Photo : Messenger
The Bangladeshi flag bearer container ship MV Abdullah's hijacking by Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa has been in the news for quite some time now. More than 23 crew members of the ship have been in the custody of the hijackers for over a week. The vessel was sailing with a cargo of 55,000 tonnes of coal from the Maputo port in Mozambique to the Al Hamriya port in the United Arab Emirates when it was trailed and captured by the pirates.
Since 1995, Somalian pirates have been attacking vessels passing through the waters of the Somalian coast and engaging in violent acts of terror and kidnapping, making the important route of navigation a difficult zone for seafaring vessels crisscrossing through the region.
The incidents of piracy operated by Somalian nationals reached their zenith in 2011 when the global economy suffered a loss of over $7 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars that had to be paid to the thugs as ransom.
It has been reported that the Bangladeshi flag bearer had ignored the security protocol that had been advised for vessels frequenting the area, and the Somali pirates were able to seize control of the vessel without much resistance. As per the UK's Maritime Trade Operations, the hijacking of MV Abdullah occurred approximately 600 nautical miles east of the Somalian capital, Mogadishu.
Having failed to maintain appropriate vigilance and caution, the 23 sailors of MV Abdullah have been in alien custody since 12 March, making their families and the entire nation spend sleepless nights over them.
The Horn of Africa is geographically positioned, connecting two major international waterways – the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. The proximity of the region to other areas of strategic importance, like the Persian Gulf and the sea lanes emerging from it, has attracted major naval powers to the area over a period of time.
In the late 19th century, European powers colonised the region primarily due to the need to protect and support maritime traffic passing through the Suez Canal and Red Sea routes to Asia and Africa. The British thus developed the port of Aden and the French at Djibouti, which became important junctions after the discovery and exploitation of oil in the Arabian Peninsula.
Going back to the current issue in focus, that is, Somalian piracy and its negative effects on commercial navigation in the Horn of Africa; it must be fathomed that this is one of the most conflict-prone and fragile regions of the world. The region's countries are Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somaliland in the African continent, and Yemen in the adjacent Arabian Peninsula.
These countries are the places of origin or the host countries for a large number of refugees or internally displaced persons. Reasons for the fragility of the region include protracted conflict and violent extremism, weak governance, and poor quality of public services. These factors have been further compounded by the hard-hitting impacts of climate change.
Little has been done at the international level to tackle and mitigate the long-term causes of the conflict and poverty that exacerbate the fragile situation in the Horn of Africa. Thus, this region has been a fertile ground for the breeding of pirates, mercenaries, and similar other troublemakers.
As per estimates, over 20,000 merchant vessels transit the Gulf of Aden every year, making it one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Apart from economic and geographic factors that offer a partial explanation for the increase in the number of Somalian pirates over the past 20 years, the primary cause of it today is the long-drawn political instability in Mogadishu.
Moreover, the Red Sea maritime domain is a preeminent theatre of the great power struggles – between the US and the Soviet Union in the Cold War period, between the US and China today, and the rivalry that exists between the regional players that include the European Union, Turkey, GCC countries, Israel, and Iran. The continuing Yemeni proxy war between the UAE-led bloc and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels has further deteriorated the chaos in the region.
As mentioned earlier, economically, the Horn of Africa is a mandatory passageway for important maritime trade routes that cross the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, and the Gulf of Aden. Militarily, the Horn of Africa is an ideal place for naval and air security operations. Oil produced especially in the Middle East flows into many parts of the world, including East European countries, through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean using the key sea lanes of the region, linking the oil-producing countries with Europe and America.
Thus, the geopolitical and strategic prominence of the Horn of Africa led the great powers to the Strait to protect their vital commercial and military interests. On account of these factors, the superpowers rivalled the region during the entire period of the Cold War to enable them to control the strategic assets, which included the seaports and naval and air bases to achieve economic and military superiority.
The opportunities for superpower intervention in the Horn of Africa are multifaceted. They primarily emanated from the region's historical, economic, political, and social problems. During the entire Cold War period, different centrifugal forces made the region a place of brutal wars and political crisis, leading to catastrophic casualties in terms of economic and social life.
