The Multimillion Business: Youth, Somali Pirates and the International Community

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“How many millions of dollars does the International Community spends for fighting pirates?”

“How many millions of dollars do the pirates receive as a ransom?”

“How many youth have lost their precious lives in the sea?”

“How many mothers lost their lovely sons due to piracy?”

Piracy started in the first place as a result of angry fishermen whose fishing boats have been destroyed by foreign vessels who were illegally fishing in the Somali coasts. Those angry fishermen hijacked some vessels and demanded for ransom.

Due to those companies’ payments of huge amount of money as a ransom to free their vessels triggered many unemployed young men to join this group which eventually turned as a multimillion business.

The multimillion business didn’t trigger only men but also affected women as well. It reached up to a point where every boy dreams of joining pirates if he didn’t get a job or higher education while every girl dreams of marrying pirate.

The international community sent many warships and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to fight with them but still didn’t succeed to stop them.

Somali pirates are not only threat to the international community and commercial ships passing along the sea but also are threats to the Somali society as well. The huge money pirates receive as a ransom caused money inflation where prices of goods increased. They brought drugs and alcohols. They speed up their vehicles while they are drunk and cause tragedy and awful events. They also snatch girls, carry them in their vehicles and rape them. Every time pirates receive ransom from their captives they drink too much, open fires without discriminating.

One of the tragedy events I witnessed in Galkayo Somalia was in 29th September 2010 when two gunmen knocked a well respected housewife’s door and took her at gun point. These two gunmen were reported to be her neighbors whom she advised earlier to leave piracy. They took her in to a discrete place, raped her and left her there. In some stable towns it reached up to a point where women can’t walk alone past 6:00PM.

Mostly it’s the lack of job opportunities that triggers youth to join the multimillion business. Abdiwali Muse was high school teenage whose friends convinced him to join the pirates. His companions have been killed by the US navies and captured him alive in 2009. Muse has been sentenced 33 years and nine months prison in New York.

On 18th Feb 2011 Somali pirates captured a yacht that was carrying four American citizens. Only God knows what will happen to those captives since pirates vowed they will take revenge for the eight dead pirates killed by the South Korean army and the trail of Muse in New York.

The international community pays millions of dollars to fight the pirates but still they hijack ships miles away from the Somali coast.

Pirates got friends and co-workers all over the world or else how can a seventeen years old teenage gets satellite phones, Automatic Teller Machines and knows which ship is passing along the sea and what it carries!.

Piracy does not start within the sea it is based and starts in the land. If the international community spends one-third of the money it funds for fighting pirates to establish vocational training schools for youth things would have changed in to better. If youth have acquired vocational skills that helps them sustains their lives they wouldn’t have dreamed of putting themselves at risk by going to the sea.

Youth needs to be empowered. They need to be trained with skills to sustain their wellbeing. Once they are empowered they can create their own jobs even if they don’t get hired by the Non Governmental Organizations or the Inter Governmental Organizations.

Creating skills for youth is the only win-win approach to eliminate piracy and everyone will benefit from this. Youth will get skills to sustain their lives, other members of the community will live happily without the fear of pirates and the international community would be relieved from the threat and tension towards pirates.