A proliferation of small arms is fueling conflict and instability in East Africa.

The hijacking of merchant ships by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden has been widely condemned in UN resolutions and news reports, yet illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and the dumping of nuclear and toxic waste in Somali waters by foreign fleets continues to be ignored, writes Andrew Mwangura, in an overview of the origins and scale of piracy in the region.