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2014-06-01

UAE Winning Battle Against Pirates

The UAE, which has a strong record in battling the scourge of piracy, has stepped up its efforts even more – and the results are evident. Over the past year, the UAE has adopted a combination of measures which cover a broad spectrum of activity and cooperation across national institutions.

These include conducting proactive security and law enforcement operations, strengthening the rule of law through piracy prosecutions, directing humanitarian assistance to address the root causes of piracy, and developing institutional capacity in branches of governments affected by piracy. An increasing body of evidence suggests that this approach is paying off.

Key to the UAE’s counter-piracy strategy is a recognition that the capability and capacity of countries in the region to combat piracy is varied and at different stages of development. Closing specific capability gaps and enhancing the development of recipient countries thus allows the UAE to target assistance where it can have the greatest impact. This maturity model of capability development, taken together with the UAE’s approach described above, advances the goal of developing regional partners’ security, stability and capacity to combat piracy.

In 2008, the UN Security Council passed a series of measures targeting Somali piracy, culminating in the unanimous approval of Resolution 1851 which authorised states with navies deployed in the Gulf of Aden to, with the permission of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, take action against pirates and armed robbers within Somalia. Nowadays maritime piracy gets the attention it deserves – certainly from the UAE.

Leadership Role

The UAE has played a leadership role in international efforts to combat piracy. HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE announced in April 2011 that the UAE would contribute $1 million to the United Nations international piracy trust fund. Additionally, the UAE has participated as an active member of the international Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and has hosted conferences to marshal collective responses to regional piracy. These efforts complement joint initiatives that the UAE has conducted with the European Union, the African Union, and other international partners, including foreign militaries, the private-sector, and non-governmental organizations.

In this area, the UAE has:

• Committed to participating in combined maritime forces operations in the region, including counter-piracy operations in Combined Task Force 151 and past command of Combined Task Force 152;

• Signed a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding with the Somali government to assist in diplomatic support, security capacity building, and economic development;

• Announced that it will open an embassy in Mogadishu;

• Signed the Djibouti Code of Conduct which promotes cooperation among signatory nations to combat the threat of piracy in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden; and

• Showed leadership in international efforts, especially in contributing to the efforts of the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia, including chairing the 11th Plenary Session, and hosting in the UAE the third international piracy conference (2013).

These efforts and initiatives do not include the significant contributions by UAE private sector companies, which are also on the forefront of efforts to combat piracy through local and regional capacity building.

Effective Approach

Domestically, the UAE has made advances in strengthening the military’s maritime security capability, engaging and training private industry on best practices in areas such as port security, and using the legal system as a tool for prosecuting and deterring piracy offenses.

There are positive signs that this multi-disciplinary approach, of international initiatives and domestic capacity building, has been effective. This approach, coupled with relative improvements in the stability and governance of Somalia and the use of private security companies in escorting vessels through hostile waters, has significantly diminished piracy in the region over the past two years. Continuing this assistance will provide states with solutions that are more sustainable, and less costly than private security.

The UAE’s efforts have naturally been focused on the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean with a special focus on protecting strategic sea passages and vital sea lines that directly impacts the economic and trading interests emanating from the Arabian Gulf.

In keeping with the UAE’s multi-disciplinary approach to countering piracy, the UAE government has undertaken several initiatives to increase the capacity of regional partners by enhancing their maritime capabilities in order to address the threat of piracy. The Seychelles was one of the countries that benefited from UAE assistance, which included:

• Building a new naval base and a headquarters to the Coast Guards;

• Providing a new advanced radar system;

• Donating five patrol boats in 2011 to protect the Seychelles coast; and

• Supporting efforts to rebuild the infrastructure and implement economic reforms to improve the living standards of the people of Seychelles through the construction of new homes, power plants and new roads.

One element of such assistance is resolving humanitarian and economic crises in impoverished and unstable states to address the conditions conducive to piracy. Here, too, the UAE has taken a leading role. In Somalia, where the humanitarian situation is dire and lack of governance in the past has been a primary cause for the increase in piracy, assistance has focused on humanitarian relief and the development of security institutions and capabilities. At the Somalia Conference in London in May 2013, the UAE announced a $50 million pledge in aid for Somalia within the framework of a bilateral agreement that addresses the priorities of the Somali government. Additional assistance from the UAE in recent years has included:

• Providing medical aid in the form of building clinics and hospitals and developing the infrastructure of some existing hospital and setting up field hospitals;

• Rehabilitating services institutions such as schools, hospitals and educational centers;

• Contributing to the reconstruction and building of state institutions and enabling them to carry out their duties through employing new skilled administrative staff with leadership and management qualifications necessary to run public institutions effectively;

• Investment in infrastructure projects to help rebuild what the war had destroyed;

• Developing the Somali economy and reviving its failed institutions;

• Contributing along with international partners to the training of the Somali Coast Guard and the maritime police; and

• Delivering food supplies and humanitarian assistance for the needy Somalis that had fled wars and natural disasters caused by flooding and drought.

Maturity Model

The analysis behind these initiatives is best viewed through the prism of a well-constructed maturity model. A maturity model provides a system for identifying the key factors, critical paths, and necessary mechanisms to develop a country’s capability. It is a tool to determine where a country is most in need of assistance and to measure the impact of that assistance.

The counter-piracy maturity model illustrates how a country evolves through various stages of development. At each level of development a country or organization increases its capabilities in key areas.

The use of a maturity model allows donor countries to focus assistance in areas where there is greatest need and to do so in a rational sequence. It provides all parties with measurable objectives against which progress can be readily measured. Finally, a counter-piracy maturity model is a valuable tool for coordinating assistance delivery from government agencies and ensuring that objectives are met in the most cost-effective, coordinated manner possible.

A counter-piracy maturity model has four key developmental stages. Each stage includes an evaluation of a country’s ability to prevent, detect, and respond to piracy. Countries’ capabilities fall in one of these categories. The goal is to enhance their capabilities by moving further up the spectrum of development. These categories are:

• Limited – A country has no or a very limited capability to counter piracy;

• Reactive – A country has some ability to detect and react to piracy but is not positioned to prevent piracy;

• Proactive - A country has an ability to detect and react to piracy and has some measures in place to prevent piracy;

• Comprehensive - A country has a well-established, multi-disciplinary program in place that allows for the prevention, detection, and response to piracy.

An incremental approach using a maturity model to gauge and plan capacity building measures is particularly useful in harnessing disparate disciplines into a single objective. The UAE is a firm proponent of this broad approach. This strategy enhances the ability of countries that piracy has afflicted the most to develop their own counter-piracy capability, strengthen their rule of law, and protect their sovereignty and territory against the scourge of maritime piracy.

The UAE’s use of the maturity model to tailor assistance to the specific needs of a country is evident in the support given to Somalia and to Seychelles, two countries whose needs are very different in nature. Conducting a needs assessment and then charting a country’s trajectory toward its own comprehensive national strategy has been the foundation of the UAE’s approach to assisting regional partners.

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