A land based solution for Somali piracy

Dear Baroness Ashton turned up in Budapest yesterday and amongst the normal series of platitudes announced the rather obvious point as tweeted here,

C#Ashton @ ASEM: "Over 500 people in captivity due to Somali piracy. Important for strategy to deal with piracy - solution lies on land"

Well yes, so what are you going to do abvout it. Despite the actions of the various naval detachments bimbling around the horn of Africa piracy is on the up. Worse still of course is the prospect that the other side of the Horn Aden is aflame as the dictatorship flounders and Al-Quaeda lick thier lips.

But of course there is a way to address this in part. There is of course a place that ecently celebrated twenty years of peace, stability and independence. Somaliland.

And what was the news from Somaliland on the day that Baroness was speaking?

This

Six Somali pirates were jailed by a Somaliland court for capturing an Italian vessel in April 2008 and receiving a $3 million ransom.
The Berbera Regional Court gave five of the pirates eight- year jail terms, while a sixth received a sentence of five years after he confessed to the crime, Osman Ibrahim Direi, head of the court, said yesterday. The six men were captured by Somaliland’s coast guard on March 24 near the coastal town of Maydh.

Think what they could do if we bothered to recognise their right to existance.