London to host international conference on Somalia

The 17th international conference on Somalia is opening in London on February 23. Hosted by the UN Security Council member state, this high-level meeting is taking on a particular meaning. 

The London conference on Somalia brings together delegations from 40 countries and international organizations, with the UN chief Ban Ki-moon scheduled to deliver a speech. The Russian delegation is led by the chairman of the Committee for Foreign Affairs in the Federation Council of Russia, Mikhail Margelov. 

The conference is expected to discover an approach to handling numerous difficulties currently faced by the people of Somalia: piracy, hunger and corruption. Since 2009 Somalia has received a 1 billion euro aid package from the EU alone. Nevertheless, doubts remain whether the country receives financial and humanitarian assistance in full. 

The upcoming conference in London could mark another step towards a settlement in Somalia. The British Prime Minister David Cameron commented on the issue in an interview with the BBC.

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"The problems are very deep and the challenges are very great. I do see some signs of progress. I think you see that in terms of what AMISOM has achieved in Mogadishu. I think you see it in terms of the growth of this entities blow the origin of the Somalia state itself. And I think the world is now focused on this issue. I think Ash Shabaab which has been extraordinary destructive is now on the back foot. So I think for all these reasons there is some hope that we can chart a better way forward so that Somalia becomes more of a functioning state."

Time will tell if Mr. Cameron was right. In the meantime, Somali remains a hotbed of tensions and a source of threats to the rest of the world. David Cameron admits that organization al-Shabab is linked to al-Qaeda, and ‘encourages violent jihad not just in Somalia but also outside Somalia’. It is so, indeed, not to mention Somali piracy off the Horn of Africa. 

According to a report by the One Earth Future Foundation, in 2011 Somali piracy cost the international economy about $7 billion. Ship owners spent $11.6 billion on security last year, while pirates got a record sum of $160 million in ransom, twice as much as in 2010. This year is not going to be an exception. In the very first days of January the pirates got a $4 million ransom for releasing the Malta-flagged ship seized in December of 2011. 

Since the situation has turned critical, urgent steps are required on the international level to fight Somali pirate activity. NATO and the EU warships have long been patrolling the waters off Somalia, together with the navies of Russia and China. It is, however, evident that the problem is deeply rooted inside Somalia. The UNSC is voting on Wednesday to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to increase the number of troops there to 17,731 from the current 12,000. 

Pirates used to be hanged at yard arms in the past. Today, effective maritime law is required to fight sea piracy successfully. As long as the world leaders fail to speed up their efforts, sea piracy will remain one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Something more is needed than the London conference on Somalia to force pirates to surrender arms.