The Scourge of Somalia’s Seas

The last radio message sent by the Stella Maris—a 54,000-metric-ton Japanese freighter plying the Gulf of Aden—was chilling: "Pirates onboard." After that transmission, on July 20, the ship went silent. A French warship patrolling nearby was sent to help. But before it could arrive, pirates sent the Stella Maris, its crew of 20 Filipinos and its cargo of zinc and lead ore steaming toward Somalia's lawless shores.

This has been a banner year for Somalia's privateers. The Stella Maris was the 10th ship to be hijacked off the coast in 2008. Its capture, and the subsequent seizures of five other freighters in mid-August, have earned these waters the dubious designation as the world's riskiest shipping zone, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)—surpassing Indonesia and Nigeria, the previous record holders. Worldwide, 24 of 62 pirate attacks in the second quarter of this year occurred off Somalia. Now the brigands are exacerbating Somalia's already grave humanitarian crisis by interrupting the flow of critical food aid. And if that weren't bad enough, Somalia's pirates have lately found a surprising (if unwitting) ally: the United States.

The U.S. War on Terror has produced yet another unintended consequence. Two years ago piracy in the Horn of Africa was almost stamped out. The Islamists who took over Mogadishu and parts of Somalia in 2006 defeated several militias involved in piracy and warned others that they'd face punishment under a harsh version of Sharia. This tactic worked: "During the summer of 2006 there were no attacks [on ships] at all," says Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB.

But the Bush administration—which had tried to block the Islamists' rise by supporting a rival warlord faction—suspected Somalia's new leaders of sheltering Qaeda operatives. So Washington backed neighboring Ethiopia when it invaded in December 2006. The Ethiopians ousted the Islamists in short order and installed a U.N.-backed transitional government. But this only plunged Somalia into anarchy once more. Today the government can't even control the capital, let alone the country.

Whereas the Islamists managed to enforce a period of relative calm, now dozens of militias are battling for power once more. The pirates, some backed by warlords affiliated with the transitional government, have exploited the chaos.

Apart from undermining commerce, they have also begun threatening aid shipments needed to sustain the 2.6 million people—or 35 percent of Somalia's population—who stand at the brink of starvation. Last year three ships chartered by the World Food Program (WFP) were attacked. Things improved after Western navies agreed to escort aid ships, and a Canadian frigate currently keeps the thieves at bay. But it is due to leave the area in September, and no other navy has signed on to step in. That means no more protection for the transports—which, according to WFP spokesperson Peter Smerdon, must import 30,000 tons of food a month if Somalia is to avoid a catastrophic famine. Should the deliveries be blocked, "we could start to see scenes similar to the 1992–1993 famine in which hundreds of thousands of people perished," he says.