Coast Of Somalia Research Articles

Intra‐seasonal variability over the northeastern highlands of Tanzania

AbstractThe intra‐seasonal variability of rainfall over the northeastern Highlands (NEH) of Tanzania during the March, April, May (MAM) rainfall season and associated circulation anomalies have been studied for selected wet and dry years. Station rainfall data were used to extract the onset, peak, and cessation dates of the rainfall season and National Center for Atmospheric Research/National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP/NCAR) data were used to study the atmospheric circulation features associated with the intra‐seasonal variability. It was found that the anomalously wet MAM seasons over the NEH of Tanzania tend to result from an earlier onset of the rains and a late cessation and thus, a longer‐than‐average rainfall season, whereas, dry years were characterized by a shorter‐than‐average duration of the rains. The moisture flux plots indicate that the composite wet MAM seasons were associated with advection of moisture from both the Indian Ocean and the Congo Basin. For the dry MAM seasons, a cyclonic anomaly off the Somali coast leads to southerly moisture flux anomalies over Kenya and westerly anomalies over the Indian Ocean which, together with easterly moisture flux anomalies over the Congo Basin, act to divert and transport low‐level moisture away from Tanzania.Lag correlations between time series of moisture over the Congo (0–8°S; 20–29°E) and MAM rainfall over the NEH indicated a phase locking of the two variables that occurred during the years with larger rainfall anomalies. A significant correlation was observed two months before the onset of the rainfall season in January that indicates that some predictability of the MAM seasonal rainfall total based on the Congo Basin zonal wind may exist. However, given the constraints of the available data and the regional atmospheric circulation, it is possible that additional predictors may be required when developing forecast models of the MAM seasonal rainfall. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society

The Third United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty and the Piracy Question - The Case of the East African Coast

The international crime of piracy was believed to have largely disappeared inmodern times, or at least to have reduced to levels that would not demand international attention. However, contrary to that belief, for the past several years piracy has become endemic, particularly off the coast of Somalia and the East African coast in general. Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991, and this has partly contributed to the piracy problem off theEast African coast. The Law of the Sea defi nes piracy in various ways and has been used to tackle the problem in East Africa. The paper focuses on the evolution of piracy, its defi nition as provided by the Law of the Sea, the implications of piracy on the coast, and fi nally solutions to the problem

The Ballistic Response of Cross‐Stiffened Panels from a Rocket‐Propelled Grenade

AbstractCruise ships often transit the littoral zone of developing countries where piracy thrives. The attack against Seaborne Spirit on November 5, 2005 was countered successfully by the ship's crew but the toll could have been a lot heavier that day. Nowadays, although international forces police high‐risk waters, the risk map is constantly evolving, and there have been instances where even naval vessels had to change their route in order to avoid perilous areas. In the Seaborne Spirit attack approximately 100 miles off the Somali Coast, although the crew thwarted the pirates from coming any closer to the ship, the assailants managed to launch a rocket‐propelled grenade (RPG) that miraculously failed to explode when it hit the ship's side. This paper carried out the analysis of blast and impact in a fluid–structure interaction model with LS‐DYNA solver. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the ballistic response of cross‐stiffened panels, commonly used in ship and offshore structures, from the impact with an RPG warhead. It was found that although an RPG alone cannot threaten a highly redundant structure as a ship or an offshore platform, the developed jet from the shaped charge is certainly threatening to passengers and crew.

Piracy and shipowners' ethical dilemmas

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use virtue ethics to explore the dilemmas arising for shipowners facing the piracy threat off the coast of Somalia.Design/methodology/approach – The ethical issues arising for the shipowners in the face of the piracy threat off the coast of Somalia are explored using a virtue theory perspective. In particular, the ethical issues facing shipowners in routing vessels through the danger zones, as well as the dilemmas that can arise when a ship has been boarded by pirates, such as whether or not the shipowners should pay the pirates' ransom demands.Findings – Although individual shipowners can take some matters into their own hands by various initiatives and security measures, the conclusion is that the scourge of piracy can only be reduced by international co‐operation between shipowners and nation states.Originality/value – Piracy on the high seas is an old problem that has begun to resurface and become more frequent and widespread in recent years. Several important...

