It has become a cliche to say that the answer to Somali piracy will be found on land rather than at sea. Yet it remains true - and one potential answer could prove distinctly unpalatable for the West. The shipping community will note that by the end of 2010 more than a thousand seafarers had found themselves on the wrong end of a pirate AK-47. In addition, it should also be noted that Somalia was left poised on a knife edge. It is better to focus on the central and southern regions of the nation, because to afford Somalia as a whole the status of a country would imply that it showed some of the hallmarks of a functioning sovereign state. In reality, the entire economy is black, its major regions operate autonomously and the country has been in a state of civil war for two decades.
展开▼
