With Famine and Drought, Somalian Pirates Are Making A Come Back

The largest famine recorded in Somalian history is creating conditions forcing Somalians to piracy for survival.

            On March 14^th, a group of Somali pirates raided and captured a commercial ship for the first time since 2012. While the pirate life is almost completely dead upon entering the modern era, the Somali pirates remain off the coast of Africa. According to the New York Times, the ship taken was an oil tanker named, “Aris 13” that carried a crew of eight citizens from Sri Lanka. The ship itself belongs to Aurora Ship Management, a business in the United Arab Emirates.

            Somalian citizens may be trying to make a comeback as pirates as a last effort for survival. Sadly, a giant famine due to an extended drought is taking place in Somalia, which may be the cause for an uptick in Somalian pirate activity. Given no other option, local fisherman and other Somalians are making extreme efforts to provide for their families. Volunteers from the Red Cross are currently deployed and trying to help the situation the best they can, yet efforts have not alleviated the conditions.

            An article from the Telegraph says some children, “die without names” being unable to survive long enough to be named. One village in Somalia has experience 10 deaths like this one due to malnutrition. The mother of one boy lives on a single meal of rice a day. Due to the lack of food, she was unable to produce milk for her child.

            Given such a dire situation, one can see how Somalians are trying any method possible to ensure their survival. To quickly resolve such a disaster and avoid more piracy attacks that were common in 2012 NATO along with over deployed nations should pledge aide to build irrigation systems throughout Somalia and other undeveloped countries. Instead of shipping over supplies which are burned through almost immediately, we need to set up these second and third world countries to grow just like first world nations did. The basis for this growth is infrastructure and local government.

            We could not only save thousands of lives, but we could shape the entire world into a model for success based after successful first world countries. These smaller countries would emerge after the successful completion of securing stability. These dreams are not of a far-fetched utopia, but a realistic goal that could be matched with the innovation of technology and the correct philosophy that dictates overall well-being of the masses over special treatment of the elites.  According to Business Insider, the eight richest people in the world have more wealth than the entire bottom 50 percent of human beings on earth.

            Until we sort out those issues within our own politics and focus on bettering the world around us we can escape the threat of not just Somalian pirates, but famine and death. Let’s change the world for the better, not change the world for ourselves.