From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Wed Apr 15 2009 - 22:19:13 EDT
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-somalia-pirates15-2009apr15,0,165660.story?page=2
>From the Los Angeles Times
Somalia says: Let us handle the pirates
Somalia government leaders say they could deal more effectively and cheaply
with the piracy problem off their shores if the international community
would provide funding.
By Edmund Sanders
April 15, 2009
Reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia — With foreign warships looming off its
shores and a worldwide debate raging over how to defeat piracy, leaders in
this seaside Somali capital say there's a solution that could be fast,
simple and relatively cheap: the Somalis themselves.
With the exception of the pirates, who showed they were undeterred by
seizing two more ships Tuesday and attacking others, including an American
vessel they did not manage to board, Somalis have been largely bystanders
in the unfolding drama playing out hundreds of miles from Mogadishu's
coastline.
The crisis has again exposed the impotency of Somalia's transitional
government, but its leaders hope to turn the negative publicity into
international momentum to end their nation's 18-year stint as a failed
state.
"We are not being utilized as much as we could be," Somali Prime Minister
Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said in an interview at the government's
well-guarded compound in Mogadishu. "We need to fight pirates on land. We
have information about how they function and who they are.
"I understand the short-term need to use warships in a crisis," he added,
"but the long-term objective should be to build institutions that will deal
with pirates from inside the country."
So far, that has not been a big part of the global strategy. Somali
officials say they were barely informed, much less consulted, about U.S.
Navy efforts to rescue American ship captain Richard Phillips. He was freed
Sunday when U.S. snipers killed three pirates holding him.
There have been calls among military experts for U.S. troops to pursue
pirates on land or strike at their hide-outs in northern Somalia.
President Obama spoke Monday about coordinating with international partners
and boosting U.S. efforts in the waters off East Africa, where three U.S.
warships are already patrolling. But the anti-piracy coalition includes
nations such as China, India, France and Kenya, not Somalia.
That's largely because the Somali government, which has no coast guard and
no money to pay its disintegrating 3,500-person army, is barely holding its
own against insurgents in Mogadishu.
But Somali leaders and some U.S. experts are beginning to question whether
warships equipped with heavy weapons, commandos and sophisticated
technology are the best tools to fight criminal gangs of young people
carrying AK-47s and satellite phones.
The U.S. and other nations initially hoped a strong show of force might
scare off the pirates, but the attacks have persisted. Tuesday, pirates
grabbed the Greek-owned bulk carrier Irene with a crew of 22 in the Gulf of
Aden. Hours later, others attacked the Lebanese-owned cargo ship Sea Horse
less than 100 miles off Somalia, seizing a crew that was believed to number
about a dozen.
Officials said pirates also fired automatic rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades at the Liberian-flagged Safmarine Asia, which managed to escape.
The U.S.-flagged cargo ship Liberty Sun, owned by New York-based Liberty
Maritime Corp., was attacked by pirates firing grenades and automatic
weapons. The pirates did not board the Liberty Sun, which was carrying food
aid and heading to Mombasa, Kenya, when it requested and received U.S. Navy
assistance.
Newly installed Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said his
government had a plan to bring piracy under control, similar to one he used
to reduce the problem for a short time when he was in charge of the country
in 2006. At the time, Ahmed led the Islamic Courts Union, a religious
alliance that briefly unified southern Somalia until it was routed by
Ethiopian troops.
"We had a small force on land, a small force in the water," he said. The
courts backed them up with a pledge to execute pirates. The six-month
period marked the only time in the last five years that piracy subsided.
Somali officials want to dispatch 1,000 soldiers dedicated to chasing
pirates into a handful of port cities. They also want to create a
3,000-person coast guard as part of a 10,000-member security force.
But lack of money is preventing the new government from equipping and
training the force. United Nations and international support for the
government has slowed to a trickle, they said, leaving it to operate on the
$2 million a month it gets in port revenue.
During a visit to Mogadishu this week, Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.) said
providing direct assistance to allow Somalis to crack down on pirates might
cost the international community less, especially after accounting for
rising insurance premiums and the cost of using warships.
"It's a lot cheaper to deal with this on the land before these guys get
into the water," Payne said. He said he planned to seek funding in
Congress.
Payne called the hesitation by the international community understandable.
Since 1991, numerous transitional governments have risen and fallen in
Somalia amid infighting, corruption and human rights abuses. Donors want to
see whether the current government does any better, he said.
Somalis say their hometown advantage makes them more effective at fighting
piracy as well.
"We are all Somalis," said Abdi Wali Alitaar, an entrepreneur based in the
autonomous northern Puntland region who sells protection services to
commercial shippers. "These guys wouldn't dare kill us. At most, they'd
probably run away. But when they are facing the Americans, it's a different
story."
Pirates have learned from experience that foreign naval ships won't follow
them into Somali waters.
"But as Somalis, we don't hesitate to track them down on land," said M.A.
Jama, chief executive at Dalkom, a telecommunications provider that has
been combating pirate attacks as it tries to lay underwater cables. One of
his European shipping contractors wants to arrange for a French naval
escort to guard its boats, but Jama is trying to convince it that Somali
security guards would be a better deterrent.
"If pirates see Somalis, they know when they get ashore, those guys will be
waiting for them," Jama said.
Of course, U.S., French or other foreign naval powers could also take the
fight against pirates to Somali soil themselves, but such moves risk
heightening anti-Western sentiment and creating a backlash against "foreign
occupiers," experts said.
Already many Somalis are angry about illegal foreign dumping and fishing
off their coast. The U.S. has launched airstrikes against suspected
terrorists in Somalia over the last two years that witnesses said killed
some civilians.
In the meantime, Somali government officials say the international
community should move quickly.
Last year, pirates and their business partners netted at least $50 million
in ransom. They're reinvesting the money in better weapons and entrenching
themselves in coastal communities by hiring young people and bribing
elders.
In short, Somalis say, pirates are becoming richer and more powerful than
the government.
Said Prime Minister Sharmarke: "It's getting to the point where they are in
a position to overthrow the government."
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