9. After the11incident, in order to carry out global anti-terrorism activities, the Bush administration suspected that the Somali government at that time provided support and shelter for international terrorists and tried every means to prevent sectarian armed groups from taking control of the Somali regime. In June 5438 +2006 10, the US government supported Ethiopia to send troops to invade Somalia and overthrew the Somali regime at that time. With the help of Ethiopian troops, the transitional government of Somalia supported by the United States was established in Somalia. However, due to the limited capacity of the government, it is impossible to effectively control the situation in the country, and it can only control the capital Mogadishu. Most parts of the country have fallen into anarchy, forming an armed separatist regime and dozens of armed forces have emerged. Some pirate organizations even got the support of warlords close to the interim government, which enabled them to "go through the chaos". Somalia's 2880 km coastline has become a good place for pirates to hijack and make money.
2. The surge of refugees forced life.
Somalia is one of least developed countries in the world. The economy is dominated by animal husbandry and the industrial base is weak. In the early 1970s, due to excessive nationalization policies and natural disasters, the economy was in serious trouble. Years of war have brought endless disasters to the Somali people. At the end of 2006, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia defeated the rebels with the help of Ethiopian troops and took control of Mogadishu and most parts of Somalia. However, since then, rebels have launched attacks in Mogadishu and other places. At present, there are 165438+ million refugees in Somalia, and the capital Mogadishu will add about 20,000 refugees every month. Due to the increasing number of refugees, living conditions are uncertain, food prices are soaring, and natural disasters such as excessive inflation and drought have aggravated the domestic crisis. Frequent domestic violence prevents the humanitarian efforts of the United Nations and other agencies from being implemented, and it is impossible to deliver food and other necessities to Somalia. Even if it is brought in, it will not be distributed reasonably and will be robbed. Recently, the security situation in Somalia has further deteriorated, with frequent attacks on United Nations staff and aid agencies, and most international aid agencies have withdrawn from Somalia. Refugees are short of food and clothing, hungry and cold, which makes violence increase. Therefore, piracy is only a form of maritime violence. These actions have been supported by refugees and residents, which has given piracy a broad mass base. With the support of ordinary people, piracy has become more frequent and cruel.
3. If there is no profit, you can maximize the benefits.
The investment in piracy activities is very small, and only guns, communications and other equipment such as ships are needed, which is out of proportion to the huge profits brought by hijacking. The owner of the hijacked ship would rather pay a high ransom and protect the life safety of the crew. Pirates can get an average of $654.38+$00,000 to $2,000,000 for hijacking a ship. Hijacking Stella? Maryse ",asking for a ransom of $3 million. The total ransom in 2008 may be between $654.38 million+$08 million and $30 million. The world loses $25 billion a year. Huge ransom makes piracy more rampant. Such a successful hijacking can make you rich overnight, buy a famous car, build a villa, marry a concubine and stay away from poverty. So as to induce more people to take risks in piracy activities. Pirates can also be used for smuggling, drugs, weapons trading, smuggling and other money, to maximize the interests of pirates.
The number of pirates has increased and the equipment has been updated.
In the past five or six years, the total number of Somali pirates has been below 100; At present, this number has risen to 1 100 to 1200. Because the owners of hijacked ships often adopt connivance and compromise to deal with the hijacking of ships, this psychology is also mastered by pirates. They think: "ships and crew are the most valuable." In this way, Somali pirates have risen and grown. "
In addition to the increase in the number of pirates, the equipment of pirates has also been updated, and traditional means such as ropes, broadswords and spears are no longer used. High-tech means such as speedboats, heavy weapons (AK-47 assault rifles and rocket launchers), modern global positioning system (GPS) and satellite communication have been fully applied in the hijacking activities, which has expanded the attack scope from the Somali coast to the high seas hundreds of kilometers away and made the hijacking activities more handy. Somali pirates are ruthless. When they met the international naval vessels, they put the hijacked people on the deck. If they take tough measures, they will kill the kidnapped person. In order to protect the lives of hijacked people, international naval vessels often have to make concessions, which makes pirates push their luck and become more arrogant.
