Somalia Wants a Coast Guard

The challenges of building local maritime security forces for Somalia are emmense, as there really is a shortage of good guys to work with. It is interesting how the transitional government of Somalia frames the discussion, they expect the world to provide them with a coast guard.

According to the general director of the Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation ministry, Dr. Mohamed Jama Ali, although Somalia wants buccaneers to be rooted out "we are not happy with NATO’s one-sided statement which shows that the military alliance does not recognize the transitional federal government of Somalia."

The government believes that NATO’s announcement will rather help illegal fishing in Somali waters, he told APA on Monday morning during an interview.

“We asked the international community to help us reform our naval forces who will be able to wipe out piracy off the coast of Somalia. But NATO made its own decision without informing the Somali government which is responsible of the coast of the Horn of Africa,” he added.

It isn't a bad idea, but the politics make this very challenging. There are very few good guys in Somalia, and those that you would call the good guys usually have no power and are constantly on the run. The power brokers in power today could be gone by next year, and the cost and commitment required to help Somalia is a burden that no one wishes to carry.

NATO doesn't need permission to operate in Somalian waters though, the UN has already established the legitimacy of those operations. This is one of those cases where both sides have legitimate concerns, but conditions aren't right to put both sides at the table capable of hammering out a meaningful resolution. Until Somalia can stand up a legitimate government, or until the West decides to work directly with the autonomous regions without the support of the transitional government, the assistance desired in the transitional governments plea here will go unanswered.

In a generic sense this also highlights the limitations of the Navy's own Maritime Strategy. Sure it would be great to build up local forces and have them police their own territories, but as Afghanistan and Iraq has shown, you better have the locals support because without it the theory goes nowhere. What is the plan of action when the locals aren't the type you can work with, or have demands that make diplomatic agreements impossible? Well, the answer to date has been to wait until the problem becomes global in scope so it then requires the rest of the world to take action. That isn't necessarily a terrible thing, but what happens when very terrible stuff happens while you observe a problem while doing nothing.

Guess we will find out if Israel decides to attack Iran.