KENYA: EU Navfor, the European Union Navy force for Somalia say piracy rates have dropped off the coast of Somalia but that new tougher penalties need to be introduced to further deter perpetrators

Record ID: 362209

  • Title: KENYA: EU Navfor, the European Union Navy force for Somalia say piracy rates have dropped off the coast of Somalia but that new tougher penalties need to be introduced to further deter perpetrators
  • Date: 16th March 2012
  • Summary: MOMBASA, KENYA (MARCH 15, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DOCKED SHIPS SPANISH FLAG FLYING MARINES WALKING ON SPANISH SHIP, AL PATINO SHIP VARIOUS OF MARINES STANDING EU OFFICIALS AT MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (English) REAR ADMIRAL JORGE MANSO, SPANISH NAVY SAYING: "There has been a dramatic reduction in pirate activity and above all an important decrease in above all success
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAF2WN965SJY3FFC2BO81O0UKGZ
  • Story Text: The EU Naval Force for Somalia, EU Navfor says pirate activity off the Somali coast has gone down in recent months.
    Pirates operating from the Somali coast have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms from hijacking ships and holding crews hostage over the years.
    EU Navfor's warship, The Patino, has been patrolling the region as part of the EU's counter piracy operations for several years and according to data from the naval force has managed to repel a number of potentially fatal attacks. The force has also helped arrest scores of suspected pirates operating in the waters around Somalia.
    "There has been a dramatic reduction in pirate activity and above all an important decrease in above all successful hijacks," EU Navfor commander, Rear Admiral Jorge Manso said in a media briefing on Thursday (March 15).
    According to Navfor, 165 attempted attacks took place in 2011 with 24 actually resulting in the hijacking of a vessel.
    A report released last year estimated maritime piracy costs the global economy between 7 billion 12 billion US dollars through higher shipping costs and ransom payments.
    Pirate attacks on the Indian Ocean off Somalia's coast and along the Gulf of Aden have made the shipping lanes linking Europe with Africa and Asia the most dangerous in the world, increasing the costs of seaborne global trade.
    For the last five years, a few hundred pirates sailing from a handful of towns in the Somali enclave of Puntland have pushed ever deeper into the Indian Ocean despite the dozens of international warships trying to stop them.
    Prosecution of captured pirates has been hampered in the past by disagreements over which country should try them. Somalia itself lacks the legal infrastructure to hold trials.
    Loedwijk Briet, the Head Of European Union Delegation in Kenya urged governments to come up with harsher penalties for all offenders in order to discourage piracy altogether.
    "To end impunity for example we cannot just focus on the foot soldiers on the captured pirates, but we must also focus on the other actors the financiers the leaders the instigators and we must break the business model."
    About 25 warships from various nations now patrol the Indian Ocean at any given time.
    Some states - such as Russia have always adopted an aggressive approach when their ships were hijacked, storming them with force and either killing the pirates or leaving them to die in open boats.
    The United States has also launched special forces missions to rescue its nationals.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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