Somali anti-piracy effort moves to onshore capacity building

“The first two conferences achieved a major breakthrough by engaging stakeholders across the world, and connecting organisations… in a spirit of public-private partnership, which has proven successful in pushing piracy [away from] Somalia’s coast over the past year,” said Dubai Ports World (DP World) chairman, Sultan bin Sulayem, in his opening address to the third International Counter Piracy Conference.

The UAE Foreign Ministry, DP World and Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC) were the driving force behind the conference entitled “Countering Maritime Piracy: Continued Efforts for Regional Capacity Building.” Shipowners, who have in the past complained that not enough was being done at sea, were thin on the ground at the event. By contrast, Bin Sulayem stressed the UAE’s on-land involvement.

“The UAE has also reached out to support on-the-ground initiatives in Somalia…, including developing the capabilities of the Somali coastguard and contributing to community projects focusing on health and welfare. Industry and businesses are also beginning work on the ground in Somalia. The combination of private and public sectors working together will ensure the gains being made are sustained, and that capacity building in the region provides viable solutions for decades to come.”

Naval officers tasked with policing the waters of the Gulf of Aden are not yet stepping down vigilance against Somali pirates. “Their network retains the ability to operate in the criminal arena. It is being sustained,” said Rear-Admiral Bob Tarrant, Operation Commander, European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU Navfor). “My message is that we are seeing a tactical success against the symptoms of piracy. We have yet to see success against the causes.”

Theodore Karasik, director, research and development at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), said there was a “need for greater coordination between states and international organisations to [create] civilian rules of engagement for dealing with Somalia as a whole and [working] with the provinces and clans that run the country, so that every stakeholder is on the same page. Clan politics are complicated.”

He said the UAE had invested around $60m in Somalia on humanitarian aid, education and healthcare, as well as helping to foster the Puntland Maritime Force. “That’s not looking at one area of Somalia. That’s Somali-wide. That’s important. I think we’ll see a different situation in Somalia in the very near future [despite continued terrorism]. Somalia is returning to the family of nations.”

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