Combating Piracy In The Gulf Of Aden : Winning The Battle But Not The War?

Efforts to contain piracy in the Gulf of Aden, a spot of bother for shipping lines and many other stakeholders in maritime trade due to the high number of pirate attacks in the strategic waterway, have been lauded as much as criticized. The presence of multinational forces in the area, under the ‘blessing’ of a United Nations resolution to
fight piracy in the Gulf, can potentially trigger new strategic and geo-political dynamics that may affect other similar sealanes. Concerns are also growing if the ‘vigilante’ approach of the foreign navies to confront the threat of piracy in the waters will just address the symptom and not the root cause of the problem. This paper discusses these issues and calls for a holistic approach to effectively neutralise the threat by addressing the land-based issues that have created political chaos in Somalia and the socio-economic factors driving pirates to take to the sea and carry out their dirty deeds.