The fight against sea-based crimes has received a major boost
after Somalia joined the list of states that have committed to restrict
movement of suspected ships and individuals.
Somalia —
long considered the natural haven of Indian Ocean pirates — from
November 4 became the 14th signatory to the Jeddah Amendment to the
Djibouti Code of Conduct.
In a statement, the
International Maritime Organisation secretariat said Somalia’s minister
of Marine Transport and Ports, Mariam Aweis, deposited the instrument at
its London headquarters on December 1.
Somalia joins
Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Jordan, Madagascar,
Maldives and Mozambique which had earlier signed the Code. Other
signatories are Saudi Arabia, Seychelles United Arab Emirates, and
Yemen.
The signatories will share information,
intercept ships suspected of engaging sea-based crimes and apprehend
(and prosecute) suspects.
The entry of Somalia is
particularly of interest to Eastern Africa shippers because piracy is
seen as one of the offshoots of its many outlawed groups.
The
Djibouti Code of Conduct was itself developed as an instrument for
repressing piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian
Ocean and Gulf of Aden regions.
It is set to take
effect barely 10 months after 18 states amended the Djibouti Code in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in January 2017 to widen its scope.
The
changes expanded the instrument to cover piracy, arms trafficking,
trafficking in narcotics and illegal trade in wildlife. It also covers
illegal oil bunkering, crude oil theft, human trafficking, human
smuggling and illegal dumping of toxic waste.
The
countries which have signed the Code are supposed to cooperate “to the
fullest possible extent” to repress transnational organised maritime
crime.
Kenya – and other East African signatories –
however have the immediate interest in the instrument’s ability to
suppress piracy. More than 85 per cent of Kenya’s Sh2 trillion trade is
conducted by sea.
Last year Kenya imported goods worth
Sh1.4 trillion and exported Sh581 billion. The country imports both the
finished goods and industrial inputs.
A
consumer in Kenya has had, for instance, to bear the burden of
sea-based crime as ships pass on extra costs incurred via longer freight
routes and increased insurance premiums.
Ships have
also been forced to hire private security firms to provide onboard
services at an average cost of Sh2.3 million ($21,700) per month,
raising cost of freight.
Kenya, one of the African
states that has contributed troops for the UN’s African Union Mission in
Somalia (Amisom) also believes it loses at least Sh10 billion annually
to trawlers which engage in deep sea’s illegal, unregulated and
unreported (IUU) fishing.
While they generally welcome
the signing of the Djibouti Code, observers say Somalia still has a lot
of unfinished business on its table.
Only last month,
the 15-member UN Security Council adopted a resolution asking Somali
authorities to continue passing comprehensive anti-piracy laws to boost
the international fight against sea-based crimes.
The
resolution also asked the war-torn state to establish security agencies
to enforce the laws and to strengthen the capacity of its courts to
prosecute pirates.
The Security Council also want
Somalia to enact a piece of legislation allowing its agencies to
facilitate prosecution of suspected pirates off its Coast.
In
October, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a division of the
International Chamber of Commerce that tracks crimes on the oceans,
raised the alarm on lack of rules for private security firms being hired
by vessels to keep pirates at bay.
“If the activities
of these armed maritime security teams continue to be largely
ungoverned, the actions of some unaccountable actors could increase
incidents of violence at sea and possibly hinder efforts to pursue
sustainable rule of law solutions to maritime criminality,” says Oceans
Beyond Piracy (OBP), an American non-profit organisation that tracks
criminality in the high seas.
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