Oil interests behind anti-piracy campaign in Africa

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has become an international problem. The UN Security Council, the EU, NATO, US and other countries are looking for a proper solution.

Analysts and experts are trying to find out what caused a new outbreak of piracy at sea, a phenomenon more typical for the 16-18th centuries rather than present days. Mr. Alexander Tkachenko, the Chairman of the Centre for North African and African Horn Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, sees the roots of the problem in Somalia`s political and economical situation:

The people of Somalia have been living in chaos for 20 years already. Nothing there could remind of a centralized state. The people suffer from poor living conditions and earn money for life as they can. Piracy is one of the “exotic” businesses.

The problem can also be viewed from another angle, although this aspect is being hushed up deliberately. The first signs of chaos were seen in Somalia in 1990s after some oil deposits were discovered there. Big oil was also found in Sudan and Ethiopia. Experts say the African Horn is one of the most promising regions in terms of oil production. After the failure of the US Iraqi campaign, the West has been displaying a growing interest in Africa. It is not a secret any longer that the invasion of Iraq was driven by the US oil interests there.

Some western companies have already launched the development of energy resources in Ethiopia, with Sudan, Somalia and other regions standing next in the line. Oil in Eastern Africa is of high quality, and its production and transportation do not requite huge investments. The US and Europe are discussing already the construction of the pipelines towards the Atlantics and the Indian Ocean. The West hopes that the development of the region`s energy resources will cause further drop in world oil prices and will undermine the economies of the exporting countries.

To succeed, the West has to seize control over the African Horn, and the easiest way is to use the growing instability and outbreak of piracy as a pretext to increase its presence in the region. NATO ships and the contingents form US and EU are arriving in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean allegedly to protect trade and passenger vessels from piracy attacks, but their presence has not changed anything though. Their ships are too big to hunt small pirate boats. Actually, their aim is to increase presence in this strategically important region, while the Somali pirates are just pawns in the game invented overseas.

~ Voice of Russia ~