The recent events along the coast of the Horn of Africa are a stark reminder of a larger picture that continues to reveal the extent of the problems that are unfolding in a land called Somalia. This corridor of Indian Ocean along the Somali coast has become the stage for some of the most daring raids witnessed on the high seas since the notorious days of Blackbeard or Captain Kidd. The threat to international shipping which is constrained to use the passage of the Gulf of Aden is now a clear and present danger.

Since 2005 these acts of blatant and very often disorganised yet extremely dangerous acts of piracy on merchant vessels have been of concern for many international organisations and multinational shipping lines, among them the International Maritime Organisation, The World Food Programme and Maersk.

These ongoing criminal acts are the work of Somali clan-based "organisations" which in 2008 have raked in no less than $150 million in ransom money. Just to put oneself into the picture as to the extent of this phenomenon, one should consider that at present about 280 seamen are being held hostage by Somali pirates.

More than a third of these are from the Philippines. Their attempts have become more daring and tragic. Only a few days ago Florent Lemacon, a Frenchman who was sailing to Zanzibar with friends and family on a private yacht, lost his life during a rescue operation by French special forces.

This menace has brought a number of countries together in an attempt to find a remedy to this increasingly serious crisis. In a rare show of solidarity these same countries have organised a military response to this piracy. Although this response has had its limited successes, it remains evident that the pirates are brazen enough not only to carry on but have also upped the ante. This is evidenced in the latest assault on a US-flagged vessel Alabama, the first pirate attack on a US vessel in two hundred years. This has led to the death of a number of Somali pirates and the rescue of the Alabama's captain held hostage in the middle of the Indian Ocean. This latest attack may have possibly tipped the scales and there will be further serious intervention.

When one takes a closer look at the situation in Somalia one does not easily comprehend the extent of lawlessness and near-anarchy that the in-fighting has produced. This is also applicable in varying degrees to states such as Eritrea, Sudan and Sierra Leone. In the case of Somalia the status of "rogue state" is much more than an understatement. This situation is having its ripple effects not only rebounding across the region but now affecting global security and disrupting the normal function of global trade.

It is no surprise that an extremely significant portion of the 12,500 illegal immigrants landed in Malta since 2002 hail from Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea. It is clear that as long as the political instability persists in these countries very little will change in the continuing saga of illegal migration and crossings from the northern coasts of Africa. The situation in these countries is so despicable that I suspect that if and when one escape route is plugged, another will be invented.

These people are not only desperate. These people are people who have nothing to lose. When one considers the perils of crossing regions such as Darfur (where many are robbed, raped and murdered) and trekking the vast expanses of desert to reach the Libyan coast, the trip to Lampedusa seems like a minor event in these tragic journeys. Not recognising this fact will consistently trivialise the national debate on illegal migration.

Whether we like it or not this is becoming everyone's problem. The solution to this phenomenon seems to be far away from a simple military or coastguard response. Unless an international and real concrete effort is made to find lasting political solutions for countries like Somalia and Eritrea the tide will not ebb, rather it may flow even more powerfully creating an even greater crisis in the future.

This is not only a European Union challenge. This involves the Arab League and ultimately the United Nations. Is a solution possible? Optimistically yes, but it will take much time and large doses of effort, patience and good faith if resolution is to be found to the many conflicts and deep serious challenges facing the Dark Continent.