Security governance in the maritime commons: The case for a transatlantic partnership

Power distribution in the maritime commons is changing. The inevitable relative decline of U.S. sea power provides an opening not only for China as a rising challenger but also for the European Union as a cooperative security provider. Although such a claim may have seemed farfetched a few years ago, the performance of the European Union in the counter-piracy Operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, illustrates the possibility that the European Union will prove to be an unexpected player in the maritime commons in the twenty-first century. This possibility suggests a renewed transatlantic dialog over the governance of the maritime commons.

Economia Política da Pirataria na Somália: Bases para uma Abordagem Transformativa

This article examines the current wave of piracy off the coast of Somalia in light of political economy framework proposed by Michael Pugh and Neil Cooper. According to these authors, three types of economies flourish in protracted conflicts - combat economy, shadow economy, and coping economy - whose aims are, respectively, to finance combat activities, generate personal profits and provide minimum resources to the subsistence of poor and marginalized people. Based on empirical evidences showing that piracy in Somalia performs these three functions, one argues that the current international intervention against piracy is not sustainable because it does not seek to transform the factors and dynamics that make piracy an economically attractive alternative for local populations. For this reason, one proposes a shift on the Somali piracy agenda by adopting a critical perspective where piracy is no longer treated exclusively as a mere disruption of order at sea. Instead, one suggests a transformative approach where piracy is understood in its political economy dimension taking into account not only the local aspects, but also their regional links.

Somali pirates: villains or victims?

The proliferation of piracy activity off the coast of Somalia has received a fair share of international attention. Its consequences have included a destabilising effect on trade, security and humanitarian aid. This has served to give reason for the deployment of multi-national forces by some of the countries affected by the scourge. While naval patrols have reduced the success rate of piracy attacks in some areas, there has been little respite in piracy incidents with the overall number of attacks and their geographic scope increasing. Piracy off the coast of Somalia has, in fact, evolved into organised syndicates with transnational networks. The problem is that various international actors have largely viewed piracy off the coast of Somalia in terms of threats to their own national interests and security. They have, thus, dealt with the issue in isolation from its wider context, which has not succeeded in ending the attacks. This article argues that to deal with the piracy problem more meaningfully, there is need for a contextual framework beyond addressing the ‘illegal’ activities. Piracy is a complex problem, with political, legal, social, economic, security and even human rights dimensions, and calls for a truly holistic approach that, especially, seeks to address the root causes on land. The article calls for a change in strategies in order to facilitate a ‘local Somali solution’ rather than an international one that is acceptable to the sensibilities of international actors. The article emphasises the need to extend the strong international cooperation demonstrated on the high seas in the fight against piracy to the fight against root causes of piracy onshore.

The Dialectics of Piracy in Somalia: the rich versus the poor

Somali piracy has been poorly understood and consequently the international strategy designed to curtail it has not worked. Because of this mismatch some of the pirates have extended their exploits deep into the Indian Ocean. This article provides an analysis which shows that several pirate types driven by different logics have operated along the Somali coast and all but one of these pirates emerged as a result of the Somali state's disintegration. In contrast, pirates in other Third World regions operate under established states. Therefore, we argue that piracy is not only a matter of robbery on the high seas, but that political economy and conflict over resources have been fundamental to the rise of piracy in the region. The article offers a more refined assessment of the piracy in the region, as well as a critical appraisal of the moral economy of Somali pirates which yields an alternative method of understanding and curbing the problem.

Piracy and Maritime Security off the Horn of Africa: Connections, Causes, and Concerns

ABSTRACT. In the wake of the 21st century, Africa's waters have now overtaken traditionally dangerous areas such as the Strait of Malacca in the Southeast Asia in terms of visibility in the global map of piracy. The recent increase in the frequency and range of pirate attacks around the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden off the Horn of Africa has become a subject of growing concern to states and other stakeholders, especially in the shipping industry. This article therefore focuses on the dynamics of maritime piracy in the region. Specifically, it draws attention to the more significant “hard security” concerns the explosion of piracy has generated within the international community. It further examines the factors underpinning the outbreak of piracy in the region and highlights some efforts to curb the scourge. It argues that only an effective combination of counterpiracy enforcement measures and robust policies designed to stabilize Somalia can effectively address this growing threat to merchant shipping in the region.

How does the Red Sea outflow water interact with Gulf of Aden Eddies?

As the Red Sea overflow water (RSOW) enters the Gulf of Aden (GOA), it interacts with a sequence of nearly barotropic, mesoscale eddies originating in the Indian Ocean. To investigate how these eddies impact the dispersal and eastward transport of the RSOW toward the Indian Ocean, a high resolution 3D regional model is employed to explore systematically the interaction between the RSOW and mesoscale eddies. Two types of experiments are conducted. In the first set, we simulate the behavior of RSOW in the presence of an idealized cyclone and an idealized anticyclone. The second type of simulation involves nesting of the regional model (ROMS) within a data-assimilating global model (HYCOM), in which a sequence of mesoscale eddies entering the Gulf of Aden is realistically captured. This simulation is integrated for one year, and includes a simple representation of the seasonality of the RSOW. Bower et al. (2002) suggest that the Red Sea overflow might be a western boundary undercurrent. Consistent with these expectations, the idealized simulations show that the preferred pathway of the RSOW in the absence of eddies is along the coast of Somalia (southern continental shelf) as a western boundary undercurrent. Simultaneously, a cyclonic circulation is generated in the far western GOA due to vortex stretching by the descending outflow. The presence of a cyclone in the western GOA increases the peak RSOW transport, but the cyclone itself rapidly loses its coherence after interacting with the rough topography in the western GOA. The presence of an anticyclone tends to block the preferred boundary pathway and inhibits the eastward transport of the RSOW. The eddies also result in substantially increased mixing of the RSOW in the western GOA. On the basis of the more realistic ROMS experiment, it is found that the modeled RSOW leaves the western part of the Gulf of Aden in short episodic bursts with transports that are an order of magnitude greater than that associated with the quasi-steady RSOW inflow into GOA. Such enhancement in RSOW transport is shown to be induced by cyclonic eddies that cause a rapid discharge of RSOW from the western part of the GOA. We conclude that mesoscale eddies play a key role in the transport and mixing of the RSOW within GOA.

Source apportionment of the ionic components in precipitation over an urban region in Western India

Inorganic ion concentrations in event-based wet-only precipitation samples collected during the south-west (SW) monsoon at an urban location in Western India, Ahmedabad between July 2000 and September 2002 were measured by Rastogi and Sarin (2007). For the first time at a location in India, an advanced factor analysis model was retrospectively applied to the measured concentrations of ions (Rastogi and Sarin 2007) in precipitation for source apportionment. Positive matrix factorization resolved five factors, including crustal material, sea salt, nitrate/sulfate-rich factor, ammonium-rich factor, and free acidity. Amongst the model-resolved factors, crustal material was the highest contributor to the total dissolved solids (TDS) accounting for 44.1% on average. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) analysis identified source locations along the eastern coast of Somalia, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates for this factor. Sea salt was the second highest contributor accounting for 29.8%. The potential source regions of this factor were also identified in the Arabian Sea and the southern Indian Ocean along the coast of Africa, and the Arabian Gulf. This study also examined the spatial relationships between the source locations of chemical species in precipitation and in ambient aerosol (resolved in an earlier study). Crustal material was the highest contributor to TDS at the study location. Spatial relationships between aerosol and precipitation factor source regions suggested that below-cloud scavenging of aerosol particles was a likely contributor to the chemical species apportioned to various precipitation factors. Additionally, source types of chemical species in precipitation resolved in this study were qualitatively compared with those identified at other locations in India. The comparison showed that soil was an important contributor to the dissolved mass of chemical species in precipitation at all locations in India.

