U.N. passes financial sanctions on Somali pirates

U.N. passes financial sanctions on Somali pirates

Live Piracy Map 2008    Source: International Chamber of Commerce

   The United Nations on Thursday approved a set of financial sanctions on the Somali pirates who have wreaked havoc in Gulf of Aden, but it’s unclear how effective the sanctions will be since “those responsible for much of the anarchy plaguing the country are well outside any traditional finance system,” an Associate Press report said.
   A prior U.N. resolution already banned arms dealings into the eastern African nation, whose internal turmoil has spread to the seas in the big way this month, with more than three-dozen cargo vessels having been hijacked by armed pirates. Eight such successful attacks in the past two weeks, including the hijacking of the biggest class of oil tanker operating, has brought widespread international attention to the problem.
   “The prime goal is to provide a framework to stem the flow of arms into Somalia, which is causing such mayhem there,” Britain’s U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said in the AP report. “There are other problems — off the coast of Somalia with piracy. There are problems in Somalia itself ' “
   The financial sanctions will likely do little to affect the situation in the short term. Other solutions proposed in recent weeks include deployment of more naval vessels off the coast of Somalia, rerouting cargo ships around the tip of Africa rather than through the Suez Canal, and more robust security aboard cargo vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden. All three, of course, demand more funds be dedicated to the problem, and the question is whether governments, carriers or shippers ought to bear the brunt of those costs.
   “For example, the one-way Europe/Far East distance would increase by roughly 3,300 nautical miles or, at 20 knots, one full week of sailing,” Dynaliners said in its weekly newsletter Thursday. “A service round trip would thus take two weeks longer, using two extra vessels and soaking up around 20 percent more capacity. On the Europe/Far East trade alone this would require about 50 more ships.”