessed.