NAIROBI, Kenya – The African Union urged the United Nations on Thursday to quickly send peacekeepers to Somalia, as piracy off the east African nation's sprawling coast spiraled out of control.
An anti-piracy watchdog, meanwhile, advocated more aggressive action against the well-organized bandits who have attacked 95 ships this year in the Gulf of Aden and hijacked 39 of them.
Eight vessels have been seized in the last two weeks alone — including a massive Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil. Several hundred crew are now in the hands of Somali pirates.
Pirates dock the hijacked ships near the eastern and southern Somali coast and negotiate for ransom. Although the Saudi ship owners were among those talking with the pirates, no exact figure for the oil tanker's ransom could be confirmed Thursday.
Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, said the increasing piracy was "a clear indication of the further deterioration of the situation, with far-reaching consequences for (Somalia), the region and the larger international community."
In a rare victory in the sea war, an Indian warship, the INS Tabar, sank a suspected pirate "mother ship" in the Gulf of Aden and chased two attack boats Tuesday. The Gulf of Aden is one of the world's busiest waterways.
Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, welcomed the Indian warship's tough stance.
"It's about time that such a forceful action is taken. It's an action that everybody is waiting for," Choong told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Besides India, NATO, the United States, Russia and several other countries have warships patrolling on anti-piracy missions off Somalia.
But the brazen pirate attacks have continued unabated. The Somali government itself is caught up fighting an increasing successful Islamic insurgency and has been unable to confront the pirates.
Choong felt stronger action needed to be taken by all nations.
"If all warships do this, it will be a strong deterrent. But if it's just a rare case, then it won't work," Choong said.
The Indian navy said the Tabar, operating off the coast of Oman, stopped the ship because it appeared similar to a pirate vessel mentioned in numerous piracy bulletins. It said the pirates fired at the Tabar after officers asked it to stop and be searched.
Indian forces fired back, sparking fires and a series of onboard blasts — possibly caused by exploding ammunition — which destroyed the ship.
Patrolling NATO warships work to prevent hijackings but are hampered by a lack of a mandate to bring the hijackers to justice. Many European countries also have restrictions on how far their ships can go in engaging the pirates.
Russia's navy chief, Adm. Vladimir Vysotsky, was quoted as saying Thursday that other Russian ships will be dispatched to the region after a warship currently deployed there leaves.
The guided-missile frigate Neustrashimy has been patrolling off Somalia for several weeks now and has already helped to repell two pirate attacks.
Russia's ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, called on the international community to launch a joint amphibious operation against pirate strongholds in Somalia — but such an operation would likely require the approval of the U.N. Security Council.
"The U.N. and international community must decide how to solve this grave problem," Choong said. "It's clearly getting worse and out of control."
___
Associated Press writers Eileen Ng and Vijay Joshi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Slobodoan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
World news: AU chief warns against rise in Somali piracy
NAIROBI, Kenya – The African Union urged the United Nations on Thursday to quickly send p...
Sunday 05 July 2009
Comments to World news: AU chief warns against rise in Somali
Log in to comment or register here.
