Last week the Danes handed over World Food Programme (WFP) ship escorting duties to the Dutch. Since November, all ships carrying WFP aid have been escorted into Somali ports by European naval vessels (French, Danish, and now Dutch). Prior to the military escorts, three ships with WFP food aid were hijacked by pirates. In one case the crew was held for over 100 days. After the hijackings many shipping companies refused to carry aid into Somalia. Only the guarantee of military escorts allowed the Somali food aid to flow again.
The Somali pirates are a great example of “super empowered individuals“. Just a handful of lightly armed para-militaries were able to disrupt food aid feeding two million Somalis for months. If that is not power, I do not know what is.
Christopher R. Albon is a political science Ph.D. specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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If you can, get ahold of Douglas Edward Leach’s far-too-underestimated book Roots of Conflict: British Armed Forces and Colonial Americans, 1677-1763, and you’ll find that the British Royal Navy was most popular when it protected shipping and coastal areas from hostile marauders–or when it swooped in to offer extraordinary technical assistance during a disaster:
“…as, for example, during the devastating fire at Charleston in November 1740, when detachments of sailors from HMS Phoenix, Spence, and Tartar helped fight the spreading conflagration, thereby earning the unfeigned gratitude of the inhabitants. Gratitude owed for another reason was publicly expressed in the South Carolina Gazette of 23 January 1744 by a shipmaster who declared that the preservation of his grounded vessel was “entirely owing to the speedy and extraordinary Assistance given by [HMS Rose and Tartar], whom had declined any reward. [One captain] actually received the supreme accolade of “our Hero and our Friend” and “CHAMPION OF AMERICA,” for services performed.”…”
Long way of saying that it’s a great PR boon to be the protector of needed items…of course, there’s a nasty flipside. The moment the protecting entity doesn’t deliver the services communities have come to expect…then the protector’s reputation is toast!
Leach is one of the few guys I’ve seen who delves into the political consequences of the UK’s failure to provide for the health of colonial troops during “coalition” ventures to the North and South. Pretty powerful stuff.
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