When extreme measures are a necessity!

After the dreadful ordeal Paul and Rachel Chandler endured at the hands of Somali pirates, and past the curiosity of who paid what moneys to have the couple released, people are asking what can be done about piracy on those waters.

We now know the pirates still have about 500 hostages – that’s 500 human lives they get to play God with and use as a commodity to trade for money – it means there are 500 families out there who don’t know if their loved ones are as lucky as Peter and Rachel Chandler and have a chance to be free again, or they are as unlucky as Alfred Chandler, Paul’s father who died before having the chance to see his loved ones go free!

It is sad and mad, it also seems there is little that can be achieved by way of diplomacy, negotiations or civility – besides, tact and civil negotiations only work when both sides understand it, and these pirates don’t.

On the other hand, if the International community united by putting pressure where it matters, they might indirectly have the desired results – and an end to this illegal yet very lucrative business.

By rerouting all shipping from that region, it will affect adversely ports and cities on those shores. And although in most cases that means longer and more expensive journeys for ships and crews, it will nevertheless force the affected communities to act internally and tackle the problem. Make no mistake that as long as someone is making money from the piracy business silence money will somehow filter down the line and find its way to the right pockets. Furthermore it is the culture of that region to bow under community disapproval, which is now ripe and ready. But, it will only gain serious momentum and become more prevalent if the west retaliated by pulling the plug.

It might sound extreme, and it possibly is, as there will be innocent causalities but extreme time, sometimes, calls for extreme measures!