Somali pirates and Al-Qaeda – smells fishy?

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Published 26 November, 2008, 16:07

Piracy is the new terrorism, word has it. Or is it, as it has been suggested by the Pentagon, simply a new branch of the old terrorism which is the leading issue for US security concerns?

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The US-Africa Command head, General William Ward, has pointed out that there is no evidence of links between Somalian pirates and Al-Qaeda, despite reports of such ties emerging earlier this week. Nevertheless, now that such a concern has been expressed by the US State Department, questions are being posed about the reasoning behind the US presence in the area and its eventual consequences.

The comments were made after the arrival of five armoured vehicles loaded with al-Shabab fighters. The al-Shabab militia is an offshoot of an Islamic party that ruled much of Somalia in the second half of 2006 and aims to impose Islamic sharia law in the country. It was forced from power by Ethiopian troops but continues to fight for control.

The US State Department included the group in its list of terrorist organisations and declared its affiliation with Al-Qaeda. According to statements issued on Monday, the Pentagon is concerned that the extremist group might be planning to share the pirates’ spoils. Previously it had been stated that if a connection with terrorism was established, the US would send a stronger military contingent to the area.

However, General William Ward noted on Wednesday that despite piracy being a growing issue of global concern, there was no actual proof that the group responsible for the Somali troubles was linked with Islamic terrorism.

“I do not have any evidence that the pirates have links with Al-Qaeda. We may speculate and think about it, but I personally do not have any evidence,” Ward told reporters.

Nevertheless, he affirmed the fact that the deteriorating political situation onshore in Somalia was part of the problem in conducting the anti-piracy operations in the area. It is an established fact that the political tensions are caused by Islamic polemics, fitting into the more global map of the US international concerns.

Red herring?

According to Dmitry Evstafiev from the Russian Institute of US & Canada, whether the emerged information was a red herring or not, it clearly demonstrates a potent US desire to unite all security threats under a common ideological banner.

The key issue in the whole situation, according to Evstafiev, is why the US naval grouping, which is permanently based around the Horn of Africa has been so reluctant to take any action against the constantly increasing threat. The expert points out that it may be an attempt to analyse the mechanism of controlling and transporting oil from Saudi Arabia. Evstafiev sees two possible reason's behind the US's passive position in the area.

“Either they want to be called forth to provide security for the oil tankers and receive money in return, or they want to take over the commercial path which goes via Cape Town,” he told RT.

However, according to General William Ward, the US is not inert, it is simply fully assessing the situation.

“Piracy is a very complex issue. The oceans are large oceans. I don't know if you would ever have enough vessels to have coverage of the entire ocean,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Furthermore, Al-Qaeda specifically and Islamic terrorism in general is increasingly abstract in the modern global situation. As political theorist Viktor Mizin, who used to be an advisor to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told RT, it was this same claim that was used as an excuse by the US to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

In this instance, however, Mizin suggests that the reasons for inferring a link to terrorism are different from those proposed before the Iraq campaign: “Al-Qaeda itself is, undoubtedly, an organisation that really exists, but it’s difficult to imagine its frail leader manipulating such an intricate global network, similar to the Spectre organisation in a James Bond film,” he adds.

Seeds of change?

It is unclear whether the US policy of uniting all security threats under the common banner of international Islamic terrorism will change with the coming of Obama's administration to office. According to Mizin, Obama's team is too politically diverse to initiate any significant change.

“The Democrats are very diverse and, if they do share significant points of agreement in terms of home policy, the situation is different when it comes to the international arena. Many have a clearly negative attitude to events within the Islamic countries and in the light of Obama’s inexperience in international politics US foreign policy could become increasingly destabilised,” the politologist said.

Nevertheless, Mizin points out that the link between piracy and Islamic extremism is not a fabricated one. Pirates operating in the Malayan Channel (rather a distance away from the Horn of Africa) have proven and established connections with extremist Islamic organisations, and this is not the only instance.

However, as both Evstafiev and Mizin agree, the suggestion of a link between the Somalian pirates and Al-Qaeda is, if not ridiculous, then clearly an unlikely one. They both point out that piracy should be tackled as an independent international concern, which is unlike any other that the world community has to deal with at the moment.

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