Egypt

Arab Countries Take a Stand Against Piracy

Egypt and Yemen held a meeting in Egypt on Thursday with six other Arab nations to discuss the growing threat of piracy in the region. These six nations included Jordan, Sudan, Saudi-Arabia, Somalia, Djibouti, and the Arab League. This meeting was precipated party because of the growing threat of piracy and the fact that the Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star, was recently hijacked with a shipment of a hundred million dollars worth of oil on board. Many nations are starting to send their ships around the southern tip of Africa to avoid the pirates in the Red Sea. However, Egypt does not want this because it would hurt one of their main sources of income; which are taxes from use of the Suez Canal. International response from France, Russia, India, and the United States among others is present in the form of military forces in the region. However, the Arab nations would like to show their solidarity and try to also help protect their waters.

The Arab nations joining together to protect their trade routes is an example of a liberal way to solve the problem of piracy. The countries are all dependant on the shipping lanes in the Red Sea being free for all ships to get through them. However, since they are threatened by an independent non-state actor, in the Somolian pirates, they have all decided to band together and try and form an alliance against these groups. This even may involve force because it is worth them using force in this situation because they are already losing money. The other nations who’s ships are already in the region have realized this and that is why they are sending their ships because it is destroying trade which hurts all the players involved. All the nations agree that force is needed at this time in order to bring peace and stabilize the economy which is best for all of the major players involved.

Liberal

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/2008112016242234984.html

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/21/content_10389398.htm

November 21, 2008 at 05:51 am