Millions of people in the region have died, starved, and dislocated as a result of superpower-sponsored violence in the past century. This also is the root cause of the big money game being played by the pirates and mercenaries today.
Another interesting development in the recent past is the increasing Chinese presence in the Horn of Africa as an active player, both as an investor-mediator and security provider. Due to long-drawn persistent instability emanating from the ongoing ethnic and political tensions in Ethiopia as well as the continuing threat from Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia or Sudan's botched transition, the US, the UK, and China have appointed special envoys to initiate dialogue and mediation between the rival factions. After a number of diplomatic sojourns by high-level Chinese diplomats to the region, China sponsored its first ever “Horn of Africa Peace, Good Governance and Development Conference” in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
This conference was hosted at a time when the Horn of Africa has become infamous as an unstable sub-region with a highly volatile socio-political framework. Like the rest of the world, the region is dealing with a number of macroeconomic challenges today – poor harvests and rising prices in the international markets due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. China's economic clout was demonstrated in this peace conference as it was able to bring rival neighbours to the discussion table, countries where it has made heavy investments in resources and infrastructure. Chinese companies have carried out infrastructure projects worth $400 billion in Africa to date and are Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years in a row.
In view of China's burgeoning economic interests in the African continent, China installed its first overseas military base in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa in 2017. The goal of this installation is anti-piracy and freedom of navigation in protecting commercial shipping lines from intermittent attacks in the Red Sea and off the coast of Somalia by pirates and Houthi militants.
Historically, it has been witnessed that hosting foreign military bases gives an aura of legitimacy to host governments apart from giving a boost to the country's economic activities. Hence, many African countries have given foreign powers permission to set up military bases on their soil. It is true, though, that debates on the risks and benefits of Chinese investments in Africa are in full swing as Chinese mega projects are “either portrayed as symbols of independence and modernity, manifestation of usurpation or colossal losing deals”.
In this emerging backdrop, keeping in view the growing geostrategic importance of the region, India has been paying greater attention to the Horn of Africa since 2017. It has opened embassies in Djibouti and Eritrea and has strengthened defence cooperation with Oman and France, which has territories in the Southeastern Indian Ocean. It is due to sign an agreement with Japan to grant access to Indian naval vessels to the Japanese military base in Djibouti.
To bolster Indian leverage and greater economic muscle, focused diplomatic outreach will go a long way to take this regional engagement forward. India's food and medical assistance to the states in the region not only has a humanitarian angle but acquires a sharp geopolitical focus too.
Meanwhile, Indian Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt, while answering a question in the Lower House of the Indian Parliament, said the Indian Navy units are being strengthened in the strategic waters in Djibouti, Gulf of Aden, and the East Coast of Somalia for the protection of merchant shipping vessels in view of the deteriorating maritime security situation in the region.
Since 2008, the Indian Navy has maintained its presence there and a total of 3,440 ships and over 25,000 seafarers have been safely escorted, as per the minister. He said that the Indian Navy is proactively engaging with regional and extra-regional navies and maritime forces to promote security in the Indian Ocean region. In their recent meetings at the Munich Security Conference, Indian and US foreign ministers S Jaishankar and Blinken discussed the attacks in the Arabian and Red Sea, which saw a gradual escalation from the Yemeni Houthi rebels, made as a counter to the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, where the minister duo decided to take “mutually reinforcing” steps to tackle the issue.
India has deployed a dozen warships, along with long-range maritime aircraft and drones, to monitor nearly four million square miles in the Arabian Sea, primarily to tackle piracy in the region. This is said to be its largest peacetime mission in the past seven decades. In a reassuring move, the Indian Navy, five days ago, recaptured MV Ruen, a Maltese-flagged bulk carrier, rescuing 17 crew members and ending the three-month siege. 35 Somali pirates were also forced to surrender and taken into custody. Several naval vessels, along with helicopters and other aircraft, were involved in the operation.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hassan Mahmud has said all efforts are underway to bring back the sailors safely and release the ship MV Abdullah from the hands of the Somali pirates at the earliest.
Dr Debjyoti Chanda is Chairman, Department of Mass Communication and Videography, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He earlier served the Government of India as an Officer of the Indian Information Service.
Messenger/Disha
