It's impossible to consider Somalia's pirates in a vacuum. The evolution of piracy in Somalia is inextricably linked to the collapse of Somalia as a nation state, ravaged by conflict between rebels and government troops.

The key pirate enclave is in northeastern Somalia, in a region known as Puntland where the pirates live as an autonomous presence. Among the five dominant seagoing criminal organizations based in Somalia who generate revenues of between $100 to 150 million (69 million to 104 million euros) a year, largely in ransom payments, many of the pirates were former clan fighters who discovered a far more lucrative form of armed capitalism.

Others were mere humble fishermen who claim their livelihood has been lost to the industrial methods of international fishing fleets that indeed poach an estimated $300 million worth of fish a year from Somali waters.

Poverty, lack of development and hunger as ever are key factors for conflict, violence and brigandage in Africa. Then there are the linkages to the outside world, the patrons, allies and benefactors, of what is a transnational business, so pirate arms come from Yemen, much of the money is laundered in Lebanon and there are other suspected but more opaque linkages in Dubai.

However, the international community has not pierced the internal network linked to the pirate trail deeply and is lacking crucial access in terms of its intelligence gathering capacities within the secret structures that partner piracy.

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