Instability in Yemen and the Horn of Africa is fuelling a resurgence in maritime piracy off Somalia, raising concern along one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
At least three incidents have been recorded off the Somali coast this month, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations, the naval body that links military forces with merchant vessels.
The developments echo the havoc Somali pirates inflicted across the East African seaboard for more than a decade.
Piracy reached its height in 2011 with 176 reported attacks, and a 2009 hijacking formed the basis of the Oscar-nominated film Captain Phillips, starring Tom Hanks.
The threat later diminished following heightened international naval patrols, including those led by the European Union Naval Force (EU Navfor), the widespread deployment of armed guards on commercial ships, and the strengthening of Somalia’s central government.
EU Navfor’s Operation Atalanta, which patrols Somali waters, said instability fuelled by the Houthis in Yemen — designated a terrorist organisation by the United States — as well as tensions among regional states and internal conflicts, is being “understood by the pirate networks as an opportunity to resume piracy attempts.”
Atalanta recently freed a Maltese-flagged tanker near Eyl, a coastal town once notorious as a piracy hub. “Piracy was suppressed, but not eradicated,” the mission said.
Five incidents were reported in the waters off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden in the nine months to September, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which has voiced concern over “last week’s series of piracy incidents in the Indian Ocean.”
Somalia’s lawmakers approved new anti-piracy legislation on Monday in an effort to deter a wider resurgence. Yet the state continues to lack the resources and institutional capacity to combat maritime crime independently, relying heavily on foreign military protection for key government facilities and officials.
The country, which secured $4.5 billion in debt relief from international lenders in 2023, is still emerging from decades of civil war and remains engaged in battles against militias aligned with global extremist networks.
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