Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

Challenges in the Era of Globalization
Edited by Emmanuel Obuah
Deterrent security equipment cost: such as use of licensed security guards, sonic deterrent equipment,
razor wire, sandbags etc.
The cost of the supporting of anti-piracy naval flotillas: Based on $82,794 it cost to operate a US navy
per day, Bowden et al (2010, 16) estimated that it would cost about $1.3 - $2 billion per year for the 43
multinational anti-piracy naval vessels in the Horn of African and the Indian Ocean.
The cost of prosecution of captured pirates and the cost of piracy-deterrence organizations: such as the
UN Contact Group, the IMO Djibouti Code etc. It is estimated that the total cost of the prosecution of 507
Somali pirate in various countries as of 2010 was $31.3 million, while the total cost of supporting piracydeterrence
organizations was estimated to cost $24.5 million (Bowden 2010, 19 – 20).
Whether ships are circumnavigated to take a longer route or use the pirate infested GOA route, the cost of
delay, longer voyages, increase in war risk insurance premiums, increased cost of fuelling etc., would all
be passed on along the logistic and supply chain. Furthermore, increased economic costs of international
trade due to piracy would lead to inflation as costs are passed down to the final consumer. Increase in
food prices may lead to social unrest and riots.
Risk of potential environmental disaster: Considering the number of large chemical tankers and the
fact that 12 percent of the world’s crude pass through the GOA, there is always a potential risk that a
pirate attack could cause an oil or chemical spill. The probability of the danger is even more when
considered against the backdrop of the use of sophisticated and powerful weapons by pirates that could
set fire on a tanker or sink it. The case of the Japanese oil tanker the Takayama which was hijacked by
Somali pirates on April 21, 2008 in which fuel tanks were penetrated and oil spilled into the sea and the
hijacking of Saudi oil supertanker MV Sirius Star on November 2008 exemplify this danger (Middleton
2008, 9) are reminders posed by pirate attacks. In the event of any environmental disaster, international
trade could further be disrupted.
The risk of possible link with international terrorist networks: Although there is no credible
substantial evidence of a link between Somali pirate gangs and international terrorist groups, however, in
a volatile region which has seen attacks on US naval ship and ridden by illegal weapons, attention needs
to be paid to maritime terrorism. Although the US Navy claims that there is no connection between
pirates and terrorism in Somalia (Vice Admiral William Gortney, cited in Ploch et al 2009), there are
speculations of tenuous relationship between pirates and Islamic terrorists groups and that pirates are
funding some of these terrorist organizations. For example, there are claims by some analysts that Somali
pirate gangs have tacit links with al-Shabaab Islamic group in which the pirates have provided training to
the maritime wing of al-Shabaab and that it is using some pirate gangs to smuggle arms and that ransom
money have been handed over to al-Shabaab (Luft and Korin 2004; Koknar 2005; Hanson 2009;
Schiemsky 2009; Middleton 2008; Burgess Jr. 2008; Pham 2008). The al-Shabaab Islamic group is a
terrorist group believed to have ties with al-Qaeda. It was designated by the US State Department as a
foreign terrorist group in 2008. Koknar (2005) noted that Lloyd List reported that some 15 to 23
freighters which flew the flags of Yemen, Somalia and Tonga were believed to have sailed the
Mediterranean Sea, Indian and Pacific Oceans owned and controlled by al Qaeda. A terrorist attack on the
high sea would cause havoc and disrupt international trade.
Undermining the sovereignty of Somali: There is the danger that the present uncoordinated security
measures by the international community to combat piracy and armed robbery could undermine the TFG
and question its legitimacy and sovereignty. The current efforts by the UN and other powerful naval states
are uncoordinated, weak, lack the power to prosecute and appear to be a rat race to control the passage of
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