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A new U.N. resolution aimed at combating piracy and Islamist militancy in Somalia is not likely to succeed.

The U.N. Security Council voted Nov. 20 to pass resolution 1844, which strengthens sanctions aimed at Somalia. Along with violators of the existing U.N. arms embargo, individuals and entities proven to threaten the peace and political process in Somalia now also will be targeted.

The newly adopted measure comes amid an epidemic of piracy attacks off the Somalian coast, including the hijacking of the Saudi oil supertanker Sirius Star, which was carrying $100 million worth of crude from Saudi Arabia to the United States. The sanctions are unlikely to eliminate either piracy or the Islamist insurgency against the country’s interim government, however.

According to the British Royal Institute of International Affairs, Somalian-based pirates have earned $18 million to $30 million in ransom payments this year. Compared to the earnings of other organized criminal enterprises, this is a low figure. However, in Somalia — a country with precious few avenues for earning money — it is a princely sum.

Somalia has lacked a functional government and ability to secure its own territory, both onshore and offshore, for almost 20 years. As a result, pirates have flourished in Somalia, using increasingly sophisticated tactics to take over large and small vessels. The pirates hold onto the captured vessels while negotiating ransoms that start high, like $25 million demanded for the Sirius Star and the $35 million demanded for the MV Faina, but see much lower actual payouts. The highest payout for a captured vessel in Somalia to date is thought to be about $3 million.