Piracy In Somalia Essay

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Somali Piracy
Somalia, located on the East coast of Africa, is in much turmoil. It’s filled with civil unrest and piracy. Although the other countries surrounding Somalia are feeling the impact of the civil unrest, almost the whole world is impacted by the piracy in Somali waters. Piracy Is a major issue in Somalia. Although improving, it still remains a threat to the crews of the ships in the waters off the coast and the prosperity of the surrounding countries and the addition of armed guards to the boats is a necessary solution.

Like most African countries, Somalia is a developing country, and the statistics of the country and its demographics really show it. Somalia’s population is roughly ten million, and the median age is seventeen years and their life expectancy is around fifty five. Approximately one third of the population lives in urban areas, with a 3.8% rate of change. Only 29% of the Somali population have water that is safe to drink. The country is mostly Islamic and 85% of the population are Somali. They sit on the East coast of Africa on the Indian Ocean, which gives them easy access to the passing cargo ships (muni).

Between 2005 and 2012, Somali pirates have hijacked hundreds of ships and collected in total, ransoms between 339 million dollars or 413 million dollars. Each pirate makes between $30,000 and $75,000 per boat, and between all of them a 2.7 million dollar haul, which makes it a profitable and enticing endeavor. Although it may seem like a simple operation, there are quite a few factors that play into their pay. Each pirate receives additions in pay based upon their actions. An example is a crew mate might receive a $10,000 bonus for being the first on the ship to be hijacked. However, they also r...

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... decision that the hoses would be enough to repel pirates was proven false, they should have immediately gone to armed guards. The necessity for being as passive as possible makes sense the first few times, but by the time they are stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, it makes no sense to keep going with a system that doesn’t work.

Though the number of attacks may be decreasing, that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down. Now more than ever we need to remain diligent and ensure that this piracy doesn’t become a problem in the future. If we let off now there is still a chance for piracy to return to the East African Coast. The chance for piracy to be eradicated from Somali waters, even if only for a few years, is worth our attention for even just a little bit. Until there are no piracy reports in that region we should leave the armed guards on the boats.

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