Piracy and much worse
海盜行為和更惡劣的行徑

What is to be done about the world’s least-governed state?
對于世界上最缺乏管理的國家，我們還能做些什么呢？

THE azure waters at the foot of the Red Sea lapping southwards round the Horn of Africa are now the most dangerous in the world. This year pirates have captured more than 60 ships. Recently a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks was captured by Somali buccaneers (see article). The reason for this swirl of maritime outlawry can be found on the nearest shore, in Somalia.
起源于紅海的蔚藍水域（海水）向南拍擊著非洲角——當下全球最為危險的地區。今年海盜已經劫持了超過60條船只，最近一艘載有33輛坦克的烏克蘭船只落到了索馬里海盜的手里。這個海上非法漩渦的成因可以在最近的陸地上找到，那就是索馬里。

Until the world’s most comprehensively failed state acquires the barest modicum of order and government, the seas beside it will be a paradise for pirates and a menace to passengers, crew and cargo, even for ships sailing 300 miles offshore. Yet maritime outrages, though they help remind the world of the disaster that is Somalia, are only one reason to do something about the place. A more important one is that Somalia’s people do not enjoy a scrap of security, let alone any of the material benefits of a modern state. And a final one is that the outside world helped tip Somalia into chaos.
除非這個世界上最最失敗的國家出現最低限度的秩序和政府行為，否則其周邊海域必將成為海盜的天堂：途經的船員、貨物，甚至是離岸300英里的船只都會受到威脅。然而，盡管這些海上暴行已經警醒全世界要小心索馬里，但這只是對該地區采取行動的原因之一。更重要的一點是索馬里的人們也無法享受到一絲的安全，更不用說現代國家可以提供的任何物質利益。最后一點在于正是外部世界的資助讓索馬里陷入到如此的混亂中。

The prescriptions for dealing with piracy are simple enough. Governments must co-operate more energetically to face down pirates and, where necessary, blast them out of the water. A coalition of countries already has a naval task-force in the area, mainly to tackle terrorism; its numbers should be bumped up and a sea lane that can be properly monitored should be defined. Ships taking food to Somalia for the UN must have a naval escort. The EU should strengthen its tiny naval cell that co-ordinates air and sea activity. The UN, along with the African Union (AU), should organise a coast guard to watch Somalia’s shore. The Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia, should fulfil their vague promises to help pay for Somalia’s recovery.
對付海盜行為的方子其實非常簡單：各國政府必須更加積極的通力協作以便降服海盜；并在任何必要的時候把他們轟出水面。一些國家已經在該地區聯合組成了旨在 對抗恐怖主義的海軍特別部隊；參與聯盟國家的數量應該更多，以便明確可以良好監管的海上航道。負責向索馬里維和部隊運送糧食的船只必須得到海軍的護送，同 時歐盟應該強化可以協調海空作戰的小型作戰單位，并且應該聯合非盟共同組建守望索馬里沿海的海岸警衛隊。海灣國家，特別是沙特阿拉伯，因該兌現他們很含糊的充諾：資助索馬里的復蘇。

But the harder, underlying problem is Somalia itself. With no proper government since 1991, it has been a bloody kaleidoscope of competing clans and fiefs. More than 1m, in a population once around 10m, have fled abroad; this year alone, the UN reckons, some 160,000 have been uprooted from Mogadishu, the capital, which has lost about two-thirds of its inhabitants over the years. The country is too dangerous for foreign charities, diplomats or journalists to function there permanently. Thousands of angry, rootless, young Somalis are proving vulnerable to the attractions of fundamentalist Islam in the guise of al-Qaeda and similar jihadist brands. The cash from piracy is probably fuelling the violence.
但是更難解決的深層次問題是索馬里本身：那里自1991年以來就沒有過正式政府，一直是血腥（成為了）種族對抗和封地之爭的舞臺。超過100萬的人口為此逃離了家園，而該國的人口數量曾經達到過千萬；據聯合國預測，僅今年就會有超過16萬人舉家遷離首都摩加迪沙，那座城市在數年來已經失去了近三分之二的人口。該國對于常駐的外國慈善團體、政治家和記者來說太過危險了。數以千計的索馬里青年憤怒而無所寄托，伊斯蘭原教旨主義分子打著基地組織以及其他圣戰組織的幌子對他們進行誘導，而（后者）這些青年人對誘惑的抵御卻表現得極為脆弱。海盜的戰利品大概都資助了暴力活動。

In recent times Somalia has known order only briefly, in 2006, when Islamists known as the Islamic Courts Union took over. Unfortunately next-door Ethiopia, egged on by the Americans, intervened to oust them. A “transition federal government” has totally failed to impose itself. A feeble AU force has tried in vain to help. With the UN unable to drum up even half the heralded force supposed to keep the peace in Sudan’s ravaged Darfur region, no one has the guts or cash to send a serious force to bring order, let alone justice, to Somalia.
索馬里最近才對秩序有了大致的概念，就在2006年伊斯蘭法庭聯盟控制該地區的時候。不走運的是他們被鄰國埃塞俄比亞趕走了，當然該行動是在美國的慫恿下完成的；于是這個“過度聯邦政府”連腳跟都沒有站穩就消失了。非盟羸弱的武力救助非常徒勞，聯合國在蘇丹達爾蘇爾地區召集的維和力量還沒有達到先前計劃的一半；在這種情形下再沒有人有膽量和財力向索馬里地區部署軍隊維持秩序，更不要說法制了。

And yet outsiders could still help Somalis to help themselves. A “dialogue” that started in nearby Djibouti between most of the warring factions has been going on intermittently for more than a year; the more moderate Islamists from the Courts Union must be brought in, even if the harder-line affiliates of al-Qaeda cannot be. The UN, Western governments and those in the region have a moral duty not to give up trying to bring Somalis together. Besides, wretched as it is, Somalia can cause a lot of trouble—on land and at sea. It is a disaster that the rest of the world cannot shrug off.
然而外界還是可以幫助索馬里人實現自救。交戰各方在吉布提進行的“對話”斷斷續續了一年多的時間；即使基地組織的鐵桿盟友不可能被吸收入對話，那么伊斯蘭 法庭聯盟中的溫和派必須被引入。聯合國、西方政府和該地區的其他政府具有道德職責：不能放棄保持索馬里完整的嘗試。另外，索馬里如此惡劣的情形可以在陸地 和海洋上造成很多麻煩，因此這是一個全世界都無法置若罔聞的災難。