Maritime Piracy

996 Words4 Pages
There is an important issue that is growing and effecting international relations and trade, this issue is Maritime piracy. There are many definitions of maritime piracy and these differ between countries and several international organizations such as the International Maritime Bureau and the International Maritime Organization, which will be discussed in-depth later. A general definition of maritime piracy according to the Britannica Encyclopedia is any robbery or other violent action, for private ends and without authorization by public authority, committed on the seas or in the air outside the normal jurisdiction of any state (Britannica encyclopedia ). Maritime piracy is not a problem that is solely based in the Horn of Africa, it happens…show more content…
According to Lee Wengraf, during the 1980’s the United States had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Somalia for the use of military bases and access to the Port of Berbera, and after the decade of military aid and structural adjustment prohrams, the seeds were sowed for a developing crisis in Somalia (Wengraf, 2008). The International Monetary Funds (IMF) policies weakened somalia’s economy and combined with drought conditions facing the country, civil war broke out. This would lead to humanitarian intervention by the United States and the United…show more content…
There are many trade routes throughout the oceans, but one of the most important is the route that goes through the Gulf of Aden, which lies in the region in the Horn of Africa. The Gulf of Aden connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea which is an extension of the Indian Ocean. The geography of the Gulf of Aden is important to note for the fact that there is a choke point where the Gulf ends and turns into the Red Sea. Choke points are geographical features that present exposure due to the narrow width. The choke point in the Gulf of Aden is known as the Bab el-Mandeb strait, is an area that is narrow in width, which makes it vulnerable. In order to access the Suez Canal, ships must navigate through the strait. The strait is a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Another motive for this study is the fact that a large number of attacks occur in this region annually. The world’s oceans cover more than seventy percent of the earth’s surface; the region in the Horn of Africa has seen a tremendous increase of piratical attacks. The waters in the Horn of Africa represent just a small portion of the world’s oceans, but represent a large portion of pirate
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