Piracy as the high-profile tip of the Somali iceberg

The BBC recently published an excellent article and accompanying radio report on the hijacking of the Danish merchant ship the CEC Future. Rob Walker interviews both the ship captain and crew, some incarcerated pirates, and Ali Mohamed Ali, the same pirate negotiator that struck up an unlikely friendship -- reported by NPR -- with shipping executive Per Gallestrup. He goes on to detail how the ransom payment was parachuted down to the hijacked vessel (a surprisingly tricky business), the dynamics between the pirates' captain, Omar, and his crew, and the economic benefits the Somali port town of Eyl has accrued as a result of piracy. Information about the mechanics of Somali pirate attacks can also be seen in Eagle1's post about the attack on the Dubai Princess which includes a series of photos capturing exactly what an attack by RPG-armed pirates in a speedboat looks like. The upcoming Samuel L. Jackson action movie about pirate negotiator Andrew Mwangura demonstrates a similar interest in the workings of the Somali piracy phenomenon.

John Boonstra, from UN Dispatch, would perhaps approve of this interest to the extent that it ultimately draws attention to Somalia's growing humanitarian crisis, which has resulted in over 100,000 internally-displaced persons. Boonstra quotes Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini:

"Piracy is only the tip of the iceberg," Frattini said. "We are convinced that piracy is related to the political and socioeconomic crisis on land, not on the sea.

Boonstra notes, however, that the iceberg is "much, much bigger" than current steps (calls for international coordination, the establishment of pirate courts, and a Somali coast guard) are addressing, and he states that, "Compared with the widespread travesties faced by these thousands of Somalis, the international community's focus on piracy, whatever its impact on the global economy, seems almost an affront to human dignity. " But as Frattini's statement hints at, continued interest in the region and the piratical tip of the iceberg -- whether expressed in respected news media, the blogosphere, or Hollywood -- carries the possibility of increased awareness of the wide-spread human rights violations, violence, and war crimes. Given that the Somali pirates continue to hold a large number of vessels and appear to be expanding their range of attacks to the Persian Gulf, piracy is likely to stay popular in the news and culture, but whether the attention given to Somali's humanitarian problems will go beyond the following prerequisite cursory nods remains to be seen:

• "Somalia has been without a stable government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish." (BBC)

• "The pirates in the recent string of attacks are all from Somalia, an extremely poor African country that hasn't had a stable government in decades." (Washington Post)

• "Piracy has become a multimillion-dollar business in Somalia, a nation that has limped along since 1991 without a functioning central government." (The New York Times)