Post by Brianna Arnold
Somali pirates claim that the
purpose of their actions is to patrol the seas in the form of a coast guard. As
Christian Bueger explains, “the coast guard narrative can be considered as the
grand narrative or the master story of Somali piracy.”[1] He
further explains that in essence, the reason for this purpose is for identity.
He also claims that this narrative gives the piracy legitimacy and recognition
by painting piracy as a “practice that has socio-political objectives.”[2]
Although some, like Bueger, argue that this is a reasonable explanation for piracy,
I would argue that Somali piracy cannot justify to be doing what they are doing
using the coast guard narrative.
The main reason the pirates began
using the coast guard narrative in the first place is because they claimed to
be fighting ‘illegal fishing’. However, like Stig Jarle Hansen explains, there
is no illegal fishing off the coast of Somalia because of the lack of an
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Hansen explains that, “when an EEZ is declared,
the state in question enjoys sovereign rights for the purposes of exploring and
exploiting, conserving and managing the natural resources, and any state or
company that violates these rights is acting unlawfully.”[3]
However, no Somali EEZ exists so other states have every right to fish in their
waters. What this means for the Somalia piracy coast guard narrative is two
things. First, the piracy actions are actions that could be valid if done
correctly and with legitimate cause. However, secondly, even if the pirates’
single purpose were patrolling for illegal fishing, it would not be legitimized
due to the lack of an EEZ.
The second reason I argue against
the narrative that the pirate’s actions are to act as a coast guard is because
of the nature of their actions. There is extensive evidence that the motive of
the piracy is profit. If the reason for pirates attacking ships were to stop
illegal fishing or other illegal activities, the only target of the pirates
would be fishing boats. However, tankers and other carriers are also targets of
the pirates. Additionally, there is evidence that pirates have a higher success
rate in attacking fishing ships, but the lack of targeting these ships shows
the interest is not in ending illegal fishing.[4] If
the pirates were simply interested in patrolling for illegal fishing activity
then they would not be attacking ships with no connection to the fishing
industry and they would not be holding these ships for ransom.
In conclusion, fundamentally the
problem with the coast guard narrative is that it does give legitimacy to the
pirates. This legitimacy is dangerous to the international community. One
pirate was quoted saying, “we know what we are doing is wrong, but it is our
only way of speaking to the world.”[5]
Based on this quote, if this is a feeling felt across the population of Somali
pirates and not just an isolated feeling, then the problem really is political
oppression or discontent. It could be true that the Somali people are frustrated
with the international community taking advantage of them not having an EEZ,
but the pirates need to be provided a different outlet to deal with this
problem. Resorting to attacking ships, fishing and otherwise, is not the way to
solve the problem. Saying that they are acting as a coast guard is not
justified and if just giving false power to a group of people who, if it
continues, will believe that this power is legitimate and this can lead to
further security problems.
