Somalia’s Alliance with Pirates: The War Against Terrorism

Marianna C. Ford

English 105

Professor Timmons

October 5, 2010

Somalia’s Alliance with Pirates: The War Against Terrorism

            Somalia’s recent corruption has proven that piracy is not just the theme of a movie we pay to watch in the movie theaters but rather a frightening reality currently taking place. Modern day piracy does not consist of peg legged pirates with swords in a big wooden sail boat but instead involves speed boats with men draped in bullets with machine guns over their shoulders, posing quite a threat to the shipping lanes off the coast of Somalia and to all who pass through. Though this may be supposed as a completely negative situation, local government officials have chosen to use the pirates’ considerably advanced military force to their advantage as Somalia endures a civil war against terrorist groups.

            Up by 200% from 2007, the year 2008 proved to be a “banner year” when pirates took a foothold off the coasts of Somalia with 120 attacks and 100 million dollars in profit from their piracy. (“Piracy”). This dangerous situation caught the attention of the world when a Ukrainian freighter carrying tankers and hefty artillery was seized in September 2008 by pirates off Somalia’s shores. After four months of being held hostage the ship was released when the pirates received a 3.2 million dollar ransom (“Piracy”). Mohommad, a pirate who assisted in the hijacking of the Ukrainian ship, testified that he personally man $250,000 off of that single attack (Gettleman, “Somali Town”). The United States Navy has provided aid in controlling the delinquency of the pirates due to the fact that Somalia’s government and armed forces do not have the capability to do so currently (Gettleman, “In Somalia”). Early morning on September 9^th, 2010, twenty-four U.S. marines boarded a hijacked German Cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia and seized control of the craft from eleven pirates (Gettleman and Schmitt, “U.S. Forces”).  Somalia’s piracy has proven to be out of the country’s control because the pirates’ armed forces are more organized than that of Somalia’s.

            Due to the recent threat from the Shabab, an Islamic terrorist group with connection to the Al Queda, Somalia’s local governments’ have developed incentive to ask pirates for aid against the terrorist groups (Gettleman, “In Somalia”). Millions of dollars received in ransom money has given certain groups of Somali pirates the capability of creating armed forces consisting of eighty machine guns and half a dozen large trucks (Gettleman, “In Somalia”). These kind of military forces have been catching the eye of local governments especially since they can no longer depend on the central government for protection from the Shabab. While the pirates’ contribution of cooperating with local officials is beneficial to the protection of many cities in Somalia, not all the pirates side with the government but rather with the Shabab (Gettleman, “In Somalia”). The assistance from the pirates to local governments provides some relief to Somalia but the Shabab and its pirate followers are a combination for disaster that Somalia may not be able to fight off.

            Over the past three years piracy has proven to be a dangerous threat not only to those in Somalia but to any ship passing through their water ways. Somali pirates have developed militia forces proving to be stronger than the central governments’ military. Local Somali government officials have chosen to join forces with the pirates in hopes to control the Shabab terrorist group. While some of the pirates are siding with the government, other pirates have chosen to side with the Shabab; posing an even greater threat to Somalia.

Works Cited

Gettleman, Jeffery and Eric Schmitt. "U.S. Forces Take Ship From Somali Pirates." New York Times. 9 September 2010.  4 October 2010 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/world/africa/10pirates.html?scp=1&sq=somalia%20pirates&st=cse>.

Gettleman, Jeffery. "In Somali Civil War, Both Sides Embrace Pirates." New York Times. 1 September 2010. 5 October 2010 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/world/africa/02pirates.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=somalia%20pirates&st=cse>.

Gettlement, Jeffery. "Somali Town Embodies Enduring Sense of Loss ." New York Times. 15 September 2010. 5 October 2010 <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/world/africa/16somalia.html?scp=3&sq=somalia%20pirates&st=cse>.

"Piracy at Sea." New York Times. 2010 September 2010. 4 October 2010 <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/piracy_at_sea/index.html?scp=2&sq=somalia%20pirates&st=cse>.