Piracy and much worse
海盗行为和更恶劣的行径

What is to be done about the world’s least-governed state?
对于世界上最缺乏管理的国家，我们还能做些什么呢？

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.
起源于红海的蔚蓝水域（海水）向南拍击着非洲角——当下全球最为危险的地区。今年海盗已经劫持了超过60条船只，最近一艘载有33辆坦克的乌克兰船只落到了索马里海盗的手里。这个海上非法漩涡的成因可以在最近的陆地上找到，那就是索马里。

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.
除非这个世界上最最失败的国家出现最低限度的秩序和政府行为，否则其周边海域必将成为海盗的天堂：途经的船员、货物，甚至是离岸300英里的船只都会受到威胁。然而，尽管这些海上暴行已经警醒全世界要小心索马里，但这只是对该地区采取行动的原因之一。更重要的一点是索马里的人们也无法享受到一丝的安全，更不用说现代国家可以提供的任何物质利益。最后一点在于正是外部世界的资助让索马里陷入到如此的混乱中。

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.
对付海盗行为的方子其实非常简单：各国政府必须更加积极的通力协作以便降服海盗；并在任何必要的时候把他们轰出水面。一些国家已经在该地区联合组成了旨在 对抗恐怖主义的海军特别部队；参与联盟国家的数量应该更多，以便明确可以良好监管的海上航道。负责向索马里维和部队运送粮食的船只必须得到海军的护送，同 时欧盟应该强化可以协调海空作战的小型作战单位，并且应该联合非盟共同组建守望索马里沿海的海岸警卫队。海湾国家，特别是沙特阿拉伯，因该兑现他们很含糊的充诺：资助索马里的复苏。

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.
但是更难解决的深层次问题是索马里本身：那里自1991年以来就没有过正式政府，一直是血腥（成为了）种族对抗和封地之争的舞台。超过100万的人口为此逃离了家园，而该国的人口数量曾经达到过千万；据联合国预测，仅今年就会有超过16万人举家迁离首都摩加迪沙，那座城市在数年来已经失去了近三分之二的人口。该国对于常驻的外国慈善团体、政治家和记者来说太过危险了。数以千计的索马里青年愤怒而无所寄托，伊斯兰原教旨主义分子打着基地组织以及其他圣战组织的幌子对他们进行诱导，而（后者）这些青年人对诱惑的抵御却表现得极为脆弱。海盗的战利品大概都资助了暴力活动。

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.
索马里最近才对秩序有了大致的概念，就在2006年伊斯兰法庭联盟控制该地区的时候。不走运的是他们被邻国埃塞俄比亚赶走了，当然该行动是在美国的怂恿下完成的；于是这个“过度联邦政府”连脚跟都没有站稳就消失了。非盟羸弱的武力救助非常徒劳，联合国在苏丹达尔苏尔地区召集的维和力量还没有达到先前计划的一半；在这种情形下再没有人有胆量和财力向索马里地区部署军队维持秩序，更不要说法制了。

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.
然而外界还是可以帮助索马里人实现自救。交战各方在吉布提进行的“对话”断断续续了一年多的时间；即使基地组织的铁杆盟友不可能被吸收入对话，那么伊斯兰 法庭联盟中的温和派必须被引入。联合国、西方政府和该地区的其他政府具有道德职责：不能放弃保持索马里完整的尝试。另外，索马里如此恶劣的情形可以在陆地 和海洋上造成很多麻烦，因此这是一个全世界都无法置若罔闻的灾难。