@ Loeri,
Ports?There are Ports with cranes and things there?Could have fooled me.
Hhmm. You have me scratching my head. What is your definition of a port? Does it have to have cranes? Quays made from concrete, driven sheet piles, a lighthouse and a lifeboat? The ancients had ports, they didn't necessarily have the above features.
My definition of a port is somewhere where vessels can call for supplies, POL, repairs, to load/ offload goods, troops etc - or any combination of the previous. Cranes are not necessary. I have been to many African and Asian ports that utilise mobile cranes if they require them.
As for ports, as you might think of them, there are huge numbers. The pirates are not limited to Somalia. You have Middle Eastern nations as well as Africans from all over Africa and access to ports in all those countries. Also, why not look across to Asia and the Indian Ocean for additional pirates.
As for lawlessness in Somalia, ask what has created the Somali pirates. Take a look at how we, the morally perfect West have totally depleted their fishing stocks for them, dumped huge amounts of toxic waste in their country, onshore and offshore, with no redress for them to prevent it from occurring. They also have no government and huge corruption and fighting, along with starvation, little education and medical facilities. I think I might be somewhat miffed and start thinking as they have; "If the West can steal from us, reduce our lifespan, and poison our food supplies, why do we not do the same".
I do not condone piracy, neither do I condone what we have done to them.
Hval