Somalian Pirates: Democracy at Its Best?

     The Gulf of Aiden is on the northern side of Somalia,  just south of Yemen. (see map)   It acts as a buffer between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.  And, in recent years, it  has become infested with pirates.  But these are not, to coin a phrase, your fathers pirates.  You won’t find Jack Sparrow here.  They are, in fact, businessmen at the center of one of the fastest growing entrepeneurships in the world.  The days of swashbuckling are long gone;  piracy has evolved in a very short period of time from scalleywags looting ships in a violent fashion, pillaging whatever loot they could lay their hands on, to organized criminals capturing seacrafts and negotiating multi million dollar ransoms.  They have infrastructure, offshoot businesses, and negotiating firms.  Insurance companies actually pay the ransoms.  Ethics aside, it truly is a beautiful example of capitalism at its best.

(area in yellow is the Gulf of Aiden)

     The hijacking itself is carried out by crews of 12-24 mercenaries known as attack squads, in most cases former Somalian fishermen.  The majority of the large Cargo and Tanker ships post a top speed of appx.  15 knots, and end up being severely outmatched against speed boats and automatic weapons.  But there is absolutely nothing random about the attacks… long before the endeavor begins,  the higher ups (known as elders) have researched the cargo, ownership, and ports of departure and arrival via contracts and the internet.

     Once the ship has been secured, negotiations begin.  These are normally done using satellite phones, and truly are negotiations. It isn’t unusual for the pirates to ask as much as 10 times initially what the settlement ends up being.  The negotiations are often done in a three way format  that actually includes the insurance companies.  The cash deliveries are made by third party contractors normally comprised of former  military pesonel, and are done with at sea drops.  The pirates get in their boats, pick up the cash, and are on their way.  One big, neat package.