United Nations Radio

Pirates in Somalia

PRES: According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 306 incidents of piracy and armed robbery were reported worldwide, of which 136 were in the East African area. In order to assess the combined efforts of international naval forces to fight piracy, the UN Security Council met this week at headquarters in New York. Jocelyne Sambira has the story.

Duration: 3'27''

NARR: On Wednesday, Somali pirates armed with automatic weapons tried to hijack the same container ship, the Maersk Alabama, held hostage for five days last April. But this time, the crew was well prepared and managed to fight them off using an acoustic device and other defensive measures. The UN, however, discourages the use of firearms in open sea, so it is trying to make the waters safe by forming coalitions with international naval forces patrol the high seas off the Somali Coast - and it is getting results. Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Sweden's Anders Linden describes the work of its naval operation called Atlanta.

LINDEN: Since December 2008, Atlanta has provided protection to 50 World Food Programme vessels delivering roughly 300,000 tons of food for the direct benefit of 1.6 million Somalis. The regional dimension has been emphasized lately by the expanding activity of the pirates. It is in the interest of Somalia, the region and the international community to address the menace of piracy off the coast of Somalia, and together we can do that.

NARR: More can be done besides protecting vessels, adds Linden. He called for more collaboration between Somalia and the region, as well as expanding operations to fight other illegal activities, like toxic waste dumping and illegal fishing. Elmi Ahmed Duale of Somalia details steps taken by his government to build its local capacity.

DUALE: Somalia has created a coast guard body and has already trained 1,000 coast guards. And the plan is to train and deploy up to 10,000. However, the government needs further training and assistance and deployment in the areas where they are most needed which is now the North East of Somalia.

NARR: Seychelles, an increasingly important hub in the fight against piracy, is by far the smallest and most vulnerably country that is seriously impacted by the spillover, says Roland Jumeau.

JUMEAU: To us in Seychelles, the scourge of piracy is not just affecting the freedom of the seas, maritime trade, humanitarian aid, or the security of international shipping. Piracy in the Indian Ocean is severely endangering our national security, territorial integrity, and economic development stability and viability.

NARR: Piracy is a very successful business with outlets in the region and beyond. It is unfortunately a criminal activity, says Ahmed Ould Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, the deployment of naval ships and military aircrafts to suppress piracy has been successful, but the threat remains.

ABDALLAH: In some ways, it is becoming more entrenched, as more sophisticated methods are being adopted and attacks are taking place further out at sea. Therefore, our approach to combating piracy cannot be limited to the containment of a problem by international naval force alone, no matter how successful. This fight must be part of an overall plan which include building regional capacity on the one hand and dealing with root causes on the other.

NARR: Ahmed Ould Abdallah, UN envoy to Somalia. I am Jocelyne Sambira for UN Radio.