KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign naval forces should be allowed to continue patrolling Somali waters to combat rampant pirate attacks on merchant ships in the area.
However, this would require the United Nations Security Council to extend the period of a resolution passed in June which allowed foreign naval forces to enter Somali waters to combat pirates there.
International Maritime Organisation senior deputy director, Capt Hartmut G. Hesse hoped the Security Council's next session, which would be held at the end of this month or early next month, would adopt a new resolution to extend the time frame given for foreign naval forces to patrol the area.
He also hoped that the resolution would cover international shipping on the whole and not just for the UN food programme-related shipping activities in Somalia.
"We want the extension of the period to be longer than half a year, to enable the naval forces to protect the area."
On July 19, a ship belonging to Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC), MT Bunga Melati Dua, with 39 crew members was hijacked by Somalian pirates when it was on its way to Rotterdam from Dumai, Indonesia.
Ten days later, another MISC vessel, MT Bunga Melati Lima, with 36 crew members, was hijacked on its way from Yanbu, Saudi Arabia to Singapore.
Both ships and crew were released after ransoms were paid.
Hesse, who was present at the launch of the World Maritime Day 2008 here yesterday, said: "We are working on the adoption of regional agreements, which we hope will start next year. When those are ratified, we hope to set up some long-term measures with enough funds and training expertise in the next couple of years."
Somali pirates are still holding 12 foreign ships. |