Kenya's Piracy Prosecutions

Kenya became a primary destination for the prosecution of pirates captured off the coast of Somalia from late 2008 to late 2009. Yet none of the pirates being tried in Kenya as of April 2010 were captured by Kenyan armed forces but, rather, by non-Kenyan forces whose countries had signed agreements with Kenya for it to conduct such trials. In Resolution 1851 of December 16, 2008, the United Nations Security Council had urged states and regional organizations to enter into such agreements. Kenya accordingly concluded agreements on prosecuting suspected pirates with the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, and Denmark. According to media reports, and as Kenya recently acknowledged, two others were negotiated, with China and Canada. Only the EU-Kenya agreement has been published. The British foreign secretary told the House of Commons that Kenya did not want its agreement with the United Kingdom to be made public. Consequently, it may well be that a Kenyan preference for secrecy prevented the public release of information on the other agreements signed by Kenya.

Countering Piracy off Somalia: International Law and International Institutions

Dealing with pirates off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean over the past two-plus years has highlighted the international law applicable to countering piracy at sea and the role of international institutions in that effort. This essay seeks to illuminate related issues with a view to improving counterpiracy action.

Improving Policy Responses to Piracy in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Region: What Role for India?

The participation of the Indian navy in anti-piracy operations off the Somali coast is perceived by many as a manifestation of India's apparent willingness to take on a larger role on the global stage. This article explores the possibility for India to play a more important role in solving the Somali piracy crisis. While recognising the limits and short-term impact of the military response, the author argues for the continuation of intervention by foreign navies in the region, the necessity for international consensus on how to deal with the pirates and the implementation of a land-based military response aimed at destroying the pirates' networks. The latter would have for their main objective not to eliminate the threat posed by Somali pirates but to lower its impact. Nevertheless, the author warns against the potential consequences of using military raids and air strikes to counter piracy. In that context, and as a major proponent of the principles of non-intervention and respect of state sovereignty, the greatest challenge India will have to face will be a political one.

A Slow Learner

Back in the 1980s, during one of Sudan's democratic patches, I lived in Khartoum. Tuesday and Thursday nights, just before nine and almost as a ritual, I glanced to the south. After the blasting heat of the day, Lufthansa glided in like clockwork from Frankfurt via Cairo. I could have set my watch by that flight, except I didn't wear one in Khartoum. Nobody did, except for a Saudi I once saw. The face of his watch was crusted over with diamonds. He wanted everyone to see it, and not so they could tell the time. In the days of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, clocks had been more useful. Back then, travelers had almost always come up the Nile by train to Aswan, then gone by white-linen ferry to Wadi Halfa. From there, they took a famously gritty train south across the desert to Khartoum. I remember a Sudanese telling me with cheerful humor that the country under the British worked much better than it did now, but he didn't want the British to return. like an old cartoon that as a boy I didn't get but which my father found very funny. It showed a curmudgeon sitting in a crate and scowling. The caption had him say, It's just a box, but it's my damned box. By the 1980s, the river route was impossible. So were lots of other things. I had--probably still have--a 1950s Khartoum phone book. When conversation lagged, I could whip it out and astonish everyone. Outside, on once-paved streets that were now dirt, tangled wires sagged from pole to pole, like Christmas decorations from another century. The amazing thing was that the phones occasionally worked. I know this because once I was asked to make a contribution to someone's medical fund. I did and was then told to try my phone the next day. When I did, I found I had a dial tone. I couldn't call across town, because nobody over there had made a charitable contribution, but I was able to call the United States. For free. For a few days. Practically, entry and exit from Africa's biggest country depended on Khartoum's one runway. Chaotic on departure, the airport was even worse on arrival. Passengers crowded into a small room that was baking hot, even in the middle of the night. You'd hear a truck drive up, then suitcases being shoved through a hole in the wall. Everybody pushed and sweated to get to that hole. Then they pushed and sweated their way back, this time to the Customs gate. Seeing that Lufthansa plane often reminded me of the last helicopter rising from the Saigon embassy. Years later, after that embassy had been demolished and even after Khartoum had a new terminal, I was walking on a deserted beach at Bentota, on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. Five hundred miles to the west lay the scattered specks of the Laccadives, very easy to miss for anyone on a boat and hard enough to find for anyone up close to the water on Google Earth. Apart from those islands, there was nothing but ocean from here to the Somali coast. The travel industry has very nearly brainwashed the public--me, too--into believing that tropical beaches are the embodiment of paradise, but on this gray, rainy afternoon I thought how I'd feel if the technological net supporting me was suddenly gone. If I knew French, I might now trot out that fine word frisson. Tom Hanks has a movie about this, but there's no need for fiction, because Sri Lanka has a true castaway story. Robert Knox, a British seaman, was shipwrecked on the east coast of the island in 1660. At the order of the King of Kandy, Knox was held captive, first in one village, then in others, for a total of 19 years. He eventually escaped to the coast and made his way back to England, where he became a pet of the Royal Society and wrote a book still in print today. You'd think he would have clung to Albion's shore like grim death, but no, he sailed back to the same waters where he had been shipwrecked. You might think that he was tempting fate, but his luck held. It held even when he made a third voyage. …

