CIAO DATE: 02/2009
January 2009
Danish Institute for International Studies
This DIIS Brief by Senior Researcher Bjoern Moeller explains the phenomenon as a combination of "push" and "pull" factors, the former forcing and the latter luring Somalis into piracy. The international counter-piracy efforts are surveyed critically, and the brief concludes with a partly optimistic prediction: Piracy is likely to decline, either because international shipping shifts to routes south of Africa or because Islamist groups take control of the country and manage to suppress piracy, just as it happened in the autumn of 2006.
Resource link: Piracy off the Coasts of Somalia [PDF] - 201K