Cenk Alican JTW Columnist Letters from Germany printable version send your friend message to author add comment ()

Tuesday, 30 December 2008

In December the EU`s Marine Mission “Eunafor Atalanta” started operating around the Horn of Africa. It is for the first time in this framework that Germany receives a robust international mandate to combat pirate activities off the Somali coast. The German government took decision to contribute the mission with its frigate Karlsruhe and 1,400 troops after an according bill was passed through parliament.   

It was a nail-biting moment for German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier (Social Democrat Party) when he spoke to parliament two weeks ago trying to convince lawmakers of approving a government bill that would give permission to German armed forces to take part in an international anti-piracy mission of the EU. Steinmeier argued that the mission and a German contribution were necessary to protect the remaining bit of order in a country which is shaken by clan rivalries since many years. Somalia offers a retreat area for criminal pirates who attack trade and civil ships violently and hold hostages to ransom. High sums of ransom are paid to release hostages. The money is transferred to European capitals and is used to finance the rivaling clans which weaken the central government and cut the former Italian colony into pieces of uncontrolled interests. It was just in September that Somali pirates hijacked a Ukrainian vessel or the Saudi tanker Sirius Star carrying crude oil worth US$ 100 million in November. The shipping rout along the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa is used by 30 percent of oil trade and 12 percent of worldwide maritime trade[1]. Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung described the mission`s target precisely saying that German troops will frighten off, prevent and if necessary eliminate sea crime.

Opposition parties criticized the entire mission or pointed at essential lacks of the mandate. Some opposition MPs who were able to view the secret combat rules in a special room said that the EU mission involving half a dozen ships, three reconnaissance aircrafts and unmanned drones cannot operate effectively in an observation sea area of one million square kilometers. Commentators state that depending on weather conditions between 90 and 500 ships would be necessary to fulfill the task successfully[2]. Parts of the Greens and the Left Party voted against the mission bill which foresees a cost volume of € 45 million and is limited to the end of 2009[3].        

The UN Resolution 1851[4] dated 16 December 2008 was an initiative of Belgium, France, Greece, Liberia and South Korea and it is the fourth one to be released regarding Somalia since June [5]. The latest resolution does not permit the use of Somali airspace, but it authorizes active combat on soil unless approved by the Somali government[6]. But German forces were not authorized for this soil combat by parliament. The mission shall escort aid shipments and civil ships to Somalia and keep them out of the hands of pirates. As attacks on German troops in Afghanistan have been increasing since last year the German Armed Forces Association asked the government for intensified security measures for the soldiers and demanded an increase of monthly salaries for troops in abroad missions[7].

The legal state of the mission is more than complicated. It is a question about what to do with pirates being arrested during the mission. Danish maritime forces handled pirates over to the coastguard of Yemen as the legal situation was not clarified[8], British forces did the same and French forces set pirates free after having kept them arrested for a few hours[9]. The strict division between police and military enforcement is a sensitive key issue. It is out of doubt that military forces are authorized to attack a pirate ship in case of violent action, but it is a police task to detent the pirates. So, the German government has been struggling to find a solution since a while. High-ranked authorities stated that the target of the mission is not to arrest pirates but to prevent any action of sea robbery[10]. Minister of State Christian Schmidt (Christian Democrat Party) suggested the establishment of a new “Court of Piracy” under the umbrella of UN[11]. U.S. Maritime Forces operating in the Mediterranean Sea have found a compromise solution. A Coast Guard officer is on board of military ships. This could be solution for European forces too.     

But nobody should cherish illusions about this anti-piracy mission. The piracy itself is just one side effect of the cancer in a failed state that bears candies for terrorists and radical Islamic movements. Most pirates are fishermen who lost their jobs due to clan fights and misleading EU policies on African states. It would be more effective to stabilize Somalia politically and to cut the financial sources of clan leaders.