Amajor shipping line in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin has come under heavy attack over the recent past, effectively disrupting trade and commerce between the eastern and western seaboards. With green bucks raining from the blue skies above, the skinny, thick-skinned, gun-totting pirates from the war-torn Horn of Africa nation have become emboldened as they venture deeper into international waters, ready to prey on their next hostage ship.
Suddenly, the world has come to acknowledge the presence of this lawless state and must come up with an amicable solution to deal with the piracy menace that threatens not only commercial shipping corridors, but regional and international security as well.
Kenya has been at the forefront of halting the piracy menace as it seeks a global solution through bilateral agreements with other nations such as the United States and the European Union to prosecute and incarcerate suspected pirates nabbed by the multi-national naval forces currently deployed in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin.
Read Denis Gathanju's feature that explores the various avenues that Kenya and other foreign governments have introduced or seek to introduce with a view to halting the piracy menace as well as to bring about lasting peace in Somalia by proposing new ways to tackle the run away clan militias and Islamic militias such as the Al Shabaab. The feature was recently published by Australia's Baird Maritime and Ships and Shipping magazines.