Somali Piracy Back - Fuelled By Political Turmoil, Aid Cuts, War
Between 2005 and 2012, Somali pirates carried out more than 1,000 attacks on foreign ships. They successfully hijacked 218 vessels and took over 3,700 sailors hostage. Shipowners paid around US$50 million (£37 million) in ransoms per year over this period, while the associated loss of trade and increased security measures cost the global economy up to US$18 billion.
Since then, Somali piracy has been kept in check by a combination of private security guards, naval patrols and land-based development initiatives. But very few pirate kingpins faced trial and their broader supply and support networks were never dismantled. The recent cases suggest they were merely dormant, writes Anja Shortland and Federico Varese for The Conversation Africa.
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Somalia:
Somali Piracy Is Back - Fuelled By Political Turmoil, Aid Cuts and the Iran War
The Conversation Africa, 29 May 2026
On the evening of April 26, the Egyptian merchant vessel Sward was hijacked by armed men a few miles off the Somali coast. It was steered towards an anchorage near the port of… Read more »
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East Africa:
Somali Piracy Returns - a Warning From the Western Indian Ocean
ISS, 18 May 2026
Joint naval patrols are stretched thin by the Middle East crisis, but their ability to eradicate piracy was always limited. Read more »
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Somalia:
Drought, Piracy, and Political Tensions - People Need Immediate Assistance
Agenzia Fides, 29 April 2026
The situation in Somalia remains fragile, with increased piracy, a worsening humanitarian crisis, and political tensions as the main current challenges. More than six million… Read more »
InFocus
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Somali pirates have hijacked a Togo-flagged oil tanker, MT Eureka, in the Gulf of Aden. This has raised fresh concerns about a resurgence of piracy in a key global shipping route. The vessel was seized by armed men near Yemen's port of Qana. It is reportedly being steered toward the Somali coast.
The incident follows another recent hijacking in April. On April 22, pirates seized the Honor 25, a tanker
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A combined force of NATO-led counter-piracy troops intercept a suspected Somali-pirated vessel in 2012.