The Somali Piracy Problem: A Global Puzzle Necessitating a Global Solution

The Somali Piracy Problem: A Global Puzzle Necessitating a Global Solution

The Challenges of Piracy in Africa’s Maritime Zones

Africa, like the rest of the world, has many maritime resources which could contribute to its development. Unfortunately, these resources are illegally plundered by others. At the same time, free trade and movement in the African waters have been hampered by phenomena such as piracy and organised crime. Indeed, Africa is the subject of renewed strategic focus from the international community over the issue of increased piracy in her waters. The state of the maritime security in Africa is currently an important agenda to the rest of the world. This article is concerned with the challenges of piracy off the Somali coast and in other African waters. Finally, the article identifi es some of the causes and consequences of piracy and proposes some suggestions on how to improve African sea power and the implications for African continental integration

It's a Pirate's Life for Some: The Development of an Illegal Industry in Response to an Unjust Global Power Dynamic

This Note discusses the domestic and international economic effects of the recent surge of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and uses Somali piracy as a method of exploring conflicting ideological conditions that arise from globalization. In exploring the underlying motivations for this trend, it identifies a dichotomy between primary needs satisfaction within underdeveloped nations and the satisfaction of secondary interests in developed nations, and explains how globalization may be exacerbating the turn toward piracy. This Note first discusses the recent rise in piracy and then explores how the contemporary history of Somalia has engendered the upsurge. Next, it considers how piracy has influenced the economy of coastal Somalia, followed by a look at the ideological intersection between primary domestic interests and secondary global interests. Finally, this Note explores some of the international implications of the rise of piracy in Africa, and whether further expansion is a possibility.

The Business of Piracy in Somalia

This paper argues that contrary to conventional wisdom, Somali piracy is likely to increase if Somalia's domestic stability is improved, and that naval counter-piracy efforts had limited and unpredicted effects. To make this argument we analyze the underlying factors driving piracy off the coast of Somalia and examine the effectiveness of the international naval anti-piracy mission. We show that while the navies perform well with respect to their declared aims, they failed to resolve the piracy problem through 2009: pirates were not deterred from attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and have expanded their operations in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Evidence from domestic conditions in Somalia suggests that land-based approaches focusing on rebuilding state capabilities may also backfire as economic development and greater stability aid pirates. We examine the incentives of the various interest groups in the Gulf of Aden and conclude that the key players have an interest in the continuation of the piracy off Somalia, as long as violence does not escalate and ransoms remain at their current modest levels.

Air‐sea interaction over the upwelling region of the Somali coast

During the southwest monsoon, two upwelling cells are established along the Somali coast, around 4°N–5°N and 10°N. The sea surface temperatures (SSTs) over these regions can fall to about 22°C on average during this time. Using satellite‐derived data, the covariability in wind and SST is examined for the months of June–August 2005, a particularly strong upwelling season. In July 2005, when a strong localized upwelling event occurred near 4°N–5°N, the Somali Jet, which establishes itself along the coast during June–August, was found to have oscillated at a frequency of about 4–8 weeks. High covariability in mesoscale winds and SSTs were found over the upwelling region. The observed covariability of wind and SSTs is argued to be the result of SST modulation of the atmospheric stability such that over warm temperatures, the unstable atmosphere brings down high winds, and over cold temperatures, the stable atmosphere decelerates the surface winds. These SST‐induced changes in the lower atmosphere lead to changes in wind stress divergence and a dipole in wind stress curl across the cold filament with negative (positive) curl upstream (downstream) of the cold tongue.