5. Weak international crackdown
With the escalation of piracy in Somali waters, the international community's crackdown on Somali pirates is also strengthening. Europe and the United States have sent warships to strengthen patrols in this area. On June 5438+00, 2008, the Budapest meeting of NATO defense ministers decided to maintain a military presence in the Indian Ocean to "protect the ships of the World Food Program that deliver relief supplies to Somalia", and sent/kloc-0 warships from Italy, the United States, Britain, Greece and Turkey, and 2 ***7 warships from Germany to Somalia to carry out operations. Russia also sent the "Fearless" frigate to Somalia to carry out its mission. On June 65438+1 October 65438+June 2008, the Indian Ministry of Defence announced that it would deploy1naval vessel to patrol the Gulf of Aden. Japan is also considering sending maritime forces. Kenya will participate in the fight against piracy and protect the World Food Programme's grain carriers. On 7 June 2008, the United Nations unanimously adopted resolution 1838. This is the second resolution adopted by the Security Council to combat Somali piracy since June this year. Call on countries concerned about the safety of maritime activities to deploy naval vessels and military aircraft in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and actively participate in combating piracy on the high seas off the coast of Somalia in cooperation with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia. However, there are still some legal obstacles in international cooperation to combat piracy and other criminal acts-many countries are worried that international cooperation will damage their sovereignty, and many neighboring coastal countries have disputes over sovereignty and marine resources; The criminal jurisdiction of some disputed sea areas is unclear, the control mechanism of cross-border crimes is not perfect, and the definitions of piracy and terrorism in relevant countries have not reached a * * understanding, which leads to the low enthusiasm of countries to cooperate in combating piracy and the poor combat effect. After the resolution 18 16 was reached, it experienced some games. When drafting the agreement, France wanted to apply the agreement to combat all piracy-ridden waters, but it was opposed by Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries. Indonesia is worried that this move may set a precedent for foreign interference in other countries' internal affairs. Therefore, in resolution 18 16, it appeared that the scope of application of the resolution was limited to Somalia and should not be regarded as the establishment of customary international law.
6. It is difficult for shipowners to protect themselves.
Ordinary people rarely encounter pirates in their lives, so when it comes to pirates, the images that come to mind are probably those created in movies or literary works: an old sailor covered in oil and smelly with alcohol, standing on a wooden prosthetic leg, swearing, grumpy and risking gunpowder residue on his beard.
Ship owners who spend money to avoid disasters, or sailors who get away with it, will tell you that pirates are no different from businessmen now, just doing profitable business. As long as they have money, they don't have to kill people.
Ship owners are also businessmen. Pirates hijack ships, as long as they are willing to talk about the price and conditions; What I am most afraid of is that the business will turn into a gun battle, wake up the insurance company and adjust the freight rate to sky-high prices.
Before a ship goes out to sea, of course, preventive measures can be taken, such as installing necessary lighting, 24-hour guards equipped with radar and thermal monitoring system, fire hoses, obstacles to prevent climbing, sonic boom weapons, etc.
However, the armed escort that most people think of first is the means that shipowners are most unwilling to deploy unless absolutely necessary. First, armed guards must have extraordinary skills and the price is naturally high; Secondly, the country of registration does not allow ships to be equipped with armed guards; Third, many ports do not allow ships to carry weapons. If there are weapons before entering the port, they must be thrown into the sea.
Finally, if every cargo ship on the high seas must employ armed bodyguards, and for the sake of cost, it will be even more dangerous on the high seas if it employs a miscellaneous army without strict training. The consequences are shocking.
To solve the problem of Somali piracy once and for all, only the inland conflict can be completely solved. However, if the United Nations can't solve the civil strife in the country, shipowners had better avoid this channel completely.
However, horses don't eat dangerous grass and are not fat. Businessmen are profitable and naturally have other plans. According to statistics, only one of every 600 cargo ships will be robbed and pay a considerable ransom. This probability is worth fighting for.