The dialectics of piracy in Somalia: The rich versus the poor

Third World Quarterly

Volumn 31, Issue 8, 2010, Pages 1377-1394

  Samatar, Abdi Ismail ^a   Lindberg, Mark ^a   Mahayni, Basil ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

MORALITY; PIRACY; POLITICAL ECONOMY;

INDIAN OCEAN; SOMALIA;

EID: 79955562365     PISSN: 01436597     EISSN: 13602241     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2010.538238     Document Type: Article

References (97)

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12. Philips points out: As global powers ratchet up the naval pressure off the coast of Somalia and the European Union this week prepares to play host to a major international conference on the growing scourge of piracy, very little attention is being paid to the other piracy in the area-the decades of European illegal fishing and dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters', p 1.
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28. The United Nations Law of the Sea Convention of 1982 offers a slightly more restricted definition, confining piracy to actions which occur outside the jurisdiction of nation-state maritime borders. Note
29. Earlier conceptions of piracy were not confined to such acts that took place outside the limits of maritime boundaries or by criminal robberies in the high seas as a private group, as some states were involved, such as the British, which commissioned piracies against Spanish ships. Murphy, Small Boats, Weak States, Dirty Money. Note
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58. A prominent feature of this ecosystem is a seasonal upwelling which gives rise to high levels of biological productivity which in turn sustain rich fishing ground ... Surveys carried out in the 1970s estimated that the potential yield of marine fishery resources could range between 380 000 tones and 500 000 tonnes per annum ... More conservative estimates, however, suggest that the annual catch potential is likely to be between 180 000 tonnes and 200 000 tonnes per annum ... Overfishing has been Notesd in a number of sectors, primarily offshore-where trawlers from many nations ply the waters untroubled by any national maritime force.' United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), The State of the Environment in Somalia, Nairobi: UNEP, 2005, p 45. Note
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64. According to UNDP, the absence of surveillance means that tankers routinely discharge oily ballast off the Somali coastline: annual discharges were once estimated at 33 000 tonnes. UNEP, Environmental Problems of the East African Region, Regional Seas Reports and Studies 12, Nairobi: UNEP, 1982.Note.
65. NDP indicates that tar balls are regularly found on certain sections of the Somali coast, above all high energy beaches in the western sector ... Sewage and solid waste discharge from marine vessels is another unregulated activity. Note.
66. UNEP, The State of the Environment in Somalia, Nairobi: UNEP, 2005, p 33, at http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html.
67. In addition, 'The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation estimated that it cost 8 to dump a ton of toxic waste in Somali waters while it cost 100 a ton to bury it in America or Europe'.
68. MG Bustelo, 'Somalia: the explosive combination of illegal fishing, toxic waste and piracy', Forum for a Safer Democracy, 4 June 2009.
69. N Chanda, 'No safe harbor for illegal fishing', 15 September 2009, at http://www.policyinnovations.org/ideas/innovations/data/000147.
70. Hari, 'Toxic waste behind Somali pirates'.
71. UNEP estimates that 700 trawlers have been illegally fishing in Somali waters. UNEP, 'The state of the environment in Somalia', Nairobi: UNEP, 2005.
72. US National Geospatial Agency (NGA), at http://www.nga.mil/NGAPortal/MSI.portal.
73. This assessment is based on interviews and correspondence with 55 Somali pirates from Eil, Haradheere and Bosasso, January 2009-December 2009.
74. JH Ho, 'Piracy around the Horn of Africa', Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 21(4), 2009, pp 501-518.
75. This is one of the few articles to assert that the 'grievances of the Somali people have to be addressed'.
76. Interviews with four journalists who have covered the issue extensively for local media, in Bosasso andGarowe, 2004, 2008.
77. EP Thompson, 'The moral economy of the English crowd in the eighteenth century', Past and Present, 50, 1971, pp 76-136.
78. J Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant: Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1976.
79. Quoting Tawney's characterisation of the precarious nature of the peasant as that of a man standing permanently up to the neck with water, so that even a ripple might drown him'. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant, p 1. Note
80. M Edelman, 'Bringing the moral economy back in ... to the study of 21st-century transnational peasant movements', American Anthropologist, 107(3), 2005, pp 332-345.
81. Scott, The Moral Economy of the Peasant, p 11.
82. J Scott, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985.
83. Sorenson, State Failure on the High Seas. Here is how Sorenson describes it: new phenomenon occurred off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, Ships and fishing vessels were being attacked by pirates ... In response, the UN Security Council passed resolution 1816 and later in 2008 UNSCR 1838, which encourages the international community to actively participate in the management of security in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. The resolutions also stipulate the legal framework for actively targeting the pirates' (emphasis added).
84. BBC News, 'The UN backs tougher stance against Somali pirates', 2010, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8647928.stm April 27;
85. United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1864, SC/9514, 2008 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 1851, SC/9541, 2008.
86. National Security Council, Countering Piracy off the Horn of Africa: Partnership and Action Plan, Washington, DC, December 2008.
87. We have been told that some of the naval intervention by the EU is partly designed to test its new naval equipment. Personal communication, Swedish defence agency official, May 2009.
88. Ada Entous, 'US admiral: military ships cannot stop Somali piracy', Reuters, 15 April 2010. Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, Commander of US Naval Forces in Europe and Africa is quoted as saying that we could put a World War Two fleet of ships out there and we still would not be able to cover the whole ocean'. See also Murphy, 'Somali piracy: not just a naval problem', Center for Strategic and Budgetary Studies, 2009.
89. Timesonline, Shipping insurances cost sours with piracy surge off Somalia', at http:business.timesonline.co.uk/to1/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article, 11 September 2008;
90. MSN Money, The real cost of piracy', 14 April 2009, at http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/the-real-cost-of-piracy.aspx. The latter article estimates that the $30 million Somali pirates collect annually is 'less than a percent of the total value of cars stolen in the US last year'.
91. S Hansen, Piracy in the Greater Gulf of Aden: Myths, Misconceptions and Remedies, Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, 2009, p 45.
92. R Gilpin, 'Counting the cost of Somali piracy', United States Institute of Peace Working Paper, Washington DC, 2009.
93. Channel 4 News, 'The benefit of Somalia's pirates', 25 October 2009, at http://channel4.com/news/articles/world/africa/the thaposbenefi.
94. According to Channel 4, the increasing levels of piracy off the coast of Somalia have caused an unexpected spin-off, raising the levels of fish in the area ... The massive factory trawlers which used to drain their fish stocks have been scared away and that means there is a huge bounty for local fisherman as well as helping to restore the health of the marine ecosystem.' What is not reported here is that significant numbers of Somali fishermen have either abandoned fishing or are too frightened to venture into the sea lest they be considered pirates by the naval forces in the area.
95. Reuters, 'Somali fishermen appeal for help over fishing ships', 9 May 2006.
96. Entous, US admiral'.
97. Hansen states that In Somalia the cost of one Norwegian frigate deployed for six months ... [is] USD 30.1 million [and that] represents pay for 100 000 Police officers for the same period'. Hansen, Piracy in the Greater Gulf of Aden, p 50.