What I learned from the Somali pirates

Aidan Hartley says that Somali piracy is very well-organised and efficient and is opposed publicly only by militant Muslims — who may yet seize power in Mogadishu

The ceaseless piracy off Somalia’s shores — another, Singaporean tanker was hijacked last week — is giving rise to a modern, real-life version of the novel Scoop. Evelyn Waugh’s book is set in Africa’s troubled state of Ishmaelia, where one foreign correspondent breaks a big story from a place called Laku. As soon as it is published, Fleet Street editors begin clamouring for copy from Laku, so the press corps rush into the jungle where they become utterly lost. No wonder. It turns out laku means ‘I don’t know’ in Ishmaelite — and the correspondent is writing secretly from his hotel room in the capital.

Somalia today is a bit like Laku. Editors are begging for stories about the pirates’ latest catch; about the Saudi supertanker still being held hostage at anchor off the eastern Somali coast; about the chemical tanker Biscaglia which was nabbed a few days ago in the Gulf of Aden. But if they were honest, instead of rushing out to Somalia to be kidnapped — like the four poor journalists abducted last week — the press corps would simply confess, ‘I don’t know.’ There are too many laptop bombadiers writing acres of colour and analysis from the safety of London and Nairobi about this latter-day Laku. It’s time to sit back and consider the real story.

The first obvious truth is that the pirates are making millions and shipping companies are beginning to avoid the Suez route in favour of the longer, more expensive one around the Cape of Good Hope, because nothing seems to deter the pirates. Patrolling by international navies has formed a kind of blockade, but look at the Biscaglia.