Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, president of Somalia’s transitional federal government, yesterday called on the international community to spend money arming his navy.He's correct in part and not so correct in another part.
“These pirates do not live at sea; they live in Somalia. Who better to battle them than the people of the land,” he told a gathering of 400 delegates at the second UAE Counter-Piracy Conference in Dubai.
“We are completely ready to combat this problem. Despite our limited funds we are ready to train and set up a marine force that would attack and dispel all pirate activities.”
The ideal way to stop the pirates is for the Somalis to do it.
But, as he notes, the pirates do not live at sea.
Thus, Somalia does not need a navy and marine force to "battle" the pirates, it needs an army or police force.
I'm afraid funding a Somali navy or coast guard at the present time would simply be dumping money into the sea.
UPDATE: The UAE appears to disagree with my assessment and has pledged a million dollars to help fund the Somali navy, as reported here:
The UAE has contributed USD 1 million to help build the capabilities of the Somali naval forces to fight rampant piracy off their coasts, and called for greater international support to upgrade Somalia's national response capabilities.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, told a conference on counter-piracy that the threat of pirates emanating from the Somali coasts had escalated, as more seafarers were held captive for long time, facing violence and increasing inhuman conditions.
"In this respect the UAE is pleased to contribute USD 1 million to building and upgrading capabilities of Somali naval forces and coast guard to carry out their missions properly.
No sir you were correct the first time. One million USD is a silly amount of money when you consider that the bad guys collected $500 million in ransoms.
ReplyDeleteOne million will not buy two good and upfitted gun boats.