India plays globo cop off Somali coast as Western navies play safe

India’s historical links with eastern Africa coupled with the sub continent’s thirst for Africa’s resources and the need to safeguard oil imports through the Gulf of Aden have forced her to act tough on Somali pirates, writes policy analyst PATRICK MUTAHI

In the latest clash between international forces and Somali pirates off the country’s coast, on December 13, the Indian navy arrested 23 pirates in the Gulf of Aden as they prepared to pounce on a merchant vessel.

Leading the fight against piracy, the Indian warship INS Mysore, attacked two boats after receiving distress signals from Mv Gibe an Ethiopian-flagged ship that was about to be hijacked. Out of the 23 arrested pirates, 12 are reportedly from Somalia and 11 from Yemen. Fifteen rifles, two grenades and ammunition were seized from the pirates.

This incident is one of the many decisive actions that the Indian navy has come to be reputed for in the fight against piracy in the lawless Somalia waters. Most foreign navies patrolling that coast have been reluctant to detain suspected pirates because of uncertainties over where they would face trial, since Somalia has no effective central government or legal system.

Ironically, the Indian security apparatus has been accused of laxity in protecting its borders and in managing internal security leading to the recent Mumbai bombings.

However, the Indian navy — the fifth largest in the world — has shown that it is cut from different cloth and its entry may soon deal a permanent blow to Somali piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The navy’s recent achievements attest to its transformation from a “brown water coastal defense force to a formidable blue water fleet,” writes David Scott, in the Journal of Military and Strategic Studies.

Maritime supremacy

Signs of India’s rapid economic and military rise to global prominence are all over the world — dimensions that have implications on how New Delhi relates to Africa.

India’s colonial history has tied a number of African-Indian Ocean rim countries to the Indian sub-continent since the 16th Century.

Mozambique was a staging post for the Portuguese in Goa and often used Indian rupees. The British East Africa protectorate (now Kenya and parts of Uganda) was originally administered from Bombay with the sub continent’s rupees the protectorate’s currency from 1897 to 1920.

Today a significant Indian diaspora is to be found in Eastern and Southern Africa, particularly in Mauritius, Kenya and South Africa. India has its most comprehensive diplomatic presence in this part of Africa, with embassies or high commissions in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mauritius.

Now the Sub-continent seems to have reverted to its former colonial masters, (Britain and Portugal in Goa) game plan — using the same historical trade connections and the Indian Ocean route to make a foot print in Africa and across the world.

Since the late 1990s India’s attempt to strengthen its maritime status has gathered pace. During its 2006 Navy Day, New Delhi announced that it was transforming the force to a blue water fleet. Technically, a blue water navy is able to operate over 320 kilometres from shore, in other words it is a long-range, deep-water, oceanic maritime projection bringing with it sea power.

Presently, the Indian Navy operates more than 155 vessels, including INS Viraat, the only aircraft carrier in Asia with jet fighters aboard. This has made it one of the most powerful naval forces of the region.

The build up by the world’s largest democracy is multifaceted: economically for market and resources, politically for international influence and support for possible permanent membership in the UN Security Council.

India is also competing with China for influence in Africa. Eleven per cent of its oil is imported from Africa (mostly Nigeria), but the rapidly industrialising state is seeking more — especially from Angola — leading, in some cases, to direct competition with China.