Another Human Tragedy at Sea

The death of over 100 people after their boat reportedly capsized in the Gulf of Aden on Jan. 14, is the latest incident of its kind in which desperate Somalis and Ethiopians lose their lives at sea in the most tragic way imaginable. We are already aware that since 1991, thousands of Somalis and a lesser number of Ethiopians have either drowned or died from dehydration and hunger as the boats carrying them sank or allegedly developed engine failure.

It was only in last November when over 30 Ethiopians and Somalis were reported to have died while 30 others went missing off the coast of Yemen as they tried to immigrate to Yemen and beyond. In the preceding month of October, at least 70 people who left for Yemen on a boat died from starvation as they were left adrift off the coast of Somalia for more than 2 weeks.

These latest events are just an example and not exhaustive of the so many boat tragedies that have occurred since 1991 at the southern gates of the Red Sea. What is even more tragic is that they will re-occur again and again unless something is done to prevent them from happening. It is actually not a coincidence that nearly all the above voyages of death have originated from the area of Bossasso.

Piracy, trade in humans, drugs and arms trafficking by sea has been a lucrative business in the coastland controlled by warlord Abdillahi Yusuf. The armed gangs involved in the above activities couldn’t have run their operations from there without the full protection provided by the warlord against a handsome share in the income made from this ugly business. It is therefore imperative that the international community put sufficient pressure on the warlord from Galkayo to bring the human trafficking business, which is openly conducted under his nose, to an immediate end.

Col. Abdillahi Yusuf likes to impress Somalis by frequently claiming he has good relations with the international coalition against terrorism. Regardless of whether that claim has some truth in it or not, failure to act against arms smuggling and sea piracy operations emanating from the coast controlled by Abdillahi Yusuf, will have serious consequences for security in the region as well as the rest of the world.

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