Experts have told Anadolu Agency that while recent media reports talk about a resurgence of piracy off the coast of Somalia, it had never truly disappeared.
“I would argue that piracy never went away. Despite the clear reduction, many incidents of attempted hijackings have gone unreported,” Ahmed Soliman a researcher on the Horn of Africa at the U.K.-based Chatham House tells Anadolu Agency.
He says armed security teams had deterred 11 attacks in 2016, so while the spike in incidents since March 2017 has been more widely reported, the figures dispute that piracy was ever eradicated.
Although initially, shipping companies responded swiftly to the threat of piracy by increasing security and precautionary measures, some have become complacent over time by reducing these measures, according to Soliman.
“There are also fewer naval patrols as a result of an overall reduction in piracy since 2012,” he admits.
Soliman says many of the causes of piracy remain unaddressed, namely the drought, lack of jobs for young people, ongoing illegal fishing, and availability of arms.
“This means that the chance to earn a livelihood from piracy, while dangerous, remains tempting to some,” he explains.