"Without escorts, those ships will not arrive. Without that aid, more people will die." With these words UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon called for more military forces off the pirate-ridden shore of Somalia to secure that UN food aid gets through to more than 3 million people threatened with starvation.

Somali pirates are no longer ordinary criminals you would find attacking their prey vessels with simple boats while armed with swords or simple guns. These days they operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, holding ships until they are released for huge ransoms paid by governments or owners. These modern pirates are running a multi-million dollar business but worsen the Somali humanitarian crisis.

Troubled waters
The pirates make the waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years, the most dangerous in the world. In the past months alone, dozens of ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been seized by pirates off Somalia's 3,700 kilometres, largely unpatrolled, coastline.

The piracy crisis took on added significance last month when a Ukrainian cargo ship laden with tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition was seized. It made the UN Security Council adopt a resolution Tuesday calling on states with naval vessels and military aircraft operating off the Somali coast to use "the necessary means, in conformity with international law, for the repression of acts of piracy."

The Council unanimously adopted the resolution under Chapter Seven of the UN Charter, which is invoked in cases of threats to international peace and security. It gives a freeway for military action against the pirates.

Starvation
The pirates who have seized numerous boats carrying supplies for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have also impaired UN food operations in Somalia. The resolution cites humanitarian reports that some 3.5 million Somalis will depend on food aid by the end of the year and warns that WFP's maritime contractors will not deliver that aid without naval warship escorts. The 15-member body called on states to actively take part in the protection of the vital WFP lifeline for the affected populations.

"In Somalia, 3,5 million people are in danger of starving," Ban said. Nearly 90 per cent of the food that feeds them arrives from the sea aboard WFP ships. Dutch, French, Danish and Canadian navies have been escorting WFP ships safely into the ports, but that Canada's tour of duty ends on 23 October.

As yet, no nation has volunteered to take Canada's place. Ban says that without escorts, those ships will not arrive. And "without that aid, more people will die." He urged the European Union and other nations to bear in mind the 23 October deadline as they consider longer-term solutions to the challenge of piracy on the Horn of Africa.

Humanitarian crisis
Protracted war and humanitarian suffering since its last functioning national government was toppled in 1991 have plagued Somalia. At present there is fierce fighting between Islamist insurgents and transitional government forces backed by the Ethiopian military. Somalis are currently escaping the fighting described as the worst since the beginning of the latest insurgency in February 2007.