Professor Among Pirates

Not all scientists are cloistered in their laboratories. Stig Jarle Hansen, a Norwegian PhD graduate of the University of Wales, is now a Professor and researcher of piracy in Somalia – one of the world’s most lawless and dangerous areas.

Somali pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden have been a thorn in the side of international shipping operations since 1991, when civil war caused great destabilisation, conflict and disorder throughout the country. The increasing instances of hijackings of foreign cargoes has, in the past three years alone, cost shipping companies in the excess of $275 million. It has also caused diplomatic crises and impeded the delivery of vital food aid shipments to Third World countries.

Understanding the phenomenon and how to prevent it sits at the centre of international debate, alongside Islamic extremism, the economic downturn and the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, the international community still awaits an answer to the maritime anarchy that has progressively worsened since 2008.

Stig understands Somalia and its rampant piracy well. Having completed a doctorate in International Relations at the then-University of Wales Aberystwyth in 2006, he now divides his time working as Associate Professor at the University of Life Sciences in Oslo and doing consultancy work for NATO. His success as a researcher can be attributed to the maverick approach he undertakes in discovering the root causes of piracy in this troubled east-African republic. His strength, he says, lies in his field research:

I travel to major pirate ports – mainly Mogadishu, which enables me to build local friendships. I talk to ordinary Somalis, not just the elite. This gives me a unique insight into what’s happening at ground level.

With a shocking frequency of violence and murders, not to mention an average life expectancy of just 48 years, Somalia is simply out of bounds to most of the outside world. Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that fights for press freedom, describes it as ‘Africa’s deadliest country for journalists’. Somalia’s own media is fragmented and often partisan. Broadcasters and journalists operate in an atmosphere hostile to free expression, and often dangerous. Overall, the state maintains a tight grip on any form of broadcasting that has lead to an intelligence black hole -one that Stig has spent his career trying to fill.

I talk to pirates systematically,’ explains Stig, ‘I talk to several of the state leaders and a network of around 35 pirates and can do this because of my relationship with the clan elders who protect me.

By working closely with The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Stig is able to ensure that aid and development resources reach the people who most need it. His role in doing this has helped him build trust with pirates, militiamen, policemen and fixers, who all provide him with protection and vital information, which he then feeds to NATO member state intelligence agencies.

The biggest compliment I ever received was from a pirate named Boya. While I was interviewing him, he stopped me and asked, ‘‘how can a foreigner like you be so informed?’’ It amuses me that most governments don’t have intelligence beyond the Nairobi elite and UN agencies.

Another unusual revelation that Stig’s research has gleaned is that many Somalis enter into piracy to support their many wives – some have as many as 13! A common complaint he hears from pirates is how their family networks rapidly increase after they begin earning money from hijacks; unknown and distant cousins begin appearing at their doorsteps, asking for a slice of the profits.

Stig is also eager to dispel some of the myths surrounding this phenomenon: most media organisations report that piracy occurring off Somalia’s coast is a recent trend. To the contrary, he explains, hijackings have always been commonplace in Somalia, though it is only now that they are targeting foreign trawlers. Theory-driven research into piracy, he asserts, often oversimplifies things too much.

One of his pet hates is the over-reliance journalists and academics place on ‘Google research’. He holds that sitting in the library or surfing the net at a safe distance from the source of the problem is not going to achieve any solutions to a very serious and urgent threat such as piracy.

When asked about a solution to Somalia’s piracy, Stig replies that naval operations can stem the pirates for a while, but the most effective measure would be to strengthen regional authorities. A western military presence in the country will only serve to worsen the situation; a more constructive approach to the country’s problems is needed. He warns against thinking that all aid must be channelled to the western-backed government in Mogadishu.

The government that exists in Mogadishu has a limited control of a handful of neighbourhoods within the city and a weak hold on law and order in Puntland (an area in northern Somalia). Surrounding areas must be addressed too as they are out of control.

These lawless and poverty-stricken areas outside of Mogadishu are a fertile ground for piracy. Although buccaneering arguably injects some much-needed capital into a particularly impoverished region of Africa, there is some native resistance to the practice. It is often the elderly and strictly religious who see piracy as contrary to the teachings of Islam. Stig sees this spiritual resistance as a small but hopeful sign that things will eventually improve, given that the country receives greater infrastructural support as opposed to armed support, which only serves to stoke the flames of unrest. Stig laments:

Western powers train and arm Somali soldiers, without ensuring proper financial support afterwards. Of course when soldiers are treated like this they will invariably rebel in the form of trained bandits, or return to sell their western-bought weapons. It’s a vicious cycle perpetuated by a myopic international consensus of the country’s problems

Although there is no simple answer to Somalia’s troubles, Stig is regularly called upon to lend his expertise to CNN, Al-Jazeera and the BBC – he had his own slot on BBC Radio 4 in 2006 called ‘Letters From Mogadishu’.

The only advice he would proffer burgeoning students wanting to research or report on areas of conflict is:

Studying history or political science is a good place to start. But you have to get out of the library, meet people and talk to them!

/Ends
Notes to Editors:
For more information on The University of Wales please visit: www.wales.ac.uk|

Stig Jarle Hansen, a specialist in Islamic philosophy and political Islam in Somalia, is a senior researcher at the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) in Oslo.
Pirates of the Horn - BEACON NO. 2 2006 ISSUE 188
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