Vol. 73/No. 17      May 4, 2009

This move comes as the latest effort by the U.S. rulers to establish political stability in this East African country, wracked by immense economic underdevelopment stemming from imperialist domination. The toilers there have been subjected to nearly two decades of civil war between competing Islamist and other procapitalist factions.

“We are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region,” stated President Barack Obama April 13, making clear that further U.S. military action is being considered.

Vice Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, told the media a day earlier that U.S. ships could only do so much and that “the ultimate solution for piracy is on the land.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that this should involve “going after” pirate bases inside Somalia. This could include targeted Special Operations strikes. She added that new efforts are also under way to freeze pirates’ assets.

The push for military intervention comes after pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama cargo ship off the coast of Somalia, taking captain Richard Phillips hostage.

U.S. Navy Seals shot dead three of the four individuals holding the ship’s captain on a lifeboat April 12. The other person, Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, was taken into U.S. custody and is being brought to New York to face trial.

Three U.S. warships, including the destroyer Bainbridge, were in the area around the lifeboat.

U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates described the pirates as “untrained teenagers” aged 17 to 19.

Last December, the U.S. government secured a resolution from the United Nations Security Council granting “all necessary means” for military operations on Somali territory, in its airspace, and territorial waters supposedly to go after pirates.

Warships from some 16 countries, including the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, China, Russia, India, Iran, and South Korea, are deployed off the coast of Somalia, including hundreds of miles into the Gulf of Aden in so-called counter-piracy patrols. Some of the operations are organized as part of a U.S.-led coalition, some others by the European Union in its first naval operation.

French forces attacked what they claimed was a pirate “mother ship” in the Indian Ocean April 15, detaining 11 people they accuse of being pirates. According to a statement by the European Union’s Maritime Security Center, the “mother ship” was actually a 30-foot boat floating 460 miles off the Somali coast.

In the early 1990s Somali fisherman armed themselves to confront foreign capitalist fishing fleets illegally entering Somalia’s waters. Somali capitalists have transformed their effort into a lucrative piracy business.

There were 122 pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia last year, two in January and February of this year, and 15 in March, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Agence France-Presse reports that pirates now hold at least 17 ships and more than 250 hostages for ransom. “Pirates have generally treated hostages well,” reported Reuters, “sometimes roasting goat meat for them and even passing phones around so they can call loved ones.”

Washington’s attempts over the past two decades to “stabilize” the region included a 1993-94 failed invasion of Somalia. In December 2006 Ethiopian troops with U.S. military support invaded the country to oust the Somali Islamic Courts Council and replace it with an imperialist-backed transitional regime.

Somalia’s current prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, has offered to provide information to assist Washington in going after pirate leaders. He told AP April 16 that pirates have become so wealthy and powerful that they threaten his government. He is calling for the United States and the European Union to build up military forces and establish outposts along Somalia’s coastline.
 
 
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