Piracy: A Lucrative Business in Somalia

No functioning central government. No banks. No army. No police. No one in charge. No foreign investment.

Yet, there is plenty of despair. Plenty of lawlessness. Crime. Hunger.

Anyone who has ever wished to experience some taste of anarchy should come to Somalia, the Horn of Africa. For the last 18 years, Somalia has, on the independent nation equivalent of a person, lived on the edge of existence. A country of warlords and no central government. Just warring factions all vying for control but neither has succeeded in gaining enough territory to be considered the undisputed rulers of this waste of a country.

In 1991, a U.S.-led coalition tried to restore some order in the country while bringing in badly-needed food and supplies. It failed miserably. The warring factions got their hands on most of the food and supplies, leaving those caught between them to continue to go hungry.

With no functioning government, that means that there is no one in charge of the economy – assuming that country even still has an economy. There are no banks. No foreign investment. Employment opportunities are virtually non-existent. Crime is the only way to some form of life.

And one crime that has truly been paying in Somalia lately is pirating.

For pirates, Somalia is a dream come true. It is located in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest waterways. More than 200,000 ships pass through the waters annually, to and from the Suez Canal. The fact that Somalia has no functioning government or law enforcement enables pirates to operate the waters with near-impunity.

As if that isn’t enough to make any pirate want to come to Somalia to set-up camp, the country has Africa’s longest coastline, 1,900 miles. In 2008, pirates seized 42 vessels, amassing a total of more than $80 million in ransom money.

When pirates are not at sea they are on land in Somalia living the type of lives that most ordinary Somalis can not even afford to simply dream of. They have big houses, luxury cars and beautiful wives. Young Somali men see this and they are easily snared into this lucrative crime. Because of this, even when international forces patrolling the waters off of Somalia manage to capture a few pirates, they are easily replaced in this country of little or no job opportunities.

Pirates are usually armed with very sophisticated weapons, the sign of the growing weapons-dealing business here. They usually have automatic weapons, anti-tank rockets and hand grenades. Many have been known to be armed with rocket-launchers. Going against often un-armed merchants, pirates are usually unstoppable and are always successful in obtaining what they want most: hostages.