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Photo take on January 7, 2010 shows an armed pirate keeping vigil along the coastline at Hobyo town, northeastern Somalia.MOHAMED DAHIR/AFP / Getty Images

The fact that a Danish family is now being held captive on the coast of the de facto state of Puntland by Somali pirates is an illustration of the unrealistic attitude of the international community toward Somalia - or rather the former country of Somalia.

The territory of that defunct nation-state is now divided into three parts: Somaliland, a generally law-abiding de facto state; Puntland, which is the home base for most of the pirates; and a region of anarchy, in which the Transitional Federal Government, recognized by the world, controls a few neighbourhoods in the former country's former capital - this is a project, rather than a state.

The navies of several countries have made piracy more difficult in the narrow seas of the Gulf of Aden, but the pirates have accordingly expanded their business to a much wider swath of the Indian Ocean - where Jan and Birgit Johansen, their three teenage children and two crew members were sailing on a round-the-world voyage. Imprudently, they set out from the Maldives toward Oman, and were boarded by pirates last week.

Precisely because Puntland provides a degree of law and order to its inhabitants, it enables the pirates to enjoy onshore the profits of their holding ships - and people - for ransom.

Somaliland does not serve as a haven for piracy. It has existed since 1991 and elects its government directly. There have been two changes of government as a result - one major characteristic of a democratic state. It gets aid from Britain and Kuwait. Though United Nations documents put quotation marks around the names Somaliland and Puntland, the UN has a presence in both states; indeed, it trains Somaliland's police.

The captivity of seven Danes in Puntland shows that the long-term solution to the piracy problem will be found on land, as well as at sea - where pirates killed four American tourists last month.

The reality of these two de facto states ought to lead the international community to pressure the one that does not respect international law and to move toward eventual recognition of the one that does: Somaliland.

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