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There’s a lot of traffic in the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf connects the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Major international sea routes run through here: every trading vessel heading from Europe to the Indian Ocean passes this way. The area also draws many tourists on cruise ships and sailboats. But there’s one serious problem. At its south edge, the Gulf of Aden borders the coast of Somalia. That is a country without a functioning government, where a civil war involving untold numbers of clans and warlords has been raging for 20 years. The situation has made Somalia one of largest humanitarian crisis areas in Africa, with only two significant sources of income: international aid and piracy.