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NATO launches anti-piracy operations off Somalia
Brussels (AFP) Oct 27, 2008 NATO has launched its first anti-piracy mission off Somalia after one of its warships successfully escorted a cargo ship to the port of Mogadishu, the alliance's chief said Monday. "One NATO ship just finished escorting a ship which was bringing in supplies" for the Burundi section of the UN-mandated African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer The escorted ship was expected to dock on Tuesday, with similar escort missions to follow swiftly, he added. "The operation is moving well," Scheffer told reporters at a joint news conference with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Three NATO ships have been given the go-ahead to use force under their rules of engagement and in line with international law. They are an Italian destroyer, the lead ship that carried out the first operation, and British and Greek frigates that form NATO's operation Allied Provider. They will mainly help escort UN World Food Programme (WFP) food shipments, tempting targets for pirates, until the European Union can launch its own operation, probably in December. The WFP ships 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes of aid into Somalia each month. Last week a maritime watchdog said Somali pirates were now responsible for nearly a third of all reported attacks on ships, often using violence and taking hostages. The International Maritime Bureau said 63 of the 199 piracy incidents recorded worldwide in the first nine months of this year occurred in the waters off war-ravaged Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. That comes to almost double that of the same period last year. Piracy is rife and well organised in the region where Somalia's northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world's oil is transported. The pirates operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners. Earlier this month the EU announced that its own mission -- with ships from Belgium, Cyprus, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and possibly Britain -- would be run from a headquarters at Northwood, north of London. Russia and India have also sent ships to the area on anti-piracy duties. Related Links 21st Century Pirates
Foreign Navies Powerless To Eradicate Somalia Piracy
Nairobi (AFP) Oct 27, 2008A spate of high-profile hijackings by Somali pirates has spurred western navies into action but experts argue that a handful of warships can do little to stamp out the lucrative piracy business. |
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