
Somali piracy: More sophisticated than you thought - mblakele
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21588942-new-study-reveals-how-somali-piracy-financed-more-sophisticated-you
======
KhalidLondon
Somalia is actually very tech-savvy and entrepreneurial considering 20+ years
without govt. Most services are provided by the private sector and NGOs. As
there is no Central Bank, considerable amount of money comes into the country
through transfers from the Somali diaspora. Somalis have disrupted disruption!

There are so many problems in this country and startups can definitely
contribute to solving some of these problems. Piracy just like any other
organised crime is sophisticated and has international players.

In case you are wondering, I am a Somali. And no, I am not a pirate.

~~~
kvnn
Email me if you'd like to go over some ideas, I like such things. My address
is in my profile. Cheers!

------
tedks
Seems like a market sector ripe for disruption! All those pirates have mobile
phones, and soon they'll have smartphones -- what's going to be the Uber for
piracy?

As a _huge_ plus, visa law is _fantastic_ in Somalia. Great place to
bootstrap.

~~~
Nux
Let us know how you managed. :D

------
brianbreslin
This is interesting, though I'm curious how basic or archaic did the author
think their operations were? Did he assume it was a bunch of poor Somalis on
handmade rafts going out there and hijacking boats?

Do most ships now employ private security onboard during their travels through
that region?

Has anyone plotted a map that is public of piracy events worldwide? Would love
to see a heatmap or something of it.

~~~
mblakele
"Has anyone plotted a map that is public of piracy events worldwide? Would
love to see a heatmap or something of it."

Try [http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-
piracy-m...](http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map)

~~~
diggan
If you look at that map, Nigeria seems far more active 2013 then Somalia. Too
bad it's only for 2013.

~~~
abrowne
[http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/opinion/international/a...](http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/opinion/international/al-
shabab-fights-the-pirates.html)

"Al Shabab has been terrific at stamping out piracy from its ports, due to its
harsh interpretation of Shariah and the personal animus between profit-seeking
pirates and Islamist militants.

[...]

"Now that Al Shabab is in retreat, the emerging power vacuum in Somalia’s
southern ports may lead to ‘sweet-spot’ conditions for pirates to resurface."

------
ritchiea
Looking forward to reading about a Somali YC for early stage pirate groups.

~~~
ujsfdo
How can we disrupt incumbent piracy inefficiencies?

~~~
britta
These jokes seem kind of tasteless when talking about armed gangs that hold
people hostage and sometimes kill people.

~~~
sirrocco
If you think like that about jokes, you'll have a hard time laughing at most
of them.

------
netcan
Why does every article about somali pirates always bring up qat? It's popular
in a lot of places and it's barely a narcotic, maybe half a step up from
coffee. Do they think chewing qat is what is making them pirates?

Most places where it is illegal but popular don't even bother to enforce the
ban.

~~~
test1235
Yeah, I was curious about this too. There did seem to be an over-emphasis in
the article, for what I believed to be common and mild stimulant.

------
Nick_C
Elmore Leonard wrote "Djibouti" about the Somali pirate operations. He must
have researched it pretty thoroughly because everything in the Economist
article is in the book.

If you want a nice thriller and, at the same time, get some background into
the pirate operations, give it a go. It's a great read.

------
rdl
Seems like it would be far easier to wage a brief naval campaign (using
contractors, UAVs, and a naval quarantine) than to either continue suffering
losses from piracy (both the ships lost and decreased trade), or to fix
Somalia. Going after the money would probably cripple trade with Somalia even
more than a board/search/execute policy on any ship leaving a 12nm exclusion
zone with weapons.

~~~
gadders
Pompey managed it 2,000 years ago:

[http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/pompey/qt/02411-Pompey-
an...](http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/pompey/qt/02411-Pompey-and-The-
Pirates.htm)

------
knassy
Why is it a surprise that where there's money to be made there's smart,
motivated, savvy, ruthless people trying to get in on the action?

~~~
dopamean
Because they come from a poor African country. If you are from a poor African
country and you do anything other than run a marathon, live in a mud hut, or
contract HIV people in the West are shocked.

------
jlgreco
Between this and the recent stories of mass elephant poisonings and high-tech
rhino/elephant poachers, I find it increasingly hard to relate with the _" We
should dampen our judgement of these people, because they are poor and their
families are starving"_ argument.

~~~
eaurouge
_I find it increasingly hard to relate with the "We should dampen our
judgement of these people, because they are poor and their families are
starving" argument._

Are you referring to Somali pirates or pirates in general?

~~~
jlgreco
I am not particularly aware of modern non-Somalian pirates.

~~~
greglindahl
Did you try: [http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-
piracy-m...](http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map)

As you can see, there is a cluster off Nigeria related to the unrest in the
Delta, and another around Singapore, which is a choke-point.

~~~
jlgreco
I _understand_ that there are pirates elsewhere, let me rephrase: The only
stories I regularly see about pirates are Somalian pirates, and the only times
I have heard the _" you should have some sympathy, they are poor and
starving"_ line is in the context of stories about Somalian pirates. This
story is about Somalian pirates. So yes, I am talking about Somalian pirates.

------
smoyer
I see several potential products that are ready for an agile, Silicon Valley
start-up with a forward-thinking MVP. I think the people who track the Qat
consumption during a raid would pay a monthly subscription for a Qatulator
(Qat Calculator).

Any other ideas?

------
spiritplumber
Is there any money in pirate hunting? I would think not....

~~~
test1235
Bounty hunting, maybe ...

