Capacity Building as an Answer to Piracy in the Horn of Africa

Abstract

The Horn of Africa has become an epicenter of interest for the global community due to the drastic increase in piracy. Indicative of the Gulf of Aden's strategic importance is the fact that more than 30,000 ships per year and 3 million barrels of oil per day transit the Suez Canal. Indicative of the severity of the problem of piracy is the fact that more than 30 countries are committing naval forces as part of a solution to the problem. The international community seeks to secure the area and protect the global economy. This paper attempts to provide an innovative sustainable capacity building conceptual model to tackle piracy through the employment of cutting edge technological assets, i.e tethered aerostat radar sensors, UAVs and picosatellites. The economic and technical feasibility of the proposed conceptual model is tackled respectively by illustrating a scenario and providing an economic cost benefit approach regarding the cost of the proposed infrastructure. The conceptual model consists of a complex set of various components that, together, build an integrated architectural set constituting an innovative, alternative capacity-building model aiming to secure maritime traffic corridors, and at the same reducing the economic cost significantly and the number of deployed naval assets.