Resolving Somalia's piracy problem will take political as much as military intervention, Dina Ezzat reports For Egypt, other Arab states overlooking the Red Sea and the Arab League, the answer to the Somali piracy problem goes beyond sending NATO war brigades to the shores of the East Africa Arab state beset by civil war for near two decades. As proposed by a meeting that convened at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry over the weekend, the answer is surgical and legally sanctioned military intervention combined with a firm diplomatic initiative that brings together regional and concerned international players to turn Somalia from a failed state to a state that has a strong -- or at least acting -- central government. The eight-hour meeting was preoccupied with one main question: how to target piracy off Somali shores without opening the door to opportunistic international intervention in the Arab- African state. The question was not wholly answered. Participants acknowledged as indispensable a role for foreign forces in confronting a worsening piracy problem. Arab and African countries, it was recognised, cannot do so alone. Counter-piracy action is sanctioned by two relevant UN Security Council resolutions, but what precisely should be done? "What we are working on is a formula that does not overlook the international role, but that does not marginalise Arab interests," said Ahmed Bin Helli, Arab League assistant secretary-general. According to Bin Helli who represented the Arab organisation in the meeting, the crucial issue is coordination between concerned Arab and non-Arab countries. Bin Helli argued the need for a coordination body to be discussed and formed. According to Assistant Foreign Minister Wafa Bassim, committees formed by the meeting would consider this and also a series of political and economic measures to be taken in parallel with prompt military and intelligence action aimed to liquidate piracy. The underlying issue, argued Bassim, is the absence of an effective central government in Somalia. Helping this Arab-African country to get back on its feet is crucial to combating piracy off its shores, she argued. Somalia has been without an effective central government since President Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Fighting between warlords and the failure of international intervention have left Somalia in a permanent state of civil war, combined with famine, illicit trade and human rights violations. The country is effectively divided. Officials in its different regions complain about a lack of resources and inadequate security. They publicly acknowledge the need for military and intelligence assistance to combat piracy. NATO has already four ships on patrol off Somali shores. Other countries have also sent war brigades to the region. Meanwhile, Ethiopia has had troops stationed around the Somali capital for the past two years, supposedly to enable a transitional government to take control of the country after having freed Mogadishu from the Union of Islamic Courts that ruled the centre of Somalia in what was a brief interruption of otherwise endless bloodletting. Several regional and international players opposed the Islamic Courts, whose leaders declared their commitment to applying Islamic Sharia law. Links between the Islamic Courts and Al-Qaeda were rumoured. And neighbouring Arab countries, worried by the expanding influence of political Islam, were not opposed to US-supported Ethiopian intervention against the Islamic Courts even in the face of the incapacity of the transitional government, created by a reconciliation deal that has little public support, to maintain the level of stability that the Islamic Courts had brought to Somalia. All Arab countries overlooking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are concerned about what the weekend meeting suggested could be the "huge impact" of piracy on area trade. They are particularly worried about three things: oil tanks, arms shipments, and the laundering of millions of dollars paid in ransom to pirates. According to security estimates given at the meeting, if piracy off the shores of Somalia goes unchecked for a few more months the entire area could turn into a launching pad for terrorist attacks that could destabilise security across the Horn of Africa and beyond. Egypt, officials say, is already keeping a very close eye on the situation in and around Somalia for fear of Islamist terrorist attacks that could be initiated against economic targets. Officials add that the negative impact of piracy on shipping through the Suez Canal is already worrying and that terrorist attacks that would hit tourism and deny state coffers foreign currency at a time of international economic crisis could not be tolerated. Regarding Suez, "we are already witnessing the signs of decline and we are expecting worse times," according to one official who asked for his name to be withheld. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called Monday for the composition of a joint Arab maritime force to patrol the international waters off Somalia's shores in order to curtail the piracy problem. The Arab force, Moussa told reporters, could act "in coordination" with already existing international forces to bring the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden zone back to lawfulness. According to Ambassador Samir Hosni, head of the Arab-African Department at the Arab League, Moussa's ideas will be discussed in Arab and Arab-African meetings that will take place next month and early next year in the capitals of Yemen and Djibouti. "We know that this is not a proposal that could be picked up or implemented overnight, but we know that this is a proposal that is worth looking into seriously," Hosni said. In addition to maritime patrols, the need for aerial support for the patrols has been underlined. On Tuesday, a Yemeni freighter was the latest commercial vessel to be attacked in the pirate- plagued Gulf of Aden. According to Hosni, more attacks are to be expected until security is brought to Somalia and around the Horn of Africa. "Stabilising Somalia is a priority," he said. He added that all attempts to bring stability are bound to hit an impasse if they do not accommodate all Somali factions. Hosni also suggested the need to work on ending rifts within the transitional Somali government. "We cannot expect much of a government that has internal disputes and whose head is quarrelling with the head of the state, especially if we are talking about Somalia," he said. He added: "We need to put the pirates in a corner, but we also need to corner internal Somali disputes." Egyptian diplomats say that Cairo has recently intensified its attempts to promote Somali reconciliation but has not been successful. "The fact of the matter is that particular factions are supported by different regional players whose interest has been to keep Somalia a failed state," said one diplomat. Ethiopia and Eritrea are known to be fighting an internal battle on the Somali scene. The entry of Ethiopian troops into neighbouring Somalia in 2006 was clearly designed to curtail what Addis Ababa perceived as the growing influence of Asmara in Somalia through its ties with the Islamic Courts. Today, elements of the Islamic Courts are fighting hard against the presence of Ethiopian troops. Ambassador Hosni suggested that the time has perhaps come to consider an Arab-African presence in Somalia to replace Ethiopian troops. "This is the time for close Arab-African coordination, but we have to be clear about where we are going because we do not wish to introduce new obstacles to the meagre stability that the Somali people could have," he said. Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a problem for several years. However, last month a Chatham House report warned that piracy "more than doubled in 2008", with over 60 ships attacked this year alone and with "pirates regularly demanding and receiving million- dollar ransom payments" thereafter "becoming more aggressive and assertive". The report warned that ransom money could fund terrorism and is "already helping to pay for the war in Somalia". Piracy is also having an impact on an already tragic humanitarian situation in Somalia. According to the Chatham House report, "the high level of piracy is making aid deliveries to drought-stricken Somalia ever more difficult and costly". The World Food Programme, whose deliveries are now secured by NATO ships, has often been unable to receive assistance due to the threat of piracy.
