Time to give al Shabaab killer punch

Piracy has resulted in the increase in cost of transportation along the high seas bordering the Somali coastline and threatens global petro-energy security.

Analysts say international efforts should, besides sending warships, focus on financial networks recycling the tens of millions of dollars of ransoms paid every year.

“There’s a financial network that needs to be tracked down. There needs to be a multi-agency response,” said Jason Alderwick, a maritime defence analyst at the IISS.  

“There just isn’t the naval capacity to cover the area they now threaten. So a military solution is not the answer,” said Roger Middleton, a Horn of Africa specialist at the Chatham House think-tank in London.

A stable government in Mogadishu or wherever else in Somalia will be the answer to regional security.

This should form the main agenda for the African Union Summit to be held in Kampala next week.

Mr Mokoro is a communications and international relations expert: emokoro@psrpc.go.ke