Somali piracy hits African countries' GDP

Somali piracy is having a real economic impact on various countries. "The Kenyans have gone from 13 to 14 cruise ships a year going into Mombasa, to zero," Holihead said, while the Seychelles, whose economy is derived almost entirely from the maritime domain, "says that piracy cut their GDP [gross domestic product] by 8%, at the height of the problem."

Holihead says that the cost of piracy is around $7-billion. In his address to the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in Cape Town, he also pointed out that piracy had increased transport costs which pushed up prices, causing a decline in tourism and trade, and creating concerns about the safety of fishing and offshore oil exploration. The Djibouti Code - officially entitled 'the Code of Conduct for the Repression of Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships in the Gulf of Aden and Western Indian Ocean', was adopted in Djibouti on January 29, 2009.

The Djibouti Code "has 21 participating States, of which 18 are signatory States," Holihead stated. "It is a non-binding agreement [but] it is the only code of conduct to counter piracy." The member countries of the Djibouti Code speak four different languages and have three different legal systems. The Somali Transitional Federal Government is a member, and South Africa and Mozambique are likely to become signatory members later this year.

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